Diocese of Fall River
The Anchor
F riday , October 8, 2010
St. Vincent’s Home at 125 — Successes from the past, with a window to the future, for children and families By Dave Jolivet, Editor
FALL RIVER — For a centuryand-a-quarter, St. Vincent’s Home, an institution older than the Diocese of Fall River itself, has had as its primary focus the welfare of children and their families. In the early days, when the home was located on the shores of the Taunton River on North Main Street in Fall River, St. Vincent’s Home was a place of solace and hope for children whose parents were ill or deceased. More than 100 years later, the home is still providing hope and opportunities for children and their families in a comprehensive and interdisciplinary approach to treatment. According to its website, “Care is offered in a non-judgmental manner, honoring the cultural diversity of each child and family.” The home “strives to create an environment where trust characterizes the relationship between staff and children and where staff members are supported and their contributions acknowledged.” One of the home’s greatest attributes throughout its storied history has been the ability to “change with the times,” meaning that as needs change, the home’s staff adapts and utilizes state of the art procedures for care and treatment. In 1997, Jack Weldon, M.S.W., was appointed the home’s executive director by then-Fall River Bishop Sean O’Malley. He was the first lay person to assume the position in the home’s history.
Under Weldon’s direction, St. Vincent’s Home has continued its capacity for realizing the diverse needs facing children, youth, and families in necessity. Much of the home’s history in-
service agency providing a broad continuum of services to meet the individualized needs of children, youth, and families.” Weldon told The Anchor that at one time, more than 70 percent of
A window to the future — St. Vincent’s Home is all about the children in these scenes from various events. Clockwise from top left: Chef Gloria Cabral of Bristol Community College Culinary Arts Department explains to St. Vincent’s children and staff how to make chicken cutlets; Mercy Sister Elaine Marchand uses her artistic talents to paint a cat face on a little girl; Father Genaro Aguilar, former chaplain of the Athletics Department at Stonehill College, provided weekly liturgy in the chapel at St. Vincent’s children; and youth help to take care of the animals at a local therapeutic working farm.
Annual procession, Mass for peace Monday FALL RIVER — Bishop George W. Coleman will lead the annual candle-lit procession and Mass for Peace Monday evening. The procession is from St. Mary’s Cathedral to St. Anne’s Church where the Mass will be celebrated. Parish groups are encouraged to attend, bringing ban-
volved providing children with a safe place to live and learn. But according to Weldon, “St. Vincent’s is no longer an orphanage, nor is it exclusively a residential education program. Rather, it is a multi-
ners and flags, along with their own candles, as a limited supply with be available. As in previous years, marchers will meet no later than 5:45 p.m. at St. Mary’s Cathedral, on the corner of Spring and Second streets in Fall River, to process apTurn to page two
the children served by St. Vincent’s lived on campus and attended the campus school. Today more than 65 percent of its clients attend schools within the community — either in regular classrooms or in area special education programs. “Nationwide, over the last few years, there has been a priority placed on maintaining the stability and permanence of families by relying less on out-of-home placements in response to crises of various kinds and, instead, providing supportive and clinical services within the child’s home and home community while building on the family’s strengths,” said Weldon. “As a result of these initiatives, the nature and scope of work of agencies like St. Vincent’s has necessarily changed.” One of the major changes in treatment in recent years is to prepare youth to transition back to a home environment in a safe and effective manner. “All of St. Vincent’s residential and congregate care programs are licensed by the Mass. Department of Early Education and Care,” added Weldon. “In addition, the residential and day special education schools operated by St. Vincent’s are fully approved by the Mass. Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.” The focus at St. Vincent’s has become attuned to developing more short-term, communitybased and family-centered care. Turn to page 17
Respect Life — ‘You can do huge things’ By Christine M. Williams Anchor Correspondent
BOSTON — “I want every Pro-Life person out there, especially the young adults, to know that you can do huge things, regardless of age,” said Matthew Hanafin, Massachusetts Citizens for Life’s youngest board member, at the annual Walk to Aid Mothers and Children October 3. Several thousand Pro-Life advocates gathered at the Boston Common bandstand on Respect Life Sunday to hear speakers at a rally before the 5K-walk. Hanafin, 20, is a sophomore at Merrimack College and cochairman of the MCFL’s Burlington chapter. He graduated from Burlington High School,
which is the only Massachusetts public school with a club dedicated to the Pro-Life cause.
He said of the club’s representatives in attendance, “They Turn to page 16
pro-life leaders — Young Pro-Life advocates from across New England lead the charge at the annual Walk to Aid Mothers and Children sponsored by Mass. Citizens For Life. (Photo by Christine Williams)
News From the Vatican
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PALERMO, Sicily (CNS) — Pope Benedict XVI urged the young people of Sicily to reject the “path of death” offered by organized crime and to stand up to evil by witnessing the values of the Gospel. The pope made his comments October 3 during a one-day visit to Palermo, the Sicilian capital,
In Sicily, pope asks young to reject Mafia’s ‘path of death’
where he celebrated a seaside Mass in the port area, met with priests and religious and spoke to youths and families of the region. Before returning to Rome, he paused to pray at the site of the assassination of anti-Mafia prosecutor Giovanni Falcone, who was killed by a bomb in 1992. Addressing the young in a
Peace Mass, procession is Monday continued from page one
proximately one-half mile to St. Anne’s Church. The procession will begin at 6:00 p.m. Marchers will carry candles, recite the rosary and sing Marian hymns in various languages. At approximately 7 p.m. the Mass for Peace will take place at St. Anne’s Church, which faces Kennedy Park at South Main and Middle streets. Bishop George W. Coleman will celebrate the Mass and offer the homily. Those who are disabled or
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handicapped should proceed directly to St. Anne’s Church, where a special area will be designated for them. All diocesan priests are also invited to concelebrate and are asked to bring an alb and white stole. The procession and Mass for Peace has been held annually in the diocese since 1975 and traditionally coincides with the month of Mary and the final apparition of Our Lady of Fatima on October 13. OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER OF THE DIOCESE OF FALL RIVER Vol. 54, No. 38
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central square of Palermo, the pope encouraged them to reshape Sicilian society. “Don’t be afraid to fight against evil!” he said. “Don’t give in to the suggestions of the Mafia, which is a path of death, incompatible with the Gospel, as your bishops have so often said!” Throughout his visit, the pope pointed to the example of Father Giuseppe “Pino” Puglisi, a popu-
lar anti-crime pastor in Palermo who was slain in 1993, and urged priests and the faithful to “imitate his heroic example.” The pope also acknowledged the difficulty in breaking through a culture of crime, especially when many people are out of work and uncertain about their future. “Today I am here to strongly encourage you not to be afraid to
October 8, 2010
witness with clarity the human and Christian values that are so deeply rooted in the faith and in the history of this region and its people,” he said. The pope reminded Sicilians that their island has been “a land of saints who belong to every condition of life.” He asked them to renew their own faith and bring it to bear in society with a greater sense of determination.
Spanish archbishop to lead visitation of Regnum Christi
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — A Spanish archbishop, who was part of the Vatican-led investigation of the Legionaries of Christ, will be the apostolic visitor of the congregation’s lay movement, Regnum Christi. Archbishop Ricardo Blazquez of Valladolid, Spain, is one of a number of appointees named recently to help the papal delegate, Archbishop Velasio De Paolis, in his task of governing the Legionaries and helping reform the order. The four advisers who will help Archbishop De Paolis are Bishop Brian Farrell, a member of the Legionaries and secretary of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, and three canon lawyers: Jesuit Father Gianfranco Ghirlanda, Sacred Heart Father Agostino Montan, and Msgr. Mario Marchesi, according to media reports. The Vatican confirmed the list of appointees to Catholic News Service September 30. The papal delegate, Italian Archbishop De Paolis, has broad powers
of authority over the Legionaries of Christ as part of a major Vatican-led reform of the order. Archbishop De Paolis will lead a commission in charge of revising the order’s constitutions, and all members of the order have been encouraged to take an active part in the reform. The role the advisers will play is flexible. According to the Vatican decree published in July detailing the papal delegate’s role, “the delegate will have four personal advisers to aid him in carrying out his work, according to the circumstances and possibilities. These aides may be assigned specific tasks, particularly visits ‘ad referendum.’ With their help, the papal delegate will identify, discuss, and clarify the principal topics as they arise during the process he is called to lead.” Archbishop De Paolis, who will coordinate the visitation of the Legionaries’ Regnum Christi movement, was in charge of naming the movement’s visitor, Archbishop Blazquez. Archbishop Blazquez, 68, served as president of the Spanish bishops’ conference from 2005 to 2008 and headed the bishops’ commission for the doctrine of the faith from 1993 to 2003. The former professor of theology was one of five bishops appointed by Pope Benedict XVI in 2009 to conduct a visitation of the Legionaries of Christ. He led the investigation of the congre-
gation’s centers and institutions in Europe, excluding Italy. Among the four advisers to Archbishop DePaolis is Bishop Farrell, 66, who was born in Dublin, and was ordained a priest for the Legionaries in 1969. He served from 1970 to 1976 as director of the Legionaries’ U.S. novitiate in Orange, Conn. Italian Msgr. Marchesi is the vicar general of the Diocese of Cremona and has taught canon law at the Legionaries’ Pontifical Regina Apostolorum University in Rome. Father Montan, a member of the Congregation of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, is episcopal vicar of the Rome Diocese’s office for consecrated life and a professor of canon law at the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome. Father Ghirlanda is a canon lawyer and the former rector of the Pontifical Gregorian University. The papal delegate and his four advisers have had the chance to work together before in their roles as advisers to several important Vatican agencies. Archbishop De Paolis, Father Ghirlanda and Father Montan are consultors to the Vatican Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life. Msgr. Marchesi and Fathers Ghirlanda and Montan serve as consultors to the Vatican Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples. Archbishop De Paolis and Father Ghirlanda also are members of the Vatican’s Supreme Court of the Apostolic Signature and the Pontifical Council Legislative for Texts. The Vatican-led investigation into the Legionaries and Regnum Christi came in the wake of revelations that the Legionaries’ founder, the late Father Marcial Maciel Degollado, had fathered children and sexually abused seminarians. His “most grave and objectively immoral conduct” called for “a path of profound revision” in the order, the Vatican said. Father Maciel’s “true crimes” reflected “a life devoid of scruples and of authentic religious sentiment,” it said.
October 8, 2010
The International Church
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Vatican official tells U.N. that dialogue is only path to peace By Catholic News Service
UNITED NATIONS – The United Nations might not be perfect, but it has helped humanity move toward a world marked by dialogue, peace and development, the Vatican’s foreign minister told the U.N. General Assembly. Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, Vatican secretary for relations with states, said that for the United Nations and its various agencies to continue being effective, its actions and deliberations must make “constant reference to the dignity of all men and women,” to the right to life of all people, including the terminally ill and the unborn, and to religious freedom. Addressing the General Assembly September 29, the archbishop said bilateral and multilateral agreements to reduce nuclear weapons, cluster bombs and land mines are important steps toward ensuring a peaceful future for all people, but many countries’ national military spending continues to pose a threat both to peace and to the nations’ economic development. “We must continue to do everything possible to achieve a world free of nucle-
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ar weapons. It is an objective that cannot be renounced, even if it is complex and difficult to reach, and the Holy See supports all efforts in this direction,” he said. While achievements in the field of disarmament and nonproliferation have been made, he said, the fact that “global military expenditures continue to be burdensome and even increasing” are reasons to worry. The archbishop said dialogue and control measures acceptable to all parties are the only way to ensure nations have the right to develop nuclear energy without developing nuclear weapons. “The Holy See encourages all parties involved in resolving various disputes in progress, especially concerning the Korean Peninsula and the Persian Gulf and adjacent areas, to deepen sincere dialogue for a harmonious balance in the rights of all nations involved,” he said. As signs of hope toward a world of peace, the archbishop pointed to “the decision to convene a conference before 2012 for a Middle East free of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction,” and the recent U.S.Russian agreement to reduce Order Ear Comple ly!!! Sellou te t La Year!!! st
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and limit strategic offensive weapons. He also praised the work of U.N. peacekeeping forces around the globe. “The significant increase in requests for intervention in recent years, first of all demonstrates an increased confidence” in the United Nations and its ability to work regionally, but it also highlights the increased need for the United Nations and other organizations dedicated to preventing conflict in the first place, he
said. Archbishop Mamberti also highlighted the United Nations’ work in promoting environmental protection and working toward the adoption of measures to mitigate climate change. The Vatican, he said, is hoping that governments will come to a legally binding agreement on reducing pollution, and that they also can work together to come up with “a development model based on a new energy system.”
“It’s not just a matter of helping the world be less dependent on fossil fuels and increasing the focus on energy efficiency and alternative energy, but it also is a matter of changing behavior and irresponsible consumerism,” he said, adding that “it is these behaviors, not population growth and improved living conditions in less developed countries” that place unsustainable pressure on resources and the environment.
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October 8, 2010 The Church in the U.S. Diocesan workshop helps priests counsel those touched by abortion
By Sam Lucero Catholic News Service
GREEN BAY, Wis. (CNS) — The role priests play in counseling people touched by abortion is critical, yet they often do not know what to say or do, Green Bay Bishop David L. Ricken said at a workshop for priests to help them learn about post-abortion healing. He recalled an event that put the abortion topic in a new and disquieting light. At a recent diocesan youth retreat, a 15-year-old girl was found crying before a crucifix. “One of the youth ministers went up to her and said, ‘Can I help you?’ and what came out was that this 15-year-old girl has already had three abortions,” said Bishop Ricken. “So brothers, this is getting to be a very serious societal problem among Catholics,” he said. “I would say we are (needed) now more than we’ve ever been as far as our catechesis, our pastoral preaching and reaching out because there are so many broken families.” He made the comments in an opening talk at the recent in-service session, sponsored by the diocesan Respect Life Office. The event, which drew some 65 priests, focused on the ministry of Project Rachel, a post-abortion ministry founded in Milwaukee in 1984.
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Vicki Thorn, founder of human problem. So we need to that abortion touches everyone Project Rachel and executive know there are old women in and she shared personal expedirector of the National Office our congregations and in our riences of friends and relatives of Post-Abortion Reconcilia- nursing homes who have had who had abortions. tion and Healing, was on hand abortions.” She talked extensively about to help the priests recognize Thorn then offered the the impact of abortion on womsome of the signs that accom- priests practical advice. en’s health, including an inpany post-abortion trauma and “If you get a call from the creased risk of being diagnosed discuss how to help grieving nursing home or the hospital with cancer. people. “We live in a soci“I don’t know about ety that says (having e live in a society that says an abortion is) just you, but when I’ve (having an abortion is) just like an appendectomy heard confessions and it involves abortion,” like an appendectomy or having your or having your tonsils Bishop Ricken told the tonsils out. No it’s not, because you’re out,” she said. “No it’s priests, “sometimes because you’re forever carrying this biological memory not, I feel helpless, not forever carrying this knowing what to do, in your body. Furthermore, you started a biological memory in what to say,” he said. pregnancy and you didn’t finish it. That your body. FurtherThorn told the has implications.” more, you started a priests that “from pregnancy and you the beginning priests didn’t finish it. That were at the core of this minis- that Mrs. So-and-So should has implications. try. What you do, what you say, have died yesterday but she’s “Our first pregnancy as your presence is so important so agitated, get your stole and women is very important to to the walking wounded that get to the hospital and say to changes in our body,” she said. you encounter — and they are her there’s nothing that God “It’s critical. So there are lots everywhere.” can’t forgive. And then name of things that happen here in She said that while some 50 a couple of the favorite sins of terms of this abortion loss.” million abortions take place your parish and put abortion in Thorn also cited research each year in the United States, there. You’ll see her eyes fill by a cancer specialist in Seit is difficult to know exactly with tears,” she said. attle who discovered that girls how many people have been Older women did not have under 18 who have abortions, touched by them. counseling or support after and who have a history of “Why do I say we don’t abortions, Thorn continued. breast cancer in their immeknow? Because abortion didn’t “They went to confession many diate families, increased their start with Roe v. Wade,” Thorn times, but in death there’s a se- risk of breast cancer by 100 said about the 1973 U.S. Su- ries of questions they need an- percent. preme Court decision that le- swered and you can be the perThorn told the priests that galized abortion virtually on son” to answer them. she understood the challenges demand. “It’s been forever a Thorn reminded the priests they face talking about abor-
“W
Quake still endangering Haiti children, warn bishops
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tion. “I know that when it comes to Pro-Life stuff, you can’t do anything right,” she said. “Because whatever you say, someone’s going to be unhappy with you. It’s either too much or not enough.” She called abortion a “heart debate (because) people are so impassioned” about the issue. Thorn told the priests that when an angry parishioner confronts them at church, “don’t argue with them because nobody’s ever been argued into the Pro-Life movement. Simply say to them, ‘Why don’t you share with me why you feel so strongly about this. I’d like to understand.’ “Shut up and just let them talk,” she continued. “When they are done, thank them. If you can, lay your hand on their arm. Gentlemen, 20 seconds of touch is powerful healing in people. It sets off that chemistry of connection.” By following these steps, she told the priests, “You broke a stereotype because they were convinced you were going to yell at them and argue with them. You listened to them; you heard them, which is different than just listening. Now all of that toxicity that was sitting in their gut is gone. And pretty soon you might find them in your office.”
