The AnchorDiocese of Fall RiveR fRiday, NovembeR 16, 2012

By Kenneth J. SouzaAnchor Staff

WESTPORT — Although he admits he wasn’t “the greatest student,” Mike Leonard truly ap-preciates the opportunity he had to attend Catholic elementary and high schools in suburban Chicago where he grew up, and later Providence College, where he earned a degree in economics.

“My Catholic education in-formed me in a lot of ways,” Leonard told The Anchor dur-ing a phone interview from his home in Winnetka, Ill. “Within that context, there was always a sense of order — we knew what was right and wrong. I had great nuns in school who were really, really tough. They were demand-ing, but it didn’t bother me. You learned what was right and what was wrong and sometimes you would just try to break the law to break the law.”

Leonard, a longtime feature correspondent for the NBC “To-day” show and a best-selling author, will share some of those firsthand experiences as key-note speaker for the 18th annual St. Mary’s Education Fund Fall Dinner to be held November 27

Author, journalist knows the value of Catholic education

at White’s of Westport beginning with a 5:30 p.m. reception.

Proceeds from the event ben-efit the St. Mary’s Education Fund, which provides need-

based financial scholarships to students at Catholic elementary and middle schools throughout the Fall River Diocese.

“We had a sense of communi-ty in the Catholic schools that my friends in public schools didn’t have,” Leonard said. “We’d have

things like pancake breakfasts and CYO Sunday basketball events and other fund-raisers. There was a sense of that parish being your community and your home. Even though we bristled sometimes under the discipline, all those demands were what made you better in life.”

For Leonard, it wasn’t only that close-knit sense of commu-nity from his Catholic upbring-ing that informed him later in life, but also a sense of creativity and humor.

“I think Catholics are very creative in their humor and cre-ative in their fun, because we always had all this structure around us,” he said. “It was com-forting, and it was also at times frustrating, but in the end I think it made us who we are.”

Despite having earned a de-gree in economics, Leonard em-barked on a successful career as a filmmaker and TV journalist in 1980 when he was first hired as a feature correspondent for NBC News.

“I was working in Phoenix as a sportscaster, and I had only been in TV for a short time,”

MiKe Leonard

Turn to page 18

Sister Catholic paper in NYC rises above Sandy’s flood watersBy dave JoLivet, editor

FALL RIVER — Catholic New York, the country’s largest Catholic newspaper, ser-vicing the Archdiocese of New York, and The Anchor have shared a camaraderie for several years now. Matt Schiller, the New York publication’s advertising and business manager has been an Anchor friend since the 1980s when he was then employed by The Tablet, the Diocese of Brooklyn’s news-paper.

Schiller was skilled with servicing the Wang computer system, a precursor to to-day’s state-of-the art desktop publishing systems. The Anchor was one of a few lo-cal Catholic papers to which he would lend his expertise. He made numerous trips to the Fall River office to get The Anchor up and running. It was during those times that I first met him.

Eventually Schiller moved on to the Catholic New York, and the Wang system moved on to retirement. But through the years, Schiller and I would meet at CNS

conventions and we occasionally converse on Facebook.

When Hurricane Sandy took aim on New York City and New Jersey, I sent Schiller a Facebook message wishing him and his family the best. In the perfect storm’s after-math, and the ensuing nor’easter one week later, I tried to contact Schiller to find out how he fared, his neighbors and the Catho-lic New York.

Not surprisingly, it took several days before I heard from him. In an interview with Schiller and John Woods, the Catholic New York’s editor-in-chief, The Anchor got a first-hand account of how its sister paper and some of its staff in the Big Apple fared.

Schiller lives in northern New Jersey, very close to the New York State border. “We received some wind damage and we lost power from that Monday until Satur-day,” he told The Anchor. “But we were spared the damage of the massive storm surge that caused widespread damage in

Turn to page 15

much work to do — A statue of St. Francis of Assisi overlooks workers clean-ing up outside St. Margaret Mary Church in New York’s Staten Island. The church was badly damaged by Hurricane Sandy. (CNS photo/Bob Roller)

By BecKy auButAnchor Staff

FAIRHAVEN — While most people travel to Hawaii to walk on one of its pristine beaches, last month, 15 local parishioners, ranging in age from 12 to 85, chose to make a pilgrimage to Ha-waii and walk in the footsteps of St. Damien of Moloka’i.

“Father Pat [Killilea], who has such a fondness for St. Damien,

suggested that the first pilgrimage for St. Mary’s should be to the Ha-waiian Islands,” explained Charlie Murphy, parishioner of St. Mary’s Parish in Fairhaven.

Initially planned for August, the schedule was bumped to a later date when ironically Father Killilea — who was originally going to take part in the pilgrim-age — was reassigned from St.

Parishioners make pilgrimage to Moloka’i

Turn to page 14

SAcrEd GAthErING — Fifteen parishioners, mainly from St. Mary’s Parish and St. Joseph’s Parish in Fairhaven, gather at St. Joseph’s Parish in Kamalo, Hawaii as part of their pilgrimage to Moloka’i to visit where St. Damien ministered to those suffering from leprosy. Of the churches that St. Damien built, St. Joseph’s Church remains in the most original condition. The group said the trip was a truly faith-filled experience that created strong bonds of friendship.

2012 Marian Medal recipients — page 12

EXEcutIVE EdItor Father Richard D. Wilson fatherwilson@anchornews.orgEdItor David B. Jolivet davejolivet@anchornews.orgoFFIcE mANAGEr Mary Chase marychase@anchornews.orgAdVErtISING Wayne R. Powers waynepowers@anchornews.orgrEPortEr Kenneth J. Souza kensouza@anchornews.orgrEPortEr Rebecca Aubut beckyaubut@anchornews.org

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Vol. 56, No. 44www.anchornews.org

2 November 16, 2012News From the vaticaN

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The effort to reintegrate the tra-ditionalist Society of St. Pius X into the Catholic Church “abso-lutely does not mean” that the Catholic Church will accept or support the anti-Jewish or anti-Semitic positions espoused by some members of the society, said Cardinal Kurt Koch.

The cardinal, president of the Pontifical Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews, said many Jews “fear that through the eventual reintegra-tion of a series of priests and faithful with anti-Jewish tenden-cies and who fundamentally re-ject ‘Nostra Aetate,’” the Second Vatican Council document on re-lations with Jews and with other religions, “the Catholic Church could give a new direction to its dialogue with Judaism.”

Addressing members of the commission, which oversees and promotes a variety of Vatican dialogues with Jews, Cardinal Koch said, “The Holy Father has charged me with present-ing the question in the correct way: ‘Nostra Aetate’ is not be-ing questioned in any way by the magisterium of the Church as the pope himself has demonstrated repeatedly in his speeches, his writings and his personal ges-tures regarding Judaism.”

“The Catholic Church is mov-ing firmly on the basis of the principles affirmed in ‘Nostra Aetate,’” and Pope Benedict XVI intends to continue the Church’s dialogue with the Jewish people, the cardinal said in his speech, which was published November 7 in L’Osservatore Romano, the

Vatican newspaper.“Nostra Aetate” described

Christians and Jews as having a common heritage and a profound spiritual bond; it denounced any form of contempt of the Jews; it said the Jews could not be held responsible for the death of Je-sus; and “it explicitly highlighted the Jewish roots of Christianity,” Cardinal Koch said.

In discussions about the SSPX and the Second Vatican Council, the cardinal said, questions also have been raised about the level of teaching authority in various council documents; the idea has been raised that because “Nostra Aetate” was a declaration and not a constitution, its content has less weight.

“On a formal level, a dis-tinction certainly can be made” between the council’s declara-tions and constitutions, he said. “Nevertheless, from the point of view of their content, they can-not be separated from each other or placed in opposition to each other.”

“Nostra Aetate,” he said, was not “an isolated meteorite that fell from Heaven,” but it flowed from the other teachings of the council, particularly the coun-cil’s reflections on the mystery of the Church.

Cardinal Koch said Pope Benedict’s full support of the teaching on Judaism adopted by the council was evident even before the council began meet-ing in 1962. As a student of the Scriptures, the then-Joseph Ratz-inger had “a considerable famil-iarity with Judaism,” he said.

“The foundation of the vi-sion of Ratzinger the theologian is that holy Scripture can be un-derstood only as one book,” in which the history of salvation begins with God’s covenant with the Jewish people, he said. “In the light of these theologi-cal convictions, one cannot be surprised that Pope Benedict is continuing the work of rec-onciliation begun by his pre-decessors in Jewish-Catholic dialogue.”

Cardinal: Vatican-SSPX talks do not signal toleration of anti-Judaism

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Benedict XVI congratulated U.S. President Barack Obama on his re-election, saying that he prayed the ideals of free-dom and justice that guided America’s founders might continue to flourish.

The Vatican did not make public the full text of the pope’s telegram to Obama, which was sent via Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, the apostolic nun-cio to the United States.

“In the message, the Holy Father sent his best wishes to the president for his new term and assured him of his prayers that God might assist him in his very great responsibility before the country and the international community,” the Vatican said in a state-ment.

The pope also told Obama he was praying that “the ideals of liberty and justice that guided the founders of the United States of America might continue to shine” as the nation goes forward, the statement said.

In remarks to reporters, Jesuit Father Federico

Pope sends Obama telegram with prayers that freedom, justice flourish

Lombardi, Vatican spokesman, voiced hopes that Obama would also promote “a culture of life and re-ligious freedom.”

It is the hope of everyone that President Obama “respond to the expectations” of the American peo-ple and “serve law and justice for the well-being and growth of every person, by respecting essential hu-man and spiritual values and by promoting the cul-ture of life and religious freedom, which have always been so precious in the tradition of the American people and their culture,” the priest said.

The role of president of the United States is “an immense responsibility not just for the great nation, but for the whole world, given the United States’ role on the world stage,” Father Lombardi said, expressing hopes that the president would be able to “find the best ways to promote the material and spiritual well-being of all and effectively promote integral human development, justice and peace in the world.”

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Benedict XVI called on people to never be satisfied with their earthly achievements because true happiness entails seeking out the greater good.

He said people should “not be discouraged by fatigue or by ob-stacles born of our sins,” because striving for the greater good is demanding and cannot be built or provided by mere human effort.

During a recent general au-dience talk to some 20,000 pil-grims gathered in St. Peter’s Square, the pope spoke about “the mysterious desire for God,” which lies deep in every human heart.

Despite rampant seculariza-tion and people’s claims of be-ing indifferent to God, an in-nate yearning for God “has not completely disappeared and still today, in many ways, appears in the heart of mankind.”

People always strive for hap-piness and a well-being that is “often far from spiritual,” and yet they are also aware there still remains a deeper yearning for

something that could truly satis-fy their “restless heart,” he said.

“Every wish that arises in the human heart is echoed by a fundamental desire that is never fully satisfied,” he said.

True love pushes people to think beyond themselves, to be at the service of the other up to the point of self-sacrifice, he said.

Pope Benedict said the Church should create a “pedagogy of de-sire” for people of faith and for those who do not believe in God and as a way to open them up to the transcendent.

This “pedagogy” would teach or remind people to enjoy “the authentic joys of life,” such as family, friendship, helping oth-ers, solidarity with those in need and the love for learning, art and the beauty of nature, the pope said.

Not all pleasures are equal; some things eventually leave be-hind disappointment, bitterness, dissatisfaction or emptiness, he said. People should appreciate those things that leave behind “a positive mark, ease the soul and

make us more active and gener-ous.” Such authentic enjoyments also create “effective antibodies against the trivialization and ba-nality so present today,” he said.

Learning to rediscover au-thentic pleasures can rescue people from “the mediocrity in which they may find themselves ensnared” and it can help people ignore or reject all the things that seem attractive on the surface, but underneath “are dull or bring about addiction and not free-dom,” the pope said.

Nothing can extinguish the innate desire for and ability to recognize the true good, not even after following the wrong path in life or when trapped in an “arti-ficial paradise” or in the darkest depths of sin, he said.

God has made that ability in-nate in everyone and it is always open to redemption and the gift of His grace, the pope said.

The pope asked people to pray for everyone “who seeks the truth with a sincere heart, that they may come to know the joy and freedom born of faith.”

Don’t be satisfied with achievements; pursue greater good, pope says

PASt ANd PrESENt — Pope Benedict XVI, right, participated in a recent prayer service in front of the tomb of St. Peter in the Vatican grottos. (CNS photo/L’Osservatore Romano via Reuters)

3 November 16, 2012 the iNterNatioNal church

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Over the past five years, rela-tions between the government of China and the Catholic Church unfortunately have been marked by “misunderstandings, accu-sations” and new “stumbling blocks” to religious freedom, said the prefect of the Congre-gation for the Evangelization of Peoples.

Cardinal Fernando Filoni, congregation prefect, said, “Control over persons and in-stitutions has been honed and sessions of indoctrination and pressure are being turned to with ever greater ease.”

In an article published in late October in Tripod, a publication of the Holy Spirit Study Center in Hong Kong, the cardinal, who spent nine years in Hong Kong as a Vatican diplomat monitor-ing the situation of the Church in China, issued a call for dia-logue with China’s communist government.

He asked for the establish-ment of a high-level, bilateral commission of China and the Holy See, similar to the China-Taiwan commissions that con-tinue to discuss issues of im-portance even though relations between the two are strained politically.

The Catholic community in China, he said, does not en-joy the freedom it should and it cannot move toward unity and reconciliation as long as the government appoints bishops unacceptable to the Holy See, pressures other bishops to par-ticipate in illicit ordinations and detains bishops who insist on maintaining their ties with the Vatican.

The situation also is exac-erbated by misunderstandings between what Cardinal Filoni described as the “two currents” of the Catholic Church in China: one basically underground be-cause it “did not accept compro-mises and political control,” and the other existing openly, but accepting government control for what he termed “existential reasons,” by which he meant its very existence.

