St. Ann's Parish, North Oxford
Is seeking a Part-Time Secretary
Applicants ideally should have prior experience in parish office work, computer skills, some accounting background, organizational abilities and flexibility.
Monday-Wednesday
Resumes may be sent electronically to stannsrectory@ hotmail.com or to Fr. Michael Lavallee, St. Ann's Rectory, P.O. Box 488, 652 Main St., N. Oxford, MA 01537 stannschurch.us
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BY TOM TRACY CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE
MIAMI (CNS) - With Presi- dent Joe Biden now propos- ing several ultra-expensive infrastructure, education and family-related bills, the president's controver- sial Equality Act may get a slower hearing in the U.S. Senate. In March, the Equal- ity Act was passed by the House of Representatives but faces an uncertain outcome in the Senate, which is split more equally between Democrats and Republicans. The Equality Act would amend the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in employ- ment, housing, public accommodations, public education, federal fund- ing, the credit system and jury duty. It also seeks to add protections for sexual orientation and gender identity and also expand the number of institutions now classified as public ac- commodations. Meanwhile, Biden is ask- ing for quick passage of a $2.25 trillion infrastruc- ture package as well as his new American Families Plan, a $1.8 trillion pro- gram to expand access to preschool and community college as well as child care and health care benefits. There is big stuff mov- ing through Congress right now that is taking up a lot of the bandwidth, includ- ing high priority stuff like infrastructure proposal and what not, and I think (the Senate's pending vote on the Equality Act) is at least partially the product of that," said Dan Balserak, religious liberty director and assistant general coun- sel for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The Equality Act has been described as a histor- ic faceoff between religious exemptions and LGBTQ rights, and Balserak said he doesn't think the debate around the Equality Act will put the overall debate to rest. There are very strongly held beliefs on both sides of the issue and this par- ticular bill moving through Congress at this time is a manifestation of signifi- cant changes in the culture and the dynamic between a new understanding of human sexuality and the sort of timeless traditional belief about human sexu- ality that many people in America still hold," he told Catholic News Service. The USCCB maintains that the Equality Act not only discriminates against people of faith but threat- ens unborn life. It is urging Catholics to call on elected officials to oppose it.
Questions about COVID-19 vaccines for children
PORTLAND, Ore. (CNS) - After a year of painful pandemic milestones, the United States has reached a hopeful statistic. As of May 2, more than 101 million Americans have been fully vaccinated against CO- VID-19, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. More than 43% have received at least one dose of the vaccination and the average daily coronavirus case count is down 16%. Now, vaccines for children are getting attention with questions about when will they be available, if they are necessary to end the pandemic and if Catholic parents should in- oculate their children. As these questions are raised, some answers remain clearer than others. In early April, Pfizer-BioNTech asked the Food and Drug Ad- ministration for an emergency use authorization that would allow its COVID-19 vaccine to be administered to 12- to 15-year-olds. The federal agency is expected to issue a decision on this in early May. Pfizer-BioN- Tech also is running clinical trials for children 6 months to 11 years old, while Moderna and Johnson & Johnson are in the midst of studying their vaccines' efficacy and safety in young people. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infections disease specialist, has predicted that children of all ages will be able to receive a vaccine by the beginning of 2022.
Cardinal Turkson urges graduates to have impact
FORT WAYNE, Ind. (CNS) - The head of the Vatican's justice, peace and human development efforts urged over 700 graduates of the University of Saint Francis to follow the example of their school's namesake and the advice of the pope who shares his name. "Consider what impact you make in life," said Ghanaian Cardinal Peter Turkson, prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development. He urged graduates to be "sowers of hope" in his May 1 address at the com- mencement ceremony at the Allen County War Memo- rial Coliseum in Fort Wayne. "Impact provokes change and makes beneficiaries of this change full of hope for the future," he told the graduating class. He also noted how St. Francis of Assisi, in his poverty, found the means to impact all things. "With no master but Christ and no possession but his own soul, Francis was free to relate to all things and all people," said Cardinal Turkson.
Big legislative initiatives may be crowding out passage of Equality Act
BRIEFSI
MAY 7, 2021 THE CATHOLIC FREE PRESS
ACROSS THE NATION 3
Colorado Springs bishop resigns
WASHINGTON (CNS) - Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of 76-year-old Bishop Michael J. Sheridan of Colorado Springs, Colorado, and has named as his successor Father James Golka, vicar general of the Diocese of Grand Island, Nebraska. The changes in the Colorado diocese were announced April 30 in Wash- ington by Archbishop Christophe Pierre, the apostolic nuncio. Bishop Sheridan, a native of St. Louis and for- mer auxiliary bishop there, was named coadjutor bish- op of Colorado Springs in 2001 and became bishop in 2003 upon the resignation of the first bishop of the di- ocese, Bishop Richard C. Hanifen. In addition to being vicar general, Bishop-designate Golka, 54, has served since 2016 as the rector of the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Grand Island, his home- town. He attended schools in the city before enrolling at Creighton University in Omaha. After earning his bachelor's degree in philosophy and theology in 1989, he spent a year with the Jesuit Volunteer Corps on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota.