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WASHINGTON, D.C. (Zenit.org) — U.S. bishops are calling for better efforts to help Haiti recover from the January 12 earthquake that devastated the country. The prelates say the plight of Haitian children is particularly worrying. Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami, head of the U.S. bishops Haiti Advisory Group, presented a 16-page report recently on the long-term challenges and needed solutions for Haiti. “Nearly nine months after the earthquake, 1.3 million persons remain homeless, living in tent camps, and cleanup and reconstruction efforts proceed at a very slow pace,” he lamented. “Despite the outpouring of support from the international community in the aftermath of the disaster, attention to the long-term recovery of Haiti has begun to lag.” The U.S. bishops’ delegation was particularly concerned about Haiti’s children. The delegation noted there is no
“comprehensive approach” to prevent families from being separated, smuggling and trafficking across the border. They reported that thousands of Haitian children are living in orphanages, but it is estimated that as many as 60 percent of these children are not actually orphans. Rather, they are left at the centers by parents who cannot care for them. Furthermore, the prelates warned, children are vulnerable to being sent to work for another family with the idea that they will be cared for and perhaps even educated. Instead, the child is often submitted to slave-like conditions. “There also is evidence that Haitian children are being trafficked into the Dominican Republic to work in agriculture, beg on the streets, or perform domestic work, yet little is being done to apprehend and prosecute traffickers,” a statement from the bishops cautioned. The prelates also denounced U.S. immigration policy, say-
ing the United States and other nations are “beginning to pull back the welcome mat for Haitians displaced because of the earthquake.” “Haitian families are divided and policies pursued by Haiti and surrounding nations, including the United States, have not been designed to reunite them,” they added. The prelates recommended international assistance to provide reconstruction funds. They called for tracing efforts for orphans, and said that “best interest determinations for Haitian orphans in Haiti and the Dominican Republic should be introduced.” The prelates’ delegation beseeched the international community to remember Haiti. “The United States and the international community must re-focus their attention on Haiti,” Archbishop Wenski said, “to help ensure that the Haitian people maintain hope and that the situation in Haiti does not deteriorate.”
October 8, 2010
The Church in the U.S.
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Portland organization loses CCHD grant over Planned Parenthood link
Their daily bread — Franciscan Father Timothy Shreenan hands out food recently at the St. Francis Breadline outside St. Francis Church in the Manhattan area of New York. The bread line serves coffee and sandwiches to approximately 200 people every morning. It’s been in operation since 1929. (CNS photo/Octavio Duran)
Injunction blocking funding of embryonic stem-cell research overturned by courts
WASHINGTON (CNS) — A federal appeals court has permanently lifted the injunction that had briefly stopped federal funding of embryonic stem-cell research. The September 28 ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit allowed funding for the research to continue while a lawsuit filed by Drs. James L. Sherley and Theresa Deisher proceeds. The two researchers who work with adult stem cells have challenged the Obama administration’s guidelines on stem-cell funding, saying they faced the possibility of losing funding from the National Institutes of Health when NIH funding for embryonic stemcell research was expanded. NIH already had resumed the funding September 9 when the appeals court temporarily lifted an injunction granted August 23 by Chief Judge Royce C. Lamberth of U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Lamberth said the guidelines violated the Dickey-Wicker amendment, approved annually by Congress since 1996, which prevents federal funding of research in which human embryos are harmed or destroyed. Lamberth also ruled that “the guidelines threaten the very livelihood of plaintiffs Sherley and Deisher” because their “injury of increased competition ... is actual and imminent.” Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities, said Lamberth’s August ruling was “a victory for common sense and sound medical ethics” that vindicated the bishops’ reading of the DickeyWicker amendment. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said he was “heartened that the court will allow NIH and
their grantees to continue moving forward while the appeal is resolved.” “President (Barack) Obama made expansion of stem-cell research and the pursuit of groundbreaking treatments and cures a top priority when he took office,” Gibbs said. The Catholic Church opposes any stem-cell research that involves the destruction of human embryos. Catholic leaders and scientists have said therapies and treatments developed from adult stem cells and other morally licit research material have produced promising results, while no actual treatments have been developed from research using embryonic stem cells. Dr. Francis S. Collins, NIH director, said the Lamberth ruling “pours sand into that engine of discovery” at a time “when we were really gaining momentum” with embryonic stem-cell research. “This decision has the potential to do serious damage to one of the most promising areas of biomedical research,” he said. But Cardinal DiNardo said he hoped the decision would “encourage our government to renew and expand its commitment to eth-
ically sound avenues of stem-cell research.” In testimony September 16 at a hearing on “The Promise of Human Embryonic Stem-Cell Research” before the Senate Appropriations Committee’s Subcommittee on Labor, HHS and Education, Collins said NIH “is strongly committed to research using adult stem cells” because it has already “produced clinically validated and widely used treatments” and “there may be other clinical applications for which they prove useful.” “NIH has invested many hundreds of millions of dollars over the years in adult stem-cell research,” he added. “Indeed, annually we are spending almost three times as much on adult stem-cell research as on human embryonic stem-cell research.” In court documents, NIH officials estimates that the government spent $88 million for embryonic stem-cell research in fiscal year 2008 and $91 million in fiscal 2009 and that it would spend $92 million in fiscal 2010. Expenditures for human nonembryonic stem-cell research were estimated at $297 million in fiscal 2008, $305 million in 2009 and $311 million in 2010.
PORTLAND, Ore. (CNS) — The Archdiocese of Portland earlier this year asked a local homeless advocacy newspaper to end its link to an abortion provider to continue receiving grants from a Catholic agency. Street Roots refused to remove Planned Parenthood from a resource guide it offers homeless and poor people and so lost funding. The guide lists more than 300 service organizations in addition to Planned Parenthood, which offers some health care but also performs more abortions than any other organization. The grant was from the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, the U.S. bishops’ domestic anti-poverty program. Grants are awarded on the local level by archdioceses and dioceses and on the national level by CCHD’s national office in Washington. For five years, CCHD in the Portland Archdiocese funded Street Roots as part of the campaign’s mission to support groups with low-income people seeking to lift themselves out of poverty. The requested grant would have paid for printing the resource guide. The archdiocese said it only recently found out about the Planned Parenthood listing. The newspaper is one of about 50 organizations nationwide that
have lost Catholic grants for connections to activity the Church considers immoral. The archdiocese’s grants of between $5,000 and $10,000 per year made up about four percent of the Street Roots budget. The most recent grant of $5,000 that did not go to Street Roots was not withheld from the needy but went to another organization that works to empower the poor and is not at odds with Catholic teaching, according to the archdiocese. Applications are reviewed annually and previous giving patterns do not trump other considerations, the archdiocese said. The newspaper claims it is the victim of a “witch hunt,” and Willamette Week, an alternative weekly in Portland, named the archdiocese “Rogue of the Week” for its decision. Matt Cato, director of the archdiocese’s Office of Life/ Justice and Peace, says he has always admired the homeless advocacy work done by Street Roots and had hoped the newspaper would change its resource guide. When the paper refused to alter the listing, it chose the result that came, Cato said. Bud Bunce, spokesman for the archdiocese, says CCHD simply cannot fund an organization that acts contrary to Church teaching.
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The Anchor
Admitting and addressing Catholics’ ignorance of the faith
The September 28 publication of the U.S. Religious Knowledge Survey by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life (see story on page 19) lent itself to various surprising titles, many of which focused on how atheists and agnostics proved they had a greater comparative religious knowledge than Catholics, Protestants, Jews, and Mormons. The survey polled 3,412 Americans 18 and older and asked 32 questions about their own faith and other religions. Atheists and agnostics scored the highest, correctly answering on average 20.9 questions; they were followed by Jews at 20.5, Mormons at 20.3, and Protestants at 16.0 and Catholics 14.7. These results should be embarrassing to U.S. Catholics and particularly to all those involved in Catholic education. It’s true that there may not be a reason to panic that those of other religions or no religion at all are more easily able to recognize the Hindu figures Vishnu and Shiva or to identify famous religious figures such as Jonathan Edwards, the Dalai Lama, Joseph Smith, and Martin Luther. But there is clearly reason for serious concern when atheists show a much greater grasp of the books of the Bible and key Bible figures than Catholics do. Of the 32 questions on the survey, nine were those that every adult Catholic legitimately should have been able to answer: What is the first book of the Bible? What are the names of the first four books of the New Testament, that is, the four Gospels? Where, according to the Bible, was Jesus born? Bethlehem, Jerusalem, Nazareth or Jericho? Which of these is not in the Ten Commandments? Do unto others as you would have them do unto you; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not steal; or keep holy the Sabbath day? Which figure is associated with remaining obedient to God despite suffering? Elijah, Moses, Job or Abraham? Which figure is associated with leading the exodus from Egypt? Elijah, Moses, Job or Abraham? Which figure is associated with willingness to sacrifice his son for God? Elijah, Moses, Job or Abraham? What is Catholic teaching about bread and wine in Communion? The bread and wine actually become the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ? Or the bread and wine are symbols of the body and blood of Jesus Christ? Which group traditionally teaches that salvation is through faith alone? Protestants, Catholics, both or neither? What were the results? With regard to the seven Biblical questions: • Only 42 percent of Catholics could name Genesis as the first book of the Bible (compared to 71 percent of atheists and agnostics, 85 percent of Mormons, 76 percent of Protestants and 65 percent of Jews). • Just 33 percent of Catholics could name the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John (compared to 39 percent of atheists and agnostics, 73 percent of Mormons, 57 percent of Protestants and 17 percent of Jews). • Only 54 percent of Catholics could name Bethlehem as Jesus’ native place (bested again by 70 percent of atheists and agnostics, 78 percent of Protestants, 83 percent of Mormons and 61 percent of Jews ). • 57 percent of Catholics knew that the Golden Rule wasn’t one of the Ten Commandments (which compared to 62 percent of atheists and agnostics, 56 percent of Protestants, 81 percent of Muslims, 62 percent of Jews). • Only 25 percent of Catholics could identify the sufferings of Job (in comparison with 42 percent of atheists, 70 percent of Mormons, 48 percent of Protestants and 47 percent of Jews). • 65 percent of Catholics correctly identified Moses as the leader of the exodus (which was still far less than the 87 percent of atheists and agnostics, 92 percent of Mormons, 74 percent of Protestants and 90 percent of Jews). • 55 percent of Catholics identified Abraham’s sacrifice of Isaac (compared to 68 percent of atheists and agnostics, 87 percent of Mormons, 63 percent of Protestants and 83 percent of Jews). In terms of the knowledge of the Old Testament and New Testament, Mormons overall correctly answered 5.7 of the seven questions, white evangelical Protestants got 5.1, atheists and agnostics 4.4, black Protestants 4.4, Jews 4.3 (including 14 percent of Jews who got both New Testament questions correct), white mainline Protestants 3.9, white Catholics 3.8, and Latino Catholics (who could take the survey in either Spanish or English) 2.4. Overall Catholics answered 3.4 questions correctly. The Biblical questions posed on the Pew Survey did not concern trivial matters that those who might have a strong grasp of the content of the Bible could easily miss. They were designed so that those familiar with the central content should readily have gotten them. Failure to be able to identify the Book of Genesis implies an ignorance of the revealed truths about the creation of the world and of the human person. The inability to name the Gospel writers seems to indicate a general lack of familiarity with what they wrote of Jesus. Anyone who has ever read the book of Job could never forget the story or the name of the central figure. The inability to identify the most dramatic moment in the life of Abraham implies a general ignorance of the common father of faith of Christians, Jews and Muslims. And the incapacity of more than a third of Catholics to recognize Moses from a line-up suggests that they have never spent much time thinking about the central event of the Old Testament or seen one of many movies that depict it. From the point of view of faith formation, these failures are the equivalent of Americans’ failing to know the first letter of the alphabet, the names of the four seasons of the year, and the location of the nation’s capital — not to mention being unable to identify George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King Jr. from a multiple-choice lineup. The poor results in terms of Biblical literacy extended into the realm of Catholic theology. With regard to the specifically Catholic question about the Eucharist, only 55 percent of Catholics knew Catholic teaching, that the bread and wine become Jesus’ Body and Blood. Although Catholics did recognize this belief more than other groups (which ranged from 33-41 percent), it’s hard to take much comfort when 41 percent of Catholics thought that Church teaching was that bread and wine were merely symbols and four percent had no answer. With regard to the famous Protestant Reformation battle cry of sola fides, only nine percent of Catholics recognized it as Protestant alone (compared to 22 percent of atheists and agnostics, 22 percent of Mormons, 16 percent of Protestants and 10 percent of Jews). The Pew Forum statisticians did extensive analysis of the data. They showed that several factors influenced better results on the survey: the higher one’s formal education; the greater one’s commitment to frequent practice of one’s religion; the more one read Scripture and books and websites about one’s own religion; the more one read about other religions; and the more one spoke about religion with family or friends. These all point to choices and behaviors that parents, pastors, professors, Catholic school teachers and catechists should be aware of and encourage. In the past few years, Pope Benedict has been speaking about what he calls an “educational emergency,” a large component of which comes from Catholic illiteracy about the basics of the faith. As the Pew Survey confirms, many U.S. Catholic “schools” — from parishes, to homes, to educational institutions — are failing badly in fulfilling their duty to pass on the faith. Catechetical programs for young children that cumulatively take up about one day a year of instruction are obviously inadequate. Parishes that offer little or no adult education, or where parishioners do not take advantage of what is offered, are clearly deficient. Families and individuals who fail to read the Bible are neglecting one of their most basic responsibilities. As St. Jerome said, “Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ.” It’s therefore a sad day, and one that must lead to individual and ecclesial conversion, whether atheists know the basics of sacred Scripture better than those who say they not only know but follow Christ.
