Pope alerts world to Sinai hostage horror
Catholic san Francisco
VATICAN CITY – Pope Benedict XVI issued an urgent Advent season worldwide appeal for prayer for victims of violence and intolerance. In his Angelus address on Dec. 5, the second Sunday of Advent, he pointed in particular to hundreds of African and Middle Eastern migrants who are being held in the Sinai desert by human traffickers and are experiencing what people familiar with the situation have described as almost unspeakable suffering. The pope noted “the continuous attacks that occur in Iraq against Christians and Muslims,” election-related violence in Egypt and a dramatic situation in the Sinai where Bedouin human traffickers have taken hundreds of people hostage, subjecting them to torture to extract payments from their relatives living abroad. The pope asked all to pray “that the coming of Jesus may bring consolation, reconciliation and peace.” SINAI HOSTAGE, page 19 (PHOTO BY ARNE FOLKEDAL/CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO)
Northern California’s Weekly Catholic Newspaper
Archbishop George Niederauer blesses the new Blessed Sacrament Chapel at St. Charles Church in San Carlos Dec. 5 during rededication ceremonies for the newly remodeled church. For the archbishop’s homily, and a story on the rededication, see Page 13.
Social media and kids: Do you know who is tracking your child? By Valerie Schmalz It used to be that parents only had to warn children about talking to strangers. Now they need to keep apprised of apps that allow predators, bullies or just nosy friends to track their children’s travels in real-time and view private Facebook postings and photos. Children are the most vulnerable in a digital world in which it is increasingly hard to keep anything SOCIAL MEDIA AND KIDS, page 3
Catholics, Orthodox Christians join in East-West pilgrimage By Archbishop George Niederauer Together with my good friend and brother in faith, His Eminence Metropolitan Gerasimos of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of San Francisco, I was privileged to join 28 Orthodox and Catholics on an ecumenical pilgrimage to Rome, Athens and Constantinople (Istanbul), Nov.21-Dec. 2. Why a pilgrimage? Church reunion cannot simply be imposed from the top, a “trickle down” process from patriarchs, popes and theologians to laymen and women, parishioners in the pews. The grassroots Christians of Orthodoxy and Catholicism need to meet and get to know each other and each other’s churches and traditions. We need to pray together, to work together, and to like and love each other. That’s why 28 of us made “A Journey of Faith: East and West.” Other clergy pilgrims included Metropolitan Nikitas, based at The Patriarch Athenagoras Orthodox Institute in Berkeley; Father John Bakas, pastor of St. Sophia Cathedral in Los Angeles; as well as Bishop Tod Brown of Orange; Auxiliary Bishop William Justice of San Francisco; and Msgr. John Talesfore, rector of St. Mary of the Assumption Cathedral in San Francisco. The other 21 participants were laywomen and men, about evenly divided between Orthodox and Catholics. At the present time Orthodox Christians throughout the world number about 300 million, Catholics about 1.1 billion. For the first 1,000 years of Christian history the churches of the East and the West were united in faith and worship. They recognized and prayed for one another,
and met in Council, especially to preserve unity in the teaching of the faith. Over time, differences in language, faith expression and culture, as well as the difficulties of effective communication, led to misunderstandings and to a definitive break or schism in 1054 A.D. Periodic efforts at reunion failed, in no small part because of historical misdeeds such as the Fourth Crusade, in 1204.
What we share gives us joy and hope: the common Creed of the Council of Nicaea, the teaching of the Apostles and the ordained ministry passed down from them, the inspired Word of God in Scripture, the seven sacraments. After 900 years of silence, distrust and misunderstanding, Orthodox Patriarch Athenagoras and
Pope John XXIII began a mutual fraternal outreach that has widened and developed during the last fifty years. During that time the Ecumenical Patriarchs in Constantinople and the Popes in Rome have met with each other and have withdrawn historic official declarations against each other. For years now there have been regular international meetings of Orthodox and Catholic representatives, and here in the United States the North American Orthodox-Catholic Theological Consultation continues to meet to discuss steps toward a reunited Church in full communion (this Consultation’s most recent meeting issued a joint communiqué on Oct. 2 of this year.) The emphasis along this path toward reunion is necessarily on what we Orthodox and Catholics have in common, while acknowledging and working through the real differences and stumbling blocks. What we share gives us joy and hope: the common Creed of the Council of Nicaea (325 A.D.), the teaching of the Apostles and the ordained ministry passed down from them, the inspired Word of God in Scripture, the seven sacraments (most centrally, the Eucharist), a shared moral teaching, as well as an understanding of faith and an appreciation of Christian spirituality rooted in the Fathers of the Church, East and West, including St. Augustine, St. John Chrysostom, St. Leo the Great, St. Gregory Nazianzen and St. Basil. In future articles I hope to share with you some of our experiences on this ecumenical pilgrimage.
INSIDE THIS WEEK’S EDITION New Seattle archbishop . . . . . .3 Court reviews Prop. 8 . . . . . . .5 Preparing for Mass changes . . .7 Pope models Catholic thought14 Archbishop Dolan’s election . .15
Conference examines coming generational crisis ~ Page 9 ~ December 10, 2010
Italian priest in Sudan ~ Page 12 ~
Trouble in Bethlehem . . . . . . .17 We 12 kings: a new look at the Magi Scented holy cards . . . . . . . . .19 ~ Page 4 ~ www.catholic-sf.org
ONE DOLLAR
VOLUME 12
•
No. 38
2
Catholic San Francisco
December 10, 2010
On The
Special guests at Immaculate Conception Academy Third Annual Gala in October included Kate Kelly, CBS 5 News; Jesuit Father John Foley, founder of Cristo Rey model schools; George and Mary Lawson, chairs of the event; and honorary chair, Jeanie Lawson. More than $200,000 was raised for ICA.
