January 8, 2010 by Catholic San Francisco

Christian archaeologist in Jordan invites believers to site of Jesus’ baptism

Catholic san Francisco Northern California’s Weekly Catholic Newspaper

By Rick DelVecchio BETHANY BEYOND THE JORDAN, Jordan – The dignitaries drove through the underbrush in a caravan of 13 golf carts. In the third vehicle was Pope Benedict XVI. He was taking the path of countless pilgrims before him in coming in physical contact with St. John’s wilderness and the site near the Jordan River where Jesus is said to have been baptized. Welcoming the Holy Father was Rustom Mkhjian, a Catholic Jordanian of Armenian descent who serves as the site’s assistant director and is supervisor of archaeological works for the Jordanian royal commission that oversees it.

Page 12

Mkhjian, greeting Christian journalists on a Jordan Tourism Board-sponsored press tour in September, recounted his bold invitation to the pope last May 10. He said how he believes that John’s wilderness – the legendary meeting place of the Old and New Testaments, the crossroads of the prophets from Joshua to Jesus, the site of monastic grottoes said to include the envangelist’s cave – is the wellspring of the faith and deserves to be the pre-eminent pilgrimage site in Christianity. “One of the things I said to the pope was, ‘Christianity started here,” Mkhjian said. “Peter, according to the Bible, was one of the four apostles who accompanied Jesus when he was baptized, so Christianity spread all over.” The pope “thanked us honestly,” the curator of the wilderness said, recalling how he chatted with the Holy Father about some of the early and medieval pilgrims who documented that believers converged on the site over at least eight centuries. These pilgrims wanted to touch the spot where they were convinced that John had his ministry in the reeds east of the Jordan, opposite a ford where travelers crossed from Jericho. There, near a spring that flowed below the high ground called Elijah’s Hill, tradition holds that Jesus was baptized. JESUS’ BAPTISM, page 6

(CNS PHOTO/GREG TARCZYNSKI)

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The cross of a Greek Orthodox church is seen as the sun sets at Bethany Beyond the Jordan in May when Pope Benedict XVI visited the site near the east bank of the Jordan River, where it is believed Jesus was baptized.

Catholics look at ways to welcome their own back to the fold LaNave and Rigney recommend that parish programs for returning Catholics ARLINGTON, Va. (CNS) – Two provide a chance to ask questions or women who have returned to their discuss issues. Many inactive or returnCatholic faith after years away have ing Catholics have not been exposed written a book, “When They Come to Catholicism since their childhood A “Catholics come home” screen shot from the Diocese of Sacramento. Home,” as a guide for parishes on how and, as a result, have only a fourth- or to minister to returning Catholics. fifth-grade level of understanding about The women, Anna LaNave and Melanie Rigney, the faith. Programs such as Landings serve as a At St. Charles Borromeo, LaNave is facilitator for parishioners of St. Charles Borromeo Church in place where they can come and have their questions a program called Landings that is designed to welArlington, say parishes need to reach out to inactive answered in an environment where they won’t feel come back those returning to the faith. The book she members by tailoring parish programs to meet their embarrassed. co-authored sets guidelines for how Catholics can set needs. “It’s the first opportunity to ask questions,” LaNave up and run programs such as Landings at their own “The church really needs to come up with a stratsaid. “Once they finish the program, if they feel like parishes. It also provides tips on how to make a parish egy for how to bring these Catholics back,” LaNave they need catechesis, they can go to (Rite of Christian more welcoming to returning Catholics, how to market said. “Otherwise, we’re going to have a very strong Initiation for Adults) and be a sponsor or attend a program on the Internet and how to run meetings in a marginally Catholic group now, but in the next generaCursillo or Bible study.” way that eases “inactives” back into the church instead tion, it won’t be marginal. It will be none.” of intimidating them or scaring them away. WELCOME BACK, page 5

By Katie Bahr

INSIDE THIS WEEK’S EDITION On the Street . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Women religious honored . . 3 News in brief. . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Letters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Columnists . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Vocations: Hearing God’s call ~ Pages 7-9 ~ January 8, 2010

‘Guest Commentary’ Immigrants / Health Care ~ Page 10 ~

Networks gain Hispanic presence ~ Page 14 ~

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Datebook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Classified ads . . . . . . . . . . . 15

www.catholic-sf.org VOLUME 12

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No. 1

Catholic San Francisco

January 8, 2010

On The Where You Live By Tom Burke Happy 40 years married Aug. 23 to Patty and Les Mize, longtime parishioners of San Rafael’s St. Isabella Parish. Friends and family gathered to salute the couple. Patty and Les are the proud parents of six children - all 6 are grads of Marin Catholic as is Patty - and four grandchildren. They were married at St. Rita’s in Fairfax…. Thanks to Chancery colleague, Robert O’Connor, for a good laugh. We were talking about the expensive parking in downtown San Francisco which I said `was about $8 a minute’ and Robert added “or any part of a minute!” Robert toils in the Propagation of the Faith and also fills in at the front desk when the reliable Patty Coughlan takes a break or time off. You know his voice, I’m sure…. Hats off to Alyce Hansell and her husband, Ken, longtime parishioners of St. Cecilia’s and still in shape at 87 and 88, I gotta’ say. A trip to visit daughter, Bobbie Ritchie, in Alaska, to see her in the 2008 State Senior Olympics open to folks over

50 years of age, found them soon taking part in the events for those older than 85. “We all registered but no one else had signed up in our age category so we had no competition when we threw the discus, the javelin, and the shot put, or ran the 100, 400, and 800 meter races,” Ken said in a note to this column, admitting with a laugh that the runs were actually walks. “Thus we earned gold medals for these events.” Subsequently, they were invited to the 2009 national senior games at Stanford but only Alyce took the challenge coming in sixth in the javelin throw, and earning silver and bronze medals as a runner. “I am very proud of her,” Ken said. “Our family members were so proud to see my wife, their mother, grandmother and great grandmother receive her medals.”…Graduates of San Francisco’s now-closed and much-missed St. Rose Academy are coming to the aid of Megan Furth Catholic Academy, which opened in 2006. “We wanted to establish a meaningful tribute to our alma mater and to the Dominican Sisters of San Rafael who taught us,” said Joan McCormack, a 1961 St. Rose alumna. “That’s why this fund got going. Since St. Rose is no longer here, we are trying to help a grammar school that has financial needs.” Money raised by the new effort will finance new technology and school supplies, said St. Rose grad, Anne Marie Jordan, who, with Joan, sits on the committee behind the St. Rose Megan Furth Fund. Additional members include Mary Ellen Cresci, Judy Kerr, Mary Romo, and Mary Warren. The group is now busy contacting alums and others for contributions. E-mail phone.joan@sbcglobal. net or nmcauliffe@meganfurthacademy.org. You can also visit www.meganfurthacademy.org … And before

From left: Eileen and Andy Clisham, Eileen is Director of Communications at Sacred Heart Cathedral Prep, Karen and Jeremiah Gill with daughters Delaney and Quinlan; Danielle and Scott Mize; Patty and Les Mize; Ryan Mize; Megan Mize, a regular cantor at St. Isabella and St. Anselm, and Tricia and John Mize with their children Dylan and Alyssa.

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I forget, St. Paul High School, San Francisco, class of ’80 is planning a reunion sometime in June 2010 to coincide with graduation day of May 31 1980. “We’re trying to reach everyone we can,” said Maria Rinaldi Vincent, member of the class and one of the coordinators of the event. E-mail vncntmtvincent@aol.com or call (650) 349-1642….This is an empty space without you. Send items via e-mail to burket@sfarchdiocese.org and by ground to “Street,” One Peter Yorke Way, San Francisco 94109. Electronic photos should be jpegs at 300 dpi. No zip files, please. Hard copy photos are also welcome sent to the Peter Yorke Way address. I can be reached at (415) 614-5634.

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January 8, 2010

Catholic San Francisco

San Mateo Deanery honors women religious for ministry in local Church Women Religious of San Mateo County’s Deanery 10 were honored at St. Matthew Parish in San Mateo Dec. 13, a date coinciding with the annual second collection for retired religious taken at most parishes across the nation. The celebration began with Mass with St. Matthew pastor, Father Tony McGuire, presiding. “This is an opportunity for all of us to thank the many women religious for their ministry in our local church,” Father McGuire said, noting the number of women religious serving in Deanery 10 at 150. “Besides sisters working in parishes,” he said, “there are many who minister at Notre Dame University and at the Notre Dame Provincial headquarters in Belmont and at Mercy Center in Burlingame.” The Bishops of California have recently made a statement supporting the work of women religious as the Vatican investigates the sisters in the U.S., Father McGuire noted. “Everyone should give the sisters support and encouragement,” he said. Mercy Sister Marilyn Lacey gave the reflection at the Mass, posing the question, “Where have all the sisters gone?” Sister Marilyn acknowledged that there are fewer women entering religious life today for a number of reasons. Since Vatican II, the laity has been taking “their rightful place in the Church,” she said, resulting in the realization that women don’t need to enter religious life to serve God. In addition, smaller families mean that parents aren’t encouraging their daughters as much to enter the convent. And “God just might be creating something new, a new form of dedicated service

Mercy Sister Marilyn Lacey and Father Tony McGuire.

From left: Notre Dame Sister Pat Hoffman, Mercy Sister Judy Carle, and Holy Names Sister Pat Hunter.

in the church that will not look like the group convent living we have known for the past few centuries,” she said. Sister Marilyn pointed out that sisters have focused on a return to their original purposes or charisms of direct service. As a result, they are found working in prisons, building affordable housing, standing up for the rights of immigrants, and offering spiritual direction, among other ministries. After working with refugees for many years, Sister Lacey has begun “Mercy Beyond Borders,” a non-profit which

offers displaced women and girls in Southern Sudan hope for survival through education and micro-loans. Approximately 50 sisters from the 10 parishes of the deanery attended the Mass and the reception. The parishes of Deanery 10 include St. Catherine of Sienna and Our Lady of Angels in Burlingame; St. Bartholomew, St. Gregory, St. Matthew, and St. Timothy in San Mateo; Immaculate Heart of Mary and St. Mark in Belmont; St. Luke in Foster City; and Our Lady of the Pillar in Half Moon Bay.

New Sisters’ Council appointed Archbishop George Niederauer recently approved appointments to the new Sisters’ Council headed by Presentation Sister Rosina Conrotto, director of the Archdiocesan Office for Women Religious. “The council will be a great help in getting the pulse of women religious of the three counties of the Archdiocese of San Francisco,” Sister Rosina said. “We’ll also work together on activities and events for the women religious ourselves and with Archbishop Niederauer.” Pictured (front row from left) are Sisters Fran Tobin, RSCJ, Pat Erickson, OP (Adrian), Judith Benkert, OP (Adrian), Rosina Conrotto, PBVM; (middle from left) Sisters Karen Marie Franks, OP (San Rafael), Angeles Marin, RCM, Terese Marie Perry, RSM, Rosanne Murphy, SNDdeN, Maria Christine Behlow, OP (Cloistered), Maureen O’Brien, BVM; (top from left) Sisters Nancy O’Connor, CSJ, Jeanette Lombardi, OSU, Celeste Arbuckle, SSS, Catherine Cappello, FdCC, Marie Ignatius Clune, RSHM, Dolores Barling, SNJM. Sisters Council members not pictured: Sisters Ann Cassidy, FMA, Jean Marie Fernandez, RGS, and Leonarda Montalto, OP (Philippines).