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October 8, 2010
Drawing our life from the Eucharist
Christi this past year in the basilica of St. ne of the most powerful experiJohn Lateran, Pope Benedict XVI spoke ences of my life was being able to meet Pope John Paul II. But aside from about this eucharistic faith and encouraged the faithful to nourish their faith being in close proximity to the Polish with the love of Christ in the Eucharist. pope who led our Catholic Church for In his homily, the Holy Father exmore than 26 years, one of my most vivid plained that “though we are inadequate and powerful memories of John Paul II due to sin, we need to nourish ourselves was watching him celebrate the Mass. from the love the Lord offers us in the Frail and in increasingly bad health, his eucharistic sacrament.” The pope said, love for our Lord in the Eucharist was “This feast allows us to renew our faith in unmistakable and contagious. In his last encyclical letter, Ecclesia de the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Such faith must not be taken for Eucharistia, Pope John Paul II summagranted.” rized the eucharistic faith of the Catholic The pope went on to warn of the risk Church. He explained that “the Church “of the danger of secularization, even draws her life from the Eucharist. This inside the Church” that “could translate truth does not simply express a daily into a formal but empty eucharistic worexperience of faith, but recapitulates the ship.” There is always a strong temptation heart of the mystery of the Church.” to reduce prayer to superficial and hurried At each celebration of the holy Mass moments, allowing ourselves to be overwe have the opportunity to express our come by earthly activities and concerns,” eucharistic faith — our belief in the fact that bread and wine become the Body and he cautioned. For that reason, he continued, in the Eucharist, “heaven comes Blood of Jesus Christ, that God himself down to earth; God’s presence descends becomes present on the altar. into the present moment.” The Catholic Church’s faith is essenIn the Eucharist, we find, we experitially a eucharistic faith, and it is especialence, we ly nourished encounter, at the altar, the greatest the table of Putting Into mystery of the Lord, the the Deep our faith in place where he Jesus Christ: becomes truly this is the present. After By Father mystery of the the faith has Jay Mello love that God been awakened has for us in by the preachallowing us to ing of God’s word, our faith is nourished and grows in eat his Body and drink his Blood, truly allowing himself to enter our body and this grace-filled encounter with the risen soul. This truth does not simply express Lord that takes place in all the sacraa daily experience of faith, but captures ments, but most especially the Eucharist. the heart of the mystery of the Church For this reason, the Eucharist, the sacrafound in Christ’s promise: “I am with you ment of the altar, is always at the heart of always, even until the end of the ages” the Church’s life. In fact, the more lively (Mt 28:20). our faith in the Eucharist, the deeper our The Second Vatican Council rightly relationship with our Lord will be. proclaimed the eucharistic sacrifice as The Church’s very own history “the source and summit of the Christian bears witness to this reality. Every great life.” For the most holy Eucharist conrenewal in the history of Church has in tains the Church’s entire spiritual wealth: some way been linked to the rediscovChrist himself, the living bread come ery of belief in the Lord’s eucharistic down from heaven. The Church, as an enpresence. Every time we receive holy tire community and as individual believCommunion, we have the opportunity ers “draws her life from the Eucharist.” to pray for a great renewal of our own The Eucharist is Christ who gives faith, as individuals, as families, as parish communities, as a Church full of disciples himself to us and continually builds us up as his disciples and friends. The desiring to know and experience the love Church is able to celebrate and adore and compassion of Jesus Christ. the mystery of Christ present in the A perfect time to pray for such a reEucharist precisely because Christ gave newal of faith is each and every time the the Church the command to “do this priest profoundly utters the words, “This is my Body; this is the cup of my Blood.” in memory of me.” Jesus gave us the Let us pray that our hearts may be deeply Eucharist on the night before he died to strengthen us, to increase our faith, to asmoved by the reality that “when we eat this bread and drink this cup we proclaim sist us on our way to heaven, to help us become saints. the death and resurrection of our Lord, Every time we approach the Body and until he comes in glory.” Blood of Christ in the holy sacrifice of the Sometimes, however, the Eucharist Mass, we do so in faith. Let us pray with and our reception of it can become quite Mary and all the angels and saints that we casual, sometimes even to the point of may grow in a greater love and devotion forgetting that we are receiving God to our Lord in the Eucharist. Let us pray himself. There are many reasons for this, most of which are our own subjective dis- that our hearts and minds become overwhelmed with the amazement that the positions of faith, prayer or morality. We Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ should continually remind ourselves, before Mass, during Mass, and in particular become truly present before our very eyes while in line to receive holy Communion at every Mass. This is the mystery of our faith: Christ is with us always. and immediately afterwards, that we are Father Mello is a parochial vicar at receiving the Body of Jesus Christ. St. Patrick’s Parish in Falmouth. While celebrating the feast of Corpus
October 8, 2010
Q: My wife and I go to Mass on first Saturdays to this church where the normal priest offers confession, Mass and anointing of the sick. Now, the normal priest was not there, but our new priest stood in for the normal priest. When the Mass was over the priest said: “Before I give the anointing of the sick, I want it to be known that I will give it only to those who are sick, dying, have a serious illness, or in danger of losing their life. Too many people abuse this sacrament.” Was he right in making that statement? — J.C., Corpus Christi, Texas A: I have no idea if the manner or tone of the priest’s statement was done with due pastoral tact. But he is correct as to the substance of the norms for administering the anointing of the sick. Under present norms the sacrament may be administered “as soon as any one of the faithful begins to be in danger of death from sickness or old age, the fitting time for him to receive this sacrament has certainly already arrived” (Code of Canon Law 1004 §1). The provisions of the ritual “for the anointing of the sick and their pastoral care,” issued by the Holy See, clarifies the conditions under which the
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Anointing of the Sick
elderly: “Anointing can be sacrament may be received. conferred on the aged who are Regarding the judgment as greatly weakened in strength, to the seriousness of the illeven though there is no sign ness, the document states, “It of a dangerous illness.” In this is sufficient to have a prudent or probable judgment about its case the anointing may be repeated periodically as old age seriousness. All anxiety about progresses. the matter should be put aside The sacrament can also be and, if necessary, the physician administered to sick children: might be consulted.” Also: “This sacrament can be repeated if the sick person had recovered after his previous reception of anointing. It can also be conferred again By Father if, during the same Edward McNamara illness, his dangerous condition becomes more serious.” “from the time they have Major surgery is also a sufreached the age of reason, so ficient motivation for receivthat they can be strengthened ing the sacrament, even if by this sacrament.” Consethe condition is not in itself quently the motive for conimmediately life-threatening: ferring the sacrament is not “Before a surgical section (though it may include) remis(popularly ‘operation’), holy sion of their personal sins, but anointing can be given to the to obtain the strength they may sick person as often as the need either for bearing their dangerous illness is the cause sufferings, or to overcome disof this surgery.” couragement or, if it is God’s Here the Church distinwill, to be restored to health. guishes between an illness The sacrament may also be that might not of itself warrant reception of the sacrament, and conferred on the unconscious the same illness preceding sur- if “as believers they would likely have asked for the holy gery. In the latter case, anointanointing while they were in ing becomes warranted. possession of their faculties.” With reference to the
Liturgical Q&A
Likewise, if a person is apparently dead but the priest “is in doubt whether the sick person is really dead, he can give him the sacrament conditionally.” Therefore, although the Church’s dispositions allow for a generous administration of the anointing of the sick, the sacrament is ordered toward the gravely ill from a physical condition. It should not be administered generally and indiscriminately. Another reader had a question about whether it is necessary to receive the sacrament of penance before the sacrament of the anointing of the sick based on having seen a priest say it was unnecessary to one of the person’s relatives whom the priest was preparing to anoint. The sacrament of anointing of the sick does forgive sins, but this is not its principal effect. The “Catechism,” summarizing the effects of this sacrament, says in No. 1532 that the sacrament of the anointing of the sick has as an effect “the forgiveness of sins, if the sick person was not able to obtain it through the sacrament of penance.” Thus a person who is able
and willing, should always be offered the opportunity to confess before receiving the anointing of the sick, as this usually provides an added consolation and grace in the face of the difficulties of illness. The sacrament’s power to forgive sins is usually tied to the person’s being unable to go to confession. In the case of a priest at hand, the priest, perhaps because of an erroneous idea regarding the effects of the sacrament, did not act according to the mind of the Church when he refused to hear the person’s confession. This ignorance, coupled with the fact that the person was prepared and repentant, certainly meant that in this case he was “unable to receive forgiveness through the sacrament of penance,” and so the anointing supplied the effect of forgiveness and the dying man received viaticum in the state of grace. Father Edward McNamara is a Legionary of Christ and professor of Liturgy at Regina Apostolorum University in Rome. His column appears weekly at zenit.org. To submit questions, email liturgy@ zenit.org. Please put the word “Liturgy” in the subject field. The text should include your initials, your city and state.
Defending the dignity of those with dementia
once heard a remarkable story from a woman named Cecilia sitting next to me on a long flight. She told me how her mother had suffered from dementia for many years, eventually reaching the point that she could no longer recognize any of her children when they would visit at the nursing home. She then changed the tone of the conversation immediately when she added, “But there’s always someone in there.” When I asked what she meant, she continued: “I love singing, and as an African-American, I’ve got a strong voice. I sometimes visit nursing homes near my house just to sing for the patients, to do something different and break up their routine a little. I still remember 12 years ago, I decided I would sing for my mom. She didn’t have a clue who I was, and didn’t respond to much of anything because the dementia was so advanced. She seemed almost catatonic. By chance I had come across one of her old hymnals with the Baptist songs we used to sing in church as kids. She used to know most of them by heart. Well, those
old hymns stirred up something afflicted rarely if ever recoginside her and after I started nizes the need for company, for singing, she suddenly picked stimulation, for the same sort up and began to sing along with of treatment he or she would me! Yup, there’s always someseek and be given as a matter one in there.” of course in earlier, healthier, Cecilia’s story about her days?” mother runs against a cultural Sometimes we may view the tendency today, which is to dismiss those struggling with dementia as if they were no longer persons. These patients, however, clearly deserve much more from us than By Father Tad the kind of benign nePacholczyk glect (or worse) that they occasionally receive. Many of us fear a diagnosis of dementia. We situation more from our own worry about “surrendering our vantage point, rather than the core” or “losing our true self” to patient’s. In a report on care for the disease. Many of us wonder the elderly, physicians Bernard how our loved ones would treat Lo and Laurie Dornbrand put it us under such circumstances. this way: “Family members and Steven Sabat, writing in The health professionals sometimes Journal of Clinical Ethics, chal- project their own feelings onto lenges the reduced expectations the patient. Life situations that for quality care for those with would be intolerable to young dementia: healthy people may be made “Is his or her personhood acceptable to older debilitated recognized and supported, or patients.” neglected in favor of the asSabat notes how this raises sumption that it barely, if at all, the prospect of reducing the exists … do we assume that the patient to a kind of object:
Making Sense Out of Bioethics
“The dementia sufferer is not treated as a person; that is, as one who is an autonomous center of life. Instead, he or she is treated in some respects as a lump of dead matter, to be measured, pushed around, manipulated, drained, filled, dumped, etc.” The medical profession in particular faces a unique responsibility towards each individual with dementia, a duty to approach each life, especially in its most fragile (and uncooperative) moments, with compassion, patience and attention. When our ability to think rationally or choose freely becomes clouded or even eliminated by dementia, we still remain at root the kind of creature who is rational and free, and the bearer of inalienable human dignity. We never change from one kind of being into another. Parents who have children born with a serious birth defect or behavioral problem would never suggest that their defect or impediment transforms them into another kind of being, into an animal
or a pet. It never renders them “subhuman,” even though their behaviors, like those of advanced dementia patients, may at times be frustrating and very hard to bear. As Cecilia reminded me on the plane, “there’s always someone in there.” Pope John Paul II in a beautiful passage from Evangelium Vitae (On the Gospel of Life) speaks of “the God of life, who has created every individual as a ‘wonder.’” We are called to foster an outlook that “does not give in to discouragement when confronted by those who are sick, suffering, outcast or at death’s door.” Those suffering from dementia challenge us in a particular way towards the beautiful, and at times heroic, response of love, “perceiving in the face of every person a call to encounter, dialogue and solidarity.” Father Pacholczyk earned his doctorate in neuroscience from Yale and did post-doctoral work at Harvard. He is a priest of the Diocese of Fall River, and serves as the director of Education at The National Catholic Bioethics Center in Philadelphia. See www. ncbcenter.org
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lcoholism and drug addiction are very much like the leprosy we encounter in today’s readings in that they create a sense of self-loathing. People who are locked into addiction are very much like lepers. They isolate themselves from the rest of society and travel in groups. As a Chaplain in a local jail, I was amazed at how the heroin addicts all knew each other even though they lived in different towns. Ninety-eight percent of the men and women incarcerated in our jails are addicts, or alcoholics, or both. Despite appearances, addicts and alcoholic are not happy being what they are. Their crimes are almost always a by-product of their addiction. The real problem is self-loathing, guilt and shame. Many times I asked the residents (inmates) how they felt about themselves on a scale of zero to 10; zero being, “I don’t like myself at all,” and 10 being, “I really feel good about myself.” Most would respond in the zero to three range.
October 8, 2010
The Anchor
Want an attitude of gratitude?
Most would also agree that shaking and scared to death they were anesthesiologists. and walk out with a smile on Their addiction was a way to their face and tears streaming self-medicate and escape their down their cheeks. I always spiritual and psychological remember one of the residents pain. The question, then, is who had just finished his first how do you solve the problem? confession in 25 years shout That takes us to today’s readings. The antidote for poor Homily of the Week self-worth is knowTwenty-eighth Sunday ing that you are loved in Ordinary Time and accepted. This is exactly what the cross By Deacon is all about, Jesus says Richard J. Murphy to us as he hangs on the cross in terrible agony: at the top of his lungs, “Thank “This is how much I love you, Lord! Thank you! Thank you. I’m willing to die for you. you, I never knew you could If you were the only one in the feel this good.” world I would do this for you.” That, my, friends is an “atOnce you can get someone’s titude of gratitude.” attention long enough for them I don’t think it is much of a to absorb this idea, then you stretch to say that the power of can send them to the priest for God had flowed through very reconciliation. ordinary people who reached Over and over I watched out to a leper with love and tough men and women, who sent him to the priest. His would break into your house leprosy was healed and this without thinking twice or sell was his way of saying, “Thank their body to get their next you Lord!” fix walk into the confessional
Not only did he say, “Thank you, Lord,” but everyone who saw the healing take place were also saying, “Thank you Lord.” We read our Bibles or hear the Word of God read in church and we say, “Wow, I wish I could have been there to see that!” But we can be! Jesus says to us in John 14, “Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these, because I am going to the Father. And whatever you ask in my name, I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” There are lots of lepers on our streets and among our friends and family members. People are starving for love, starving to know Our Lord Jesus. The problem is that many of them have never experienced love. I know that may be hard to believe, but sadly it’s
true. I always remember the cry of one girl whose eighth child had just been taken from her because she was an addict and considered an unfit mother. Her wail of pain — “All I ever wanted was someone to love me” — pierced my soul and the souls of all the others that were with me that day. You and I exist to love these children back to health, to help Our Lord cure their leprosy. If we sit back and do nothing, we deny them the opportunity of getting that “attitude of gratitude.” If we step out in faith, if we reach out to someone in need, God will guide us and bless us in ways we can’t even imagine. When we take the risk and witness the hand of God heal another leper and hear that person say, “Thank you, Lord,” our souls will also shout, “Thank you, Lord!” And we, too, will have an attitude of gratitude. Deacon Murphy serves at St. Francis Xavier Parish in Hyannis.
Upcoming Daily Readings: Sat. Oct. 9, Gal 3:22-29; Ps 105:2-7; Lk 11:27-28 . Sun. Oct. 10, Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time, 2 Kgs 5:14-17; Ps 98:1-4; 2 Tm 2:8-13; Lk 17:11-19. Mon. Oct. 11, Gal 4:22-24,26-27,31-5:1; Ps 113:1b-5a,6-7; Lk 11:29-32. Tues. Oct. 12, Gal 5:1-6; Ps 119:41,43-45,47-48; Lk 11:37-41. Wed. Oct. 13, Gal 5:18-25; Ps 1:1-4,6; Lk 11:42-46. Thur. Oct. 14, Eph 1:1-10; Ps 98:1-6; Lk 11:47-54. Fri. Oct. 15, Eph 1:11-14; Ps 33:1-2,4-5,12-13; Lk 12:1-7.
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ome years ago, I was invited to address a seminar at the Palace of Westminster for members of the House of Lords and House of Commons interested in Catholic social doctrine. The seminar was advertised in the daily schedules of both houses of Parliament and by 11 a.m. a dozen or so peers and MPs had gathered in a conference room. As Lord Alton of Liverpool was introducing me, a gray head thrust itself inside the door to see what was afoot.
Richard Dawkins & Co. = Paisley 2.0?
brand from Northern Ireland. An Alas, before I could seize the miexchange of polemics is unlikely crophone and say, “Do come in, Dr. Paisley, and see what the Whore of Babylon is up to,” David Alton finished his introduction and invited me to begin my presentation — for which, alas, the Rev. Ian Paisley did not tarry. By George Weigel It was something of a disappointment, for I was eager to get to grips now, though, for Dr. Paisley is with the old anti-Catholic fireso far gone in respectability as to have been raised to the peerage as Lord Bannside. Yet a few embers of anti-Catholic bigotry still smolder within his lordship’s breast: during Pope Benedict’s recent visit to the United Kingdom, Dr. Paisley told the Telegraph that “I don’t want his blessing,” and then claimed, absurdly, that “I just got a notice from their website that if you pay 25 pounds and go to Mass today, you’ll get out of purgatory quicker.” Still, there’s something a bit ragged, a bit shopworn, about Ian Paisley’s complaints these days. He’s engaged in anti-Catholic bombast for so long that whatever notes he manages to coax from his tarnished trumpet sound muted and flat: a matter of going through the motions for the sake of Auld Lang Syne (if an Ulsterman like Paisley will permit me the reference).
The Catholic Difference
The serious anti-Catholic antics prior to the pope’s pilgrimage to Scotland and England came, not from Ian Paisley, but from “new atheists” like Richard Dawkins and Stephen Fry, their allies in the British media (generally vicious in the run-up to Benedict’s arrival), and their legal show-pony, Geoffrey Robinson, Q.C., a transplanted Australian seeking to export the joys of American liability law to the U.K., as a base from which to plunder the Vatican of what he imagines to be its Croesuslike wealth. These people came unglued in anticipation of the pope’s arrival: Dawkins and Co. originally proposed having the pope arrested as an abettor of child-rape, and the op-ed pages were filled with raucous anti-Catholic blather for weeks before Benedict XVI set foot in the United Kingdom. In the event, of course, it all came a cropper, to use a local phrase. As a courageous Scottish bishop, Philip Tartaglia, put it to me during the visit, “the pope’s grace and intelligence” won the day, to the point where even the BBC — which had disgraced itself with forays into the Paisleyan fever swamps of anti-Catholicism in recent months — was providing reasonably balanced, and
occasionally even positive, coverage of papal events in Glasgow and London. The hyper-secularist chattering classes had had their innings; the people turned out in droves anyway, to be with the Bishop of Rome and to give him the kind of cordial and respectful welcome first extended to him on his arrival by the ever-impressive Queen Elizabeth II. By the time Benedict left, even Prime Minister David Cameron, not previously noted for his enthusiasm about Joseph Ratzinger, was telling the pope that he had given all Britons important things to think about. Benedict XVI’s success in the U.K. challenges the oftensupine British hierarchy to be as humanly compelling and intellectually forceful as the pope. If the bishops of the U.K. gather their nerve, they may eventually recognize that the new atheists are in danger of becoming Paisley 2.0: people so perfervid, so overthe-top, in their antipathies as to be dismissed as fundamentally unserious. The virulence of the new atheists’ pre-papal visit commentary suggests they may fear this fate for themselves. In which case, to use another local phrase, it’s time to put in the boot. George Weigel is Distinguished Senior Fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C.
