November 5, 2004

Conference unites social justice with Gospel proclamation

Catholic san Francisco Northern California’s Weekly Catholic Newspaper

San Francisco Auxiliary Bishop John C. Wester celebrated Mass for All Saints’ Day – Todos Los Santos Oct. 30 at Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery in Colma. He also blessed a new section of the cemetery dedicated to Our Lady of Antipolo. See story Page 3.

Pope calls on Catholics to engage in ‘season of social holiness’

By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope John Paul II called on Catholics around the world to engage in a “season of social holiness,” bringing Gospel values to the search for justice, peace and respect for human rights.

“In a time like ours marked by the globalization of the social question, the church invites everyone to recognize and affirm the centrality of the human person in every sphere and manifestation of social life,” the pope said.

Pope John Paul met Oct. 29 with some 300 representatives of the justice and peace commissions of national bishops’ conferences and Catholic organizations involved in social justice issues.

The representatives, who came from 92 countries, were gathered

in Rome for a meeting sponsored by the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace.

Pope John Paul told them that a “new evangelization” of social life is necessary as human dignity and moral values are questioned or threatened by a host of political, economic and environmental changes.

The pope said the “Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church,” published Oct. 25 by the council, is “an instrument capable of helping Christians in their daily commitment to making the world more just, in the Gospel perspective of a true humanism of solidarity.”

“The social doctrine is an essential part of the Christian message and should be better known, spread in its entirety and

witnessed to with a constant and coherent pastoral action,” the pope said.

Pope John Paul said the world needs the church’s social doctrine and “social and political charity” in order to bring the grace of the Gospel to “the human realities of work, economics and politics, designing the paths of peace, justice and friendship among peoples.”

“This is the time for a renewed season of social holiness, of saints who show to the world and in the world the perennial and inexhaustible fruitfulness of the Gospel,” he said.

Nearly 1,500 Catholics enlivened the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco on Saturday, Oct 30, as participants in the 2004 “Faith Formation Conference,” co-sponsored by the Archdiocese of San Francisco and the Diocese of San Jose.

A day earlier, Oct. 29, about 250 more Catholics attended an afternoon session intended for professional teachers and catechists, which featured presentations on the topics of Justice, Community and Catechesis.

The theme of the two-day conference “Proclaiming Christ, Doing Justice” - was intended to illuminate the close relationship between proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ and the Christian obligation to work for justice.

In an opening liturgy in the Civic Auditorium arena on Saturday, San Jose Bishop Patrick McGrath led conference attendees in morning prayer. He said the goal of those who were gathered was to teach young and old “how to bless one another always.”

Bishop McGrath said, “Jesus taught the kingdom by doing simple things … We do justice when we do as Jesus did.”

Father Ron Rolheiser, an Oblates of Mary Immaculate priest and theologian, teacher and author, gave the conference’s keynote address and spoke of the place of social justice in Christian spirituality.

Among what he termed the “non-negotiable pillars of Christianity,” Father Rolheiser said are private prayer, social justice, and an energy and mellowness of heart that is expressed through FAITH FORMATION, page 18 community.

(PHOTO BY MAURICE HEALY)

(PHOTO COURTESY OF MAX MARAFFIO)

By Maurice Healy

Following his opening prayer service homily, Diocese of San Jose Bishop Patrick McGrath greets people at the 2004 Faith Formation Conference Oct. 30 in San Francisco.

INSIDE THIS WEEK’S EDITION Environmental justice . . . . 3 Lawsuit update. . . . . . . . . . 5 Project Rachel workshop . . 6 Editorial and letters . . . . . 12 Loving enemies . . . . . . . . 15

This Catholic Life

Calling to priesthood

Movie review

Classified ads. . . . . . . . . . 19

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~ Pages 10-11 ~

~ Page 17 ~

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November 5, 2004

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VOLUME 6

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No. 36

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Catholic San Francisco

November 5, 2004

On The Where You Live

by Tom Burke

Never far from the hospitality goin’s on at St. Pius Parish in Redwood City is Michelle Lopez, who with some 60 representatives of the parish Women’s Club, Men’s Club, Religious Education Program and Parent Teachers’ Group, serves up sweets and more after Sunday Mass and other events. Taking a break from their neighborly duties are Michelle and her children, Erik, an 8th grader at St. Pius, Sean, a junior at Sequoia High School, and pre-schooler, Isabella.

A salute and hats off to Mary Lou Wood, a parishioner of St. Timothy Parish, San Mateo for 41 years and recently behind a successful Operation Care Package effort on behalf of U.S. troops in Iraq. “I set up bins with flags around the church and items starting pouring in,” Mary Lou who raised her three children in the parish, said. “We got candy by the truckload,” she said with a laugh, pointing out that only goodies that don’t melt could be accepted because of the soldiers’ desert location. “St. Tim’s people are good people,” Mary Lou said. “We pull together here.” Special thanks to parish office manager, Jeanne Da San Martrino and pastor, Father Art Albano for their help in the campaign, Mary Lou said. In addition to candy, parishioners were also generous with Chapstick, magazines, shampoos and lotions, Pringles, sunscreen, and mixed nuts. Also at St. Tim’s it’s “thank you and farewell” to Diana Powell who has handled RCIA chores recently….San Francisco Auxiliary Bishop Ignatius Wang was guest speaker at rites commemorating the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Serra Club of

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“We always ate the donuts so we thought we should pitch in,” said Ken Merigan who with his family helps fetch and serve goodies to Mass-goers at Our Lady of Angels Parish in Burlingame. He said he’s one of probably 15 families and individuals who assist in the hospitality effort. Caught recently in the midst of their mission are, Ken and his children, from left, Kelsey, an OLA 6th grader, Kyle, a 4th grader at the school, and Lindsey. Not available for the picture was mom, Patti.

Menlo Park/Palo Alto September 17th. Club membership said Jeanne’s today includes 55 men and women. Joe Beh, the last surviving member of the original 26 members died in 2003.

Senior member today is Howard Daschbach, who signed on 49 years ago and today serves as secretary. Larry Johnston is club prez. Additional officers include Ken Doran, John Cattermole, John Taylor, Malcolm Visbal and Bill DeMers. Among the club’s main objectives is the annual San Francisco’s Downtown Serra Club Discernment Weekend at St. Patrick’s and Serra Club of the Golden Gate Seminary that this year will be held the honored women and men religious at weekend of January 14th….Happy its annual Appreciation Dinner Anniversary to Jeanne and Tom Miller October 7th. More than a dozen of St. Brendan Parish who are married congregations were represented.

50 years November 27th. Jeanne served Sister of Mercy Connie Constantino, many years as librarian at St. Brendan left, entered religious life more than 70 Elementary School and Tom is retired years ago. Canossian Sister Rosetta from the San Francisco assessor’s Bonelli is celebrating her 60th year office. “Family will gather to celebrate,” as a vowed religious in 2004.

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brother, the aforementioned Howard Daschbach….Happy 53 years married to Dolores and Harry Colen, longtime parishioners of St. Anne of the Sunset.

“May the Lord shower them with abundant blessings now and through the coming years,’ the parish said in a recent bulletin….Thanks for one more pithy saying to St. Mary Star of the Sea in Sausalito: “An apology is the Superglue of life. It can repair just about anything.”… It only takes a moment to let us know about a birthday, anniversary, special achievement, or special happening in your life. Just jot down the basics and send with a follow-up phone number to On the Street Where You Live, One Peter Yorke Way, SF 94109.

You can also fax to (415) 614-5633 or e-mail, do not send attachments, to tburke@catholic-sf.org. You can reach Tom Burke at (415) 614-5634.

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November 5, 2004

Catholic San Francisco

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Catholic meeting on environment part of broader interreligious effort

By Jerry Filteau OWATONNA, Minn. (CNS) — Some 60 U.S. Catholic scholars and other experts met in Minnesota Oct. 29-31 for an in-depth exploration of Catholic social teaching and the environment.

The gathering was one of the Catholic elements of a broader interreligious project begun 11 years ago by the National Religious Partnership for the Environment.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is one of the four members of the partnership. The others are the Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life, the Evangelical Environmental Network and the National Council of Churches, which represents mainly Orthodox and mainline Protestant churches.

The Catholic meeting focused on three themes that intermesh in Catholic

in the country in 1994. In all, the partner groups sent faith-based resource materials to about 53,000 churches and synagogues.

Paul Gorman, executive director of the partnership, said it grew out of an open letter from U.S. environmental scientists to U.S. religious leaders in connection with a 1990 international environmental meeting of scientists and religious leaders convened in Moscow by then-Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev.

The scientists affirmed the importance of religious voices in the environmental conversation, he said, and informal discussions that followed between scientists and a group of religious leaders led to the formation of the partnership.

The NCC had already been involved in environmental issues for many years and in 1991 the Catholic bishops had put

social teaching about environmental justice: care for the earth as God’s creation; a preferential option for the poor, who often suffer most from environmental degradation; and promotion of the common good as a framework for addressing environmental issues.

Earlier this year each of the other member groups in the partnership convened a separate scholars’ meeting to review where they had come since 1993 and to explore further what their respective religious traditions have to say about care for the earth.

One of the first projects of the partnership members, a decade ago, was to prepare educational resource materials on environmental concerns for use in their congregations.

The Catholic bishops’ Environmental Justice Program distributed a 50-page resource kit, “Renewing the Face of the Earth,” to the 18,500 Catholic parishes

out their first substantial statement about Catholic teaching and the environment, “Renewing the Earth.”

Gorman told Catholic News Service that the partnership is sponsoring a national meeting, “Renewing the Covenant,” next May at the National Cathedral in Washington, with each member group sending 25 representatives.

He said the partnership was built on the idea that each of the religious traditions represented has its own approach in how it addresses issues, so the bylaws pledge the members “to be ourselves, together.”

When asked about theological differences among the groups, he said, “The similarities are more striking.” All four groups are “quite pointedly biblical” in their approach, he added. “This is not the religious community jumping on the green bandwagon.”

PHOTO COURTESY OF MAX MARAFFIO

Todos Los Santos - All Saints’ Day celebrated at Holy Cross Cemetery More than 500 people attended Todos Los Santos – All Saints’ Day ceremonies at Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery in Colma Oct. 30. San Francisco Auxiliary Bishop John C. Wester celebrated the outdoor Mass with music provided by the Holy Angels Filipino-American Choir.

Following Mass, Bishop Wester blessed a new statue of Our Lady of Antipolo which is the centerpiece of a new burial section at Holy Cross.

Antipolo is the name of a town in the Philippines where the original statue is kept. In the 16th century, galleons making the treacherous route between Acapulco, Mexico and the Philippines carried a Mexican dark wood statue of

Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage as a symbol of their appeal for Our Lady’s protection. After many successful voyages, the statue was permanently enshrined at Antipolo.

This image of Our Lady is now a major subject of devotion for Filipinos throughout the world. This is the second section at Holy Cross cemetery centered on a devotion of particular affection for Filipinos. The first centers on Filipino Saint and Martyr Lorenzo Ruiz. Burial sites are available at both sections for people of all cultures.

Holy Cross Cemetery will hold a Veterans’ Day Memorial Service Nov. 11 at 11 a.m.

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Catholic San Francisco

NEWS

November 5, 2004

in brief

UNITED NATIONS – The Vatican nuncio to the United Nations, called Nov. 1 for the international community to renew efforts to get Israelis and Palestinians to follow the “road map” to peace. “The reluctance of the international community to challenge the Israeli and Palestinian leaderships to negotiate in good faith has contributed to the fact that the road map has not taken off,” Archbishop Celestino Migliore said at U.N. headquarters in New York. The road map was the plan designed to produce the two-state solution proposed by President George W. Bush in a 2002 speech to the United Nations. This approach, with a timetable laying out parallel steps the two sides should take, was endorsed by a “quartet” composed of the United States, the Russian Federation, the European Union and the United Nations. A Vatican statement delivered at the United Nations last year endorsed the road map and its call for a two-state solution. But this year, Archbishop Migliore noted that the plan had not brought peace, and instead the situation remains one of “ongoing violence, economic depression, restrictions on movement and lack of access to religious sites.”

Bishop, Nobel Prize winner join in appeal for action in Sudan NEW YORK — A Catholic bishop, a Nobel Peace Prize winner and other religious and human rights leaders joined together at the United Nations Oct. 27 in a call for the international community to do more to end the crisis in western Sudan’s Darfur region. The delegation — which also included Muslim, Jewish and Christian leaders and members of the Save Darfur Coalition — asked U.N. SecretaryGeneral Kofi Annan to make a firm personal commitment to bring leadership to the United Nations to finally end the violence and suffering in Darfur. Bishop William F. Murphy of Rockville Centre, N.Y., representing the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, joined Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel and others in calling for a clear U.N. mandate for the African Union to protect innocent civilians and for other financial and logistical support from the international community.

