October 1, 2004 by Catholic San Francisco

Catholic san Francisco Northern California’s Weekly Catholic Newspaper

Old St. Mary’s shown in the 1800’s and today. The Old Cathedral of St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception was dedicated Christmas Eve 1854. This first Cathedral in the State of California is a City and State Historical Landmark. Old St. Mary’s will mark its 150th anniversary with a series of events through 2005. The church requires major seismic retrofitting because of City and State codes, and $7 million has already been raised privately and spent on the first phase of seismically retrofitting the church and adjacent facilities. The Paulist Fathers are raising an additional $8 million for further work. Old St. Mary’s is one of seven historic Catholic churches in San Francisco that either have completed seismic retrofitting or are in the process of doing so at a projected total cost of nearly $50 million.

Speakers call for enlightened and humane immigration policy By Ann Carey Catholic News Service NOTRE DAME, Ind. — The value and dignity of every human being was the theme that permeated an international conference on “Migration and Theology” held at the University of Notre Dame in mid-September. This theme also prompted several speakers to call for a more enlightened and humane immigration policy in the United States. More than 400 people came to the conference from Europe and Asia as well as from all over South, Central and North America to hear presentations by 37 different speakers. The interdisciplinary conference considered the various aspects of migration — particularly the plight of

those who enter countries illegally — in an effort to highlight the issue and to guide pastoral care of migrant peoples at a time when U.S. border security has increased since terrorist attacks three years ago. Several conference speakers noted the irony that in the United States the economy in many states depends to a great extent on undocumented workers. According to conference speakers, about 10 million undocumented people reside in this country, most of whom are employed and many of whom, they said, are being exploited for their labor and subjected to unsafe and unfair working conditions because they are in the country illegally. Several speakers called for a policy that would allow undocumented workers to regularize their status.

Noting that the number of migrants is increasing around the world, Scalabrinian Father Graziano Tassello, who directs an Italian Catholic mission in Switzerland and sits on several migration commissions, told the conference that the political and economic problems that cause people to migrate cannot be considered marginal events. Rather, he said, such problems are structural realities involving all nations and affecting the religious, social and cultural lives of the nations the migrants leave as well as the nations that receive them. The church has a special role to play in this migration, Father Tassello said, for “within the church, no one is a foreigner.” Passionist Father Donald Senior, a biblical scholar IMMIGRATION, page 5

INSIDE THIS WEEK’S EDITION Respect Life Section

Romance & metaphysics

~ Pages 8-11 ~

~ Page 17 ~

Modified crops . . . . . . . . . . 3 Post abortion healing . . . . . 5 Legion of Mary. . . . . . . . . . 7 RU- 486 death . . . . . . . . . . 8 Editorial and letters . . . . . . 12 Cuomo Catholicism . . . . . 15 Classifieds . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

St. Bart’s at 50 ~ Page 7 ~ October 1, 2004

www.catholic-sf.org FIFTY CENTS

VOLUME 6

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No. 31

Catholic San Francisco

October 1, 2004

On The Where You Live by Tom Burke

Jesuit Father Bill Rakowicz visited Chad Evans’ sophomore Religious Studies class at St. Ignatius College Preparatory September 16th to speak about his experience in Micronesia where he has served since 1972. Mr. Evans is a former Jesuit Volunteer with service in Micronesia and met Father Rakowicz there in the mid-90s. From left: Vinnie Barisone, Chad, Catie Price, Emily Swift, Katherine Scolari, Julian Labagh, Evan Yates, Colleen McInerney, Elliot Ferrerra, Steven Mauer, Molly McGrath, Andrew Dudum, Sean Reavey, Cameron Gordon, BJ Domingo, Tony Roca, Alex Johnson, Jimmy Ruck, Jillian Corey, Matt Synder, Father Bill, George Gaspar, and Ryan Mah.

Father Albert Vucinovich

Congrats to the page-makers of From Pen to Paper, the literary magazine of Notre Dame High School, Belmont. The journal won first place in a recent American Scholastic Press Association competition. “Your publication shows talent and energy by your writers, artists, editors, photographers, copy editors, layout designers, and advisor,” judges said. Staff includes senior co-Editors Joanna Perey and Rachel Rivera, secretary and senior, Hedy Wong, and on the production side, junior Leah Denman, sophomore Rose Friedland, and juniors Mandy Hoff, Jacqueline Koo, Michelle Rick, Alexandria Toschi, and Michelle Yee. Advisor is Annemarie Cota, of the school’s English department….Prayers please for former Our Lady of Mercy music minister and school music teacher, Michael Conran, who has undergone a number of serious surgeries. At his side is his wife and music partner from the OLM days, Karen. They now reside in Madison, Alabama…. Father Albert Vucinovich commemorated his 40th year as a priest with a Mass of Thanksgiving June 6, 2004 at St. Catherine of Siena Parish where he has been pastor since 1998. Guests later enjoyed “outstanding food, refreshments and decorations” prepared by members of the parish. In honor of the priest’s anniversary “and thanks for his work in the fields of the Lord,” June 13, 2004 – his ordination anniversary - was

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Most Reverend William J. Levada, publisher Maurice E. Healy, associate publisher & editor Editorial Staff: Jack Smith, assistant editor; Evelyn Zappia, feature editor; Tom Burke, “On the Street” and Datebook; Patrick Joyce, contributing editor/senior writer; Sharon Abercrombie and Jayme George, reporters Advertising: Joseph Pena, director; Mary Podesta, account representative Production: Karessa McCartney, manager; Tiffany Doesken Business Office: Marta Rebagliati, assistant business manager; Virginia Marshall, advertising and promotion services; Judy Morris, circulation and subscriber services Advisory Board: Jeffrey Burns, Ph.D., Noemi Castillo, James Clifford, Fr. Thomas Daly, Joan Frawley Desmond, James Kelly, Deacon William Mitchell, Kevin Starr, Ph.D., Sr. Christine Wilcox, OP. Catholic San Francisco editorial offices are located at One Peter Yorke Way, San Francisco, CA 94109. Tel: (415) 614-5640 Circulation: 1-800-563-0008 or (415) 614-5638 Advertising: (415) 614-5642 News fax: (415) 614-5633; Advertising fax: (415) 614-5641 Adv. E-mail: jpena@catholic-sf.org Catholic San Francisco (ISSN 15255298) is published weekly except the Fridays after Thanksgiving, Easter, Christmas and the first Friday in January, twice a month during summer by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Francisco, 1500 Mission Rd., P.O. Box 1577, Colma, CA 94014. Annual subscription rates are $10 within the Archdiocese of San Francisco and $22.50 elsewhere in the United States. Periodical postage paid at South San Francisco, California. Postmaster: Send address changes to Catholic San Francisco, 1500 Mission Rd., P.O. Box 1577, Colma, CA 94014 If there is an error in the mailing label affixed to this newspaper, call 1-800-563-0008. It is helpful to refer to the current mailing label.

declared Father Albert Vucinovich Day by Burlingame thank you and farewell to Father Robert Cipriano with a Mayor Rosalie M. O’Mahony. In his homily, Father Mass and reception June 27. Father Cipriano has been pastor Vucinovich said priesthood has allowed him “to work with of the Fairfax parish since 1998. “The day was filled with a others of like mind and heart to bring the values of Christ” to multitude of expressions of appreciation showing how much the world. “Not only does he has been loved and this vocation give very appreciated at St. Rita’s,” meaningful work on earth said Donna Ryan with wonderful people Jungelberg, who with but its unique stock her teenage son, Chris option plan takes care of and a planning committee our eternal needs. All in of some two-dozen other all, it’s a great vocation parishioners planned the and I highly recommend event. “There were indiit.”…Turriseburnea, a vidual stories, prayers, social and charitable laughter, love, and tears. group supporting We have been blessed to Catholic organizations know him and we will with funds it raises, miss him. He has helped recently installed new us all be better officers. Congrats to new Catholics.” Father leadership Marian Cipriano is now on sabFrom left: Notre Dame High School principal, Misrack, prez; Bridget batical…. It only takes a Rita Gleason, Rachel Rivera, Annemarie Cota, O’Boyle, vp; as well as moment to let us know Hedy Wong, and Joanna Perey. Maureen O’Shea, about a birthday, anniverLillian Wiliams, Ruth sary, special achievement, Mellinger, Beverly Desmond, Mary Taylor, Isable Juarez, or special happening in your life. Just jot down the basics and Immaculata Regalia, Rose Marie Azinheira, Claire send with a follow-up phone number to On the Street Where Sullivan, Agnes O’Connor, Marie Mahoney, Katherine You Live, One Peter Yorke Way, SF 94109. You can also fax Farriole. Retired Father James Atkins is moderator of the to (415) 614-5633 or e-mail, do not send group. …. The parish community of St. Rita Parish said attachments, to tburke@catholic-sf.org.

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At Rome conference, debate over genetically modified food continues Some conference participants said small-scale farmers could easily become dependent on the multinationals selling genetically modified organisms. Columban Father Sean McDonagh, an Irish theologian ROME — U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican Jim Nicholson and anthropologist who worked with the poor in the said he first saw the merits of agricultural productivity growPhilippines for 22 years, said genetically engineered foods ing up in Plymouth, Iowa, a town of fewer than 500 people. are creating “a new breed of colonialism.” “There was a traditional farmers’ bragging right with “At least with colonialism, farmers owned their own 100 bushels of corn per acre, and that was a very good year. food. With patents (on genetically engineered food), farmNow, because of the miracles of seed science and fertilizers will never own their own food, so this is actually more ers, they can get 300 bushels per acre,” he said. pernicious,” Father McDonagh told CNS. This level of growth is what biological advances can now Father McDonagh, who has written a book on genetiprovide for the developing world, Nicholson said as he cally modified organisms, said he thinks battling opened a conference on genetically modified food. hunger should begin with land reform in developing The Sept. 24 conference at Rome’s Gregorian University was organized by the U.S. Embassy to the Holy ‘The ease and cost efficiency of developing societies, movement away from a meat-based diet, and supporting local products instead of subsidies for See with the cooperation of the Pontifical Academy of farmers in countries like the United States. Sciences. It was one in a series of events marking the 20th genetically modified food should be an He said he believes corporate greed is at the heart anniversary of U.S. diplomatic relations with the Holy See. of the promotion of genetically engineered food. While several panelists said biotechnology incentive for farmers and governments.’ But Father Miranda said the fact that some genetidecreases pesticide use and creates more nutrientcally modified organisms are promoted by multinafilled crops that require less water and resist drought, Those kind of statistics, Nicholson said, explain why the tionals is “not diabolical in and of itself.” not everyone agreed that genetically engineered foods are “Economic benefits are not immoral. Profit is an incenUnited States wants to work closely with the Vatican on the the answer to global hunger. tive that leads to progress,” he said. Some critics in the conference audience said the geneti- issue of genetically modified foods. U.S. Jesuit Father Roland Lesseps, an agricultural scienThe Vatican continues to study biotechnology, refraincally modified food solution could breed further dependence by small farmers on corporations. Others said it ing from definitive moral pronouncements, but genetically tist working in Zambia for the past 16 years, said the conference ignored the basic cause of hunger, which is poverty. modified foods have Catholic proponents in Rome. ignores the true cause of hunger — poverty. “Part of the reason that Zambia is so ill-prepared to do “When the church sees the scientific facts that genetiGenetically modified organisms have been used primarily in developed countries, particularly the United States, but their cally modified organisms are not only not harmful, but can this is because of poverty. So many people who can’t buy benefits could serve the developing world, some speakers said. help poor people, which the church is very sensitive about, food, who are without access to education and training, “There is no reason in principle why minor crops grown it will continue to follow these developments,” Father would not be able to do it,” he said. by small-scale farmers cannot be genetically modified to Gonzalo Miranda, dean of bioethics at the Legionaries of make them more nutritious, better able to grow in dry or Christ’s Regina Apostolorum Athenaeum, told Catholic saline habitats, or whatever else is desired,” said Peter Raven, News Service. The ease and cost efficiency of developing genetically professor of botany at Washington University in St. Louis. Raven told the conference that while some critics call genet- modified food should be an incentive for farmers and govically modified organisms “Frankenfoods,” there has not been a ernments, Father Miranda said. “It is important that (farmers) are self-sufficient, that single case of illness resulting from their consumption. He said most of the world’s beer and cheese is made with genetically they are not passive, but protagonists,” he said. modified organisms, along with hundreds of medications.

By Kristine Crane Catholic News Service

More importantly, genetically modified organisms increase productivity, helping to alleviate the hunger that afflicts the developing world’s booming population, several speakers said. Life expectancy has more than tripled in the developing world over the past 20 years, and 30,000 people — half of them children — die every minute from hunger, said C.S. Prakash, professor of molecular genetics at Alabama’s Tuskegee University. “To feed the 9 billion in the world by 2050 without allowing for additional imports of food, Africa will have to increase its food production by 300 percent,” Prakash said.

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NEWS

October 1, 2004

in brief (CNS PHOTO PEGGY DEKEYSER, THE FLORIDA CATHOLIC)

As Jeanne hits, Floridians still trying to recover from Ivan PENSACOLA, Fla. — As Hurricane Jeanne slammed into Florida’s east coastal region Sept. 26 and took a diagonal path across the state, the victims of devastation caused by Hurricane Ivan 10 days before were still trying to pick up the pieces of their lives. After sweeping through the Caribbean, Ivan battered the Gulf Coast Sept. 16, causing an estimated $3 billion to $6 billion in insured losses in Pensacola and other parts of Florida’s panhandle as well as in some areas of Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi. “Of all the things that a hurricane can hit you with — wind, rain, storm surge and tornadoes — Ivan hit us with every single one of them,” Escambia County Sheriff Ron McNesby told The Florida Catholic, newspaper of the Diocese of PensacolaTallahassee. Hardest hit were coastal areas, although little between Pensacola and Panama City escaped Ivan’s wrath.