October 8, 2010
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The week that was
Sunday 26 September 2010 ity on Dighton Rock and with — at home in The Dightons his wife has co-authored a — Twenty-sixth Sunday in book on the Portuguese ethnicOrdinary Time ity of Christopher Columbus. t’s late September and They brought a gift of warm parish life in the Diocese malasadas. of Fall River is in full swing. To assist you, dear readers, in getting a sense of what goes Reflections of a on in the 90 parishes of Parish Priest the diocese, allow me to review one week in By Father Tim just one parish. Goldrick The last weekend in September was, well, ordinary. On Saturday morning, Dr. Manuel da Silva There were four celebraand his wife Sylvia dropped tions of holy Mass, the sacraby. It’s always a pleasure to ment of penance, and four see them. A retired medical baptisms that weekend. I doctor, he is the world author- had only to preside at three
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Masses, hear confessions, and perform baptisms. Church law allows me to say three Sunday Masses in a “pastoral emergency.” We priests live in constant pastoral emergency. When I arrived at the church Sunday morning, I found parishioners agitated. It seems that, moments before, there had been a collision between a parishioner driving to Mass and an out-oftown person riding a motorcycle. The motorcyclist sustained injuries; she was airlifted to a hospital. The woman driving the car was physically unharmed but badly shaken. Still other parishioners
The rosy reality of the Christian world view
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objects. In layman’s terms, eaf-peeping, or viewing polarization restores our view autumn foliage in its full of the world to its proper clarity splendor, is one of my all-time by optically removing the sun’s favorite activities. Last fall we glare. discovered a new leaf-peeping The same restoration of and hiking spot called Purgaour soul happens when we are tory Chasm in Sutton, Mass. baptized into the Christian faith. The closer we got to Sutton the When God created the world, more vibrant the leaf colors he created it to be good (Gen seemed to get. They were really 1-2:2). When Adam and Eve just so breathtaking that I kept sinned, mankind’s perception of spontaneously yelling out, “Just look at those colors! Can orange good and evil became disorganized and a secular haze was get any more vibrant than that? cast over our view of world. Hey, can someone get a picture while we’re moving? No? OK, hold on, I’ll pull over.” It was during one of those pull-overs that I took off my sunglasses to adjust my camera settings and realized By Heidi Bratton that my children had not been seeing the same pulsating colors that I Through baptism and ongoing had. The trees and leaves were repentance, that secular haze is the same, but because I had filtered out, and our view of the been wearing sunglasses with world is spiritually reorganized polarizing, rose-tinted lenses, to be in line with God’s goodthe colors they had been seeness. In layman’s terms, faith in ing were completely different, Jesus Christ restores our view honestly quite dull by compariof the world’s goodness by son. No wonder they weren’t as spiritually removing sin’s glare. enthusiastic as I was. Part two: As with polarizaWell, I couldn’t stand the tion, the color of a piece of kids not experiencing the glass alters nothing about the splendor that I was, so for the scene that is being viewed rest of the drive I passed my through the glass — it only sunglasses around. After that changes the viewer’s percepthey were the ones shouting and tion of it. But here’s the kicker: pointing. How we perceive life has an Looking at fall foliage enormous impact on how we through polarizing, rose-tinted live life. sunglasses is a great analogy for Christians and nonlooking at life through the lens Christians live amid the same of the Christian faith. Scientifihistorical and current events, cally speaking, here’s why, in but when we Christians look at two parts. these events through the lens of Part one: Polarization does faith, our view of them is colnot enhance a scene by adding ored with the hope of heaven. anything to it, but filters out Our view is further rose-tinted a light haze that is cast over a with things like peace that is scene due to the disorganized beyond understanding, unconway that sunlight reflects off
Homegrown Faith
ditional love from God, the supernatural ability to forgive and be forgiven, access to God’s mercy and grace, and much, much more (Phil 4:6-7; Rom 8: 1, 38-39; Eph 4:25-32; and Heb 4:16). Non-Christians are missing all of this, and not surprisingly, they live very differently because of it. Sometimes the phrase, “looking through rose-colored glasses” is spun negatively, implying that someone isn’t in touch with reality; but scientifically and spiritually speaking, nothing could be further from the truth. It is flat-out awesome. A great family faith exercise this fall would be to get a pair of polarizing, rose-tinted sunglasses and a pair of non-polarizing, bluetinted sunglasses and go on a leaf-peeping adventure. We can compare which sunglasses provides the most brilliant view of the foliage and have a discussion about the many ways that seeing through the first pair is like seeing and living life with a Christian worldview. Of course all physical, emotional, intellectual, or spiritual beauty that we experience on earth is but a foreshadowing of the splendor of heaven, so we can conclude our faith exercise by reading Revelation 4. In it, St. John tells us that God’s throne is encircled by a rainbow resembling an emerald and set in a crystal clear sea of glass. Now, I’m pretty sure we’re not going to need any special glasses to help us experience splendor of that magnitude. Heidi is an author, photographer, and full-time mother. She and her husband raise their six children in Falmouth. homegrownfaith@gmail.com.
had witnessed the accident and were themselves upset. All were in need of immediate attention, but I couldn’t be in several places at the same time. Since I was the only one in town who could celebrate Mass, I opted to celebrate it and perform the baptisms, and then, as soon as possible, contact those affected by the accident. A wonderful thing happened, the likes of which I have never seen. Parish staff, police and fire departments, and concerned parishioners all came together. They rushed to offer help and support to the victims of the accident. Telephone calls and visits were made. Relatives of the injured woman contacted our parish “prayer hotline.” Those assembled in the church for Mass prayed for those involved in the accident. The whole town spontaneously came into focus to wrap those traumatized in a blanket of loving concern. My Mass intention was Father Flavius Gamache, formerly pastor at St. Peter Church in Dighton. It was the anniversary of his death. Two of the babies scheduled to be baptized were present at Mass. I took them in my arms and held them up for the community to meet its latest members, babies number 122 and 123 since our parish was founded two years ago. After Mass, one congregation departed and another filled the church. These were the family, relatives and friends of the four infants to be baptized. I must say, I do enjoy performing baptisms. Baptism is a sacrament that affords me the opportunity to encounter folks who may not ordinarily be at church. I’m able to explain why the Church does the things it does and what it all means. Some call it “a teachable moment.” Following baptisms, I always invite people to stay as long as they want and I take time to pose for photographs, if
requested. Meanwhile, I was keeping abreast of the accident situation. Since all seemed under control, off I went to St. Ann’s Church in Raynham. They are celebrating their 50th anniversary and decided to invite back priests who had served in the parish. I was there for only two months in the summer of ’72. Not surprisingly, not many remembered me. Several elderly parishioners approached on canes and walkers and asked when I had served in St. Ann’s Church. When I told them, they responded, “You go back way before our time.” I took the comment as it was intended. One woman did remember me. She came over and said, “You baptized my number two son 38 years ago!” I did? Did it take? “Yes,” she answered, “my son turned out just fine.” Another woman came over and proclaimed, “You’re page nine, aren’t you?” Page nine? ”Yes, page nine. That’s where your weekly column appears in the newspaper. Not only do I read it myself, but I clip it out and mail it to my sister.” Yet another faithful Anchor reader. Then it was back to Dighton for the 5 p.m. Sunday Mass. Our grade eight and nine students and their parents were in attendance. I tried to make the assigned Gospel parable of the devious steward relevant to them. All you can do is try. After the last Mass, back at the rectory, I finished reading “The Great Shame and the Triumph of the Irish in the English Speaking World” by Thomas Keneally. A parishioner gave it to me. It has lots of information I never knew. I’ve run out of space. “The weekend that was” will have to do — just the Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time. Ordinary, indeed. Father Goldrick is pastor of St. Nicholas of Myra Parish in North Dighton.
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“I
October 8, 2010
The Anchor
A whiff of sulfur and a Spark of the Divine
t was plain to see that Miss Brodie wanted Rose with her instinct to start preparing to be Mr. Lloyd’s lover, and Sandy with her insight to act as an informant on the affair. It was to this end that Rose and Sandy had been chosen as the crème de la crème There was a whiff of sulphur about the idea which fascinated Sandy in her present mind. By the time the girls were 16 she was saying to her set at large, ‘Sandy will make an excellent Secret Service Agent, a great spy’; and to Sandy alone she had started saying, ‘Rose will be a great lover. She is above the common moral code, it does not apply to her.’” (From “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.”) If Evelyn Waugh (of the last column) was masterful in creating characters who are fallen yet sympathetic, Muriel Spark takes it to a new level in “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie,” where we are almost seduced by the idealism of characters who emit just a “whiff” of sulfur. There are no white hats and black hats in the novel, and even Miss Brodie, the contradictory, vain, and supercilious title character, escapes villainy in her love of philosophy and art, her commitment, and for encouraging “her girls” to become the best version of themselves. We are almost seduced by her, the way her students are seduced, and the way Brodie is seduced by Hitler and Mussolini; historical
figures Muriel Spark uses with a deft than casting Miss Brodie off into the dramatic irony, since we know how fires of hell as an irredeemable villain. their values and vision will turn out in Instead, she uses bathos and pathos to the long run. warn us of the tendency toward grave Similar to Waugh, there is convererror in all of us, even when we think sion by the story’s end, though we are we are pursuing the highest goals. never for a moment led to believe that She noted that writing “The Prime of it arrived because the character who re- Miss Brodie” was like taking dictation. ceives it is worthy of it. We only know The Scottish school teacher emerged that it simply arrives, inexplicably, almost fully formed from Spark’s despite herself, cranium, like and despite Athena leapthe lasting ing from the influence of mind of Zeus, a narcissisimmediately tic, desperate following her woman. conversion to The ironic Catholicism, By Jennifer Pierce blend of conwhich arrived tradictions in after studySpark’s mocking Cardinal heroine do not prevent her from also Newman. (Spark is famously quoted as inscribing sympathy — even empathy saying: “If you are going to do a thing, — for the dedicated teacher-cumyou should do it thoroughly. If you are madam, who prostitutes her charges as going to be a Christian, you may as a sacrifice to her own romantic disapwell be Catholic.”) pointment. As evidence, Miss Brodie Spark’s biography, and the self-critishares some characteristics with Spark cal tone of her memoirs and interviews, herself. Her love of Italy, for instance, delivers the distinct impression that her parallels Spark’s own love of the coun- conversion freed her from the burden try that later became her permanent of sinfulness. She seems to accept that residence. Further, she also concedes sinfulness so readily in herself and in that the positive aspects of Miss Brodie the world, one is assured that she must were based upon her favorite and most know, somehow, impossibly, they will influential teacher, indicating that be redeemed. One cannot help but think Spark had something else in mind other that the conversion of a central charac-
On Great Catholic Writers
ter in “Miss Brodie” must bear a close resemblance to her own experience, since the fiction was created in such proximity to the reality. The details of the fictional one commented on the position of faith in a world beset by inescapable fallenness. Like Waugh, she views faith as stemming the tide of a seemingly irretrievable fall from grace. Consequently, she narrates good emerging from evil, order from chaos; the particular crimes and virtues of one Miss Brodie combined to bring a conversion that was the fruit of dark deeds as much — if not more — than good ones. It is the mark of the particular breed of Anglo-Catholicism to which both Waugh and Spark belong, a protest against the European modernism which sought justification for its own pessimism in the horror of two world wars. In this sense, Miss Brodie is not just a fallen person, but a fallen Europe, with all of the regal beauty of its “prime” juxtaposed with all the weaknesses that led half the continent into the hands of totalitarianism. Through the conversion we can see that European idealism resurrected, with the assurance that grace, even amidst the strongest whiffs of sulfur, survives and even thrives. Jennifer Pierce is a parishioner of Corpus Christi in East Sandwich, where she lives with her husband Jim and two daughters.
Minnesota bishops’ DVD campaign urges traditional marriage be protected
ST. PAUL, Minn. (CNS) — Minnesota’s Catholic bishops have sent a letter and DVD to Catholics in the state about the Church’s response to measures recently introduced in the state legislature that would change the definition of marriage to include same-sex couples. “As the chief pastor of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, I am writing to let you know of an important development that, if successful, will profoundly impact families throughout Minnesota,” Archbishop John C. Nienstedt said. “That is, the organized effort to redefine marriage in our state.” During the 2010 legislative session, five bills to redefine marriage were introduced. “Defining marriage as simply a union of consenting parties will change the core meaning of marriage in the public square for every Minnesotan,” the archbishop said. If same-sex marriage were legalized in Minnesota, the law would require public schools to teach children that same-sex marriage and traditional marriage are the same, the archbishop wrote. In the video, Archbishop Nienstedt calls for an opportunity for citizens to vote on a state constitutional amendment to preserve the traditional definition of marriage.
“At best, so called same-sex marriage is an untested social experiment,” he said. “And at worst, it poses a dangerous risk with potentially far-reaching consequences. An exercise of caution should be in order.” The cost of producing the DVD, entitled “One Man, One Woman — Marriage and the Common Good,” was covered by an anonymous donor. In a column in the September issue of his diocesan newspaper, The Courier, Bishop John M. Quinn of Winona urged Catholics to talk to their legislators and urge them to oppose any effort to redefine marriage. “Any other kind of relationship simply is not a marriage,” he said. “This is our time to stand up and defend marriage as a unique institution that, from the beginning of human history and in every culture, is the union of one man and one woman for the propagation of the human family and the upbringing of children.” Thirty-one states have adopted constitutional amendments defining marriage as a union of one man and one woman, Chris Leifeld, executive director of the Minnesota Catholic Conference, pointed out. “The Minnesota Catholic bishops agree that Minnesota should follow this lead and let the people of Minnesota decide this issue, not our judges or legislators,” Leifeld said.
