Diocesan faithful eager to see ‘Son of God’ this weekend
By Kenneth J. Souza, Anchor Staff
MASHPEE, Mass. — Kathy Laird, director of Faith Formation and youth minister at Christ the King Parish in Mashpee, remembers the closing scene in Franco Zeffirelli’s 1977 TV mini-series “Jesus of Nazareth” making an indelible impression on her.
“I tell my kids that during that very last scene — where Jesus is looking at His disciples, but He’s also looking right at the camera — and He says ‘I’ll be with you until the end of time’ … I feel like He’s talking to me,” Laird told The Anchor.
So when she joins her Faith Formation students and youth group members at screenings of the new film “Son of God” this weekend, Laird hopes they’ll somehow have a similar reaction to seeing a depiction of Christ on the big screen.
Holy Cross Family Ministries to air Lenten series
By Dave Jolivet, Anchor Editor
EASTON, Mass. — Continuing the tradition of its founder, Servant of God Father Patrick Peyton, C.S.C., of bringing the Good News to Catholics through modern social media, Holy Cross Family Ministries, headquartered in Easton, is offering area faithful a Lenten cable TV series paralleling the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary, beginning on Ash Wednesday.
The half-hour program will run each Wednesday at 9 p.m. on Comcast channel 9 and Verizon channel 22.
The family faith series, which is age-appropriate for middle-school children as well as adults, will be hosted by HCFM president, Father John Phalen, C.S.C., author of the book, “Living the Rosary.”
Lent: A time for healing the soul
By Linda Andrade
Rodrigues,
Anchor Correspondent
NORTH DIGHTON, Mass. — Marked with ashes in the sign of the cross on the forehead, people proclaim their Catholic faith for all to see on Ash Wednesday, living the evangelical message that Jesus preached in Galilee: “Turn away from sin and believe the Good News.”
A day of introspection observed by fasting, abstinence from meat and repentance, Ash Wednesday is the first day of the 40-day period of Lent, which lasts until Holy Thursday.
Throughout Lent area parishes will open their doors to penitents offering the distribution of ashes, missions, retreats, Eucharistic Adoration, Stations of the Cross, and special Masses and observances during Holy Week, culminating in the joyous celebration of the Savior’s resurrection at Easter.
Clarifying the annulment process
By Becky Aubut, Anchor Staff
FALL RIVER, Mass. — While the Sacrament of Marriage is Sacred, the annulment process is often misunderstood, explained Father Jeffrey Cabral, judicial vicar of the Tribunal Office of the Fall River Diocese. The Church tribunal, better known as the Catholic Church court, declares that through an annulment process a Marriage thought to be valid according to Church law actually falls short of at least one of the crucial components required for a binding union, thus declaring the Marriage invalid or null.
The misconception regarding exactly what an annulment is, and how the procedure unfolds, is often based on the fact that the Church tribunal tends to use the same terminology heard in civil law: “We use the words ‘trial’ or ‘case’ or ‘petitioner’ and [people] have that visual of being in the same room before a judge and it’s not that way,” said Father Cabral, adding that when it comes to annulments, no one has to come face-to-face in any of the proceedings. “Church canon law is more investigatory; never are the two parties in the same room or see each other. It’s more of an investigation; our investigation is what we call the ‘trial.’”
EDITORIAL