Priest mobilizes faith leaders, voters on abortion issue WASHINGTON — Led by Father Frank Pavone, national director of Priests for Life, a coalition of religious and pro-life organizations announced a campaign Sept. 23 to defeat any political candidate who supports keeping abortion legal. “Because abortion is an act of violence that destroys an entire segment of the public, no one who ignores the victims of abortion is worthy to hold public office,” the New York archdiocesan priest said at a Washington press conference. Father Pavone said his organization would dedicate $1 million to “an all-out campaign” in the 30 days before the Nov. 2 election that would be aimed at convincing churchgoing Christians that “abortion is not simply one issue in this election; it is the most fundamental human rights issue of our time.” Father Pavone said the monthlong $1 million pre-election educational campaign would focus primarily on churchgoers because they have been shown in polls to be most likely to vote for pro-life candidates

Retired bishop indicted SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — Retired Bishop Thomas L. Dupre of Springfield was indicted Sept. 27 on two charges of child rape dating to the 1970s, but District Attorney William Bennett decided not to prosecute the bishop. The district attorney told reporters that even though he knew that the statute of limitations would almost certainly block his prosecution of the bishop, he decided to proceed with a grand jury investigation, in part to see if it would uncover any evidence of any other crime he could prosecute. Bennett said at a press conference, “Our investigation revealed no evidence that any officials of the diocese were aware of these allegations of sexual misconduct by (Bishop) Dupre until these matters became public and that therefore there was no evidence of any collaboration, conspiracy or joint venture by (Bishop) Dupre and members of the church to keep these matters quiet.” Bishop Dupre was the first U.S. bishop to be indicted on criminal charges of sexually abusing a minor, although three others have admitted such abuse and resigned because of it since 1993.

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St. Joseph Church in downtown Pensacola, Fla., was damaged when Hurricane Ivan swept through the area. The storm toppled the bell tower, breaking the roof and resulting in interior damage. The bell remained intact, but the 19th-century oak doors on the front of the church were blown out, as was a panel above a side door, but none of the 19th-century stained-glass windows in the church or the statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary were damaged.

Review board head opposes naming Pope speaks of rich-poor gap, clergy, women religious to board urges trust in God’s power CHICAGO — The interim head of the bishops’ National Review Board has criticized any effort to place a priest or a woman religious on the board, which is responsible for monitoring compliance with child sex abuse prevention policies. A cleric or woman religious has vows of obedience that could lead to pressures by church officials on how the board monitors compliance, said Justice Anne M. Burke. Burke said she and other board members objected when they received a fax in mid-September from the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Bishop Wilton D. Gregory of Belleville, Ill., with the name of a nun on the list of individuals to replace the five current board members whose terms expire before the end of the year. A USCCB spokesman told CNS that the decision has not been made yet on the new board members.

U.S. bishop calls for initiatives to spur growth in poor countries WASHINGTON — The head of the U.S. bishops’ international policy committee is calling on foreign governments to develop new initiatives to combat poverty and spur development in poor countries. Bishop John H. Ricard of Pensacola-Tallahassee, Fla., said in a letter to U.S. Treasurer John Snow that debt relief should not be used in a way to curtail development in poor countries. Bishop Ricard said he was concerned that under a proposal backed by the Bush administration that would cancel the debt of poor countries, multilateral creditors can recover their losses by reducing new lending to poor countries. “This would mean that the debt cancellation would provide no new resources for development. We would be very concerned about such an outcome because, for us, debt cancellation is not about adjusting accounts but about combating poverty,” he said in the Sept. 20 letter. ST. CLARE’S RETREAT Santa Cruz

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VATICAN CITY, Italy — Pope John Paul II said the gap between the world’s rich and poor cries out for new efforts by Christians and the international community. “The Catholic Church pledges its total commitment toward eradicating the scourge of hunger and other consequences of poverty,” the pope said at a Sunday blessing Sept. 26. “We pray to the Lord to sustain the efforts of the international community regarding justice and social development. This, in fact, is the way to guarantee a future of peace for the world,” he said. Four days earlier, the pope in his weekly general audience said humanity can find justice not through revenge, but by trusting in God’s saving power. Christ walked toward “the fierce path of his passion without objecting to the injustice and violence, without recrimination and complaint, but by delivering himself and his painful circumstances ‘to the one who judges justly,’” he said.

Former papal envoy awarded peace prize from UNESCO VATICAN CITY — A former papal envoy and a Muslim leader in the Balkans were awarded a UNESCO peace prize for their efforts in promoting interreligious dialogue and peace. French Cardinal Roger Etchegaray and Grand Mufti Mustafa Ceric of Bosnia-Herzegovina received the 2003 Felix Houphouet-Boigny Award in a Sept. 21 ceremony at UNESCO headquarters in Paris. Besides serving as head of several Vatican offices, Cardinal Etchegaray served as the pope’s special envoy in urgent missions worldwide. He took part in negotiations to end the siege of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, West Bank, in May 2002; he traveled to Iraq in 1986 and 1998, then again in February 2003 in a bid to avert the U.S.-led invasion of the country. He also led diplomatic missions in Iran, Mozambique, Angola, Sudan and Cuba.

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Woman who had five abortions says Project Rachel saved her By Amy Guckeen MILWAUKEE — When she was 20, at a time when most young people are on the cusp of life, Yvonne Florczak-Seeman wanted nothing more than to end her life. That was until she found out about Project Rachel, founded in Milwaukee in 1984 by Vicki Thorn to offer post-abortion reconciliation and healing. Florczak-Seeman was in her second trimester of pregnancy and had decided to have an abortion; it would be her fifth abortion since her 16th birthday. “To me they were just fetuses,” she said. “I was in total denial. ... I knew the routine, (I) lined up on a bench with another 20 women, and waited for my number to be called.” But having an abortion in her second trimester was more difficult, the vacuum louder and larger to accommodate the more complicated procedure. “The pain was unbelievable,” she said. “This time I knew something wasn’t right. I left the clinic and swore I had survived the inconceivable. I swore I’d never go to another clinic.” Three days later, she said, she started hemorrhaging, had to be admitted to the emergency room and was told she needed a surgical procedure. “The abortion had not removed the entire baby,” she said. “It was the first time, that procedure, that they said the fetus was a baby.”

Immigration . . . ■ Continued from cover and president of the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, echoed that theme. “The welcoming of strangers goes to the very heart of the Gospel message,” he said. In his remarks, Coadjutor Bishop Thomas G. Wenski of Orlando, Fla., chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Migration, referred to a joint pastoral letter on migrants produced in 2003 by the U.S. bishops and the bishops of Mexico titled “Strangers No Longer: Together on the Journey of Hope.” He said the bishops’ letter applies Catholic social teaching to the phenomenon of the movement of people. That teaching can be summarized simply as: “No human being can ever be considered as a problem,” Bishop Wenski said. First, the church must see that migrants are welcomed and given the pastoral care they need and deserve, he said. Second, the church must advocate more humane immigration laws that address the current reality, he said. U.S. jobs await immigrants who can get into the country, legally or illegally, Bishop Wenski said. But those entering illegally often risk death to get to those jobs, he said, resulting in the tragic loss of human life — about 2,000 deaths at the Texas border in the last five years — and a loss to a society in need of workers. “We are living in a new world of free movement of capital and goods but not of peoples,” Bishop Wenski said. “So we have an immigration system devised in an old world that no longer exists, and because of that, it hurts people rather than helps them.” Donald Kerwin, executive director of the Catholic Legal Immigration Network Inc., known as CLINIC, said a record number of migrants are in the United States. There are about 34 million, accounting for about 11 percent of our population. Of those, 11 million have become naturalized, 12 million are permanent legal residents and 10 million are undocumented. Bilingual Staff Information and Referrals ● Care Coordination

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Florczak-Seeman said her fifth abortion, when it was finally acknowledged she was carrying a baby, began for her “a lifetime of unanswered questions as far as choice was concerned.” She added, “Choice was exposed for what it is, giving the woman the right to end the life of her child. Having ended five lives, I concluded that I didn’t deserve my own.” But Florczak-Seeman discovered Project Rachel and forgiveness. She had tried other forms of therapy, but nothing seemed to free her until she came to the program. “Project Rachel relies on the forgiveness from up above,” said Florczak-Seeman, who is now married and the mother of two young sons and a daughter. When Thorn decided to start her post-abortion ministry, there were not many experts on what women suffered following an abortion. Thorn originally saw Project Rachel only as an archdiocesan project. But it has branched out into more than 160 dioceses across the United States and several countries. “There is now a multitude of women who are free to walk, smile and laugh again,” Thorn said. “God has restored a mother’s heart to them.” Thorn was inspired to create Project Rachel after helping a friend who had given a baby up for adoption and aborted a second child. It was through this friend’s pain that Thorn saw the need for ministry.

“She just kept telling me, ‘I can live with the adoption. I can’t live with the abortion,’” said Thorn. “After the abortion, the life of a woman unfolds, and the wounds remain to be very deep.” Thorn said she believes Project Rachel gives women the strength to speak out about their experiences, in hopes of healing themselves and helping others who may be in the same position. Today, Project Rachel links women and others affected by abortion to the help they need, existing as a network of caregivers. Father Ralph Gross, pastor of St. Margaret Mary Parish in Milwaukee, has counseled women with Project Rachel since the late 1980s. Since the moment he heard Thorn tell of the terrible aftermath abortion can cause, he dedicated himself to helping these women heal. “The heart of Christ is very big,” said Father Gross. “He would never want someone to continue to be separated from a relationship with him. Project Rachel of the Archdiocese of San Francisco offers hope, healing and forgiveness from the pain of a past abortion. Services include telephone support, one-to-one healing, referrals to understanding priests, counselors, group support and retreats. Call 415-717-6428.

Immigrants have a strong work orientation, Kerwin continued. While they make up 11 percent of the population, they account for 14 percent of the workers and 50 percent of new job entries in the 1990s, he said. “We need this immigrant labor to fill jobs down the road,” he said, adding that immigrants have renewed and revived cities across the country. But immigrants — particularly the undocumented — face many challenges, he continued, including those that divide and impoverish families, as well as workplace abuses and a lack of education and health care. Additionally, he said, border blockade policies drive illegal migrants to more remote crossings, resulting in large numbers of deaths. And, he added, stricter enforcement of borders is not working because the number of illegal immigrants in this country is rising. Everyone agrees that the status quo is not acceptable, Kerwin noted. An alternative is needed to put the 10 million people in this country illegally on the path to permanent residency, he said. Deporting so many of them is not financially or logistically possible, he continued, adding that businesses would not stand for losing all those workers, and such a policy would only divide more families.

Immigration reform is the best solution to address the policies that cause these problems, Kerwin concluded. Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga of Tegucigalpa, Honduras, closed the conference by exhorting participants to do more to overcome the injustices suffered by marginalized people. Humans are the only species who have difficulty recognizing other members of the same species, he said. It has taken centuries for Indians and African-Americans to be recognized as humans who have souls, the cardinal said, and migrants and the poor still struggle to be treated with the full dignity and value of human beings. “We can’t continue with the xenophobia that is growing everywhere,” Cardinal Rodriguez said, for “we are brothers and sisters.”

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October 1, 2004

Deacons of Archdiocese gather for continuing education in ministry

(PHOTO BY DEACON BILL MITCHELL)

Charismatic Conference set for this weekend at St. Mary’s Cathedral

From left: Deacon Mar Tano, St. Luke Parish, Foster City; Deacon Gary West, St. Stephen Parish; Aida and Deacon Ding Viray, Church of the Epiphany; Guia and Deacon Dennis Rivera, now retired; Deacon Ditewig; Deacon Henry Jacquemet, Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish, Belmont.

The deacon community of the Archdiocese of San Francisco met for its annual Continuing Education Day at St. Stephen Parish in San Francisco Sept. 18. Facilitating the day was Deacon William Ditewig, executive director of the Secretariat for the Diaconate of the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops in Washington, D.C. Deacon Ditewig’s presentation was titled “The Once and Future Diaconate.” Deacon Ditewig, ordained in 1990, is one of the country’s foremost speakers on the diaconate. Deacon Leon Kortenkamp, director of Ministry and Life for the diaconate community of the Archdiocese of San Francisco, said, “We were very fortunate to have him speak to us. His wonderful presentation reached back into the history before the reinstatement of the diaconate, through Vatican II and what has happened since then.” Deacon Kortenkamp said it was interesting to learn that talk about reinstating the diaconate was taking place long before Vatican II, even in the 1930s. The dialogue was spurred by “a need for there to be a recognized ordination in the Church that bridged the priest community and the laity,” he said. According to Deacon Kortencamp, these conversations about the diaconate “percolated up in Vatican II as one of the items to be considered” and was then reinstated in 1967. Deacon Ditewig is a member of the committee which drafted a new directory on deacon formation and ministry

LIVING TRUSTS

for the United States Bishops. Deacon Kortenkamp called the directory “a landmark piece” and said it’s expected to be published in November. In addition to the education day, aimed at strengthening their ministry, deacons may take advantage of other resources including annual Clergy Study Days and the annual Faith Formation Conference of the Archdiocese of San Francisco. They also gather for an annual retreat and occasions including the Feast of the Epiphany and an annual potluck meal. “Most deacons are involved in parish ministry doing preaching, baptisms, witnessing weddings, presiding at memorial and graveside services and also running programs like marriage preparation and RCIA,” Deacon Kortenkamp said. Deacons and their wives are also involved, he said, in outreach ministry including detention ministry and ministry to shut-ins and people in hospitals and shelters. Deacon Kortenkamp said there are currently 60 deacons serving in the Archdiocese and some 14,000 deacons serving in dioceses throughout the United States. Deacon Kortenkamp and Father David Pettingill direct the Office of the Permanent Diaconate for the Archdiocese of San Francisco. Deacon Kortenkamp serves as Director of Ministry and Life for the diaconate community. Father Pettingill is Director of Deacon Formation. ●

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“Return to me” is the theme of a Charismatic Conference set for Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 2 and 3, at St. Mary’s Cathedral and Conference Center located at Gough St. and Geary Blvd. in San Francisco. A kickoff Mass will be celebrated by San Francisco Auxiliary Bishop Ignatius Wang Friday evening, Oct. 1, at 7:30 p.m. at St. Mary’s Cathedral. Attendees will pray the Rosary at 7:00 p.m. This is the seventh “Holy Spirit Conference” in the Archdiocese of San Francisco and it features English and Spanish speaking sessions and youth and children’s programs. Ernie von Emster, parishioner at St. Charles in San Carlos, led a broad group of individuals planning the event. He said the committee took inspiration from the Scripture reading of Isaiah and approached the event with high expectations. Father Joseph Landi, of the San Francisco Archdiocese’s Charismatic Renewal, said the conference will draw many different groups. “We are taking our unity in the Holy Spirit,” he said. Speakers at the conference include Oratorian Father Peter Sanders, Jesuit Father Robert Faricy, Father Mario Castaneda, Linda Schubert, Tetche Rodriquez, Claretian Father John Hampsch, Norma Calip, Mandy Labayan, Bob Canton, Father Landi and others. Attendees can register at the door Saturday and Sunday. Doors open at 8 a.m. and programs start at 9 a.m. both days. A Mass is scheduled at 4 p.m. Saturday and 3:30 p.m. on Sunday. Music will be provided by Charismatic Music Groups. Mass each day is open to the public. Tickets at the door are $20 for each day or $30 for both days for adults; children 4-12 years, free; over 12 years, $5.00 per day; lunch: adults $5.00, children $3.00. For more information call Moriah Stafford at (415) 756-5505, or visit www.sfspirit.com and click on events.