Pope Benedict XVI, in a 2007 letter to Chinese Catholics, urged the two communities to recognize each other as Catholic and move toward reconciliation.

The pope’s letter, Cardinal Filoni said, recognized that “as a whole, the Church in China was never schismatic,” even though some Catholics accepted gov-ernment control in order to en-sure the survival of the Church.

China’s estimated 10 mil-lion to 12 million Catholics are divided between officially reg-istered communities supervised by the government-controlled

Decrying situation of Chinese Catholics, cardinal calls for dialogueChinese Catholic Patriotic As-sociation and so-called “under-ground” communities that rec-ognize only the authority of the Vatican.

Pope Benedict’s 2007 letter, Cardinal Filoni said, urged a process of reconciliation among Catholics “to eliminate preju-dices, interference, divisions and connivances, hatred and am-biguity” between the two com-munities.

The pope’s hoped-for rec-onciliation “experienced dif-ficulties” because of “external pressures on the Church itself,” presumably by the government, “but also because of misun-derstandings between the two ‘currents,’” the cardinal said. “Decades of separation had dug furrows and built walls, so that deep internal wounds inflicted on the Church are present even today.”

The healing of the Chinese Catholic community cannot pro-ceed while the government con-tinues to act in ways that further test and divide Catholics in the country, the cardinal said.

The Vatican insists, he said, on the Catholic Church being able to be true to its identity and its teachings in China. For that to occur, the bishops must be united among themselves and with the pope; pastors must be holy and suitable; the commu-nity must be truly “catholic” or universal by being in commu-nion structurally and in matters of faith with the pope and other Catholics around the world; and the Church must be apostolic, which is ensured through the proper succession of bishops recognized by the pope.

Citing three specific “stum-bling blocks,” Cardinal Filoni said the Chinese government and the Chinese Catholic Patri-otic Association have increased the divisions in the past few years.

First, he said, the govern-ment-organized national assem-bly of Catholic representatives in 2010 “sharpened the control of the state over the Church,” pressured underground clergy to join the patriotic association, and began exercising greater control over internal Church matters. As an example, the car-dinal cited the appointment of a government official as vice rector of the seminary in Shiji-azhuang.

Second, he said, “rigorous control over the appointment of bishops has led to the choice of controversial candidates, who were both morally and pasto-rally unacceptable.”

Third, the cardinal said, the ordinations of new bishops — both those acceptable to the Vat-

ican and those the Vatican con-sidered illicit — were marred by the participation of “illegitimate bishops” as co-consecrators, “creating a dramatic crisis of conscience” for all participants.

The situation of Catholics in China “remains serious,” Cardi-nal Filoni said. “Some bishops and priests have been segregated and deprived of their liberties, as the case of (Auxiliary) Bishop Thaddeus Ma Daqin of Shang-hai has clearly demonstrated.”

The bishop, 45, quit the government-approved Catho-

lic Patriotic Association at his ordination July 7. Since then, he has been in “retreat” at the Sheshan Seminary, reported the Asian Church news agency UCA News.

However, a mainland bish-op who is recognized by the Vatican and Beijing told UCA News he does not think Cardi-nal Filoni’s invitation will yield results because the government “doesn’t care about the Church or the Vatican. They never want to have sincere dialogue.”

Speaking on condition of

anonymity, he said: “The gov-ernment will not make any re-sponse because its top priority is to maintain stability on the eve of the National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party and ensure smooth transition of the state leadership.”

UCA News also reported that, as the opening of the con-gress neared, Chinese officials were tightening security across the country as well as in cyber-space. The congress was ex-pected to see a once-in-a-decade power transition.

4 November 16, 2012the church iN the u.s.

BOSTON (CNA/EWTN News) — Cardinal Seán O’Malley of Bos-ton applauded the defeat of a Mas-sachusetts ballot measure to legal-ize physician-assisted suicide, calling for more compassionate care of those who are seriously ill.

“It is my hope and prayer that the defeat of Question 2 will help all people to understand that for our brothers and sisters confront-ed with terminal illness we can do better than offering them the means to end their lives,” said the cardinal in a statement re-sponding to the vote.

He said that the results show that “the people of the Common-wealth recognize that the com-mon good was best served in de-feating Question 2.”

The so-called “Death with Dignity” initiative on the No-vember 6 Massachusetts ballot would have allowed doctors to prescribe lethal drugs to termi-nally-ill patients who were given six months or fewer to live.

Proponents of the measure conceded defeat early on No-vember 7. With 96 percent of precincts counted, the initiative

was rejected by a 51-49 percent margin.

The ballot measure had been vocally opposed by Cardinal O’Malley, who led a Twitter campaign against it. He warned that the proposal failed to value and respect the lives of those who are severely ill.

The initiative was also op-posed by disability rights groups, the Massachusetts Medical As-sociation and the Boston Herald, as well as major newspapers in numerous other cities.

Critics of the measure argued that it would devalue human life and could create a “slippery slope.”

Rather than extending a com-passionate and helping hand to the suffering, legalizing physi-cian-assisted suicide could pres-sure those who are terminally ill to end their lives, feeling that they are a burden on society, they said.

Opponents also voiced con-cerns that the measure did not require family notification or the presence of a doctor. Nor did it require a psychiatric evaluation for treatable problems such as

depression.Furthermore, critics said, the

initiative would weaken pallia-tive care efforts. They also noted that terminal diagnoses are often wrong and warned that the law could be abused by family mem-bers seeking to inherit property or money.

Cardinal O’Malley thanked all of those who worked to help share information about the problems behind the ballot mea-sure.

“The Campaign Against Phy-sician-Assisted Suicide brought together a diverse coalition from medical, disability rights and in-terfaith communities, all dedicat-ed to ensuring that our residents were well informed about this is-sue,” he explained.

The cardinal stressed that so-ciety must cooperate with Hos-pice organizations and palliative care providers to improve the compassionate care offered to those who are terminally ill.

“Patients are best served when the medical professionals, families and loved ones provide support and care with dignity and respect,” he said.

Cardinal O’Malley lauds rejection of physician-assisted suicide bill

WASHINGTON D.C. (CNA/EWTN News) — The U.S. bish-ops’ leader on defense of Mar-riage issues is calling for prayer and a “renewed culture of Mar-riage” in light of recent votes against preserving the meaning of the institution in four states.

“In a society marked by in-creasing poverty and family frag-mentation, Marriage needs to be strengthened, promoted, and defended, not redefined,” said Salvatore J. Cordileone of San Francisco, who chairs the Sub-committee for the Promotion and Defense of Marriage at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

In a November 7 statement, the archbishop explained that the previous day’s election “was a disappointing day for Marriage,” as efforts to preserve Marriage’s unique meaning in law lost nar-rowly after being vastly outspent by opponents.

Voters in four states were faced with ballot measures in-volving the definition of mar-riage on November 6. For the first time in U.S. history, “gay marriage” was approved by a vote of the people rather than by legislators or a court deci-sion. Previously, Marriage as the union of one man and one wom-an had been affirmed by voters in 32 states.

In Maryland and Washington state, lawmakers had recently passed bills to redefine marriage to include same-sex couples.

U.S. bishops call for renewed view of Marriage in wake of electionHowever, opponents of both bills gathered enough signatures to put the laws before the people in a referendum before they went into effect.

Maryland voters narrowly ap-proved the law to redefine Mar-riage, and while votes in Wash-ington are still being confirmed, it is projected that the referen-dum succeeded there as well.

In Minnesota, voters rejected a proposed amendment to the state constitution that would have protected the definition of Marriage as the union of one man and one woman. This defi-nition of Marriage is currently enshrined in state law, but the constitutional amendment would have given it further security.

Maine activists seeking to re-define Marriage were able to put forward a referendum to reverse the people’s 2009 vote to protect Marriage. That effort succeeded, and the state will soon begin is-suing marriage licenses to gay couples.

Archbishop Cordileone voiced disappointment with the election results but emphasized that the true meaning of Marriage “can-not be redefined because it lies within our very nature.”

“No matter what policy, law or judicial decision is put into place, Marriage is the only in-stitution that unites a man and a woman to each other and to any children born of their union,” he said. “It is either this, or it is

nothing at all.”Every child is born from a

mother and a father and has the right to be raised by them to-gether, the archbishop said. As a result, Marriage has a unique meaning and exists for the good of children.

Emphasizing the growing problems of poverty and broken

families, he voiced hope that pol-iticians, judges and the American people “will seek to honor this foundational and common sense truth of Marriage.”

Archbishop Cordileone thanked everyone who had given their time, energy and resources to the efforts to protect Marriage. He called for continued work to strengthen the

fundamental social institution and educate others about its importance.

“I especially call on all people to pray and to build a renewed culture of Marriage and the fam-ily,” he said. “This is a funda-mental task on which the future good and stability of our society, and particularly that of our chil-dren, rest.”

So cLoSE yEt So FAr — People exchange signs of peace through a fence along the U.S.-Mexico border during simultaneous Masses held near Anapra, New Mexico. The annual Dia de los Muertos — All Souls’ Day — observance was held as a sign of solidarity and in remembrance of migrants who have died making their way across the border. The Masses were celebrated by U.S. Bishop Ricardo Ramirez of Las Cruces, N.M., and Mexican Bishop Renato Ascencio Leon of Ciudad Juarez. (CNS photo/Brian Kanof)

5 November 16, 2012 the church iN the u.s.

WASHINGTON (CNS) — Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, congratulated President Barack Obama on his re-election in a November 7 letter.

“The people of our country have again entrusted you with a great responsibility,” Cardinal Dolan said. “The Catholic bish-ops of the United States offer our prayers that God will give you strength and wisdom to meet the difficult challenges that face America.”

Cardinal Dolan added the bishops pray that Obama will “help restore a sense of civility to the public order, so our pub-lic conversations may be imbued with respect and charity toward everyone.”

He said, “In particular, we pray that you will exercise your office to pursue the common good, especially in care of the most vulnerable among us, in-cluding the unborn, the poor, and the immigrant. We will continue to stand in defense of life, Mar-riage and our first, most cher-ished liberty, religious freedom.”

In the press release containing the text of the letter, the words “our first, most cherished liber-ty” were in italics. The bishops and the Obama Administration have clashed for the past year on a federal Department of Health and Human Services mandate that would require most religious employers to provide contracep-tive access to their employees, allowing for few exceptions.

With 270 electoral votes need-ed to secure a presidential win,

Obama, a Democrat, had 303 to 206 for his Republican challeng-er, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. Florida’s 29 elec-toral votes had not been decided the morning after the election.

Four years ago, Obama, pre-viously a U.S. senator from Il-linois, received congratulations from a fellow Illinoisan — Car-dinal Francis E. George of Chi-cago, then president of the U.S. bishops — when Obama became the nation’s first African-Ameri-can president.

“I believe we can seize this future together — because we are not as divided as our politics suggest; we’re not as cynical as the pundits believe; we are great-er than the sum of our individual ambitions; and we remain more than a collection of red states and blue states. We are, and for-ever will be, the United States of America,” Obama said at the end of his 20-minute address to sup-porters at a victory rally in Chi-cago during the early morning hours of November 7.

“And together, with your help, and God’s grace, we will continue our journey forward, and remind the world just why it is that we live in the greatest na-tion on earth,” he added.

Archbishop Jose H. Gomez of Los Angeles also congratulated Obama in a November 7 state-ment.

“Every political office is an expression of public trust and carries the responsibility to work for justice and the common good — not only in our own country but also in the international com-munity. So I pray that God will

grant our president the wisdom he needs to carry out his duties, along with the virtues of honesty, courage, prudence and humility that are necessary for true pub-lic service,” Archbishop Gomez said.

“As faithful citizens, the Catholic community here in Los Angeles and elsewhere in the country stands ready to work with our president to fulfill the promise of America’s founders,” he added. “We look forward to working for a new America that is truly one nation under God, where men and women from every race, creed and national background are welcomed to live in liberty and peace as brothers and sisters.”

Charmaine Yoest, president and CEO of Americans United for Life Action, took the Obama Administration to task for its health care law and what she de-scribed as its efforts to expand access to abortion. In a Novem-ber 7 statement, she said she expected state legislatures and a “Pro-Life majority” in the House of Representatives to blunt those efforts during Obama’s second term.

“Already, AUL has worked with 10 states in passing legis-lation to opt out of permitting taxpayer-subsidized abortion coverage through Obamacare,” Yoest said. “And we predict that the courts are going to see an ever-increasing number of law-suits as Americans fight for their First Amendment rights of con-science.”

Care Net, an organization that promotes alternatives to abor-

tion, said it hopes Obama will honor a promise he made during his first term to make abortion “rare.”

“In 2010, President Obama talked about the importance of making abortion ‘rare.’ Sadly, the record of his administration so far has been a record of ex-panding abortion, said Care Net CEO Roland Warren in a state-ment. “Yet most American wom-en agree: Abortion is not the best solution in an unplanned preg-nancy situation.”

In other reaction Novem-ber 7, National Farmers Union president Roger Johnson said Obama “has shown his dedica-tion to rural America over the past four years, and we will continue to work with him and the administration to ensure that continues.”

United Auto Workers presi-dent Bob King said the president “stood by American workers in their darkest hour, and UAW members and citizens in commu-nities that are part of the thriving auto industry, are grateful for his willingness to bet on us.”

“Today,” he said, “the domes-tic auto industry is roaring back, with investment in factories, new

workers and manufacturing re-turned to our country.”

“While the economy, health care and the deficit were the leading issues that voters specifi-cally cited as most important in this election, the results also sig-nal historic shifts in values and demographics,” said a statement from Robert Jones, founding CEO of the Public Religion Re-search Institute.

