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Newsbreak for Walpole
The Week – Feb. 9
The Year – 2004
News and More …
The glow and excitement from the huge win on Feb. 1st by the New England
Patriots continues. Folks are still talking about the win and buying
souvenir shirts and other memorabilia.
Yet, time moves on and the local sports fans turn to baseball. In a few
weeks, our attention will be on the start of spring training. The Red
Sox become the focus of headline stories and great expectations for the
year.
To make this clear, consider the following. Last week, the Red Sox began
selling tickets at their ticket booths. Currently, more than 2 million
tickets have been sold. Since, the capacity of the park allows for just
2.8 million people to attend, this is an amazing statistic.
This certainly is a baseball crazy area.
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Locally, the Catholic Church is at the center of two significant
stories.
1. Last year, the Supreme Judicial Court issued a decision that it was
unconstitutional to prevent same sex couples from seeking marriage. This
has prompted a reaction from the church and others to seek an amendment
to the state constitution to define marriage as applying to a male and
female only.
This week, the state legislators will convene a special session to
consider various amendments.
2. In addition, the Catholic Church is facing a serious crisis of
attendance, a shortage of clergy, and a financial crunch. As a result,
there is a series of planning sessions convened in the local areas to
consider a restructuring of parishes. This will mean that many churches
in the archdiocese will close. This is a very emotional and critical
time for folks everywhere.
Sports, politics, and religion are all contending these days for
headline space.
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