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Catholic San Francisco

St. Bartholomew celebrates 50 years St. Bartholomew Parish in San Mateo, established in 1955, has inaugurated a year-long celebration marking its fiftieth anniversary. “We’re celebrating 50 years of faith, community and service,” said parishioner Jack Hitchcock. He and his wife, Marilu, joined the parish 18 years ago. “St. Bartholomew’s is a great example of Church,” Mr. Hitchcock said. “I was attracted to the spirit of community and some really great liturgy and wonderful homilies. People here seem to be able to respond to whatever the need is. My wife and I both agreed that this is a parish with great community and one that looks beyond its own borders to be helpful.” Mr. Hitchcock is serving as historian for the St. Bartolomew’s jubilee. Among his duties is producing a video of interviews with people who have impacted the parish including surviving founding members. Lori Delgado Wise, a parishioner of St. Bartholomew’s with her husband, Jinx, has been the parish’s director of operations for two years. Ms. Wise grew up in neighboring St. Matthew Parish. “Sunday liturgy is very important at St., Bartholomew’s,” Ms. Wise said. “It’s a time when we gather as family.” Ms. Wise mentioned the many parishioner-driven ministries at St. Bartholomew’s including a St. Vincent de Paul Conference, Adult Faith Formation, a food pantry, work with Habitat for Humanity, and an outreach program called Sandwiches on Sunday. In addition, the parish youth group

has recently returned from a trip to Washington State where they ministered among the poor of the area, she said. The idea of the anniversary jubilee came out of a parish town hall meeting, Ms. Wise said. “We asked how the parishioners wanted to celebrate the occasion,” she said, noting the meeting’s results were then placed with the Parish Council for finalization. “We decided to begin a year-long series of events on the anniversary of our first Mass at St. Bartholomew’s, September 11,” Ms. Wise said. The commemoration will culminate in a Jubilee Mass and reception September 11, 2005. The jubilee year is also being seen as a resource to “take stock and see what we can do better or more of,” Ms. Wise said. The opening Masses have signaled that the year ahead will be a joyful one, Ms. Wise said. “I expected some good feelings and good feedback but was invigorated at how overwhelmed everyone was with how wonderful the celebration was. You could feel that people were very proud and excited to be here.” A jubilee calendar lists 17 events for the year including the “kick-off Masses,” a Founders’ Day Luncheon, and special liturgies to recognize people who were baptized or married at St. Bartholomew’s. Another of the year’s activities is the Women’s Guild fashion Show. Among its vintage clothing included the 1937 wedding dress of parishioner Rita Yerby. Mrs. Yerby’s daughter, Chris McGinty, made her first Eucharist and Confirmation at St. Bartholomew’s.

Fr. Tom Moran greets a young parishioner at a 50-year anniversary kickoff Mass at St. Bartholomew’s.

“We moved into the parish when I was three years old,” Ms. McGinty said. “This parish has community and a sense of belonging,” Ms. McGinty, a member of the parish council said. “If I attend daily Mass I look around the chapel and realize I know just about everyone there. This is a place where people empower one another.”

San Francisco Legion of Mary continues in evangelization tradition By Sharon Abercrombie As the San Francisco Legion of Mary prepares to mark the 150-year anniversary of the proclamation of the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception Dec. 5 at 1:30 p.m. at Old St. Mary’s Church, it has an additional reason to celebrate. The Concilium, the Legion’s world headquarters in Dublin, Ireland has promoted the local group from a Comitum, to the status of Senatus, giving it wider governing jurisdiction, said Raymond Frost, president. This means that the Archdiocesan group is now responsible for the San Francisco Bay Area as well as dioceses in Northern California, Nevada, Utah, Washington, Oregon and Idaho. “We’ll now be a connector for all these dioceses,” said Frost, who also serves as sacristan at St. Ignatius parish in San Francisco. San Francisco’s Legion of Mary has 65 chapters or praesidia, with more than 600 members who devote themselves to evangelization and outreach under the patronage of Mary. An additional 3,000 auxiliaries support the active members’ work through prayer. Worldwide the Legion has nearly three million members as well as many more auxiliary members. The Legion of Mary has Irish roots. It was founded in Dublin, Ireland on September 7, 1921 by Frank Duff, an Irish civil servant who had served as personal secretary to General Michael Collins, earlier that year at the time of the peace conference in London at which the Irish Free State was negotiated, according to the official Legion history.

The newly formed legion went out into the streets among the poor, distributing rosaries, and inviting the people to conversion and prayer. Duff called it “the apostolate to the crowd.” The apostolate included door-to-door visitations. By 1931, the Legion had spread to England, India, and soon after to France, and Belgium. It reached the United States in 1933. San Francisco’s Legion of Mary emerged the same year at the behest of Father William Cantwell, pastor of St. Monica parish. The members of his first praesidium, Our Lady of Perpetual Help, which started Nov. 14, 1933, were all women. Father Cantwell then began a group for men, called Queen of the Apostles, and later, a junior praesidium, Our Lady of Lourdes, Jr. The Legion’s work soon came to the attention of a local wealthy businessman, Bartholomew Oliver. His family founded the community of Menlo Park, had heard about the work the Legion was doing and decided it needed to spread to as many U.S. cities as possible. Oliver paid the living expenses for Mary Duffy, and John Murray so they could move to San Francisco from Dublin and serve as envoys to further the Legion’s work, according to Mary Foudy, a former Legion president, who now serves as the Legion historian for San Francisco. Ms. Foudy, a longtime member herself, recalls that the Legion wasn’t “all work and no play.” “In those days we didn’t need any urging from the Comitum to have a party. Our Lady of Good counsel had them often on any excuse, even meeting a few times up at the Russian River! We truly believe that all work and no play makes a dull legionary!”

Today, Legionaries teach CCD, work in RCIA programs, serve as leaders of RENEW groups, do visitations to rest homes, hospitals and prisoners, and work with youth. Several times a month Legionaries pray on the streets of the Tenderloin district, and pass out as many as 90 rosaries in the space of two hours. In San Mateo, they sponsor “Book Barrows” an Irish term for pamphlet rack, in the Hillsdale Mall, Serramonte Shopping Center and each year at the San Mateo County Fair. The Legion’s newest work is an apostolate to tourists. Legionaries speak with visitors at Golden Gate Bridge Vista Point and Yerba Buena Center, offering information about Mass times. One of its most well-known outreach efforts has resulted in over 40 couples being married in the Church after having been alienated for a number of years. Most of the couples are recruited via door-to-door contacts, explained Tessie Velicaria, parish secretary at St. Anne of the Sunset Parish in San Francisco. Ms Velicaria, vice president of the San Francisco Senatus, remembers the day she knocked on one door, and learned from a lady living there, that the Church had hurt her earlier in her life. The woman told Ms. Velicaria that she and her partner were both lapsed Catholics who had never married but who had three elementary-aged children. Finally, after several conversations, the woman agreed to bring her partner to a pre-Cana preparation group for couples like themselves. A few months later they were married in a group ceremony. Their children now attend the parish CCD program. “They are really doing well today. You can really see the serenity, the peace,” said Ms. Velicaria.

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Respect Life ❖

Sunday October

3, 2004 ❖ Made in His Image

In year since daughter’s death, father sounds alarm about RU-486 By Patrick Joyce A year ago Monty Patterson, a custom home builder from Livermore, didn’t know what the abortion drug RU486 was. Then, on September 17, 2003, his daughter Holly, 18 years old and seven weeks pregnant, died a week after receiving RU-486 at a Planned Parenthood facility in Hayward. The day his daughter died people from Planned Parenthood came up to Mr. Patterson in the lobby of the hospital. “They said something like this had never happened before,” he recalls. “We were shocked. We said, ‘You know something’s really wrong here and we’re going to find out what is the matter. We’re going to get to the bottom of this,’ - and that’s what we’ve been doing.” Over the past year, Mr. Patterson has done thousands of hours of research. In the process, he has learned his daughter was not the first woman to become a victim of RU-486. “A woman died in Canada during the Canadian trials of the exact same thing, from an infection . . .” Mr. Patterson says. “There have been other deaths – a girl in Sweden, a 16year-old, bled to death in the shower.” “This has been a mission for me because it is so important, about the safety and health and welfare of women. And I think every time this drug is administered their lives are in jeopardy. . . . I want to ban it. I think that any parent who watched their daughter die like I did would say there’s something wrong about this drug. It needs to be banned.” “This is about telling the truth, about educating people so they can make better decisions,” he says. “I don’t think the truth has been told.” The dangers of RU-486 have been concealed because doctors are not required to report “adverse events” caused by the drug to the Federal Drug Administration. “I have found through the FDA that only one to ten percent of adverse events are reported to the FDA,” Mr. Patterson says. “That means we have over 90 percent deficiency in reporting.” Danco, the drug’s manufacturer, and the National Abortion Federation, have information on their websites “about how safe it is and how they go about promoting it,” he says. “Most recently a Danco spokesman said there had

been over 350,000 safe and successful abortions with this pill. They say only 650 serious adverse events have been reported to the FDA.” That number might seem small, he says, but “With only one to ten percent of the adverse events being reported,” the actual number would range between 6,500 and 65,000. The dangers of the drug are increased, Mr. Patterson says because Planned Parenthood and other abortionists are not following the FDA guidelines for use of RU-486. The procedure actually involves the use of two drugs, first mifepristone, then misoprostol three days later. The FDA calls for the oral administration of both drugs at a clinic. “Holly was given what they call an off-label regimen,” says Mr. Patterson who only learned of it after she became ill. She received mifepristone orally at the clinic and was told to self-administer the misoprostol vaginally at home 24 hours later. “This is the procedure of choice not just for Planned Parenthood but other abortion providers,” he says. “They say the off-label regimen is the best way of administering the drug. How do they prove it? They do their own clinical trials. Every young woman who walks in gets to be experimented on.” Holly followed that procedure, her father says. “By September 14 she was still experiencing extreme pain and bleeding,” he says. That’s when she went to the Valley Care Health System. She told them about taking the RU-486 regimen and they gave her painkillers and sent her home, her father says. When her condition worsened, Holly went back to the hospital in the early morning of Sept. 17 and died that afternoon. The Alameda County coroner said the cause of death was septic shock caused by the drug. Mr. Patterson took his crusade against RU-486 to Washington, D.C., last week, meeting with officials from the FDA and the White House. “We told them we thought the regimen should be banned but at the very least . . . there should be stricter warning labels for infections, septic shock and death. They don’t give that information. The don’t tell you that you are at risk of infection as far as the warning label goes.” Mr. Patterson also wants better training on the compli-

cations of RU-486 for emergency room physicians and mandatory reporting of “adverse events.” “There is no other drug like this. When you take this drug you are supposed to experience ‘adverse events.’ You are expected to have cramping and bleeding and pelvic pain as part of the regimen. . . . How do they tell when the adverse events become major problems? When Holly came to the emergency room, the doctors did not report her problems to the FDA because it is a voluntary system. So how is the FDA going to know how many women are in the hospital being treated for infections or severe bleeding?” “There isn’t any real accountability with these providers because they are not adhering to the FDA approved regimen. . . . I told the FDA that the manufacturer needs to submit a supplemental new drug application” to cover the deviation in the regimen.” Mr. Patterson also supports “Holly’s Law”, a bill by U.S. Rep. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.). It would suspend FDA’s approval of RU-486 and require “an independent review of the irregular procedures the FDA used to push this drug onto the market,” Rep. DeMint says. One of those irregularities was classifying RU-486 as a drug “intended to treat life-threatening illnesses” such as AIDS and cancer, he says. Mr. Patterson left Washington hopeful but he said he still needs help to accomplish his mission. “Ask parents to call, write, e mail support for this bill. (HR 3443). As long as parents don’t do anything legislatively speaking, nothing’s going to happen. Senators Feinstein and Boxer need to hear it here in California.” He also tells parents they “need to sit and talk with their children about these issues that are not normal dinner table topics. . . The main thing is they’ve got to know that if they’re in trouble, they can come to you and not depend on a clinic to tell them what is their best interest. Their best interest is making money. It’s a business for them.” While in Washington Mr. Patterson also spoke at the convention of the Concerned Women of America “I told Holly’s story, who she was as a person” he says. “Holly was really a wonderful girl. She was just beautiful. She had a great spirit. I told them Holly’s spirit lives in me and I’m continuing this for her and other girls like her.”

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Respect Life ❖ Sunday October 3, 2004 ❖ Made in His Image Now they want to euthanize children In the Netherlands, 31 percent of pediatricians have killed infants. A fifth of these killings were done without the “consent” of parents. Going Dutch has never been so horrible.

By Wesley J. Smith First, Dutch euthanasia advocates said that patient killing will be limited to the competent, terminally ill who ask for it. Then, when doctors began euthanizing patients who clearly were not terminally ill, sweat not, they soothed: medicalized killing will be limited to competent people with incurable illnesses or disabilities. Then, when doctors began killing patients who were depressed but not physically ill, not to worry, they told us: only competent depressed people whose desire to commit suicide is “rational” will have their deaths facilitated. Then, when doctors began killing incompetent people, such as those with Alzheimer’s, it’s all under control, they crooned: non-voluntary killing will be limited to patients who would have asked for it if they were competent. And now they want to euthanize children. In the Netherlands, Groningen University Hospital has decided its doctors will euthanize children under the age of 12, if doctors believe their suffering is intolerable or if they have an incurable illness. But what does that mean? In many cases, as occurs now with adults, it will become an excuse not to provide proper pain control for children who are dying of potentially agonizing maladies such as cancer, and doing away with them instead. As for those deemed “incurable”—this term is merely a euphemism for killing babies and children who are seriously disabled. For anyone paying attention to the continuing collapse of medical ethics in the Netherlands, this isn’t at all shocking.