(CNS PHOTO FROM REUTERS)

Nuncio calls for renewed efforts on road to Middle-East peace

A homeless child sleeps under an old rusty car on a street in Cairo, Egypt. During a Vatican-sponsored conference on street children, Archbishop Agostino Marchetto said experts estimate that there are more than 100 million street children in the world. He urged greater efforts by local bishops to address the human tragedy.

tiveness that the Catholic population is the largest selfidentified group on campus and is the largest worshipping student community on campus,” said Judy Henneberger, assistant university chaplain.

Archbishop says nations must show ‘political will’ for peace NEW YORK — Archbishop Celestino Migliore, Vatican nuncio to the United Nations, appealed Oct. 27 for the nations of the world to show a “political will” for peace.

Addressing the General Assembly at U.N. headquarters in New York, he said political will would enable the moral resources of nations to transform civilizations so they would “learn to treasure life and promote peace.” The nuncio spoke to a session of the General Assembly dealing with the theme of a “culture of peace,” following up on the United Nations’ designation of the millennial year as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and 2001-2010 as the International Decade for a Culture of Peace.

Archbishop Migliore said the Vatican wished to use the occasion to “reiterate its confidence in the United Nations as one of the key institutions at mankind’s disposal for the spread of a culture of peace.”

countries, some top Vatican officials have been speaking out because they feel the values of the church are being ignored or trampled.

Vatican confirms patriarch to receive saints’ relics during November visit VATICAN CITY — Vatican officials have confirmed that Ecumenical Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople will visit Rome in late November — for the second time in less than six months — to receive from Pope John Paul II relics of Sts. John Chrysostom and Gregory Nazianzen. The patriarch, who was in Rome June 29 for the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, had asked Pope John Paul for the relics of two of the greatest Eastern Fathers of the Church. An official of the Ecumenical Patriarchate told The Associated Press Oct. 28 that the Orthodox synod had decided that Patriarch Bartholomew should travel to Rome to accept the relics personally from the pope. An official at the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity confirmed Oct. 29 that preparations were under way to welcome Patriarch Bartholomew Nov. 26 and to present the relics to him Nov. 27 during a solemn ceremony.

As Europe struggles with identity, Observing November feasts, pope views are challenged Catholics largest religious group church prays for victims of terrorism ROME — The Vatican is finding that its positions on CITY — Observing the Nov. 1 feast of at Southern Methodist University abortion, homosexuality, euthanasia and other issues are AllVATICAN Saints and anticipating the Nov. 2 feast of All Souls, DALLAS — Is it “Southern Methodist” or “Southern Catholic-Methodist” University that is the pride of Dallas?

The number of Catholics at Southern Methodist University has been increasing rapidly in recent years. Catholics now comprise more than one-fifth of the institution’s total population, making them the largest faith group at the university, according to SMU surveys. This is the first year that Catholics have taken the clear lead as the largest faith group, although the number worshipping at campus Masses indicated the trend. In the fall of 2004, according to the university, SMU’s enrollment was 10,161 for undergraduate and graduate students and those in the university’s law and theology schools. That would mean more than 2,000 Catholic students. “We certainly can say with some defini-

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being constantly challenged in a Europe that is struggling to forge a common set of rules while keeping national identities intact. On the eve of the historic signing of the European Constitution, Pope John Paul II met with outgoing European Commission President Romano Prodi to remind him that Christian values are at the base of the European identity. Christianity, he told Prodi Oct. 28 at the Vatican, “contributed to the formation of a common conscience of the European peoples.” He said, “Whether recognized or not in official documents, this is an undeniable fact that no historian can forget.” The constitution does not mention Europe’s Christian roots, a reference the Vatican had sought repeatedly. In light of this and other developments of late within the European Union and in individual

Pope John Paul II offered special prayers for the victims of terrorism. “I feel spiritually close to their families and, while I ask the Lord to ease their pain, I pray to him for peace in the world,” the pope said Nov. 1 during his midday recitation of the Angelus. Pope John Paul told thousands of visitors gathered in St. Peter’s Square on the feast of All Saints, an Italian public holiday, that the day reminds Catholics of the bond that exists between the faithful on earth and those who have died.

“The pilgrim church on earth raises its gaze toward heaven and exultantly unites with the choir of those whom God has welcomed into his glory. It is the communion of saints,” the pope said.

Catholic San Francisco

November 5, 2004

5

Judge issues ruling in northern California clergy lawsuits; trial dates set

By Maurice Healy Alameda County Superior Court Judge Ronald M. Sabraw has ruled that clergy personnel files produced in the process of legal discovery, but not introduced at a trial, should remain confidential. The ruling, issued Oct. 27, supercedes a previous tentative order by Judge Sabraw that clergy employment records could be made public.

Earlier in October, Judge Sabraw set March 7 for the start of a trial involving a lawsuit brought by five plaintiffs against the Archdiocese of San Francisco and the Diocese of San Jose. Trial dates in other cases were set for May and June.

In the past two months, Judge Sabraw has dismissed two lawsuits — one against the Diocese of Monterey and another against the Diocese of Oakland and the Archdiocese of San Francisco — on the grounds that the dioceses did not have prior knowledge of sexual abuse by the priests involved.

Legal experts expect that most of the lawsuits will end in settlements where plaintiff attorneys customarily receive 33 to 40 percent. Attorneys for alleged victims, experts say, may want to take a case to a jury trial in hopes of achieving a large damage award and setting a high bar for the settlement of other lawsuits.

Well known plaintiff attorneys have sought to portray the Catholic Church in the United States as being part of a Vatican conspiracy to secretly harbor and protect priests who have abused children.

This assertion was summarily dismissed by a report earlier this year issued by the U.S. Bishops’ Independent Review Board.

Meanwhile, the California Catholic bishops have expressed their concern for the victims of clergy sexual

abuse and stated their willingness to reach just and fair settlements in the lawsuits facing the dioceses.

The judicial proceedings in Alameda County involve approximately 160 civil lawsuits filed against northern California Catholic dioceses by trial attorneys representing alleged victims of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy.

Diocesan attorneys were pleased with the latest ruling by Judge Sabraw, noting that personnel files of priests should be made public only if they are introduced as evidence at a trial after having passed a judicial test of relevance. They said files should remain confidential during the discovery process in which attorneys for the dioceses and plaintiffs exchange information.

Several media organizations, including the New York Times and the San Francisco Chronicle, had filed requests for release of the documents, citing public interest.

Paul Gaspari, an attorney representing the Archdiocese of San Francisco, said the ruling was fair and practical and well within the scope of decisions handed down in the past by the Supreme Court.

In addition to the priests’ personnel records, Sabraw said the names of the alleged victims, general information about their background, and documents such as employment, medical or financial records should remain confidential. His earlier tentative order said victims’ names and their general background information could be made public. Sabraw also recommended keeping secret the names of victims’ family members, church employees and witnesses such as health care workers.

The Archdiocese of San Francisco is working with claims brought by about 75 plaintiffs involving 34 clergy and five lay employees. Some of the cases involve allegations dating back 50 years or more.

The proceedings in Alameda County Superior Court, known as Clergy III, involve approximately 160 lawsuits with claims by about 200 plaintiffs against the Dioceses of Oakland, Sacramento, San Jose, Santa Rosa, Stockton, and the Archdiocese of San Francisco.

The lawsuits arise from a law passed in 2002 by the California Legislature suspending the statute of limitations and allowing civil claims for damages to be filed regardless of when the sexual abuse was alleged to have occurred.

Under the law, sponsored by State Senator John Burton and drafted by trial attorneys, plaintiffs had until Dec. 31, 2003 to file a lawsuit against the employers of alleged abusers.

While legislators said the law does not target the Catholic Church, all but a few of the lawsuits filed under the law involve claims against Catholic dioceses of California.

Because of the large number of lawsuits filed in 2003, the cases have been brought together on a regional basis for judicial efficiency. Los Angeles County Superior Court oversees Clergy I, which involves approximately 550 cases against the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and the Diocese of Orange, and Clergy II, which involves 140 cases from the Diocese of San Bernardino and the Diocese of San Diego.

THE BROADMOOR

Diocese of Davenport agrees to $9 million settlement in abuse cases DAVENPORT, Iowa (CNS) — Bishop William E. Franklin of Davenport has approved a $9 million, out-ofcourt settlement with 37 individuals who have claimed they were sexually abused by clergy. The settlement, announced at an Oct. 28 press conference in Davenport with the claimants’ attorney, Craig Levien, dismisses the Diocese of Davenport from 13 of the 15 lawsuits filed against it. The majority of claimants are individuals who had not yet sued the diocese. “It is my hope that this settlement will help fos-

ter healing and forgiveness as well as help us to focus together on preventing this from ever happening again,” Bishop Franklin said. “I have faith that the light of Christ will lead the way through these dark times,” the bishop added. “We will move forward to continue our mission essential to our community of faith. We will work to provide spiritual care, to protect the innocent and to advocate for the least among us. I ask God to bless our injured brothers and sisters and pray that our diocese will walk together in faith,” he said.

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Catholic San Francisco

November 5, 2004

Several workshops set for ‘Project Rachel’ post-abortion counseling

Respect Life essay contest seeks to highlight ‘Walk for Life’ The Archdiocese of San Francisco Respect Life Program is sponsoring an essay contest to raise awareness of the ‘West Coast Walk for Life.’ The contest is open to any high school or college student in Marin, San Mateo or San Francisco counties.

West Coast Walk for Life corresponds with the annual Washington D.C. Walk for Life held on the Jan. 22 anniversary of the Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v’ Wade decision.

The event is sponsored by San Francisco United for Life, the Archdiocese of San Francisco, and several other organizations. Organizers expect 20,000 participants from the Catholic Church, other denominations and faiths, and people of good will opposed to the abortion license. San Francisco Archbishop William J. Levada will walk in the event which begins Jan. 22, at 11 a.m., at Justin Herman Plaza and ends at the Marina Green.

Essay contest entrants are asked to write no more than 1,000 words on one of two topics. The first concerns the theme of Walk for Life, “Abortion hurts women, children, men, families, all of society.”

Contestants must elaborate on how abortion hurts those it touches.

The second essay theme option is, “On what grounds could Roe v’ Wade be reversed?”

Entries must be unpublished, original material and postmarked no later than Dec. 31, 2004. Entries can be sent to Respect Life Program, One Peter Yorke Way, San Francisco, CA 94109.

Three prizes will be awarded each in the high school and college categories. Law school students are encouraged to apply in the college category. First prize is $500, second $250, and third $100. Essays will be judged blind and should not include identifying information.

Send name, address, telephone number and email address on a separate sheet. For more information call 415-945-0180.

to persons seeking spiritual healing and sacramental reconciliation.

The ministry eventually expanded to include a one on one approach using trained volunteers. “Reaching out to people with post-abortion pain is becoming a work of mercy for many in the Catholic community,” Schwab said.

Thorn’s visit involves four workshops for different segments of the Catholic community interested in postabortion ministry.

A presentation for volunteers in detention ministry will be held at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish Center in Redwood City Nov. 16 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Priests and Seminarians are invited to a workshop Nov. 17 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. at St. Patrick Seminary.

Behavioral, adolescent and educational counselors and agency staffs providing drug and alcohol rehabilitation and women’s services are invited to a workshop from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Nov. 18 at the Archdiocesan Pastoral Center, One Peter Yorke Way, in San Francisco.

Finally, the Archdiocesan Pastoral Center also is the location for an all-day seminar Saturday, Nov. 20, beginning at 9:30 a.m., for any member of the Catholic community interested in developing skills to become a one on one mentor.

For more information about these events or to confidentially inquire about post-abortion healing services call Project Rachel at 415-717-6428.

Vicki Thorn

San Domenico’s famed music director honored for excellence over the years have left an Faith Y. France, who has guided the indelible mark on the music program. Her music program at San Domenico High legacy will not be forgotten. It is truly a School from piano lessons in 1955 to the pleasure to honor her.” highly respected and sought after In addition to her role as mentor and Virtuoso Program of 2004, was honored administrator, Ms. France has also in at the San Anselmo school October 24. reached out to the more famous and San Domenico alumna and well-known sometimes legendary members of the television newsperson, Kate Kelly, was music profession, including revered vioamong those assisting in the salute to Ms. linist Sir Yehudi Menuhin, to offer master France. classes at the school.

Ms. France, who retired in June after The special rites honoring Ms. almost 50 years at San Domenico, began France as well as the Vivaldi series took her tenure at the school as a piano place in San Domenico’s Carol Franc teacher in 1955. Later, she was named Buck Hall of the Arts. The events were director of the school’s newly instituted Faith Y. France the first in the new $4.5 million building Music Conservatory and in 1977 established what would become today’s Virtuoso Program. in which Ms. France assisted in the fundraising.

Ms. France is married to Hugo Rinaldi, retired conducThe elective program has so far helped prepare 110 students including Hai Ye Ni, associate principal cellist of tor of Marin Opera Company and Marin Symphony Youth the New York Philharmonic. The artist is a member of Orchestra. The couple lives in San Rafael. The Virtuoso San Anselmo’s class of 1990 though she left the school Program’s new director is Robin C. Ravazzini, a 1990 gradin 1988 after winning early acceptance at New York’s uate of San Domenico and a cellist whose experience includes a chair with the New World Symphony.

Juilliard School.