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Catholic San Francisco

NEWS

January 8, 2010

in brief

SF Supervisors challenged SAN FRANCISCO – A San Francisco Board of Supervisors resolution attacking the Catholic Church over adoption was illegal state interference in a religious matter, a Catholic advocacy group told a federal appeals court. The 2006 resolution was drafted by political activists who have taken very public positions opposing Church teaching on the morality of homosexuality, attorney Robert Muise of the Thomas More Law Center told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in a written brief. “These government activists see the Catholic Church and its religious beliefs as an obstacle to promoting their political and personal agendas,” he wrote. The resolution can only be viewed as an attempt to influence the Church on a matter of consistently applied theology, Muise added in oral argument before the court in San Francisco Dec. 16. Muise represents the Catholic League and two Catholic residents of San Francisco in an attempt to strike down the resolution as unconstitutional. The court is weighing whether the resolution was an unconstitutional intrusion in a religious matter or a permissible airing of a political disagreement.

Union wins plurality in vote SANTA ROSA – A union seeking to represent service and technical workers at Catholic-run Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital in Northern California won a plurality in a hardfought election. In a three-year way election Dec 17 and 18, the National Union of Healthcare Workers received 283 votes versus 263 votes against forming a union. A second union on the ballot, the Service Employees International UnionUnited Healthcare Workers West, received 13 votes. The outcome will not be final until it is certified by the National Labor Relations Board. The election, culminating a six-year unionization campaign, was closely watched nationally as a test of labor-management relations in the Catholic health care industry. Santa Rosa Memorial is one of 14 hospitals in the St. Joseph Health System, which has been criticized by organized labor for policies that labor maintains thwart unionization. The unionization effort has been supported by Catholic labor advocates, who argue that the employer

should respect U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops guidelines on free and fair elections in the health care industry.

Solomon Islands earthquake GIZO, Solomon Islands – Catholic aid officials from the Diocese of Gizo joined relief efforts after a magnitude 7.2 earthquake left at least a thousand people homeless. Even as officials of Peter’s Boat, as the aid agency is called, responded to the Jan. 4 quake in the New Georgia Group of islands, aftershocks as strong as magnitude 6.9 rattled the same area. The quakes and a small tsunami also triggered mudslides in remote areas of the islands. A statement from the area’s Salesian Fathers said at least 500 homes were affected in the initial earthquake. Areas most affected were quite isolated, and as relief teams move farther into the islands, they might find more damage, the statement said. In April 2007 a magnitude 8.1 earthquake and subsequent tsunami in the same area left 53 people dead and thousands homeless. It also destroyed the Catholic cathedral in Gizo. The Salesian statement said Italian volunteers who helped with the cathedral reconstruction were in the area Jan. 4 and “had the satisfaction of seeing that their work” – the rebuilt cathedral and nearby kindergarten – remained standing.

At funeral, Irish cardinal calls predecessor ‘ahead of his time’ ARMAGH, Northern Ireland – Cardinal Cahal Daly, the former primate of all Ireland and an outspoken critic of paramilitary violence and poverty in Northern Ireland, was a man “ahead of his time,” his successor told mourners. “As early as 1973 he was working with other Christian leaders in the search for peace,” Cardinal Sean Brady of Armagh told mourners at the Jan. 5 funeral at St. Patrick’s Cathedral for the 92-year-old Cardinal Daly who died Dec. 31. “A report which they prepared at that time set out principles for a nonviolent way forward for the divided communities of Northern Ireland. Today its language bears a remarkable similarity to that of political agreements we have now.” Cardinal Brady said his predecessor remained adamant that “justice, mutual respect and purely peaceful means were the only way forward. It was a source of considerable satisfaction for him later to see politicians take courageous risks for peace. ... Our task today is to continue along the path of mercy and to tackle all remnants of sectarianism in our midst.”

Vatican agency says at least 37 Church workers killed in 2009 VATICAN CITY – An uptick of violence against Catholic Church workers in the Americas contributed to almost doubling the number of missionaries who were murdered in 2009 compared to the previous year, the Vatican’s Fides agency said. The

(CNS PHOTO/PAUL HARING)

Pope Benedict XVI gives Communion to Miguel Diaz, the U.S. ambassador to the Vatican, during Mass on the feast of Mary Mother of God in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican Jan. 1.

agency said 37 people working for the church were killed in 2009, up from 20 people in 2008. It is also the highest number of deaths in the last 10 years, it added. Each year, Fides, the news agency of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, publishes a list of pastoral workers who died violently. The 2009 list released Dec. 30 includes two priests and one nun from the United States: Oblate Father Lawrence Rosebaugh, a 74-year-old U.S. priest, killed in a highway robbery in Guatemala in May; Father Edward Hinds stabbed 32 times in a brutal murder in the rectory of St. Patrick Church, in Chatham, N.J., in October. Prosecutors said the parish janitor confessed to the crime; and Blessed Sacrament Sister Marguerite Bartz, found dead in her Navajo, N.M., home in November. An 18-year-old man found driving the car the nun used was charged in connection with her death. Fides also highlighted the case of a Mexican priest and two seminarians who were killed in the southern state of Guerrero as they were traveling to a religious retreat. Father Habacuc Hernandez, Eduardo Oregon Benitez and Silvestre Gonzalez were shot dead by gunmen while they traveled through a violence-plagued area where drug-cartel activities have been on the increase. – Catholic News Service and Catholic San Francisco

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Catholic San Francisco

January 8, 2010

Welcome back . . . n Continued from cover

LaNave said these programs should be thought of as a journey and a slow progress. The first step for ministers is to help inactive Catholics feel welcome and encourage them to attend Mass weekly. Encouragement to go to confession â&#x20AC;&#x201C; often the most frightening thing for returning Catholics â&#x20AC;&#x201C; should come later. Of course, ministering to returning or inactive Catholics does not have to take place entirely within the confines of a parish program, which is why LaNave and Rigney advise people to invite their inactive Catholic friends or family members to participate in parish activities. Paulist Father Frank DeSiano, president of the Paulist National Catholic Evangelization Association, has similarly recommended parish programs that reach out to inactive Catholics. At a recent workshop at Our Lady of Mercy Parish in Hicksville, N.Y., he noted that nationally 32 percent of Catholics rarely or never attend Mass, while 24 percent attend a few times a year, 21 percent at least once a month, and 23 percent weekly or more. For Catholics who grew up after the Second Council, the percentages of those attending Mass and expressing a strong identification with the church are even lower. Among Catholics of the pre-Vatican II and the immediate post-Vatican II eras who have drifted from active involvement, there are degrees of hostility and anger, Father DeSiano said. Some have joined other churches. Catholics from that generation need to be approached with great sensitivity. Those who are 45 or younger are different, Father DeSiano said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;They are not ex-Catholics. They are not angry Catholics,â&#x20AC;? but are more prone to apathy and weakened identity, Father DeSiano said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Because they attend Mass irregularly, they could better be described as episodic Catholics.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;The approach that might have worked with the older generation, telling them to come home, wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t work with this generation,â&#x20AC;? he said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;They donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t feel that they left.â&#x20AC;?

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Much of it is generational. They have been raised in a culture of choice. All the advertisements tell them: â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Be yourself,â&#x20AC;&#x2122;â&#x20AC;? Father DeSiano said. They are prone to â&#x20AC;&#x153;tinkerâ&#x20AC;? and experiment with their identity. â&#x20AC;&#x153;How do we reach people like that?â&#x20AC;? Father DeSiano asked. One hopeful sign is that many in this age group are beginning to look for something, often because of changes in their life, such as a job, marriage, or children. â&#x20AC;&#x153;This gives us an opening.â&#x20AC;? The most effective way to engage them is through small groups where they can feel secure and begin to grapple with their faith, Father DeSiano said. The key is a sense of welcome, rather than judgment, and the presence of people with whom they can bond. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the relationships that will draw them,â&#x20AC;? he said, suggesting programs like Landings or the Paulistsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Awakening Faith. Some dioceses have launched media campaigns to invite inactive Catholics back to church. In midDecember, the Diocese of Providence, R.I., launched a six-week bilingual campaign with television advertisements produced by Catholics Come Home, an apostolate that produces media campaigns for inactive Catholics. The Archdiocese of Omaha, Neb., likewise partnered with Catholics Come Home for a television and Internet evangelization campaign from mid-December until the end of January. The Omaha campaign also provided training for parish staff members on how to answer inquiries from fallen-away Catholics and information about available catechetical and formational opportunities. Catholics Come Home has been collaborating with the Diocese of Sacramento since late 2008. The organization has been running TV ads in the Sacramento, Stockton and Chico/Redding markets since last December, directing viewers to the websites catholicscome.org and catolicosregresen.org. The ads will run through the end of January and are expected to reach more than a million people. Based on Catholics Come Home marketing campaigns in the dioceses of Phoenix in 2008 and Corpus Christi, Texas, in 2009, the ads could result in a 15 percent increase in Mass attendance, said Tom Peterson, the organizationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s founder and president.

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Jesus’ baptism . . . n Continued from cover

The documentary evidence for the location, Mkhjian said, is in line with the John’s Gospel’s reference to “Bethabara beyond Jordan, where John was baptizing.” According to the evangelist, Jesus reached the site after two days’ journey from Nazareth, was baptized with other penitents and saw the heavens open and the Holy Spirit descending like a dove as he came out of the water. He heard a voice say, “You are my beloved son with whom I am well pleased.” And John said, “Behold, the lamb of God.” “(The pope) enjoyed and experienced the thing we would like every visitor to experience – the grace of the site and its meaning,” Mkhjian said. Mkhjian could not be more passionate about his desire that pilgrims of all faiths should touch the baptism site as the pope did. He is part of an effort by the Jordanian government to welcome one million visitors to the site by 2018. Mkhjian is encouraged that the site drew 150,000 pilgrims in 2008, an increase of 53 percent over the previous year, not including the Epiphany celebrations marked at the river every year since 2000. Jordan’s main airport in Amman is being expanded, there is a new direct flight from Mexico, and there are plans to build three-star hotels on the northeastern shores of the Dead Sea. At the same time, an 87-acre area is dedicated for a building a pilgrims’ village just outside the baptism site, which has strict bylaws not to harm the environment. “We believe it will once again become a pilgrimage station like it was throughout history, eventually receiving millions of pilgrims annu-

ally,” said Mahfouz Kishek, marketing manager for the Jordan Tourism Board. The baptism site would be the centerpiece of a pilgrimage trail that would include Mekawar Castle, where John was martyred; Madaba, where the Church of St. George preserves the famous 6th century Byzantine map of Holy Land pilgrimage routes; and Mt. Nebo, where God revealed himself to Moses and Moses looked out over the Promised Land. Sites in the north where Jesus preached and performed miracles also may be included. “Our biggest propaganda and promotion is the Old and New Testament,” Aktel Biltaji, an advisor to King Abdullah II and a former Jordanian tourism minister, told journalists in Amman. “If there is a biblical road map, it’s in Jordan.” Religious tourism, like most issues in the region, has its political side. Jordan competes for Holy Land sacred space with the Israelis and the Palestinians. Physically separated from East Jerusalem and its holy sites since 1967, the kingdom since its 1994 peace agreement with Israel has been highlighting the religious heritage east of the river. The baptism site, which competes with Israel’s Qasr el Yahud for the claim, is emerging as Jordan’s greatest international pilgrimage draw. Jordan is promoting the biblical, historical and archaeological evidence for the authenticity of its baptism site, which is backed by testimonials from Christian leaders ranging from U.S. evangelical Pastor Rick Warren to the Archbishop of Canterbury to the patriarch of Moscow and all Russia. Retracing ancient pilgrimage routes for modern-day believers is an important part of the effort by the Jordanians, who count Elijah as a native son and are proud of the role their

