BY BILL DOYLE CFP CORRESPONDENT
WORCESTER - When Catherine Fleming decided to build pollinator gardens for an American Heritage Girls project she found what she considered to be the perfect homes for them - five Catholic churches in the Worcester Diocese. Catherine, 17, of Worcester believed the gardens would carry out the message of "Laudato Si'," Pope Francis' second encycli- cal which calls for people to work together against environmental degradation and global warming. Her family has long been interested in organic gardening and has a compost bin and raised beds with vegetables. She, her mother, Beth, and sister Grace, attended a Northeast Organic Farming Association conference at Worcester State University in January of 2020. One of the programs explained that pollinators were dying off in the Northeast and detailed the need for native flowers and plants to diversify and multiply the pollinators, namely the bees, butterflies and other insects that cross pol- linate vegetable and fruit plants and help grow our food. The fact that one out of every three bites of our food has been made possible by a pollinator, motivated her to pursue the proj- ect. She worked closely with Peter Dunbeck, chairman of the Diocese of Worcester's Environmental Stewardship Ministry, which seeks to implement the tenets of "Laudato Si'" by supplying churches with the tools to be more eco-friendly and encouraging Catholics to be more aware of their impact on the environment. "It's a wonderful project showing the em- brace," Mr. Dunbeck said, "of the environ- ment and the beauty of the environment and our relationship with it. It's important that people in their busy lives see that and participate in it." Catherine built the gardens as part of the requirements to achieve the Stars and Stripes Award, the most prestigious
BY TANYA CONNOR
THE CATHOLIC FREE PRESS
WORCESTER - From infants to COV- ID-positive adults, a variety of people benefitted from last year's Partners in Charity donations that supported Pernet Family Health Service, accord- ing to Pernet's executive director, Sheilah H. Dooley. Pernet staff want to make sure people know how thankful they are for this money, said Wanja Kiraguri, di- rector of fund development. The agency uses Partners money for its Family and Community Devel- opment Program, Mrs. Dooley said. Since the money is unrestricted, it can be used where it is needed, and "that's where we have the most need," she said. She said Pernet does not bill clients' health insurance or any other entity for the services provided free
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Appealing to need for unity, pope restores limits on pre-Vatican II Mass
BY CINDY WOODEN
CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE
VATICAN CITY (CNS) - Saying he was acting for the good of the unity of the Catholic Church, Pope Francis has restored limits on the celebra- tion of the Mass according to the Roman Missal in use before the Sec- ond Vatican Council, overturning or severely restricting permissions St. John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI had given to celebrate the so-called Tridentine-rite Mass. "An opportunity offered by St. John Paul II and, with even greater magnanimity by Benedict XVI, in- tended to recover the unity of an ecclesial body with diverse liturgical sensibilities, was exploited to widen the gaps, reinforce the divergences and encourage disagreements that injure the church, block her path and expose her to the peril of divi- sion," Pope Francis wrote in a letter to bishops July 16. The text accompanies his apos- tolic letter "Traditionis Custodes" (Guardians of the Tradition), declar- ing the liturgical books promulgat- ed after the Second Vatican Council to be "the unique expression of the 'lex orandi' (law of worship) of the Roman Rite," restoring the obliga- tion of priests to have their bishops' permission to celebrate according to the "extraordinary" or pre-Vatican II Mass and ordering bishops not to establish any new groups or par- ishes in their dioceses devoted to the old liturgy. SEE PERNET , 7 Gifts
12,431
Raised
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84%
SEE POPE , 7 SEE O'BRIEN , 6 SEE GARDENS , 6
Bishop McManus promises to serve spiritual well-being of all
Our Holy Father Pope Francis recently published a motu proprio entitled "Traditionis Custodes" (Guardians of the Tradition) in which he reinforces the theologi- cal principle that "the bishops in communion with the Bishop of Rome constitute the visible prin- ciple and foundation of the unity of their particular Churches." Essential to such a weighty pas- toral obligation is the role of the diocesan bishop as the moderator of the liturgical life of his diocese. To that end, it is my responsibil- ity as Bishop of Worcester to im- plement the principles articulated in the motu proprio in a way that will serve the spiritual and pasto- ral well-being of those Catholics attached to the celebration of the extraordinary form of the Roman Rite, and the vast majority of Ro- man Catholics here in the Diocese who have embraced the ordinary form of the Roman Rite celebrated in accord with its proper rubrics established by the liturgical law of the Church. In the weeks ahead, I shall meet with those priests of the Diocese of Worcester who celebrate, with my permission, the extraordi- nary form and discuss the sound implementation of "Traditionis Custodes." - Bishop Robert J. McManus Diocese of Worcester
CNS PHOTO PAUL HARING
Cardinal Walter Brandmuller elevates the Eucharist during a Tridentine-rite Mass at the Altar of the Chair in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican May 15, 2011. PAGE 3: US dioceses respond to pope's document PAGE 4: Msgr. James Moroney comments on: 'Traditionis Custodes'
Partners aid helps Pernet help families
UXBRIDGE - Father Dennis J. O'Brien, 70, a priest of the Diocese of Worcester for 44 years, died unexpectedly on July 17. He retired for health reasons in 2017 but one year later took on the role of di- ocesan minister to priests. Bishop McManus will be the principal celebrant at Father O'Brien's funeral Mass to be held at 11 a.m. today in St. Mary Church, 77 Men- don St., Uxbridge, where Father O'Brien had been in residence since retirement. Burial will follow in St. Patrick Cemetery, Provi- dence Road, Whitinsville. "It's a big hole - for the whole diocese," said Father C. Michael Broderick, who succeeded Father O'Brien as pastor of Our Lady of the Lake Parish in Leomin- ster. "He loved serving the Lord. He loved answering God's call to him." There at the last parish Father O'Brien served as a pastor "the grief is very deep," Father Broderick said. "He left an amazing legacy of priestly ministry here." "He is still well-remembered and be- loved by so many people not only here in our parish community but through- out the Diocese of Worcester, where he served the Lord and the Church so faith- fully for 44 years," said a Flocknote mes- sage to parishioners and friends of St. Mary Parish in Shrewsbury, where Father O'Brien was associate pastor from 2000- 2005. "The Diocese will miss him," said Nan- cy Norberg, pastoral associate at St. Denis Parish in Douglas. She described Father O'Brien as "a joy-filled person" who often filled in there. Last week she accompa- nied him to anoint a previous pastor of theirs, Father William N. Cormier, who was preparing for a medical procedure, she said. "To me he was a priest according to Christ's own sacred heart," said Father Miguel A. Pagan, associate pastor of An- nunciation Parish in Gardner. He said he met Father O'Brien shortly before enter- ing the Father James Fitton House for Priestly Formation in Leicester, of which
Death of Father Dennis O'Brien leaves ' big hole' in the diocese The need for pollinators leads to gardens at churches
TANYA CONNOR CFP
Teenage volunteers with United Way's WooServes help unload food for Pernet's pantry Monday, with help from Pernet volunteer Tony Medina and United Way worker Paulina Martin, as Joel Wallen and Sheilah H. Dooley, Pernet's associate executive director and executive director, respectively, watch at left. Fr. O'Brien t i d F r P d O
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BILL DOYLE CFP CORRESPONDENT
Catherine Fleming stands in one of five pollinator gardens she and helpers planted outside churches. Here she is at St. John in Worcester.
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