Where You Live By Tom Burke
(PHOTO COURTESY DREW ALTIZER PHOTOGRAPHY
The class of ‘60 from St. Cecilia Elementary School in San Francisco joined together for a weekend reunion in October. Holy Names Sister Marilyn Miller, principal – a St. Cecilia alumna herself - led a school tour. “It pleased everyone enormously to see their old stomping grounds and appreciate the 21st century school St. Cecilia’s has become,” said classmate, Nancy Sarlatte Murphy. Holy Names Sister Michaeline Mary presented Golden Diplomas to each of her former charges at the United Irish Cultural Center where much of the celebrating took place. The class of ’60 also started a memorial fund with $3,000 to benefit tuition aid at the school…. The class of 1972 from Star of the Sea Elementary School recently celebrated its 38-or-so year reunion. “Through the miracle of Facebook, we gathered for our first reunion,” said classmate Liz Robertson. “It was thrown together quite quickly because one classmate was in town from Germany. We plan to make it an annual event and hope to reconnect with more from the class.” Among those joining Liz for the fun and nostalgia were Ed Feeney, Nadine Chourre, T.C. Marr, Chris Balmy, Linda Kerlin, Doris Chevalier, Lori Ottolini, Carleen Bipes,
Executive Director Jeff Bialik with Rachialle Franklin, right, and Verna Stitt at Catholic Charities CYO’s 14th annual Vincenzo Wine Tasting and Auction Nov. 12. The evening raised more than $165,000 for CCCYO programs. Verna was generous in sharing her personal story at the event of how Catholic Charities CYO helped her and her family.
Shirley Seratt, John Mannix, Margaret Baptista, Patty Alano, Bill Haack, Katie Dunn, Margaret Ordaz, Mike Rogers, and Jimmy Miranda…. The class of 1980 from San Francisco’s St. Rose Academy met at Rose Court buildings erected on the site of the now-closed all-girls high school – Oct. 23. “We enjoyed our thirtieth reunion and welcomed back some of our favorite teachers, Loretta Marshall, Marie Llamas and Lynn Pinocchi,” said classmate Heidi Leupp. “It was a great afternoon of fun conversation and memories.” Lots of photos are posted on Facebook at St. Rose Class of 1980 Group, Heidi said…. Please join me in an “all hats off” for John Macchello who died Oct. 26. John's wife Jeanne has been parish secretary at San Francisco’s Immaculate Conception Church for 50 years. John was 88 years old. Celebrants at John’s funeral Mass Rose and Rob Graffio included Franciscan Father William Lauriola, Immaculate Conception pastor emeritus; Franciscan Father Finian; retired Father Jack O’Neill; Father Ed Murray, chaplain, St. Mary’s Medical Center; and Father Mario Farana, pastor, St. Paul Parish in Noe Valley. Father Mario’s uncle, the now late Father Nick Farana, witnessed Jeanne and John’s wedding vows at San Francisco’s St. Peter Church 57 years ago. “The priests were all so wonderful,” Jeanne told me. “Father Murray spent every day with us at St. Mary’s during John’s three-and-a-half months there.” Jeanne said she prays to John every day and misses him “more than I can say.” ….Happy 50 years married to Jan and Jack McCloskey, longtime parishioners of Holy Angels Parish in Colma. Jack, a 1955 graduate of Archbishop Riordan High School and for many years on the school’s board of directors, is retired captain SFFD…. Congrats to Young Ladies Institute Alberian 93
HELPLINES FOR CLERGY/CHURCH SEXUAL ABUSE VICTIMS 415-614-5506
415-614-5503
LIVING TRUSTS WILLS
PROBATE
MICHAEL T. SWEENEY
This number is answered by Barbara Elordi, Archdiocesan Pastoral Outreach Coordinator. This is a secured line and is answered only by Barbara Elordi. If you wish to speak to a non-archdiocesan employee please call this nunmber. This is also a secured line and is answered only by a victim survivor.
and Dolores 7. The branches of the long-serving organization are merging. “The young ladies grew older after many lifetimes of helping each other, socializing and fundraising for countless charities and Alberian members were received into Dolores Institute Nov. 15,” Barbara Rudometkin said in a happy note to this column. YLI members are active with St. Anthony Foundation and Seton Medical Center Newborn Center “to name just a few” Barbara said. To learn more about this very good work visit www.ylionline.com.... Congratulations to Rose Bjornstrom and Rob Graffio who wed Oct. 23 at Cathedral of Saint Eugene in Santa Rosa. Rose is a registered nurse at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital. Rob is a canonist in the Tribunal and Department of Canon Law for the Archdiocese of San Francisco. “My friend and former canon law school classmate Father Christopher Pisut was the officiant,” Rob told me. Concelebrants were Msgr. Michael Padazinski, Judicial Vicar and Chancellor for the Archdiocese of San Francisco, and Father Thuan Hoang, administrator of Church of the Visitacion Parish in San Francisco and also serving in the Department of Canon Law. The couple honeymooned in Italy…. Remember to keep an eye on Datebook for Advent Opportunities. Carmelite Father Michael Kwiecien, pastor, St. Teresa of Avila Parish, announces Taize Sung Prayer at the Potrero Hill church on Advent Thursdays at 7 p.m. Listings also include concerts, caregiver workshops, and more. See Datebook…This is an empty space without you. E-mail items and electronic Jack and Jan McCloskey pictures – jpegs at no less than 300 dpi – to burket@sfarchdiocese.org or mail them to Street, One Peter Yorke Way, SF 94109. Don’t forget to add a follow-up phone number. Thank you. My phone number is (415) 614-5634.
