January 12, 2007

Page 1

Catholic san Francisco Northern California’s Weekly Catholic Newspaper

Pope names Bishop John Wester to lead Salt Lake City Diocese By Maurice Healy

S

an Francisco Auxiliary Bishop John C. Wester, 56, has been appointed Bishop of Salt Lake City by Pope Benedict XVI. The announcement was made Jan. 8 in Rome at Vatican City and in Washington, D.C. by Archbishop Pietro Sambi, Apostolic Nuncio to the United States. Bishop Wester will become the 9th Bishop of Salt Lake City, a diocese that encompasses the entire State of Utah, with 48 parishes and approximately 200,000 Catholics. He will be installed at a Mass on March 14 at the Cathedral of the Madeleine in Salt Lake City. A native of San Francisco, Bishop Wester was born Nov. 5, 1950 and was baptized at St. Anne of the Sunset Church in the City. His parents, Helen (Egan) and Charles Wester, were married in 1948 at Epiphany Church in San Francisco. Charles Wester passed away in 1999. Bishop Wester, the oldest of four siblings, has a brother, Barry, and two sisters, Nancy and Kathy. In 1956, the family moved to Our Lady of Mercy Parish in Daly

City, where the young John Wester attended Our Lady of Mercy Elementary School. With a strong vocation to the priesthood, Bishop Wester began his seminary studies at St. Joseph College in Mountain View, and earned a Bachelor’s Degree and a Master of Divinity Degree at St. Patrick Seminary in Menlo Park. He served a year as a transitional deacon at St. Augustine Parish in South San Francisco in 1975-76. He was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of San Francisco at St. Mary’s Cathedral by Archbishop Joseph McGucken on May 15, 1976. Bishop Wester’s first assignment as a young priest was as Associate Pastor at St. Raphael Parish in San Rafael. In 1979, he joined the faculty of Marin Catholic High School and served as Director of Campus Ministry. He served as president of Marin Catholic from 1984-86. After two years as assistant Superintendent of Catholic Schools, he became Administrative Assistant to Archbishop John Quinn. He returned to parish ministry in 1993 as Pastor of St. Stephen Parish in San Francisco. In

1997, he returned to the Chancery in the post of Vicar for Clergy. On June 30, 1998, he was appointed Auxiliary Bishop for the Archdiocese of San Francisco by Pope John Paul II. He was ordained a bishop on Sept. 18, 1998

at St. Mary’s Cathedral by Archbishop William Levada. Bishop Wester’s pastoral and administrative service has varied widely during his more than eight years as Auxiliary BISHOP WESTER, page 6

Amniotic-fluid stem cells hailed as another alternative to embryo use By Nancy Frazier O’Brien WASHINGTON (CNS) — The recent announcement by scientists at Wake Forest and Harvard universities that the amniotic fluid surrounding a child in the womb can be the source of medically useful stem cells is just the latest in a series of studies showing the research value of the byproducts of live birth, according to the deputy director of the U.S. bishops’ Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities. Richard M. Doerflinger told Catholic News Service Jan. 8 that various studies have shown that the placenta, cord blood, the umbilical cord itself and other byproducts of birth “may all contain very versatile stem cells, with many of

the advantages of embryonic stem cells without the practical disadvantages or moral problems.” “With four million live births every year in our country alone, an ample supply of these cells lies readily at hand,” he added. The study was reported Jan. 7 in the online edition of the journal Nature Biotechnology and included research by scientists at the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine in WinstonSalem, N.C., and Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston. The U.S. House of Representatives was expected to vote Jan. 11 on expanded federal funding of stem-cell research involving the destruction of human

embryos. The measure is part of a package of legislation in the new Democratmajority 110th Congress. Republican President George W. Bush vetoed a similar measure last July, and the 109th Congress failed to override the veto. In the journal article, Dr. Anthony Atala of the Wake Forest institute said he and his colleagues had used stem cells derived from amniotic fluid to create muscle, bone, fat, blood, nerve and liver cells in the laboratory. “It has been known for decades that both the placenta and amniotic fluid contain multiple progenitor cell types from the developing embryo, including fat, bone and muscle,” said Atala in a statement. “We asked the question, ‘Is

there a possibility that within this cell population we can capture true stem cells?’ The answer is yes.” Doerflinger said it is “especially ironic” that the frozen embryos that some scientists want to destroy for stem cells “may produce more beneficial stem cells if allowed to survive and be born.” “New life, not premature death, may show us the way to a brighter medical future,” he added. Doerflinger also disputed the results of a recent public opinion poll commissioned by the Civil Society Institute in which 68 percent of all the respondents — and 69 percent of the respondents who described themselves as Catholics — STEM CELLS, page 8

INSIDE THIS WEEK’S EDITION New Congress . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 ‘Christian Unity’ . . . . . . . . . . 7 Pope baptizes infants. . . . . . . 9 Commentary & scripture. 15-17 San Francisco photographs . 19 News Analysis . . . . . . . . 20-21

News-in-brief

Vocations Guide

Archbishop on ‘Faith Matters’

Classified ads . . . . . . . . . 22-23

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www.catholic-sf.org

January 12, 2007

SEVENTY-FIVE CENTS

VOLUME 9

No. 1


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