Diocese of Fall River
The Anchor
F riday , September 10, 2010
Catholics urged to vote in Tuesday primary By Dave Jolivet, Editor FALL RIVER — For years, voter turnout for Massachusetts’ primary elections has been very light. There are several reasons for this, none of which hold true in 2010. Nearly 48 percent of Massachusetts voters, including a great many Catholics, are registered as independent (not Independent Party), now called “unenrolled.” At one time in the Commonwealth, independent voters who chose to cast a ballot in the primaries were asked to select either a Democratic or Republican ballot. Once a choice was made, that voter was automatically reregistered as belonging to that particular party affiliate. To change back to independent status, the individual had to reregister. For this reason, many independents stayed away from the primary election. For a few years now, that is no longer the case. Unenrolled (independent) voters can now vote in the primaries. They may select a Democratic or Republican ballot, yet their unenrolled status will remain intact. Another reason many eschewed the primary elections,
particularly practicing Catholics, was because there was rarely a candidate who maintained an allegiance to Catholic Church teachings on family values, the evils of abortion and other critical items. Again, that is no longer the case. “This year’s primary is very exciting and hopeful because there are candidates out there, Democratic and Republican, who adhere to Church teachings and values,” Bea Martins, Catholic Citizenship’s representative from the Fall River Diocese, told The Anchor. “People from both parties are standing up for traditional family values.” The “Catechism of the Catholic Church,” clearly advises Catholics to exercise their right to vote. In sections 2239 and 2240 it states, “It is the duty of citizens to contribute along with the civil authorities to the good of society in a spirit of truth, justice, solidarity, and freedom .... Submission to authority and co-responsibility for the common good make it morally obligatory to pay taxes, to exercise the right to vote, and to defend one’s country.” Turn to page 19
SISTERS IN SERVICE — Dominican Sisters of the Presentation currently living at the order’s national provincial house in Dighton and working in the Fall River Diocese include, from left, Sister Elin Pirkey; Sister Auilinra Jaramillo; Sister Camille Descheemaker; Sister Marie William Lapointe, house superior; and Sister Vimala Vadakumpadan, provincial. (Photo by Kenneth J. Souza)
Dominican Sisters adhere to the rich charism of their foundress By Kenneth J. Souza Anchor Staff “She saw what was good in the eyes of God and did it.” — Epitaph on Blessed Marie Poussepin’s tombstone. DIGHTON — While many religious orders tend to focus their ministries on one or two areas of expertise, the Dominican Sisters of the Presentation continue to attract a diverse spectrum of talents
and abilities. According to Sister Vimala Vadakumpadan, the order’s provincial in the United States, this diversity can be traced back to the charism of their foundress, Blessed Marie Poussepin — a charism also shared with their patron, St. Dominic. “Our charism says, you contemplate and then you give the fruit of your contemplation,” Sis-
ter Vadakumpadan said. “Through our daily lives we become preachers — not from the pulpit, but through the work we do. Contemplation and action go hand-inhand. Without prayer, our work is nothing. Anyone can do work, but in order to be a Dominican Sister, you must reap from your prayer life and give the fruits in action. Prayer life, community life and Turn to page 18
Court halts funding for embryonic stem-cell research By Christine M. Williams Anchor Correspondent
a right and a duty — A voter emerges from a voting booth with her ballot after casting her vote. The Massachusetts primaries are September 14. Catholics are urged to vote. (CNS file photo)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A District Court ruling has put the brakes on millions of taxpayer dollars spent on embryo-destructive research. On August 23, Judge Royce C. Lamberth found that the Dickey-Wicker Amendment bars federal funding of research that requires the killing of human embryos. The amendment, a rider attached to the Balanced Budget Downpayment Act in 1996, has been included in every appropriations bill for Heath and Human Services since. It provides that no federal funds shall be used for “research in which a human embryo or embryos are destroyed, discarded, or knowingly subjected to risk of injury or death greater than allowed for research on fetuses in utero.” The judge wrote in his decision, “Thus, as demonstrated by the plain language of the statute, the unambiguous intent of Congress is to prohibit the
expenditure of federal funds on ‘research in which a human embryo or embryos are destroyed.’” The defendants had argued that as long as the federal funds do not pay for the actual destruction of embryos, it could be used for studying the stem cells left behind. “To conduct embryonic stem-cell research, embryonic stem cells must be derived from an embryo. Thus, embryonic stem-cell research necessarily depends upon the destruction of a human embryo,” the judge added. Father Tad Pacholczyk of the National Catholic Bioethics Center called the judge’s arguments “reasonable” and said he correctly interpreted the amendment. “If you are doing research on the remains of embryos, which is what embryonic stem-cell research is, then it was necessary to destroy a human being to start that research,” he told The Anchor. In statement from the United States Conference Turn to page 15