Dutch doctors have been surreptitiously engaging in eugenic euthanasia of disabled babies for years, although it technically is illegal, since infants can’t consent to be killed. Indeed, a disturbing 1997 study published in the British medical journal, the Lancet, revealed how deeply pediatric euthanasia has already metastasized into Dutch neo-natal medical practice: According to the report, doctors were killing approximately 8 percent of all infants who died each year in the Netherlands. That amounts to approximately 80-90 per year. Of these, one-third would have lived more than a month. At least 1015 of these killings involved infants who did not require life-sustaining treatment to stay alive. The study found that a shocking 45 percent of neo-natologists and 31 percent of pediatricians who responded to questionnaires had killed infants. It took the Dutch almost 30 years for their medical practices to fall to the point that Dutch doctors are able to engage in the kind of euthanasia activities that got some German doctors hanged after Nuremberg. For those who object to this assertion by claiming that German doctors killed disabled babies during World War II without consent of parents, so too do many Dutch doctors: Approximately 21 percent of the infant euthanasia deaths occurred without request or consent of parents. Moreover, since when did parents attain the moral right to have their children killed? Euthanasia consciousness is catching. The Netherlands’ neighbor Belgium decided to jump off the same cliff as the Dutch only two years ago. But already, they have

caught up with the Dutch in their freefall into the moral abyss. The very first Belgian euthanasia of a person with multiple sclerosis violated the law; and just as occurs routinely in the Netherlands, the doctor involved faced no consequences. Now Belgium is set to legalize neo-pediatric euthanasia. Two Belgian legislators justify their plan to permit children to ask for their own mercy killing on the basis that young people “have as much right to choose” euthanasia as anyone else. Yet, these same children who are supposedly mature enough to decide to die would be ineligible to obtain a driver’s license. Why does accepting euthanasia as a remedy for suffering in very limited circumstances inevitably lead to never-ending expansion of the killing license? Blame the radically altered mindset that results when killing is redefined from a moral wrong into a beneficent and legal act. If killing is right for, say the adult cancer patient, why shouldn’t it be just as right for the disabled quadriplegic, the suicidal mother whose children have been killed in an accident, or the infant born with profound mental retardation? At that point, laws and regulations erected to protect the vulnerable against

Wesley J. Smith

abuse come to be seen as obstructions that must be surmounted. From there, it is only a hop, skip, and a jump to deciding that killing is the preferable option. Wesley J. Smith is a senior fellow at the Discovery Institute, an attorney for the International Task Force on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide, and a special consultant to the Center for Bioethics and Culture. His next book, Consumer’s Guide to a Brave New World will be released this month. We give shut-ins and handicapped people an opportunity for monthly mass, lunch and general fellowship.

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October 1, 2004

Respect Life ❖ Sunday October 3, 2004 ❖ Made in His Image Human dignity in the ‘vegetative’ state By Richard M. Doerflinger On Christmas Eve, 1999, the family of Patricia White Bull in Albuquerque, New Mexico received an unexpected gift. After 16 years in a supposedly irreversible “vegetative state,” Mrs. White Bull began to speak (The Washington Times, January 5, 2000, p. A3). Mrs. White Bull’s story is not unique. In recent years, a number of patients have unexpectedly recovered from the “vegetative” state a dimly understood condition in which patients have sleep/wake cycles, but do not seem aware of themselves or their environment. The term “persistent vegetative state” was coined in 1972. Physicians said then that patients with this diagnosis had no consciousness or sensation, and could not recover once they had remained in this state for a certain number of months. The latest findings contradict all this. It turns out that patients diagnosed as being in a “vegetative” state may have significant brain waves, and substantial parts of the upper brain may be alive and functioning. On March 20, 2004, Pope John Paul II

delivered an important speech in which he clarified and reaffirmed our moral obligation to provide normal care to these patients, including the food and fluids they need to survive. Here the Holy Father made several points: 1. No living human being ever descends to the status of a “vegetable” or an animal. “Even our brothers and sisters who find themselves in the clinical condition of a ‘vegetative state’ retain their human dignity in all its fullness.” The Church insists that “the value of a man’s life cannot be made subordinate to any judgment of its quality expressed by other men.” 2. In principle, food and fluids (even if medically assisted, as in tube feeding) are part of that normal care. Such feeding, he said, is “a natural means of preserving life, not a medical act.” Even incurable patients have a right to basic care. 3. This judgment does not change when the “vegetative” state is diagnosed as “persistent” or unlikely to change: “The evaluation of probabilities, founded on waning hopes for recovery when the vegetative state is prolonged beyond a year, cannot ethically justify the ces-

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Terri Schiavo smiles at her mother Mary Schindler. The Florida Supreme Court ruled Sept. 23 that a law preventing Terri’s death by dehydration and starvation was unconstitutional.

sation or interruption of minimal care for the patient, including nutrition and hydration.” 4. Deliberate withdrawal of food and fluids to produce a premature death can be a form of euthanasia, that is, unjust killing. “Death by starvation or dehydration is, in fact, the only possible outcome as a result of their withdrawal. In this sense it ends up becoming, if done knowingly and willingly, true and proper euthanasia by omission.” 5. The obligation to provide assisted feeding lasts only as long as such feeding meets its goals of providing nourishment and alleviating suffering. 6. We must not forget the needs of families caring for a loved one in a “vegetative” state and reach out to give them assistance so they will not face their burdens alone.

The Pope’s speech responds to a serious moral and legal problem that has divided families, ethical advisors, and courts in the United States and elsewhere. Patients and families, like others involved in medical decisions, need to understand that while specific medical procedures may at times become useless or burdensome, this can never be said of human persons themselves. Caring for loved ones who may never be able to respond or thank us for our faithfulness could be the ultimate test of our commitment to a culture of life. Richard M. Doerflinger is Deputy Director of the Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

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We are made in the image of God “The value of the life of a human being cannot be subjected to a judgement on its quality as expressed by other human beings” John Paul II

Catholic San Francisco

October 1, 2004

Respect Life ❖

Sunday October

3, 2004 ❖ Made in His Image

A call to effective action: When being right is not enough to teach me the primary importance of translating my reverence for all human life into concrete, Christ-like action. It simply is not enough for any Christian to say that we are “for life” unless we are willing to provide the practical means to support it. This heartfelt conviction is lived out every day in the courageous, sacrificial actions of our 40,000 Nurturing Network volunteer members worldwide. The simple but profound truth is that there is no efficient or effective substitute for the private, personal, time-intensive conversations that translate beyond words into the most life-saving message of all, “You are a beloved child of God. No matter what mistake you may have made or sin you may have committed, you are infinitely valuable and precious in God’s sight.” These are the healing words that will help build a genuine and lasting culture of life.

By Mary Cunningham Agee At this pivotal time in our nation’s history, many of us are struggling with the question of how to more effectively promote a culture of life. Even if recent legislative victories and polling data suggest we are doing enough, it’s clear we fall far short of the “civilization of love” and “culture of life” about which Pope John Paul II speaks and writes so eloquently. Christ taught us to speak with our actions as well as our words. He taught us to show empathy, respect and love for our audience by adapting our message to their unique needs and circumstances. In each of His parables, He showed us how to engage an audience where they are. He bore witness to the truth through His actions one soul at a time. He repeatedly expressed His love through concrete, tangible actions. He refused to keep a safe distance from His subject whether in word or action. As good communicators with a message that desperately needs to be heard, we have no choice but to engage our audience where they are. In a culture in which women often have been abused by men through coerced abortion, divorce and desertion, would one generally expect men to be effective in demanding that a woman place the needs of an unborn child ahead of her own? A new voice is called for, just as different words are needed. We should focus more on presenting moving personal testimonies from real women who have confronted the painful consequences of living in a culture of death. By allowing their anguished voices to be heard, the falsehoods lurking behind the “choice” rhetoric can be exposed. By permitting their tears to be seen and their broken hearts exposed, it will become obvious that women do “deserve better” than abortion. We cannot afford to overlook the fact that it is the mother who is being asked to accept the economic hardship, social embarrassment and physical sacrifice of her unplanned pregnancy. It is the mother in crisis who must hear compassionate words and credible offers of assistance if she is to persevere on the lonely path of protecting the life of her unborn child. This awareness is what caused my professional life to take a sudden detour two decades ago to a modest office as founder and managing director of an international charity.

Mary Cunningham Agee of the Nurturing Network.

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Saturday, December 11th Christmas Rememberance Service (No Mass) Officiating, Rev. John Talesfore, Director of Worship All Saints Mausoleum Chapel – 11:00 a.m. (Photo courtesy of Ron Horne)

Catholic San Francisco

October 1, 2004

Catholic san Francisco Northern California’s Weekly Catholic Newspaper

Guest Commentary How will we feed Africa? By Rev. Michael Oluwatuyi Environmental activists are spending millions of dollars in their campaign to ban genetically modified (GM) foods, while millions of Africans starve. Activists seem to believe that ideology is a good substitute for bread on the table, but they need to understand some simple truths. Human activity is based on living a healthy life. Sufficient food is the first requirement for health, which gives people the strength to flourish and live productive lives. Hunger and undernourishment undermine human society, retard education, and destroy human social capital, which in turn brings technological change and economic growth to a grinding halt. Unfortunately, this has been Africa’s story for decades. Today more than 25 African countries are facing food emergencies with severe cases of starvation in some places. This rampant hunger leaves people more susceptible to illness, especially pregnant women and nursing mothers. In turn, newborns often come into the world underweight and sickly, and this can affect their health throughout their lives. Investment and risk-taking are essential for economic growth, but people who live on the edge of starvation are unlikely candidates to start businesses, engage in trade and follow other pursuits of the entrepreneur. People who live on the edge of starvation operate in survival mode, and the last thing they can contemplate is a risk of losing their meager earnings. Along with widespread suffering and illness, starvation of a population adversely affects prosperity and economic growth. In spite of all the problems directly associated with hunger, environmentalists continue their attacks on genetically modified foods in many parts of the world, especially in Nigeria. The refrain has been “No to GM food” and “We would rather die than eat genetically modified food.” This is coming from the anti-GM activists who themselves are doing fine, while so many Africans are languishing from malnutrition. Genetically modified organisms have been a fact of life in food production since man moved away from a hunter-gatherer subsistence way of life. The first conscious effort at genetic modification in agriculture is attributed to the 19th-century Austrian monk Gregor Mendel, who systematically crossbred sweet peas. Genetic modification helps transfer desired traits between plants more quickly and accurately than is possible in conventional breeding. Modifications usually involve changing one gene of the 30,000- to 50,000-odd genes that make up an organism. Many of the problems facing agriculture in Africa are associated with land degradation, low farm yield and a profusion of crop diseases. Take, for instance, fungus that prevents photosynthesis or nematodes that destroy crop roots — a pest now affecting the Ugandan banana. But with new GM foods technology, we could achieve beneficial crop variation that would be suitable for diverse and low growing locations. Unfortunately, all this is in doubt because of anti-technology activists who often rely on the doctrine of the “precautionary principle” to deny the world’s poor the benefit of any invention — thereby aggravating their predicament. Biotechnology promises great benefits for both producers and consumers of agricultural products, particularly in Africa. It has the potential to speed up the development and deployment of improved crops and animals. Marker-assisted selection, for instance, increases the efficiency of laboratory-based conventional plant breeding by allowing rapid analysis of thousands of possible outcomes without the need to grow plants to maturity in the field. The techniques of tissue culture allow the rapid multiplication of clean planting materials of vegetatively propagated species for distribution to farmers. The World Health Organization (WHO) has asserted that GM foods currently available on the international market have passed risk assessments and are not likely to present risks for human health. In addition, the WHO has detected no negative effects on human health as a result of consumption of such foods. In fact, GM has been subjected to more rigorous testing and trial than its conventionally bred counterparts, and is safe for consumers. The evidence from WHO has failed to assuage anti-biotech activists. Even when farmers use biotech to produce products merely to feed their families, antibiotech activists would condemn that. Green activists have been spending a lot to deny people the benefits of biotech. The anti-GM movement spent $500 million between 1996 and 2001. Half a billion dollars would have gone a long way toward feeding the malnourished men, women and children in Africa. Instead, the money was wasted on activities that have no economic benefit to Africans. African agriculture is facing the growing encroachment of urbanization, industrial expansion and an expanding transport infrastructure. Deforestation and the cultivation of fragile ecosystems also are leading to soil degradation. Genetically modified food technology can help us cope with these problems, and should be encouraged. To deny life-saving biotechnology to the people who need it most in Nigeria and other parts of Africa is tantamount to denying them the opportunity to live a decent and healthy life, much less enjoy the economic development that is necessary to advance a nation. Embracing biotech is one of the best ways to end hunger in Africa. In doing so we affirm the innate dignity of all people, all of whom bear “the image of the invisible God.” Rev. Michael Oluwatuyi, an Anglican pastor, is program officer at the Institute of Public Policy Analysis in Lagos, Nigeria. Originally written for the Acton Institute and reprinted with permission.