In focus groups conducted by PRRI in Columbus, Ohio, the weekend before the election, “among white working-class independent voters, the partici-pants emphasized economic is-sues like jobs, the deficit and taxes as their highest-ranked pri-orities for this election.”

Jones said early exit polls also showed Obama “won younger voters under 30 by 23 points, while Romney won seniors by 12 points. And this year, as in 2008, younger voters turned out, rivaling seniors as a proportion of the electorate.”

Another key issue in the elec-tion, he said, was the treatment of immigration and other issues important to Latino voters, “who now constitute 10 percent of all voters.”

Cardinal congratulates Obama, urges he give priority to most vulnerable

6 November 16, 2012The Anchor

I’ve been a sports fan all my life and have witnessed some amazing comebacks, but

few compare to the incredible recovery that was made with regard to Ballot Item 2, which was trying to make it legal for doctors in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to prescribe poison for those with terminal diagnoses to kill themselves.

At the end of September, a Boston Globe statewide poll showed 68 percent of likely voters were planning to vote yes on Question 2, com-pared to 19 percent opposed. Over the course of the next month, not only was the gap closed but on election day, 51.1 percent voted to defeat it.

Much of that credit goes to the Catholic Church, particularly the Archdiocese of Boston, which raised most of the $4 million that was re-quired for the campaign against Question 2 and was the fulcrum of a coordinated effort bringing together doctors and nurses, disability advocates, leaders of religious groups and other groups.

But much of the credit for the victory also goes to the voters in the Diocese of Fall River.

Across the cities and towns of our diocese, 53.8 percent of voters rejected doctor-prescribed suicide. If you look at the western side of the bridges, from Attleboro through Ware-ham, Question 2 was rejected by 57.0 percent of the electorate. Even though the number of votes cast across the non-Cape part of the diocese comprised only 4.2 percent of the overall votes cast statewide (124,922 out of 2,970,326), it constituted 48.6 percent of the margin of victory (30,517 out of 62,842).

And when you look at the cities and towns across the Commonwealth that were most against Question 2, many come from our diocese: Acushnet (63.3 percent against), Fall River (63.1), New Bedford (62.5), Taunton (59.0), Somerset (58.7), Swansea (56.7), Raynham (56.4), Dighton (56.1) and Dartmouth (55.6). North Attleboro, Fairhaven, Attleboro, Yarmouth, Freetown, Mashpee, Wareham, Sand-wich, Westport, Dennis, Seekonk, Mansfield, Rehoboth, Barnstable and Bourne all not only defeated it, but defeated beyond the statewide average of 51.1 percent opposed.

This testifies to the efforts made throughout our diocese to get the word out, from Bishop Coleman’s excellent audio message the weekend previous to the election, to the yard signs, bumper stickers, educational materials and most importantly personal witness that helped citizens recognize what was at stake and got them motivated to defeat this attempt to pretend that suicide is somehow “dignified” rather than unmistakably tragic.

On a frigid election day, with several dedicated lay people, I held signs for almost three hours on an Eastern Avenue median in Fall River, just outside one of the polling places. I got an inkling that things were going to go very well in our area. There were a handful of passersby who screamed insults as they passed by in their cars, but there was an enormous outpouring of support from people heading in both directions: many encouragingly tooted their horns, gave the thumbs-up sign, waved enthusiastically, and even stopped in traffic — somewhat danger-ously — to say how happy they were to see the Church’s leadership on this ballot item.

What happened in Massachusetts was a shot heard round the country on election day. Few believed that Massachusetts would defeat this perversion of mercy and the medical profession, especially after the polls predicting a blow-out in favor. There are, therefore, many lessons to be drawn from the victory, and not just with regard to physician-assisted suicide.

First, society is not on an inexorable decline to the culture of death. Sometimes Christians and Pro-Lifers can become cynical because there hasn’t been a lot to cheer about in recent times, but we should never lose hope. When people know what’s at stake, when we’re able to inform

their consciences properly and effectively, we’ve just seen that people can respond well.

Second, the winning frame was not a moralistic one — “suicide is wrong” — but one drenched in true compassion for those who are suffering and might be tempted to end their lives. The message was that suicide is a tragedy for those who think it’s the only response to a depression caused by a terminal diagnosis, a tragedy for their family members and friends (as suicide always is!), and a tragedy for a society. We focused on the fact that there were better alternatives, like palliative care to handle the pain, psychological care to treat the depression, and simple human loving accompaniment so that one doesn’t have to suffer alone. We were able to show that life is worth living, even when one has a terminal diagnosis, as Victoria Reg-gie Kennedy’s moving op-ed about the last 15 months of Senator Edward Kennedy’s life gave powerful witness.

The Pro-Life movement in particular has a lot to learn from this. Just as suicide is always a tragedy, we need to convey how and why abortion is likewise always a tragedy, for the child, for his or her mother, father, other family

members and all of society. We should empha-size that there are better alternatives than abortion to address the multiple reasons why a woman in a difficult pregnancy might look at abortion

as the only way out. In an emotivist age, we should give greater voice to those women who have made the choice for life under difficult cir-cumstances and how they’re so grateful they did. We should enhance and publicize even more the pre- and post-natal equivalent of palliative and Hospice care: the incredible work done by crisis pregnancy centers to help pregnant women in need as well as those who have chosen to keep their babies. Too often abortion is presented moralistically as an “issue,” rather than a tragedy impacting people in distress whom we with compassion want to sacrifice to help for the long-haul. The defeat of Question 2 is a positive wake-up call for the whole movement that when faced with an alternative between lethally unbridled autonomy and genuine compassion, the latter can win.

Third, the Church in this effort, while pray-ing as purely as doves, was as wise as serpents. We convened focus groups and did in-depth studies. We put together an action plan to per-suade secular voters and even those in favor of physician-assisted suicide why they should op-pose Question 2. We formulated ads like the bril-liant “pharmacist” commercial to show people that suicide by Seconal is never a dignified way to die. Jesus called His followers to be shrewd in dealing with the things of this world (Lk 16:8) and in this case the Church was.

Finally, we need to grasp why we were trail-ing 68-19 percent a month from the election and never make the same mistake again. Polls at the beginning of the year showed us trailing 43-37 percent. At the terrible advice of the political consultants advising the Church, however, we basically suspended all educational efforts until after Labor Day and even pulled superb edu-cational materials from the Internet. The other side was able to advance its arguments when our side muted itself voluntarily. Few knew what was even on the ballot, not to mention why Question 2 should be defeated. Thanks be to God, we had just enough time to triumph at the end, but we should never have been down as much as we were. The Church’s educational efforts should be ongoing and never muzzled. And they should continue now all the more, because what we’ve just won is but one impor-tant victory in a much larger war in defense of human dignity.

Buoyed by this victory, we move on to the next battle!

Father Landry is Pastor of St. Bernadette Parish in Fall River.

A tremendous comeback and victory for life

Putting Intothe deep

By Father Roger J. Landry

“The hospital there, broken-down stones over there — it was like death. Then you would look out and see the mountains and the beautiful oceans, then you’d look down and death was everywhere.” These words from Fairhaven’s Lillian Desrosiers on page 14 of this edition, com-menting on the scene she encountered in Moloka’i, the final home of SS. Damien and Marianne Cope, are appropriate words as we face the month of November. Our Youth Pages remind us of how the month began with the observances of All Saints’ and All Souls’ Days, on which we ask the intercession of the saints in Heaven and on which we ask Our Lord’s mercy upon the holy souls in Purgatory, respectively. The pilgrimage to Moloka’i reminded the people of Fairhaven of how two saints came to a place which had the beauty of nature surrounding it, but was encased in a rejection of the love of neighbor. SS. Damien and Marianne came as humble followers of Christ and came to make His loving presence more palpably felt, spiritually and physically, in the lives of the suffering exiles of Moloka’i. Into a hellish situation, these two saints and their collaborators brought the light of the Resurrection, even though they knew that they would prob-ably never leave the island until they departed from this life.

Death comes every day. During these past weeks we have heard of those who lost their lives due to Sandy and the continued suffering which the people of the Mid-Atlantic states endured in the recent snowstorm. Guatemala and Myanmar (Burma) have suffered three earthquakes in the past two weeks, killing scores of people. Our fellow Catholics continue to be killed in bombings during Masses in Nigeria. We also have the continued deaths (often ignored and forgotten) over in the war in Afghanistan. Besides this, we have the “usual” deaths around the world and in our own country, caused by murder, cancer, heart disease, etc. They are “everyday” occurrences for us, but are the cause of great sorrow for the surviving friends and relatives and are the “moment of truth” for those who experience them.

As Father Fournier reminds us on page eight, we know neither the day nor the hour when death will come for us. As we wrote in this space last week, we thank our fellow citizens of Mas-sachusetts for voting against “choosing” the day and hour when death will come via physician-assisted suicide. Unfortunately, too many people have chosen the day and the hour for when a baby in the womb will be killed or a small human life will be destroyed in an in vitro fertilization clinic. These deaths would make the number killed in the nature-caused and man-made disasters mentioned above look miniscule. The fact that Catholics are often the cause for these tragedies happening is a true scandal, one which future generations will have a hard time understanding how we could allow them to happen.

In the midst of all of this thought of death (also brought on by the upcoming anniversary of the assassination of President Kennedy, about which we can read a Fall River connection on page nine), we come to the celebration of Thanksgiving. As Claire McManus relates on page seven, this holiday reminds us of the better instincts that we have as Americans and as Catholics, who are called to work for the common good, through institutions and as individuals. It is often in the face of tragedy that we come to that realization.

President George Washington’s proclamation for Thanksgiving Day we can read on page eight. Although we often think about turkey and the “fix’ins” when considering this holiday, we must be mindful of how, from its beginning in colonial times, to Washington’s and his suc-cessors’ occasional observances of it, through to President Abraham Lincoln’s beginning of its permanent observance, Thanksgiving Day has often been celebrated as a time to thank God for not having died.

The Pilgrims in Plymouth observed Thanksgiving in 1621 after a number of their fellow colonists had died the previous winter. Washington’s proclamation mentions the Revolutionary War and Lincoln’s observance was in the middle of the Civil War. In his 1863 proclamation, Lincoln notes, “And I recommend to [our citizens] that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to [God] for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility and union.”

What Lincoln ordered people to do back in 1863 would be a good idea for us in 2012. We are surrounded by so much natural beauty and material wealth, but death is also all around us. We celebrate Thanksgiving Day this year on the feast day of St. Cecilia, the patron saint of Church musicians. She begins three days in a row of the Church remembering martyrs for the faith. “Black Friday” we could make some time (in between bargain-hunting) to attend Mass on the feasts of St. Clement (martyred in Rome, where he was pope, in 100 AD) and Blessed Miguel Agustin Pro (martyred in Mexico in 1927). Saturday, November 24 we remember St. Andrew Dung-Lac and companions, the martyrs of Vietnam, who were killed between 1745 and 1862.

These witnesses (that’s what “martyrs” means in Greek) remind us that in the face of death, we Christians have hope, because our lives do not end here. They push us to work as they did and as the two non-martyrs (but true witnesses to Christ), Damien and Marianne, did on Moloka’i, not looking for “success” in this life, but looking to promote love of God and love of neighbor. The saints could see the beauty which surrounded them — the most important beauty being Christ’s presence. They knew that He would never abandon them, even in the face of injustices and cultures of death.

St. Clement wrote to the Christians in Corinth, as had St. Paul a few decades beforehand. He invoked God’s peace upon them: “The Church of God which sojourneth at Rome, to the Church of God which sojourneth at Corinth, to them who are called and sanctified in the will of God through our Lord Jesus Christ: Grace and peace be multiplied unto you from Almighty God through Jesus Christ.” A few lines later he had to use much more forceful language with them. “You repented not of any well-doing, being ready to every good work and being adorned with a very virtuous and holy habit of life, you did all things in His fear. The Commandments and ordinances of the Lord were written on the breadth of your heart. All honor and enlargement was given to you, and then was fulfilled that which is written: — The beloved ate and drank, and was enlarged and grew fat and kicked. From this came emulation and envy, strife and sedition, persecution and disorder, war and captivity.”

St. Clement was not talking about gluttony at Thanksgiving, but what he said about good people becoming too self-satisfied bonds well with President Lincoln’s admonition about our nation’s “perverseness and disobedience.” We ask Our Lord at Thanksgiving to help us turn away from the culture of death, so that we might be better prepared when death does (inevitably) come for us, prepared by having helped to build a Culture of Life and Love, modeled on Christ’s example of Love on Calvary.

Life and death at Thanksgiving

7 November 16, 2012 The Anchor

the GreatcommissionBy claire mcmanus

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Happy Thanksgiving! This holiday gives

us a rare moment when our Church and nation coalesce to tell the same narrative. Fam-ily and friends gathering in thanksgiving for ritual table fellowship is almost overtly religious. This is because deeply rooted in our nation’s narrative is the symbol of a pilgrim people, journeying toward a life that was singular in purpose, yet continues to be fulfilled. Fifty years ago the Church proclaimed her mission to bring the light of Christ to all people, stating, “the Church, like a pilgrim in a foreign land, presses for-ward amid persecutions of the world and the consolations of God, announcing the cross and death of the Lord until He comes again.” These words from Lumen Gentium echoed the vision of the pilgrims who braved the dangerous ocean crossing to seek freedom in the New World. William Bradford, Plymouth colony’s first governor, reflected on their purpose-driven life. The pilgrims, “as the Lord’s free people joined themselves in the fellowship of the Gospel, to walk in all His ways made known, or to be made known unto them.” The pilgrims that formed the first colonies did not endure the journey and hardships in order to form a great nation, but their resolve to live the Gospel is the soul of our national identity.