October 8, 2010
Courtesy
The Anchor
St. Vincent’s Home owns a rich, colorful history
of
St. Vincent’s Home
FALL RIVER — It all began more than 125 years ago in 1884 when Bishop Thomas F. Hendricken of the Diocese of Providence, of which Fall River then was a part, bought the Forest Hill Gardens Amusement Park on North Main Street in Fall River and established a home for children whose parents were ill or who had lost one or both parents to death. In September 1885, the Sisters of Mercy had closed the Bethlehem Home orphanage in Taunton and moved into The Windsor Hotel in the amusement park overlooking the Taunton River with the first group of children. The Sisters and the children lived there for nearly a decade while funds were raised to build a new home. The first priest at the North Main Street location was Father Timothy Sweeney, and soon after the purchase of the property, Bishop Matthew Harkins became Bishop of Providence. On Feb. 7, 1889, Bishop Harkins formed St. Vincent’s Home Corporation of Fall River. Under Bishop Harkins and Father Sweeney, St. Vincent’s Home was completed and dedicated on June 23, 1895. The home consisted of six dormitories, four on the top floor and two on the second floor. The chapel was also located on the second floor, and the first floor consisted of the gym, the dining area, shower, and game room. In 1904, Fall River became a diocese separate from Providence. Bishop William Stang was its first ordinary, and St. Vincent’s served as an episcopal residence while the bishop lived in the facility during the initial days of his pastorship. In 1907, Bishop Daniel F. Feehan was appointed bishop, following Bishop Stang. It was during this time that Father Charles A. Donovan became director of the home. Many Fourth of July picnics and parties were held at St. Vincent’s Forest Hill Gardens site, and in addition to providing custodial care, the home also served as a school for the residents and the neighborhood children. In 1922, Father Donovan bought a farm on Highland Avenue which would serve the needs of St. Vincent’s Home, providing chickens, milk, and vegetables for the children’s meals. It was during that time that Sister Kevin and Sister Regis began their service at St. Vincent’s. Joe “Duke” Dudek was raised from infancy by the Sisters who rocked him in a basket next to the stove as they cooked. Duke would eventually become chef himself, taking Sister Regis’ place. Under the direction of Bishop James E. Cassidy, responsibility for St. Vincent’s Home was assumed by Father William H. Harrington, who, like his predecessor, was also the pastor of St. Bernard’s Parish in Assonet. Father Harrington worked closely with Sister Angelita in educating many of the children who went on to college. Because of Father Harrington’s relationship to St. Bernard’s Parish, the Sisters and the children became closely associated with
the parish. Confirmation ceremonies were held at St. Vincent’s Home for the children of St. Bernard’s Parish and the residents at St. Vincent’s Home. Like Sister Mary Bernadette who had come from Bethlehem Home when St. Vincent’s began and spent most years caring for her girls, in 1937 Sister Monice was professed and received a call to go to St. Vincent’s Home to help for two weeks. She never left. Sister Monice remained, caring for her boys for 55 years. For Sister Monice, memories reflect the philosophy of St. Vincent’s. “We never wanted it to be an institution. It was a home — and family,” she said. Sister Monice remembered those days in the 1930s and ’40s when a stock luncheon and snack treat was bread, peanut butter, and milk, adding, “We used to go to the beach behind the home, and that’s what we would bring with us ... the bread was homemade ... the milk came from St. Vincent’s own farm ... the peanut butter was bought in 55 gallon cans.” Sister Monice’s remembrances also included Christmas mornings at the old home on North Main Street, day trips to Lincoln Park and Rocky Point, traditional Fourth of July picnics, making children’s clothes, drying children’s tears, listening to children’s stories, and somehow, somewhere, making room in crowded dormitories. Cardinal Humberto Medeiros, then a young priest, resided at St. Vincent’s Home around 1947-48. In 1949, Father John E. Boyd became director of St. Vincent’s. At that time Father Boyd was also pastor of St. Bernard’s Parish and director of the Catholic Welfare Bureau. In addition, Father Boyd found time for many other duties including chaplain of the Port of Fall River and director of the St. Vincent de Paul health camp on Adamsville Road in Westport. Father Boyd was also the director of radio activities for the diocese, presenting a weekly news show, “A Catholic Priest Views the News.” The Sisters recall that on many evenings, Father Boyd could be found giving piggy-back rides up and down the long driveway of St. Vincent’s Home. Father Boyd also staged many fund-raising events including Sister Regis’ and Duke’s famous chicken pie suppers with the help of the Alumni and Friends Association. In 1951 Bishop James L. Connolly assumed the duties of the Fall River Diocese. A famous incident occurred in 1956 when alumnus Henry “Red” Voucher made it to the finals on the popular game show, “Name that Tune.” Red was at St. Vincent’s with Father Donovan, and as he rose to the rank of Chief Petty Officer on the carrier USS Saratoga. He
remembered those who had cared for him at St. Vincent’s Home. After winning with his partner for four straight weeks, the big day arrived. Father Boyd, the Sisters, and 75 boys and girls took a bus to New York City for the final show. While staying in a New York City Hotel,
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the Sisters and children were also guests of the USS Saratoga where the crew gave a huge party and dinner for all, followed by gifts to each child — dolls for girls and toy guns for boys. Red and his partner eventually won the grand prize Turn to page 13
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B y R ebecca A ubut A nchor S taff
TAUNTON — Even while being raised in the Catholic school system of Taunton, Dan Martin would sit in church every Sunday, surrounded by his five siblings and parents, and not exactly enjoy hearing the good word. “I can’t say that I was always psyched about going,” chuckled Martin at the memories. “I think I was a normal kid, until I kind of found something that interested me.” Martin’s interest was soon heightened when he began taking part in Church plays and became an altar server. As a teen-ager, his interest then became focused on being part of a youth group, and he was especially interested in a certain young lady. “That was how I met my wife,” said Martin, who recently celebrated his 23rd anniversary. “There was a bunch of us that were my age and her age, and together there were maybe eight to 10 of us. It was an unusual
The Anchor
A man on a roll
Martin drew on that famgroup; you get sophomores, said Martin. “She was one of juniors and seniors together those people that, if she’s not ily trait when his parish, St. Joseph’s, merged with St. back then, it wasn’t Paul’s to form St. cool. But we did a lot Andrew the Apostle. of cool stuff.” Emotions ran high at Martin says that the a meeting as details of youth group began to the merger were being work with younger hashed out. children in their min“There was a lot of istries and would do bitterness from some caroling during the people,” recalls Marholidays. But it was tin. “It bugged me the impact of seeing because people kind his mother volunteer of lost sight of what her time as a bookthings were supposed keeper at the rectory, to be about.” followed by her selfMartin immediately less work at hospice volunteered to join one care, that cemented of the newly formed Martin’s desire to committees. help others. “We had to try to “He is a nice guy, help,” he said, of his very faithful,” said joining the hospitality Father Timothy Reis, committee. “We had pastor of St. Andrew to try to make things the Apostle Parish good and get people in Taunton. “He’s together in the parAnchor person of the week — Dan Marlearned from his famish.” tin . (Photo by Rebecca Aubut) ily the idea of giving From there his parto the parish and beticipation in Church ing a person of faith.” “My mother was the kind there, then the stuff doesn’t began to snowball. He was of person who was quiet and happen. My mom was pretty soon asked to become an extraordinary minister of holy always in the background,” awesome.” Communion and joined the Knights of Columbus. “I think the vast majority of my participation in Church activities has been the heaviest in the last three or four years,” said Martin, who works at a local school and also a restaurant. “No matter where I turned, I was going to be in the faith.” He added, “I have to say
October 8, 2010
that it hasn’t been only me. There are some phenomenal people in our parish. It was a challenge for the two churches to come together.” Recently Father Reis asked the Knights of Columbus to put a new spin on a fund-raising dinner, and Martin rose to the challenge by creating a roasted chicken dinner with all the trimmings. Seventeen hundred dollars was raised and evenly split between two families that sorely needed the funds. “I was hoping it would go OK, but someone was looking out for us because everything went perfectly,” said Martin, who was quick to deflect any credit of success away from himself. “I have to give credit to the other Knights, because these guys are just tireless. They do a lot of work to help out and do things all year long.” His truest reward, said Martin, is seeing the two churches and their parishes finally come to a full union. “It has been phenomenal,” said Martin. “It’s been a tremendous turnabout. It’s pretty awesome.” And yet, it’s still the little signs of appreciation that catch him by surprise, like the woman who approached him after the fund-raiser and handed him a gift bag as a thank you for his hard work. “She came up to me and said, ‘This is for you and I just want you to know that what you do doesn’t go unnoticed, and I think it’s wonderful.’ That made me want to cry,” said Martin. Martin’s mother passed away from cancer in 1996, but Martin is keeping the family tradition alive and is enjoying watching his two teen-age children help out at every event. “You kind of just want to keep doing them all,” said Martin, of his busy schedule. “People see and I think, after a while they think, what can I be doing? You can’t say initially that I thought, if I do this, this, and this, people will want to help out more. But it turned out that way. You can see changes in people and can recognize that this is working out. And you don’t really want to stop doing anything because you have a good thing going — you’re on a roll.” To nominate a person, email: FatherRogerLandry@anchornews.org.
October 8, 2010
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The Anchor cent’s the second largest treatment facility in the Commonwealth. The needs of the children who were referred to St. Vincent’s were met by a program of specialized instruction, structured living environments, and counseling sessions. Dedicated staff and volunteers provided many valuable ancillary services that made St. Vincent’s such a special place. One such program was the Foster Grandparent Program. While the program was operational, the children became aware of what having a grandmother really meant. Father Joseph Costa assumed the position of executive director in 1989 and, under his leadership, St. Vincent’s grew in size and diversity of services provided. A second campus in Westport
only the beginning — The original St. Vincent’s Home, then located on North Main Street in Fall River, is shown in this 1911 post card. The home, now located on Highland Avenue, has been serving needy children, youth and their families for 125 years.
St. Vincent’s Home has a rich, colorful history continued from page 11
and donated it to the St. Vincent’s Home Building Fund. He went on to become lieutenant governor of Alaska. Bishop Connolly was joined in 1959 by Bishop James J. Gerrard, who was an auxiliary bishop for the diocese. With the arrival of Father Cronin in October 1962 as director of St. Vincent’s, and through the mid-1960s, the needs of the times began to change. Children with special needs became the focus of St. Vincent’s efforts. In 1963, Sister Rose de Lima was appointed Superior, and when Sister Rose was accepted at Boston College in the master’s program for social workers in 1969, Sister Lourdette Harrold assumed the responsibilities of administrator at St. Vincent’s until Sister Rose resumed the position three years later. After recognizing the need to get the children out of the city environment, Camp Vinhaven, located in Mashpee, was purchased in 1969. As building codes and standards became more rigorous and renovation costs escalated, the decision was made to construct a new, more appropriate facility to meet the needs of the children who were now treated at St. Vincent’s. In December 1970, Bishop Daniel A. Cronin became bishop of Fall River. In 1971, with construction well underway, Sister Rose returned to assist with preparations for the move to the new facility on Highland Avenue. The new St. Vincent’s was officially dedicated in October of 1972. The project, begun under Bishop Connolly, came to its completion with Bishop Cronin. The design of the new St. Vincent’s was in keeping with its changing role in the community. The overall capacity of the home had been reduced with the living areas decentralized into a series of separate cottages and adjacent buildings on the grounds including a chapel, school, gymnasium, and offices. The old cornerstone from St. Vincent’s on North Main Street was removed and now occupies a prominent place in the front entrance of the
main building on Highland Avenue. The modern, state-of-the art facility was “a dream come true” for Father Cronin, the Sisters, and the dedicated lay staff who saw the new St. Vincent’s as essential to providing the necessary treatment for children with special needs. In 1975, Father Armando Annunciato became director of St. Vincent’s. Father Annunciato’s leadership established a foundation for the directorship of Father Thomas L. Rita who came to St. Vincent’s in 1977. Father Rita continued to provide the necessary orientation that ensured stability for the operation of St. Vincent’s. Sister Rose continued in her role as administrator, heading up the team of childcare and special education professionals who so ably treated and educated the residents of the home. For the first time in the history of St. Vincent’s, a Sister of Mercy assumed the role of executive director when Bishop Cronin appointed Sister Rose de Lima to the position in July 1984. Sister Rose quickly re-affirmed her dedication to making St. Vincent’s a quality treatment center for children with special needs and learning disabilities. At the same time Father Joseph Costa was assigned as the chaplain and administrator. Together with Sister Rose and Chuck Rowe, the clinical director, they provided the leadership to make St. Vin-
was established for adolescent boys and several community-based group homes were opened in Fall River and New Bedford. In 1997, Jack Weldon, M.S.W. was appointed the first lay person to be executive director of St. Vincent’s by then-Bishop Sean O’Malley. Bishop George W. Coleman became the seventh bishop of the Diocese of Fall River in 2003, and he also serves as the chairman of the St. Vincent’s Board of Directors. Under Weldon’s leadership, St. Vincent’s has continued to change and diversify in response to the everchanging needs of children, youth and families as well as the more recent evolving systems of care priorities state-wide.
Thank you for caring for so many children and families over the last 125 years. May your legacy of hope carry on for many years to come.
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October 8, 2010
The Anchor
Words of Mercy Sisters, staffers and residents speak volumes of St. Vincent’s Home’s legacy By Dave Jolivet, Editor
all aboard — As part of their well-rounded participation at St. Vincent’s Home in Fall River, students have taken part in the whale boat races in New Bedford.
FALL RIVER — It’s said that a picture paints a thousand words, but sometimes it’s words that paint the best pictures. As St. Vincent’s Home celebrates 125 years of loving care and treatment for the thousands of young people who crossed its threshold, many current and former staff members and clients and their families had fond stories to share about this great institution. Most of those stories emanated from the Sisters of Mercy who lived out the charism of their order by dedicating their lives to some of Jesus’ poor souls. The Sisters began their relationship with St. Vincent’s home in 1885, and have had a hand in the success stories of St. Vincent’s ever since. In the 1930s, a newly-professed Sister of Mercy, Monice Houston, was asked to serve a two-week stint helping out at the home. “I never left,” she said, after more than 55 remarkable years at the home. Sister Monice passed away September 24, but before she died she shared with The Anchor a few
comments about her love for St. Vincent’s and the children who passed through its doors over the years. “I always worked the dormitory right up to the time I retired,” she said. “At one time I had 47 boys, and I was alone. I had two dormitories. I just wanted to say that the 55 years that I spent at St. Vincent’s were the happiest years of my life ... working with those boys.” Several retired Sisters took the time to share a few thoughts of their experiences at the home. Sister Sean Hurley said, “I went to St. Vincent’s in 1976 as a summer school teacher. I went for the summer, came back the next summer, and stayed for 19 years. I loved every bit of it. I watched what the counselors, the staff, and the teachers were doing with the children and how well the children responded to these adults and how happy they were at St. Vincent’s, and I decided I wanted to be a part of that.” Sister Helen McPeak shared that St. Vincent’s was a huge part of her ministry as a Mercy Sister. “Being at St. Vincent’s is
the most rewarding experience of my life,” she said. “To be at the heart of the world, revealing God’s love. I truly feel was my ministry there. I tried to do that by nurturing, by listening, and by encouraging.” “It really has been an honor and a privilege to journey with these children,” added Sister Rayleen Giannotti. “My ministry is really about creating a space and time for children to just be who they really are in the eyes of God. I had the opportunity to share God’s love and to really walk on some very holy ground.” Sister Lourdette Harrold retired from St. Vincent’s last year after 49 years of ministry there. “In those days, we not only taught school, but after school we were involved in direct care,” she said. “As St. Vincent’s programs developed over the years, my roles varied and were numerous. But the roles that I enjoyed most were the ones not in administration, but the ones where I was working directly with the children — as the school psychologist, the educational liTurn to page 15
October 8, 2010
St. Vincent’s Home — Words paint a hopeful picture continued from page 14
aison, and also with the high school girls. Currently, there are three Mercy Sisters still active in pastoral care at the home: Sisters Bernadetta Ryan, Elaine Marchand, and Rosemary Laliberte. “I always tell people the best part of my job are the kids,” said Sister Elaine. “It certainly is — they teach me something new every single day. They have taught me what it means to be forgiving, what it means to have trust, and especially what it means to have hope. I’ve been very blessed by my time here.” The Holy Union Sisters and an Ursuline Sister from Cleveland have also done great service at St. Vincent’s through the years. There are still two active Holy Union Sisters at St. Vincent’s: Sisters Helen McPeak and Barbara Kirkman. “It is my great privilege to work with children by interacting with them,” related Sister Barbara. “They certainly have done that for me. I consider it one of God’s great blessings in my life.” Over a century-and-a-quarter, St. Vincent’s Home has been the beneficiary of countless talented, caring employees and volunteers that comprised the staff there. Though the job responsibilities have remained everchanging, the staff has always been motivated by the home’s mission: “Giving children and families in need what they need most.” Those who have worked at St. Vincent’s have received the very best in training and education related to their various responsibilities. Many have moved on to successful careers elsewhere, but have credited the training and experiences they received at St. Vincent’s with their becoming the people they are. Michelle Loranger-Cruise of Dartmouth was a former St. Vincent staffer. She is now executive director of the Children’s Advocacy Center of Bristol County. She said all of the job experiences she had at St. Vincent’s “contributed to my growth as a leader and as a life-long servant in the child welfare field.” She added, “I frequently recall St. Vincent’s and the leadership — insisting on quality services for all. There was a thoughtful, visionary process involved in change and growth there. Inclusion in strategic planning and the executive leadership process was invaluable to me in my professional growth. This produced not only quality services for children, but also produced emerging leaders in their respective fields.”
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The Anchor Louise Richmond of Westport is the New England Regional Director and chairman of the National Residential Advisory Committee of the Child Welfare League of America. “My tenure at St. Vincent’s allowed me the opportunity to work with a very receptive staff, willing to take a risk in working ‘outside the box’ to set new and different direction for the organization. “I felt a part of the St. Vincent’s team, and I particularly enjoyed working in an organization where there was a feeling of spirituality and acceptance of all faiths. I loved the sense of celebration and ritual that the organization provided. I had opportunities to work with all the
age groups, from the children and youth to the direct care staff and leadership teams. Through my supervision of the managers and director, I was able to influence changes in the culture of the organization toward a new style of service delivery, putting an emphasis on collaborative problem-solving and youth-guided, family-centered practices.” As director of Special Education in the Swansea school system, John J. Robidoux of Barrington, R.I. knows his time at St. Vincent’s Home provided him with many practical experiences he could take forward. “I was very fortunate to have been a part of overseeing the school component at St. Vincent’s,” he said. “The daily
contact with the students was something I continue to treasure. Knowing that I played a small part in the lives of the students was rewarding and humbling. I still work hard to make sure students are afforded the support they need in order to get a good education and move forward with their lives. “St. Vincent’s has made me a more caring and empathetic person. St. Vincent’s continues to strive, as it always has, to restore hope to needy children and their families. Care is offered in a non-judgmental manner, honoring the diversity of each child and family.” Comments from current and former St. Vincent’s students and residents are often the most heartfelt. One such individual said, “I think that I have come a long way through my treatment
since my first day at St. Vincent’s. The things that I have accomplished are: graduating from high school, passing the MCAS exams, and moving to pre-independent living status. I overcame obstacles by building relationships with some of the kids and St. Vincent’s staff.” A former client said, “I feel I learned a lot while I was at St. Vincent’s. I matured into a good person, learned to act like a man, take care of myself, and be good to other people.” He added, “The St. Vincent’s staff taught me that your life will be what you make of it, as long as you make the best choices for yourself and work hard. I’ve learned that I can’t blame my past for everything. I graduated through the phases, earned more privileges and responsibilities, Turn to page 16
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The Anchor
Respect Life — ‘You can do huge things’ continued from page one
are here today to show that the Pro-Life movement is not going anywhere.” “There are more Pro-Life youth than ever before. As young adults, we are going to prove to the world that we are not going to sit down and shut up. We are no longer going to be the silent majority,” he told the crowd. “In high school and in college, I was, and still am, willing to be the most hated person in my classroom as long as I’m standing up for the truth.” He encouraged all Pro-Life people to educate themselves on the issue and not shy away from confrontation. He called abortion “the greatest injustice this country has ever seen.” In a message read by Marianne Luthin, director of the Archdiocese of Boston’s Pro-Life Office, Cardinal Seán P. O’Malley called Pro-Life youth an “encouraging sign of hope.” Cardinal O’Malley was unable to attend because he was in Rome at the request of the Holy Father. This year, Respect Life Month is dedicated to the theme, “The measure of love is to love without measure.” Cardinal O’Malley said that to love without measure is to love as God does. He thanked attendees for their public witness and commitment to life. Father David Mullen, pastor at St. Brendan Parish in Bellingham, announced from the podium, “The anti-life movement is doomed.”
He led a prayer where he asked God to “embolden” Pro-Lifers and to strengthen the movement. He prayed that all life be respected in the culture and in our laws. As the rally ended, everyone lined up to begin the walk. Many carried banners with the name of their parish, youth group or other organization. Others carried signs with Pro-Life messages. One sign with a picture of an unborn child on it said, “They don’t have a voice or a choice.” A little girl carried a sign that said, “I am a child, not a choice.” During the first part of the walk, the route passed by a dozen or so protesters who support abortion. They had their own signs that said, “Trust women” and “No mandatory motherhood.” While they chanted, “What do we want? Choice. When do we want it? Now.” The marchers drowned them out with their own chant, “What do we want? Life. When do we want it? Now.” The walk, run by MCFL, supports many organizations that put Pro-Life advocacy into action. Many assist mothers who might otherwise choose abortion. Anne Fox, president of MCFL, said the walk this year was a big success and attracted many young children. “I, personally, like to see the strollers,” she said. “Each year, for the past three or four years, there have been more strollers than the year before.” Marie Hines, a parishioner at St.
