Responding to President Barack Obama’s public support of “gay marriage,” Worcester Bishop McManus said in a statement, “President Obama’s public support of the redefinition of marriage is deeply saddening. As a society we must take every positive measure to strengthen marriage and the family, the very cornerstone of our society. The people of this country, especially our children, deserve better. I pray that in the end this Administration will act justly to uphold and protect marriage as the union of one man and one woman and by so doing serve the true good of all persons.”
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Keeping Mother close
May 10, 2012 Posted By The Catholic Free PressBy Mairgread Gray
CFP CorrespondentDiane Boover, 64, had just returned with her mother, Claire Girouard, 92, from Mrs. Girouard’s annual appointment with the doctor. Mrs. Girouard was soon napping and the house was still.
“I love caring for her. I enjoy the time. Never would I have had such peace and quiet,” she said. Mrs. Boover said she can sit quietly much of the time; reads extensively; does research and writes. She has even used the time to compose meditations.
Blind and nearly deaf, Mrs. Girouard has been living in Worcester with her daughter and son-in-law Michael Boover for the past four and a half years.
Fair weather ducks
April 19, 2012 Posted By The Catholic Free PressPerhaps the feathered flock featured at Assumption College’s annual Duck Day April 12 ordered the fowl weather, but the rain and hail sent the human spectators flying fast far from the scene. (Actually, the ducks had the same idea. Owner Dianna Markley said they were found walking home on Salisbury Street later that day, so this week she planned to take different ones to the pond for the summer.)
NEWS FROM OUR SCHOOLS – Grad visits St. Mary’s
April 26, 2012 Posted By The Catholic Free PressSHREWSBURY – Just back from a seven month United States Navy deployment in the Persian Gulf, St. Mary School alumnus LT John R. O’Neill ‘99 visited his alma mater where he spoke to a full school assembly. The Naval Aviator shared stories of his work piloting his E-2C Hawkeye.
“You could have heard a pin drop as John talked about launching and landing his 54,000 pound twin-turboprop jet aboard the USS John Stennis. The children were completely captivated as he described in detail the impact the human body takes from such speed and power, as well as the challenges of landing an airplane onto a moving aircraft carrier, often in the pitch black of night,” said the school’s Alumni Relations Director Sira Naras
Mercy Sister was Titanic ‘tourist attraction’ telling her story
April 19, 2012 Posted By The Catholic Free PressBy William T. Clew
Sister Mary Patricia, a Religious Sister of Mercy, used to laughingly describe herself as a tourist attraction.
She was sacristan at St. Paul Cathedral for 36 years and at the Mercy Sister’s mother house on Barry Road. But many years before she came to Worcester she was involved in one of the great sea tragedies in history.
Her name was Ellen Mockler, before she became a nun, and her older sister lived in New York City. She said she decided to leave her native Galway in Ireland, and come to the United States “for the adventure of it,” she could not have imagined the adventure, and the tragedy, she was about to experience.
She and four of her friends, three boys and a girl, boarded the RMS Titanic in April 1912, for its maiden voyage across the Atlantic Ocean. It was a smooth crossing until 11:40 p.m. April 14, 100 years ago tomorrow.Event Calendar
