t eanc 0 VOL. 42, NO. 18 •
Friday, May 1, 1998
FALL RIVER, MASS.
FALL RIVER DIOCESAN NEWSPAPER FOR SOUTHEAST MASSACHUSETTS CAPE COD & THE ISLANDS Southeastern Massachusetts' Largest Weekly
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Marathon winner says running is a celebration of life By MIKE GORDON ANCHOR STAFF
PLYMOUTH-As Mary-Lynn Currier crossed the fi nish line in this year's running of the Boston Marathon, she looked at her watch and said to herself "This is unbelievable." Currier said she hadn't looked at her watch the whole race, running at what she thought was a good pace, but when she finished, not only did she find that she was the top American woman finisher, but she had also run the best marathon time of her life. The 34-year-old computer teacher and librarian from St. Francis Xavier Preparatory School in Hyannis ran a personal best time of 2:35: 18 for her fourth Boston Marathon and finished II th overall in the field of women runners. She led most of the race until she was passed at 16 miles, but retook the lead a mile later. Currier said that running for her is a celebration of life. "I feel a connection with life, with God when 1
run," she declared. That connection has pushed the Connecticut native into the limelight. She has been running since she was about 12 years old and in 1985 at age 20 began her career as a marathon runner, completing and winning many races including the Providence Blue CrosslBlue Shield Marathon, events in Vermont and Pennsylvania, and the Cape Cod Marathon (New England Championships), where she has been the top woman finisher for four years. Currier trains vigorously for her races, is also completing her first year of teaching in a new district and has overcome great adversity to attain her running success. One of her hurdles has been three bouts of paralysis she's experienced since catching Lyme disease three years ago. Currier said she couldn't walk for weeks at a time but the experience has taught her a new discipline. "It gives me a chan~e to rest and recover and come back to running
with fresh legs," she said. The chronic condition is treatable with antibiotics. The tough part was recognizing the symptoms, but according to Currier, she has accomplished this. Helping her through those tough times has been her husband of five years, Peter Currier. "He's been the rock, the solid base to help me through it all," she said. She attends Mass every week and said "I try and follow Jesus in the things that I do. My training involyes daily meditation and prayer," adding that "with hard work, internal motivation and faith you can accomplish anything." Her students at St. Francis Xavier turned out in big numbers to cheer her in Boston, also working at the races' IO-mile water stop. "I wasn't alone out there, it made a difference," she said. "Some of my former students from Duxbury also turned out and it made a big difference throughout the whole race.... I had my most energy at Heartbreak Hill." Currier added that she tries to be a
Priests learn about Project Rachel at training selllinar rector of the diocese's Pro-Life Of- aged in two or three minutes, "this is fice, who chaired the serninar, said it a kind of confession that is demandwas designed to assist priests who ing of the confessor and requires will serve as confessors "because the more attention both in time and senobject of Project Rachel is the rec- sitivity. The men and women·coming to confess about onciliation with God abortion do not need to and Church and unborn hear: 'Don't worry child and self, by the about it, nothing is women or man who is wrong.' They have in grief or turmoil over - Pope John Pauill's come to confession bethe effects of an aborencyclical letter 'The cause they know sometion." thing is wrong with The confessor, he Gospel of Life." them. We must absosaid, in the sacrament lutely affirm the sin and of penance "acts as By JAMES N. DUNBAR at the same time bring healer and reconciler to them to reconciliation." NEW BEDFORD-Pliests from restore the grace of Also speaking at the the Fall River Diocese this week communion with God seminar were a medical learned more about their sensitive and Church to the perdoctor, a psychologist, roles in comforting, healing and rec- son who comes to conthe diocese's adult eduDR. E. JOANNE onciling women who have had an fession." cation director and a " W e abortion and feel c.ut ANGELO priest from the archdiohope to be off from their God able to sensitize priests cese of Boston. and their Church. Dr. Elizabeth Phalen of Norton a little more about what