“Faith France’s commitment to San Domenico as well as to music and more importantly to the Virtuoso Program is truly remarkable,” said Mathew Heersche, Head of San Domenico School. “Her tireless efforts and expectations PRAY THE ROSARY (PHOTO BY MICHAEL AMSLER PHOTOGRAPHY)

Project Rachel, the post-abortion ministry of the Archdiocese of San Francisco, is sponsoring a series of workshops with Vicki Thorn, founder and director of the National Office of Post-Abortion Reconciliation and Healing, during the week of Nov. 15-20.

The workshops are designed to help members of the Catholic community provide loving support to persons, particularly women, suffering in the aftermath of an abortion, according to Mary Ann Schwab, local director of Project Rachel ministries.

“Post-abortion pain is marked by serious psychological and spiritual suffering,” Schwab said.

Vicki Thorn founded the first Catholic post-abortion healing program fifteen years ago. It was originally intended to provide professional therapists with insight into the developing phenomena of post abortion pain and healing so therapists could develop methods of effective psychological healing. Priests also became involved in the program in order to acquire tools enabling them to sensitively respond

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November 5, 2004

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Catholic San Francisco

November 5, 2004

obituary EWTN to broadcast meeting of U.S. Bishops Fr. Patrick Joseph Coyne, C.S.Sp. The 24-hour Catholic TV network, EWTN, will broadcast live coverage of the Nov. 15-18 meeting of U.S. Catholic Bishops in Washington, D.C. Sessions run from 6 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. and 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. – Pacific Time.

In honor of Veteran’s Day, EWTN highlights this month include two documentaries on military chaplains. “The Grunt Padre� tells the story of Fr. Vincent Capodanno, a heroic Marine chaplain killed in Vietnam. The 60-minute program airs Nov. 11 at 11 a.m. and repeats at 8 p.m. “Never Far from Home,� a 30-minute documentary on the life of an Army battalion chaplain, airs Nov. 11 at 3 p.m.

Carl Olson, author of The DaVinci Hoax will be the guest on “EWTN Live� Nov. 17 at 8 p.m.

EWTN is carried on Comcast Digital Channel 229; RCN Channel 80; DISH Satellite Channel 261; and Direct TV Channel 422. EWTN airs on Channel 54 in the Half Moon Bay-Coastside area and on Channel 74 in Atherton, Menlo Park, East Palo Alto, Portola Valley and Woodside.

Holy Ghost Father Patrick Joseph Coyne died at Stanford Medical Center Oct. 29 following a car accident. Fr. Coyne was 73 years old and suffered from a heart condition which likely contributed to his death according to Holy Ghost Provincial Father Diarmuid Casey.

Fr. Coyne was born in County Mayo, Ireland Feb. 12, 1931. After high school studies, he entered the novitiate of the Holy Ghost Fathers and made his first profession of vows on Sept. 8, 1950. He was ordained to the priesthood July 12, 1959.

Fr. Coyne served in Kenya from 1961 until 1977. There he worked at a teacher training college, secondary school, Catholic book store, and as bursar of St. Mary’s College in Nairobi.

In 1978, Fr. Coyne was transferred to work in the Bay Area. He served at St. Simon parish in Los Altos, St. Leo in San Jose, and St. Justin in Santa Clara. Those parishes

became part of the newly formed Diocese of San Jose in 1981. He also served in Bakersfield.

In the late 1980s, Fr. Coyne also served as a chaplain at Seton Medical Center in Daly City. In 1989, Fr. Coyne was appointed fundraiser for his community and since 1997 has served as Bursar for the Holy Ghost Fathers.

While in residence, and semi-retirement, at St. Dunstan parish in Millbrae, Fr. Coyne continued to fundraise for the missions of his community. He also developed a ministry saying many funerals, Fr. Casey said.

Fr. Coyne is survived by five sisters and one brother in Ireland. A funeral Mass was celebrated Nov. 3 at St. Dunstan Church in Millbrae, where he was in residence. Internment will be at Dardis Town Cemetery, Dublin, Ireland.

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Catholic San Francisco

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November 5, 2004

Life

By Tom Burke Holy Family Sister Marianne Smith has served in many assignments during her 60 years as a religious, including service in Religious Education for the Archdiocese of San Francisco and the Diocese of Stockton and at parishes including Holy Angels in Colma.

But what she has enjoyed most is her work at her congregation’s day homes for children of working parents in San Francisco and San Jose. Catholic San Francisco recently spoke with the 80 year-old dynamo at the Mission District’s Holy Family Day Home where she has served for the last 15 years.

Sister Marianne is no stranger to the Mission. “I grew up in St. James just over on Dolores Street between twenty-first and twenty-second,” she said, with a look toward her old neighborhood. She is a graduate of St. James Elementary School and Immaculate Conception Academy.

While Sister Marianne remembers wanting to be a religious since her earliest years, she said the lure of religious life diminished in her teen years. “I always wanted to be a Sister, you know how little kids are,” she said. “When my mother would wash my hair I’d put the towel around my face like a veil. When I got to high school though I didn’t want to be a Sister anymore.”

Sister Marianne said she “graduated and went to work” in an administrative position with a pharmaceutical firm. That all began to change when Holy Family Sisters came to the door of her family’s home selling tickets for an annual fundraiser.

“My sister answered the door and the Sister asked her if she would be interested in teaching religious education at the day home,” Sister Marianne said with a chuckle that would soon erupt into a huge laugh at the memory. “My sister said no but volunteered me. I came home and hit the roof. My mother intervened and encouraged me to go talk with the Sister and that was the beginning of my associa-

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‘I wouldn’t change a thing’ tion with the Holy Family Sisters. That was 1942 and I entered two years later.”

“I liked the Sisters and what they did,” Sister Marianne said. “They used to bring bags of food for the kids and their families and helping the poor always appealed to me.”

“When I entered all the postulants went to our day homes,” Sister Marianne said noting they included the site near Mission Dolores where she currently serves as well as a location in North Beach. “We spent six months there. Later I got to work here.”

Sister Marianne’s role at the day home has the official title of social worker but she sees it in a much more personal light.

“If anybody needs anything they come to Sister,” she said. “I have a lot of good friends who help. People want to help and I let them help. I love children and so do they.”

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Holy Family Sister Marianne Smith Sister Marianne is a bit shy to name any favorite moments of her 60 years as a religious. “I’ve never had any time I regret or any bad memories,” she said. “In all my assignments, I’ve always loved working with the kids. It’s all been wonderful. I’m happy to do it.”

She remembers growing up in a home “anchored by faith” and her late parents Mary and Charles Smith.

Siblings are her sister, Marion, a longtime parishioner of Holy Name Parish and their late brothers, Tom, a Captain in the San Francisco Fire Department and, Charles, a Lieutenant in the San Francisco Police Department.

At St. Mary’s Cathedral in 1987, Sister Marianne had a most special experience. “The Holy Father took my hand

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About her future Sister says “God only knows,” but it’s no secret that she’d like to continue at the day home. “I love the kids. I love the staff. If God gives me the strength I’d love to stay.”

“These have been a very good 60 years. I wouldn’t change a thing.”

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Catholic San Francisco

November 5, 2004

VOCATIONS

November 5, 2004

BEGIN WITH A LOVE OF

By Archbishop William J. Levada Following is the keynote address made by Archbishop William J. Levada at a regional meeting of the Serra Club held in Honolulu October 16.

THE BIG PICTURE As a beginning to my reflections with you on the question of vocations, I invite you to take a moment to look at the big picture. Vocations do not grow in a vacuum, and it is important to consider the realities of the world and society.

It is a world which has seen a succession of bloody conflicts, and only recently has one country emerged as a “super power.” Although we do not fear the danger of invasion by another country, recent years have seen an increase of violence in distant lands, and terrorism creates carnage abroad and a sense of vulnerability at home. Conventional weapons and strategies, intended for armed conflict against hostile countries, are of limited value against invisible enemies who blend in among the innocent.

It is a world which has seen significant developments in communication and trade.

Travel is faster, the world is shrinking, and a common language links commercial centers throughout the world. Paradoxically, this globalization has also enkindled ethnic hatreds and rivalries. The world may have become a global village, but it is a village where competing groups experience uneasiness and strife.

It is a world in which many intellectuals feel that they have grown beyond the pieties of traditional religion, which they dismiss as at best a sop for the ignorant and at worst as an obstacle to human progress. Ironically, the same cultured elite which ridicules “old time religion” is hungry for spiritual meaning, and is attracted by exotic religions from the east and arcane philosophies which promise enlightenment to those in the know.

Does this describe the world in which we live? It certainly describes the world as it was two thousand years ago when Jesus of Nazareth began to travel from village to village in Galilee, proclaiming the Good News of the Kingdom of God and calling disciples to follow Him. Jesus invited some people to leave all things and follow Him – and they did. In worldly terms, this seemed foolish, and more foolish still when the Teacher was condemned and crucified. And yet, in the power of the resurrection Christ bestowed the Holy Spirit on these disciples, and sent them out to preach the Gospel to the ends of the earth.

Palestine was a backwater of the mighty Roman Empire, and Galilee was a backwater of Palestine. Whatever natural gifts the first disciples may have had, they did not have much of what the world esteems: worldly power, worldly wisdom, worldly connections. They were not the “movers and shakers” of the first century, and yet, as St. John Chrysostom observes, God’s weakness overcomes human power: “For the good deeds which tax-collectors and fishermen were able to accomplish by God’s grace, the philosophers, the rulers, the countless multitudes cannot even imagine.” (Homily on the First Letter to the Corinthians – St. Bartholomew, Office of Readings) From the outset, the enterprise seemed doomed to failure, and yet the disciples prevailed. Could anyone have imagined two thousand years ago that the Roman Forum would eventually become a field of ruins, while thousands of pilgrims would journey to Rome each year to pray at the tomb of a Galilean fisherman?

Catholic San Francisco

11

JESUS

OBSTACLES

TO VOCATIONS Some could follow Him for a time, but then returned home. The challenge of perseverance As members of the Serra Club, you are devoted to the work of vocations. You recall as I do was one which the first followers knew. the days of the recent past when seminaries were full and religious orders flourishing. We are Or perhaps, some say, the issue is celibacy. Certainly, this discipline is counter-cultural, all concerned about the decline in vocations over the past forty years, and I think we are aware above all in a society which is very permissive. But the twentieth century did not invent sexuof some of the challenges in our modern American society which contribute to this state of al attraction; celibacy has been a challenge in every age. The idea was revolutionary two thouaffairs. In reviewing some of them, I think we see that, although we feel these tensions prosand years ago. At the time of Jesus, for a devout Jew to be childless was a curse. Jesus frankly foundly today, they are not unique to our time. admitted to His disciples that not everyone could embrace One challenge is materialism. We live in an affluent this way of life, but that some were called to do so for the country, where education is the key to financial success. sake of the Kingdom. (Mt 19:12) Men and women are attracted to careers which bring both Then there are failings of priests and bishops, which material prosperity and social prestige. For most people, have been so greatly publicized over the past few years. the horizon of life is the horizon of this world, and even There is no doubt that the reputation of the Catholic clerpriesthood and religious life can be honored – but only to gy has been tarnished, and that it will take us a long time the extent that they “make the world a better place.” to recover the esteem with which many people, Catholic There are many ways to do good, and vocations which and non-Catholic alike, used to view priests and bishops. demand simplicity of life, lack of self-determination and The Church is undergoing a great purification, but this the renunciation of family will not attract many. can be a good thing for vocations. When clergy and reliWe may be disappointed that young people find they gious enjoyed high social standing, men and women cannot sacrifice career or wealth to follow Jesus – but we could consider a vocation to be the path to prestige. In our should not be surprised. Even Jesus Himself found this to be current situation, that is not likely to be the case; the the case, as we read in the Gospel story of the rich young “perks” are gone. man: Again, as intense as the testing is that we are endur“Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said to him, ‘You ing, is it all that different from the situation in Galilee are lacking in one thing. Go, sell what you have, and give to two thousand years ago? Let us listen again to St. John the poor and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, Chrysostom, as he describes the first disciples: follow me.’ At that statement his face fell, and he went away “That they were fearful, timid men, the evangelist sad, for he had many possessions.” (Mk 10: 21-22) makes clear; he did not reject the fact or try to hide their “He went away sad, for he had many possessions.” weaknesses. … What did he say of them? That when Christ Pope John Paul II embraces This could be a motto for many people today. It is not was arrested, the others fled, despite all the miracles they easy to answer the quiet invitation of Christ amid the had seen, while he who was the leader of the others denied a young man at World clamoring voices inviting worldly success.

(Homily on the First Letter to the Corinthians) Youth Day in Denver, 1993. him!”Those Another problem is that many parents no longer first called by Jesus could be self-serving, jealencourage their children to consider priesthood or religious ous, vacillating and stubborn; a careful reading of the life. Others do, of course, especially recent immigrants who come from cultures which have a strong New Testament shows us that Jesus did not call men and women who were saints. He did call Catholic identity. But as these people enter the mainstream of American life, they too will tend to them to become saints, a very different matter. direct their children into careers which are cherished —and rewarded — by American society.