“Freedom and justice for all” is the heart of our national credo. When we proclaim our credo, our faith requires justice for all. The pilgrims of 17th-century America and the Church share the belief that the ultimate desire of God is for humanity to live in broth-erhood. This goal has been a challenge to church and state throughout our shared history. When we remove the false division of secular and sacred, our country and our Church can tell the same story, and work together to bring about justice.

Christian social teaching resounds with the responsibil-ity to promote the spiritual and physical well-being of our neighbors. When we speak the language of the secular, we call this “promoting the common good.” The common good is the point of conver-sion at which the Church and the nation can engage in meaningful discourse. In 1971 the World Synod of Catholic Bishops brought the Gospel out of the book and into the

world. “Action on behalf of justice and participation in the transformation of the world fully appear to us as a consti-tutive dimension of preaching the Gospel, or, in other words, of the Church’s mission for the redemption of the human race and its liberation from every oppressive situation.” A nation founded upon the Gospel principles of freedom and justice gives the Church a formidable partner in bringing about her mission.

Social justice is not inextricably bound to any political party, and is there-fore the best place to address our social and economic differences in a spirit of non-partisan collaboration. Justice is best delivered at the local level, which is what the principle of subsidiarity is all about. At the same time, the federal government must have the backs of the people caring for those in need. This came to life during the recent political debates. Even while the rhetoric about the role of government in caring for its citizens still lingered in the air, Hurricane Sandy roared into the Atlantic, demand-ing a showdown between local and national response.

Locally, people suffered and neighbors responded. Na-tionally, funds and resources were deployed. The argu-ment between states’ right vs. federal control was rendered moot as the ocean crashed

through the sea walls of the Rockaways and the Jersey Shore. We are a federation of states, and we need each other in times of crisis.

The Church and the nation can find common ground on many issues if we stick to the Gospel that launched us both. There is a tremendous amount of work to be done before we can reconcile the issues that divide us, but when opportu-

nities arise when we can work together, we must put aside our ideology and theology and take action. The country can learn a lesson from the way in which the Church joined with secular agencies in Mas-

sachusetts to defeat the physician-assisted suicide ballot ques-tion. We worked from within by informing our own people about the dignity of the end of life, drawing upon our rich tradition of the spirituality of suffering. The theol-

ogy of sacred presence in the face of deep human suffering became the common ground on which the Church formed an alliance with health care professionals. No words of theology were needed to express the sacred presence of Hospice care that brings true dignity to those facing the end

of life. We have just emerged from

another national election sea-son, and thank God, survived without violence and anarchy. While it is easy to place the responsibility for justice on institutions like the Church or the government, we must always remember that we are both Church and govern-ment. Justice begins with our actions. The late Basil Cardinal Hume once wrote, “The pilgrim cannot pass by the hungry masses or those who clamor for justice and the recognition of their human dignity.” When we gather at table with our family and friends this Thanksgiving let us remember that our pilgrim-age continues until the Gospel is brought to light in our fam-ily and our nation.

Claire McManus is the di-rector of the Diocesan Office of Faith Formation.

The vision of the Pilgrims

Upcoming Daily Readings: Sat. Nov. 17, 3 Jn 5-8; Ps 112:1-6; Lk 18:1-8. Sun. Nov. 18, Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Dn 12:1-3; Ps 16:5,8-11; Heb 10:11-14,18; Mk 13:24-32. Mon. Nov. 19, Rv 1:1-4;2:1-5; Ps 1:1-4,6; Lk 18:35-43. Tues. Nov. 20, Rv 3:1-6,14-22; Ps 15:2-5; Lk 19:1-10. Wed. Nov. 21, Rv 4:1-11; Ps 150:1-6; Lk 19:11-28. Thurs. Nov. 22, Rv 5:1-10; Ps 149:1-6,9; Lk 19:41-44. Fri. Nov. 23, Rv 10:8-11; Ps 119:14,24,72,103,111,131; Lk 19:45-48.

On Dec. 22, 2012 a few things will take place.

Firstly it is the beginning of winter. Second, it is three days before Christmas. Finally, it is possibly the first day of the end of the world. I don’t put much stock in that last one, one reason is because I don’t work for the History Channel, but mostly because no one knows when the end will happen, ex-cept for the Father in Heaven. Our culture has a fascination with the end times. We like to read about it in books and magazines, we watch movies about this subject and some people make plans for the zombie apocalypse. The only things that we can say about the end times are that it will happen and that we should be ready.

In telling us about the end, Jesus is reminding us that this life on earth is temporary. Jesus tells us of the end times not to scare us or frighten us, but because it is truth. Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life. He teaches us truth and we are called to live that in that truth. When we live in the truth we live in His love. We are not meant to be looking forward with dread to the moment of

our death. Rather we are called to see the gifts that we have and to share them.

In many ways we are called to be ready for the end. At some point we all reach the end of our lives, we have all experienced a loss of someone we love and know. Part of the grieving process is to remember the joys and the sorrows, all the memories we have with our loved ones. It is hard to lose someone we love; it is hard to prepare for the end. It is part of our life to deal with death and endings, but we who believe know it is not the ultimate end, for we know what comes after. We know that after death and endings there is a life, a life in eternity being embraced by God’s love. So every day of our life we have the opportunity to prepare ourselves. What does it mean to be ready? It means striving to live in God’s love in the here and now, to strive and live in the grace of God. It means being grateful for the gifts that we have received from God and from others.

This week we celebrate the holiday of Thanksgiving.

We all know the story of the Pilgrims. Unsure of what the future might hold they took what they had and what was given to them and thanked

God for their bounty. They were grateful for the graces of God, for the gifts and generos-ity of neighbors, thankful for their lives. One thing that we are able to learn from their ex-ample is turning to God when the future is unsure.

Our nation, under Presi-dent George Washington’s first year as president, began the tradition of celebrating Thanksgiving. With the future of the nation unsure, it is tell-ing that our nation began first with thanking God, and asking God for His protection. Let us remember some of his words from his proclamation:

“Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the

providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor, and whereas both

Houses of Congress have by their joint committee requested me ‘to recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiv-ing and prayer to be observed by acknowl-edging with grate-ful hearts the many

signal favors of Almighty God especially by affording them an opportunity peace-ably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.’ Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the people of these states to the service of that great and glorious Being, Who is the be-neficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be. That we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sin-cere and humble thanks, for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation, for the signal and mani-

fold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of His provi-dence, which we experienced in the course and conclusion of the late war, to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the in-crease of science among them and us, and generally to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best.”

One of the first acts of our nation sought to make a pub-lic act of religion by thanking God for His providence. Un-sure of where the future might bring us, with the knowledge that the end will come, when it comes, we decided in the year 1789 how that as a nation we will live. We will prepare ourselves for that end by liv-ing our life; by loving God with all our heart, mind and strength. We will love our neighbors as ourselves. We share what God has given us; for that is the way we show our gratefulness; that is the way we prepare for a day that has not yet come.

Father Fournier is a Pa-rochial Vicar at St. Patrick’s Church in Falmouth and as-sistant chaplain of Falmouth Hospital.

8 November 16, 2012The Anchor

By FatherPeter J. Fournier

homily of the weekthirty-third Sunday in ordinary time

On Pilgrims and zombies — just kidding

thecatholic

differenceBy George Weigel

President Obama’s re-election and the prospect

of a second Obama Administra-tion, freed from the constraints imposed by the necessity of run-ning for re-election, have created a crisis for the Catholic Church in the United States. In the thought-world and vocabulary of the Bible, “crisis” has two meanings: the conventional sense (a grave threat) and a deeper sense (a great moment of opportunity). Both are applicable to the Church in America these next four years.

The immediate threat, of course, is the HHS (Health and Human Services) mandate requir-ing Catholic institutions and Catholic employers to include coverage of contraceptives, ster-ilizations, and abortifacient drugs in the health insurance offered to their employees. The legal chal-lenges mounted against this obvi-ous violation of the first freedom, religious freedom, may well be vindicated. But with Obamacare now seemingly set in concrete, the Church will face a host of such implementing “mandates” and it will be imperative to contest those

that are morally unacceptable, time and time again. Authentically Catholic health care in America is now in mortal danger, and it is going to take a concerted effort to save it for future generations.

A further threat comes from the gay insurgency, which will press the ad-ministration to find some way to federalize the Mar-riage issue and to compel acceptance of the chi-mera of “gay marriage.” Thus it seems important to accelerate a serious debate within Ameri-can Catholicism on whether the Church ought not preemptively withdraw from the civil marriage business, its clergy declining to act as agents of government in witnessing marriages for purposes of state law.

If the Church were to take this dramatic step now, it would be acting prophetically: it would be challenging the state (and the culture) by underscoring that what the state means by “marriage” and what Catholics mean by “Mar-riage” are radically different,

and that what the state means by “marriage” is wrong. If, however, the Church is forced to take this step after “gay marriage” is the law of the land, Catholics will be pilloried as bad losers who’ve

picked up their marbles and fled the game — and any witness-value to the Church’s withdrawal from the civil marriage business will be lost. Many thoughtful young priests are discussing this dramatic option among them-selves; it’s time for the rest of the Church to join the conversation.

Yet another threat to the integ-rity of the Church comes from the re-election of a vice president of the United States who has declared “transgender discrimina-tion” to be “the civil rights issue

of our time;” who has openly celebrated the abortion license; who has grossly misrepresented the Church’s teaching on the life issues; and who is, in myriad ways, an ecclesial embarrassment.

So are Catholic members of the House and Sen-ate who not only vote against truths known by moral reason, but then have the gall to justify their irresponsibility by a faux commitment to “pluralism” or, worse, by recourse to what they are pleased to call “social

justice Catholicism.”Thus pastors and bishops must

continue to explain why the life issues are “social justice issues,” and indeed priority “social justice issues.” And some effective way must be found to make clear, publicly, that men and women like Vice President Joe Biden and Representative Nancy Pelosi are living an auto-defined Catholi-cism so incoherently that their communion with the Catholic Church is severely damaged. Ab-sent such clarity, ill-catechized

Catholic voters will continue to misunderstand both the nature of discipleship and the responsibili-ties of citizenship.

As for the opportunity embedded in this crisis, it is nothing less than to be the Church of the New Evangeli-zation, full-throttle. Shallow, tribal, institutional-maintenance Catholicism is utterly incapable of meeting the challenges that will now come at the Catholic Church from the most aggres-sively secular administration in American history. Only a robustly, unapologetically evan-gelical Catholicism, winsomely proposing and nobly living the truths about the human condi-tion the Church teaches, will see us through the next four years. Radically converted Christian disciples, not one-hour-a-week Catholics whipsawed by an ever more toxic culture, are what this hour of crisis, in both senses of the term, demands.

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

the crisis of a second obama Administration

9 November 16, 2012 The Anchor

My View From

the StandsBy dave Jolivet

Sometimes you just hear exactly what you need to

at the most fitting time. A couple of weeks ago someone very special to me shared with me a message that was so relevant to that specific moment in time that I couldn’t help but smile as the words flowed from his mouth. He told me that he’d been listening to Joel Osteen’s Sunday message and that the gist of it came down to the fact that our lives often seem to be a series of “nos”— the setbacks, the opportunities lost or taken for granted, the disappointments. However, it is only after that seemingly never-ending string of “nos” that God provides us with a “yes” and that our waiting and praying and hoping has not been in vain after all; we just needed the patience and the good faith to trust that there was something greater in store for us and that at the right time, it would find us.

Curious, I took to Google — I will admit that Google is my friend even in matters of Scripture — and lo and behold I stumbled upon a familiar example of the constant door-shut-in-face scenario. As Technicolor images of dramatics flashed before my eyes, I realized that the Joseph whose story I had fallen in love with on stage was the very Joseph who had been tested and challenged in the ways of faith just as Joel Osteen was saying we all would be. Joseph from Canaan, commonly known as the interpreter of dreams, was his father Jacob’s favorite and he indicated so by donning him with a Technicolor coat. His brothers, envious of this favoritism and Joseph’s vanity, cornered him and forced him into a well, where he would remain as they bargained with a passing caravan to sell him into slavery. Once in Egypt, Joseph was sold again, this time to Potiphar, an official of Pharaoh. While Joseph quickly moved up the ranks, he

By reneeBernier

radiateyour Faith

was also the apple of someone’s eye: Potiphar’s wife. When Joseph neglected her advances, her allegations against him were such that he was imprisoned. Years passed and Joseph revealed a gift — dream interpretation — to two prisoners, one of whom survived and went on to tell of this gift to Pharaoh, who was plagued with a foreboding dream of his own. Upon meeting with Joseph, Pharaoh was so impressed with his ability that he put him in charge of Egypt,

and Joseph worked hard to prepare for the famine that was expected to plight the people. When his brothers, who had long ago abandoned him, came to Egypt to buy food and prepare for themselves against famine, they didn’t even recognize their own brother. Only through a series of tests did Joseph finally reveal himself to them. After years of separation, he blessed his brothers with courageous forgiveness, and they, alongside their father Jacob, came to settle in Egypt.

Why this story? What does Jacob have to teach us about “nos” and “yeses” and how does he connect to Joel Osteen’s message that there is always a “yes” in our future? Well, how many times was Jacob denied? How many doors were slammed in his face? His brothers turned their back on him, their own flesh and blood. They dehumanized him and sold him into slavery, as if he were an object, a piece of currency. As he rose among the ranks in Egypt as Potiphar’s right-hand man, he was again rejected as he fielded false claims of sexual misconduct. Imprisoned, he remained

isolated with the exception of two prisoners. But one of these prisoners would remember him by the wisdom Joseph provided in an interpretation of a dream. It was that prisoner who would bring his name to Pharaoh, as someone who could relieve him of the anxiety his own dream was causing. And because of that prisoner, someone Joseph could not have predicted would mean anything to him later on in life, he was recognized and saved, provided with a new life.