William Parish in Tewksbury, said she brought five of her six children to the event because she wanted to teach them “not to be afraid to stand up for something you believe in.” Katelyn Cossette, 15, a member of the newly-formed Burlington High School Pro-Life Club, told The Anchor that she is proud of the new group and encourages other students to start clubs at their schools. “It gives us a reputation that we want to do good things,” she said. Several dozen youth from Holy Family Parish in East Taunton attended the walk
October 8, 2010 as well as a special youth rally, sponsored by the Archdiocese of Boston, that morning. Their presence, marked by their bright orange shirts, was impossible to miss. Sarah Couto, an eighth-grader from the parish, said that she attended the walk because marching had a purpose. “What if my mother had an abortion? I wouldn’t be here,” she said. Olivia Ribero, also in eighth grade, said that she hoped women would see the Pro-Life crowd and never choose to abort their children. “I think people deserve to live,” she said simply.
words of wisdom — Mass. Citizens For Life President Anne Fox speaks to those ready to stand up for life prior to the October 3 Respect Life Walk to Aid Mothers and Children that began in the Boston Common. (Photo by Christine Williams)
Words paint a hopeful picture continued from page 15
and went on to independent living.” “I made the decision to reconnect with, and have my biological mother in my life again. This was a decision that was hard for me and my adoptive parents, but one I’m glad I made. I have the skills to deal with family conflicts that come up and accept the things I cannot control. I felt this was the final piece of the puzzle for me, something that bothered me for years. I feel we have the chance to heal as a family. St. Vincent’s staff taught me how to forgive and to give other people second chances. I feel in control of my life for the first time, and it feels good — like an accomplishment.” Abbie (not her real name) came to St. Vincent’s Home as an 11-year-old and was placed into the home’s Short-Term Assessment and Rapid Reintegration Program. Her disabilities were more than could be managed at home. Abbie had a genetic condition that manifested itself with cognitive limitations, learning disabilities and significant behavioral difficulties. Her mother maintained her as long as possible at home, but she was becoming too difficult to handle. Abbie was moved to a foster home but after one day, was asked to be removed by the family. She was brought to St. Vincent’s for further evaluation. Abbie’s mother was anxious about her child in another’s care, but she and her husband fully participated in all aspects of Abbie’s treatment, including meetings, regular phone contact, and regular visitation. The couple spent time in the home’s living environment and built a relationship with the staff.
Together, mother, step-father, and staff worked hard to stabilize Abbie’s behaviors. After a longer-than-usual stay, Abbie was ready for her mother to care for her. Since her departure from St. Vincent’s, Abbie’s mother expressed her appreciation, saying, “I’ll be forever thankful for everything St. Vincent’s did for my daughter,” promising that when Abbie is more stable, she hopes to bring her back to visit, since she still has such strong connections to St. Vincent’s. Abbie’s mother said that she was very impressed with the home’s ability to manage Abbie effectively. She added that St. Vincent’s Home was able to help Abbie remain safe while using creative programming and family involvement. She cited that her involvement with her daughter’s treatment, by being present in the living environment and her relationships with the staff, is “what created an atmosphere where Abbie could be successful.” The stories are endless. The successes are heart-warming, and the feelings of hope and accomplishment are abundant. There are thousands of success stories that have gone to the grave over the last 125 years, but more and more these stories are coming to light. St. Vincent’s Home has been a beacon on a dark, stormy night for countless children, youth and families. The storm clouds may not be seen by the general population, but they are as dangerous and deadly as any storm can be. That beacon has guided, and will continue to guide individuals to safety for many more years to come.
October 8, 2010
St. Vincent’s Home — A history of success; a window of hope continued from page one
The initiative provides an intense offering of care for the clients and their families. Among the programs are youth mentoring, parent coaching and support, and planned facilitybased respite care to assist the Mass. Department of Children and Families in maintaining a permanency in a home-based residency. The goal of this endeavor is to increase the child’s capacity to function more independently and successfully. “Many of the youth served at St. Vincent’s group care or educational programs also receive one or more community/home-based services to support the transition home,” said Weldon. “Some of the youth and families St. Vincent’s serves within the community also receive short-term or respite residential care in order to support their continued permanence in the family/foster home.” Another key service of St. Vincent’s is its Life Skills Program that provides a variety of transitional services for youths age 14 and up, which prepares them to live independently as young adults. The program is unique to each individual based on specific needs. Activities include, but are not limited to, on-site supervised pre-vocational experiences, such as cleaning up
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The Anchor the campus dining room after lunch, assisting with delivery of supplies to the cottages, etc. The students will receive a small stipend for their efforts. “Driven by their individual plans, youth may learn to maintain a bank account, fill out an employment application, prepare for a job interview, learn to be successful in the workplace, obtain a driver’s license, plan and prepare nutritious meals, and generally learn to live more independently within the community,” said Weldon. Weldon added that a volunteer board of directors, of which Bishop George W. Coleman serves as chairman, “sets the organizational direction, establishes policies, stewards finances, assists in giving and securing financial support, and assures that services address the home’s mission.” Board members include individuals from the business, church, and finance communities, and other professionals. While many of St. Vincent’s Home’s efforts have shifted to helping clients become more home-based, it still operates an onsite program, with group care settings. Yet even within the on-site setting, the goal is oriented towards treatment that will eventually allow the residents to be with, and
part, of their families. Weldon said some of the programs include family partnering within the home that allow families to eat dinner in the cottages with their children, other residents and staff members. Parents also assist their children with homework, and work with staff to support their child through a “safe bedroom
routine.” The home also provides families without transportation the opportunity to take advantage of these programs. Over the last 125 years, St. Vincent’s Home has experienced a metamorphosis of what was once an orphanage setting to a facility that continues to care for every aspect of its young clients by providing certified care, therapy and training. Times change, as do
This week in 50 years ago — Members of the former St. Louis Parish in Fall River prepared to celebrate the 75th anniversary of its founding with a Mass of Thanksgiving celebrated by Father Thomas F. Walsh, pastor. 25 years ago — Bishop Daniel A. Cronin announced that the Public Health Council approved 41 additional Level II (skilled nursing) beds for the Marian Manor Nursing Home in Taunton, one of the four extended care facilities operated under the auspices of the Fall River Diocese.
circumstances, problems and solutions and St. Vincent’s Home has always made it a priority to adapt to those changes. Thousands of children, youth and families have benefited from this mind-set over the last 125 years. There’s no indication that it won’t continue for the next 125. For more information about St. Vincent’s Home, visit the website at www.stvincentshome.org.
Diocesan history 10 years ago — Taunton’s Holy Family Parish prepared to mark the 100th anniversary of its founding with a Mass of Thanksgiving to be celebrated by Bishop Sean P. O’Malley, OFM Cap. A jubilee banquet was also held at Venus de Milo Restaurant in Swansea. One year ago — Stonehill College’s new, state-of-the-art Science Center was dedicated with prayer and a reception. Congregation of Holy Cross Father Thomas P. Looney, provincial of the Eastern Province of the Congregation and a 1982 alumnus, presided at the ceremonies of blessing and dedication.
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The Catholic Response
October 8, 2010
Response to CNN documentary on the pope By William A. Donohue, Ph.D.
The CNN documentary, “What the Pope Knew,” which aired September 25, deserves a response. The program begins with music and graphics that set the tone: those who think Pope Benedict XVI has been adept at combating priestly sexual abuse must realize that there is “a darker, more complicated story.” Dark, yes, but from CNN’s perch, the story is not all that complicated: the pope is guilty of “footdragging and, perhaps, obstruction.” We learn from CNN host Gary Tuchman that “For decades, before he became pope, Joseph Ratzinger was a high-ranking Vatican official who, more than anyone else beside Pope John Paul, could have taken decisive action to stem the sexual abuse crisis.” Similarly, author David Gibson says the pope “always took the stalling tactic.” It is simply not true that Ratzinger was in charge of this issue “for decades.” In fact, he wasn’t given the authority to police the sexual abuse problem until 2001. What is truly astonishing is that Tuchman concedes as much later in the program. After he notes that “By 2001, the sexual abuse crisis was beginning to engulf the Catholic Church,” he says, “The pope gave Cardinal Ratzinger and the CDF (Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith) the power to cut through the bureaucracy and handle all sexual abuse cases directly.” In other words, Tuchman was incorrect the first time when he said that “for decades” Ratzinger “could have taken decisive action.” He couldn’t have been in charge “for decades” if he wasn’t given police powers until 2001 (he became pope in 2005). Nowhere in the program is there any evidence that the pope was guilty of obstruction of justice. This is a serious charge—the most serious made in the course of the documentary. Yet to throw this out, without ever producing evidence to substantiate it, is malicious. It won’t cut it to say that he was “perhaps” guilty of obstruction. CNN intentionally planted this seed and never explicitly addressed the subject of obstruction of justice again. Gibson’s quip that the pope “always took the stalling tactic” suggests the pope acted irresponsibly. Now this may play well with those unfamiliar with the process of determining innocence or guilt, but anyone who knows better will find his accusation flatulent at best, and unfair at worst. More than any institution in history, the Catholic Church’s development of canon law, which became the basis of many rights in civil law, has long championed the rights of the accused. Why is it that when suspected terrorists are afforded generous rights, over a period of several years, it is generally regarded as an example of America’s commitment to freedom, but when accused priests are given their day in court, charges of “stalling tactics” surface? The program focuses on four miscreant priests. The first is Peter Hullermann. In 1986, he was convicted of sexually abusing boys while serving in Grafing, Germany. His case is central to the documentary because it questions the pope’s
culpability. After Hullermann was convicted, he was transferred to Munich for therapy. It should be noted that therapy was the preferred method for dealing with abusers at the time, both inside and outside the Catholic Church. Abusers were not seen, as they are today, as offenders deserving of punitive action; rather, they were seen as disturbed persons who could be rehabilitated via therapy. No matter, after his transfer, Hullermann was placed in a new parish. The critical question is: Did Archbishop Ratzinger know that Hullermann was a convicted molester who was moved to another parish? We know he approved the transfer, but that’s about it. The Vatican maintains that it was Ratzinger’s deputy who placed Hullermann in the new parish. Importantly, CNN makes no claim to the contrary. Moreover, when the New York Times broke this story in March, the best it could do in establishing culpability was to say that Ratzinger’s office “was copied on a memo.” The Times also said that Church officials said the memo was routine and “unlikely to have landed on the archbishop’s desk.” So if CNN has no evidence tying the pope to Hullermann, why bother trotting out this story one more time? And why does reporter John Allen imply that the pope knew about the transfer to the new parish? He has no evidence, either. Worse is Gibson. “If Cardinal Ratzinger in Munich did not know about Father Peter Hullermann, he should have. That’s one of the things that an archbishop does. You always know where your priests are.” In the real world, no leader of any large-scale organization can possibly know where his employees are. It’s not as though priests, or school teachers, walk around with a GPS device around their necks, allowing bishops and school administrators to track their every move. For example, how many school superintendents know that a sexually abusing teacher in their district has been transferred to another district? How many heads of multinational corporations know where their employees are and why they were transferred? We know one thing: in 1980, there were 1,717 priests in the Munich archdiocese. Gibson then goes for the jugular by asking, “How many other abusive priests may have come under his jurisdiction while he was in Munich as archbishop? We don’t know.” But we don’t need to know. All we need to know is that Gibson has indicted the pope by conjecture. CNN did not make the charge because it had no data finding the pope guilty, so it simply passed the baton to Gibson to lay the suspicion. The case of Father Stephen Kiesle was included not to prove guilt on the part of the pope, but to add to the suspicion that he did not do enough. CNN reports that Kiesle’s bishop, John Cummins, wanted him defrocked in 1981 after he was convicted of sexually abusing boys. Vatican officials, however, wanted more information; Cardinal Ratzinger had taken over as the head of the Congregation for the Doctrine
of the Faith a week after the Vatican office made its ruling. Following Church norms that existed at the time, Ratzinger said he could not defrock Kiesle because no one under 40 could be laicized, and he was in his 30s. Kiesle could have been ordered to stand trial, but because he was so close to turning 40 (and a trial is not a speedy process), a decision was made to wait. On February 13, 1987, the day before Kiesle’s 40th birthday, he was defrocked. What CNN did not report is that Kiesle was removed from ministry following his conviction. Nor did it mention the curious fact that in 1982, while still technically a priest, Kiesle married the mother of a girl he had abused in 1973. But to mention such an oddity may have shifted blame away from the pope, thus muddying the bottom line. Father Lawrence Murphy, who allegedly molested some 200 deaf boys in Wisconsin in the 1950s, is covered in depth. But it didn’t go far enough. What was omitted is startling. Tuchman reports that “Father Murphy’s case would come to the direct attention of Cardinal Ratzinger.” (My emphasis.) The viewer then waits in vain for evidence that Murphy’s case came to the direct attention of the pope. There isn’t any. We know that Terry Kohut, who was one of Murphy’s’ victims, wrote to Ratzinger’s office, but neither CNN nor the New York Times (which first reported on this story) has ever provided evidence that Ratzinger was personally involved in this case. Jeffrey Anderson, who has made tens of millions suing the Catholic Church, and hates the Church with a passion, is asked point blank by Tuchman, “Do you think Cardinal Ratzinger knew about the case of Father Murphy?” Anderson parses his words in textbook lawyerly fashion. “Well, we know the letters went to his secretary, [Tarcisio] Bertone.” This is not in dispute. But was Ratzinger directly involved? Anderson adds, “thus, that Ratzinger was directly involved.” So because Bertone fielded the letters, thus Ratzinger was directly involved? That Tuchman never challenged Anderson is telling. Here is what CNN did not tell the viewer. The crimes alleged against Murphy extend to the 1950s, yet the civil authorities were not formally asked to investigate until the mid1970s; following a probe, the police dropped the case. Fast-forward to 1996, the first time the Vatican is notified. The Vatican decides to ignore the fact that the statute of limitations has expired and orders a trial. Melodramatically, CNN characterizes the internal inquiry a “secret church trial,” as if internal probes at CNN for employee wrongdoing are televised. CNN, like the New York Times before it, never bothered to interview the one person who may have known about Ratzinger’s knowledge of the case, Father Thomas Brundage. He was the judicial vicar, the one who presided over the case between 1996-1998. When asked this year about Ratzinger’s role, he said, “At no time in the case, at meetings that I had at the Vatican, in Washington, D.C. and in Milwaukee, was Cardinal Ratzinger’s name
ever mentioned.” Brundage added that he was “shocked” when the media tried to tie Ratzinger to the Murphy case. In CNN’s eyes, if there was one hero in this case, it was the Archbishop of Milwaukee at the time, Rembert Weakland. It credits him writing to Ratzinger in 1996 asking how to proceed against Murphy, noting that Weakland acceded to the Vatican’s request to stop the trial, knowing the priest was dying; Murphy died two days later. But there is much the viewer does not learn. Weakland was anything but a hero in dealing with sexual abuse. In 1984, he branded as “libelous” those who reported cases of priestly sexual abuse, and was rebuked by a judge for doing so. In 1994, he accused those who reported such cases as “squealing.” Moreover, he had to resign when his lover, a 53-year-old man, revealed that Weakland paid him $450,000 to settle a sexual assault lawsuit (Weakland fleeced Church coffers to pay the bill). With regard to the Murphy case, Weakland is again anything but a hero. Last spring, in a section called “Documents Trail” posted on the website of the New York Times (alongside an article by Times reporter Laurie Goodstein) there is a revealing letter from the Coadjutor Bishop of Superior, Wisconsin, Raphael M. Fliss, to the Vicar for Personnel of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, Father Joseph A. Janicki. Bishop Fliss says, “In a recent conversation with Archbishop Weakland, I was left with the impression that it would not be advisable at this time to invite Father Murphy to work among the deaf.” The letter was dated July 9, 1980. So why did it take 16 years for Weakland to contact the Vatican about Murphy? CNN does not say. The last case involves Father Alvin Campbell, an Illinois priest who pleaded guilty to sexual abuse of boys in 1985. Bishop Daniel Ryan visited Campbell in prison, asking him to leave the priesthood. After Campbell refused, Ryan asked Cardinal Ratzinger to defrock him. CNN reports that the request was refused because it did not come from Campbell. This sounds strange, but there is more to the story. Bishop Ryan wanted Campbell defrocked quickly because he wanted to spare the victims a trial. This is understandable at one level, but there is still the matter of civil liberties: the accused are entitled to their day in court. What CNN omitted from its coverage was that Bishop Ryan had the authority to remove Campbell from ministry, or go forward with the trial, recommending defrocking. He elected not to do so. As CNN acknowledges, Ratzinger learned from the Campbell case and pressed Pope John Paul II to make serious changes in the way these cases were handled. “And from 2001 forward,” says Allen, “the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith became the beachhead for the Vatican for an aggressive response to the crisis.” True enough. And 2001 was the year that Pope John Paul II charged Cardinal Ratzinger with overseeing this issue. It is not by accident that these changes
occurred on Ratzinger’s watch: he made them happen. Finally, there is the matter of Father Thomas Reese, the editor of America magazine, who was forced to resign. CNN frames his ouster this way: “His crime? Publishing a magazine.” But as CNN likes to say, it’s a “more complicated story.” In actual fact, Father Reese was accused of publishing a series of articles challenging the settled teachings of the Catholic Church. He says he tried to “encourage a conversation, a dialogue, a debate in the magazine about issues facing the Church.” The issues he focused on were abortion and gay marriage. Tuchman uses the Father Reese case to conclude, “Cardinal Ratzinger was passionate about stamping out dissent. But there was never any public indication he was passionate about getting rid of pedophile priests.” This, along with the suggestion that the pope was guilty of obstruction of justice, marks the lowest point in the documentary. If it wasn’t passion that provoked the pope to speak of the “filth” within the Church—he did so right before being elected—what was it? A cerebral exercise? And what was it that triggered him to reopen the case of Father Marcial Maciel, the founder of the Legionaries of Christ, and then seek to reform the Legionaries? Was it boredom? Tuchman opines that “Vatican experts say Ratzinger silenced, censored or otherwise punished dozens of theologians during his reign at CDF.” The charge is risible on the face of it: there is infinitely more tolerance for dissent in the Catholic Church than exists in the typical American college or university. Besides a stint in the Air Force, and a year at The Heritage Foundation, I have spent my entire life teaching in a Catholic school or college, or serving as president of the Catholic League, and I can say without reservation that the attempts to silence speech that challenges the prevailing wisdom are more frequently employed in the academy than in the Catholic Church. From top to bottom, what CNN did was the televised version of what the New York Times did in print form earlier in the year. The goal was to tarnish the image of Pope Benedict XVI, making him out to be a coconspirator in the scandal. Though it came up empty-handed with proof of his culpability, there was enough innuendo to convict Snow White. The timeline of the scandal, it needs to be said, was from the mid1960s to the mid-1980s. Ironically, those within the Catholic Church who pushed for “progressive” reforms, e.g., making the case for more relaxed sexual strictures in the seminaries, and who then recommended therapy to treat molesters—most of whom were homosexuals—are the very ones today pointing fingers at the pope for the scandal. That’s the real scandal, though it is not likely to be covered by CNN. William Donohue is the President of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights in New York, the nation’s largest Catholic civil rights organization. For more information about the Catholic League, visit www.catholicleague.org.