Great Catholic life

Good review, bad review

Thank you for the wonderful profile on Coralis Salvador by Tom Burke, “This Catholic Life.” (CSF – Sept. 17) We need to have more profiles of selfless people who have chosen to dedicate their lives to serving the poorest of the poor. I first met Coralis through “Centering Prayer” and prayed with her while she discerned whether God was calling her in this direction. Coralis has decided to “re-up” for another three year commitment working with AIDS orphans in Mombassa. Through her I feel a very personal connection with these orphans. Those who wish to support her work can write to Maryknoll Mission Association of the Faithful, P.O. Box 307, Maryknoll, N.Y. 10545-9919. Be assured that money sent to support Coralis’ work goes 100 percent to her work in Kenya. George Biniek San Francisco

I enjoyed Fr. Rolheiser’s review of “The Da Vinci Code,” (CSF – Sept. 17) which was very timely to share with friends who are relishing its contents as established truth, but I am really puzzled that Fr. Rolheiser rates “Zorba the Greek” as an excellent movie. Details aside, when the film was shown in Greece, the audience stood up and hissed. Mary Pecci San Francisco

Pain awareness An interesting story hit the local newspapers last week. It said that Federal regulators just filed a complaint against UCSF alleging grave violations of the Animal Welfare Act. Violations included “such startling surgical procedures as cutting into a monkey’s skull without providing pain relief.” Animal activists cried, “Stop animal suffering!” Cut to Judge Casey’s New York courtroom during the recent trial which ruled the ban on partial birth abortion unconstitutional. The transcript reads that “when the fetal skull is crushed during the abortion, the procedure subjects fetuses to severe pain without anesthesia.” Abortion activists cried, “Uphold women’s reproductive rights!” Perhaps the newly-introduced federal “Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act” will extend to our children the same consideration we give to laboratory animals. Vicki Evans Larkspur

Amen for beauty

Catholic San Francisco welcomes letters from its readers. Please:

➣ Include your name, address and daytime phone number. ➣ Sign your letter. ➣ Limit submissions to 250 words. ➣ Note that the newspaper reserves the right to edit for clarity and length. Send your letters to: Catholic San Francisco One Peter Yorke Way San Francisco, CA 94109 Fax: (415) 614-5641 E-mail: mhealy@catholic-sf.org

“Campaign ’04: Candidates take different approaches to unilateralism” (CSF – Sept. 17) was totally improvident as a topic for our Catholic weekly newspaper. Furthermore, it was factually deceitful in various particulars and postulation. The article addressed itself preponderantly to an effort to campaign for John Kerry. The pretentious and politically correct authorities quoted mistake a basic fact in support of their contention. President Bush did not commence the Iraq war on terror unilaterally. He sought and requested cooperation from many nations. A large number of nations acceded to that urging. He requested cooperation from France and Germany, which only refused to assist because of oil profits they and United Nations leadership were receiving from the Iraqi dictator. The United States thoroughly explored and sought aid from all nations. It was not sagacious nor foresighted that the world and our nation had an obligation to grant a veto power to France and Germany for action in the better interest of this nation and the world. Conrad Goerl Fairfax

L E T T E R S

My Amen and thank you to Father Rolheiser for his article, “Beauty as God’s Language.” (CSF – Sept. 24). It reminds me of “A Prayer for Insight” I found recently in our Mass book: “Days pass and years vanish and we walk sightless among the miracles. Lord, fill our eyes with seeing and our minds with knowing. Let there be moments when your presence, like lightening, illuminates the darkness in which we walk. Help us to see, wherever we gaze, that the bush burns unconsumed. And we, clay touched by God, will reach out for holiness and exclaim in wonder, ‘How filled with awe is this place, and we did not know it.’” I know that without the beauty of God’s creation, my eighty plus years would have been very empty. I know I have walked blindly many times and missed what Father Rolheiser and this prayer tell us has always been present. I have memorized this prayer and it has given me such joy and I do try to see more clearly. Agnes De Patta San Rafael

Letters welcome

Bush sought cooperation

Bigger issues

The article, “Campaign ’04. . .” (CSF – Sept. 17) headline suggests that the two major candidates for President “take different approaches” to what is described as “unilateralism.” But a careful reading of the article suggests there is no clear line of demarcation. The alternative to “unilateralism” according to two of the authorities cited is “multilateralism,” a term which they suggest means recourse to the U.N. Security Council. The initial draft of the U.N. Charter called for five permanent members of the Security Council, the vote of perhaps three or four being necessary for any Security Council action. Stalin found this unacceptable and demanded unanimity of all members before the Council could act, meaning a single negative vote could immobilize the Council, as Stalin wanted. Regrettably the U.S. delegation acquiesced in the Soviet position. So “multilateralism” isn’t at all what your article suggests with regard to the Security Council. Unilateral action on behalf of any one permanent Security Council member can frustrate the multilateral wishes of all other Security Council member no matter how just their cause. But there are other critical issues in the forthcoming election. The person holding the office of President will, in all likelihood, be able to nominate at least three justices to the U.S. Supreme Court. Will they be jurists who respect the legislative, initiative and referendum processes in this country? Or will they be jurists who will use the Constitution as a sword, rather than a shield, to deprive the unborn and the partially born of life; to deny the elderly protection from those who wish to hasten death? Will they be jurists who will seek constitutional grounds to equate homosexual relationships as marriage? Catholics should be presented with the full scope of issues so they can weigh their importance when one conflicts with another. Paul Hupf Daly City

October 1, 2004

Catholic San Francisco

The Catholic Difference John Allen is my friend, so I’m a suspect witness in his case. Still, like FDR at his first inaugural, “let me assert my firm belief” that Allen, the National Catholic Reporter’s man in Rome, is the best English-language Vatican reporter ever. Allen may not have the theological sophistication of the late “Xavier Rynne,” Fr. Francis X. Murphy, C.SS.R.; but neither does he spin everything in the liberal/conservative terms that Rynne/Murphy ruinously invented. And Allen is immeasurably superior to the late Peter Hebblethwaite, the Englishman who did more to distort the meaning of John Paul II in the Anglosphere than anyone else. Allen’s new book, All the Pope’s Men: The Inside Story of How the Vatican Really Thinks (Doubleday), is an interesting read for Vatican amateurs and veterans alike; it’s particularly effective in dispelling what he calls the “top five myths about the Vatican.” The first of these is that there is, in fact, one entity that can be understood as “the” Vatican. The second myth is that “there is a computer terminal deep within the Apostolic Palace and whoever’s at the keyboard is running the Church.” The third myth is that an ultrasecretive Vatican is impenetrable to reporters and scholars. The fourth is that the Vatican is fabulously wealthy. And the fifth myth is that the Vatican is dominated by careerists who live by the motto, “Have ladder, will climb.” As helpful as this demythologizing is, though, it was the tail end of All the Pope’s Men that really caught my attention. After reviewing the difficult period in U.S.Vatican relations in the year or so before the Iraq War, John Allen offers this arresting paragraph:

“Though no Pope and no Vatican diplomat will ever come out and say so, the bottom line is that despite great respect for the American people and their democratic traditions, the Holy See simply does not think the United States is fit to run the world. As a country it is too rich, too narcissistic, too shortsighted and voluble, too young, to be entrusted with the quasi-unfettered power that twentiethcentury history entrusted to it. To be sure, there aren’t many countries around that the Holy See would approve for such a role...[and] if the Vatican had to choose between a world run from Washington, D.C., and one run from Islamabad, or Beijing, there’s little doubt they would opt for Washington. Yet that doesn’t strike most Vatican thinkers as an especially appetizing choice. Thus the Holy See’s diplomatic energy in coming years will have as a central aim the construction of a multilateral, multipolar world...” That strikes me as about right: the general view in the Holy See is that the U.S. isn’t fit to run the world. What some Vatican diplomats and thinkers might not realize, though, is that most Americans agree: moreover, most Americans aren’t terribly interested in running the world. But Americans have come to understand, however reluctantly, that power, like nature, abhors a vacuum. Perhaps no one can, or should, “run the world.” But someone will take the lead in shaping world politics. That someone can’t be the United Nations as presently configured. And it can’t be those western European countries who are reviving the failed appeasement strategies of the 1930s. Absent

American leadership, the world will not be calm and orderly; the world will be chaotic – lethally chaotic. John Allen concludes by arguing that “despite strong agreement on a George Weigel host of issues, the relationship between Rome and Washington seems destined to be complex and sometimes strained.” That, too, is probably right, and it raises yet another question for Catholic voters this year. A Kerry administration would align the U.S. against the Vatican on a host of international moral issues: family-planning; abortion as an “international human right;” the best response to the AIDS pandemic in Africa; the legal definition of marriage. Holy See officials may deplore what they call (rather inaccurately) the Bush administration’s “unilateralism;” but Washington and the Vatican are on the same side of the life issues in world politics, as they are on international religious freedom. Which administration is more likely to facilitate the crucial dialogue between the world’s leading political power and the world’s leading moral authority?

And if you didn’t resist, and if you’re still struggling with the temptation that’s as close as the flickering screen and mouse on your desk, what can you do? First, you can stop listening to the voices in our culture and in your head that try to convince you pornography is harmless. It’s not. Anything that we see affects us, and things we see habitually affect us even more. When you give in to the temptation to view pornography, you’re opening yourself up to a view of sexuality and the human body that has absolutely nothing — and I mean nothing — to do with the reality of what God created all those parts and feelings for. Pornographic sex is all about recreation, lust and seeing people as objects. Sex as God created it is about relationships, love and human beings as whole creatures — body and soul. When you expose yourself to pornographic sex, you’re basically training your mind and body to see sex pornographically. That doesn’t prepare you for seeing sex in the right way. It doesn’t prepare you to be in relationships with real people. It doesn’t prepare you for real love. It doesn’t prepare you for happiness. I suspect that you already know all of this, but the struggle to resist isn’t in your mind — it’s in your body and your will. What do you do about that?

You have to treat this like any other temptation. You have to recognize the sinful and harmful nature of what you’re being tempted to do. You need to get really brave and confess what Amy Welborn you’ve done. You need to welcome the grace that comes from the sacrament of reconciliation and build on it. And then you have to take some big steps. Maybe you have to ban yourself from the computer for a time. Maybe you need to think of something else to do every time you get tempted: Get out of the computer room, and go talk to real people. Take a walk. Pray. Do something creative. Whatever you decide, remember: Resisting this kind of temptation is tough. God wants you to overcome it and he’s here to help. God knows what will bring you real, lasting happiness.

George Weigel is a senior fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C.

Coming of Age

Why not porn? Why not porn? A shocking opening to some, I’m sure, but I’m not writing this for them. I’m writing it for kids. Most of the kids I’ve known have no trouble at all speaking openly and easily about topics like that. Why not porn? It’s everywhere, after all, mostly on the Internet. If you have computer-impaired parents (which many do), it’s a cinch to get access to pornography sites. Ah, the parent who thinks he’s not computer-impaired and who doesn’t think he has to worry. “Don’t you have to have a credit card to access those sites?” Well, sort of. Let’s just say that any teen-ager can see enough to satisfy his or her curiosity on the pages that come before the pages that require credit cards and age verification. But I digress. I’m wondering if you who are teens have been tempted by Internet pornography. If you resisted, I’m wondering why. If you didn’t, I’m wondering about that too. I have no doubt, however, that no matter what you did about that temptation, you know, deep in your heart and soul, that pornography is simply bad news. You sense that it’s degrading, disrespectful and can’t possibly have a positive effect on your life in the long run. That’s why you resisted. That’s why you feel guilty if you didn’t.

Amy Welborn’s columns have appeared in Our Sunday Visitor, www.CatholicExchange.com and Catholic News Service. Her most recent book is “de-coding Da Vinci.”

Spirituality

Offering sanctuary for sadness The church today, at least in the West, it is not a very happy place. Gone are the wonder and the joy of being young, the innocent laughter that so characterizes us when we’re still pre-neurotic. There’s a middle-aged heaviness to the church today, a certain sadness. We’re grieving a lot of things: What are we grieving? In essence, four things: i) a lost innocence, ii) a lost unity, iii) a lost child, and iv) a lost wholeness among the people. At a more obvious level, we are grieving a certain lost innocence. We feel this as we experience the recent scandals within the church, sexual misconduct by some clergy, financial impropriety and abuse of power by some church leaders, and other things that have helped shatter the image of the church as the unsullied bride of Christ that can do no wrong and has done no wrong. Recent studies in church history have also helped highlight this by showing that the church’s long history of grace is coloured too by a long history of sin. But, painful as this is, this is not what’s most dampening the soul of the church. Less visible, less expressed, but more wounding, is the sense of having lost a certain security, namely, the security of knowing that we were the moral high ground, that we were the cognitive and moral majority, that our virtues were real, and that our ethical beliefs and cherished ways of

doing things really did separate right from wrong. Until recently we didn’t have to ask ourselves if we were racist, imperialist, sexist, narrow, bigoted. Today we’re a lot less sure of those things. Maybe it isn’t a bad thing to lose all of that certainty, but it’s hardly a joyful thing. We’ve lost our innocence, our moral virginity. That doesn’t come without sadness. Beyond this, we are grieving a painful division within the church and society. I doubt there has ever been a time since the reformation that the Church has been so painfully polarized and emotionally divided. In many places, in fact, we have two emotional communities, so divided are we by ecclesiology, theology, ideology, and spirituality. We live in an emotional apartheid, separated by ideology and ecclesiology just as surely and rigidly as if this was mandated by law. Such is the church today and such too is society today. We are a deeply divided community. Division of course is not new. Christ said that he would bring fire to the earth and that this would divide people from each other. His promise has held true, except that today that the division is not between the sincere and the insincere, the good and the bad, the committed and the non-committed. Today, too often, the sincere are divided from the sincere, the good from the good, the committed from the committed. When good people can no longer be in community with

each other and can no longer even speak respectfully with each other, the result is always sadness and anger (and anger is just another form of sadness). Small wonder that our churches and comFather munities are not always Ron Rolheiser happy places. Beyond our internal divisions, we are too grieving a lost child, our child, secularity. Perhaps this can best be explained in an image: Western culture is to us, the church, much like an adolescent child is to its parents. We gave it birth, helped raise it, and now, with a fierceness and anger that do not seem justifiable, it is asserting its independence from us, accusing us of being bad parents, and claiming it can find life only by moving away from us (all without acknowledging its debt to us). Like parents too we fear for its safety even as we envy its youth, confidence, power, and daring and resent its independence. Like parents ROLHEISER, page 15

JOHN EARLE PHOTO

The Vatican and the United States

Catholic San Francisco

October 1, 2004

TWENTY-SEVENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME Habakkuk 1:2-3, 2:2-4; Psalm 95:1-2, 6-7, 8-9; 2 Timothy 1:6-8, 13-14; Luke 17:5-10 A READING FROM THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET HABAKKUK (HAB 1:2-3; 2:2-4) How long, O Lord? I cry for help but you do not listen! I cry out to you, “Violence!” but you do not intervene. Why do you let me see ruin; why must I look at misery? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and clamorous discord. Then the Lord answered me and said: Write down the vision clearly upon the tablets, so that one can read it readily. For the vision still has its time, presses on to fulfillment, and will not disappoint; If it delays, wait for it, it will surely come, it will not be late. RESPONSORIAL PSALM (PS 95:1-2, 6-7, 8-9) R. If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts. Come, let us bow down in worship; let us acclaim the Rock of our salvation. Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us joyfully sing psalms to him. R. If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts. Come, let us bow down in worship; let us kneel before the Lord who made us. For he is our God, and we are the people he shepherds, the flock he guides. R. If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts. Oh, that today you would hear his voice: “Harden not your hearts as at Meribah, as in the day of Massah in the desert, where your fathers tempted me; they tested me though they had seen my works.” R. If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.