No matter how dire a situation he was in Joseph trusted his God, he believed that there was a greater purpose for him. As people told him “no,” he kept his faith so that, despite all of the heartache and disappointment,

eventually, when God so intended, someone would say “yes,” and recognize him for the man he truly was. One could even make the argument that through all of his trials and tribulations, Joseph learned the humility he so lacked in his youth, learned the value of hard work along his journey and was, in a way, more prepared for his “yes” moment. Ultimately, God gives us the stamina to persevere, to endure the hard times that can seem to be without end. And sometimes those hard times transform us into the person that we are being called to be, before we can accept our “yes” moment. God knows if we are or are not ready for something, despite how we ourselves feel and so perhaps these moments when doors are closed, the road seems rocky, and we can’t seem to find our way are the tests of faith on the way to the moment where we are provided with everything we always wanted at the exact time we need it.

Renee lives in Swansea and is a senior at Stonehill College in Easton. She is involved with youth ministry at St. Patrick’s Parish in Wareham.

I was seven years old on Nov. 22, 1963, a first-grader at

St. Anne’s School in Fall River. I was in “ranks” with neighborhood friends walking home from school when I heard.

I can’t exactly remember how it came out, but I knew our President Kennedy was shot and killed. People I saw were crying or sim-ply had blank looks on their faces. I was afraid. I thought the world was ending.

Once I realized it wasn’t the end of the world, I watched with my family, as the news unfolded on television. I remember watching

the wake at the Rotunda, the fu-neral with the horse that was acting up, and the sorrow on the faces of Americans and people all over the world. These are images and emotions I’ll never forget.

But I never gave much thought to what others felt at that time. I do now. I was told that a good friend of mine, my golf partner Msgr. Thomas J. Harrington, was a seminarian in Washington, D.C. at that time. I learned that he will always be a part of that story

49 years ago.Actually the Msgr.’s link

with JFK started 51 years ago on

Inauguration Day, 1961. “I was in D.C. as a seminarian and attended President Kennedy’s being sworn

into office,” Msgr. Harrington told me. “It was a very joyful day. Then I was in Washington, D.C. the day

he was shot and killed, and it was as equally hor-rific as the inauguration had been joyful.

“I was at the Theologi-cal College as a seminar-ian. I was a transitional deacon at the time. On the day the president was shot I witnessed employees of the college just sitting on

the ground crying.“We attended a Mass celebrated

by Father Walter Schmitt. The rest of the day I spent in shock.”

Later, he and another deacon were approached to gather their cassocks and surplices and go outside and wait for a taxi.

“The taxi came and we got in,” he said. “The taxi brought us to the White House. We were taken to a room downstairs and told to put on our cassocks and surplices. With us there were a marine, a sailor, a solider, and member of the Air Force and the Coast Guard — all in full military dress with ceremo-nial rifles.”

He went on to say all of them were brought into a room with the casket of President Kennedy. “It was a great big casket,” he recalled. “At either end was a kneeler. We two deacons knelt at the kneelers and the military personnel surrounded the casket. They took their positions and stood at attention. The other deacon and I prayed silently at the casket.

“Next a door opened and some of the White House staff were led in. They were cooks, waiters, waitresses, and common workers. Most of them were African-Amer-ican. They all wailed in sadness as they visited the casket.” As Msgr. Harrington was reliving the mo-ment, I could see the tears in his eyes and feel them in mine.

“Time passed,” he continued. “I’m not sure how long, but I think it was at least an hour. Then two other deacons and five other military personnel were led in to relieve us. We then went to an-other room with large red velvet chairs, where we had coffee and donuts.

“The next day, President Kennedy’s body was taken to the Capitol Rotunda for the wake. The lines stretched for city blocks. I didn’t attend that day.”

On the day of the funeral at St. Matthew’s Church, Msgr. Harrington and others from the seminary were brought to areas along the funeral route. “I was placed near the 14th Street Bridge, and was there for hours. Then the funeral cortege approached. It was complete silence. The only sounds were the hoof beats of the big black horse without a rider. The boots were turned backward

in the stirrups. This was followed by the caisson holding the presi-dent’s casket. Then marched his widow Jackie and brothers Ted and Bobby, who would meet the same fate only a few years later.

“Behind them were the heads of state. I don’t think any of them elected not to march. The two who stand out most in my memory were Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie in very colorful dress, and the president of France, Charles de Gaulle, who towered over everyone. He had such a military demeanor about him. “Through all this, it remained very silent, and the wind blew so cold.”

Msgr. Harrington continued saying that a week later he attend-ed a Mass at Sacred Heart Church and then went to the rectory for a brunch. “While we were there, we witnessed live on television as Lee Harvey Oswald was shot. That was the end of a crazy week. One filled with an emotional ebb and flow. My life will forever be woven with the tragic events of that time.

“It truly was the end of Camelot. King Arthur was dead and Queen Guinevere was a widow. Despite his flaws, Presi-dent Kennedy offered a new hope for this country, just as the new Pope John XXIII did in the Catho-lic Church during the same period. Both of them offered an optimism. They’ll be forever linked like that.”

Even as a tender seven-year-old, I knew things had changed in an instant. I couldn’t understand it completely. But I was to experi-ence those surreal events a mere five years later, with the assassina-tions of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy within a couple of months of each other in April and June of 1967.

Those deaths hurt me more than JFK’s, particularly Rev. King’s. It was still a time of prejudice and segregation in this country. I knew that, but didn’t agree with it. King was a hero of mine, and still is.

The dates of November 22, April 4, April 14 (Lincoln) and June 5 are etched in my psyche as much as September 11.

These are days, as President Franklin Delano Roosevelt said of Dec. 4, 1941, the day Pearl Harbor was attacked, that “live in infamy.” These are days that stir up memories. Some poignant, some unpleasant. It happens to monsignors, editors, seminarians and first-graders. We’re all in this together. It’s the circle of life and the sting of death.

(I received a call from a reader who doesn’t use a computer, for the address for the MP3s for our soldiers referenced in last week’s column. Checks payable to Frontline Faith can be sent to The Frontline Faith Project, 5554 S. Peek Road, Suite 9, Katy, Texas 77450.)

Never to be forgotten

At the exact moment we need it

10 November 16, 2012The Anchor

to advertiSe in The Anchor,

contact Wayne PoWerS

at 508-675-7151 or eMaiL WaynePoWerS@anchorneWS.org

11 November 16, 2012 The Anchor

Giving ThanksOnce a year — in the month of November

A Thursday to reflect and to remember.To give God thanks for the goodness around us

For family, friends, and food in abundance.

For the hardy Pilgrims of that long agoResults of their labors — we’ve all come to know.

For our wonderful town — that has it allSummer, spring, winter and fall.

For all our rights in the Land of the Free.A democracy — that works for you and for me.

By Mildred Allen, FalmouthParishioner of St. Patrick’s

Editor’s note: Mildred Allen resides at Atria Woodbri-ar in Falmouth. She is 103 years old and is a longtime reader and fan of The Anchor. In September of 2003, at the two-year anniversary of the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, Allen’s “Massacre of the Innocents,” a poem commemorating the victims, ran in The Anchor. She is a friend of Dave Jolivet, The Anchor, and many folks in the diocese, and it’s a pleasure to run her poem, and to thank her for living the faith.

NORTH ATTLEBORO — Madonna Man-or, 85 North Washington Street, has received a Five-Star rating from Medicare.gov. This is the official U.S. government site for Medicare.

Madonna Manor received a rating of Much Above Average in its overall rating, as well as in the areas of staffing and quality.

Madonna Manor serves 129 residents in a residential setting and offers long-term skilled nursing care, short-term rehabilita-tive care, and specialized Alzheimer’s and dementia care.

The manor is a member of the Diocesan Health Facilities, a system of five skilled nursing and rehabilitative care facilities and two community programs, sponsored by the Diocese of Fall River.

For further information on Madonna Manor or the Diocesan Health Facilities Office, visit www.dhfo.org.

Madonna Manor receives Five-Star rating

12 November 16, 2012The Anchor

2012 marian medal recipients

By dave JoLivet, editor

WORCESTER — In his nearly 55 years as a priest, Assumptionist Father Eugene LaPlante has traveled far and wide in his various ministries. He was born in Dartmouth and moved with his family to New Bedford a few months later.

From those early days to the present, he has ministered in Rome, Moscow, Quebec, France, various locations in

Massachusetts, and his cur-rent home in Worcester.

On November 1, Father LaPlante was named Superior for the Assumptionist Retire-ment Community in Worces-ter.

“We have 11 religious liv-ing here,” Father LaPlante told The Anchor. “We have nine priests and two Brothers. My responsibility is to see to their needs physically, and to be a sort of spiritual father to them as well. At 80 years old, I’m one of the younger ones here.”

The appointment is for three years.

Father LaPlante told The Anchor that he attended Holy Rosary and St. Anthony’s schools in New Bedford, and that he served as an altar boy at St. Boniface Parish in the Whaling City. It was there

where the Fathers of the Sa-cred Heart of Jesus and Mary suggested he attend high school at Assumptionist High School in Worcester, “because of the excellent quality of ed-ucation it provided.”

Already with an interest in the priesthood, he attended Assumption College, enter-ing the congregation during his second year there, and completing his novitiate in Quebec. He returned to As-sumption College and follow-ing graduation, completed his theological studies in France, where he was ordained a priest in 1958.

In 1965, the Vatican ap-pointed Father LaPlante as Apostolic Administrator of the Catholic Church in Moscow, a position he held until 1968. He returned to the Russian capital in 1979 until 1983, as chaplain of the American Em-bassy. “My time in Moscow was interesting and challeng-ing,” he said. Both assign-ments were at a time when the United States and the Soviet Union had less-than-warm relations. In addition to minis-tering to Catholics in the U.S. Embassy there, he also tended to Catholics in other embas-sies in Moscow.

Father LaPlante also spent 25 years ministering in Que-bec. His ministries there in-cluded as superior at a minor seminary; an appointment on the regional tribunal; chaplain at a rehab center; establishing a ministry to separated and di-vorced Catholics; and parish work.

He taught in Rome, and he has served as a campus minis-ter at Assumption College and at Babson College in Welles-ley.

He also enjoys writing reli-gious poetry, and has written 10 mystery novels in English and French.

Dartmouth native namedsuperior in Worcester

father eugene LaPLante, a.a.

First Name Last Name Parish City DeaNery

Marjorie Andrews St. Theresa of the Child Jesus South Attleboro AttleboroErnest Joseph Collamati Sacred Heart North Attleboro AttleboroBarbara Ann Craveiro Our Lady of Mount Carmel Seekonk AttleboroHumberto Faria Holy Ghost Attleboro AttleboroMichael H. Hebert St. Joseph Attleboro AttleboroGeorge N. Kayata St. John the Evangelist Attleboro AttleboroFrederick E. Kelley St. Mary Norton AttleboroJoan Kelley St. Mary Mansfield AttleboroDonald McHoul St. Mary North Attleboro AttleboroBernard Pearson Our Lady Queen of Martyrs Seekonk AttleboroFrancoise Rogers St. Mark Attleboro Falls AttleboroThomas Craddock St. Mary/Our Lady of the Isle Nantucket Cape CodJacqueline Dufresne Our Lady of the Cape Brewster Cape CodRobert Harry Fenney Holy Trinity West Harwich Cape CodMarian Goveia St. Peter the Apostle Provincetown Cape CodCharles H. Kelliher St. Francis Xavier Hyannis Cape CodBarbara A. MacKinnon St. John the Evangelist Pocasset Cape CodNancy McEnaney St. Joan of Arc Orleans Cape CodJune Meckel Our Lady of Lourdes Wellfleet Cape CodWilliam Pansire Corpus Christi East Sandwich Cape CodCathy Pina Our Lady of Assumption Osterville Cape CodMary Ellen Powers St. Elizabeth Seton North Falmouth Cape CodFlorence Remillard St. Patrick Falmouth Cape CodRichard Reilly Christ the King Mashpee Cape CodPaulino Rodrigues St. Anthony East Falmouth Cape CodNancy Ronayne Our Lady of Victory Centerville Cape CodJohn Stegeman St. Joseph Woods Hole Cape CodConstance Teixeira Good Shepherd Vineyard Haven Cape CodAnne Marie Timmins Holy Redeemer Chatham Cape CodFernando L. Tuano St. Pius X South Yarmouth Cape CodJoan Brenckle St. John the Baptist Westport Fall RiverJoan Burda Good Shepherd Fall River Fall RiverNormand A. Charest St. George Westport Fall RiverMary Chaves St. Dominic Swansea Fall RiverJeannine Conroy St. Bernard Assonet Fall RiverEmilia Creador St. Michael Fall River Fall RiverManuel Costa Galego Santo Christo Fall River Fall RiverBarbara Anne Gerraughty Holy Name Fall River Fall RiverNatalie King Our Lady of Grace Westport Fall RiverEleanor Kitchen SS. Peter and Paul Fall River Fall RiverManuel S. Leonardo St. Anthony of Padua Fall River Fall RiverAlice Levesque St. Bernadette Fall River Fall RiverCharles Glenn MacIntyre Holy Trinity Fall River Fall RiverUrban Medeiros Sacred Heart Fall River Fall RiverDoris Pytel St. Patrick Somerset Fall RiverStephen Rebello St. Mary’s Cathedral Fall River Fall RiverJose Silva Espirito Santo Fall River Fall RiverKathleen St. Laurent St. Thomas More Somerset Fall RiverDiane Tremblay St. Francis of Assisi Swansea Fall RiverThomas Wrobel St. Stanislaus Fall River Fall RiverElaine Yentz St. Joseph Fall River Fall RiverDiane Baron St. Mary New Bedford New BedfordMary Barron St. Rita Marion New BedfordMarjorie Bourgeois St. Mary South Dartmouth New BedfordOlga Cardullo St. Francis of Assisi New Bedford New BedfordEster Carreiro St. Julie Billiart North Dartmouth New BedfordLillian R. Desrosiers St. Mary Fairhaven New BedfordDonald J. Fleming St. Anthony Mattapoisett New BedfordClaire Gordon St. Patrick Wareham New BedfordMary Hadley St. Francis Xavier Acushnet New BedfordDonald Houle Holy Name of the Sacred Heart of Jesus New Bedford New BedfordCharles Johnson St. John Neumann East Freetown New BedfordAlice Leblanc St. Joseph St. Therese New Bedford New BedfordLudmila Lyczewska Our Lady of Perpetual Help New Bedford New BedfordMonique Marshall St. Anthony of Padua New Bedford New BedfordPaul Pacheco Our Lady of Fatima New Bedford New BedfordJacinto Pacheco Our Lady of Mount Carmel New Bedford New BedfordGeorge Soares Immaculate Conception New Bedford New BedfordDonald Spooner St. Joseph Fairhaven New BedfordSuzanne M. Sullivan St. Lawrence Martyr New Bedford New BedfordJudith Vasquez Our Lady of Guadalupe at St. James Church New Bedford New BedfordAlice Boivin St. Jude the Apostle Taunton TauntonWilliam J. Breen St. Andrew The Apostle Taunton TauntonRaymond Butts St. Mary Taunton TauntonEleanor DeMello St. Ann Raynham TauntonElizabeth Laranjo Annunciation of the Lord Taunton TauntonManuel Oliveira St. Anthony Taunton TauntonBarbara Rutherford Holy Family East Taunton TauntonRobert W. Sullivan Holy Cross South Easton Taunton

Bishop to award Marian Medals Sunday at St. mary’s cathedralFALL RIVER — Bishop

George W. Coleman will continue a 44-year tradition by awarding the Marian Medal to 79 parishioners from across the Diocese of Fall River at a ceremony Sunday at 3 p.m. at St. Mary’s Cathedral.

