2020 Virtual Gala
7th ANNUAL
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SAVE THE DATE Monday, October 26
6:00 PM
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WORLD NEWS 2 NATIONAL NEWS 3 GUEST COMMENTARY 4 OFFICIALS 4 FUNDAMENTALS 5 CATHOLIC QUIZ 5 MORE NEWS 7 AROUND DIOCESE 8
You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.' - John 8:32
VOL. 69, NO. 41 OCTOBER 9, 2020 WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS HOME DELIVERY $39/YEAR
FREE IN PARISHES & ON NEWSSTANDS
Bouchers tell us to pray for others to have 'divine appointments' with Jesus. 6
Challenge: Repair a coronavirus-buffeted economy
BY MARK PATTISON
CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE
WASHINGTON (CNS) - Regardless of who wins November's presidential election, the winner will have his hands full repairing and revamping an economy whose weak- nesses many say were exposed during the coronavirus pandemic. There also is a healthy share of long- standing economic issues that needed ad- dressing but have been pushed to the back burner by the pandemic. COVID has really connected health care to the economic well-being of the na- tion," said Nicole Smith, chief economist at Georgetown University's Center on Educa- tion and the Workforce. The pandemic, Smith added, "really shined a light on the flaws that we have, really been drug under the rug for the last 20 to 30 years. One of those things has been the movement of trade overseas. Whether that's because initially NAFTA and other types of trading agreements and arrangements which the U.S. relied on to improve trading relationships with free- trade areas - what this has really meant in real terms is that the manufacturing pro- cess has been shipped overseas." The exodus of manufacturing jobs as the U.S. economy has shifted to a service- delivery model might not necessarily be a bad thing, argued Stan Veuger, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Insti- tute. People want the stuff they want," Veuger said. "I also don't think we should design our economy based on a once-in-a- century pandemic." Service-economy workers, typically earning less than their manufacturing counterparts, have been hit hardest in the pandemic, according to a Washington Post study of job losses. But "the work is often much safer than the work that was in mass-scale manufacturing or mining set- tings," Veuger told Catholic News Service. Goods-producing industries are very labor intensive," he added, pointing to the meatpacking industry, where mass outbreaks of COVID-19 shut down plants in the early weeks of the pandemic. "If we were as labor intensive (as that), I don't think we would have been able to produce SEE PRAY , 6
BY TANYA CONNOR THE CATHOLIC FREE PRESS
People were told some ways they can live out the message of St. Francis and Pope Francis in a celebra- tion of the Season of Creation in the Worcester Dio- cese Saturday. To observe the season, which runs from Sept. 1 through Oct. 4 (the feast of the great nature-lover St. Francis of Assisi) the diocese's Environmental Stewardship Ministry sponsored a "Green Mass" and a talk by local activist Claire Schaeffer- Duffy, on Oct. 3 at St. John Parish in Worces- ter. The Mass was to cel- ebrate Catholic social teaching "in regard to our care for creation," explained Peter Dun- beck, Environmental Stewardship Ministry chairman. This city par- ish was chosen because of "the great work they do with the soup kitch- en," he said, noting that Pope Francis' encyclical about the environment, Laudato Si'," also addresses economic inequalities. Father Richard F. Reidy, vicar general of the dio- cese, preached about that encyclical. Concelebrating the Mass with him were: Father Paul T. O'Connell, a member of the Environmental Stewardship Min- istry team who is associate judicial vicar of the diocese; Msgr. Michael F. Rose, pastor of St. Mary Parish in Shrewsbury; Msgr. Michael G. Foley, pastor of St. Luke the Evangelist Parish in Westborough, and Father John J. Foley, pastor of St. Anne Parish in Shrewsbury. Assisting at the Mass was Deacon William A. Bilow Jr., a member of the Environmental Steward- ship Ministry team who serves at St. Anne's and is director of the diocesan Office of the Diaconate. About 20 people attended the Mass and about 15 more watched online, Mr. Dunbeck said.
Green Mass for Season of Creation
Four honored on Respect Life Sunday
BY TANYA CONNOR
THE CATHOLIC FREE PRESS
WORCESTER - "Abortion is a - blight on the soul of our great nation, and it cries out to the heavens for penance and reparation," Bishop Mc- Manus said at the Respect Life Sun- day Mass, Oct. 4, at St. Paul Cathedral. He urged listeners to contact their legislators about a bill that could in- crease abortions in Massachusetts. He said that a "grossly immoral abortion bill," called the ROE Act, being considered by legislators in Boston, would worsen the pres- ent situation in at least three ways: young girls would no longer need their parents' consent to have an abortion, there would no longer be any legal requirement to try to save the life of a baby who survived an abortion attempt, and late-term abor- tions would no longer be required to be performed in a hospital. This bill borders on the barbaric," Bishop McManus said. "I ask all of you to please contact your legislators" and express strong opposition to it. To be authentically Catholic is to be fully committed to the protection of human life, whether of the unborn or those with medical challenges languishing in nursing homes, the bishop said. He began his homily by saying that the United States bishops designated this Sunday as Respect Life Sunday and that it was fitting to honor peo- ple who have worked to protect hu-
BY TANYA CONNOR THE CATHOLIC FREE PRESS
Women in the Worcester Diocese have joined others around the world offering holy hours for priests through the Seven Sisters Apostolate. The ministry is "a call to strengthen the Church by ensuring that a holy hour is prayed each day of the week for the sole intention of a specific priest or bishop - a 'holy wasting' (cf. Mt. 26:10) or lavishing of prayer for his deeper con- formity to Christ," according to its website www. sevensistersapostolate.org. Ideally the holy hour is done in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament. It is for whatever priest or bishop is currently serving the parish or other ministry; when a priest moves on, the group prays for his successor. This whole apostolate is a privilege," said Kimberly Har- mon, of Our Lady of Czesto- chowa Parish in Worcester, who helped start a holy hour for Fa- ther Donato Infante III, director of the Worcester Diocese's Office for Vocations. "There's a tremen- dous joy that comes from this kind of prayer, be- cause we're praying for our priests. We know how important our priests are for the diocese, but also for the Church, especially - now, where there's so much suffering in our Church and our world. We pray that every single pastor in our diocese is covered in prayer" by many more women join- ing the apostolate. "It's (about) all priests, but we SEE ELECTION , 7 SEE GREEN , 7
Pope Francis releases new encyclical 'Fratelli Tutti, on Fraternity and Social Friendship.' 2,3
TANYA CONNOR CFP
Claire Schaeffer-Duffy speaks with Peter Dunbeck, Environmental Stewardship Ministry chairman, following her talk at the "Green Mass."
'Think about your use' of plastics 'and try to migrate away from them.'
Claire Schaeffer-Duffy
Catholic Worker
Seven Sisters Apostolate
for our
Praying
PHOTO COURTESY OF KIMBERLY HARMON
Father Donato Infante III, director of the Office for Vocations, offers Mass in the House of Studies chapel, with the women who have pledged to pray for him. really felt the Lord put on our hearts the pastors and the retired priests. - We know that the pastors are under a spiritual attack. - They play such an important role shep- herding their flock. And then the retired priests - sometimes they're the forgotten ones. As they prepare to meet the face of God, how beautiful it is to cover them in prayer."
TANYA CONNOR CFP
Catherine Villa, recipient of the Ruth V.K. Pakaluk Pro-Life Youth Award, poses with Bishop McManus. SEE AWARDS , 6
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