A READING FROM THE SECOND LETTER OF SAINT PAUL TO TIMOTHY (2 TM 1:6-8, 13-14) Beloved: I remind you to stir into flame the gift of God that you have through the imposition of my hands. For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but rather of power and love and selfcontrol. So do not be ashamed of your testimony to our Lord, nor of me, a prisoner for his sake; but bear your share of hardship for the gospel with the strength that comes from God. Take as your norm the sound words that you heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. Guard this rich trust with the help of the holy Spirit that dwells within us. A READING FROM THE HOLY GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE (LK 17:5-10) The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith.” The Lord replied, “If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you would say to (this) mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you. “Who among you would say to your servant who has just come in from plowing or tending sheep in the field, ‘Come here immediately and take your place at table’? Would he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare something for me to eat. Put on your apron and wait on me while I eat and drink. You may eat and drink when I am finished’? Is he grateful to that servant because he did what was commanded? So should it be with you. When you have done all you have been commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants; we have done what we were obliged to do.’”

Questions About the Mass Q. We have two questions about the As time went on and the practical value Mass. Why does the priest wash his of these actions declined, more spiritual hands at the Offertory? That seems meanings were attached. As the prayers unnecessary. Also, why put water into accompanying them in our present liturgy the wine? What significance does that indicate, the mixture of water with the wine have? is said to symbolize the joining of our A. Both of these cerehuman nature (water) with the divine nature monies once had a pragof Christ (wine), and the hand washing matic usefulness in expresses the priest’s the liturgy. Even desire for forgiveness. though their former The long history significance no longer of the liturgy reveals applies, the actions much similar interbecame so imbedded in the esting information. Mass that they continue, As just one more even today, but with differ- Father John Dietzen instance, for many cenent meanings. turies the priest at Mass Most Catholics are aware, I believe, wore what was called a maniple. that the gifts presented at the Offertory Originally this was a sort of combination were once much more earthy than now. handkerchief and napkin to dry perspiraThe faithful presented not only money or tion or to wipe one’s mouth at meals. bread and wine for the Eucharist. Also Often, as with a Roman toga for examcommon were gifts such as produce, ple, a man’s clothing had no pockets, so baked goods, perhaps meat or fish and the cloth was fastened on the arm or carother foods, particularly for the needs of ried in the hand. (According to the the poor and the church’s ministers. The Oxford Dictionary, the word “maniple” priest needed his hands washed after han- derives from two Latin words meaning dling all those offerings. hand and full, something carried in the Similarly, in the past wines were typi- hand.) Since the same was true for the cally not so refined and pure as they are clothing and special garb commonly used now. This was especially true of wines for in the liturgy, a cloth like this became part daily consumption, which would have of what a priest usually wore at Mass. been the wine usually used for Mass. As time went on and the maniple no For this reason, wines generally were longer had this practical use, it remained as mixed with water to soften some of the a cloth, the liturgical color of the day, bitterness or impurities, or to reduce the pinned over the priest’s left arm. Various wine’s alcoholic effect. Dilution of wine spiritual interpretations were attached to it. with water prevails even to this day in The maniple is now officially eliminated some cultures. as part of the priest’s vestments for Mass.

QUESTION CORNER

Scripture FATHER GERARD O’ROURKE

The power of a faith-filled life The great theme of Faith flows through all the Readings for this Sunday. It begins with the Habakkuk Reading. Habakkuk is listed as one of the “minor” prophets. However he does not read like or sound like a minor anything in this Reading, let alone a prophet! Here he is, in this Reading, taking on the Lord! He is complaining directly to God! “I cry for help but you do not listen!” These are tough times in Northern Israel. This is tough language, the language of a true person of Faith. Violence and destruction are everywhere. He could be speaking from Baghdad or Beslan or Darfur or Kabul or Gaza or from any one of the countless spots in our world today where ongoing violence or terror are on the loose. Violence is not an easy subject for us poor humans and it never seems to go away. Yet we must continue to deal with it. Sometimes we must deal with it in our own lives and hearts and even in our close relationships. So what does the Lord answer Habakkuk and us? God reaffirms in us our faith and trust in the face of violence. God says that faith and trust will not disappoint. Our faith and trust will fulfill the great vision that is inherent in the gift of God’s faith to us. God asserts that there is no integrity in succumbing to violence. Always resort to faith! St. Paul, in the second Reading, is calling on his young and trusted disciple, Timothy, to take on his work with enthusiasm and courage. It is great stuff, for Timothy is now a bishop who is being mightily challenged in his work. I imagine that many bishops in our world today must deeply resonate with the challenges faced by Timothy. St. Paul calls on him to remember his ordination “through the imposition of my hands” and the commitment he made when he received the empowerment of ordination. Once again for us all, as in the first Reading, we are encouraged with Timothy to take on as his “norm” to embrace “the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.” St. Paul, at this time, is facing and living a tough time in prison in Rome. Much of his letter to Timothy is a last testament to his life as an apostle “by the will of God.” So he reaches out to Timothy and indeed to all of us with words of reassurance and encouragement in the face of any and all dangers and fears. His words emphasize and underline the power of the word of God. They are wonderful words to enliven

and renew in Timothy’s heart and ours also the gifts of faith and love for the tasks ahead. The words of St. Paul are also a powerful foreword to the Gospel Reading from Luke. The Apostles, like ourselves, have an anxiety about faith at this time. Faith is a grace and gift from God to us. It is a totally unmerited gift that gives us “assurance of things hoped for and conviction of things not seen.” (Letter to the Hebrews; 11:1) Jesus had just spoken to the Apostles. He spoke about not scandalizing young people and about the necessity of forgiveness at all times among Apostles and his followers. These challenges had hit them hard, as indeed it should hit all of us. So they beg Jesus to increase their faith! Jesus counters with a challenge referring to the great inherent power of faith that transcends any petty thoughts about it. Even a tiny piece of faith, like the tiny mustard seed, is capable of great, stunning and magnificent results and actions! Then Jesus points to the real source of power in faith and a faith-filled life. It is sourced and grounded in a life of service and the spirit of service. It is doing over and over again the things that we know to be central to our life as Christians. It is continuing to do these actions over and over again. It is living our faith in our daily lives. It is living generously as a Christian. It is caring for the needs of one another. It is especially caring for the needs of our loved ones. It is living as people of prayer. It is consistently reaching out to God in loving conversation. It is being silent in the presence of the God who loves us, praying and being with God in the silence of our hearts. It is persevering with patience in serving the needs of family and community. It is serving in all of these ways no matter what the circumstances. It is not making a big deal about our service. Thus, we will inspire one another by doing our duty; just like Jesus pointed to, in the Gospel Reading! Father Gerard O’Rourke is Director Emeritus of the Office of Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs for the Archdiocese of San Francisco.

Paul in prison (detail) – Rembrandt

October 1, 2004

Catholic San Francisco

Catholics, Politics & Abortion My argument with Mario Cuomo This teasing way of letting his listeners know that he was aware that this argument and option were open to him was, in fact, Cuomo’s way of telling them the option was Listening to Democratic presidential nominee John merely private - a “prudential” judgment that no one could Kerry talk about his position on abortion (“We believe that make for him. But his words led not a few in his audience what matters most is...not narrow appeals that divide us, to assume that he would use his influence to modify his but shared values that unite us...”), I hear loudly in the party’s embrace of abortion on demand, should the opporbackground the sonorous voice of Mario Cuomo, our foretunity arise. God knows, he had his chances. most “philosopher-politician,” as the Boston Globe has In 1988, the Democrats dropped from their platform a lately crowned him. It is twenty years since Cuomo delivmild statement recognizing “the religious and ethical conered his famous speech at Notre Dame, in which he defined cerns which many Americans have about abortion.” Cuomo what has become the established rationale for prochoice said not a word of objection. At the 1992 convention in New Catholic politicians. In a recent New York Times op-ed York City, where the Clinton forces proclaimed the piece on Kerry and the Catholic bishops (“A Political Democrats the party of “the big tent,” Cuomo again stood Sacrament,” May 28, 2004), I dismissed that speech as a by as the Clintonites silenced the prolife Catholic governor piece of “ancient sophistry.” That brought a message from of Pennsylvania, Robert P. Casey. Casey, who was at least as the former governor of New York urging me to reexamine liberal as Cuomo and far more effective as a governor, had his words. And so I have. I have also tracked Cuomo’s asked to read a minority report challenging the platform’s statements on the abortion issue in this political season and endorsement of abortion as “a fundamental right” deserving discussed the matter with him by phone. of government funding. Instead, in introducing Clinton to A whole new generation-including Senator Kerry-has the convention, Cuomo twice denounced Republican oppocome of political age since 1984, when Cuomo’s speech sition to abortion. I was standing just behind Governor was seen as a defense not only of his own prochoice poliCasey’s empty seat when Cuomo brought the delegates to tics but also those of Geraldine Ferraro, a Catholic contheir feet in extended applause with this line: “We need a gresswoman from New York who was that year’s leader who will stop the Republican attempt, through laws Democratic candidate for vice president of the United and through the courts, to tell us what god to believe in and States. Since then, Cuomo’s apologia has been enshrined in how to apply that god’s judgment to our schoolrooms, our books by and about him, highlighted in recent histories of bedrooms, and our bodies.” Stripped of the overheated parAmerican Catholicism by John T. McGreevy and Peter tisan rhetoric, is this god he so derides not the same god Steinfels, and echoed by the forty-eight members of who privately instructs Cuomo the Catholic that abortion is Congress who recently asserted that “As Catholics we do “sinful”? Here we see the whole intent of Cuomo’s Notre not believe it is our role to legislate the teachings of the Dame speech - the spurious justification of a Catholic Catholic Church.” It is, then, a kind of benchmark statepolitician who wants it both ways. ment that is worth revisiting to see what his arguments When I spoke by phone with Cuomo in June, were and whether they hold up. I asked him why he did not deploy the same pasMario Cuomo, it should be recalled, served sion on behalf of abortion that he used in fighting three terms as governor of New York. In 1984 ‘Here we see the whole intent of Cuomo’s Notre the consensus - even in New York State - supthere was talk of his running for president evenporting capital punishment. “The argument I tually, which later he nearly did. In the month or Dame speech - the spurious justification of a made against capital punishment,” he said in so before his Notre Dame speech he was the quick reply, “was not a moral argument” (emphasubject of a flattering cover story in Newsweek, Catholic politician who wants it both ways.’ sis his). But the truth is that Cuomo never gave a to which I contributed a piece on Cuomo the speech that did not glisten with the sweat of Catholic. He had already been invited to Notre But what are we to make of Cuomo’s argument, first moral conviction, and his campaign against capital punishDame to speak on the relationship between religion and politics when he happened to catch a Sunday morning elaborated at Notre Dame, that there is no public “consen- ment was no exception. In One Electorate under God?, he interview with then-Archbishop John J. O’Connor on a sus” regarding abortion? I take it he meant-and still means- explains his opposition to state-sanctioned capital punishlocal New York City TV channel. Under questioning, that there is no political majority to support any restrictions ment: “I am against the death penalty because I think it is bad O’Connor said he could not see how a Catholic in good on public access to abortion, not to mention recriminaliza- and unfair. It is debasing. It is degenerate. It kills innocent conscience could support abortion rights. When asked if tion. Politically, he may be right. But how would Cuomo people.” That is exactly the kind of moral argument prolife excommunication should be leveled against any Catholic know since he has never mustered the political courage to people make against abortion and its funding by government. Neither logic nor consistency has been the hallmark of our politician who did, O’Connor said he’d have to think that test his own assumptions? In fact, there has long been a moral consensus regarding foremost “philosopher-politician.” He has convinced himself, over. A thicker-skinned politician might have let the comment pass, especially one so casually made. But Cuomo abortion that, if anything, now tilts toward the prolife posi- it seems to me, that “moral” arguments can proceed only from took it as a personal challenge. At Notre Dame he would tion. Indeed, if there were no such current running counter to what he calls religious “dogmas,” and thus cannot be used in Roe v. Wade, abortion would no longer be a political issue. making arguments in the public square. And this is precisely respond. In his speech, the governor declared that as a Catholic Even at the time of Cuomo’s Notre Dame speech, polls the kind of reasoning that sustains the pro-choice position of and as a matter of conscience, he regarded abortion as “sin- showed that while most Americans supported the right to this year’s most prominent Catholic politician, John Kerry. In my conversation with Cuomo, he impressed on me the ful.” But this, he insisted, was his “private” view as an “obe- abortion, pluralities of various sizes believed that abortion dient” Catholic raised in the “pre-Vatican II” church. As a should be restricted to the rare and so-called hard cases of need for a churchwide Catholic discussion of “When does politician and public official, however, Cuomo said, he was rape, incest, and immediate physical harm to the mother. A life begin?” According to biographer David Maraniss, Bill not obliged to work for laws that reflected Catholic “dog- 1987 study of why women have abortions, conducted by the Clinton once put the same question to a Baptist pastor, who mas,” citing among other examples the fact that the bishops prochoice Alan Guttmacher Institute, showed that most cited Genesis in assuring him that life begins - as it did for themselves no longer sought through laws to oblige non- women chose abortion for a mix of three reasons: giving birth Adam - at the first drawing of breath. But Catholics are not Catholics to observe church teachings on birth control. would interfere with work, school, or other responsibilities; biblical fundamentalists who can anchor abortion rights with While acknowledging that abortion is a graver moral issue lack of financial support; and lack of a relationship - or “rela- a biblical story. That would indeed be arguing abortion from than contraception, Cuomo further argued that it would be tionship problems” - with the father usually. By the middle a purely religious perspective. The Catholic argument is both wrong and impractical to seek laws restricting abor- 1990s, the number of women identifying themselves as pro- broader, advancing philosophical, political, and even biologtion. He gave two reasons. First, such laws would oblige life began to match those identifying as prochoice. Last year, ical warrants. I reminded Cuomo that a human embryo can non-Catholics and Catholics who disagree with the church’s a poll sponsored by another prochoice organization found never turn out to be a cat or dog, which is why the churchteachings on abortion, thereby violating their religious free- that 51 percent of women wanted abortion either not permit- wide discussion he wants would quickly prove moot. After reviewing Cuomo on the subject of abortion, it is dom: “We know that the price of seeking to force our beliefs ted or restricted to the hard cases. This April, a Zogby poll on others is that they might some day force theirs on us.” found that 56 percent of all Americans would abolish or clear to me where he stands. He is not sure that a developSecond, since there is no public consensus in support of severely restrict abortion rights - a figure that reached 60.5 ing fetus - never mind an embryo - is really human. The human “family” that he so often summons up in his politiantiabortion legislation, any efforts to pass such laws would percent among those eighteen to twenty-nine years of age. Given his celebrated intellect and powers of persuasion, cal rhetoric is not wide enough to include the unborn. be divisive and unenforceable: “The values derived from religious belief will not - and should not - be accepted as Cuomo might have nurtured this emerging moral consensus Catholics have every reason to repudiate the argument he part of the public morality unless they are shared by the plu- into political expression. In his Notre Dame speech he con- has bequeathed to prochoice politicians of both parties. ceded as much: “And surely, I can, if so inclined, demand ralistic community at large, by consensus.” At this point it is worth noting what Cuomo did not say, some kind of law against abortion not because my bishops Kenneth L. Woodward, for thirty-eight years the as well as what he did. Never once did he say that abortion say it is wrong but because I think that the whole commureligion editor, and now a contributing editor was evil, intrinsically or otherwise. Never once did he say nity, regardless of its religious beliefs, should agree on the at Newsweek, is the author, most recently, - as the bishops had, as he himself could have - that oppo- importance of protecting life - including life in the womb, of The Book of Miracles (Simon & Schuster). sition to abortion as a matter of public morality is a defense which is at the very least potentially human and should not Reprinted with permission from Commonweal. of the human rights of the unborn. Never once did he say be extinguished casually.”