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Administration halts border projects
WASHINGTON (CNS) - The Biden administration an- nounced April 30 it would stop paying for construction projects along the southern border between Mexico and the U.S., which were being funded with money originally designated for the military. Although former President Donald Trump had promised during his presidential campaign that Mexico would pay for the wall to keep migrants out, his administration used bil- lions of dollars designated for defense spending on the projects. A Biden administration official said April 30 that "border wall construction under the previous ad- ministration tied up more than $14 billion in taxpayer funds, shortchanged our military and diverted atten- tion away from genuine security challenges, like human traffickers." The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has long opposed construction of the wall, citing harm to migrants. In 2017, Bishop Joe S. Vasquez, who was chair of the USCCB's Committee on Migration, said he was disheartened" with Trump's prioritization of building the wall on the border with Mexico. "This action will put immigrant lives needlessly in harm's way. Construc- tion of such a wall will only make migrants, especially vulnerable women and children, more susceptible to traffickers and smugglers," he said.
San Francisco archbishop examines abortion, Communion in pastoral letter
BY CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE
SAN FRANCISCO (CNS) - A pastoral letter issued May 1 by San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone focuses on the unborn, Communion and Catholics in public life. It emphasizes that "those who reject the teaching of the church on the sanctity of human life and those who do not seek to live in accordance with that teach- ing should not receive the Eucharist." The archbishop's pasto- ral letter, the first he has issued, is called: "Before I Formed You in the Womb I Knew You: A Pastoral Let- ter on the Human Dignity of the Unborn, Holy Com- munion and Catholics in Public Life." He publicly announced the letter in the homily of the 8 a.m. monthly Mass for Life at the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assump- tion May 1. After Mass, many members of the congregation prayed the rosary while walking to the Planned Parenthood clinic four blocks away, where they planned to continue praying. Abortion is the ax laid to the roots of the tree of hu- man rights. Without protec- tion of the right to life, no other talk of rights makes sense," the archbishop wrote in the teaching docu- ment to the priests and la- ity of the archdiocese. He also spoke directly to pregnant women and those who have had abortions, writing: "God loves you. We love you." He emphasized that Catholic teaching on who is morally responsible for abortion is very clear.
CNS PHOTO DENNIS CALLAHAN, ARCHDIOCESE OF SAN FRANCISCO
San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone is pictured in a file photo celebrating Mass outside the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption as part of a rosary rally.
CNS PHOTO SAM LUCERO, THE COMPASS
Walk to Mary, 21-mile pilgrimage
Camila Villegas, 3, the daughter of Allenne Villegas, takes part in the Walk to Mary May 1, from the National Shrine of St. Joseph in De Pere, Wisconsin, to the National Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help in Champion, Wisconsin. Allenne said she and Camila, who are from Chicago, walked the final seven miles of the 21-mile pilgrimage. Those who kill or assist in killing the child (even if personally opposed to abortion), those who pressure or encourage the mother to have an abortion, who pay for it, who provide financial as- sistance to organizations to provide abortions, or who support candidates or legislation for the purpose of making abortion a more readily available 'choice' are all cooperating with a very serious evil," the arch- bishop wrote. Archbishop Cordileone stressed that reverence for Communion is at the heart of his concern and quoted St. Justin Martyr's words in the second century: No one may share the Eu- charist with us unless he believes what we teach is true; unless he is washed in the regenerating waters of baptism for the remis- sion of his sins, and unless he lives in accordance with the principles given us by Christ." He then applied these same requirements to the topic of abortion, saying those who reject church teaching on the sanctity of human life and do not seek to live in accordance with church teaching in that area "should not re- ceive the Eucharist." The archbishop spoke directly to Catholics in public life on this topic, urging them to "please stop pretending that ad- vocating for or practicing a grave moral evil - one that snuffs out an inno- cent human life, one that denies a fundamental human right - is some- how compatible with the Catholic faith. It is not. " Please return home to the fullness of your Catholic faith. We await you with open arms to welcome you back," he added. - The archbishop's let- ter is available online at https://sfarch.org/in- thewomb.
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Wilmington bishop retires; pope names successor
WASHINGTON (CNS) - More than two years after reaching the mandatory retirement age of 75, Bishop W. Francis Malooly of Wilmington, Dela- ware, is stepping down. Pope Francis accepted the resignation of President Joe Biden's 77-year-old bishop April 30 and named Msgr. William E. Koenig, vicar for clergy for the Diocese of Rockville Cen- tre, to succeed him. The changes were announced in Washington by Archbishop Christophe Pierre, the Vatican nuncio to the United States. Bishop Malooly, a na- tive of Baltimore, has led the Delaware diocese since 2008. He celebrated the 50th anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood in 2020. w a B n c t a C t Koenig
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