ATTORNEY AT LAW 782A ULLOA STREET SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94127
(415) 664-8810 www.mtslaw.info Easy freeway access. Call for directions.
FREE INITIAL CONSULTATION
Donate Your Car 800-YES-SVDP (800-937-7837)
sameFAST day pickup • FREE FREE AND PICKUP • MaximumTAX Tax DEDUCTION Deduction • MAXIMUM WeTHE do DMV paperwork • WE •DO PAPERWORK • Running not,NO noRESTRICTIONS restrictions • RUNNING OR or NOT, • 100%HELPS helps YOUR your community • DONATION COMMUNITY Serving the poor since 1845
ST. VINCENT DE PAUL SOCIETY
www.yes-svdp.org www.yes-svdp.com
Serving the poor since 1860
ST. VINCENT DE PAUL SOCIETY
CHRISTmas Gift Headquarters West Coast Church Supplies 369 Grand Avenue South San Francisco 94080
1-800-767-0660 www.wccs.deepershopping.com
Fontanini Nativity Sets and Figures Boxed and Individual CHRISTmas Cards Rosaries, Statues, Books, Bibles
We have over 50 Nativity Sets in stock.
December 10, 2010
Catholic San Francisco
3
Jesus’ name always should be on lips of all Catholics, says archbishop Well-known for his prayerfulness, he kept baskets of prayer intentions from the SEATTLE (CNS) – Saying the name of faithful in his home chapel while in Little Jesus should be on the lips of Catholics in Rock and Joliet. At the reception followall parts of their lives, said Archbishop J. ing the installation Mass, he made prayer Peter Sartain who was installed Dec. 1 as intention cards available for the people of the fifth archbishop and ninth bishop of the the Archdiocese of Seattle. Archdiocese of Seattle. He said in his homily that a bishop’s A standing-room-only gathering of duty to his flock is to follow Jesus, and that 2,200 people packed St. James Cathedral the name of Jesus should be on people’s for the installation of the 58-year-old prellips everywhere, in every homily, parish, ate, who was appointed to Seattle by Pope school mission statement and in individual Benedict XVI Sept. 16. daily life. Archbishop J. Peter The congregation broke into prolonged “As we go through the day, we should applause when he accepted the pastoral pray his name silently to remind ourselves Sartain smiles prior to his staff from his predecessor, Archbishop Alex of his nearness and seek his protection,” installation Mass as head J. Brunett, 76, who retired after 13 years of the Seattle Archdiocese he said. Moments of transition, and times of leading western Washington’s 972,000 of confusion, anxiety, distraction and at St. James Cathedral Catholics. temptation are all opportunities for prayer, in Seattle Dec. 1. A native of Memphis, Tenn., he most he said. recently was bishop of the Diocese of Joliet, He said that a bishop, in following Jesus, Ill., where he had served since 2006. He was bishop of the must “surrender everything trustingly to him – everything.” Diocese of Little Rock, Ark., from 2000 to 2006. “It is especially important to bishops, priests, deacons and
consecrated religious that Jesus remain literally in our minds and in our hearts at all times,” Archbishop Sartain said, “that we recognize he is always before us and we are to follow.” The two-hour installation liturgy highlighted the archdiocese’s diversity of cultures, with prayers of welcome said in English, Spanish, Vietnamese, Korean, Tagalog and Polish, and offered at times by people in native dress. At the conclusion of the Mass, members of the Lummi Indian Reservation from the archdiocese’s northern region, using drum beats and chanting, blessed the new archbishop’s upcoming journey. Archbishop Sartain, in a homily delivered in English and Spanish, praised the multicultural makeup of his new archdiocese, and he welcomed newly arrived immigrants, saying that they may be new to the state of Washington, but they “are not new to the church. For centuries God has blessed the church with your witness of faith, piety and culture.” “I wish that I could speak all the languages spoken in the Archdiocese of Seattle,” he said. “Clearly my brain can’t accomplish such a feat – but through the love of Christ, my heart can. And so can your hearts. Together we will proclaim that the love of God does not know barriers of culture, language JESUS’ NAME ALWAYS, page 8 or nationality.”
Social media and kids . . .
lead to “geo-tagging” if the child says yes to publishing his location in a one-time question. He recommended a subscription to SocialShield.com which tracks what information a child shares via social networking including instant messaging, Facebook, Twitter, and others – and investigates what friends they make online. Often information no one would expect to be in the public domain, is, he said, and ‘friends” on Facebook can be anyone. Popularity is often measured by the number of Facebook friends, leading to a whole new vulnerability for children. On its site, Social Shield says, “The average child has 210 ‘friends’ on Facebook. How many do you know?” Among the common sense guidelines, DeWarns offers: do not post personal information, limit access to your child’s and your Facebook or other site to people from real life, use parental controls (he recommends the McAfee Family Plan), and set up an account with Social Shield. The Internet has given bullies a whole new playground too and if it happens, document, and don’t respond on line, he recommends. DeWarns said in the case of abuse, report the abuse to Facebook, the online gaming site or other site, as well as to the Internet service provider. Parents should know the security settings that go along with the social network and gaming sites and set them to protect their children, he said. In the case of bullies, he recommended ignoring all the attacks or posts and keep copies of the texts or posts in case future action is needed. Websites with more information include commonsensemedia.org; Steven DeWarns’ site, Internetchildsafety.net; Socialshield.com; and the Federal Trade Commission’s OnGuardonline.gov.