The tradition of recognizing laymen and laywomen for their outstanding volunteer efforts to the local Church was established in the Fall River Diocese by Bishop James L. Connolly and the awards were presented by him for the first time in 1968.

Sunday’s Marian Medal recipi-

ents will join more than 3,000 dedi-cated representatives of a variety of parish agencies and ministries, who have been nominated by their pas-tors since 1968.

The sterling silver emblem is embossed with the image of the Miraculous Medal of Mary on one side with the inscription “O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.” On the reverse side of the medal is the Fall River Diocese’s coat-of-arms.

A list of this year’s recipients is on this page.

13 November 16, 2012 The Anchor

Diocese of Fall River TV Masson WLNE Channel 6

Sunday, November 18, 11:00 a.m.

Celebrant is Father Edward A. Murphy, Pastor of St. Anthony of

Padua Parish in New Bedford

IRONDALE, Ala. (CNA/EWTN News) — The EWTN Global Catholic Radio Net-work is now available through iHeartRadio, the Clear Chan-nel media company’s digi-tal radio service that makes streaming radio available through the Internet, mobile devices and tablets.

EWTN president and chief executive officer Michael P. Warsaw said the Catholic net-work is “pleased” to partner with iHeartRadio in order to “proclaim the Gospel message to an ever-expanding global audience.”

“Our foundress, Mother An-gelica, took the Lord’s com-mand to carry His message to the ends of the earth seriously. Our partnership with iHeartRa-dio enables us to carry on that legacy using the latest in digital technology,” Warsaw said.

iHeartRadio gives users in-stant access to more than 1,000 broadcast and digital-only ra-dio stations from 150 cities. It allows user-created custom stations for favorite artists and songs. The iHeartRadio mobile apps have been downloaded more than 125 million times, while iHeartRadio’s free ser-vice has more than 115 million listening hours each month.

App users can find the EWTN station by searching the “Live Stations” section for “EWTN Radio.” The app is available for mobile phones, the Kindle Fire, the Xbox 360 game system and Google TV.

“By adding EWTN, the leading Catholic media net-work, to the iHeartRadio plat-form, we continue to enhance iHeartRadio’s offerings for users,” Brian LaKamp, presi-dent of Digital for Clear Chan-

EWTN Radio now available on iHeartRadio app

nel Media and Entertainment, said.

“We want to be everywhere our listeners are with a variety of programming options and this agreement offers iHeart-Radio users an even more in-teresting and diverse listening experience.”

EWTN Global Catholic Net-work is available in more than 200 million television house-holds in more than 140 coun-tries and territories. Its AM and FM radio networks have a U.S. affiliate base exceeding 200 stations and a worldwide shortwave radio station. The network already streams radio through its website www.ewtn.com.

Clear Channel Media and Entertainment serves 150 cit-ies with 850 radio stations. It has 239 million monthly lis-teners in the U.S.

14 November 16, 2012The Anchor

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doING thEIr PArt — This photo was submitted by Joseph Benevides, front row, second from left. It was taken 70 years ago in the 1942-43 school year at St. Mary’s School in Fall River. These fourth-graders are displaying War Bond Stamps that the U.S. government urged school children across the United States to buy to raise money for the war effort during World War II. The 25-cent stamps were attached to a special card, and when the card was filled it could be sent to the U.S. Treasury, who then issued a War Bond that could be cashed in after the war for the face value plus interest. These fourth-graders were students of Sisters of Mercy Sister Mary Dolarita.

Parishioners make pilgrimage to Moloka’icontinued from page one

Mary’s Parish to Kalaupapa, Ha-waii earlier this year.

Located on the island of Moloka’i, Kalaupapa is the loca-tion of the community of Han-sen’s disease (leprosy) patients served by St. Damien up until his death on April 15, 1889. About 8,000 people have been exiled to the island since 1865, when King Kamehameha V, who reigned as monarch of the kingdom of Ha-waii from 1863 to 1872, instituted an “Act to Prevent the Spread of Leprosy” that forced people with leprosy or anyone suspected of having the disease to be secluded on land that was set apart. The law remained in effect until 1969, when admissions to Kalaupapa ended. The remaining patients, who have been cured but chose to stay at Kalaupapa, number in the teens and are taken care of by the national park service as well as the health department of the state of Hawaii.

St. Damien volunteered to as-sist the inhabitants of the island, arriving on May 10, 1873, where 816 lepers awaited him. He would spend the rest of his life minis-tering to those suffering with the disease, not just as a religious priest but also as caretaker to their wounds and builder of their homes and churches. St. Mother Marianne Cope would join the ef-forts at Kalaupapa in 1888, caring for St. Damien until his death a few months later.

“Being a nurse and a caretaker, I know what it’s like to give all and get nothing in return, actu-ally to expect nothing in return. Marianne and Damien gave their all; it was phenomenal to walk in their steps, be where they were, to

see the churches where they were — it was just fantastic,” said Jean Booth, parishioner at St. Mary’s Parish who along with her hus-band Joe, celebrated their 35th wedding anniversary and used the pilgrimage as a chance to not only see Father Killilea again but to un-wittingly reconnect with another priest from their past.

Father Michael Kelly, newly-appointed as priest-in-residence at St. Damien Parish in Moloka’i, was talking about his past parish assignments, when Joe made the connection that Father Kelly had been his parish priest in 1965, teaching him how to be an altar boy.

“God brought us together,” said Joe. “He had left such a last-ing impression on me as a boy. It was neat to see him again.”

Mary Ann Shaw, parishioner of St. Joseph’s Parish in Fairhav-en, had been hearing about St. Damien since she was young, “but I never dreamed that I would go,” she said. “I had also gone to the canonization in Rome, so when I found out about the trip, I knew I wanted to go.”

As she sat between her hus-band John and daughter Rebecca Robillard, both of whom also went on the pilgrimage with her, Mary Ann spoke of how emotion-al she became while visiting St. Philomena Church: “When I was at the church he built,” she said, “I could feel he was there; it just hit me like that.”

It was moments like that which made the story behind St. Damien and his work with those afflicted with leprosy very real. The group spoke about seeing holes in the floor of St. Philomena, where ba-

nana leaves would have been fash-ioned into cones and placed in the holes to act as spittoons for those who were coughing; a thoughtful gesture that allowed those who were sick to stay in church and not have to leave during Mass.

“You realize that people were actually in there,” said Lillian Desrosiers. “You see the mov-ies and you read the books, and sometimes you wonder if it’s ex-actly like; but when we came in from the plane and took the bus, it was a huge graveyard. The hos-pital there, broken-down stones over there — it was like death. Then you would look out and see the mountains and the beautiful oceans, then you’d look down and death was everywhere.”

“It was tragic beauty,” Joe added.

Charlie explained that they had to use a travel agent and tour group to help sponsor their trip to Kalaupapa. Twelve-year-old Charles “C.J.” Murphy was not allowed to experience Kalaupapa since one has to be 16 years of age to make the trip, so he spent the day in a Hawaiian school, said Charlie.

A special Mass was held at St. Philomena Church, not some-thing usually allowed but Fa-ther Killilea was given permis-sion prior to the group’s arrival. Desrosiers was asked to be the extraordinary minister of Holy Communion while Blanche Pe-pin was lector for the Mass. It was during the Mass that another member of the group felt they made a connection with someone from their past.

“My granddaughter passed away in 2006 and she was a lover

of cats. It just so happened while we were in St. Philomena’s Church — they don’t have any screens, windows and doors are wide open — Father Pat was standing at the altar giving his homily, and this yellow cat came streaking through between Father Pat and the altar,” said Annette Poitras.

The screeching cat startled Fa-ther Pat, who questioned what the commotion was and Poitras hap-pily answered, “It was my grand-daughter, Rhiannon. My grand-daughter came with me.”

Father Pat then said a cat had never come into the church, “but it did that day,” said Poitras.

Charlie was close to Rhiannon, he said, as well as Katie Brienzo, a young woman who was struck and killed by a car while crossing a street in Fairhaven last year. As thoughts of them and a few others from his life who had passed away filled his mind: “There was such a sense of seeing them outside the window in different forms,” said Charlie, “and when I took a pic-ture of it, it was just bright, white light. It wasn’t lack of sleep, it was just one of those things that every-one was there and it was peace-ful.”

“The highlight for me was when Father Pat allowed us to put something on the altar for the Mass and he blessed them all,” said Pepin.

The group was given a synop-sis of St. Damien’s life by Father William Petrie, the newly-minted pastor of St. Damien’s Parish, and started each day with prayer using materials provided by Sister Do-lores Papao. Everyone was pre-sented with a relic — packets of dirt from the grave of St. Mother Marianne Cope — before they left. Her canonization during their trip was a happy coincidence that everyone was able to enjoy, said Charlie.

After seeing the stark real-ity that awaited those who were forced to live on an isolated island until they perished from a then-

incurable disease, the members of the pilgrimage have a greater ap-preciation for St. Damien’s sacri-fice — and because of that, have a different perspective of life.

“It gives me peace. I have a very stressful life and the expe-rience has changed a lot in my life. The stress is still there but it gives me something to think about, that there’s something more than the stress that I’m go-ing through every day. I never knew much about Damien but when we decided to go, I learned a lot about him. The tragic story of these people who didn’t want to go to Kalaupapa, but were thrown off the ship,” said Joe. “The tragic beauty of this place; these people were condemned to live their life there.”

“I don’t know how he did it,” said Kathleen Murphy. “If it wasn’t for him, those people would have been lost.”

Having shared that experi-ence together, new friendships have been formed. Laughter abounded during the interview, with inside jokes flying around but rarely was a story interrupted while it was being told. Father Killilea, though missed by those in the parish, said by email that he reveled being reunited with parishioners from the two Sacred Hearts parishes in Fairhaven. Charlie said he hopes to share the group’s experiences with a presentation after Sunday Mass in the next few months.

“One thing I gained from this personally. Rebecca and I work with people with disabilities, and St. Damien is like a patron saint for people with disabilities because he spent his whole life working with people who were treated differently, held back from things, didn’t have a good label,” said Charlie. “From this mission-ary work, we developed good friendships. We’ve gotten a lot closer and look forward to seeing each other. From a seven-day trip, the bonds are very strong.”

15 November 16, 2012

This week in50 years ago — Father Arthur G. Dupuis,

director of Notre Dame Cemetery in Fall River, opened the cemetery’s new office. The red brick building would provide four rooms along with a built-in record vault for the dioc-esan cemetery that was established in 1888.

25 years ago — A Consultant Education Workshop was held at Cathedral Camp in East Freetown. Two sessions were offered to 20 invited attendees, both conducted by John Roberto, codirector of the Center for Youth Ministry.

Diocesan history10 years ago — Msgr. Norman J. Ferris,

pastor of St. Anthony of the Desert Parish in Fall River, was elevated to the rank of chor-bishop in the Maronite Rite of the Roman Catholic Church during a special Liturgy.

One year ago — Past and present parishio-ners of St. Dominic’s Parish in Swansea cel-ebrated the parish’s 100th anniversary with a Mass of Thanksgiving concelebrated by pastor Father Joseph F. Viveiros; Msgr. John A. Perry, diocesan vicar general; and other priests who have served the parish in the past.

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parts of New Jersey, and in New York in Staten Island, Queens, and Brooklyn.

“We were very fortunate, and in a few days my brother from Ver-mont came down and brought me a generator. That helped us run a few items, as well as some of my neighbors.”

Woods resides on Long Island, but he too, was spared some of the major damage neighboring com-munities experienced. “It was a storm with many facets,” he said. “It ripped through certain areas leaving devastation in N.Y. and N.J. It was a natural occurrence, but through it all I witnessed com-munities and people rising up to assist each other.

“We were fortunate, so we were able to bring people here to our home for meals. That included family and friends, and some who were just acquaintances. But we weren’t alone in the outreach.”