At a priests' traindescribed the acis going on in ing seminar Wednestual physiology the person who day at Holy Name of surgical and comes to him Church hall here, 56 chemical aborwith this parpriests heard profestions like using ticular sin," said sional speakers disRU-486, and parFather cuss Project Rachel. tial-birth aborFernandes. The title comes from tions too. "It's a "There are more an Old Testament difficult thing to and more calls, prophecy in which talk about," she mostly from Rachel, Joseph's told the priests. women, who are mother and mother"It's not pretty. I just overcome LISA M. GULINO figure for Israel, cries have a feeling with remorse for her exiled nation that many times over what they and its lost children. people don't realAt issue is the fact that although have done. It is so important ize what happens the responsibility for the abortion de- forthem to go to confession, . DR. ELIZABETH in an abortion, cision is not entirely, nor perhaps not receive the grace of reconPHALEN that there are even primarily hers, the woman must ciliation and know this is a parts of a baby bear its burdensome consequences al- sin and is forgivable as Pope lying around and not just a mass of most enti rely alone for the rest of her John Paul says in his encyclical." Father Fernandes made it clear tissues like you are told in the melife. Turn to page 5 - Rachel Father Stephen A. Fernandes, di- that while some confessions are man-
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"You will come to understand that nothing is definitively lost, and you will be able to ask forgiveness from your child, who is now living in the Lord."
role model for her stude'nts and that the school has been very helpful and understanding with both her bouts with Lyme disease and her running. What else motivates someone to run a 26-mile race and endure a grueling training regimen of logging 70 to 130 miles per week? Currier said that it has been her dream since she was in high school track to represent her country in the Olympics and that is one of the factors that pushes her forward. She said she remembers watching her idol, Joan B. Samuelson, running at the Olympics and was inspired by the New England native. She may have the chance to realize.that dream of running in the 2000 Summer Olympic Games because since her recent finish in Boston she is now ranked number two runner in the country and the top three American runners are invited to compete in Sydney, Australia. Mary-Lynn Currier hopes that her recent top finish will help her obtain a sponsor but will be taking it easy for a little while. When she spoke with The Anchor she joked that she was on school vacation, but that the phone hasn't stopped ringing with news people wanting interviews. They can't usually catch her. Who can?
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MARY-LYNN CURRIER, the top American woman finisher in the 1998 Boston Marathon, says she feels a connection with life and God when she runs. The computer teacher at St. Francis Xavier Preparatory School in Hyannis hopes to run at the 2000 Olympic games in Sydney, Australia.
Parish phase of 1998 Appeal begins Sunday FALL RIVER-This Sunday marks the beginning of the parish phase of the 1998 Catholic Charities Appeal throughout the Fall River Diocese. Often referred to as Catholic Charities Sunday, this is the day when volunteer solicitors from many of the III parishes canvass households of fellow parishioners to receive contributions to the Appeal. Some parishes, in response to busy family schedules and expansive parish boundaries, now use solicitation methods which enable direct re-
turns at Masses this weekend or a response by mail, and others use a combination of methods. In any case, the goal is the same: to invite diocesan Catholics to help reach out, as Bishop Sean O'Malley, OFM Cap. stated, "to brothers and sisters who are in need and who seek the assistance of the Church." Tum to page 2 - CCA
Bishop O'Malley laments bishop's murder By JAMES N.
DUNBAR
FALL RIVER-Bishop Sean P. O'Malley has called for people's prayers for murdered Auxiliary Bishop Juan Gerardi Conedara, 75, of Guatemala and for the Guatemalan people who are undergoing human rights abuses. . In a statement given as The Anchor was going to press, Bishop O'Malley lamented the murder of his friend and the tragedies Guatemala is suffering. "I ask the people of the Diocese of Fall River to pray for ~ishop Gerardi and the Church in Guatemala and that the peace process Will hold there despite this terrible setback." Turn to page 2 - Lament