October 8, 2010
Survey shows big gaps in religious literacy
By Patricia Zapor Catholic News Service
WASHINGTON — Catholics know about as much as Americans in general about religion, getting right only half of the 32 questions in a survey for the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. In the U.S. Religious Knowledge Survey released September 28 at a Washington symposium on religious literacy, Pew found that those most likely to answer the most questions correctly were atheists and agnostics. Panelists suggested that might be the result of the analytical process and study that many people go through before they decide to define themselves as atheist or agnostic. That group on average answered 20.9 of 32 questions correctly, compared to the total average of 16; Jews averaged 20.5 questions correct and Mormons, 20.3. White evangelical Protestants got an average of 17.6 questions correct, while white Catholics averaged 16 correct answers and Hispanic Catholics averaged 11.6 correct answers. Black Protestants got 13.4 questions correct, while white mainline Protestants answered 15.8 questions right. The questions tested general knowledge about various religions, about U.S. laws affecting religion and about key
figures and beliefs of major religions. For instance, overall, at least two-thirds of those surveyed knew that public school teachers cannot lead a class in prayer; that Mother Teresa was Catholic; that Moses was the Bible figure who led the exodus from Egypt; that Jesus was born in Bethlehem; and that most people in Pakistan are Muslim. Only about half of the entire sample knew that the “golden rule” is not one of the Ten Commandments; that the Quran is the Islamic holy book; that Joseph Smith was a Mormon; that the Dalai Lama is Buddhist; and that the four Gospels are Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Fewer than one-third of the whole group correctly answered that most people in Indonesia are Muslim; that public school teachers are legally allowed to read from the Bible in class as an example of literature; and that only Protestants, not Catholics, teach that salvation comes through faith alone. On the questions specifically about Catholicism, 55 percent of Catholics correctly identified the Church teaching about transubstantiation, that the bread and wine used in Communion become the Body and Blood of Christ during the consecration. Overall, about 40 percent got that question right.
Diocese of Fall River TV Mass on WLNE Channel 6 Sunday, October 10 at 11:00 a.m.
Celebrant is Father Timothy A. Goldrick, pastor of St. Nicholas of Myra Parish in North Dighton
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The Anchor
triple play — Diane Lane stars in a scene from the movie “Secretariat.” For a brief review of this film, see CNS Movie Capsules below. (CNS photo/Disney)
CNS Movie Capsules NEW YORK (CNS) — The following are capsule reviews of movies recently reviewed by Catholic News Service. “Let Me In” (Overture) This macabre yet strangely moving twist on vampire lore, set in 1983, sees a bullied, lonely New Mexico preteen (Kodi Smit-McPhee) developing a friendly crush on a new neighbor (Chloe Grace Moretz). He gradually discovers that she is not exactly your average girlnext-door and that the guardian he takes to be her father (Richard Jenkins) is connected to a spate of recent murders. Writerdirector Matt Reeves’ screen version of Swedish novelist John Ajvide Lindqvist’s bestseller “Let The Right One In” — preceded by a 2008 Swedish film adaptation — is not a work to be easily dismissed, given its serious treatment of themes like isolation and the psychological roots of violence. But in revealing the dark identity behind its young heroine’s appealing facade, this unlikely tale of first
love becomes, at times, far too gruesome for endorsement. Much gory violence, a scene of voyeurism with brief graphic sexual activity and fleeting upper female nudity, about a halfdozen uses of profanity, some rough and a few crude and crass terms. The Catholic News Service classification is O — morally offensive. “Secretariat” (Disney) The true story of the 1973 Triple Crown winner, arguably the greatest racehorse of all time, comes to the big screen in a film that is both thrilling sports adventure and moving family drama. Secretariat’s owner (Diane Lane) is a housewife who returns to her horse farm roots and gambles everything on the big red equine. As she makes her mark in an all-male world, she battles prejudice and the skepticism of her family, but she never loses hope in her dream. At her side are a bossy assistant (Margo Martindale), an even more domineering trainer (John Malkovich) and a gentle-hearted groom (Nelsan Ellis) whose spiritual nature provides a moving undercurrent. Unencumbered by any really objectionable elements, this exuberant and inspirational cinematic champ can be cheered on by a wide audience. Some tense emotional moments and heated arguments. The Catholic News
Service classification is A-II — adults and adolescents. “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps” (Fox) Uneven sequel in which, seven years after being released from prison, a disgraced financier-turned-author (Michael Douglas) convinces his estranged daughter’s (Carey Mulligan) fiance (Shia LaBeouf) to help him reconcile with her. He offers in return to assist the young investment executive’s business vendetta against a ruthless mogul (Josh Brolin) whose machinations ruined the lad’s mentor (Frank Langella). Set against the backdrop of the economic crisis that began in 2007, and directed — like its 1987 predecessor “Wall Street” — by Oliver Stone, the high stakes drama benefits from Douglas’ magnetic performance as a man compounded of charisma, corruption and a few remaining shards of human decency. Less appealing are the script’s heavy-handed attempts at social comment and a central romantic relationship that puts the sexual cart before the marital horse. Cohabitation, brief sexual imagery and occasional sexual references, several uses of profanity, at least two instances of rough language, a few crude and some crass terms. The Catholic News Service classification is A-III — adults.
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Youth Pages
October 8, 2010
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family affair — Children from the Hyde Family arrive for the first day of school at St. Pius X School, South Yarmouth.
only the beginning — Mercy Sister Frances Thomas, assistant director of the Office of Faith Formation, Diocese of Fall River; Mercy Candidates Angela McCormick and Amanda Carrier; and Mercy Sister Rosemary Laliberte, mission coordinator at St. Vincent’s Home in Fall River, gathered for a photo following welcoming ceremonies for the new candidates.
Sisters of Mercy community welcomes new candidates
college Prep — College of the Holy Cross President Reverend Michael C. McFarland, S.J. visited Pope John Paul II High School in Hyannis recently, speaking with members of the school’s first-ever senior class. Pictured from left, are Matthew Laird, Father McFarland, Alissa Bergeron, and Hannah Dulmaine.
notable achievements — Bishop Feehan High School in Attleboro recently announced that both entrants in the National Council of Teachers of English Achievement Awards in Writing Program for the Class of 2011 have been selected as winners for superior performance in writing. Seniors Viviana Hanley and Manasi Malik, nominated by Feehan English teacher Dave Powell, are two of only 11 certificate winners in Massachusetts; only nine Massachusetts high schools had certificate winners. There were more than 1,641 entries nominated by teachers from 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Virgin Islands, Canada, and American schools abroad. Feehan’s English Department was also awarded a certificate. From left, Feehan Principal Bill Runey, Malik, Powell, Hanley, and English Department Chairman Jeffrey Day.
WEST HARTFORD, Conn. — The Sisters of Mercy Northeast Community accepted Amanda Carrier and Angela McCormick as candidates at a welcoming ritual recently at the Connor Chapel of Our Lady, St. Joseph College, West Hartford, Conn. The Northeast Community’s president, Sister Lindora Cabral, and incorporation minister, Sister Patricia Moriarty, presided. “Our Mercy Community has been blessed and enriched with new life as Angela and Amanda join us as candidates. During the ritual, when sisters were asked the question: ‘Are you willing to welcome them through your loving support and sharing of life with them?’ — a delighted ‘Yes!’ echoed in the chapel,” said Sister Lindora Cabral. Carrier is from North Granby, Conn. She received her bachelor of arts in religious studies from the University of Dayton in Ohio and an associate degree in culinary arts from Manchester Community College in Connecticut. McCormick is originally from Indiana. She earned a master’s degree in religion/counseling, a master’s in clinical counseling,
and a doctorate in clinical psychology. This coming year, Angela will do postdoctoral work at the University of Southern Maine in Portland. There are four steps in the process to become a Sister of Mercy — candidacy, novitiate, temporary vows and final vows. There are currently 43 new members in the Institute: 11 candidates, eight novices and 24 temporary professed. As candidates, Amanda and Angela begin a two-year period of discernment while they live and minister in community with the Sisters. During this time, they will learn more about the spirit, tradition and charism of the Sisters of Mercy. The Institute of the Sisters of Mercy is an international community of vowed Roman Catholic women founded by Catherine McAuley in Ireland in 1831. Frances Warde established the order in the United States in 1843. The Sisters have modified their operating structure many times over the years, finding new ways to serve those who are poor, sick and uneducated, especially women and children. To learn more, visit www.mercyne.org.
Youth Pages
October 8, 2010
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But for the grace of God
here is a tried and true saying among writers that is even taught in most first year college writing courses. It’s very simple and goes like this … Write what you know. It sounds cliché but this simple phrase carries a great deal of merit and is the underlying basis for this month’s article. So here is what I know. God is good and the power of prayer is awe-inspiring. During the afternoon of Friday, August 27, my stepfather, Sam, suffered what the doctors continue to call a massive stroke. Since then, our lives have been turned upside down and Sam is living in a different world. Since that warm August afternoon we have made daily treks first to Boston, to see Sam at his hospital room at Brigham and Women’s, and then to see him as he recovers at Spaulding Rehab Hospital. EMTs had to rush Sam from Spaulding Rehab back to the ER at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. In fact, I write this while sitting at his bedside at B and WH as we await the results
from various cardiac tests. out of his mouth was music to Our lives have taken on our otherwise deafened ears. a new normal. Once hated That was God’s grace. and dreaded drives through The day we arrived at the renightmarish-Boston-rushhab hospital and read the update hour-traffic have become daily from his physical therapist that pilgrimages for my mother, said, “Sam walked today,” were sister and me. Watching Sam words we could not wait to hear struggle through a new realor, in this case, read. ity of a world where his words That was God’s grace. swirl around his brain but are unable to escape his lips, has become the new norm — although, God-willing, a temporary one. Observing Sam as he is re-taught By Crystal Medeiros to speak, write and talk is a constant reminder of the thousands of little things far too many of us Every little bit of progress in take for granted everyday. Sam’s recovery becomes a moLike the constant teasing of ment of triumph and celebration. my sister. They have become God’s little, Like the practical jokes. yet at the same time very big, Like the sound of his voice. graces in our lives. Like the echo of his belly Although Sam’s right side laugh. paralysis and his inability to Like the way he called our speak may seem like a tragedy, it names. is not. It is simply a challenge. He is slowly regaining his For God’s merciful and guiding laughter. The first day it “fell” hand has been with Sam since
the day his stroke occurred. Too many “coincidences” were in place to be anything other than God. They were definite Godincidences. But perhaps through everything, what is most amazing to my family and me is the outpouring of prayer and support from close friends, distant acquaintances and colleagues and friends of friends thanks to Facebook and blogs. These prayers, graciously given to us by others either digitally, face-toface or through cards and letters, have been a God-send for us,but mostly for Sam. They have become the palanca, the lever, that raises us up and helps support us as we journey through this new chapter in our lives. Some of you may be reading this article and wondering what on earth does this have to do with the continuing formation of our young people: The answer is three-fold: First, appreciate and cherish
the little daily graces of your life that you have been blessed with, for you never know when life will throw a curve ball and knock you off home plate. Second, do not become so entrenched in the materialistic and self-absorbed society that is often promoted in our culture, that you lose your sense of self and your core values. Third, support, love and grieve, if necessary, with those around you. A quick note, a gentle word or a simple “I’m praying for you,” is the greatest gift you can give. The journey my stepfather and our family now face will be a long and arduous one. But with prayer, love and support from friends and, most of all, by the sheer grace of God, it becomes a journey united in faith, hope and love. It is a journey begun with a single step. Crystal is assistant director for Youth & Young Adult Ministry for the diocese. She can be contacted at cmedeiros@dfrcec. com.
BRIDGEPORT, Conn. (CNS) — Father Michael Dunn considers his stuttering to be a blessing. “I believe that my stuttering has made me a more compassionate, patient and understanding person in my dealings with others,” said the Bridgeport diocesan priest, who is the pastor at St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Weston. In an interview for CNS, the priest recalled the poor treatment he received as a child when classmates mocked his speech. But when he made the decision to enter the seminary — he was going for a graduate degree in counseling at the time — he was heartened by how his superiors treated him. “They were always very supportive and helpful and remained more confident than I was that my speech would not be an issue for me,” he said. Such understanding and encouragement was far different than what he experienced as a child. One of the most embarrassing moments of his life, he said, was during grammar school when he tried out for a part in the school play. When it was his turn to read, he could not get out the first word at all and eventually gave up and sat down. In September 2009, people in the Bridgeport area might have been surprised to see a feature article in the Connecticut Post about Father Dunn and his struggle with stuttering. But it should come as no news that priests, women religious and brothers would be among the one
percent of adults worldwide who stutter. Four percent of children show signs of stuttering at some time during their development. Father Dunn encourages young Catholics who stutter not to let their speech stand in the way of pursuing a vocation. “I think with God’s grace and help you can do or overcome anything, so young people should not be afraid or think they can’t do it,” he told CNS. Father Dunn has come across other priests who stutter and they have shared both advice and techniques they have found helpful. Father Michael Skrocki, pastor of St. Ann Melkite Catholic Church in Danbury, is the product of numerous failed speech therapy programs. He cannot remember a time when he did not stutter. Saying Mass has never presented a problem for him. “Well, most, if not all, of the Divine Liturgy in the Eastern Catholic Churches is sung, so I suspect I have less difficulty than if it were recited,” he said. “The primary ‘spoken’ part would be the homily. If I run into a problem, I simply pause and try again. Perhaps that effort makes my congregation listen a little closer to what I’m saying.”Asked how he would advise people to look to their faith when dealing with such a speech problem, Father Michael Skrocki answered: “Whether it’s a stutter, some other physical, emotional or psychological disability, I’ve always looked at it as the way God made us, the challenges that God has given us to overcome for
can be found using the link “Brochures for All Ages.” The site also offers various other resources. Jane Fraser, foundation president, hopes to make the benefit of free speech therapy better known to parents of children in religious-based schools throughout the U.S. “The United States has the best policy in the world for helping children with speech problems. It is a shame that this awesome benefit is
little known,” she said. Father Dunn noted something else positive about giving advice to people who share his speech problem. “I have always felt that God has been the source of my strength not only with my stuttering but in every other challenge and obstacle as well,” he said. “Without him I would have never made it. I would have given up or thrown in the towel.”