Your City

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(PHOTO BY RICK DELVECCHIO/CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO)

land plays in the Bible. But it is not the only goal. Jordanians also value their sacred places, and the baptism site in particular, as symbols of the peaceable common ground between East and West that is too often forgotten amid religious and political conflict. Mkhjian also made sure the pope knew that side of the story. He noted that of the many churches established on the baptism site, two basilicas were built during the Muslim era. His point: That Christians, although a minority, were free to worship in their own way then as they are in Jordan now. The spirit of acceptance is being renewed as the spires and domes of 10 churches of Christian denominations rise at the baptism site. “Please spread the word,” Mkhjian asked the visiting journalists. “This is what I personally ask you, because we believe the site has a lot do in building the bridges of love and peace between religions and cultures. We’ve got to raise our voices against the extremists who destroy everything. Let’s not encourage them, let’s talk about co-existence, let’s talk about tolerance.” Mkhjian offered a tour of the site that brought the Bible to life and added an archaeological detective story. In the biblical chronology, the Jordan at this spot parted for Moses’ deputy Joshua as he crossed from the east to conquer Canaan, and again for Elijah and Elisha as they fled back to the east side to escape Ahab. Elijah was taken up to heaven on a chariot in a fiery whirlwind, and tradition marks the spot as Elijah’s Hill. Later the Babylonian armies crossed the river to besiege Jerusalem. Many centuries passed, and John appeared to call the people to repent in preparation for the arrival of the redeemer. For Mkhjian, the Gospel, pilgrims’ records

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and now archaeological evidence converge on a spot 398 meters below sea level where five churches were built one after another over eight centuries. It is the lowest worship site on Earth, Mkhjian remarks – “and the closest to heaven.” The remains of the churches have been revealed since the Jordanians began excavating the site in 1999 after clearing minefields from the 1967 war. The digging has shown that architects built churches again and again despite devastating earthquakes and floods. What drove them? Mhkjian speculates that it had to be their desire to have a permanent church that would enclose a baptistery like the one where Jesus was anointed. “We have remains of five churches uniquely designed as baptisteries in a place where we had no community to serve,” Mkhjian said. “Why did they try so hard to build one church after another?” The exact site of John’s ministry is difficult to determine because the course of the Jordan has changed so much over time and the water level has dried to a virtual trickle. But Mkhjian is convinced that where the churches were built is the likeliest spot. He pinpoints a dry pit revealing ancient foundations that were designed so that flowing water formed the shape of a cross. “The bottom line,” said Mkhjian, overlooking the cruciform baptistery, “is that is where Jesus was baptized. All the churches are converging to this point. That is what I believe personally.” As he ended his tour Mkhjian against implored believers to visit the site where the presence of Jesus is tangible. “We’d like to receive them to make them feel the grace of the site, to see the site the way John and Jesus saw it, because that is the only way to come in physical contact with what you have in the Bible, in the Gospels,” he said. “We welcome all Christians and non-Christians to visit this heritage that belongs to humanity, that was discovered as a result of peace, and we believe this site will build bridges of peace between different cultures throughout the world.”

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Catholic San Francisco

VOCATIONS

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Help for young adults in discovering and discerning God’s call One of the major tasks of young adults is to discover God’s call. It is a process we all go through in one way or another. Each of us has a unique call – one only we can answer. Discovering our call isn’t as easy as picking up the phone or texting a message to God or our pastor. It takes hard work to find out how God wants us to live our lives. We must take time for prayer and reflection that includes serious discernment. When I was a campus and young adult minister, and also in my ministry as vocation director for the Sisters of the Holy Cross, I was often asked the question of how a person knows God’s will and plan for his or her life. There are no easy answers, but there are some things that can help us discover how God wants us to live our Christian lives. First and foremost, it is important to remember that God calls everyone. Each of us has a

vocation. We received our most important call at baptism. In that primary sacrament of our faith, we became members of Christ’s body, the Church and were called to help bring about the reign of God in this world. It is not just a role reserved for ordained priests, deacons, or religious brothers and sisters. Through baptism each Christian shares in the priesthood of Jesus Christ and in his mission to reveal God’s love to the world. The challenge is to discern, or to figure out, how God wants us to carry out this mission with the gifts we have received, and what is the way of life can we best do this. The majority of Christians live God’s call through the sacrament of marriage. Others are called by God to the priesthood or to live a consecrated life as a religious brother or sister. Most people discover their call by listening to the deepest desire of their hearts. For instance, some have a deep longing to share their lives with one special person and to raise a family. Others have a passion to give their entire lives to

Postal Service honors Mother Teresa with stamp WASHINGTON (CNS) – Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta will be among the subjects depicted on U.S. stamps debuting in 2010, the U.S. Postal Service announced Dec. 30. The 44-cent stamp, bearing a portrait of Mother Teresa painted by artist Thomas Blackshear II of Colorado Springs, Colo., will go on sale on what would have been her 100th birthday, Aug. 26. “Her humility and compassion, as well as her respect for the innate worth and dignity of humankind, inspired people of all ages and backgrounds to work on behalf of the world’s poorest populations,” said the Postal Service news release on its 2010 commemorative stamp program. The release also noted that Mother Teresa received honorary U.S. citizenship in 1996 from the U.S. Congress and President Bill Clinton. Only five other people have been made honorary U.S. citizens – Winston Churchill, Raoul Wallenberg, William Penn and Hannah Callowhill Penn and the Marquis de Lafayette – and all but Hannah Callowhill Penn also have appeared on U.S. postage stamps. Other stamps to be issued during the next year will honor actress Katherine Hepburn; “distinguished sailors” William S. Sims, Arleigh A. Burke, John McCloy and Doris Miller; cartoonist Bill Mauldin; 10 abstract expressionist artists; “cowboys of the silver screen” William S. Hart, Tom Mix, Gene Autry and Roy Rogers; entertainer Kate Smith; and filmmaker Oscar Micheaux.

(CNS PHOTO/COURTESY U.S. POSTAL SERVICE)

By Sister Margie Lavonis, CSC

Sister Margie Lavonis, CSC

the Lord through prayer, community and service to the people of God. Then there are those who are conflicted between the two. They feel a pull between marriage and a church vocation. It is important to be aware of the many ways God reveals his call to us. One essential way is through prayer, taking quality time to actively listen to God and by seriously taking into account what others say to us about our lives. For example, maybe several people have asked you if you have ever thought of considering priesthood or religious life, or observed that you would make a wonderful mother or father. Very often those comments are planting seeds and should give us pause to reflect on what we hear. When I was in high school one of my teachers – a sister –asked me what my plans were after graduation. She said she thought I should consider religious life. At first it was a shock but then I began to seriously reflect and pray about that possibility, and here I am many years later. I often have wondered if my life would have been different had I just ignored her.

Most of the time the discernment of God’s will is not easy because it is usually a choice between two or more good options. It would be much easier if one were good and the other definitely not for us. For instance, valuing marriage and loving children doesn’t automatically count one out of religious life or priesthood. The ministers of God’s Church must be warm and loving as was Jesus. And many lay people have a deep spirituality and do great service in the Church and the world. That doesn’t necessarily mean they are called to religious life or priesthood. There are some things a person can do to make the right choice. A good way to start is to list the pros and cons of each option, pray about them and listen to which one draws you the most. See what feels right and gives a clear sense of peace. I remember one of my professors, during a class in graduate school, saying that the deepest desire of our hearts is usually God’s will for our lives. Listen to what your heart tells you. Finally, recently I was viewing videotape about community life and the presenter offered this advice: She said the key to discovering one’s vocation in life is to discern which lifestyle will make a person happy, healthy and holy. To be happy really means having inner joy and loving my life (most of the time!). A spiritually healthy life is one that enables me to use my gifts and grow into the person God wants me to be. A holy life is one that gives God an important place in my life as I spend time growing in relationship with God. My prayer for each of us is that we will discover what will best help us to live happy, healthy and holy Christian lives. As disciples of Christ we all have the same mission. The key is to discover the best way for us to carry it out. Holy Cross Sister Margie Lavonis is based in Notre Dame, Indiana.

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January 8, 2010

VOCATIONS

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By Steven Sims CAMP LEATHERNECK, Afghanistan (CNS) – On the fourth Sunday of Advent, in a small plywood chapel with two-by-four benches, Father Ulysses L. Ubalde reminded an overflow crowd of military personnel that they, like Mary and her cousin Elizabeth, were vessels of holiness. Just as the two women were selfless in bringing Jesus and John the Baptist into the world, so, too, could the men and women serving in the Taliban-infested Helmand province find peace and strength in taking Christ to others, he told the mostly gun-toting men and women at the U.S. Marines’ dusty, remote compound. “It’s the spiritual part of ourselves which allows us to relate to and love others,” he said, adding that when the troops and sprinkling of civilians received Communion that afternoon, they, like Mary, would “carry the presence of Christ, not just for our own sake, but to bring him to all who labor, are frightened, who need our help.” It was the fourth and final Mass of the weekend for Father Ubalde, a U.S. Navy lieutenant and one of two Catholic chaplains serving the 11,000 Marines, 600 U.S. Army, and many other NATO Coalition Force troops at Camp Leatherneck, part of the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade. Construction is ongoing for the anticipated addition of some 8,500 more Marines soon, per President Barack Obama’s recent troop surge announcement. “We hope several more priests can be added to help with the troop surge,” Father Ubalde said. For now, Father Ubalde and another Navy chaplain, Father Joseph Coffey, take turns celebrating the weekend Masses at the base’s three chapels and two others

So GOD, What do YOU want ME to do for you?

at adjoining camps operated by the British. They also alternate weekday visits for Mass and other pastoral work among troops serving in outlying, remote and even more dangerous combat outposts and forward operating bases. Father Ubalde said he has been told that since he deployed to Camp Leatherneck, he’s logged at least 20,000 miles doing his weekly circuit by helicopter, vehicle convoy and airplane, all under threat of land mines, improvised explosive devices, or other attacks by Taliban insurgents. Besides the danger, there is also the frustration of logistics and “a lot of waiting.” “But this is also very rewarding work,” he added. “I look forward to Mass and giving Communion, also doing confessions and counseling.” The priest also offers Bible studies, classes for catechumens and marriage preparation, and does other pastoral work required by a large Catholic population. “I’m a bridge for the person needing help,” Father Ubalde said. He reflected that he rarely gives the sacrament of the sick, “because by the time I’m able to see them, they’re already dead,” so he blesses bodies before they are transported home. He also visits, counsels and blesses those injured in the war. Father Ubalde motioned toward the large lighted Christmas tree atop the main chapel a few blocks from the small chapel where Mass has just ended. He said he and Father Coffey would alternate offering Christmas and New Year’s Masses at Camp Leatherneck and nearby Camp Dwyer. Then, smiling, he turned his attention to people who waited patiently to see him at the rear of the chapel.