As members of the Serra Club, you are dedicated to nurturing vocations. You know the Was this not also an obstacle two thousand years ago? At the beginning of Mark’s Gospel obstacles which can hinder a person from hearing the invitation of Jesus to follow Him in we hear of how Jesus called James and John to follow Him. “So they left their father Zebedee in priesthood or religious life. They are the same obstacles the first hearers of Jesus had to overthe boat with the hired men and followed him.” (Mk 1: 20) The Gospel does not record come. How did they do it, and how can we?

Zebedee’s reaction to this event, but it may not have been positive: how could his sons turn their THE NECESSARY FOUNDATION: back on a prosperous family business to go off wandering all over Galilee with an itinerant A PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS CHRIST rabbi? Perhaps some of the hard sayings of Jesus about loving Him more than father or mothSpeaking of the mission of the Church to hand on the faith, our Holy Father states: er, or how His mission brings division within families, reflects a certain hostility from the some “At the heart of catechesis we find, in of the relatives of His disciples. essence, a Person, the Person of Jesus of Some people assert that the problem Nazareth, the only Son from the Father … today is that it is very hard for young peowho suffered and died for us and who now, ple to make lifelong commitments. They after rising, is living with us forever.” (CCC live in a society which is in constant flux, #426) What is true of catechesis is true of and many grow up in families which have vocations: the heart of the matter is the gone through the agony of divorce. Yet did Person of Jesus Christ. Whatever strategies not Jesus warn a would-be follower, “No we develop or programs we promote to fosone who sets a hand to the plow and looks ter vocations must have one fundamental to what was left behind is fit for the kingpurpose: to nurture among our people a dom of God”? (Lk 10: 62) In John’s Gospel, loving, personal relationship with Jesus after Jesus spoke about Himself as the bread Christ. of life, many disciples abandoned Him.

The Calling of Peter and Andrew – Duccio di Buoninsegna, Siena (ca. 1308).

How remarkably attractive Jesus must have been to those first disciples! At a word or glance from Him, fishermen left their boats and tax collectors abandoned their counting tables. He drew to Himself rich and poor, men and women, lackeys of the Empire and former terrorists. The first disciples were able to overcome all obstacles to be with Jesus because they loved Him. The demands of religious life and priesthood make no sense in worldly terms: they are foolishness, but we know that people do foolish things when they are in love.

Wise words spoken about the vocation of marriage apply equally well to religious vocations: “Sacrifice is often difficult and irksome. Only love can make it bearable, and perfect love can make it a joy.” (Marriage Exhortation by Msgr. Charles Ramm) When we truly love another person, we do not count the cost; men and women will heed the call to priesthood and religious life if they are in love with Christ.

The work of fostering vocations is about helping people fall in love with Our Lord. How to do this? The same way Jesus did this with the first disciples: men and women need to spend time in the company of Jesus in the community of disciples, the Church. Many of us remember the old Catechism answer to the question: Why did God make me? “To know Him, to love Him and to serve Him in this world, and be happy with Him forever in the next.” A simple yet profound truth.

To know Him: Our young people need to be fed on the word of God, to read the Gospels as their story, too. In our families, our schools and our parishes we need to encourage people to read the Bible, not only to learn about Christ, but to encounter Christ Himself. And we need to share with our young the rich traditions of our Catholic faith, so clearly presented in The Catechism of the Catholic Church. Jesus wrote nothing, but He did devote His energies to forming a community, and it is the wisdom of that community that He can be found today.

Finally, we need to share with them the patrimony of the saints, who have shown us for two thousand years how a human life can be transformed by Christ. Heroism prompts imitation, and the saints are our heroes.

To love Him: People who are in love enjoy being together, and they often repeat over and over words of affection. Do our young people see in Sunday Mass a privileged time to be with Christ and tell God of their love for Him? Do they take time to put aside the distractions and cacophony of modern life to spend time in quiet prayer? It is often in the intimate conversations of the heart that the invitation to follow Christ in priesthood or religious life is first heard. Retreat experiences and opportunities to involve young people in the celebration of the Mass provide occasions to deepen their love for Christ.

To serve Him: Jesus called disciples, and Jesus also sent disciples. They were called to be with Him, they were sent to serve Him in other human beings. As a bishop, it is my privilege to celebrate the sacrament of confirmation frequently. When I do so, I am moved by the generosity of our young people. We need to encourage them in their service to others, and to see that service as a way of showing their love for Christ. When we are in love, the joy we feel touches all of our relationships; if our people know and love Jesus, they will happily serve Him. I do not come to you today to endorse specific programs or initiatives. They are many, and varied circumstances call for different means. What I do want to underscore is that at the foundation of any of vocation work must be the goal of helping people deepen their personal relationship with Christ. This may be why parishes which have encouraged Eucharistic adoration have produced vocations: they create an atmosphere of devotion to the Person of Jesus Christ, who dwells in our midst in the Blessed Sacrament. This may be why our Holy Father has such a profound impact on young people: he shows us that the Church is not simply an institution or organization; it has a human face. I heard recently that over two-thirds of the priests ordained for the United States in the Jubilee Year had participated in World Youth Day at Denver. In the faces of our Holy Father and the thousands of participants they saw the face of Christ, and loved Him. In the course of this convention you will have the opportunity to share your experiences with one another, and to explore various ways of fostering vocations. My prayer is that this time together may be informative and encouraging. But more importantly, I hope it is a time when each of us will fall more deeply in love with Christ, because love is infectious. It is this love for Our Lord which will most effectively nurture vocations. It is the Lord Himself who is speaking to the hearts of our young people; we need only help them hear His voice.

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Catholic San Francisco

November 5, 2004

Catholic san Francisco Northern California’s Weekly Catholic Newspaper

Guest Commentary Is there only secular democracy?

By Cardinal George Pell Democracy is never unqualified. We are used to speaking of “liberal democracy” which as currently understood is a synonym for “secular democracy.” In Europe there are parties advocating “Christian Democracy.” Lately there has been interest in the possibility of “Islamic democracy.” These descriptors do not simply refer to how democracy might be constituted, but to the moral vision democracy is intended to serve.

This is especially true in the case of secular democracy, which some insist is intended to serve no moral vision at all. But as Pope John Paul II argues, “The value of democracy stands or falls with the values which it embodies and promotes.” Democracy is not a good in itself. Its value is instrumental and depends on the vision it serves.

An attempt is sometimes made to evade this point by drawing a distinction between procedural and normative democracy. Procedural democracy’s claims are minimalist: Democracy should be regarded as nothing more than a mechanism for regulating different interests on a purely empirical basis.

To speak of normative democracy, however, especially if one is a Catholic bishop, is to provoke panic in some quarters and derision in others. Many things underlie this response, not least certain ideological convictions about secularism.

But most important of all is a failure of imagination. Democracy can only be what it is now: a constant series of “breakthroughs” against social taboo in pursuit of the individual’s absolute autonomy.

But think for a moment what it means to say that there can be no other form of democracy than secular democracy. Does democracy need a burgeoning billiondollar pornography industry to be truly democratic? Does it need an abortion rate in the tens of millions? Does it need high levels of marriage breakdown, with the growing rates of family dysfunction that come with them?

Does democracy (as in Holland’s case) need legalized euthanasia, extending to children under the age of 12? Does democracy need assisted reproductive technology (such as IVF) and embryonic stem cell research? Does democracy really need these things? What would democracy look like if you took some of these things out of the picture? Would it cease to be democracy? Or would it actually become more democratic?

These are the things by which secular democracy defines itself and stakes its ground against other possibilities. They are not merely epiphenomena of freedom of speech, movement and opportunity. The alarm with which many treat people in public life who are opposed to these things often implies that they are a danger to democracy. This overreaction is of course a bluff, an attempt to silence opposition almost suggesting that these practices are essential to democracy.

If we think about the answers to the questions above we begin to have an inkling about what a form of democracy other than secular democracy might look like, an alternative I call “democratic personalism.” It means nothing more than democracy founded on the transcendent dignity of the human person.

Transcendence directs us to our dependence on others and our dependence on God. And dependence is how we know the reality of transcendence. There is nothing undemocratic about bringing this truth into our reflections about our political arrangements. Placing democracy on this basis does not mean theocracy.

To refound democracy on our need for others, and our need to make a gift of ourselves to them, is to bring a whole new form of democracy into being.

Democratic personalism is perhaps the last alternative to secular democracy still possible within Western culture as it is presently configured.

From outside Western culture, of course, come other possibilities. It is still very early in the piece, of course, but the small but growing conversion of native Westerners within Western societies to Islam carries the suggestion that Islam may provide in the 21st century the attraction which communism provided in the 20th, both for those who are alienated or embittered on the one hand, and for those who seek order or justice on the other.

So alternatives are required. The recrudescence of intolerant religion is not a problem that secular democracy can resolve, but rather a problem that it tends to engender. The past century provided examples enough of how the emptiness within secular democracy can be filled with darkness by political substitutes for religion. Democratic personalism provides another, better possibility; one that does not require democracy to cancel itself out.

Democratic personalism does not mean seizing power to pursue a project of world transformation, but broadening the imagination of democratic culture so that it can rediscover hope, and re-establish freedom in truth and the common good. It is a work of persuasion and evangelization, more than political activism. Its priority is culture rather than politics, and the transformation of politics through revivifying culture. It is also about salvation — not least of all the salvation of democracy itself.

Cardinal George Pell is Archbishop of Sydney, Australia.

These remarks are excerpted by Zenit News Agency from an address he made Oct. 12 at the Acton Institute in Michigan.

Homecoming talk Thank you for the nice Datebook mention of the tenth anniversary of the Catholic Marin Breakfast Club which we are celebrating November 5. We are looking forward to welcoming Bishop Carlos Sevilla - our first speaker - on his visit home and again being inspired by his talk.

Sandy Hufford Kentfield

Violence on the weakest I am tired of being derided as a “single-issue” voter and your article on Fr. Kopfensteiner, S. J. (Theologian says one-issue voting is foreign to Catholic tradition – Oct. 29) did not help. The prolife vote does not boil down to just the abortion issue, as everyone is so fond of saying. Rather, abortion is the root issue in a hierarchy of issues that extends from experimenting upon and killing human embryos, to killing the unborn in or partially out of the womb, to assisting in ending the lives of those who are disabled or sick or dying.

After perpetrating violence upon the weakest members of the human family without much opposition from society - and with the blessing of our legal system it is one small step to accepting violence as a way of life. That includes abuse directed at women and children, failure to provide safety and care to the poor, using the death penalty as a solution for crime, and the ultimate aggression of war. If we accept violence at the most basic level of our existence, how do we marshal the moral authority to defy a violent culture? Where do we draw the line that we will not cross?

It has been said that, if thirtytwo years ago, every Catholic bishop, every Catholic priest, every Catholic religious and every Catholic layman had been united in their opposition to Roe v.

Wade, the Supreme Court would never have had the courage to legalize abortion. But Catholics were not united. The reason the media has not been able to determine how the Catholic bloc votes, is that there is no Catholic bloc.

Sadly, Catholics vote pretty much like the rest of the country votes. There appears to be no premier issue.

I believe it was Blessed Mother Teresa who said, “We must not be surprised when we hear of murders, of wars, of hatred. If a mother can kill her own child, what is left but for us to kill each other.”

Vicki Evans Larkspur

gious training teachers emphasized that the “end does not justify the means.” This was the policy used to justify many of the actions of our enemies we had just won over or were still fighting abroad. And yet, I have heard President Bush and members of his Administration on more than one occasion support such a position.

And somewhat related, Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld feels insurgents cutting off heads is far worse than our abusing prisoners. He said this with sincerity!

Very black and very black is in my mind still very black. A few weeks ago, the good Archbishop from Denver in a guest commentary in the Catholic San Francisco, writing on Embryonic Stem Cell Research, said the “end does not justify the means.” Am I to think that the rule just doesn’t apply to U. S. foreign policy?

Hennie Wisniewski San Francisco

L E T T E R S

Ends and means I grew up after World War II. Both my public school teachers and my reli-

Letters welcome Catholic San Francisco welcomes letters from its readers. Please:

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Send your letters to: Catholic San Francisco One Peter Yorke Way San Francisco, CA 94109 Fax: (415) 614-5641 E-mail: healym@sfarchdiocese.org

Love being Catholic

Mimi Ahern’s “Not a hall” letter (CSF - Oct. 15) was very meaningful to my heart - as I am sure it was to many others. On our journey to become members of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, we have come from many places where “fellowship” not “worship” was the rule. Often the clapping of hands and swaying to beautiful melodic songs, albeit about the Lord, is the method of “worship” with little regard to our God given built-in need to worship. We have a need to kneel before the King of Kings, to pray, to confess, to sing high worship, directly from the Sacred Scriptures, as we prepare ourselves for the sharing of His gift to us of Himself in the Eucharist.

The Catholic Mass is the only Holy place left in the world it seems. Was there ever another? It is difficult to imagine there ever was another Holy place now that Tom, my husband, and I are part of this great worship of the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. We must guard it with our lives, as Mimi Ahern reminds us.

