Word: parishes
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...days earlier, Pompidou had been buried with an austere, simple service, as he had requested in a confidential note that he gave to his aide 20 months ago. A Requiem Mass was celebrated in his parish church of St.Louisen-l'Ile, near the Pompidous' elegant seven-room apartment on the He St. Louis in the middle of the Seine. Some 400 mourners, including his widow Claude, his son Alain, members of the government and old friends, crowded the baroque church for the 50-minute service. His casket was draped with the French tricolor and, as he had requested...
...meaning of Lent, likening the penitential season to an automobile overhaul. After more songs and the reading of the Gospel, Pierre, 66, a sturdy, gray-haired retired farmer, leaves his pew and walks to the tabernacle. There he removes a ciborium of communion hosts consecrated by the parish priest the week before and distributes them to his fellow congregants. Later, as the worshipers rise to leave, Jean-Paul makes a hasty announcement. "We forgot to take up the first collection, so please be extra generous as you leave...
Scenes like the one at Rodlinghem are becoming more and more common in rural France these days, as parish after parish takes its turn at a "priestless Sunday." The country that anticlericals once thought priest-ridden is now facing a severe shortage of Roman Catholic priests (as are most European nations). In 1965 there were 40,000 French priests; by 1975 there may be as few as 30,000. As one result of the shortage, French bishops, meeting last year in Lourdes, tacitly authorized laymen to hold "prayer assemblies" in churches that cannot offer Sunday Mass...
Father Joel Oliveira, pastor of St. Anthony's Church on Portland St.--the only Portuguese parish in the Boston area--confirms the Cambridge Portuguese workers' unwillingness to organize for their labor rights. "Two men were here from a union a while ago, they wanted to unionize some of the factories," Oliveira recalls. "The Portuguese didn't want to get involved. In most cases they are underpaid, but they didn't want to lose their jobs...
...Casanova heard the problem and reacted quickly. He called the landlord and told him he would send a building inspector to Mrs. Negron's apartment if the hot water was not turned on within the day. Two hours after Mr. Casanova's phone call, Mrs. Negron came to the parish to report that she now had hot water...