(CNS PHOTO/MIKE PENNEY)
By Terry McGuire
■ Continued from cover private, said Steven DeWarns, a consultant on Internet security and law enforcement officer. “When we are talking about the Internet, there is no such thing as private,” said DeWarns, a consultant to several Bay Area Catholic school districts. Reminding children that anything they say or post on the Internet or text on a cell phone can go viral is a hard lesson to teach, he said. “What you do online leaves a digital footprint,” he said. “It can be found, it can be linked to anyone and it can be permanent.” Facebook surveys, kid-oriented websites, and online video-gaming sites are all rich ground for advertisers and others to mine for information, and the fine line is being erased between anonymous profiles of web users and profiles with names attached. The sophisticated technology is a bonanza for advertisers, whose ability to profile consumers leads to much more effective sales targeting – the Wall Street Journal estimates the online advertising industry at $23 billion a year. The Federal Trade Commission in a report to Congress Dec. 2 proposed a Do Not Track setting on consumers’ Web browsers that would be implemented either by selfenforcement by the industry or by congressional legislation. “The practice is largely invisible to consumers, and they should have a simple, easy way to control it,” according to a statement from the FTC on its website. Massachusetts Democratic Rep. Edward Markey plans
to introduce legislation next year that would prohibit companies from tracking children on the Internet without parental consent. “For many kids, the Internet is like online oxygen – they can’t live without it,” Markey said in a statement on his website. “The Internet enables kids to access incredible opportunities that were unimaginable only a few years ago, but we also must protect children from the dangers that can lurk in this online environment.” In a seminar entitled “Lord of the Flies Guide to Social Networking” at the Northern California interdiocesan Faith Formation Conference Nov. 19 in Santa Clara, DeWarns said parents need to be tech-savvy to keep their children safe. ”I am very pro-technology and pro-Internet,” said DeWarns, who spent time online undercover posing as a 12and 13-year-old girl to trap predators during his 20 years in law enforcement. He works for a law enforcement agency in the East Bay. “We should all be using Facebook and Twitter.” But keep in mind that Facebook and Myspace are free because “they are selling your information,” DeWarns said. DeWarns offered a number of tips for parents to help educate and keep their children safe online, including going through your child’s Facebook’s settings monthly to ensure that each is set to the most private setting because anytime a new application is added, the security settings tend to go awry. “Friend” has a whole new meaning because of Facebook, he added, and that can also lead to problems. “That is where we have to be the parent and secure their online access,” said DeWarns. “Without guidance, without structure, there’s chaos.” DeWarns said a cell phone that has Internet access can
for it is in giving that we receive. Respond with compassion during Catholic Charities CYO’s Advent Season of Caring and bring hope and joy to our neighbors in need. Visit www.cccyo.org/seasonofcaring to make a gift and to read stories of actual clients whose lives have been changed thanks to your generous support. Catholic Charities CYO
San Francisco, San Mateo & Marin
Catholic San Francisco
NEWS
December 10, 2010
in brief (PHOTO COURTESY MISSION DOLORES PARISH)
4
Arsenic-loving microbe expands definition of life, says Jesuit VATICAN CITY – The discovery of the first known microorganism on Earth to thrive on the toxic chemical arsenic expands scientists’ understanding of the definition of life and thus life in other galaxies, said the head of the Vatican Observatory in a report by Catholic News Service. The recent discovery of a life form based on a completely different chemistry “will surely contribute to expanding our conceptual horizons on the subject” of living matter, Jesuit Father Jose Funes said in a Dec. 4 interview in the Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano. A team of astrobiology researchers, funded by the NASA, recently discovered a microbe strain, called GFAJ-1, in California’s Mono Lake, which has unusually high levels of salinity, alkalinity and arsenic. Carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and sulfur are the six basic building blocks of all known forms of life on Earth. However, GFAJ-1 is able to thrive and reproduce because it substitutes arsenic for phosphorus.
Pope asks for prayer for China VATICAN CITY – Pope Benedict XVI asked Catholics around the world to pray for the Church in China, as the country’s state-run Catholic Patriotic Association prepared to choose new leaders. “I commend to your prayers and to those of Catholics throughout the world the Church in China,” he said Dec. 1, mentioning that the country’s Catholics were “going through a particularly difficult time.” The Catholic Patriotic Association was scheduled to meet Dec. 7-9 to select its new top official, as was the so-called “Bishops’ Conference of the Catholic Church in China,” Catholic News Agency reported. Neither of those associations has received the recognition of the Holy See, although the Vatican has acknowledged the fidelity of some individual bishops who choose to operate within the confines of China’s state-run church while pledging their obedience to the Pope. On Nov. 20 the Catholic Patriotic Association ordained a new bishop without the Pope’s approval.
Pakistani minister, under threat, works for religious freedom VATICAN CITY – Despite receiving death threats, Pakistan’s minister for minorities, a Christian, said he will not give up his battle to guarantee religious freedom for all the
country’s people. “Threats and intimidation follow one after the other. I take them all seriously, however my life mission is to protect religious freedom, minority rights, justice and equality. I will continue to do so without hesitation,” said Shabhaz Bhatti, the minister. In an interview Dec. 4 with Fides, the Vatican’s missionary news agency, Bhatti said he believes the government also will continue to help religious minorities, despite pressure from extremist groups threatening violence. Specifically, he said he hoped for the abolishment of anti-blasphemy laws, which make insulting the Quran an offense punishable by life imprisonment or death. The minister said he trusts that the courts will prove the innocence of Asia Bibi, a 37-year-old Christian woman who faces the death penalty for blasphemy.