By Kenneth L. Woodward

the abortion dispute is a disagreement over the scope of social justice. He did not say these things, and never has, I believe, because doing so would make his position difficult if not impossible to defend. He did not say these things, and never has, because, as I think his record makes clear, he does not believe them to be true. In his book, A People Adrift, Peter Steinfels has cautioned against twisting Cuomo’s argument “into the crude formula, ‘I am personally opposed to abortion but I don’t want to impose my view on others.’” In fact, Cuomo’s argument strikes me as even cruder than that. It says that his reasons for thinking abortion “sinful” are not only “private” but sectarian as well. Thus, while formally rejecting the notion that Catholic opposition to abortion on demand (another phrase he avoids) violates separation of church and state, Cuomo advances a rationale (the church has told him so) that bolsters the case for advancing just such a charge. It was, withal, a carefully crafted speech. Cuomo sought to defend both his docility toward church teachings and his right - indeed, his duty - to act against them. In a public dialogue on religion and American politics just published by the Brookings Institute (One Electorate under God?), Cuomo repeats the arguments he made at Notre Dame (applying them to church teachings on stemcell research as well) in order to defend his continuing support for unrestricted abortion rights. But as Robert P. George, a professor of jurisprudence at Princeton, points out in a devastating rebuttal, the fact that any religious body opposes the killing of the unborn - or owning slaves, or the exploitation of workers - does not mean that laws protecting the unborn, outlawing slavery, or requiring workers be paid a just wage violate the freedom of religion of those who do not accept those teachings.

Rolheiser . . .

Finally, we are grieving as well the grief of our people, our world. Western society is, in large measure, despondent and suffering from every kind of brokenness. Wholeness, it seems, is no longer the rule. More and more it’s the exception for someone to not come from a broken home, a broken marriage, a series of broken relationships, and an abusive background of some sort. We’re a society of the wounded, we bring this to our churches, and this colours church life. The tensions and sadness inside the church

■ Continued from page 13 too, we feel a certain sadness. The child has left home, rejecting many of our cherished values in that leave-taking. It is slipping away from us, daily becoming more postecclesial. To not feel a sadness about this is to lack in sensitivity and love.

reflect the tensions and sadness inside society as a whole. And so we are a grieving church, though that is not necessarily a bad thing. Tears can save us from bitterness and hardness of heart. So perhaps one of the important forms of sanctuary that the church can offer the world today is that of being a safe place where you can come and be sad. Oblate Father Ron Rolheiser is a theologian, teacher and award-winning author.

Catholic San Francisco

At St. Mary’s Cathedral Oct. 7: The annual Assumpta Award Dinner takes place Oct. 7, 2004 at the Cathedral. Honorees include Christian Brother Chris Brady and SFFD Chief Joanne Hayes White as well as retired Cathedral volunteer, Mary Hehir, and young adult Scott Moyer. For ticket information call Maryanne Murray at (415) 564-3846. Exposition of the Most Blessed Sacrament every First Friday after the 8:00 a.m. Mass Friday and continuing throughout the day and night until 7:45 a.m. Saturday with Morning Prayer and Benediction. (Exposition is suspended during scheduled Masses at 12:10 noon, 7:00 p.m. and 6:45 a.m. according to liturgical norms.) Join us as we pray for world peace, a culture of life, priests and the special intentions commended to our prayers. For more information or to volunteer please call (415) 567-2020 x224. Oct. 23: A chant conference, entitled “Singing Chant in the 21st Century,” from 1:00 pm to 7:00 pm.Topics will encompass the use of Latin chant in today’s liturgy, function and form in Gregorian Chant, a session on the proper texts and their performance, as well as a chant practicum. The day will culminate in a novus ordo Latin Mass at 5:30 pm, with Archbishop William Levada, presiding and music by the Cathedral Choir and the St. Anne’s Chapel Choir. The conference is co-sponsored by the Music Commission of the Archdiocese of San Francisco. The cost for the conference is $25.00. For more information, or to pre-register, please call the Cathedral Music Office at (415) 567-2020 ext 213, or email ctietze@stmarycathedralsf.org. Sundays: Concerts at 3:30 p.m. Call (415) 567-2020 ext. 213. Open to the public. Admission free. Oct. 10: David Hatt, organist. Oct. 17: Richard Riley, tenor.

Food & Fun Oct. 1, 2, 3: Mater Dolorosa Parish and School Festival featuring Prime Rib Dinner Sat. and games for a quarter. Fri. 3 – 10 p.m.; Sat. 11 a.m. – 10 p.m.; Sun. 1 p.m. – 8 p.m. Oct. 2, 3: St. Matthew Parish Carnival, 9th Ave. at El Camino Real, San Mateo. Old Country Fair theme with games entertainment, raffle, silent auction and “good ole fashion” food including chicken and tri-tip dinners. Sat. 9 a.m. – 6 p.m. and Sun. 9 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. Call (650) 344-7622. Oct. 2: Harvest Fest, an Arts and Crafts fair benefiting St. Matthias Preschool, Redwood City from 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. Local vendors – 20 – offer wonderful and creative items. Also a Bake Booth, Food Booth, Silent Auction and Raffle. Children’s area too. Call (650) 367-1320. Oct. 6: Catholic Networking Night, a support group for job seekers, at St. Dominic’s Church, 2390 Bush St. at Steiner, SF from 7 – 9 p.m. Exchange ideas and brush up on job search skills. Admission is free. Those attending are asked to bring a snack to share. Reservations are requested. Contact Connie at daura@ccwear.com or (415) 664-0164. Future meetings to be held Dec. 1. Oct. 8: A concert by Joey Albert and Company at St. Matthew Church, 9th Ave. at El Camino Real in San Mateo at 7 p.m. Benefits Medical Lending Missions and their work in the Philippines. Call (650) 766-1111. Oct 13: Monthly breakfast meeting of the Catholic Professional & Business Club. New members are always welcome! Takes place at SF City Club, 155 Sansome (at Bush). Today hear Joanne Hayes-White, San Francisco Fire Chief. Speakers discuss the challenges adults face when striving to live their vocations as Catholics in the working world. Monthly meetings include a full breakfast beginning at 7:00 a.m. Speaker program begins at 7:30 a.m. Cost is $20 for members,

Proclaiming Christ, Doing Justice, an annual Faith Formation Conference takes place Oct. 29, 30 at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, 99 Grove St., SF. Sponsored by the Archdiocese of San Francisco and the Diocese of San Jose, keynote speakers include Catholic San Francisco columnist Oblate Father Richard Rolheiser. In a letter promoting the event, Archbishop William J. Levada said workshops will be “engaging, informative and practical for those in catechetical ministry.” San Jose Bishop Patrick J. McGrath said “the theme merges the call to share our faith in Christ with our responsibility to pursue justice in our world and local communities.” Tickets are $25 per day. Call the Office of Religious Education and Youth Ministry at (415) 614-5650.

October 1, 2004 coffey@eesclaw.com; Leanne Guth Chapman at chapman@stanne.com; Jana Serezlis at janaser@hotmail.com. If without Internet access, contact Leonor Pokorny at St. Agnes rectory at (415) 487-8560.

Datebook

Prayer Opportunities/Lectures Oct. 2, 9: The Office of Worship announces training days for lectors, Oct. 9, and extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion, Oct. 2, at Our Lady of Mercy Church, One Elmwood Dr., Daly City, from 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. Expert instruction offered in basic liturgical theology, spirituality and practice. $10 registration. Call Pat Vallez-Kelly at (415) 614-5585 or vallezkellyp@sfarchdiocese.org. 2nd Sat.: Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur offer Saturday Morning Prayer 9:30 – 11:30 at their Province Center, 1520 Ralston Ave. across from Ralston Hall on their university campus in Belmont. Call (650) 593-2045, ext. 350. This year’s theme is the Beatitudes: Becoming Beatitude People.

Consolation Ministry

Holy Cross Cemetery, Colma welcomes the faithful to Mass each first Saturday of the month in All Saints Mausoleum at 11 a.m. Leading song Sept. 4th was the Samoan Choir from Our Lady of Lourdes Parish, San Francisco, here with their families and pastor, Father Kirk Ullery, who presided at the liturgy. Upcoming prayer opportunities at Holy Cross Cemetery include the annual Todos Los Santos outdoor Mass Oct. 30th; All Souls Day Mass, Nov. 2nd; First Saturday Mass Nov. 6th; Veteran’s Day outdoor Memorial Service Nov. 11th; First Saturday Mass Dec. 4th; and a Christmas Remembrance Service Dec. 13th. All begin at 11 a.m. Call (650) 756-2060. $27 for non-members. Membership dues are $45 annually. Call (415) 614-5579, or visit the website at www.cpbc-sf.org for more information. Oct. 15, 16, 17: All Souls Parish Halloween Festival with games, music, food and more. Come join the fun. Fri. 6 – 10 p.m.; Sat. noon – 10 p.m.; Sun. 10 a.m. – 7 p.m. 315 Walnut Ave., South San Francisco. Call (650) 871-8944. Oct. 16: St. Thomas More School Fall Festival at 50 Thomas More Way off Brotherhood Way, SF from 11:30 a.m. – 10 p.m. Theme booths, games, inflatables, food, and fun for the entire family. Call (650) 756-9525 or (650) 755-1297. Oct. 16: New York! New York! An annual Women’s Auxiliary fundraiser benefiting St. Vincent’s School for Boys. Takes place at Peacock Gap Country Club, San Rafael. No host bar at 11:30 a.m. followed by linch raffle and fashion show. Tickets $40 per person. Call Carol Brenk at (415) 897-8584. Oct. 29: Award winning composer, John Michael Talbot, performs at 7 p.m. at St. Raphael Church in San Rafael. The singer “blends music, Christian witness, and teaching to minister to audiences in a special way,” the parish said. $20 is suggested donation for tickets. Call (415) 454-8141, ext. 42. Oct. 30: Crab Bash benefiting St. AnthonyImmaculate Conception School. Tickets are now on sale! “It’s an evening of delightful food and fun,” the school said. Call (415) 648-2008. Nov. 6: Bal de Paris, annual fundraiser benefiting Notre Dame des Victoires school. The evening’s theme, Clair de Lune a Paris, will commemorate the school’s 80th anniversary and honor Marist Father Etienne Siffert, who shepherded the downtown parish for almost two decades. Tickets include cocktails, hors d’oeuvres, dinner, dancing and other entertainments. Call (415) 421-0069 or Bal2004@ndvsf.org.

Respect Life/ Family Life Oct. 3: 2004 LifeChain, a peaceful pro-life demonstration from 15th to 24th St. along Mission St. in San Francisco from 2 – 3 p.m. “Be a part of this important event and be filled with joy,” said Judith Lagowski, a LifeChain leader and member of St. Bruno Parish in San Bruno. “Be a witness for life – give an hour to save a life” said well-known pro-life advocate, Beatrice Smalley. Call (415) 864-6954 for details on how you can take part. Supported by the Office of Public Policy and Social Concerns/Respect Life of the Archdiocese.

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TV/Radio Mon – Fri., KVTO 1400 AM, 7:30 p.m.: Catholic Radio Hour features rosary, music and commentary with Father Tom Daly. Sunday 6 a.m., WB Channel 20/Cable 13 and KTSF Channel 26/Cable 8: TV Mass with Msgr. Harry Schlitt presiding. 1st Sun, 5 a.m., CBS Channel 5: Mosaic, featuring conversations on current Catholic issues. 3rd Sun, 5:30 a.m., KRON Channel 4: For Heaven’s Sake, featuring conversations about Catholic spirituality.

Reunions Archbishop Riordan High School is in search of alumni moms!!! Call (415) 586-8200, ext. 217. Oct. 6: 58th anniversary reunion Academy of the Presentation, class of ’46 with no-host cocktails at 11: 30 a,m. and lunch at 12:30 p.m. at Basque Cultural Center, 599 Railroad Ave., South San Francisco. Call (415) 821-2541. Oct. 16: Reunion for all alumnae of the revered and much missed St. Brigid High School, San Francisco beginning at 11 a.m. at St. Brigid Elementary School at Van Ness and Broadway. Contact Pat Sabatini at (650) 685-5666. Nov. 5, 6, 7: Reunion Weekend Celebration for Notre Dame High School, Belmont honoring graduates from classes of ’54, ’59, ’64,’ 69, ’74, ’79, ’84, ’89, ’94, ‘ 99. Weekend features are Nov. 6 luncheon at 11:30 a.m. and all alumnae are invited to Nov. 5 lunch as well as Mass and Brunch on Nov. 7. Call the Development Office at (650) 595-1913, ext. 351. Nov. 13: Class of ’54, St. Cecilia Elementary School, SF. Reception and dinner at the school. Contact Mary Rudden at (415) 824-7695 or Don Ahlbach at (650) 348-5577 or dahlbach@pacbell.net. Nov. 13: Class of ’74, Lowell High School, SF at Delancey Street Restaurant. $89 per person. Contact Lisa Coughlin Clay at Lisa.Clay@sfport.com or Connie D’Aura at daura@ccwear.com. If without internet access, call (415) 664-0164. June 25: “It’s been a long time but it’s coming,” said St. Agnes Elementary alum, Sam Coffey, about upcoming reunion for all former students of the missed and now closed SF school. Please contact Sam at

Groups meet at the following parishes. Please call numbers shown for more information. San Mateo County: St. Catherine of Siena, Burlingame. Call (650) 344-6884; Our Lady of Angels, Burlingame. Call Louise Nelson at (650) 343-8457 or Barbara Arena at (650) 344-3579. Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, Redwood City. Call (650) 366-3802; Good Shepherd, Pacifica. Call Sister Carol Fleitz at (650) 3552593; St. Robert, San Bruno. Call (650) 589-2800. Immaculate Heart of Mary, Belmont. Call Ann Ponty at (650) 598-0658 or Mary Wagner at (650) 591-3850. Marin County: St. Isabella, San Rafael. Call Pat Sack at (415) 472-5732. Our Lady of Loretto, Novato. Call Sister Jeanette at (415) 897-2171. San Francisco: St.Gabriel. Call Barbara Elordi at (415) 564-7882. St. Finn Barr in English and Spanish. Call Carmen Solis at (415) 584-0823; St. Cecilia. Call Peggy Abdo at (415) 564-7882 ext. 3; Epiphany in Spanish. Call Kathryn Keenan at (415) 564-7882. Ministry for parents who have lost a child is available from Our Lady of Angels Parish, Burlingame. Call Ina Potter at (650) 347-6971 or Barbara Arena at (650) 344-3579. Young Widow/Widower group meets at St. Gregory, San Mateo. Call Barbara Elordi at (415) 564-7882. Information about children’s and teen groups is available from Barbara Elordi at (415) 564-7882.

