Catholic san Francisco Northern California’s Weekly Catholic Newspaper
‘God forgave me. Why can’t I forgive myself ?’ graduates break the cycle, the reverse of the parole system’s record. “They just do everything possible Women ex-offenders, all too often spiritually broken, come to the recovery home to give these women an opportunity to called Catherine’s Center to put themselves succeed,” Salinger said. “It’s a sign that back together, one piece at a time. The it can be done. There’s nothing for men work is as hard as it sounds and is not for that’s equal to it.” Many women find their way to everyone, but those who take the chance and make it through the course are apt to Catherine’s Center as a last chance, usually invited by the St. Vincent de Paul say the experience saves their lives. Upstairs on a commercial street in Society’s Marty Schurr, the Archdiocese South San Francisco, the Catherine’s of San Francisco’s chaplain for the San Center residence houses six women, all Mateo County jails. “We try to build relationships,” Schurr of them recently paroled after serving jail time in San Mateo County. Four other said. “That’s what it’s all about at the end of the day. We’ve gotten to know each women live in a separate building. The center is a ministry of the St. other as brother and sister. We can have Vincent de Paul Society of San Mateo an honest conversation.” County in collaboration with the Sisters of Invitees meet the center’s staff under Mercy, who developed the long-term recov- Sister Marguerite. Those who appear to have ery curriculum in 2003 after recognizing the a good chance of success and who have what need for the Church to do more for women it takes to support the community are welex-offenders who have exhausted every comed. They start with Christ’s forgiveness other resource. and with the unconThe program ditional love of the combines drug and other women in alcohol recovery, the house. Beyond prayer, meditathat, there are no tion, retreats, conpromises. science formation In interviews and job skills. with Catholic “The criteSan Francisco, rion is that they Catherine’s are determined Center residents to change their described the lives,” said Mercy work of rebuildSister Marguerite ing their lives Buchanan. in almost literal “There’s terms. Typically Laverne Williams: a whole lot of each broken piece shame, a whole lot represents a rela“You have to get sick and tired of fear,” she said. tionship. Each of the life you’re living.” “A huge amount woman’s relationof courage is what ship with herself they’re exhibiting even by coming here.” is the most vital piece. Once women Most women ex-offenders are in re-establish their self-esteem, they go triple jeopardy when they leave custody. through the emotionally trying, monthsTypically they lack job skills, have expe- long work of putting back together relarienced abuse and have no family to go tionships with family members and others back to. Many have been separated from they harmed in lives outside the law. After their minor children and have lost – or much spiritual discipline they craft “grief must avoid – old friends. letters” to release the power the past holds Three out of four ex-offenders, men over them and the ones they hurt. and women, are likely to go back to prison Jackie Casalou, 48, is making amends if nothing happens to change the cycle. with her 25-year-old daughter – “because “Parole doesn’t work with people at we’ve been through so much.” That all,” said George Salinger, a deacon at St. understates the torment the family expeMatthias Parish in Redwood City and long rienced with Casalou’s two years in jail active in prison outreach. “It’s very obvi- for embezzlement and her son’s suicide ous the prison system is a total failure.” just before her release in 2005. Catherine’s Center, in contrast, shows “I came to Catherine’s Center really the benefit of counseling to rebuild every broken, a broken individual,” she said. “I ‘GOD FORGAVE ME’, page 24 phase of a person’s life. Three out of four
(PHOTOS BY RICK DELVECCHIO/CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO)
By Rick DelVecchio
Archbishop Celestino Migliore, the Vatican’s apostolic nuncio to the United Nations, in San Francisco Dec. 22.
Vatican’s U.N. representative: trust the poor, insist on morality in finance By Rick DelVecchio Put the reeling global economy on a moral footing and give more financial trust to the less well off and their faith-based allies, the Vatican’s U.N. representative says. “Finance is not a game,” Archbishop Celestino Migliore told Catholic San Francisco in a Dec. 22 interview. “Among some big and wealthy financial agencies, they just play finances as a game. Really finance works as long as it’s put in the service of the common good and especially the great slice of our society which is composed of poor people or people who are not rich.” Rich nations must not respond to today’s crisis by retrenching to protectionism but must play an ever-stronger role in global development, Archbishop Migliore said. Recounting his address to the U.S.-sponsored meeting on international development in Doha, Qatar, earlier in December, he said stronger nations must continue their aid commit-
ments to support some 40 countries too weak to manage on their own. The archbishop, who serves as apostolic nuncio and permanent observer of the Holy See to the United Nations, echoed Pope Benedict XVI’s prepared message for the World Day of Peace, marked Jan. 1. The Holy Father said the role of finance in supporting long-term investment and therefore development appears “extremely fragile.” He said the crisis demonstrates “how financial activity can at times be completely turned on itself, lacking any long-term consideration of the common good.” Archbishop Migliore, who was in the San Francisco area to give the concluding lecture at an Advent lecture series St. Rita Parish in Fairfax, said the Vatican’s prescription for a sustainable and just global economy also includes such measures as small-scale business and farm loans to the poor. One lesson of the economic crisis, he VATICAN U.N. REP, page 6
INSIDE THIS WEEK’S EDITION Letters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Vocations . . . . . . . . . . . . 11-14 ‘Engaged Church’ . . . . . . . . 17 Scripture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Father John Hardin named Franciscan leader ~ Page 7 ~ January 9, 2009
Cloistered nun marks 75th jubilee ~ Page 12 ~
Datebook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Oakland’s Bishop Vigneron named Detroit archbishop Classified ads . . . . . . . . 22-23 ~ Page 15 ~ www.catholic-sf.org
SEVENTY-FIVE CENTS
VOLUME 11
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No. 1