Paramilitaries were trying to play God, Irish prelate says ARMAGH, Northern Ireland – Cardinal Sean Brady of Armagh, celebrating the funeral for a man who “disappeared” more than 30 years ago, said the paramilitaries suspected of murdering and secretly burying him were trying to play God. However, the cardinal also asked mourners to pray for the killers as Gerry Evans was finally laid to rest. Cardinal Brady spoke Dec. 4 at Evans’ funeral Mass in County Armagh, Catholic News Service reported. Evans was 24 when he went missing and is believed to have been abducted, murdered and secretly buried by members of the Provisional IRA, a splinter group of the Irish Republican Army. The remains of Evans – one of the so-called “disappeared” – were recovered in October by a special investigative commission working on a tip from suspected former members of the IRA. No reason has ever been put forward for his murder. Cardinal Brady said “there is a great sense of relief that, at last, the waiting has come to an end. At first that waiting was filled with hope – the hope that Gerry was still alive and would, one day, turn up safe
The Young Adults Club of Mission Dolores Parish in San Francisco held a prayer vigil and candlelight procession Dec. 4 to support the DREAM Act. The Act, which the U.S. bishops are urging Congress to pass, would allow those who entered the U.S. before age 16 to apply for legal residence and eventual citizenship if they completed two years of higher education or military service.
and sound. But then, as the years rolled by, one kind of hope was replaced by another – the hope that his remains would be found and identified so that the mourning could begin and the burial take place, and proper respect be paid to his memory and prayers be offered for his eternal rest and happiness.”
Fresno bishop dies of lung cancer FRESNO – Fresno Bishop John T. Steinbock died Dec. 5 at St. Agnes Medical Center after battling lung cancer. He was 73. Ordained a priest in Los Angeles in 1963, Bishop Steinbock had led the Fresno Diocese since 1991. Pope John Paul II named him an auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Orange in 1984 and bishop of Santa Rosa in 1987, Catholic News Service reported. After inheriting a $1 million deficit, he oversaw a great deal of growth in the Fresno Diocese, which covers eight counties. In October, Bishop Steinbock wrote an essay about the spiritual lessons he learned since his cancer diagnosis. “We often cannot understand the ‘why’ but with faith, we can understand God loving us in the midst of any suffering that comes into our lives,” he wrote.
Holy Cross Cemetery Christmas remembrance service Dec. 11 A Christmas remembrance service for those who have died will be Dec. 11 at Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery’s All Saints Mausoleum Chapel. Msgr. John Talesfore will officiate during the 11 a.m. service, which will include music by the Lorentz family. Participants will have the opportunity to write messages of love on ornaments colored by school children. For those unable to attend, additional ornaments will be available at the cemetery office through Dec. 31. All the ornaments will be placed on Christmas Trees in All Saints Mausoleum during the service and will remain until Jan. 7. Mass will not be offered. For more information, visit www.holycrosscemeteries.com or call (650)756-2060.
“NO COST” “NO FEES”
“
Refinance NOW!
OVER 1MILLION USED BOOKS, DVD’S, GAMES, CD’S AND VHS TAPES AVAILABLE FOR SALE! Why pay full retail price when you can buy quality used (and new) products at bargain prices.
Shop at:
www.shopcitybooks.com
Catholic san Francisco Newspaper of the Archdiocese of San Francisco
Most Reverend George H. Niederauer, publisher Maurice E. Healy, associate publisher & executive editor: healym@sfarchdiocese.org Editorial Staff: Rick DelVecchio, editor: delvecchior@sfarchdiocese.org; Valerie Schmalz, assistant editor: schmalzv@sfarchdiocese.org; George Raine, reporter: raineg@sfarchdiocese.org Tom Burke, “On the Street”/Datebook: burket@sfarchdiocese.org
“Lowest fixed rates in 40 years!”
4.50% 1528 S. El Camino Real Suite 307 San Mateo, CA 94402 650-212-5050 Real estate broker, california dept. or real estate license #01370741 exp. 3/12/2007
30 year fixed apr. 4.63%
KARA FIORE Loan Consultant DRE#00977921 MNLS#241552
Benicia, CA
415.999.1234
other locations in Oregon, Indiana & Texas
kfiore@gmwest.com
Advertising: Joseph Pena, director; Mary Podesta, account representative Sandy Finnegan, advertising and promotion services
Catholic San Francisco editorial offices are located at One Peter Yorke Way, San Francisco, CA 94109. Tel: (415) 614-5640;Circulation: 1-800-563-0008 or (415) 614-5638; News fax: (415) 614-5633; Advertising: (415) 614-5642; Advertising fax: (415) 614-5641; Advertising E-mail: penaj@sfarchdiocese.org
Business Office: Virginia Marshall, assistant business manager; Julio Escobar, circulation and subscriber services
Catholic San Francisco (ISSN 15255298) is published weekly (four times per month) September through May, except in the week following Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Day, and twice a month in June, July and August by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Francisco, 1500 Mission Rd., P.O. Box 1577, Colma, CA 94014. Periodical postage paid at South San Francisco, CA. Annual subscription price: $27 within California, $36 outside the state.
Advisory Board: Fr. John Balleza, Deacon Jeffery Burns, Ph. D., James Clifford, Fr. Thomas Daly, Nellie Hizon, James Kelly, Sr. Sheral Marshall, OSF, Deacon Bill Mitchell, Teresa Moore.