Be Not Afraid
Pastor says coping with stuttering a blessing that helps his ministry whatever reason.” “As St. Paul says, ‘I can do all things in Christ who strengthens me,’” said the priest, who has a doctorate in canon law from The Catholic University of America in D.C. Someone who has vast experience working with children who stutter, but does not stutter herself is Ursuline Sister Winifred Danwitz, a retired speech language pathologist. Nearly 50 years ago, Sister Winifred saw a need to help children in the Bronx section of New York with communication problems. In 1961 she founded the Mount St. Ursula Speech Center. The center’s mission — to treat children with speech and language disorders at low or no cost — is still going strong. Reflecting on the center she founded, Sister Winifred said, “I am most proud of the fact that we never refused treatment to a child because of a parent’s inability to pay a fee.” “It was a marvelous step to meeting a need that was not addressed,” she added. Since the 1970s federal law has mandated that any child enrolled in school — whether public, religious or private school — is entitled to free speech therapy if he or she needs it. The therapy can begin as early as preschool and continue throughout high school. The Stuttering Foundation, a Memphis, Tenn.-based nonprofit organization, has a brochure entitled “Special Education Law and Children Who Stutter,” which spells out the benefit. The brochure can be downloaded at the foundation’s website, www.stutteringhelp.org. It
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Pope to focus on truth, authenticity in media for 2011 communications day
Eucharistic Adoration in the Diocese Acushnet — Eucharistic adoration takes place at St. Francis Xavier Parish on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays 9:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.; Fridays 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and Saturdays 8 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays end with Evening Prayer and Benediction at 6:30 p.m.; Saturdays end with Benediction at 2:45 p.m. ATTLEBORO — St. Joseph Church holds eucharistic adoration in the Adoration Chapel located at the (south) side entrance at 208 South Main Street, Sunday through Thursday from 6 a.m. to midnight, with overnight adoration on Friday and Saturday only. Brewster — Eucharistic adoration takes place in the La Salette Chapel in the lower level of Our Lady of the Cape Church, 468 Stony Brook Road, on First Fridays following the 11 a.m. Mass until 7:45 a.m. on the First Saturday, concluding with Benediction and Mass. Buzzards Bay — Eucharistic adoration takes place at St. Margaret Church, 141 Main Street, every first Friday after the 8 a.m. Mass and ending the following day before the 8 a.m. Mass. East Freetown — Eucharistic Adoration takes place at St. John Neumann Church every Monday (excluding legal holidays) 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. in the Our Lady, Mother of All Nations Chapel. (The base of the bell tower). EAST TAUNTON — Eucharistic adoration takes place First Fridays at Holy Family Church, 370 Middleboro Avenue, following the 8:30 a.m. Mass until Benediction at 8 p.m. FAIRHAVEN — St. Mary’s Church, Main St., has eucharistic adoration every Wednesday from 8:30 a.m. to noon in the Chapel of Reconciliation, with Benediction at noon. Also, there is a First Friday Mass each month at 7 p.m., followed by a Holy Hour with eucharistic adoration. Refreshments follow. FALL RIVER — St. Anthony of the Desert Church, 300 North Eastern Avenue, has eucharistic adoration Mondays and Tuesdays from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., and on the first Sunday of the month from noon to 4 p.m. FALL RIVER — Holy Name Church, 709 Hanover Street, has eucharistic adoration Monday through Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. in the Our Lady of Grace Chapel. FALL RIVER — Good Shepherd Parish has eucharistic adoration every Friday following the 8 a.m. Mass until 6 p.m. in the Daily Mass Chapel. There is a bilingual Holy Hour in English and Portuguese from 5-6 p.m. Park behind the church and enter the back door of the connector between the church and the rectory. Falmouth — St. Patrick’s Church has eucharistic adoration each First Friday, following the 9 a.m. Mass until Benediction at 4:30 p.m. The rosary is recited Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. HYANNIS — A Holy Hour with eucharistic adoration will take place each First Friday at St. Francis Xavier Church, 21 Cross Street, beginning at 4 p.m. MASHPEE — Christ the King Parish, Route 151 and Job’s Fishing Road has 8:30 a.m. Mass every First Friday with special intentions for Respect Life, followed by 24 hours of eucharistic adoration in the Chapel, concluding with Benediction Saturday morning followed immediately by an 8:30 Mass. NEW BEDFORD — Eucharistic adoration takes place 7 to 9 p.m. Wednesdays at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, 233 County Street, with night prayer and Benediction at 8:45 p.m., and confessions offered during the evening. NEW BEDFORD — There is a daily holy hour from 5:15-6:15 p.m. Monday through Thursday at St. Anthony of Padua Church, 1359 Acushnet Avenue. It includes adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, Liturgy of the Hours, recitation of the rosary, and the opportunity for confession. SEEKONK — Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Parish has eucharistic adoration seven days a week, 24 hours a day in the chapel at 984 Taunton Avenue. For information call 508-336-5549. NORTH DIGHTON — Eucharistic adoration takes place every First Friday at St. Nicholas of Myra Church, 499 Spring Street following the 8 a.m. Mass, ending with Benediction at 6 p.m. The rosary is recited Monday through Friday from 7:30 to 8 a.m. OSTERVILLE — Eucharistic adoration takes place at Our Lady of the Assumption Church, 76 Wianno Avenue on First Fridays from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and every Friday from noon to 5 p.m., with Benediction at 5 p.m. Taunton — Eucharistic adoration takes place every Tuesday at St. Anthony Church, 126 School Street, following the 8 a.m. Mass with prayers including the Chaplet of Divine Mercy for vocations, concluding at 6 p.m. with Chaplet of St. Anthony and Benediction. Recitation of the rosary for peace is prayed Monday through Saturday at 7:30 a.m. prior to the 8 a.m. Mass. WAREHAM — Adoration with opportunities for private and formal prayer is offered on the First Friday of each month from 8:30 a.m. until 8 p.m. at St. Patrick’s Church, High Street. The Prayer Schedule is as follows: 7:30 a.m. the rosary; 8 a.m. Mass; 8:30 a.m. exposition and Morning Prayer; 12 p.m. the Angelus; 3 p.m. Divine Mercy Chaplet; 5:30 p.m. Evening Prayer; 7 p.m. sacrament of confession; 8 p.m. Benediction. WEST HARWICH — Our Lady of Life Perpetual Adoration Chapel at Holy Trinity Parish, 246 Main Street (Rte. 28), holds perpetual eucharistic adoration. We are a regional chapel serving all of the surrounding parishes. All from other parishes are invited to sign up to cover open hours. For open hours, or to sign up call 508-430-4716. WOODS HOLE — Eucharistic adoration takes place at St. Joseph’s Church, 33 Millfield Street, year-round on weekdays 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturday 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. No adoration on Sundays, Wednesdays, and holidays. For information call 508-274-5435.
October 8, 2010
The Anchor
Rome, Italy (CNS) — For World Communications Day 2011, Pope Benedict will emphasize that truth and authentic human experience must remain at the core of communication even in the digital age. Although technology might change the means of communication, the truth “must remain
the firm and unchanging point of reference of new media and the digital world.” The theme of “Truth, proclamation and authenticity of life in the digital age” was chosen by the Holy Father for the 45th World Communications Day to be celebrated next year. A statement from the Holy See’s
Around the Diocese 10/12
The Catholic Cancer Support Group will hold its next monthly meeting on October 12 at 7 p.m. at Our Lady of Victory Parish in Centerville. The meeting will start with Mass and anointing of the sick in the church and then move over to the parish center for social time and refreshments. The support group is faith-based but all are welcome. For more information call 508-771-1106 or 508775-5744.
10/13
The Men’s Club and Ladies’ Guild of St. Elizabeth Seton Parish, North Falmouth, will host “La Bella Notte,” on October 13 at 6 p.m. Experience a beautiful night of Italian music and food prepared onsite including fresh antipasto, Scala bread and butter, chicken parmesan, penne, meatballs in marinara sauce and seasonal vegetables. Social hour is from 6 to 7 p.m., with complimentary beverages and hors d’ oeuvres preceding dinner. Dessert will include Italian cookies and mini-pastries with coffee and tea. Call 508-457-6282 for reservations or further information.
10/14
The Divorced and Separated Support Group will meet on October 14 at 7 p.m. in St. Julie Billiart’s Parish Center, North Dartmouth. This will be an open meeting where attendees can discuss personal difficulties regarding separation or divorce. All are welcome. For more information call 508-678-2828.
10/16
The image of Our Lady of America will be on display at St. Bernard’s Parish, 32 South Main Street, Assonet during the weekend of October 16 and 17. The visit will begin with a 9 a.m. Mass on October 16 and the image will be available for private prayer until after the 4 p.m. Mass and again on October 17 until noon. For more information call 508-644-5585.
10/16
Holy Cross Parish, 225 Purchase Street, South Easton, will host its fall festival on October 16 from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., rain or shine. Activities will include a rock-climbing wall, games, silent auction, clowns, jugglers, hay ride and musical entertainment. There will also be ample food offerings including fried dough, hot dogs, hamburgers and chicken kabobs. For more information visit www. holycrosseaston.org.
10/16
Join the prayer groups of Corpus Christi Parish, 324 Quaker Meetinghouse Road, East Sandwich, on October 16 at noon for a rosary rally to pray for discernment and strength to withstand the trials we face. Rosary beads will be provided for those who do not bring them.
10/16
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 October 16 at 7 p.m. For location information call Father Richard Wilson at 508-992-9408.
10/16
Holy Name Parish, President Avenue, Fall River, will host its annual Harvest Festival on October 16 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the Holy Name School grounds. A yard sale will begin at 9 a.m. and entertainment will be provided by the Toe Jam Puppet Band. The event will also include auctions, raffles, games, rides and more.
10/19
St. Philomena School is inviting families of prospective students to attend an open house on October 19. An opening presentation begins at 9:30 a.m. and another at 1 p.m. in the Student Activity Center followed by tours of the school. The school is located on Narragansett Bay at 324 Cory’s Lane in Portsmouth, R.I. For more information visit www.saintphilomena.org or call 401-683-0268, extension 114.
10/21 674-5651.
A healing Mass will be held at St. Anne’s Church, Middle Street, Fall River, on October 21 at 6:30 p.m. beginning with rosary at 6 p.m. and Benediction and prayers after Mass. For more information call 508-
10/21
St. Anne’s Fellowship is a Catholic-based organization that meets two or three times a month to share God’s word and give thanks for his blessings. Due to the closing of St. Anne’s School, the group is now meeting at Good Shepherd Parish, 1598 South Main Street, Fall River in the second floor conference room. The next meeting is October 21 from 7 to 9 p.m. Use the back door entrance where the ramp is located.
10/23
The “Fill These Hearts” Tour, sponsored by the Diocese of Providence, R.I. and featuring Theology of the Body speaker Christopher West and the Christian band Mike Mangione and the Union, will take place October 23 from 6:30 to 10:30 p.m. at the R.I. Center for the Performing Arts in Cranston, R.I. To register visit www.fillthesehearts.com or call Father Greg Stowe at 401-331-1316.
Press Office explained that this theme “is to be understood as focusing on the human person who is at the heart of all communicative processes. “Even in an age that is largely dominated, and at times conditioned, by new technologies, the value of personal witness remains essential,” the statement continues. “To approach the truth and to take on the task of sharing it requires the ‘guarantee’ of an authenticity of life from those who work in the media, and especially from Catholic journalists; an authenticity of life that is no less required in a digital age.” The statement highlighted that “technology, on its own, cannot establish or enhance a communicator’s credibility, nor can it serve as a source of the values which guide communication. The truth must remain the firm and unchanging point of reference of new media and the digital world, opening up new horizons of information and knowledge.” Pursuing the truth, the statement concluded, is ideally the “fundamental objective of all those who work in the media.” On the feast of the patron of journalists, St. Francis de Sales, on January 24 of next year, the full text of Pope Benedict XVI’s message for World Communications Day 2011 will be released.
In Your Prayers
Please pray for these priests during the coming weeks Oct. 12 Rev. Felician Plichta, OFM Conv., Parochial Vicar, Corpus Christi, East Sandwich, Former Pastor, Holy Cross, Fall River, 1999 Oct. 13 Rev. David I. Walsh, M.M., Maryknoll Missioner, 1999 Rev. James J. Doyle, C.S.C., Holy Cross Residence, North Dartmouth, 2002 Rev. Marc Hebert, C.S.C., Holy Cross Residence, North Dartmouth, 2006 Oct. 14 Rev. Dennis M. Lowney, Assistant, Sacred Heart, Taunton, 1918 Rev. Msgr. Edward B. Booth, Retired Pastor, St. Mary, North Attleboro, 1972 Rev. Frederick G. Furey, SS.CC. Former Pastor, Our Lady of Assumption, New Bedford, 1999 Rev. Andre P. Jussaume, Pastor, St. Louis de France, Swansea, 2003 Oct. 15 Rev. Msgr. Raymond T. Considine, PA, Retired Pastor, St. William, Fall River, 1996 Oct. 16 Rev. Raymond M. Drouin, O.P., Former Pastor, St. Anne, Fall River, 1987 Oct. 17 Rev. Gerald E. Lachance, M. Afr., 1984
October 8, 2010
The Anchor
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Attention to liturgy is path to relationship with God
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Describing the exemplary life of a 13th-century German nun, Pope Benedict XVI stressed the importance of liturgy in building a close relationship with God. The pope illustrated the virtues of St. Matilda of Hackeborn during his weekly general audience September 29 with several thousand pilgrims and well-wishers gathered in a sunny St. Peter’s Square. St. Matilda was one of several strong and influential women who lived at the convent of Helfta, in the Saxony region of the pope’s native Germany, he said. St. Matilda, a mystic whose lovely voice led her to become the leader of the convent’s choir, progressed in spiritual understanding through the formal prayers of the Church, the pope said. “Dear friends, the personal and liturgical prayers, especially the Liturgy of the Hours and holy Mass, are the roots of the spiritual experience of St. Matilda of Hackeborn,” Pope Benedict said. “By letting herself be guided by the sacred Scriptures and nourished by the bread of holy Communion, she followed a path of intimate union with the Lord,” he said. Her example, he said, can teach contemporary Christians to “intensify our friendship with the Lord, especially through daily prayer and attentive, faithful and active participation in the Mass.” St. Matilda was born in 1241 or 1242 to a noble family whose eldest daughter already served as abbess at the Helfta convent, he said. Fascinated by her elder sister and the atmosphere of the convent, the young Matilda decided early on that she wanted to follow a life of contemplation and service to God, Pope Benedict said. She soon came became known as an intensely spiritual and intellectual figure who was able to understand and console her spiritual sisters when they were troubled. Her devotion to mystical contemplation also led to her “gift of divine illumination,” the pope said. She was appointed the leader not only of the choir, but also of the convent’s novices and its school. St. Matilda’s ability to “live the liturgy in all of its components, even the most simple, and incorporate them into the daily monastic life was remarkable” and her knowledge of Scripture very profound, the pope said. St. Matilda became the spiritual guide of St. Gertrude the Great, another important figure of Germanic monasticism, the pope said. St. Matilda died at age 58 after eight years of a painful illness, an experience that allowed her to “live in suffering for the salvation of others,” the pope said. St. Matilda should be an example of devotion to Christ, he said, encouraging Catholics to “grow, too, in that devotion through the power of her intercession.”
jubilee joy — A Day of Recollection for Religious was held recently at St. Julie Billiart Church in North Dartmouth. Bishop George W. Coleman celebrated a Mass at which several jubilarians were acknowledged. Front, from left: Sister Carmelina Tirkey, MC; Bishop Coleman; Sister Frances Thomas, RSM; Sister Teresa Silva, RSM; Sister Audrey Blake, RSM; Sister Eugenia Margaret Ready, SUSC; and Sister Laurette DeChamplain, SUSC. Back: Sister Patricia Combies, RSM; Sister Maria Chandra Mukherjee, MC; Sister Eileen Kitchen, RSM; and Sister Perpetua Lester, RSM.
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The Anchor
October 8, 2010
He was the best Ben he could have been
W
ell, it’s sure been a tough hardball, Ben Mondor was a giant week for Red Sox fans. in the prolific history of America’s First we were eliminated from past time (it will always be Amerthe big dance. Then we saw what ica’s game to most “old-timers,” could possibly be the last time we regardless of the great popularity see old friends like Jason Varitek, David Ortiz, and maybe even Tim Wakefield, wearing the storied “B” on their caps. And now we get to watch the New York Yankees By Dave Jolivet potentially become the first team in the third millennium to win back-toback World Series titles. of the NFL). But the most heart-wrenching Mondor, 85, was the owner of event of the past week was the the Pawtucket Red Sox for the last passing of a Red Sox legend. 34 years. Call him Big Ben, Gentle Although he never played a game Ben, or my friend Ben, Mondor as a Red Sox, as a major-leaguer, turned a laughing-stock franchise or as a professional in any level of into one of the best, if not the best,
My View From the Stands
minor league organizations in all of baseball. The philanthropist was generous not only with his money, but with his big heart, in which children and families had a special place. With all due respect to Pawtucket Mayor Thomas P. McCoy, who ran the city from 1936-45, the ball park should be renamed Mondor Stadium. The field can be named McCoy Field. Mondor made the cozy little ball yard, nestled in a Pawtucket neighborhood, one of the best places around to watch the grand old game. The stadium was always clean, the field immaculately groomed, and the atmosphere family-oriented — all thanks to Mondor. And the beauty of it all ... it was very affordable to take the family to McCoy often. The last time I was at McCoy before Mondor passed on was to see Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops perform out in center field. Fittingly enough, the concert had a baseball theme with the Pops performing “Take Me Out to the Ball Game,” “Sweet Caroline,” and a reading of the immortal “Casey at the Bat.” To witness one of the greatest conductors lead one of the greatest orchestras in a baseball-themed evening on the spectacular field at Ben Mondor’s pride and joy was perhaps the best send-off Ben could have received.