Living Our Faith through Ministries of Service… Sharing Our Lives through Community… Following a Call to Serve God

(CNS PHOTO/ZOHRA BENSEMRA, REUTERS) (DEC. 14, 2009)

Chaplain in Afghanistan reminds troops they carry Christ with them

A U.S Army soldier lights Advent candles during a liturgy in Afghanistan.

Father Ubalde was originally ordained for the Archdiocese of Newark, N.J., and for the past 10 years he has been attached to the Archdiocese for the Military Services as a chaplain. Now 44, he said he began his current duty in Afghanistan as part of Operation Enduring Freedom last July. Before that, he served six months in Iraq.

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January 8, 2010

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Catholic San Francisco

VOCATIONS

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Parish Dairy

I want to be a priest like that Father Damien In the dark of our parish theater, people could not see the tears rolling down my face. They could not see my chin quivering as actor Reid Sasser made Father Damien de Veuster come alive for us in Aldyth Morris’ play “Damien.” But I was not the only one crying. I could hear sniffles. I could see people reaching for hankies. I could hear them blowing their noses. This happened the same day that Father Damien was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI in Rome. Morris’ play is a powerful script. The one-man show lays out the life of Joseph de Veuster, a Belgian farm boy who went half way round the world to Hawaii in the 19th century, took the name Damien and died serving the lepers on the island of Molokai. The most beautiful line for me is when St. Damien explains what a vocation is. He says, “If we are lucky, we get a call within a call. We find our niche.” He found his niche with the lepers of Molokai. When he saw them for the first time from the boat, fingers and toes missing, faces eaten away by disease, he said, “I knew I must go and be their priest.” Reid Sasser’s presentation of Morris’ play was a chance for me to introduce another generation to St. Damien, the holy man of Hawaii, just as I met him 50 years ago. When I was a kid I saw a film about St. Damien. The nuns showed it to our grade school. In the 1950s it was a rare treat to see a movie in school. Assembled in the school gym, we watched a grainy black-and-white film based on the book by John Farrow, “Damien the Leper.” Those images are still imprinted on my mind. I was shocked that leprosy existed in the real world, not just in the Bible. St. Damien is a “boy’s saint.” He is not some delicate figure, hidden away in a cloister. He is in the battle for Christ.

Like most men, he had a temper. But he put it to good use for the lepers. Jesus had a temper too. St. Damien was a fighter. He battled bishop and bureaucrat for his leper friends. I loved that he himself helped to build chapels, a hospital, houses and a water system. He dug graves for the lepers. I said to myself, “That is what I want to do, be a priest who helps people.” Ultimately, St. Damien took on the wounds of Christ in the sores of a leper. After I saw that film, I went out and bought the book with my grass-cutting money. The first book I ever bought. I paid 65 cents for the Image paperback. Years later, I went to Hawaii to see my high school friend, Charlie Connor, who was stationed there in the Navy. Charlie suggested we go to Molokai. We rode mules down the steep cliffs to the Kalaupapa peninsula.

Escape by land or by sea from that place was almost impossible for the lepers. We got a tour of the leper settlement by Richard Marx, the “sheriff” of Kalaupapa. He was a leper himself. Father Peter He was missing some J. Daly fingers. In his voice you could hear that St. Damien was a living presence. The lepers of Molokai still mourn that St. Damien’s body was taken back to Belgium in the 1930s. People need heroes. St. Damien is one of mine. I hope in that theater there was another boy thinking, “I want to be a priest like that.”

Do you feel God may be calling you to diocesan priesthood? “¿Te sientes atraído a servir como sacerdote diocesano?”

SOCIETY OF MARY

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God, our Father, In Your providential love, You call each of us to a more holy and abundant life. We pray for our young people in the Archdiocese of San Francisco. Open their hearts and minds to know the vocation You have planned for them from all eternity. If they are being invited to follow You as a priest, Brother, or Sister, give them a generous heart to respond to Your challenging call; the strength and courage to follow wherever You lead them. May families desire to please You by encouraging and supporting vocations within their homes. We ask this through Jesus Christ, our Good Shepherd. Amen

Please Pray Daily If you have any questions, please contact

Fr. Thomas Daly Office of Vocations

415-614-5683

Office of Vocations • One Peter Yorke Way • San Francisco, CA 94109 E-mail: dalyt@sfarchdiocese.org

Catholic San Francisco

January 8, 2010

Catholic san Francisco Northern California’s Weekly Catholic Newspaper

Guest Commentary The Truth about Immigrants and Health Care By Bishop John C. Wester Representative Joe Wilson’s now infamous “You lie” shout out to President Obama during his health care speech to Congress was featured in the press as an unprecedented breach of protocol. Much less has been reported about the subject of the rant: keeping undocumented persons from accessing health care. With the passage of health-care legislation, a majority of the House of Representatives shouted back. The House bill permits undocumented persons to use their own money to purchase coverage in the new health-care exchange. This is contrary to the stated positions of not only Representative Wilson, but also the U.S. Senate and the Obama Administration. A closer examination of the merits of the House position should convince them that, in this case, sound public policy should trump divisive politics. With 12 million undocumented persons in the country, someone is going to need a doctor. While close to four million already have health care through employer-based plans, millions of others are dependent upon community clinics, emergency rooms, and the generosity of medical personnel who believe Bishop John C. Wester health care is a human right, not a privilege. Although uninsured immigrants use emergency rooms much less than U.S. citizens, the cost of their care ultimately falls upon American taxpayers, either through higher insurance rates or tax money paid directly to providers. Permitting the undocumented to use their own money to purchase coverage would help alleviate some of this fiscal and financial burden on Americans. It also would help Americans afford their own coverage. A study by the Kaiser Foundation concluded that immigrants are younger and healthier than average Americans and are less likely to access health care and drive up costs, keeping prices lower for everyone. By letting the undocumented buy into the exchange, the risks and costs of the new health-care system would be spread out among more participants. Given a chance, they will participate. The reality is that undocumented immigrants want to pay their way, as they do with taxes, Social Security payments, and health-care contributions. Why not let them? A recent study found that 84 percent of undocumented Mexican immigrants in California offered employer-based coverage accepted it and paid for a portion of the costs. Even for legal immigrants, Congress has yet to write the right prescription. Both the Senate and House bills fail to lift the ban, imposed in the welfare reform legislation of 1996, which prevents working but poor legal immigrants from enrolling in Medicaid for five years. Legal immigrants, who are on a path to become U.S. citizens, should be eligible for programs for which they pay taxes. Including immigrants in health care reform would help make health care affordable to all and make us a healthier nation. It also would make coverage accessible to the most vulnerable among us. Is that not the point of health-care reform? To their credit, a majority of the U.S. House of Representatives thinks so. In the end, the debate over immigrants and health care is really a debate about another affliction ailing our nation: the broken U.S. immigration system. In truth, without a legalization program and other reforms, our elected officials will continue to be faced with policy choices that treat U.S. citizens and immigrants differently but weaken the nation as a whole. President Obama and Congress would be wise to include immigrants in health care reform and then enact immigration reform legislation, so that we are finally rid of the vitriolic immigration debates which have sullied our public discourse and confused our public policy decisions. Until that time, breaches of protocol and political gamesmanship may continue to define the issue of immigration, to the detriment of all Americans. And immigrants could be left standing in the waiting room, asking for a doctor’s appointment that may never come. This commentary by Most Reverend John C. Wester, Bishop of Salt Lake City and Chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Migration, first appeared on the website PoliticsDaily.com. Bishop Wester is a former Auxiliary Bishop of San Francisco.

Padua Dining Room Thank you for such a beautiful presentation about Catholic school students collecting clothes for the St. Anthony of Padua Dining Room program in Menlo Park in your Dec. 4, 2009 issue of Catholic San Francisco. We have received many positive comments on the article from many different corners of San Mateo County with all pointing to the great article and the great group of kids. We agree with each of the comments and thank you all for all your efforts to bring these kinds of actions to the attention of your readers. Maximiliano Torres, Operations Manager St. Anthony’s Padua Dining Room Menlo Park

‘We the people’ The Congress will resume debate and try to reconcile the House and the Senate versions of Obama Care. They’ll do battle over, federal abortion funding, the public option, and end of life care. They will argue back and forth for their idea of what is best for you and me, and sort out the two thousand pages of particulars aimed at giving almost free healthcare to everyone, while implementing the biggest bureaucracy in world history. From the outset they know there will be nineteen million people that still will not be covered when it’s all said and done, but that’s just a detail. Will they care that two thirds of; “We the people....” do not want it? I doubt it. Philip Feiner San Carlos,

Follower of George

On the other hand George Weigel’s long-held bias against big government interferes with his analysis of the moral issues in health care reform. No one can disagree that quality and affordable health care is a moral imperative. What the Congress is grappling with and losing is how to make health care affordable. We already have some cost controls in place, with contracts between health care providers and insurance companies and the government in its Medicare, Medicaid

Catholic San Francisco welcomes letters from its readers. Please send your letters to: Catholic San Francisco One Peter Yorke Way San Francisco, CA 94109 Fax: (415) 614-5641 E-mail: healym@sfarchdiocese.org or visit our website at www.catholic-sf.org, Contact Us

Second the motion

L E T T E R S

It was heartwarming and fitting the grace of Christmas that an entire family of six good people in Tiburon signed a letter to the editor for the Dec. 18 Catholic San Francisco saying, “We still love George.” They missed him in the Dec. 11 issue, and said they were dismayed to note his absence. I, too, am an appreciative follower of Mr. Weigel. He is unparalleled in his clearly expressed analysis of the many issues needing our understanding and serious consideration as they apply to our faith. His most recent: “The many moral questions in health-care reform.” He went straight to moral principles beyond rightto-life; like the responsibility of such a reform to look across generations to consider effects on Medicare vital to senior citizens, and to maintain the principle of the common good, which “teaches us to avoid public policy that destroys jobs.” We need more letters from folks who appreciate what a valuable asset George Weigel is to our Catholic San Francisco. Other outstanding contributors to our paper are Jane L. Sears who writes so brilliantly from Our Lady of Angels parish in Burlingame; and the two fine, down-to-earth commentators, Therese J. Borchard, and Ginny Kubitz Moyer. Robert Jimenez Burlingame