Postmaster: Send address changes to Catholic San Francisco, 1500 Mission Rd., P.O. Box 1577, Colma, CA 94014 If there is an error in the mailing label affixed to this newspaper, call 1-800-563-0008. It is helpful to refer to the current mailing label.
Production: Karessa McCartney-Kavanaugh, manager Joel Carrico, assistant
for subscriptions or cancellations please call 1-800-563-0008 or 415-614-5638
December 10, 2010
Catholic San Francisco
5
Appellate court examines Prop. 8, perhaps leading to top court review By George Raine A panel of three federal appeals court judges in San Francisco on Monday took up the question of the constitutionality of California’s voter-enacted ban on gay marriage, a hearing that very well may have been prelude to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on the divisive issue. A group of faith-based supporters of Proposition 8, including Catholics, along with Imperial County, is appealing a ruling on Aug. 4 by U.S. District Court Judge Vaughn Walker that the initiative is unconstitutional under the Due Process and Equal Protection clauses of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution. Prop. 8 – enacted by more than seven million voters in 2008 – provides that only marriage between a man and a woman is valid in California. Walker entered an order permanently enjoining the enforcement of Proposition 8, although on Aug. 16, a panel of judges from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued a stay to prevent the state from conducting same-sex marriages while the case is being appealed. It was another three-judge panel from
the Ninth Circuit that heard oral arguments Monday. They did not rule from the bench and it may be several months before their ruling is issued – and that could be appealed to the full Ninth Circuit or directly to the Supreme Court. The judges could conclude, however, that the Prop. 8 supporters lack legal standing to bring the appeal in the first place. Monday’s hearing was devoted first to the standing question and then the constitutionality issue, and the judges sharply questioned whether the supporters could demonstrate they have been harmed by the initiative. Judge N. Randy Smith, in particular, was bothered by the fact that the deputy clerk of Imperial County, Isabel Vargas, who issues marriage licenses but who is not the elected clerk, is appealing the case. “If the clerk is not here we have a problem,” said Smith. Legal standing became an issue when California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Attorney General Jerry Brown – who succeeds him in office Jan. 3 – both refused to challenge Walker’s ruling and defend Prop. 8. Judge Stephen R. Reinhardt of the Ninth Circuit noted that
ADVENT THURSDAYS
DEC 2• •9•16•23 7:00 PM
19TH ST & CONNECTICUT
if the state does not defend it, “it’s just tossing in the towel.” He added, “The governor is not allowed to veto this measure, but he can in effect veto it” by ignoring it. In arguing the constitutionality question, the Prop. 8 supporters stressed that the support of a majority of voters reflects the notion that “the people themselves
are a tribunal,” said Charles J. Cooper, a Washington, D.C., lawyer representing the supporters of the initiative. He added at a news conference, “For the plaintiffs in this case to prevail, they have to show that all of the state and federal appellate courts that have addressed this issue – all of whom PROP. 8 REVIEW, page 11
Religious leaders voice shared commitment to protect marriage WASHINGTON – Leaders of some of the largest religious communities in the United States have come together to express their commitment toward the protection of marriage as the union of one man and one woman. In an open letter released by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, “The Protection of Marriage: A Shared Commitment,” leaders from Anglican, Baptist, Catholic, Evangelical, Jewish, Lutheran, Mormon, Orthodox, Pentecostal and Sikh communities in the United States affirmed the importance of preserving marriage’s unique meaning.
“The broad consensus reflected in this letter – across great religious divides – is clear: The law of marriage is not about imposing the religion of anyone, but about protecting the common good of everyone,” said Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York, newly elected USCCB president and one of the letter’s signers. “People of any faith or no faith at all can recognize that when the law defines marriage as between one man and one woman, it legally binds a mother and a father to each other and their children, reinforcing the foundational cell of human society,” he said.
The text of the letter follows: Marriage is the permanent and faithful union of one man and one woman. As such, marriage is the natural basis of the family. Marriage is an institution fundamental to the well-being of all of society, not just religious communities. As religious leaders across different faith communities, we join together and affirm our shared commitment to promote and protect marriage as the union of one man and one woman. We honor the unique love between husbands and wives; the indispensible place of fathers and mothers; and the corresponding rights and dignity of all children. Marriage thus defined is a great good in itself, and it also serves the good of others and society in innumerable ways. The preservation of the unique meaning of marriage is not a special or limited interest but serves the good of all. Therefore, we invite and encourage all people, both within and beyond our faith communities, to stand with us in promoting and protecting marriage as the union of one man and one woman.
6
Catholic San Francisco
December 10, 2010
Single mother receives housing help through Catholic Charities CYO Having a place to live means more than just having a roof over your head. It means having a place to call home and the promise of a life of stability. For Sara, a Catholic Charities CYO client, a home also means security, happiness and a healthy lifestyle. Sara came to Catholic Charities CYO facing eviction after falling two months behind on her rent. Sara and her three children were in imminent risk of becoming homeless.
CCCYO’s Advent Season of Caring “I have had many struggles in life,” shares Sara. “I’ve worked hard to provide for my family for a better future. I was scared that everything I’d accomplished would be set back because we wouldn’t have a place to live.” Sara is a refugee living in the United States under asylum status. Her past was full of physical and emotional abuse. She moved to San Francisco eight years ago without knowing anyone or having any support system. She established herself in the community by taking English classes and studying toward becoming a nurse. Though she worked part-time, she began to struggle to pay her bills. Many of her friends were facing similar struggles and she began to lose hope.