Amazingly, the Catholic New York did go to press the week of Superstorm Sandy. “We were de-layed by 24 hours,” said Schiller. “Our office is located in a high rise on First Avenue right near the United Nations. We’re in midtown Manhattan, so the area didn’t experience the storm surge lower Manhattan and the bor-oughs did.

“We had power, but no phones. But we did have Internet access.”

Woods said the biggest problem

to getting the paper out that week was the lack of transportation. “Those who didn’t live nearby really couldn’t get in. The public transportation was down, and the subways were flooded.

“We had a limited crew, but we have a very motivated staff. If there was a way to get it done, we would. To me, there was never a doubt, as long as our printer had flexibility.”

Schiller told The Anchor that their printer is a daily paper, the Times Herald-Record in Middle-town, N.Y. “They were very ac-commodating to us,” he said. “They were up and running, and they told us as soon as they could get their publication out, they would see that ours would make it as well.

“Through all that, we were in the mail only 24 hours later than normal.”

“We ran with an abridged edi-tion,” added Woods. “It was 32 pages instead of 36. We did what we could before the storm hit.”

Woods mentioned that a num-ber of parishes, parishioners, and schools in the archdiocese sus-tained damage, but there were also any number of stories about par-ishes, students and faculty rallying to help those who needed it most.

“The faculty and students at Msgr. Farrell High School, in one of the hardest hit areas on Staten Island, took up a collection of

items that were in most need,” Woods said. “They filled four trucks with donations in one day, that were later driven away to be distributed.

“Then later on, the school es-tablished teams of about eight stu-dents each to go out into the area to help out with clean-up and even demolition. Our Catholic schools teach students to be leaders in the community, and Msgr. Farrell High School really took that mes-sage seriously.”

Similar scenarios were playing out, and still are, across the Arch-diocese of New York.

Similar to Christ’s teaching Pe-ter to trust in Him during the storm at sea in Mark 14, the staff of the Catholic New York, and the good people of the Archdiocese of New York kept their focus on Christ to overcome the raging tempest. They still are.

Catholic Charities has established a Sandy Relief Fund to meet the short- and long-term needs of those impacted by Hurricane Sandy. To designate your contribution for this fund, visit http://www.catholiccharitiesny.org/donate and indicate “Sandy Relief Fund” in the comments or text “SANDY” to 85944 to make a one-time $10 donation that will go directly toward

Sister Catholic paper in NYC rises above Sandy’s flood waterscontinued from page one

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. (CNS) — St. Charles Catholic Church in Staten Island opened its doors to local residents who lost power during Hurricane San-dy, and to the families of three pa-rishioners who lost their lives in that deadly storm.

John K. Filipowicz, 51, and his 20-year-old son, John C. Filipo-wicz, were found in an embrace after they drowned when flood-waters from the hurricane rushed their home. A neighbor of the Fil-ipowiczs and fellow St. Charles parishioner, Leonard Montalto, 53, also drowned in his Staten Island home the night Hurricane Sandy made landfall. In the week following the storm, the funerals for all three of these parishioners were held at the church.

“It’s a terrible blow to our par-ish,” said Joan Paolino, a Staten Island resident who often meets fellow parishioners at the church before daily Mass to pray the Ro-sary. “This hurricane devastated our community, but these deaths are a real tragedy. My heart breaks for their families.”

Dominican Sister Jeanine Con-lon was well-acquainted with all

three men who died in the storm, but she had a special connection with John K. Filipowicz. She was one of his teachers when he at-tended St. Charles School in the 1960s and 1970s. “He was a cute kid, he was a great guy,” said Sis-ter Jeanine, a pastoral associate at the Church of St. Charles. “As an adult I used to see him here. Funny guy, funny, funny fellow. A Marine. A strong, solid man, he came to Mass every Sunday. He’d wave to me and I’d wave back. A good parishioner.”

Loss of three parishioners a ‘terrible blow’ to Staten Island parish

immediate relief and long term recovery efforts. If you’d like to contribute your time volunteering

to helping victims of the hurricane register online at http://www.catholiccharitiesnyvolunteer.org/.

16 November 16, 2012Youth Pages

GIVING dIrEctIoN — The students at St. Mary’s School in Mansfield celebrated the Litany of Saints on October 31. Here, Msgr. Steve Avila speaks with St. Brendan, The Navigator.

ALL trEAtS, No trIckS — Preschool students from St. Joseph School in Fairhaven enjoyed celebrating Halloween. They wore costumes, had a parade around the school, and had a party with many treats.

SAINtS AmoNG uS — Students at Holy Name School in Fall River were blessed with visits from some saints. Among them were: St. Patrick, St. Elizabeth of Hungary, St. John Bosco, St. Mary, St. Francis, and St. Eliza-beth Ann Seton. After the school’s Mass celebrated by Father Jay T. Mad-dock, center, fourth-grade teachers Mrs. Rogers and Mrs. Enos posed for a picture with the visiting saints.

drESSEd to mArch — Pre-kindergarten students recently prepared to join the Halloween Parade at Our Lady of Lourdes School in Taunton.

hAuNtEd FuN — St. John the Evangelist School in Attleboro held its annual Halloween Party and Haunted House. In the gym, the students of the National Junior Honor Society hosted games, face-painting and refreshments. The at-tendees were treated to a walk-through black room on the gym stage where they had to make their way through the maze in the dark. Student actors squirted water, tickled feet, lowered stuffed animals onto the guests’ heads and played Halloween music to make the experience scary. From left: Briana DiMarco, Caroline DiMarco, Lili Nagle (future SJE student), Ella Nagle, Kath-erine Zhang, and Ailey Fitzgibbons.

SAINt PAtch — Students in Mr. Noury’s sixth-grade religion class at Espirito Santo School in Fall River created pumpkin saints for the All Saints’ Day Mass. Each student selected a saint, conducted re-search about the saint and then designed and decorated a pumpkin to resemble the saint. The pumpkins were displayed at the foot of the altar during the school Liturgy.

17 Youth Pages

Be NotAfraid

By Frank Lucca

November 16, 2012

I’m not sure about you, but this is the time of year that

I anticipate with excitement and at the same time don’t look forward to at all. Of course, the anticipation centers mostly on the holidays, and family time together.

What I don’t enjoy at all took place several weeks ago when we “fall back.” Although it came later than it used to, it still happened. It drives me crazy. It gets dark so early that I’m ready to get into nightclothes and prepare for bed by 5 p.m. Leav-ing the house now after dark, to head to class, takes extra effort. I find myself more willing to just veg out in front of the TV and not even consider going anywhere or doing anything around the house after work since it is cold and dark out! Don’t even get me started on snow and nor’easters! Anyone with me on this?

As a result, it’s the time of year we become more insular

and insulated from others. It’s dark and it gets cold. We tend to cocoon more. But it can also be a natural time of year to look back and to remember. Doesn’t fall have a natural connection to remembering? Perhaps we can take this more isolated time to look within and see where we’ve been this year and to plan where we might go in the future.

There are several days in the Christian calendar at this time of year that help us to do that. All Souls’ Day, that we celebrated several weeks ago, marks the Christian calendar as a day that we remember the loved ones in our lives who have died. All Souls’ Day allows us to look back at those people. We also celebrated All Saints’ Day. A day we remember the saints of God. Each and every one of these people who have gone before us have had an influence

on us and on our world. It is a time of year to remember the people in our lives that have affected us. How did that person change us? Did we help change someone else’s life? How have I been connected to others in my

family and those outside of my immediate family? Did we ac-complish all that we had hoped to this year? Where has God been in my life this year?

So while physically we might think that this feels like an isolated time of year, spiritually, let’s use this time to remem-ber that we are not an isolated people but a connected people. As Christians, we have a verti-

cal connection and a horizontal connection. I once heard this explanation of how Jesus’ cross can help us better understand this vertical and horizontal con-nection. If you look at the cross, note the up and down post or

beam that forms the verti-cal portion of the cross. It points toward God, drawing a line between Heaven and earth, be-tween God and man. This vertical beam of the cross reminds us of our need to be connected to God. The horizontal beam of

the cross points out sideways in both directions, extending out to others. Jesus’ outstretched arms on the cross become for us, the greatest example of One Who came to serve.

The vertical and horizontal link goes back to the law that God gave to the people of Israel centuries ago and that Jesus

reminded people about centuries later — “love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength; and love your neighbor as yourself.”

So this month, while cocoon-ing, let’s remember those who have gone before and recall those connections we have had with each other. Take the time to pray and plan for connec-tions we are still to make in the future. Sometimes you’ve got to look back before you can look forward. Is it spring yet?

Frank Lucca is a youth minister at St. Dominic’s Par-ish in Swansea. He is chair-man and a director of the YES! Retreat and the director of the Christian Leadership Institute. He is a husband and a father of two daughters and a son-in-law. Comments, ideas or suggestions? Please email him at StDominicYouthMinistry@comcast.net.

Looking forward takes some looking back

thEy cAmE mArchING IN — St. Mary-Sacred Heart School in North Attleboro celebrated All Saints’ Day with its two first-grade classes. Denise Piette and Sally Sullivan’s first-grade classes dressed up as a saint they had chosen to study for All Saints’ Day. The 43 first-graders studied a particular saint and then stood up during the Mass and recited a few things about the saint they had studied.

two oF thE BESt — Bishop Feehan High School, Attleboro, senior Michaela Delasanta, left, was recognized for her achieve-ment in the National Achievement Scholarship Program as an outstanding Black American high school student. NASP is an aca-demic competition established in 1964 to provide recognition for exceptional Black American high school students. At right, senior Nicholas Romero was recognized as an outstanding Hispanic high school student by the College Board’s National Hispanic Recognition Program. Each year the board recognizes approxi-mately 3,300 students nationwide for their outstanding abilities as a scholar.

AN APPLE A dAy — Kindergarten and first-grade students from St. James-St. John School in New Bedford recently enjoyed a hayride at a field trip to an apple orchard.

hoLIdAy hELPErS — At the recent St. Joan of Arc School of Religion’s Annual Teen Night for the youth of the parish, more than 25 teens helped the Orleans parish’s St. Vincent de Paul Society pre-pare 762 bags which will be filled with food to be distributed with other Thanksgiving food to various agencies on the Lower Cape.

18 November 16, 2012The Anchor

Leonard said. “I was doing a lot of stories that were feature-oriented, even though the subject was a sports-related person. So it appealed to more than just sports fans and I think NBC saw that. When they hired me I was basi-cally told I could do what I want; so for the last 32 years I’ve been able to cover topics that I’m in-terested in, which is rare in this business.”

In addition to covering every-thing from political conventions to the Super Bowl and the World Series over the years, Leonard has displayed a unique talent for telling the extraordinary stories of ordinary people — reality TV that is truly based in reality.

“Today’s reality shows aren’t real, because when they pro-duce them, they already have a conflict in mind,” Leonard said. “They might suggest one of the kids take a swing at another kid — so they goad that stuff on. They think they need to create a dramatic situation. They’re looking for these outlandish dra-mas that none of us ever really experience. I mean, isn’t there enough drama in our lives any-way?”

Leonard found there was plenty of drama to be had just within his own family when in 2004 he took his parents, then in their 80s, along with some of his adult children on a one-month, cross-country RV adventure that became the basis of a four-part “Today” show segment, and later a 12-part Public Televi-sion series, “The Ride of Our Lives — Roadside Lessons of an American Family,” which also spawned a New York Times best-selling book of the same name.

“My mom and dad were stuck in a rental home and realized they weren’t in walking distance to anybody, so I thought out of the blue they needed to get out and be mobile,” Leonard said. “I had an idea for getting an RV to travel and convinced all my kids to come along, too. We originally took home movies of the journey for ourselves and I turned four of those pieces into segments for the ‘Today’ show and got the offer to write the book and then did a pub-lic television series based on that.”

It’s this universal type of “ev-eryman” tale that Leonard tells best.

“I do feature stories on ev-

eryday people in everyday situ-ations because I think that is what is most lacking in the news these days,” he said. “I’ve done a story every year on where the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree comes from. It’s taken from someone’s yard and they pick the tree randomly, so I profile the person whose yard is selected. Now they’re just regular people, so in a sense you might think they might not have a story — but everyone does.

“For 20 years that segment has demonstrated that we all have our own stories. I just go where the tree is. They’re all interesting stories and I think that’s where the reality TV show folks miss the point.”

Also an accomplished film-maker, Leonard more recently served as executive producer of the award-winning 10-part doc-umentary series “Catholicism,” created and hosted by Chicago priest Father Robert Barron that aired on PBS and the Boston-based CatholicTV. Shot on loca-tion in 16 countries, the produc-tion explored the Catholic faith, its history and artistry, its beliefs and practices, through insightful spiritual commentary and stun-ning high-definition cinematog-raphy.

“Father Robert Barron would often come to our parish as a guest priest, maybe once a month,” Leonard said. “I thought he was very good and could re-ally speak and one of our parish-ioners, a woman named Nancy Ross, was a former TV person in Charlotte, N.C., and she knew I was involved in TV as well. She arranged a meeting between us, and Father Barron told us he always had this idea to do a 10-part series. At the time, I said to him you might not want me, be-cause I’m a good storyteller but I’m not the greatest Catholic. I felt I didn’t have the proper edu-cational credentials as a Catholic to do the series.”

Leonard said Father Bar-ron thought it was ideal to have someone like him on board to pose some of the serious ques-tions that needed to be answered through the documentary.

“It worked out well because at the end of many of these epi-sodes we were able to ask some of the basic questions that all Catholics have about these sim-

ple but very profound concepts — things like forgiveness and mercy,” he said. “To me, that was the strongest part of the se-ries. I never was really that well versed in Catholic doctrine, but those messages of inclusion, mercy and compassion are so important in everyday life that I thought it was a fundamental in-struction for people.”