Although we have the promise of Jesus to St. Peter, in Matthew 16:18, that the Gates of Hell will not prevail against His Church, we surely can crack open the gates enough to let in disruption to holy worship when we lose respect for the awe we have before the Lord our God. I am an extrovert. Extroverts want to talk all the time, and I am no exception. I want to say hello, hug, and visit with everyone at each Mass, but I am learning, in the Holiness of the moment, that the love we pass when we Pass the Peace is enough conversation. That love we see in each other’s faces comes from the confessed to the confessed and that same love is the purest communication; the purest fellowship we can experience.

I love being Catholic.

Terry Fenwick Half Moon Bay

Nothing sectarian Those who speak about the Church’s position on abortion weaken their argument inadvertently, when they describe it as “the Church’s teaching.” It allows others to dispense with the argument as “sectarian belief,” permitting them to claim: “my faith is as good as yours, and it says the opposite.”

On the contrary, as noted by George Weigel in a recent column, the Church’s position is a matter “of biology and logic.”

This is what should be recognized and stressed.

Jerrold Applegarth San Francisco

November 5, 2004

Catholic San Francisco

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The Bottom Line

The shepherd in the mist This fall I went to a huge book sale and walked first, as I always do, to the section marked “Religious” where suddenly I stopped, grabbing a book with a title I could never forget: “Shepherds in the Mist.” My guess is that of all the hundreds of people who came and went to the book sale that day, I was the only one who would have noticed or cared about this thin book written by a man named E. Boyd Barrett in 1949.

The story of why I was happy to find this book goes back to that very year, 1949. My dearest friend at that youthful time of my life was my cherished mentor, Father John Forman, pastor of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Albany, N.Y. We used to have many talks about Catholic faith. Often he talked about the priesthood and the sacred responsibility a man had when he was given the gift of serving God through ordination.

Several times he told me about a priest who he said had thrown away his vocation. Now, through the grace of God, this man, Boyd Barrett, had come back to the church, though not as a priest. Father Forman knew this because Barrett had written a book about his return to the church. It was called “Shepherds in the Mist.”

I never forgot the name of the author or the book.

Years later, when some of the fine priests I knew left their vocation, I briefly would think of them as “shepherds in the mist,” but with no criticism or judgment.

Now I had the book in hand and could read the story I had wondered about for so many decades. Surprisingly, Boyd Barrett never tells why he left the priesthood, nor is he critical of the church. In fact, his is really a re-conversion story, a love story of why he came back to his church.

He said that “grace” accounted for this, given to him because so many prayers had been offered for him.

But there was a deeper reason, the hunger in his soul for the Eucharist. It was the yearning to be nourished again with the body of Christ that brought him back to the church.

“The holy Eucharist is the argument that triumphs,” he wrote. In reading that, I remembered something spoken by the Catholic writer Flannery O’Connor when another writer, Mary McCarthy, who had left the church, commented that, as for the Eucharist, it was “a pretty good symbol.”

O’Connor, brilliantly and tersely commented, “Well, if it’s a symbol, to hell with it.”

Her answer, I think, was perfect. For McCarthy’s comment

as she seems to have meant it empties the Eucharist of its very meaning, that this bread is the real presence of Christ, the Son of God. Coming back to the church brought another special gift to the shepherd who had been in Antoinette Bosco the mist: peace. He said he had found that “being at peace, having once more a conscience that is clean and enlightened with God’s grace, gives one the courage to face the hardships of life. No threatening mishap is terrible anymore, no disappointment too bitter to bear. So many fears and anxieties and doubts are gone. The air is good now. Life has a true meaning.... You carry music in your heart!”

Antoinette Bosco is a journalist from Brookfield Center, Connecticut.

Family Life

Baby talk and walking the walk At fourteen months, the baby is talking, and I’m fairly certain it’s real words he’s trying to say.

Some of his utterances are clearer than others. I suppose I must admit that the clearest, at this point, are not words at all, but quite expressive sounds: We stroll down the grocery aisle, and he can scarcely contain himself: “Mmmmm! Mmmmmm!” The boy knows his food, that’s for sure.

He knows his dogs, too. “Woof! Woof!” says the baby upon seeing one, or even hearing it from afar.

But the words are coming, and quickly too. And since some of them are almost indistinguishable, it helps to have some visual cues, which most of the time, he very helpfully provides.

One of his brothers’ names is David, and his attempts to say it sound much like his more confident references to his father. But when it’s five o’clock and a car door slams, and Joseph races to the front door squealing, “Da-da!” we know exactly who he’s talking about.

If he’s got the phone to his ear and says “ha” we know he’s trying to say “hi.” If he’s looking warily at the oven or an electrical outlet and pronounces the same syllable, we can be sure (or hope) it’s “hot” that’s on his mind.

Since he’s still a baby, he spends a lot of time babbling, especially concentrating on those syllables that babies like so much. So he can race around the house murmuring “ba-ba-babee” to himself all day long, and it means nothing except practice, but if he sees a picture of one of his own kind, he perks up, points, and the nonsense syllables take on a new meaning: “ba-bee.”

But best of all is that simplest, earliest of baby sounds, that “ma-ma-ma-ma” which he quite often cuts to two syllables now and offers me as the sweetest reward for all of our long nights together: a head laid on my shoulder or arms wrapped around my leg with a pat, and a soft, “Ma-ma.”

I know exactly what he means.

The baby speaks, but the meaning of his words only become really clear through his actions.

We adults speak, too. For example, we utter a great many words in prayer. We recite verses, we affirm creeds, we offer syllables to heaven. We explain, when asked, who we are, we Catholic Christians, baptized and believing, people of something called faith.

When people hear us use such words, do they know what we mean?

And if they are uncertain, what actions do they see to clarify?

We speak of love. Of mercy. Of forgiveness. We speak of all these things and more. We say, in easy answers to surveys and idle questions that we are Christians.

Is there any way for people to understand the meanings of these words as we speak them?

Is the love which we claim to bear the world any different from the mild feelings of good will that any decent human being harbors towards others?

What of our mercy and forgiveness? Jesus speaks of a father who welcomes a wandering son home without even hearing his excuses. He tells of the master of a vineyard

who pays all his laborers the same wage, no matter what hour they began their work. The religiously-oriented of his time maintained that it was risky and sinful for the godly to associate with those outside Amy Welborn the Law, and to help them in anyway was even worse, for it strengthened the hand of the sinner. In the name of mercy, Jesus did both, brazenly.

When the world hears the modern Christian say these words - mercy, forgiveness, love – to what meaning do his actions point? Is it the passionate, open joyful mercy of Jesus in the Gospels, or is it merely the sense that the world gives – of mercy only for the deserving, of forgiveness offered conditionally, of love for those with whom we’re comfortable?

The world is full of Christians. The land is filled with buildings upon which is etched that name. You and I go regularly to those buildings, like clockwork, every week, where we speak, sing, proclaim, and pray.

It’s worth asking. What meanings do our actions give to the words we say?

Amy Welborn writes for Our Sunday Visitor.

Spirituality

Biblical anxiety, fear and faith The opposite of belief is not non-belief, but anxiety. To not believe, to not have faith, is to be anxious in a particular way. What way?

We get a hint at an answer in Jesus’ rather-famous comment about the lilies of the field. He tells us to consider how the flowers of the field neither toil nor spin and yet nobody, no Queen or King in all of his or her royal glory, was ever arrayed like a simple flower in the field. Jesus ends this admonition with the words: “Don’t be anxious. No sparrow falls from the sky or a hair from your head, except that God notices.” What he’s saying here is this: “Your life will not go unnoticed, you will not be forgotten. Don’t be anxious about having to leave a mark for yourself. You don’t need to make an assertion with your life!”

Yet perhaps our deepest worry is precisely that we will be forgotten, that we will go through life unnoticed, unmarked by anything that is really special.

Chicago-based theologian, John Shea, uses a very simple example to help us understand this: Have you ever, he asks, gone to your closet to look for something and, while browsing through your closet, find an item of clothing that you’d completely forgotten that you still had. You’re genuinely surprised that this particular piece of clothing still exists.

In essence, that describes one of our deepest, inchoate fears: Somewhere below our conscious awareness we worry that one day God will look down on this earth and, with genuine surprise, see that you or I still exist and will exclaim: “My God, she’s still alive! I’d completely forgotten about her!”

That might sound fanciful, but it’s not. Where we experience

this anxiety is not so much in some conscious worry that we’ve fallen off of God’s radar screen, but in the constant, restless, insatiable worry that our lives are insignificant, that we’re not leaving behind anything of permanence, and that we’re destined to remain unknown and forgotten, anonymous nobodies.

That’s why we are so driven to make an assertion with our lives. We live, as Thoreau puts it, “lives of quiet desperation,” striving constantly in a thousand ways to leave some mark behind by doing something that’s special enough so that, in some way, we create some immortality, however small, for ourselves. (“Plant a tree; write a book; have a child!”) Our fear is always: If I don’t guarantee a place for myself, who will?”

That anxiety, the Gospels tell us, is the opposite of faith, the opposite of believing in God. Why? Because when we’re anxious in this way it’s precisely because we do not trust that the God, who gave us birth, desire, and talent, will also give us significance, permanence, and immortality. Faith invites us to believe that our real significance is not to have our name put up on billboards, but to have our name written in heaven, among the eternal stars. A place in God’s heart gives us a significance and a permanence that the hall of fame does not.

“Do not be afraid,” Jesus says, “everything that is hidden will one day be revealed.” A curious statement, given that all of us have done things we prefer others not to know. Shouldn’t we be afraid if all we have ever done will one day come to light?

But what Jesus is saying will be brought to light is not our hidden sin, but our hidden story, our hidden significance, our hidden specialness, our hidden dignity. We need not make an

assertion of our lives and our talents so as to try to prove anything because God will prove it for us.

We need only to trust, trust that God will give us the significance and immortality we cannot guarantee of ourselves.

Father Former baseball star, Ron Rolheiser Reggie Jackson, once made this comment about himself (tongue-in-cheek, as was his colourful, humorous style): “I have to deal with the magnitude of me!” the problem is exactly the opposite (as I’m sure Reggie would admit): We have to deal always with the “insubstantiality of me,” the anxious fear that we’re insignificant, that we’re small, and that we’re destined to die and disappear.

That fear is what gnaws away at our faith and can, on any particular lonely day when we feel awash in a sea of anonymity, have us believe that God is dead.

Because this anxiety, the fear of being forgotten, so drives us to assert ourselves, we pray each time we go to Eucharist: “Protect us from all anxiety as we wait in joyful hope for the coming of our Saviour, Jesus Christ.”

Oblate Father Ron Rolheiser is a theologian, teacher and award-winning author.

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Catholic San Francisco

November 5, 2004

THIRTY-SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

Scripture

2 Maccabees 7:1-2. 9-14; Psalm 17:1, 5-6, 8, 15; 2 Thessalonians 2:16-3:5; Luke 20:27-38 or 20:27, 34-38 A READING FROM THE SECOND BOOK OF MACCABEES (2 MACC 7:1-2, 9-14) It happened that seven brothers with their mother were arrested and tortured with whips and scourges by the king, to force them to eat pork in violation of God’s law.

One of the brothers, speaking for the others, said: “What do you expect to achieve by questioning us? We are ready to die rather than transgress the laws of our ancestors.”

At the point of death he said: “You accursed fiend, you are depriving us of this present life, but the King of the world will raise us up to live again forever. It is for his laws that we are dying.”

After him the third suffered their cruel sport. He put out his tongue at once when told to do so, and bravely held out his hands, as he spoke these noble words: “It was from Heaven that I received these; for the sake of his laws I disdain them; from him I hope to receive them again.” Even the king and his attendants marveled at the young man’s courage, because he regarded his sufferings as nothing.

After he had died, they tortured and maltreated the fourth brother in the same way.

When he was near death, he said, “It is my choice to die at the hands of men with the hope God gives of being raised up by him; but for you, there will be no resurrection to life.”

RESPONSORIAL PSALM (PS 17:1, 5-6, 8, 15) R. Lord, when your glory appears, my joy will be full.

Hear, O Lord, a just suit; attend to my outcry; hearken to my prayer from lips without deceit.

R. Lord, when your glory appears, my joy will be full.

My steps have been steadfast in your paths, my feet have not faltered.

I call upon you, for you will answer me, O God; incline your ear to me; hear my word.

R. Lord, when your glory appears, my joy will be full.

Keep me as the apple of your eye, hide me in the shadow of your wings.

But I in justice shall behold your face; on waking I shall be content in your presence.

R. Lord, when your glory appears, my joy will be full.

A READING FROM THE SECOND LETTER OF SAINT PAUL TO THE THESSALONIANS (2 THESS 2:16-3:5) Brothers and sisters: May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us everlasting encouragement and good hope through his grace, encourage your hearts and strengthen them in every good deed and word.

Finally, brothers and sisters, pray for us, so that the word of the Lord may speed forward and be glorified, as it did among you, and that we may be delivered from perverse and wicked people, for not all have faith. But the Lord is faithful; he will strengthen you and guard you from the evil one. We are confident of you in the Lord that what we instruct you, you are doing and will continue to do. May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the endurance of Christ.