Letters welcome

and veteran programs. The amount of health care provided is also controlled to some extent by these payers. If you consult with health care providers, they will tell you that about 30 percent of their costs are for paperwork in dealing with insurers and the government. Another significant cost is defensive medicine because of fear of malpractice suits. And the final unknown cost is the undisclosed profits of the insurance companies. Whether the administrator is a government employee or an insurance company employee, in the final analysis doesn’t make a lot of difference. The goal should be to reduce paperwork, malpractice suits, and excessive insurance company profits. Let’s face it, whatever the costs, they are ultimately borne by individuals in taxes, payments for goods and services of employers who provide medical insurance, and self-insured co-payments or personal insurance policies. Donald Farbstein Hillsborough Bravo! The editor’s note (Letters, Dec. 18) about the newspaper staff [editor] reviewing “available commentaries each week and selecting the best columns on a variety of topics” was great. Catholics will benefit from hearing more about Catholic teaching especially on social justice issues. An open process which welcomes articles from a variety of people is wonderful. Just this morning the pastor of my parish gave a magnificent homily on caring for the environment and how the Vatican is leading the way in “going green.” I encouraged him to send a copy to Catholic San Francisco as a guest commentary. Let’s encourage other knowledgeable, committed Catholics, both clergy and laity, to express themselves as guest commentators! Dolores Barling, SNJM Daly City

A scientist’s view

I regret that the Catholic San Francisco lent its lead article space (Dec. 4) to climate change mitigation activists claiming to be acting on behalf of the poor. Actually, their proposals will heap new burdens on the poor, by raising the cost of living. The claim that global warming is due to increased combustion of fossil fuels is regrettably misinformed. Serious scientists know that the current slight rise in ocean temperature and hence a slight rise in air temperature is due to an on-going slight upward trend in activity of the sun. Also the slight rise in ocean temperatures causes some previously dissolved carbon dioxide to be released into the atmosphere, thus increasing in a natural way the level of carbon dioxide in the air, beyond any carbon dioxide released by fossil fuel power plants. Also, a slight rise in global temperature gives people living in Alaska, Canada, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia ground for cultivation that before had been frozen. Accordingly, serious scientists see that the current clamor to penalize fossil fuel power plants for global warming is a hostile activist phenomenon similar to the onslaught against nuclear power plants at the turn of the 1970s. At that time the non-scientific activists glorified themselves by creating a scare to block construction of new nuclear power plants and force the exclusive use of fossil fuels for our energy. The focus now to force reduction of power plant fossil fuel carbon dioxide emissions has been promoted by political activists like Al Gore that have no scientific credentials and cannot understand that most of the increase of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is caused by natural processes and not by human increased coal and petroleum combustion. But the most unfortunate result of the rush to “fight climate change” is the injurious impact on the poor arising in two major ways. First, it will drive up the cost of living by the added cost of “making power plants more environmentallyfriendly”. Second, additional costs will attend the “enforcement racket” involving a new army of bureaucrats self-appointed to “police the power plant industry” and to compel compliance with the new arbitrary rules they dream up. Alan McCone, Jr., Ph.D. Menlo Park

January 8, 2010

Catholic San Francisco

The Catholic Difference

Great places: the Shrine at 50 The late Richard Cardinal Cushing of Boston may or may not have described the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., as “our luxury gift to Mother” – a story I heard decades ago – but there’s no doubt that the Shrine is a statement. When it was dedicated a half-century ago, it bespoke a self-confident Catholicism, at home in America and proud to display its Marian piety and its considerable resources. Today, a building that has aged remarkably well and improved in the process makes two important theological statements that are worth pondering on this golden anniversary. The first statement was unmistakably clear the day the Shrine opened to the public. Its interior was unfinished, save for one colossal icon – the great apse mosaic of Christ come in judgment, which rivets the eye from the moment the pilgrim enters the nave. That image of a stern, majestic Christ was an appropriate “fit” for a Romanesque-Byzantine structure; but it was also a challenge to the saccharine Jesus being peddled by preachers of the “power of positive thinking” in 1959. This Christ makes you think, all right – about the serious business of life, about rendering an account of one’s stewardship one day, about the awe-inspiring majesty of Jesus Christ, king of the universe. Some found it shocking, in 1959; others find it startling today. The icon’s most important theological statement, however, is not so much a warning as a reminder: all true devotion to Mary points us to her Son, as Our Lady herself did in her last words

in the Gospels – “Do whatever he tells you…” And by pointing us to her Son, who is both Son of God and Son of Mary, Our Lady points us, through the Incarnation, into the second great mystery of Christian faith: the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity. The royal road to the great truths of Christianity begins with Mary’s “yes” to Gabriel’s unexpected visit. The Shrine makes its second important Marian theological statement in a more recent addition to its decoration: the great sculpture of the “universal call to holiness” which, spanning the length of the basilica’s back wall, depicts a rich panorama of modes of Christian life and sanctity. The universal call to holiness was one of the great themes of the Second Vatican Council’s Dogmatic Constitution on the Church: no matter what their station in life or their state of life in the Church, all the baptized are called to be saints – for becoming a saint is the fulfillment of our human and Christian destiny. Looking at the cosmic Christ in judgment, we are reminded of the source of sanctity in the Church; looking at holiness exemplified in the Body of Christ as we leave the basilica, we’re reminded of the extraordinary range of God’s redeeming and sanctifying grace as it enlivens disciples. And the Marian angle here? Mary is the first disciple, because her fiat, her “yes” to the divine plan, sets the pattern of all Christian discipleship. As John Paul II, borrowing from Hans Us von Balthasar, said in 1987, there are many “profiles” of the Christian life in the New Testament: the Petrine profile sets the

pattern for the Church of authority and jurisdiction, as the Pauline profile does for the Church of proclamation and evangelization and the Johannine profile does for the Church of contemplation. The Marian George Weigel profile, however, is most basic: for everything else in the Church – authority, proclamation, contemplation – exists to serve the deepening of discipleship and the call to holiness that comes from conversion to Christ. And the primordial profile of the Christian disciple’s life is set by two paradigmatic expressions of Mary’s discipleship: the articulated fiat of the Annunciation, and the silent fiat at the foot of the cross. The Shrine is the largest Catholic structure in the western hemisphere. More importantly, though, it provides one of the Americas’ richest experiences of Catholicism, aesthetically, liturgically and musically – a catechism in stone, mosaic, and glass, and a noble act of homage to the patroness of the United States. George Weigel is Distinguished Senior Fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C.

Twenty Something

Seize your second chance in this second decade It is nearly impossible to recognize Danny Cahill, the Oklahoma land surveyor, in NBC’s Biggest Loser. But if you look closely, you can see him in the corners of his smile and the familiar glimmer in his blue eyes – hints of the former man, eight months and 239 pounds ago. Today the 40-year-old dad is a reality TV star, peddling an eponymous website and a hit single. “This is your second chance at life. Don’t you wait there for it,” he sings. “Don’t let this chance pass you by ’cause you are ready for it.” It’s an apt soundtrack to the footage he has given us: sweating on the treadmill, crying to the camera, stepping onto the scale, pumping his fists in the air and hugging his family as confetti cascades. “I feel like a million bucks,” Danny told Meredith Vieira the morning after his victory. By losing 55 percent of his body weight, he has gained so much: cash, celebrity, confidence and, best of all, longevity. Danny’s extreme weight loss makes him the Biggest Loser ever, a triumph we all can get behind right now. As the century’s first decade gives way to the second, we’re feeling a heightened desire for turnaround, an itching to up the ante on our typical New Year’s resolve. Time magazine has added to our urgency, bidding farewell, on a recent cover, to “The Decade from Hell.”

“Bookended by 9/11 at the start and a financial wipeout at the end, the first 10 years of this century will very likely go down as the most dispiriting and disillusioning decade Americans have lived through in the post-World War II era,” Andy Serwer writes. “Call it the Decade from Hell, or the Reckoning, or the Decade of Broken Dreams, or the Lost Decade. Call it whatever you want — just give thanks that it is over.” The magazine’s dramatic claim is laced with the promise, a subtitle, that the next decade will be better. As Catholics we have cause for great hope – and a myriad of turnaround tales. The lives of the saints are full of second acts and second chances: heretics and hedonists, embezzlers and extortionists, gossips and gamblers and gang leaders who turn around and do great things for the glory of God. St. Augustine stopped denouncing the church. St. Olga stopped killing. And Mary Magdalene was freed of seven demons, becoming the first witness of Jesus’ resurrection. Our merciful God has given us the grace of the sacraments and the power of reconciliation. “As far as the East is from the West,” David the Psalmist reassures us, “so far have our sins been removed from us.” Just as 430-pound Danny Cahill has vanished, absolution leaves no trace of our former selves. My favorite expression of that hope for transformation

comes from the German poet Rainer Maria Rilke: “And now let us welcome the new year, full of things that have never been.” What a sweet and simple phrase: things that have never been. Christina Mountains that have never been climbed. Capecchi Prayers that have never been uttered. Cures that have never been found. Babies that have never been born. Books that have never been written. Dreams that have never been imagined. For as long as our history here, there is so much yet undone, waiting to be breathed and willed into life. This new decade. This new year. This new day. Maybe it’s your turn for a turnaround. Christina Capecchi is a freelance writer from Inver Grove Heights, Minn. Contact her at Christina@ReadChristina.com.

Making the Difference

‘Green’ pope’s message for World Day of Peace “Can we remain indifferent before the problems associated with such realities as climate change, desertification, the deterioration and loss of productivity in vast agricultural areas, the pollution of rivers and aquifers, the loss of biodiversity, the increase of natural catastrophes and the deforestation of equatorial and tropical regions?” These are not the radical words of a leader of a secular environmental organization. No, these are the radical words of the leader of the Catholic Church! In his Jan. 1, 2010, World Day of Peace message titled “If You Want to Cultivate Peace, Protect Creation,” Pope Benedict XVI answered his own questions with the firm teaching that “it would be irresponsible not to take seriously” the “signs of a growing crisis.” From the planting of the Vatican climate forest in Hungary to the placement of solar panels around Vatican City, Pope Benedict is exemplifying his clean-energy response to the growing environmental crisis. Quoting Pope Paul VI, Pope Benedict said that “by an ill-considered exploitation of nature, (man) risks destroying it and becoming in his turn the victim of this degradation ... thus creating an environment for tomorrow that may well be intolerable.” This human-induced sickness is not the only serious environmental threat to humanity’s well-being and survival.

Unjust possession and distribution of the world’s natural resources also lead to suffering and death. “Can we remain impassive in the face of actual and potential conflicts involving access to natural resources?” the pope asked. The issues of oil in Iraq and water in the Palestinian Territories are examples of the tension and harm caused when the selfish and powerful fail to accept that “the goods of creation belong to humanity as a whole.” Observing the connectedness of all creation, especially of human beings, Pope Benedict wrote, “In a word, concern for the environment calls for a broad global vision of the world; a responsible common effort to move beyond approaches based on selfish nationalistic interests toward a vision constantly open to the needs of all peoples.” Building on this vision, Benedict said, “In this broader context one can only encourage the efforts of the international community to ensure progressive disarmament and a world free of nuclear weapons, whose presence alone threatens the life of the planet and the ongoing integral development of the present generation and of generations yet to come.” Due to the devastating effects of climate change already being experienced by poor communities around the world, Catholic Relief Services is asking us to e-mail (www.crs.org, click on “Action Alerts”) and call our two U.S. senators, urging

that climate-change legislation include at least $3.5 billion in 2012 for international adaptation programs designed to protect the world’s poor from the harsh reality of climate change, and that this assistance rapidly increase to $7 billion Tony Magliano annually by 2020. As a further response to Pope Benedict’s call to cultivate peace and protect creation, consider taking “The St. Francis Pledge to Care for Creation and the Poor” by going to www.catholicsandclimatechange.org. Thomas of Celano, a contemporary of St. Francis of Assisi, wrote that everything of the natural world that met Francis’ eyes made him immensely happy! Like Francis, the patron saint of ecology, if we cultivate a love for the whole human family and a caring respect for the environment, we too will be immensely happy at the sight of our world – healthy and peaceful as God created it! Tony Magliano writes a column on social justice for Catholic News Service.