Being able to travel to land-mark sites in Rome, Europe and the Holy Land for the “Catholi-cism” series was also inspiring for Leonard.

“Just seeing the actual lo-cations and imagining what it would have been like 2,000 years ago was profound,” he said.

Although there are no im-mediate plans to do a sequel or follow-up to “Catholicism,” Leonard said he hoped any fu-ture production would focus on how to put faith into action.

“I think it should show peo-ple out there doing good works, because I think after you get through the theory and the ba-sics, you want to know it’s do-able,” he said. “I learned that from doing stories on the ‘To-day’ show. When you see some-one doing something good, you want to go out and replicate it. I think that can inspire more people to do it, whether they’re Catholic or not. This wonderful work of mercy and compassion is happening all over the world.”

In addition to learning about charitable works of mercy through his Catholic education, Leonard also learned a bit about the value of teamwork during his years at Providence College.

“I found that same sense of community among the Domini-can family and all the kids who went there,” Leonard said, add-ing he also played hockey for PC under coach Lou Lamoriello. “He won three Stanley Cups as the GM of the New Jersey Devils and he’s in the National Hockey League Hall of Fame and in the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame. He’s a very tough and a very demand-ing coach, but he’s a really fair guy and I’ve stayed in touch with him over the years.”

If his Catholic elementary and high school education helped set a solid foundation for his adult life, then it was his formation at Providence College that helped him meet his career goals.

“I learned about discipline and teamwork and learned not to take any shortcuts,” Leonard said. “It helped me immensely years later as a journalist. All the priests, coaches and fellow students there really influenced me.”

And apparently Leonard had

a bit of an influence on at least one of his fellow PC graduates — a friend who ended up work-ing for the Hasbro toy company in Pawtucket, R.I.

“I had done a couple of sto-ries on Hasbro and I was in his office one day and he had a couple of G.I. Joe figures on his desk,” Leonard said, laughing. “I was looking at the faces and I asked who he used as the model. He told me they use people they know — the plant manager and other guys who work there — and he asked if I wanted to be one. I said, ‘Hell, yes.’”

It was thus that a journalist and “microwave transmission specialist” named Leonard Mi-chaels, a/k/a “Scoop,” was in-troduced into the G.I. Joe action figure line in 1989 … inspired by none other than Mike Leonard.

“I told him I liked the nick-name ‘Scoop,’ because I remem-bered in the Superman comics they used to call Jimmy Olsen ‘Scoop,’” Leonard said. “They called him Leonard Michaels — they turned my name around backwards. He had a really bad outfit: it was green and gold. I saw them in the store and was always tempted to tell people: ‘Hey, that’s me,’ but I was afraid the store manager might have me arrested.”

Leonard joked that he’s prob-ably the only action figure who’s lived a life of “inaction.”

“The one benefit is I’ll be in

Author, journalist knows the value of a Catholic educationcontinued from page one

a landfill well-preserved 2,000 years from now,” he said.

Having achieved great suc-cess in life — much of which he credits to his Catholic educa-tion and upbringing — Leonard hopes the St. Mary’s Education Fund will provide others with the same opportunities he had growing up.

“Knowing you could improve the life of someone else im-proves your own life,” he said. “When you throw a few stones in the pond and the ripples start — those are very real. I’ve seen people do little things that have rippled out and you never know the extent of how far those rip-ples go because they’ll never come back and tell you. They probably don’t even know it’s you.

“Having those scholarships available and giving those kids an opportunity is like throwing more stones into the pond and those ripples will keep collid-ing into each other and getting bigger and spreading. You can try to save the world or you can try to save your neighborhood; and I think providing a Catholic education is a way of providing people with an opportunity to weather the storms of life.”

Those interested in support-ing the Fall Dinner or obtain-ing more information on the St. Mary’s Education Fund should contact the Diocesan Develop-ment Office at 508-675-1311.

mAN oF ActIoN — This G.I. Joe series action figure, named Leonard Michaels, a/k/a “Scoop,” was actually modeled on jour-nalist Mike Leonard by a former classmate of his who worked for the Hasbro toy company.

Visit The Anchor online athttp://www.anchornews.org

19November 16, 2012 The Anchor

ACUSHNET — Eucharistic Adoration takes place at St. Francis Xavier Parish on Monday and Tuesday from 9:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.; Wednesday from 9:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Thursday from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.; Friday from 9:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.; and Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. Evening prayer and Benediction is held Monday through Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.

ATTLEBORO — The National Shrine of Our Lady of La Salette holds Eucharistic Adora-tion in the Shrine Church every Saturday from 1 to 4 p.m. through November 17.

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 beginning at noon until 7:45 a.m. First Saturday, concluding with Benediction and concluding with Mass at 8 a.m.

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 SANDWICH — The Corpus Christi Parish Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration Chapel is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week at 324 Quaker Meeting House Road, East Sandwich. Use the Chapel entrance on the side of the church.

EAST TAUNTON — Eucharistic Adoration takes place in the chapel at Holy Family Parish Center, 438 Middleboro Avenue, Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. On First Fridays, Eucharistic Adoration takes place at Holy Family Church, 370 Middleboro Avenue, from 8:30 a.m. until 7:45 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 — Espirito Santo Parish, 311 Alden Street, Fall River. Eucharistic Adoration on Mondays following the 8 a.m. Mass until Rosary and Benediction at 6:30 p.m.

FALL RIVER — St. Bernadette’s Church, 529 Eastern Ave., has Eucharistic Adoration on Fridays from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in the chapel.

FALL RIVER — St. Anthony of the Desert Church, 300 North Eastern Avenue, has Eucha-ristic Adoration Mondays and Tuesdays from 9 a.m. to 7 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, 347 South Street, beginning immediately after the 12:10 p.m. Mass and ending with Adoration 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 imme-diately 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. Please use the side entrance.

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.

NEW BEDFORD — St. Lawrence Martyr Parish, 565 County Street, holds Eucharistic Adoration in the side chapel every Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

NORTH DARTMOUTH — Eucharistic Adoration takes place at St. Julie Billiart Church, 494 Slocum Road, every Tuesday from 7 to 8 p.m., ending with Benediction. The Sacrament of Reconciliation is available at this time.

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 noon.

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.

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.

TAUNTON — Adoration of the Most Blessed Sacrament takes place every First Friday at Annunciation of the Lord, 31 First Street. Expostition begins following the 8 a.m. Mass. The Blessed Sacrament will be exposed, and Adoration will continue throughout the day. Confessions are heard from 5:15 to 6:15 p.m. Rosary and Benediction begin at 6:30 p.m.

WAREHAM — Every First Friday, Eucharistic Adoration takes place from 8:30 a.m. through Benediction at 5:30 p.m. Morning prayer is prayed at 9; the Angelus at noon; the Divine Mercy Chaplet at 3 p.m.; and Evening Prayer at 5 p.m.

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 Adora-tion on Sundays, Wednesdays, and holidays. For information call 508-274-5435.

Eucharistic Adoration in the diocese

In your Prayers Please pray for these priests

during the coming weeksNov. 17

Rev. Henry R. Canuel, Former Pastor, Sacred Heart, New Bed-ford, 1980

Nov. 18Rev. William Beston, C.S.C., 2004

Nov. 19Rev. Msgr. Lester L. Hull, Retired

Pastor, St. Mary, Our Lady of the Isle, Nantucket, 1982

Rev. Philodore H. Lemay, M.S., La Salette Provincial House, Attleboro, 1990

Nov. 21Rev. Stephen J. Downey, Retired

Pastor, Holy Ghost, Attleboro, 1975

Rev. James F. Kenney, Retired Pastor, Corpus Christi, Sand-wich, 1994

Nov. 23Rev. James E. Smith, Retired

Chaplain, Bethlehem Home, Taunton, 1962

Rev. Msgr. Christopher L. Broder-ick, Retired Founder, St. Pius X, South Yarmouth, 1984

“Alice in Wonderland,” adapted by Anne Coulter Martens and produced exclusively by the Dramatic Publishing Com-pany, will be presented by the Bishop Stang Drama Depart-

ment tonight and tomorrow at 7 p.m. in the John C. O’Brien Gymnasium at Bishop Stang High School in North dartmouth. Tickets will be available at the door. For more information call 508-996-5602.

St. Jude the Apostle Parish will be having its annual Penny Sale at the Church Hall, 249 Whittenton Street in taunton, tomorrow beginning at 6 p.m., with doors open at 5 p.m. In

addition to three regular series, there will be specials, roll-ups, refreshments, a raffle on 15 turkey dinner baskets, and a money raffle with a $1,000 first prize.

St. Margaret Regional School on Main Street in Buzzards Bay will host its seventh annual Holiday Craft and Vendor Fair tomorrow from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Attractions will in-

clude handcrafted jewelry, stocking stuffers, blankets, ornaments, fresh Maine wreaths, baked goods, concessions, the children’s choir singing carols, and lots of raffle items. The event is free to the public. There is plenty of parking.

On Sunday, St. Joseph-St. Therese Parish, Acushnet Av-enue in New Bedford (across from Brooklawn Park), will host its seventh annual Craft/Vendor Fair from 9 a.m. to 3

p.m. Admission is free and all are welcome. For information call 508-995-5235.

An open house for prospective students will be held Sun-day at 1 p.m. at Bishop Connolly High School, 373 Elsbree Street in Fall river. All prospective students and their fami-

lies are encouraged to attend this informative event. Students interested in the innovative eighth-grade LEAP program for gifted students are also encouraged to attend. The placement exam will be held on December 1 at 8 a.m. For more information call 508-676-1071.

The Daughters of Isabella Hyacinth Circle will be holding its monthly meeting on November 20 at the Holy Name of the Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish Hall in New Bedford.

This month the group will be holding its annual Mass in remembrance of deceased members. Mass will be held at 6:30 p.m. and the monthly meet-ing will follow with light refreshments served. All past, present and new members of the circle are welcome to join in honoring the memory of the deceased.

The Pro-Life Prayer Groups of Holy Redeemer and Holy Trin-ity parishes are hosting a holy hour November 28 following the 9 a.m. Mass at Holy Trinity Church, Route 28, West Harwich.

There will be Rosary and Pro-Life prayers as well as Benediction. All are invited to attend and pray for an end to abortion.

The placement exam for Bishop Stang High School in North dart-mouth is scheduled for either December 1 or December 8 begin-ning at 8 a.m. and ending at 11:30 a.m. There is no pre-registra-

tion, and the testing fee is $20 payable the morning of the exam. The 10 students who take the placement exam at Bishop Stang and receive the highest scores will receive $1,000 each toward their freshman year tuition. The five students who take the placement exam at Bishop Stang and receive the highest scores on the exam will receive free new textbooks for their freshman year at Bishop Stang. For more information call 508-996-5602 extension 424.

A Day with Mary will be held December 1 at St. George Church, 12 Highland Avenue in westport from 8 a.m. to 3:40 p.m. It will include a video presentation, procession and

crowning of the Blessed Mother, with Mass and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and an opportunity for Reconciliation. There is a bookstore available during breaks. Please bring a bag lunch. For more information call 508-996-8274.

The Catholic Women’s Club of Christ the King Parish located on The Commons in mashpee will host its annual Christmas Bazaar on December 1 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. The event will

feature a boutique of hostess baskets, a greens table, a jewelry table, and a children’s room. For more information call the parish office at 508-477-7700.

On December 13 legal staff from Catholic Social Services will assist with the N400 Application for Naturalization and provide information about the process of becoming a U.S.

Citizen. The Naturalization Workshop will be held at the offices of Catholic So-cial Services, 261 South Street in hyannis. For more information contact Al-anna Keane at 508-674-4681 or email akeane@cssdioc.org.

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VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The absolute frontline in the preven-tion of crime is the family, a top Vatican official told members of Interpol, the international police organization. To prevent crime and violence, societies must educate citizens about their own dignity and the value of each human life, pro-mote solidarity and instill a sense of justice in society — all values that can be learned earliest and best in the family, said Archbishop Domi-nique Mamberti, the Vatican’s sec-retary for relations with states.

The archbishop spoke to mem-bers of Interpol holding their gen-eral assembly November 5-8 in Rome. The 190 country-members of Interpol not only coordinate crime-fighting efforts, but also work together on crime prevention pro-grams. An increase of crime, partic-ularly brutally violent crime, around the world calls for even greater preventative actions, Archbishop Mamberti said. Prevention requires “the removal of factors which give rise to and nourish situations of in-justice. In this field a primary and preventative role belongs to educa-tion inspired by respect for human life in all circumstances,” he said.

Only with the recognition of the value of each life, he said, will it be “possible to create a strong so-cial fabric united in its fundamental values and able to resist the provo-cation of extreme violence. In this context, the most important place in which human beings are formed is the family. There, children ex-perience the value of their own transcendent dignity, as they are accepted gratuitously on the basis of the stable and reciprocal love of their parents,” he said. In the fam-ily, people have their first experi-ences of “justice and forgiveness, which cements family relationships and acts as a foundation for the cor-rect insertion into social life,” Arch-bishop Mamberti said.

Vatican: Family is key ally in fighting crime

20 November 16, 2012The Anchor

FAIth IN ActIoN — The Fall River Diocesan Council of Catholic Women recently met at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Fall River. Hosted by Family Concerns chairman Laura Cousineau, the topic of the meeting was to discuss the needs of the diocesan Donovan House in New Bedford, a sober transitional housing program for women and their children. The council collected a large amount of items to donate. In the top photo, former DCCW president Claudette Armstrong stands with items to donate. Armstrong donated nearly 100 baby quilts and many baby hats, all of which she knitted. In the bottom photo, Cousineau and DCCW President Virginia Wade are keeping inventory of yet more items to be donated to the Donovan House.