Returning Catholics Programs for Catholics interested in returning to the Church, have been established at the following parishes: Marin County: St. Hilary, Tiburon, Mary Musalo, (415) 435-2775; St. Anselm, Ross, call (415) 453-2342; St. Sebastian, Greenbrae, Jean Mariani at (415) 4617060; Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, Mill Valley, Rick Dullea or Diane Claire at (415) 388-4190; St. Mary Star of the Sea, Sausalito, Lloyd Dulbecco at (415) 331-7949. San Francisco: Old St. Mary’s Cathedral, SF, Michael Adams at (415) 695-2707; St. Philip the Apostle, 725 Diamond St. at Elizabeth/24th, SF. Call (415) 282-0141; St. Dominic, SF, Lee Gallery at (415) 221-1288; Holy Name of Jesus, SF, (415) 664-8590. San Mateo County: St. Bartholomew, San Mateo, Dan Stensen at (650) 344-5665; St. Catherine of Siena, Burlingame, Silvia Chiesa at (650) 685-8336; Our Lady of Angels, Burlingame, Dorothy Heinrichs or Maria Cianci at (650) 347-7768; St. Dunstan, Millbrae, Dianne Johnston at (650) 697-0952; Our Lady of the Pillar, Half Moon Bay, Meghan at (650) 726-4337; St. Peter, Pacifica, Chris Booker at (650) 738-1398.

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.

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October 1, 2004

Music TV

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Books RADIO Film

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Wimbledon Metaphysics and Romantic Comedy By Barbara Nicolosi

parents told us it’s a phantom. Our grandparents lived as though it was real. We choooooooooooooooooooose, ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, our grandparents.” One of the funniest confusions in contemporary drama is everything having to do with sex. So, in Wimbledon sex is something that needs to be gotten out of the way so that romance becomes possible. Amazing! The seediest moments of the movie occur when the Kirsten Dunst character propositions her handsome lead. She notes early on that fooling around before a tennis match is a good kind of recreation. They both agree, and so they go to bed. Then, later, when they start to really care for one another, the romance is played out in a slow-mo montage of them walking on the beach, running in the park, talking and eating. These “romantic” scenes are almost completely devoid of physical contact. Later in the film, sex actually becomes the enemy of the relationship. The couple almost breaks up over it. But not in any Christian sense, of “By using each other like things, we have ruined our chance for real sexual intimacy.” It’s more that the sex is opposed to self-donation instead of being the impulse of self-donation. It’s all such a mess. A wonderful hopeful mess for us with a theology of the body to unleash. Because sex isn’t going away any time soon. It’s just when and how we are going to make our case. We’re going to need more than academic papers here. Anyway, I wouldn’t recommend Wimbledon to unaccompanied teens, as there are too many issues that need to be processed, and I would be afraid that they would absorb some of its confusions - or have their own confusions validated. I recommend it as fascinating viewing for anybody who pastors or counsels young people.

The new Kirsten Dunst film, Wimbledon is not as bad as some of the critics have said. I went with one of my twenty-something male students, and he pronounced along with the closing credits, “That was actually entertaining.” High praise, considering I had to drag him there. (It balanced out, because I let him drag me to Sky Captain...) From the standpoint of the new evangelization and gauging the “Signs of the Times,” Wimbledon is pretty much a must see. Coming from the folks who did Notting Hill and Four Weddings, this is a mostly British romantic comedy that is most funny when it exploits the “quirky group of friends and family” that made both of those prior films work. Unfortunately, all the humor drops out before the mid-point of the film, as the writers try desperately to find a reason why two people should be committed to each other. I mean, we really don’t have to make a commitment anymore, do we? Why do we even want to? So, what is the point of this film? Fascinating problem for the modern romantic comedy. I also watched Pillow Talk this weekend, starring Doris Day and Rock Hudson. Back in the 50’s romance preceded sex. And then marriage - or at least permanent commitment was the goal. They didn’t have to struggle with ambivalence about the point of it all. The audience knew what to root for, and the writers’ challenge was in getting the two warring parties into permanent commitment in the most humorous way. Then, we had three decades of the sexual revolution in the movies. And the net result is we don’t know what romance is, we think permanent commitment is a fantasy, and we wouldn’t swear that blood or marriage has anything to do with family. It’s really a Barbara Nicolosi teaches screenwriting quandary for the whole romantic comedy to aspiring Catholic writers at the genre, because they all end up turning into acclaimed Act One: Writing for dramas now! In comedy, funny is supposed to be first, but in romantic comedy, a kind of Hollywood (www.actoneprogram.com). crippled metaphysics is ending up first. Love it. HELPLINES FOR Wimbledon, very much in the mode of Eternal Sunshine CLERGY/CHURCH SEXUAL ABUSE VICTIMS of the Spotless Mind, and my friends are telling me Garden 415-614-5506 This number is answered by Barbara Elordi, Archdiocesan Pastoral Outreach Coordinator. State, by the way, ultimately This is a secured line and is answered only makes its way back to the by Barbara Elordi. same values as Pillowtalk, although sadly and with an 415-614-5503 If you wish to speak to a non-archdiocesan air of resignation. It’s like employee please call this nunmber. This is Generation X is saying, “We also a secured line and is answered only by can’t stop wanting uncondia victim survivor. tional permanent love. Our

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Visit: Dublin,Clonmacnois,Galway, Knock, Croagh Patrick,Kylemore Abbey, Connemara, Cliffs of Moher, Adare, Tralee, Slea Head, Gallarus Oratory, Dingle, Killarney, Blarney Castle, Rock of Cashel & More.

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Catholic San Francisco

October 1, 2004

TV program on faith-motivated service of Catholics includes San Francisco WASHINGTON — For the 65 million Catholics in the United States, there is no typical way to put belief into action. In fact, there are many ways Catholics live out their faith as illustrated by “Faith Works: Across the U.S.A.,” a new documentary slated to air on ABC-TV stations this month. The one-hour program, produced by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Catholic Communication Campaign, will air locally on KGOTV, Sunday, October 10 at 5 a.m. The show looks at ordinary days in the lives of several U.S. Catholics. Among those featured is Patrick Mulcahy and the “Wednesday Night Suppers” he created to provide a welcome dining experience for the needy at Most Holy Redeemer Parish in San Francisco.

Best selling author on Mosaic

al immigrant families, and a Jesuit priest “I hear the word of God and I look at who is also a world-famous astronomer myself and think, ‘How can you put this in Arizona. The principal and the into action?’” said one of the dinner volastronomer share the same faith but unteers, Ramona Michaels. “And express it differently. because Patrick founded this wonderful “People know that the church includes place to feed the people, I think this is hard-working, dedicated priests, women the best way I can put it into action.” religious and laity,” said Ellen The program also profiles a priest in McCloskey, CCC executive producer. Alaska who pilots his own plane to “Still, we were delighted to witness firstremote parishes; a New Orleans restaurahand the imagination and enthusiasm teur who teaches vital job skills to innerwith which these faith workers share the city youths; and a woman religious who Gospel.” travels the back roads of Appalachia to “Faith Works: Across the U.S.A.” was provide health care to the poor. produced for the CCC by Digital Catholics who are featured in the proPatrick Mulcahy Shooters of New York. The documentary gram provide a sense of the depth and diversity of Catholic ministry, according to a USCCB is part of the “Vision & Values” series of the Interfaith Broadcasting Commission, a consortium of Christian news release. The program highlights a Catholic elementary and Jewish groups that provides religious and spiritual school principal in Fort Worth, Texas, who helps sever- programming to network television.

Catholic Radio Hour Week of October 4 - 8

Best-selling biographer Joseph Pearce will be the featured guest on the next installment of Mosaic to air on KPIX Channel 5 Sunday, October 3 at 5:30 a.m. Joseph Pearce shares with Tom Burke his conversion experience while growing up in England from a racist skinhead to a Catholic apologist. Joseph Pearce Mosaic is a co-production of the Archdiocese of San Francisco and KPIX, the CBS affiliate in the Bay Area, and is made possible, in part, through support of the Catholic Communications Campaign.

Weeknights at 7:30 p.m. – KVTO 1400 AM Radio Pray the Rosary – hosted by Fr. Tom Daly One half-hour of prayers, reflections and music Monday:

Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary; Exploring our Faith; Sunday Soundbite.

Tuesday:

Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary; Living Faith.

Wednesday:

Glorious Mysteries of the Rosary; Catholic Treasures.

Thursday:

Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary; Devotions.

Friday:

Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary; Rome Report.

Prayers requests are welcome. You can help keep the rosary on the air by sending a donation to Catholic Radio Hour, One Peter Yorke Way, San Francisco, CA 94109.

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Catholic San Francisco

October 1, 2004

By John Thavis Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY — A recent Vatican document analyzed evolution in the light of faith, stepping into an area that has long been a religious and scientific minefield. The document, prepared by the International Theological Commission and made available in mid-September, examined man’s relationship with the created world. Why bother to get into evolution? Because, as the text said, Catholics have a responsibility to “locate” the scientific understanding of the universe within a Christian vision of creation. That’s an assignment that challenges even the experts, however. “That’s a very big task, and a very complicated issue. It’s not settled yet, by any means,” said U.S. Jesuit Father George Coyne, director of the Vatican Observatory, who has closely followed the evolution debate. The theological commission operates in conjunction with the Vatican’s doctrinal congregation, and its document is remarkable in several ways. First, it accepts as likely the prevailing tenets of evolutionary science: the universe erupted 15 billion years ago in a “big bang”; the earth formed about 4.5 billion years ago; all living organisms on earth descended from a first organism; and man emerged some 40,000 years ago with the development of the larger, human brain. Second, the document does not argue for a “divine design” in specific processes of evolution. While acknowledging that some experts do see a providential design in biological structures, it says such development might also be “contingent,” or dependant on chance. “True contingency in the created order is not incompatible with a purposeful divine providence,” it said. In other words, God’s plan may have allowed for all kinds of variables to play out. Or, as the document put it, “any evolutionary mechanism that is contingent can only be contingent because God made it so.” But is the emergence of man one of

these chance results? Or did God play creationist in this instance? That’s the crux of the current debate, said Father Coyne. “Most people would pose the question this way: ‘Did we come out of a necessary process or a chance process? If it’s a necessary process, God did it. If it’s chance, why do you need God?’” Father Coyne said in an interview. “But I think the question itself is wrong. It’s not just necessity or chance, it’s also opportunity. We live in a universe that statistically offers so many opportunities for the life-building processes to work together,” he said. “In a universe so fertile in opportunity, it was inevitable — I say inevitable, not necessary — that human beings emerged,” he said. Pope John Paul II made headlines in 1996 when he told the Pontifical Academy of Sciences that the theory of evolution was “more than a hypothesis” and had been widely accepted by scientists. But in opening a dialogue on the subject, the pope insisted that man was not just a link in the evolutionary chain. He said the emergence of man marked an “ontological leap ... the moment of transition to the spiritual” that cannot fully be explained in scientific terms. Expanding on that argument, the theological commission’s recent document said the appearance of the first members of the human race must be attributed to some form of divine intervention. It spoke of God acting through “causal chains” from the beginning of cosmic history to prepare for the “special creation of the human soul.” It also emphasized the “personal character of creation” and said man, fashioned in the image of God, responds to a personal creator, not an impersonal force or energy. It cited the teaching of the Second Vatican Council: “Man is the only creature on earth that God willed for his own sake.” In a paper presented last year on the subject, Father Coyne said this argument raises the question: “Are we forced by revealed, religious truth to accept a dualistic view of the origins of the human person — evolu-

(CNS PHOTO COURTESY NASA, HUBBLE HERITAGE TEAM)

Creative tension: omnipotence of God vs. dynamism of a universe

The beauty of a nebula is pictured in a new view from the Hubble Space Telescope. A recent Vatican document analyzing evolution in the light of faith accepts as likely the prevailing tenets of evolutionary science, including that the universe erupted 15 billion years ago. This image shows the Cat's Eye nebula, an interstellar cloud of gas and dust.

tionist with respect to the material dimension, creationist with respect to the spiritual dimension?” Father Coyne and others have suggested that a case could be made for a type of divine creation that did not pre-ordain human beings, or which might have even produced thinking beings different than humans. Does that contradict religious truth? “Not, it appears to me, if theologians can develop a more profound understanding of God’s continuous creation” that allows for “freedom at all levels of the evolutionary process,” Father Coyne said. Father Coyne said the wider discussion on evolution between religion and science is marked by misunderstandings. He said the term “creation,” for example, is about existence itself, not the “chain of events which bring about a specific kind of being.”

Likewise, when religions speak of God “creating out of nothing,” scientists often equate it — incorrectly — with the vacuum of quantum mechanics, Father Coyne said. Among believers, Father Coyne said, there’s an unfortunate tendency to “latch onto God” when scientific explanations fall short. “One gets the impression from certain religious believers that they fondly hope for the durability of certain gaps in our scientific knowledge of evolution, so they can fill them with God,” he said. Father Coyne argues that God should not be understood as a dictator, who has fine-tuned the universe to run like a watch. But he said it will take considerable dialogue and reflection by Catholic thinkers before a central tension is resolved: between the omnipotence of God and the dynamism of a universe in evolution.

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