She turned to a friend at her local church who recommended that she call Catholic Charities CYO. “I was nervous when I made the first call, I didn’t want to look like I couldn’t provide for my family. I’m a single mother and that is difficult, but from the moment I called Catholic Charities CYO I was treated professionally with respect and compassion,” recalls Sara. “I had hope again.” Catholic Charities CYO works closely with people like Sara to help prevent homelessness and work toward self-sufficiency. The homelessness prevention programs provide eviction prevention support in the form of rental assistance for back rent, security deposits, information and referral to appropriate community agencies. Sara received support in the amount of $2,700 from the agency’s Housing STAR program and enrolled in a short term rental subsidy to help pay a portion of her rent so she could stay housed and keep food on the table. Sara now works two jobs and receives a small amount of cash aid and food stamps to help meet her basic monthly expenses. She successfully transitioned off Catholic Charities CYO’s services at the end of July. Sara is now working diligently to become self-sufficient as she works toward her degree in nursing. Her eldest daughter recently started her freshman year of college on scholarship and Sara
reports that her younger daughters are well on their way along the same path. Sara says that she hopes to help others who face struggles similar to those that her family overcame. She hopes that by becoming a nurse she can continue the cycle of caring that she has received. “I know what it is like to be a single mother, alone and scared. I have hope now that someone else who might need help – another single mother or another foreign refugee – will have the same opportunity to receive care from Catholic Charities CYO.” Preventing homelessness is significantly less expensive than providing emergency shelter or transitional housing to a family who is already homeless. Because Sara was given support to stay in her home, she was able to continue to study and the community will soon receive a compassionate nursing professional. For it is in giving that we receive. Sara’s story is the second in a series from Catholic Charities CYO’s Advent Season of Caring campaign. This holiday giving campaign shares intimate stories of the clients we serve and the ways in which their lives have been changed for the better, because of our work and the generosity of our loyal supporters. For ways you can help, visit www.cccyo. org/seasonofcaring or call Marti Sullivan at (415) 972-1291.
By Valerie Schmalz The “rising Advent juggernaut” of Simbang Gabi, a nine day novena of Masses leading up to Christmas, will be celebrated by 40 parishes in the Archdiocese of San Francisco this Advent. Each Simbang Gabi celebration features the parol, a star-shaped lantern that symbolizes the Christmas star. The tradition of an early morning Mass followed by refreshments originated in the Philippines with the Spanish missionaries in the 17th century but today the Filipino people are bringing the tradition to their nonFilipino neighbors and parishioners in the United States, said Nellie Hizon, one of the strongest proponents of the tradition in the Bay Area. In the Archdiocese this year, 40 parishes have signed on to the Advent novena, she said. That is up from the 16 parishes who were involved in 2006, Hizon said. For this year’s schedule see catholicsf.org. “The fact that people are drawn to a nine-day
FREE CATALOG of Monastery Products
Quality Products
Preserves •Trappist Fruitcake •Monastery Fudge & Candy •Chocolate, Christmas Cards Gifts •Advent Calendars &&Wreaths •Incense & Icons •Books & Chant CD’s •
from Trappist, Benedictine, & Franciscan (800)472-0425 Communities MonasteryGreetings.com Gifts Shipped Anywhere!
A d FDrove pp
A
Eucharistic celebration to prepare for Christmas is a wonderful thing,” Hizon said. The tradition of coffee and pastries after every Mass, often supplemented by plates and plates of Filipino foods, is part of the Asian nation’s tradition of hospitality, Hizon said. On the Peninsula, a number of parishes take turns hosting the Masses and accompanying refreshments. This year in southern San Mateo County, Simbang Gabi will be held at St. Gregory Church but priests from the area’s church group, Deanery 10, will take turns celebrating Mass. The year before the parishes’ participants went to St. Timothy’s, she said. The same is the case in the Sunset district of San Francisco, where this year St. Gabriel Church will host Simbang Gabi for several churches, including Hizon’s parish of St. Stephen. Parishes with larger Filipino congregations, including St. Patrick, St. Augustine, St. Andrew, Holy Name of Jesus and St. Anne of the Sunset, host their own novenas, she said. In Marin County, St. Isabella is celebrating a triduum for Simbang Gabi and inviting Catholics from parishes throughout Marin. Simbang Gabi means “Dawn Mass” but has evolved to both early morning and evening novenas in the U.S. The dawn tradition was so farmers could participate before going to the fields and fishermen could come after they brought in their catch, Hizon said.
Andres Gonzalez, 13, an eighth grader at Epiphany School in San Francisco, helps bag food in the church basement to help the Church of the Epiphany conference of the San Francisco St. Vincent de Paul Society with holiday outreach to the poor and hungry.
Rocco Palmo, a respected Church watcher and blogger at Whispers in the Loggia, calls Simbang Gabi “stateside Catholicism’s rising Advent juggernaut,” noting that last year in Los Angeles about 100 parishes participated and in Chicago, 70 parishes celebrated the Filipino tradition.