A READING FROM THE HOLY GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE (LK 20:27-38 OR 20:27, 34-38) Some Sadducees, those who deny that there is a resurrection, came forward and put this question to Jesus, saying, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us, If someone’s brother dies leaving a wife but no child, his brother must take the wife and raise up descendants for his brother. Now there were seven brothers; the first married a woman but died childless. Then the second and the third married her, and likewise all the seven died childless. Finally the woman also died. Now at the resurrection whose wife will that woman be? For all seven had been married to her.”

Jesus said to them, “The children of this age marry and remarry; but those who are deemed worthy to attain to the coming age and to the resurrection of the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. They can no longer die, for they are like angels; and they are the children of God because they are the ones who will rise. That the dead will rise even Moses made known in the passage about the bush, when he called out ‘Lord,’ the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; and he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.”

MARK SHEA

Hidden and revealed As our Lord himself showed on the Emmaus Road, Scripture is ultimately about him. But the curious thing is, this vast panorama of parted seas, plagues, kings, vineyards, whirlwinds, floating axe-heads, blessings, curses, patriarchs, prostitutes, assassins, prophets, laws, peasants, sages, lions and hippopotami does not immediately suggest to us just how to find Jesus of Nazareth in the midst of it all.

Some people think it’s easy. With too-comfortable hindsight, they imagine that all Jesus’ contemporaries must have immediately known that Psalm 16 was a) inspired Scripture and b) clearly referred to the doctrine of the Resurrection of the Dead, when it declared, “But I in justice will behold your face; on waking I shall be content in your presence.” Such people often speak as though first century Jews had a sort of “messianic prophecy fulfillment checklist” and that it was possible to just follow Jesus around, checking off fulfillments as they happened. The notion seems to be that the entire history of Christ was foreseen with as much clarity by the Old Testament prophets as it was remembered by the apostles.

Others, including the Sadducees in today’s gospel, are in the opposite camp. They see no messianic and no resurrection in the Old Testament. Indeed, they see only five Old Testament books as inspired at all: the five books of Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, Leviticus and Deuteronomy. All the rest of it from Joshua to Malachi was, for the Sadducees, just Jewish literature. Therefore, when 2 Maccabees preached the Resurrection, the Sadducees said, “So what?”

And when a rabbi from Galilee came to Jerusalem with the same sort of message, the Sadducees from the big city thought it would be fun to put this up-country preacher in his place. So they posed him what they thought was an insoluble logic problem. A series of brothers, in obedience to the law of Moses, marries the same woman and dies one after another. If there is a resurrection, who is she married to?

Jesus stuns them with his reply. First, he points out that their view of the Resurrection is ridiculously provincial. The supposition that glorified human life must look exactly like our present circumstances is scotched.

The vow of marriage makes no sense in a world where vows, taken to bind fallen humans to promises they might otherwise break, are unnecessary. Then, in an even more stunning move, Jesus calls as witness to the Resurrection none other than the Torah itself. Since the Sadducees only recognize the books of Moses as Scripture, that is what Jesus relies on. He confronts the Sadducees with the fact that God says I am the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Exodus 3:6) not “I was.” The implication is clear: God is saying the patriarchs are still alive. And as they are, so shall we be - if we have faith in Jesus.

In so doing, Jesus shows the way in which he and his gospel are both revealed and hidden in the Old Testament. The Old Testament is not simply an itinerary or checklist of crystal clear messianic prophecies. In fact, many texts which the Church understands as referring to Jesus were not understood to be messianic until Jesus fulfilled them. None of his apostles understood clearly that Jesus had to die and rise from the dead, even when he told them point blank and even when they stood in the mouth of the empty tomb (Mark 9:32; John 20:9).

However, when it was fitting, our Lord opened the eyes of his disciples (and, as we see today, sometimes even those of his enemies) to show his gospel hidden in the Old Testament (Luke 24:27). In light of his resurrection, Isaiah 53 and Psalm 22 (among other texts) suddenly took on stark significance. That which was hidden was revealed in almost blinding light (Ephesians 3:4-5).

The same sort of thing is promised to us in our resurrection with him. We will be taken as hicks, fools and fanatics (like the martyrs in today’s reading from 2 Maccabees) for pinning our hopes on life from the dead rather than seeking to win through intimidation or make hay while the sun shines or do any of the thousand other things to gain the whole world while forfeiting our souls. But in the day when that which is hidden is again revealed, the light will again both illumine with stark clarity what was always true, even in the days of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Mark Shea is Senior Content Editor for CatholicExchange.com.

‘God isn’t dead–I talked with Him this morning’

By Frederica Mathewes-Green There’s a sweet naivete in this bumper sticker from a few decades ago, as it blithely eludes the complexities of the old “God is Dead” debate. Though philosophers wrestle with Resurrection texts and idiosyncracies, these believers find such angst irrelevant. They know God personally, and hand-wringing about whether he’s there or not is a waste of time.

Did Jesus rise from the dead? Hey, I’m talkin’ with him. Dead guys don’t do that. He’s back, all right.

People who don’t have similar breakfast-table chats find this response understandably frustrating. It’s hard to even make sense of the words. “I talked with Him–what could that possibly mean?”

They see the believer at worship singing old favorites like “I Heard the Lord Call My Name,” “I Saw the Light,” “He Touched Me.” It sounds like the believer encounters the risen Jesus in a way that impinges on the five senses, and that would imply some objective provability.

But when the skeptic asks the believer, Do you mean you heard him with your ears? the believer looks confused.

No, of course, that isn’t what he means.

He grapples for better words; it’s hard to explain. After a few attempts he may wind up with, “It’s one of those things. If you don’t know, I can’t tell you.”

The believer concludes that the skeptic hasn’t seen the light yet, so to speak, but hopes someday he will. The skeptic concludes that the believer is a dolt. He hasn’t seen any light at all; he’s operating under an emotion-fueled delusion.

If the skeptic bears the Christian label, this kind of faith is an embarrassment. The prevalence of goofy and groundless emotionalism, he fears, makes Christianity a laughingstock among enlightened folk.

Surely it would be a service to develop a Christian faith that could meet the intellectual demands of modern, rational people, minus absurd Resurrection claims and supernatural mumbo-jumbo.

There are two flaws in this noble-sounding project. The first is that it is no longer

necessary to concoct a Jesus who will be palatable to the Enlightenment. That Age of Enlightenment is over, and has been replaced by the new Age of the EnlightenmentSeeker. Supernaturalism is no longer a stumbling block; rather, people crave the mystical. A short cruise around Beliefnet demonstrates that. Modernist, rational people, preponderantly gray-haired, are on the escalator out of the building, and results will be both good and ill. Those who remain are fascinated, not repelled, by claims of miracles, visions, and Resurrection.

So it’s not necessary to keep trying different hairstyles on Jesus, hoping to find one that will make him appealing to Voltaire. That age has passed, and Voltaire has had all his questions answered by now.

The second flaw is, well, I spoke with Him this morning. I can’t explain this to those who haven’t, but I can spot those who have, no matter what their brand of Christian faith or when they lived in history. Skip over the centuries and around the globe: St. Nina Equal-to-the-Apostles, St. Moses the Ethiopian, St. Nicholas of Japan,

Mother Teresa of Calcutta, my buddy Rod in Brooklyn. When I look at their words and witness, a common thread glows bright.

They saw what I see; they saw him too.

There’s a problem of course, with saying we “see” it, as that suggests a grandiose vision of pinwheeling seraphim and a voice that shakes the ground. For most of us it’s a great deal more subtle than that. It’s more like we find something coalescing within us, establishing itself, gradually becoming the foundation and authority for all the rest of life. It may begin with a jolt, as in my case, or be the harvest of many quiet years.

It is emphatically hard to describe.

What is it like? More than anything else, it’s like the presence of another person.

That person, of course, is Jesus Christ.

We don’t doubt the Resurrection because it continues today. We aren’t troubled by variations in Scriptural accounts, because even today our experiences vary. People have different experiences with my dentist, but he remains the same guy.

This can make the skeptic more frusGOD ISN’T DEAD, page 15

November 5, 2004

Catholic San Francisco

15

The importance of loving enemies

By Brother Roger Why is love of enemies so central to the Gospel?

In the sixth chapter of Luke’s Gospel, immediately after the Beatitudes, Jesus urges his disciples at length to respond to hatred with love (Luke 6:27-35; cf. Matthew 5:43-48).

Situated in that context, this text shows that for Luke, love of one’s opponents is what characterizes the disciples of Christ.

Jesus’ words depict two ways of living. The first is that of “sinners,” in other words, those who behave without reference to God and his Word. They act towards others according to the way others treat them; their action is in fact a re-action. Such people divide the world into two camps— their friends and those who are not their friends—and are good only to those who are good to them. The other way of living does not refer first and foremost to a group of human beings, but rather to God himself. God does not react according to the way he is treated. On the contrary, God “is good to the ungrateful and the wicked” (Luke 6:35).

Jesus thus puts his finger on the essential feature of the God of the Bible. Source of overflowing goodness, God does not let himself be conditioned by the wickedness of others. Even when forgotten or rejected, God continues to be faithful to himself; all God can do is love. This is true from the very beginning. Centuries before the coming of Christ Jesus, a prophet explained that, unlike human beings, God is always ready to forgive: “Your thoughts are not my thoughts and my ways are not your ways” (Isaiah 55:7-8). The prophet Hosea, for his part, hears the Lord tell him, “I will not give rein to my fierce anger... for I am God and not human” (Hosea 11:9). In a word, our God is merciful (Exodus 34:6; Psalm 86:15; 116:5 etc.); God “does not treat us as our sins deserve, or repay us as would befit our offences” (Psalm 103:10).

What is new in the Gospel is not so much that God is a Source of goodness, but that human beings can and should act in the image of their Creator: “Be merciful, as your Father is merciful!” (Luke 6:36). By the coming of his Son into our world as a human being, this divine Source of goodness is now accessible to us. We can become in our turn “sons and daughters of the Most High” (Luke 6:35), beings who are able to respond to evil with good, to hatred with love. By living a universal compassion, by forgiving those who hurt us, we witness that the God of mercy is present at the heart of a world marked by the rejection of others, where those who are different are despised or ignored.

God isn’t dead . . .

■ Continued from page 14 trated, not less. You can see a dentist, for goodness’ sake.

What do you mean, you sense another person inside you?

There are good arguments for leaving the inexplicable unexplained, and just saying, “Come see for yourself.” But in the Christian east a formulation developed that might be helpful. Our five senses are the means by which we engage life; before we reflect intellectually or react emotionally, we have immediate sensory experience. There is a pool of awareness at the union of our five senses, called the “nous.” Here God is able to communicate with us, but like a badly-tuned radio we can be too distract-

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Impossible for human beings reduced to their own powers, loving one’s enemies witnesses to the activity of God himself in our midst. No outward commandment can make it possible. Only the presence in our hearts of divine love in person, the Holy Spirit, enables us to live in this way. This love is a direct result of Pentecost. It is not for nothing that the story of Stephen, the first Christian martyr, “filled with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 7:55), ends with these words: “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” (Acts 7:60). In the footsteps of Jesus himself (cf. Luke 23:34), the disciple makes it possible for the sinister land of violence to be illuminated by the light of God’s love.

Why does Saint John not speak of love of enemies?

Whereas the Gospels of Matthew and Luke emphasize the need for a love that goes beyond the circle of those who are on the same side to include even opponents, the writings of Saint John speak almost exclusively of love between the disciples of Jesus. Are we to conclude that John’s outlook is more limited?

For John as for the rest of the New Testament, the mission of Jesus is universal. He is the Word of God “who shines on every human being coming into the world” (John 1:9). He came to forgive the sins of the whole world (1 John 2:2). He excludes no one from his love: “All whom the Father gives me will come to me, and I will not reject anyone who comes to me” (John 6:37). As “the Savior of the world” (John 4:42), Jesus offers to every human being the living water that gives life in fullness.

But the life that Christ gives is “eternal,” in other words it is God’s own life. It consists in a shared existence that is called communion. This communion is first and foremost a reality in God, the flow of life between the Father and the Son, and it is expressed on earth by a communion among human beings who open their hearts to the Gospel (cf. 1 John 1:3). Those who enter this shared life leave behind them an existence which is inauthentic because allegedly self-sufficient. In John’s language, they are born of God (John 1:13; cf. 3:3-8) and are no longer “of the world” (cf. John 17:16).

To be understood correctly, John’s teaching about love needs to be set in this context. For him, love is a translation “in deeds and in truth” (1 John 3:18) of this communion in God. It is thus basically reciprocal; the one to whom it is offered must receive it in order to give it in turn. This is true first of all in God, then in us: “As the Father has loved me, so I too have loved you: remain in my love” (John 15:10).