Catholic San Francisco

A READING FROM THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET ISAIAH Is 42:1-4, 6-7 Thus says the Lord: Here is my servant whom I uphold, my chosen one with whom I am pleased, upon whom I have put my spirit; he shall bring forth justice to the nations, not crying out, not shouting, not making his voice heard in the street. A bruised reed he shall not break, and a smoldering wick he shall not quench, until he establishes justice on the earth; the coastlands will wait for his teaching. I, the Lord, have called you for the victory of justice, I have grasped you by the hand; I formed you, and set you as a covenant of the people, a light for the nations, to open the eyes of the blind, to bring out prisoners from confinement, and from the dungeon, those who live in darkness. RESPONSORIAL PSALM PS 29:1-2, 3-4, 3, 9-10 The Lord will bless his people with peace. Give to the Lord, you sons of God, give to the Lord glory and praise, Give to the Lord the glory due his name; adore the Lord in holy attire. The Lord will bless his people with peace. The voice of the Lord is over the waters, the Lord, over vast waters. The voice of the Lord is mighty; the voice of the Lord is majestic.

January 8, 2010

Baptism of the Lord Isaiah 42:1-4, 6-7; Psalm 29:1-2, 3-4, 3, 9-10; Acts 10:34-38; Luke 3:15-16, 21-22 The Lord will bless his people with peace. The God of glory thunders, and in his temple all say, “Glory!” The Lord is enthroned above the flood; the Lord is enthroned as king forever. The Lord will bless his people with peace. A READING FROM THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES ACTS 10:34-38 Peter proceeded to speak to those gathered in the house of Cornelius, saying: “In truth, I see that God shows no partiality. Rather, in every nation whoever fears him and acts uprightly is acceptable to him. You know the word that he sent to the Israelites as he proclaimed peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all, what has happened all over Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached, how God anointed Jesus of

Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power. He went about doing good and healing all those oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.” A READING FROM THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE LK 3:15-16, 21-22 The people were filled with expectation, and all were asking in their hearts whether John might be the Christ. John answered them all, saying, “I am baptizing you with water, but one mightier than I is coming. I am not worthy to loosen the thongs of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” After all the people had been baptized and Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”

rt possesses the power to awaken us to reality – and mystery – by engaging not merely our rational minds, but also the senses, imagination, and the heart. Try Fra Angelico, Piero della Francesca, Willem Vrelant, Pietro Perugino, Bartolomeo Di Giovanni, Raphael, Giovanni Bellini, Andrea del Sarto, Jean Colombe, Annibale Carracci, Cornelisz van Haarlem, Nicolas Poussin, Jan van Scorel, Joachim Patenier, El Greco, and Francesco Zaganelli, among others, for utterly delightful paintings on the Baptism of the Lord. No doubt, artists are in awe of Jesus being baptized and cannot resist the “spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings.” Even as these painters capture Jesus’ baptism, we cannot miss the implication of the past – immediate and eternal – that has brought Jesus to this point; and of the future – immediate and eternal – to which this event will inexorably lead him. At baptism, Jesus is plucked from hidden life and thrust into the glare of public ministry. His life is not his own any more. Totally a man for others, he now walks in a new direction. Nothing will make him swerve from the enterprise ahead, not even his death. In fact, death will be the way he will accomplish the mission. Not to be outdone, the gospel writers Matthew (3:13-17), Mark (1:9-11), Luke (3:21-22), and John (1:29-34) paint their own word pictures of Jesus’ baptism. Each writer highlights his unique vision of Jesus for their audience. The baptism of the Lord sets the tone for what Jesus intends to accomplish for his Father and the world. Jesus’ baptism is as much an inner experience as it is an external manifestation. Jesus is awakened to the purpose of his life. It is a peak

Scripture reflection FATHER CHARLES PUTHOTA

Contemplating Jesus’ baptism experience; a heightened, luminous consciousness. Jesus is commissioned to become the light of the world. He is inspired to give himself to a life of love, service, and justice. Jesus now clearly sees, understands, and accepts how God sees him: “You are my beloved son; with you I am well pleased.” In being baptized, Jesus inserts himself more deeply into human condition. The process of incarnation intensifies. He becomes like us in everything except sin. We are, therefore, more confident to approach Jesus as we struggle to make sense of the human predicament: Why do such things happen to me? Why do I suffer? Why don’t things or people become better for me? Why does happiness elude me? Jesus understands our anguish – and angst – because he has placed himself at the core of humanity. Jesus knows what it means to suffer. At his

baptism, God’s anointing words echo Isaiah’s song of the suffering servant. While God loves and honors the suffering servant, He sends him out on a specific divine mission directed to the whole world. Jesus is indeed the suffering servant of God. The universality of Jesus’ mission, announced in Isaiah (“justice to the nations”), is the theme of Luke and Acts. Luke emphasizes time and again that Jesus is the savior of all peoples, beyond the Jewish boundaries. In fact, Lukan genealogy that immediately follows the baptism account traces Jesus back to Adam. Jesus offers the gentiles, too, the good news of hope. The sinners and tax-collectors are treasured in the new scheme of things. The Acts of the Apostles reiterates the universality of Jesus’ mission: “God shows no partiality.” In the conversion of the Roman cen-

(CNS PHOTO/GREG TARCZYNSKI)

St. John the Baptist is shown baptizing Jesus in this detail of a tapestry that hangs above the baptismal font at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles.

turion Cornelius and his household, we realize how Christ’s mission is made accessible even to those outside of the Jewish faith. The Holy Spirit descends on them and Peter baptizes them. The gift of the Spirit at Jesus’ baptism is now shared with everyone baptized, regardless of nationality. Jesus is the universal savior. His baptism, public ministry of preaching and healing, his death, and resurrection are the treasure troves of our grace and peace. We might want to look at some practical spiritual and social endeavors as flowing from our contemplation of Jesus’ baptism. 1. Let us insert ourselves more deeply into the human family by sharing “the joys and hopes, the griefs and anxieties “of the world. 2. Let us practice our call to “bring forth justice to the nations.” Let no one suffer from injustice or lack of basic necessities of life. 3. Let us grow in our conviction that we are the beloved daughters and sons of God. He is well pleased with us. Let our lives reflect this truth in the way we relate to God and one another. 4. While Jesus prayed, the Holy Spirit descended. Let us grow in the life of the Spirit, celebrating prayer as a way of longing for God, love, and life. 5. Jesus is the Lord of all peoples. Let us widen our horizon, become the citizens of the world, and strive to eradicate poverty, hunger, disease, pollution, and misery around the world. 6. Even like Jesus, each of us has a specific God-given mission in life. To recognize and fulfill it with God’s help is our “self-actualization,” our true happiness. Father Charles Puthota, Ph.D., is pastor of St. Veronica parish in South San Francisco.

Spirituality for Life

Living in the face of mortality A number of years ago, one of my cousins died in an industrial accident. He had been helping load some railway cars at a grain terminal when a cable pulling the cars away snapped, sprung back with thousands of pounds of tension, and literally cut him in half. He died enroute to the hospital. He was young, in the prime of his life, and a talented athlete who enjoyed playing sports on a number of local teams. Tragic and sad as was his death, his family and loved ones had some consolations: His last days had been good, his last touches had been warm. He had dropped in for lunch with his mother just a few days prior to his death, enjoyed a great visit, and, on leaving, had kissed her a warm goodbye, assuring her of his affection. Several weeks earlier, he had taken his youngest brother, who idolized him, on a short vacation to watch baseball games. He had, as far as anyone knew, parted on peaceful terms with everyone and, he had

died doing his job. Loading grain cars was his job and when that cable snapped and killed him, he was standing where he was supposed to be standing at that moment. Indeed, had he not been there, someone else would have been and that person would have suffered his fate. He died at his post, doing his job, working honestly, earning a living, a victim of contingency, standing where he was supposed to be standing. Ultimately that is all we can try to assure for ourselves. We can try to be standing where we are supposed to be standing. All of us, without exception, irrespective of age and health, are vulnerable, contingent, mortal, one heartbeat away from leaving this planet, one stroke away from losing control of our lives, one accident way from knowing how illusory is the sense of our own strength, and one broken cable away from dying in an ambulance. We can be careful with our lives, live prudently, try to ensure our own safety

and the safety of our loved ones, but ultimately we are inadequate. We cannot ensure our own continued heartbeat. So what can we do? We can live prudent lives, care for our health and safety, and, if we Father have faith, we can pray Ron Rolheiser for God’s protection and providence. These are good, no doubt. But we can do something else too, something even more important. We can try always to be standing where we are supposed SPIRITUALITY FOR LIFE, page 14

Catholic San Francisco

January 8, 2010

Single, Divorced, Separated Information about Bay Area single, divorced and separated programs is available from Jesuit Father Al Grosskopf at grosskopf@usfca.edu (415) 422-6698. Divorce Recovery Course offered by the Separated and Divorced Catholics of the Bay Area provides a chance to understand the emotional journey begun with the loss of a relationship. It will be held for seven Sunday evenings beginning Jan. 10 and will meet at St. Bartholomew Church, Spirituality Center, 600 Columbia Dr, San Mateo from 7 to 9 p.m. The cost of $45 covers book and materials. To register or for more information, call Joanne at (650) 347-0701 or Susan at (415) 752-1308

Special Liturgies

Datebook

Jan. 17, 10:30 a.m.: Annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Birthday Celebration and Gospel Mass at St. Paul of the Shipwreck Church, Jamestown at 3rd St. in San Francisco. Deacon Larry Chatmon will preach. Deacon Larry, ordained in 2006, has been a member if St. Paul’s for 25 years. He is active with Inspirational Voices Choir and ministers to many through youth ministry, RCIA training, and Catholics Returning Home. For more information, call (415) 468-3434. The Tridentine Mass is celebrated Sundays at 12:15 p.m. at Holy Rosary Chapel at St. Vincent School for Boys. For more information, call St. Isabella Parish at (415) 479-1560. First Fridays: Latin High Mass of the Sacred Heart of Jesus at 6 p.m. at St. Francis of Assisi Church, 1425 Bay Road at Glen Way, East Palo Alto. Mass is followed by the Litany of the Sacred Heart and Exposition of the Most Blessed Sacrament until midnight. Confessions are heard before Mass. Low Mass in Latin is offered every Friday evening at 6 p.m. For further information, call (650) 322-2152. First Sundays at 6:30 p.m. at Mater Dolorosa Parish, 307 Willow at Miller in South San Francisco. For more information, call Ando Perlas at (650) 892-5728.