We remain in God’s love by putting the “new commandment” into practice: “Love one another as I have loved you”

Not that our average bumper-sticker toting friend would use these terms, or need them. Yet the fact that he cannot describe his interior experience should not be taken as evidence that it doesn’t exist. The skeptic enjoys the illusion that his relentlessness is frightening to believers, but actually he’s just annoying them. They try to be polite about it but, bottom line, he’s spouting off about something he hasn’t experienced yet.

What about that “yet?” Is this encounter for everyone?

Is it ever too late? How would someone begin?

Jesus advised that we should ask for what we want to receive, so that’s a good place to start. But first we must “become as little children,” open, guileless, and humble. That kind of person won’t be too proud to admit that he needs a Savior, and to talk with Him simply in his heart, over a cup of morning coffee.

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ed or confused to tune in. Spiritual exercises, like fasting and attentive prayer, can help us focus on his voice (there’s that sense language again).

While emotions or intellectual insights may follow on any interpersonal encounter, whether with God or a dentist, these are secondary reactions. The pure experience of contact comes first, and tears, joy, and the Summa Theologica are just outwardly observable responses.

Practice prepares, grace provides, and the nous can eventually descend into the heart where Christ abides, the “Kingdom of God within you.” Diligent attention can make this state habitual. “Continue constantly in the name of the Lord Jesus, that the heart may swallow the Lord and the Lord the heart,” says the 4th century preacher St. John Chrysostom.

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(John 13:34; cf. 15:10,17). In this way, the love between the disciples of Christ becomes an indubitable sign of God’s presence at the heart of the world (cf. John 13:35).

If John insists so strongly on the mutual love of the disciples, then, that is not in order to restrict love to a small group of those who think along the same lines. The aim of this love is still universal, “so that the world may believe”(John 17:21,23), so that people may open their hearts to God’s presence and enter the divine communion.

But the only unambiguous and convincing sign of that presence and that communion is a love which is both given and received, a love “brought to perfection” (1 John 4:12; cf.

2:5; 4:17,18).

This love, far from being a mere feeling, is a force that reconciles oppositions and creates a community of brothers and sisters out of the most diverse men and women; the ongoing life of this community radiates a power of attraction that can change people’s hearts. For Saint John, this is how God loves the world in an effective way (cf. John 3:16)-not directly, because God cannot force anyone’s heart and there is a basic incompatibility between the world that rejects God and God’s love (cf. 1 John 2:15), but by placing in the midst of the world a ferment of communion, mutual love between believers, capable of penetrating the dough and causing it to rise.

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Food & Fun Nov. 6 and 20: Annual Interfaith Community Health Fair Nov. 6th at St. Paul of the Shipwreck Church, Jamestown and 3rd St., SF, 9 a.m. – 4 p.m., and Nov. 20 at St. Dominic Church, Bush and Steiner St., SF, 9:30 a.m. – 4 p.m. Morning workshops will look at the impact of “violence on personal and community health.”

Afternoon is dedicated to health screenings and advice from Ask the Doctor booths, social service and health insurance professionals. Call (415) 750-5683.

Sponsored by St. Mary’s Medical Center and the San Francisco Giants.

Nov. 7: St. Stephen concert series at 4 p.m. featuring soprano Liz Eshelmann with Mary Liz Smith on piano.

The soprano has sung with the SF Symphony with Michael Tilson Thomas. She currently teaches at Mills College. $10 donation benefits parish music ministry.

Call (415) 681-2444. The church is at Eucalyptus Dr. and 23rd Ave. in San Francisco Nov. 8: Mozart Requiem, performed by St. Dominic Choir and Festival Orchestra at 7:30 p.m. at St. Dominic Church, 2390 Bush St. at Steiner in SF. “A divine prayer experience.” Free admission. Plenty of parking. Call (415) 567-7824 Nov.10: Monthly breakfast meeting of the Catholic Professional & Business Club. New members are always welcome! Join us on our new day and in our new location, SF City Club at 155 Sansome (at Bush).Today, Ray Flynn, Author, Former Ambassador to the Vatican, Former Mayor of Boston. 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, $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.

Nov. 11: Brennan Award Dinner benefiting programs of St. Vincent de Paul Society of San Francisco at St. Mary’s Cathedral, Patron Hall at 6 p.m. Bill and Jeanne Barulich are guests of honor. For ticket information, call (415) 977-1270, ext. 3021.

Nov. 13: Autumn Splendor, fall luncheon and floral demonstration benefiting Birthright of San Francisco at Presidio Golf Club. $45 per person. Call (415) 664-9909.

Nov. 13: Festa Italiano, a dinner dance with raffles and prizes at Our Lady of Loretto Church Hall, 1806 Novato Blvd., Novato. Sponsored by parish council of Knights of Columbus. Music by Tom and the Cats. Tickets are $30 per person. Call (415) 892-9989. Proceeds benefit K of C charitable works including a scholarship program.

Nov. 13: Club 451, annual evening-out benefiting Junipero Serra High School. The gala is set “in the Supper Club scene of the 1940s.” Tickets for the benefit are $75 per person. Top raffle prize is 2004 Cadillac XLR given to quarterback Tom Brady for his MVP performance in 2003 Super Bowl and valued at $76,000. Raffle tickets are $25 each or five for $100. Call (650) 573-9935.

Nov. 13. 14: Holiday Boutique benefiting St. Andrew Church, Southgate and Sullivan, Daly City with handcrafted gifts and “gently used” household items. Sat. 9 a.m. – 6 p.m.; Sun. 9 a.m. – 2 p.m. Call (650) 756-3223.

Nov. 13, 14: A Way to Christmas, luncheon and craft fair benefiting work of the Women’s Club of All Souls Parish in South San Francisco. Choose from handmade items for all gift needs plus snack bar, drawings, face painting. More than 30 vendors.

Doors open 9 a.m. both days. Call Dolores at (650) 588-0810.

Nov. 8, 9, 10: Finding God in the Midst of Chaos, a mission at St. Charles Parish, 880 Tamarack Ave., San Carlos with Holy Names Sister Molly Neville. Topics include The Call to Prayer and The Call to Be a Disciple. All days at 9 a.m. and 7:30 p.m. Call (650) 591-7349 or visit www.stcharlesparish.org.

The University of San Francisco announces the following presentations: Nov. 16: So Help Us God speaks about the inaugural addresses of Philippine presidents. Call (415) 422-6357. Nov. 16: Harnessing Consumer Power in the Marketplace. Call (415) 422-5662. Nov. 17: The Deadliest Sin with author, Robert A. F. Thurman.

Call (415) 422-6357. Nov. 22: China: Great Wall, Grey Boomtowns, Grand Dams with author Peter Hessler. Call (415) 422-6357. Nov. 23: Hear poet Ron Padgett. Call (415) 422-2382.

November 5, 2004

Datebook

their university campus in Belmont. Call (650) 593-2045, ext. 350. This year’s theme is the Beatitudes: Becoming Beatitude People. Today, Blessed are the sorrowing: Breaking the Silence of Abuse with licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, Barbara Elordi who is “widely recognized for her specialization in grief and loss.”

Prayer opportunities at Holy Cross Cemetery, Colma include 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.

Young Adults Office of Young Adult Ministry: Connecting late teens, 20s and 30s, single and married to the Catholic Church. Contact Mary Jansen, 415614-5596, jansenm@sfarchdiocese.org. Check out our website www.sfyam.org for a list of events around the Bay Area.

Nov. 22: On Being Catholic, On Being a Politician, a perspective by SF Mayor Gavin Newsom at regular meeting of St. Vincent de Paul Young Adult Group. “Just show up and be part of our community.” Meetings take place at SVDP, Steiner and Green, SF at 7:30 p.m.

Contact StVincentsYAG@aol.com.

Thurs. at 7:30 p.m.: St. Dominic Adult Formation Series in the parish hall 2390 Bush St. at Steiner, SF. Explore the skills needed to understand the bible and help it inform daily life. Join at any time.

Contact Scott Moyer at scott@stdominics.org.

Single, Divorced, Separated “Everybody’s invited,” to the Oldies But Goodies Dance November 13th benefiting the Youth Program and scholarship fund of St. Paul of the Shipwreck Parish, 3rd St. at Jamestown, SF, 8 p.m. – midnight. Tickets $30 per person. No tickets will be sold at the door. 21 and over please. Call (415) 468-3434. Among those who helped plan the evening are, from left, June Donley, Larry Chatmon, Benita Gipson, Doreen Munoz, Loretta Chatmon and Gertrude Morris. Unavailable for the photo were committee members Hollis Pierce, H. Welton Flynn, Brian Stewart, Victoria Porchia.

Nov. 20: Annual Mass of Thanksgiving at Xavier Chapel at USF at 4 p.m. Reception follows. Call Susan at (415) 752-1308.

Separated and Divorced support groups meet 3rd Sat. at 6:30 p.m. at St. Mary’s Cathedral, call Pat at (415) 492-3331; and 1st and 3rd Wed. at 7:30 p.m. at St. Stephen Parish Center, SF, call Gail at (650) 591-8452.

Catholic Adult Singles Assoc. of Marin meets for support and activities. Call Bob at (415) 8970639 for information.

Nov. 14: Pancake Breakfast and Talent Show benefiting St. Finn Barr School, 8:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. at the parish. Adults $5/Seniors and Students $4.50/under 5 $3.50. Call (415) 333-1800.

Nov. 19, 20: Marian Care Center Christmas Boutique, 2300 Adeline Dr., Burlingame, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. Great holiday items including crafts, gift baskets, foods, many homemade by retired Sisters of Mercy. Call (650) 340-7426.

Nov. 20: Holiday Boutique benefiting Mercy High School, 3250 19th Ave., San Francisco from 10 a.m.

– 4 p.m. Arts and Crafts, raffle, silent auction and more. Refreshments and Irish Coffee, too! Call (415) 334-0525, ext. 300.

Nov. 20, 21: Noel Notions, a Christmas Bazaar benefiting Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Parish in Mill Valley. Enjoy homemade baked goods and other foods, salvage shop treasures, Santa’s Toy Booth and more. Takes place in schoool auditorium 17 Buena Vista Ave. Call (415) 388-4332.

Nov. 21: Sing-a-long to the Sound of Music at St. Stephen Parish Donworth Hall, 473 Eucalyptus Dr. near Stonestown Join the fun! Benefits work of LCA Juniors of Catholic Charities CYO. $5 per person. Please call ahead to (415) 972-1243 or info@littlechildrensaid.com.

TV/Radio

Meetings

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.

2nd Wed.: Men’s Evening of Reflection: Being Catholic in the Modern World at the National Shrine of St. Francis of Assisi, 610 Vallejo St. at Columbus, SF beginning at 7 p.m. Call (415) 983-0405.

Courage, a Catholic support group for persons with same-sex attraction, meets Thursdays at 7:30 p.m. Call Father Lawrence Goode at (650) 3222152.

Shows Nov. 5, 6, 12, 13: Shooting Stars, a saga of a touring women’s basketball team in the 1960s at Mercy High School, 3250 19th Ave., SF. Call (415) 3340525, ext. 242 for curtain times and ticket information.

Nov. 11- 21: Cloud 9 and Top Girls, plays by Caryl Churchill at University of San Francisco’s Campion Hall, Gill Theater. Call (415) 422-5979 for curtain times and ticket information.

Nov. 12, 13, 19, 20, 21: A Cry of Players at Archbishop Riordan High School Lindland Theater.

Call (415) 587-5866 for curtain times and ticket information.

Nov. 19 – Dec. 12: Festival of New One Act Plays and Performances by Dominican University and Community Players. Call (415) 673-3131 or www.dominican.edu for curtain times and ticket information.

Reunions 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 ’54, Holy Name of Jesus Elementary School at Caesar’s Restaurant, Bay St. near the Wharf at 11:30 a.m. for reunion and lunch.

Contact Claire Cook Norton at ClaireLVTNS@surewest.net or (916) 791-2215.

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.

Prayer Opportunities/Lectures Nov. 19, 20: Called and Gifted Workshop at Holy Name of Jesus Parish, 38th Ave. and Lawton, SF. Fri. 7 – 9:30 p.m.; Sat. 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. with Liturgy at 5 p.m. Call Angela Testani at (415) 5865754.

Nov. 27: The Mysticism of Blessed Angela of Floigno, a Day of Recollection at the Povarello, 109 Golden Gate Ave. Call (415) 447-9860.

Nov. 13: 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

Taize Prayer 3rd Wed. at 7:30 p.m. with the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur in their Province Center Chapel, 1520 Ralston Ave., Belmont across from Ralston Hall on the campus of their Notre Dame de Namur University.. Call (650) 593-2045, ext. 350 or www.SistersofNotreDameCa.org.

1st Fri. at 8 p.m. at Mercy Center, 2300 Adeline Dr., Burlingame with Mercy Sister Suzanne Toolan.

Call (650) 340-7452; Church of the Nativity, 210 Oak Grove Ave., Menlo Park at 7:30 p.m. Call Deacon Dominic Peloso at (650) 322-3013.

3rd Fri. at 8 p.m. at Woodside Priory Chapel, 302 Portola Rd., Portola Valley. Call Dean Miller at (650) 631-2882 1st Sat. at 8:30 p.m. at SF Presidio Main Post Chapel, 130 Fisher Loop. Call Catherine Rondainaro at (415) 713-0225.