Year for Priests Events Feb. 4, March 24, 7 p.m.: St. Patrick’s Seminary and University Year for Priests Speaker Series in Olier Hall at the seminary, 320 Middlefield Rd. in Menlo Park. Feb. 4: “Priest as Teacher” with Sulpician Father Gladstone Stevens. Father Stevens, vicerector and academic dean at St. Patrick’s, holds a post-graduate degree in Systematic Theology from Marquette University and is a priest of the Archdiocese of Louisville. March 24: “Spirituality of the Priesthood” with Sulpician Father Jim McKearney, president and rector of St. Patrick’s, and a priest of the Archdiocese of Hartford, Connecticut. Tickets are $10 per session. Seating is limited. Register online at www.stpatricksseminary.org under Speaker Series. Register by mail with payment to: Speaker Series, St. Patrick’s Seminary and University, 320 Middlefield Road Menlo Park 94025.

Good Health January 21, 6:30 p.m.: Running Without Injury, St. Mary’s Medical Center’s Outpatient Therapies Department will have a physical therapist explaining how the most common running injuries occur and how to train to prevent them. Takes place at Sports Basement in the Presidio, 610 Old Mason Street, San Francisco. (415) 437-0100.

Returning Catholics

South San Francisco’s Mater Dolorosa Parish welcomed Father Sebastian Vazhakala, seated, Superior General of priests of Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity and founder of the Lay Missionaries of Charity, for an Advent Day of Prayer and Recollection Nov. 29. Father Brian Costello, at far left, pastor, led the welcoming committee. Front from left: Catherine Argel, Delfina Serrano, Micaela Cordova, Aurora de Leon, Sonia Ramirez, Lena Flores. Back from left: Pietro Fonda, Antonio Serangeli, Tim Murnane, Carlos Ramirez, Debbie Fabella, Tai Tearn, Judith Sumida, Maris Sturtevant, Gary Flores.

Pauline Books and Media Daughters of St. Paul, 2640 Broadway, Redwood City (650) 369-4230 - Visit www.pauline.org Second Wednesday of the Month, 7 p.m.: Catholic Fiction Book Club.Delve into some of the greatest Catholic novels of our times and times past. Discover the beauty of the written word and the power of literature to nourish faith. Discuss various works of Catholic literature and how their timeless themes relate to our own lives.

Taize/Chanted Prayer 1st Friday at 8 p.m.: Mercy Center, 2300 Adeline Dr., Burlingame with Mercy Sister Suzanne Toolan. Call (650) 340-7452; young adults are invited each first Friday of the month to attend a social at 6 p.m. prior to Taize prayer at 8 p.m. The social provides light refreshments and networking with other young adults. Convenient parking is available. For information contact mercyyoungadults@ sbcglobal.net. Tuesdays at 6 p.m.: Notre Dame Des Victoires Church, 566 Bush at Stockton, San Francisco with Rob Grant. Call (415) 397-0113. 3rd Friday, 8 p.m.: Dominican Sisters of Mission

Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Elementary School celebrates its 125th year beginning Jan. 31 with a commemorative Mass. Archbishop George H. Niederauer will preside. Events including an all-school reunion and Blue and Gold Ball, are planned during the year. For more information call (650) 366-8817. Father John Balleza is pastor. Teresa Anthony is principal. Priest alumni include Monsignor Edward McTaggart, retired pastor, St. Brendan Parish in San Francisco and Father Lawrence Goode, pastor, St. Francis of Assisi Parish in East Palo Alto.

San Jose, Motherhouse Chapel, 43326 Mission Blvd in Fremont. Contact Maria Shao at (408) 839-2068 or maria49830@aol.com or Dominican Sister Beth Quire at (510) 449-7554 or beth@ msjdominicans.org

San Mateo at 7:30 p.m. For more information, call Jessica at (650) 572-1468. Saturdays, 9 a.m. – 10 a.m.: Rosary for Life 815 Eddy St. – Planned Parenthood – in San Francisco.

Support Resources Relevant to the Economy

Reunions

Tuesdays, 6:30 – 8:30 p.m.: Stress Management Group - Benefit from relaxation techniques, mind and body awareness practices, group support. Takes place at Catholic Charities CYO, 36 West 37th Avenue, San Mateo. Cost is $15 per sessionEnroll by calling Catholic Charities CYO at (650) 295-2160, ex.199. Pamela Eaken, MFTI, and Natasha Wiegand, MFTI, facilitate the sessions. The program is supervised by David Ross, Ph.D.

Trainings/Lectures/Respect Life Love Languages: A day of enrichment for Engaged and Married Couples presented by World Wide Marriage Encounter. Ever wonder what happens to love after marriage? Could it be that you and your spouse are speaking different languages? Spend a day exploring the languages of love and learn which love language you and your spouse understand most easily. Join us Saturday, Jan. 9 for a day of enrichment at St. Bartholomew’s Parish, 600 Columbia Dr. in San Mateo. For more information, contact Ingrid Pera at (650) 347.0701, ext. 14 or ingrid@barts.org. Saturdays: San Mateo Pro-Life prays the rosary at Planned Parenthood, 2211 Palm Ave. in San Mateo at 8 a.m. and invites others to join them at the site. The prayer continues as a peaceful vigil until 1 p.m. The group is also open to new membership. Meetings are held the second Thursday of the month except August and December at St. Gregory Parish’s Worner Center, 138 28th Ave. in

Class of ’60 from Notre Dame High School in Belmont is planning its 50th reunion. Contact Bettina Igoa McCall at Mcbett@comcast.net or (510) 851-2344. St. Paul High School, San Francisco, class of ’80 planning a reunion sometime in June 2010 to coincide with graduation day of May 31 1980. E-mail Maria Rinaldi Vincent at vncntmtvincent@ aol.com or call (650) 349-1642. Jan. 23, 11:30 a.m.: Class of ’51 from San Francisco’s St. Agnes Elementary School at the United Irish Cultural Center, 45th Ave. at Sloat Blvd. in San Francisco. Contact Charles Norton at (209) 835-2073 or cfn@pacbell.net; Kevin Carter at (214) 893-3130 or KevinCarter@prodigy. net; Urie Walsh at (415) 668-6501 or wuwkmw@ aol.com. Jan. 30, 5:45 p.m.: 22nd Annual St. Elizabeth High School Crab Feed and Auction at St. Theresa Parish Event Center, 4850 Clarewood Drive, Oakland. Live Auction features trips to Morro Bay, Pine Mountain Lake (5 bedrooms!), South Lake Tahoe, and Maui plus Bocce and Brunch for 8, Firehouse Dinner for 6, and Dominican Sisters Brunch for 12. Tickets are $50.. Proceeds benefit St. Elizabeth Tuition Assistance Program. Call (510) 532.6473.

Holy Cross Cemetery 1500 Old Mission Rd. in Colma, (650) 7562060 Jan. 2, 11 a.m.: First Saturday Mass in All Souls Mausoleum.

Have you been away from the Church? Have you ever thought about returning? Would you like to know more about the Catholic Church as it is today? If so, we would like to welcome you back at St. Bartholomew’s Church. Please join us for an eight-week program, with topics covering faith sharing, the Mass, the Church today, Sacraments, and the Creed. Next session begins Jan.12. All are welcome, however, space is limited. To register or more information contact Ingrid Pera at (650) 347.0701, ext. 14 or ingrid@barts.org

Serra Clubs Jan. 14, noon: Serra Club of San Francisco lunch at Italian American Social Club, 25 Russia Street, off Mission street in San Francisco. Guest speaker is Jonathan Wong of Immaculate Conception Academy in San Francisco who will talk about the Cristo Rey model of education in use at ICA in which students spend one day a week working and the earnings are used to help pay tuition. Cost: $16 for lunch. Nonmembers welcome. Contact Paul Crudo at (415) 566-8224 or e-mail pecrudodds@aol.com.

Food & Fun Jan. 16, 6 p.m.: Young Men’s Institute’s Annual Crab Cioppino Dinner at All Souls Church Cafeteria in South San Francisco. Cocktails will begin at 6 p.m. with dinner by Chef Rich Guaraldi to follow. Tickets are $40 per person, checks payable to the YMI. Contact Tom Fourie at (800) 964-9646. Jan. 27, 6:30 p.m.: Comedy Cabaret benefiting Epiphany Center, San Francisco at the Great American Music Hall, 859 O’Farrell St. in San Francisco.For tickets information, visit www.theepiphanycenter.org. Valet parking available. Jan. 30: St. Elizabeth School (Cantwell Hall-490 Goettingen Street off Silver in San Francisco) is hosting its annual Crab Dinner and Dance. We will be serving marinated and/or non marinated crab or roast chicken, along with appetizers, salad, pasta and desert. No-host bar starts at 5:30 p.m. with dinner at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $45 each. Call the school at (415) 468-3247 or e-mail at stelizabethfsa@ yahoo.com.

Datebook is a free listing for parishes, schools and non-profit groups. Please include event name, time, date, place, address and an information phone number. Listing must reach Catholic San Francisco at least two weeks before the Friday publication date desired. Mail your notice to: Datebook, Catholic San Francisco, One Peter Yorke Way, S.F. 94109, or fax it to (415) 614-5633, e-mail burket@sfarchdiocese.org, or visit www.catholic-sf.org, Contact Us.

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Catholic San Francisco

January 8, 2010

Networks improving Hispanic presence – on both sides of camera WASHINGTON (CNS) – Every year in early January, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops celebrates National Migration Week. The theme for the Jan. 3-9 observance in 2010 is “Renewing Hope, Seeking Justice.” A 2005 Census Bureau estimate of the number of Hispanics living in the United States put the figure at 14.4 percent of the population – up from 12.5 percent at the time of the 2000 census. But a 2008 Screen Actors Guild survey said Latinos get only 6.4 percent of the roles cast. How well are Hispanics migrating from Main Street to the small screen? And how much justice is there in hiring Hispanics for either side of the camera? In December, the National Latino Media Council issued its ninth annual network television report card, grading the four largest commercial networks on their ability to hire Hispanic talent. Often, the news is the same grim and downbeat assessment lamenting a lack of change. This year, though, most of the grades for most of the networks reflected above-average results. “There has been incremental progress at all four networks in terms of American Latinos,” said an announcement from the National Latino Media Council when it issued the grades. The council measures institutional programs and efforts to bring Latinos into the employment ranks both in front of and behind the camera; hiring that is concrete and measurable; and the submission of clear, statistical data used to accurately grade diversity performance. ABC received an overall grade of B plus. “In recent years, ABC has been more successful than any other network in promoting Latino actors on scripted shows,” the council said, citing Eva Longoria Parker of “Desperate Housewives,” America Ferrera of “Ugly Betty” and Sara Ramirez of “Grey’s Anatomy” as three Hispanics who “play groundbreaking roles that shatter traditional stereotypes.” The council applauded ABC’s investment of time and money

Spirituality for Life . . . n Continued from page 12

to be standing. We can try always to keep our touches warm, in case they are our last ones. We can have lunch with our mother and assure her of our affection. We can take a loved one to a ball game and we can try to be on peaceful terms with everyone. In essence, we can be faithful, true to those whom we love and true to what we believe in. We can be at our post, in commitment, love, and duty. In the end, that is all we can do and, in the end, that

(CNS PHOTO/RON TOM, COURTESY ABC)

By Mark Pattison

Eva Longoria Parker is pictured in a scene from ABC’s “Desperate Housewives.” ABC has been more successful than other networks in promoting Latino actors on scripted shows.

to develop Latino writers, but noted the network needed to improve its number of Latino directors, which is down to four – half as many as in 2007 – and the number of creative executives, with only one Hispanic in this field. “It’s essential that Latinos be at the table where decisions are being made about original content and talent,” the council said. NBC improved from a B to a B plus in casting for scripted shows. The council mentioned the work of Alana de la Garza on “Law & Order,” Oscar Nunez on “The Office” and Dania Ramirez on “Heroes.”

is enough. Awareness of our vulnerability and mortality is not meant to make us fearful, morbid, timid about life, or guilty about enjoyment. Nor is it meant to make us otherworldly at the cost of denigrating this life. Conversely, it is not meant to drive us to hedonism because life is short and unpredictable. It is an invitation to be faithful; to try always to stand were we are supposed to be standing, in warmth, love, duty, and enjoyment. John Powell once wrote that there are only two potential tragedies in life, and that dying young is not one of them. These are the two potential tragedies: To live and to not love and to love and to never express that affection and appreciation.