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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November 5, 2004

Music TV

Catholic San Francisco

Books RADIO Film

17

Stage

‘Sideways’ is full-bodied comedy

By David DiCerto NEW YORK (CNS) — In an era when Hollywood vineyards continue to trample out blockbusters by the barrel, it is refreshing to savor small films of a finer vintage, like Alexander Payne’s full-bodied comedy “Sideways�

(Fox Searchlight).

Based on the novel of the same name by Rex Pickett, the odd-couple road movie follows the misadventures of two friends on a midlife journey of self-discovery, fueled by wine and women, which serves as a bittersweet meditation on love, loneliness, fellowship and failed ambition.

Paul Giamatti stars as Miles, a sadsack middle-school teacher and frustrated novelist still licking his wounds after his recent divorce. Wallowing in selfloathing, he hides his drunken depression behind the guise of a sophisticated wine aficionado.

Thomas Haden Church plays his soonto-be-married buddy, Jack, a washed-up actor and incorrigible lecher whom Miles has known since college.

In lieu of throwing him a bachelor party, Miles takes off with Jack on a lasthurrah road trip through the sun-dappled Santa Ynez Valley in California’s wine country.

The two men are a study in contrasts.

The gloomy Miles is on a Dionysian quest to taste perfection in a bottle, while the skirt-chasing Jack has more prosaic tastes.

Tone-deaf to the subtleties expounded by his connoisseur companion, Jack just wants to take advantage of his last week of “freedom� by bedding as many women as possible.

Helping Jack in that department is an oversexed wine pourer and single mom

named Stephanie (Sandra Oh). Miles, meanwhile, cozies up with fellow divorcee and oenophile Maya (Virginia Madsen giving a career-resurrecting performance), who waits tables at a local watering hole.

At the end of a double date, Miles and Maya take refuge from the clamor of Jack and Stephanie’s amorous after-dinner antics by retreating to a back porch. As the scene tenderly unfolds, Miles explains his preference for fragile Pinot grapes over their hardier Cabernet counterparts, revealing, by way of metaphor, his own vulnerability and need for “constant care, attention and patience.� His soliloquy and Maya’s soul-baring response make up the film’s standout moment.

As with past films like “About Schmidt� (2002), Payne seems drawn to character-driven stories involving damaged-goods protagonists, who look and sound like real people, with real fears, flaws and foibles. In a way it is the antievent movie. It is not driven by high concepts but by the quotidian moments of ordinary existence, which Payne imbues with poetry, pathos and humanity. The simple, unobtrusive cinematography complements the complexity of the performances.

Giamatti and Church have great chemistry and manage to make their characters likable in spite of Miles and Jack’s moral shortcomings. Giamatti is pitch-perfect, his hang-dog demeanor evincing an almost genetic disposition to seeing the wine glass eternally halfempty.

While entertaining and laced with wry humor, “Sideways� is also poignant in its gentle dissection of the human condition.

And though sardonic in tone, Payne man-

Paul Giamatti and Thomas Haden Church star in ‘Sideways.’

ages to end the movie on a hopeful note whose problematic content many adults without resorting to a pat solution. would find troubling. The Motion Picture Unfortunately, like red wine on a white Association of America rating is R — sofa, the movie is stained by two sexually restricted. graphic scenes, and one other involving full frontal a nudity.

Because of these explicit sexual images, as well as several implied sexual Jan. 24 – Feb. 8, 2005 encounters, brief drug conPrice: $2985.00 tent and much rough and More information: crude language and humor, Rev. Stanislaw ZAK the USCCB Office for Tel. 925-855-8748 Film & Broadcasting classification is L — limited e-mail: StanZak7@AOL.COM adult audience, films website: www.s-traveler.com

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St. Paul Outside the Wall

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Lourdes

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18

Catholic San Francisco

(PHOTOS BY MAURICE HEALY)

November 5, 2004

Dr. Eleanor Brownell makes a point in her workshop, "Teach Them! Reach Them!"

Marquee at Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco announces the 2004 Faith Formation Conference theme in English and Spanish.

Faith Formation . . .

■ Continued from cover “We learn from Scripture,” he said, that we “walk toward God in a community.”

He said the individual relationship with God through private prayer and meditation is important. But, he added, “Jesus is just as clear about social justice.”

One out of 10 sentences in the New Testament is a direct challenge to do something for the poor, said Rolheiser.

“The place of social justice is not something that we do on the side; It is equally mandated.”

Father Rolheiser noted that the contemporary focus on social justice is somewhat based on advances in knowledge, for example in the disciplines of sociology and economics.

In the modern age, he said, “Social justice almost invariably involves systems political, economic, social - in which people may be crushed.”

He said, “Social justice is about changing systems.”

Father Rolheiser said two points are clear in Genesis: “God creates everyone with equal dignity and the world, and everything in it, are given to everyone.”

“Look at the most vulnerable and see how they are doing: That is the measure of social justice,” he said. “Whatsoever you do to the least of my brothers.”

Father Rolheiser said countering this vision is the fact that we live in a highly polarized culture, which is excessively individualistic with an omnipresent ideology.

Urging a renewed spirit of community and connectedness - from parish to community to society, he said, “If we dream alone, the dream remains unfulfilled; but if we dream together, our dream becomes a reality.”

Sister Maureen O’Brien, a BVM nun and pastoral associate at Visitacion parish in San Francisco praised Father Rolheiser’s keynote address. She told Catholic San Francisco that people are not used to integrating social justice

S E R V I C E

into their individual spirituality because we have not done as well as we should in proclaiming the unity that is in the Gospels.

Father John Ryan, pastor of St. Gabriel parish in San Francisco, said a full acceptance of the Gospel mandate for social justice can be hard for parishioners. “It’s hard for me,” he said.

In one of 52 workshops – 36 in English, 14 in Spanish and two in Vietnamese, Los Angeles Auxiliary Bishop Oscar Solis presented a session titled, “Eucharist: A Call to the Table of Unity and Justice.”

Ordained earlier this year as the first U.S. bishop of Filipino heritage, Bishop Solis celebrated a Mass for the local Filipino Catholic community at St. Mary’s Cathedral on Sunday, Oct. 31.

At the conference, Father Jon Pedigo, from the Diocese of San Jose, presented a session titled, “Fanning the Flames of Passion: How to Start Social Justice in your Parish.”

He echoed a theme of the keynote address, saying that “Justice work belongs

to the entire community and must be seen as discipleship and stewardship.” Father Pedigo noted that the ideal is justice work that is integrated into the life of the community and permeates parish life.

Conference workshops also covered sessions of interest to all Catholics as well as practical “how-to” sessions for people involved in teaching or catechesis.

Sister Celeste Arbuckle, a Social Services Sister and head of San Francisco Archdiocese’s religious education program, called the conference a “great success” and expressed her gratitude to all those who brought the conference to life.

The conference concluded with a Mass celebrated by San Francisco Auxiliary Bishop John C. Wester, which featured English and Spanish language readings and music. The liturgy ended with robust voices of all ages singing, “Somos el cuerpo de Cristo: We are the Body of Christ; Treamos su santo mensaje: We come to bring the good news to the world.”

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Catholic San Francisco

Classifieds For Information

Email: jpena@catholic-sf.org

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Saturday, November 13 10:00 – 4:00 Sunday, November 14 10:30 – 2:00

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Prayer to the Blessed Virgin never known to fail.

Prayer to the Blessed Virgin never known to fail.

Most beautiful flower of Mt. Carmel Blessed Mother of the Son of God, assist me in my need. Help me and show me you are my mother. Oh Holy Mary, Mother of God, Queen of Heaven and earth. I humbly beseech you from the bottom of my heart to help me in this need. Oh Mary, conceived without sin.

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Most beautiful flower of Mt. Carmel Blessed Mother of the Son of God, assist me in my need. Help me and show me you are my mother. Oh Holy Mary, Mother of God, Queen of Heaven and earth. I humbly beseech you from the bottom of my heart to help me in this need. Oh Mary, conceived without sin.

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Prayer to the Holy Spirit Holy Spirit, you who make me see everything and who shows me the way to reach my ideal.

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Prayer to the Holy Spirit Holy Spirit, you who make me see everything and who shows me the way to reach my ideal.

You who give me the divine gift of forgive and forget the wrong that is done to me. I, in this short dialogue, want to thank you for everything and confirm once more that I never want to be separated from you no matter how great the material desires may be. I want to be with you and my loved ones in your perpetual glory. Amen. You may publish this as soon as your favor is granted.

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Prayer to the Blessed Virgin never known to fail.

Most beautiful flower of Mt. Carmel Blessed Mother of the Son of God, assist me in my need. Help me and show me you are my mother. Oh Holy Mary, Mother of God, Queen of Heaven and earth. I humbly beseech you from the bottom of my heart to help me in this need. Oh Mary, conceived without sin.

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19

Gift Ideas Help Wanted

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High School Principal Providence High School a private, Catholic, co-educational, college preparatory school, in Burbank, CA, sponsored by the Sisters of Providence, seeks a principal for the 2005-2006 school year. A qualified candidate must be a practicing Catholic, hold at least a Master’s degree in educational administration or the equivalent, and have a minimum of 5 years of successful administrative experience as well as additional classroom experience.

Applicants should submit their resumes no later that November 22, 2004 to The Law Offices of Vincent Stefano, Jr., Attention: Search Committee, 101 South First Street, Suite 402, Burbank, CA 91505

The Diocese of Las Vegas invites candidates to apply for the position of Principal of Bishop Gorman High School. The position will commence on July 1, 2005.

Successful candidates will possess a collaborative and active leadership style, experience in supervision, and have demonstrated success in development and strategic planning. Serious applicants who will commit to the vision of leading Bishop Gorman High School to the national forefront in Catholic secondary education may send a resume and cover letter to: Search Committee, c/o Dr. Richard A. Facciolo, Chancellor, C.A.O. and Vicar for Education, Diocese of Las Vegas, P.O. Box 18316, Las Vegas, NV 89114.

heaven can’t wait Serra for Priestly Vocations Please call Archdiocese of San Francisco Fr. Tom Daly (415) 614-5683

ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT REPORTS TO: Office of Auxiliary Bishop STATUS: Regular, Full Time Non-Exempt PRIMARY FUNCTION: Assists the Bishop by performing all secretarial and administrative responsibilities including the scheduling and preparation of Confirmation and others functions and events as necessary; Maintains databases to expedite distribution of information to various sources; Interacts professionally with all levels of Church hierarchy and lay contacts; Performs other assigned duties to ensure the Bishop’s responsibilities are handled in an efficient, effective and professional manner.

SUCCESSFUL APPLICANTS MUST HAVE THE FOLLOWING QUALIFICATIONS: ●

Special Needs Nursing, Inc. RNs or LVNs We are looking for you.

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Minimum of 3-5 years experience as administrative assistant in professional office environment.

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Knowledge of Catholic teachings, practices and organizational structure.

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PLEASE SUBMIT RESUME, COVER LETTER AND 2 REFERENCES TO: Archdiocese of San Francisco Office of Human Resources, Employment Manager One Peter Yorke Way, San Francisco 94109 Fax: (415) 614-5536 E-mail: schmidtp@sfarchdiocese.org Reference #AA102904

20

Catholic San Francisco

November 5, 2004

HOLY CROSS CATHOLIC CEMETERY COLMA Invites you to join us for

VETERANS’ DAY MEMORIAL SERVICE (No Mass)

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2004 VETERANS’ SECTION – STAR OF THE SEA HOLY CROSS CATHOLIC CEMETERY 11:00 A.M. Dear Veterans, There is a beautiful area of Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery dedicated to our courageous men and women in uniform. Flags from all branches of military service stand in honor at the entrance to the Star of the Sea Section. Our Veterans’ Day Memorial Service is held in front of these beautiful flags.

In this current world situation, it is especially important that we gather to remember and honor our service personnel and their families. You are cordially invited to join us in prayer on this special day.

We would also like to let you know that casket and cremation graves are available at a special Veterans’ price in this section. The military memorial is provided by the Veterans’ Administration at no charge to the family. We will gladly provide additional information upon request.

Please join us in remembrance of our Veterans and to pray for world peace.

Sincerely, Holy Cross Cemetery Staff

PLEASE

MARK YOUR CALENDARS AND ALSO SHARE WITH US

1st Saturday Mass

Christmas Remembrance Service

Saturday, December 4, 2004 Celebrant, Rev. Paul Arnoult St. Matthew’s Church All Saints Mausoleum Chapel – 11:00 a.m.

Saturday, December 11, 2004 – (No Mass) Officiating, Rev. John Talesfore Director of Worship All Saints Mausoleum Chapel – 11:00 a.m.

The Catholic Cemeteries Archdiocese of San Francisco Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery 1500 Mission Road, Colma, CA 94014 Santa Cruz Avenue, Menlo Park, CA 94025 650-756-2060 650-323-6375 Mt. Olivet Catholic Cemetery 270 Los Ranchitos Road, San Rafael, CA 94903 415-479-9020