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The network got an A in business procurement with the American Latino community. “NBC this year outdid itself by posting truly impressive totalspent numbers,” the council said. “It clearly shows what can be done when a company decides that it is going to search for and add Latinos and other people of color to their vendors list.” But when it came to creative executives, NBC got an F, dragging down its overall grade to C plus. “This network is the only one that has not included at least one Latino in its creative team for several years,” the council said. “It is essential that NBC include Latinos at the table where decisions are being made regarding original content and talent. We have waited long enough to see progress in this arena and are no longer willing to wait.” CBS got an overall grade of B, mostly for its off-screen work, including the number of Hispanic directors it hires, its acting workshops and talent showcases, and a new “Daytime Diversity Initiative” meant to bring more people of color to its stable of daytime dramas, although “Guiding Light” was axed this fall and “As the World Turns” will be gone after next summer. One weak spot the council saw at CBS was writers. “Although having less then a handful of Latino writers for prime-time series is inexcusable, we continue to grade by comparison in hope that we will see substantial progress in the near future,” it said. In the area of business procurement, CBS garnered a C minus, as lack of centralized data made monitoring more difficult. Fox finished with an overall grade of B plus, as the council expressed its admiration for Hispanic casting in such scripted shows as “24,” the now-canceled “Prison Break” and “Fringe,” and even its contest shows like “American Idol” and “So You Think You Can Dance.” “We also applaud Fox for its inclusion of Latinos in its executive creative team and the network has established a proactive outreach initiative to recruit Latinos throughout its workforce,” the council said.

Maybe it’s my age or maybe it was just an exceptional time, but during the past year, not a single month went by when death did not take away someone I loved. More than ever before, I have become aware of how fragile is life. More superficially this challenged me to look at my own health: Am I taking proper care of myself? Exercising enough? Eating properly? Resting enough? More deeply however it has challenged me to look at my wider health: Am I standing where I’m supposed to be standing? Am I being faithful enough to who I am and what I believe in so as to be comfortable that, if today is my last day, I am doing what I’m supposed to be doing? Have my touches been warm? I try every day to be faithful - to pray, to celebrate the Eucharist, to be warm to people, to do my job as best I can, knowing that, if I do that, I am standing where I am supposed to be standing, and that I can then enjoy this wonderful life, without guilt or fear, ready, standing in honesty, should the cable snap. Oblate Father Ron Rolheiser, theologian, teacher, and award-winning author, is President of the Oblate School of Theology in San Antonio, TX.

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January 8, 2010

PUBLISH A NOVENA Pre-payment required Mastercard or Visa accepted

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If you wish to publish a Novena in the Catholic San Francisco You may use the form below or call 415-614-5640 Your prayer will be published in our newspaper

Name Adress Phone MC/VISA # Exp. Select One Prayer: ❑ St. Jude Novena to SH ❑ Prayer to St. Jude

❑ Prayer to the Blessed Virgin ❑ Prayer to the Holy Spirit

Please return form with check or money order for $26 Payable to: Catholic San Francisco Advertising Dept., Catholic San Francisco 1 Peter Yorke Way, San Francisco, CA 94109

Prayer to the Blessed Virgin never known to fail.

Most beautiful flower of Mt. Carmel Blessed Mother of the Son of God, assistme in my need. Help me and show me you are my mother. Oh Holy Mary, Mother of God, Queen of Heaven and earth. I humbly beseech you from the bottom of my heart to help me in this need. Oh Mary, conceived without sin. Pray for us (3X). Holy Mary, I place this cause in your hands (3X). Say prayers 3 days. ALVY

Prayer to the Blessed Virgin never known to fail.

ORACION AL ESPIRITU SANTO

ORACION A LA VIRGEN MARIA

Espíritu Santo. Tú que me aclaras todo, que iluminas todos los caminos, para que yo alcance mi ideal. Tú que das el don divino de perdonar y olvidar el mal que me hacen y que en todos los instantes de mi vida estás conmigo, yo quiero en este corto diálogo agradecerte por todo y confirmar una vez más que nunca quiero separarme de ti por mayor que sea la ilusión material. Deseo estar contigo y todos mis seres queridos en la gloria perpetua. Gracias por tu misericordia para conmigo y los míos. Gracias por los favores recibidos. (La persona debe rezar esta oración 3 días seguidos sin decir el pedido. dentro de 3 días será alcanzada la gracias por más difícil que sea. publicar esta oración en cuanto reciba la gracia) (MR)

Acordaos, ¡oh piadosísima Virgen María!, que jamás se ha oído decir, que ninguno de los que han acudido a vuestra protección, implorado vuestra asistencia y reclamado vuestro socorro, haya sido abandonado de Vos. Animado con esta confianza, a Vos también acudo, ¡oh Madre, Virgen de las vírgenes!, y aunque gimiendo bajo el peso de mis pecados, me atrevo a aparecer ante vuestra presencia soberana. No desechéis, ¡oh Madre de Dios!, mis humildes súplicas, antes bien, inclinad a ellas vuestros oídos y dignaos atenderlas favorablemente. Amén. Oh María sin pecado original, ruega por nosotros (3X). Santa María pongo mi causa en tus manos (3X) Decir esta oración por tres días. (MR)

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OFFICE SPACE AVAILABLE Approximately 2,000 to 10,000 square feet first floor office space available (additional space available if needed) at One Peter Yorke Way, San Francisco (between Gough & Franklin), is being offered for lease to a non-profit entity. Space available includes enclosed offices, open work area with several cubicles, large work room, and storage rooms on the lower level of the Archdiocese of San Francisco Chancery/Pastoral Center. We also have mail and copy services available, as well as meeting rooms (based on availability). Reception services available. Space has access to kitchen area and restroom facilities. Parking spaces negotiable. Ready for immediate occupancy with competitive terms. Come view the space.

For more information, contact Katie Haley, (415) 614-5556 email haleyk@sfarchdiocese.org.

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WEEKEND CUSTODIAN

Mercy High School, San Francisco, is currently seeking a part time weekend custodian. This is an 8 hour flexible weekend position. Custodial duties will include event/furniture set-up, clean-up, restroom and general use area cleaning, empty trash/recycling and event monitoring. Salary will be commensurate with experience for this part time position. Qualified applicants please email resume to Lorelei Zermani/Business Manager, Mercy High School, San Francisco at lzermani@mercyhs.org.

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ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS SOUGHT The Department of Catholic Schools in the Archdiocese of San Francisco is seeking elementary principals for the 2010-2011 school year. Candidates must be practicing Roman Catholic in good standing with the Church, possess a valid teaching credential, a Master’s degree in educational leadership, an administrative credential (preferred), and five years of successful teaching experience at the elementary level.

Please send resume and a letter of interest by March 19th, 2010 to: Bret E. Allen Associate Superintendent for Educational & Professional Leadership One Peter Yorke Way San Francisco, California 94109 Fax (415) 614-5664 E-mail: allenb@sfarchdiocese.org

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(415) 242-3355 www.counselingforchristians.com Do you want to be more fulfilled in love and work – but find things keep getting in the way? Unhealed wounds can hold you back - even if they are not the “logical” cause of your problems today. You can be the person God intended. Inner Child Healing Offers a deep spiritual and psychological approach to counseling: ❖ 30 years experience with individuals, couples and groups ❖ Directed, effective and results-oriented ❖ Compassionate and Intuitive ❖ Supports 12-step ❖ Enneagram Personality Transformation ❖ Free Counseling for Iraqi/Afghanistani Vets

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When Life Hurts It Helps To Talk • Family • Work • Relationships • Depression • Anxiety • Addictions

800-321-2752

Tel: 415 759 0520

Senior Care SUPPLE SENIOR CARE “The most compassionate care in town” 1655 Old Mission Road #3 Colma, SSF, CA 94080

415-573-5141 or 650-993-8036 *Irish owned & operated *Serving from San Francisco to North San Mateo

Homecare for Seniors by Accredited Caregiver Specialists

SF Bay Area

$17/hr

Free in-home assessment www.accreditedcaregivers.com 650-307-3890

Clinical Gerontologist Care Management for the Older Adult Family Consultation –Bereavement Support Kathy Faenzi, MA, Clinical Gerontologist Office: 650.401.6350 Web: www.faenziassociates.com

Dr. Daniel J. Kugler Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist Over 30 years experience • Reasonable Fees

Confidential • Compassionate • Practical (415) 921-1619 • Insurance Accepted 1537 Franklin Street • San Francisco, CA 94109

Striving to Achieve Optimum Health & Wellbeing

Roofing

Visit us at

catholic-sf.org For your local and international Catholic news, Datebook, advertising information and “Place Classified Ad” Form

(415) 786-0121 • (415) 586-6748

Construction Vonnegut Thoreau Construction

RELAX, RENEW

Quality Remodelers and Builders Serving the San Francisco Bay Area

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VTConstruct.com

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Matt Joyce Lic# 903690

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Call: 415.533.2265

Lic. 407271

415-756-4581

Matthew W. Johnson

Gift Certificates Available $10 Off with this ad

General Contractor

Healthcare Agency

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO

Licensed contractors are required by law to list their license numbers in advertisments. The law also state that contractors performing work totaling $500 or more must be state-licensed. Advertisments appearing in this newspaper without a license number indicate that the contractor is not licensed. For more info, contact: Contractors State License Board

QUALITY HOME CARE SERVING THE BAY AREA SINCE 1996 * Attendants * Companions * Hospice * Respite Care Competitive Rates • Screened • Insured • Bonded

desi173@yahoo.com

PLEASE RECYCLE THIS PAPER!

Home Care

Counseling

Massage Theraphy

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(650) 593-5959

FOR ADVERTISING INFORMATION

• Residential kitchen and bath remodeling • Additions • Free estimates • Safe clean secure worksites Free counter top appliance w/completed proposal Free food processor with kitchen

The Irish Rose

Home Healthcare Agency Specializing in home health aides, attendants and companions. Serving San Francisco, Marin & the Peninsula.

Contact: 415.447.8463

Handy Man Painting, roof repair, fence (repair/ build) demolition, carpenter, gutter (clean/ repair), kitchen/bathroom remodel, decks, welding, landscaping, gardening, hauling, moving, janitorial.

Call (650) 757-1946 Cell (415) 517-5977 NOT A LICENSED CONTRACTOR