AUFER’S
RELIGIOUS SUPPLIES
Gift Guide
Your complete resource for Religious Goods
ITALIAN IMPORTS, GIFTS & RELIGIOUS ITEMS
1455 Custer Avenue, San Francisco 94124 415-333-4494 • FAX 415-333-0402 Hours: M-F 9 am – 5 pm Sat. 10am – 2 pm e-mail: sales@kaufers.com www.kaufers.com
Serving The Catholic – Christian Community since 1904
Official Gift Shop of the National Shrine of Saint Francis & Porziuncola Nuova
Phone: 415-983-0213 624 Vallejo Street, San Francisco CA 94133 Hours: Tuesday – Sunday 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. www.knightsofsaintfrancis.com
Never buy bottled water again Portable Water Filtering Bottle Clean, filtered, healthy water 2 go! Purifies tap to make it better than bottled Help stop bottled water pollution Buy direct and save
Great for Travel
(PHOTO BY JOSE LUIS AGUIRRE/CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO)
Simbang Gabi tradition keeps expanding – up to 40 parishes participating this year
Plouf: The sound a stone makes when it drops into a French stream. Plouf: The trendy French seafood bistro on lively Belden Alley in the Financial District. Specializing in mussels, unique appetizers, salads, seafood dishes, and meats. We invite you to join us for a truly Parisian dining experience.
Complementary 1/2 dozen oysters Monday to Thursday with $75 Purchase
Plouf is located at 40 Belden Place in San Francisco’s Financial District. Belden Place lies between Bush and Pine and between Kearny and Montgomery.
www.purewater2go.org 4 1 5 . 9 8 6 . 6 4 9 1 • w w w. p l o u f s f . c o m
Catholic San Francisco
December 10, 2010
7
Parishes to begin year-long task of educating faithful about changes in Mass the spoken or sung word into the spiritual lives of all as the day of implementation draws closer,” Archbishop Niederauer wrote in a letter inviting parish priests and ministers to attend a special workshop on Feb. 22 at St. Mary’s Cathedral. Announced by Pope John Paul II in 2000 and first published in Latin in 2002, the Third Roman Missal is the book of prayers used in the worship in the Latin-rite church. Among other things, the third edition contains prayers for the celebration of recently canonized saints, additional prefaces for the Eucharistic Prayers, additional Masses and prayers for various needs and intentions, and some updated and revised instructions for the celebration of the Mass, according to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ website on the Roman Missal. The director of the Archdiocesan Office of Divine Worship, Patrick Vallez-Kelly, and Vicky Otto, chairperson for the Committee for the Support of Parish Liturgy, are meeting with pastors through January at deanery meetings to give updated information on the status of the revised Missal and to answer questions about the Archdiocese’s plan for preparation, Vallez-Kelly said. The deaneries are an administrative device that organizes the parishes of the Archdiocese into geographical clusters so they can work together. The Archdiocesan Office of Worship is providing study guides and resource lists throughout the coming months.
By Valerie Schmalz Father Michael Healy, pastor of St. Bartholomew Parish in San Mateo, says some of his parishioners have “a certain feeling of trepidation” about the coming changes in the Mass. But he says, “Our aim is to implement it along with the Archdiocese. We’ve made the people aware there’s going to be a reform.” The biggest challenge he sees for his parishioners is how much more of the Mass will be sung once the new English translation of the Third Roman Missal takes effect on Nov. 27, 2011. Other changes include minor and major tweaking of most of the words of the prayers said by both the people and by the celebrant as the Church returns to a more literal English translation of the Latin. Archbishop George Niederauer, in concert with a national roll-out orchestrated by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, has designated Nov. 28, 2010 to Jan. 8, 2012 a year devoted to study, prayer and reflection on worship and prayer. Titled “Lift Up Your Hearts: A Year of Renewal in Worship and Prayer,” the observance spans from the first Sunday of Advent this year to the Feast of the Epiphany 2012. The Archdiocese’s plan “gradually introduces the revised English Mass texts throughout the year, in an effort to integrate
Liturgy will be more formal, theologically deeper An excerpt from Eucharistic Prayer I illustrates the difference in style between the original translation of the Roman Missal into English, which was carried out under 1969 Vatican rules stressing simplicity and modernity, and newer rules, set out by the Vatican in 2002, emphasizing greater fidelity to the original Latin. The version currently in use reads: “Look with favor on these offerings. Accept them as once you accepted the gifts of your servant Abel, the sacrifice of Abraham, our father in faith, and the bread and wine offered by your priest Melchizedek. “Almighty God, we pray that your Angel may take this sacrifice to your altar in heaven. As we receive from this altar the sacred Body and Blood of your Son, let us be filled with every grace and blessing.” The new translation says: “Be pleased to look upon these offerings with serene and kindly countenance, and to accept them, as you were pleased to accept the gifts of your servant Abel the just, the sacrifice of Abraham, our father in faith, and the offering of your high priest Melchizedek, a holy sacrifice, a spotless victim. “In humble prayer we ask you, almighty God: command that these gifts be borne by the hands of your holy Angel to your altar on high in the sight of your divine majesty, so that all of us who through this participation at the altar receive the most holy Body and Blood of your Son may be filled with every grace and heavenly blessing.” In working to reflect features of the original Latin texts more clearly, the translators sought to develop “a translation which is clearly sacral in character and yet not archaic in style,” says Father Father Andrew R. Wadsworth, executive director of the International Commission on English in the Liturgy. – By Jerry Filteau, for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops
December is a time for parishes to review their existing liturgies before moving into review of the coming changes, said Vallez-Kelly. The first area where parishes will learn about the changes will be in the introductory rites or the first part of the Mass. By Advent of next year, under the Office of Divine Worship plan, parishes will have reviewed the changes for each part of the Mass with the intent that little will come as a shock when many of the words of the Mass change, Vallez-Kelly said. And there will be no going back. Cardinal Francis George of Chicago, then-president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, announced Aug. 20 that the “third typical edition” of the Roman Missal would go into use at English-language Masses in the United States on Nov. 27, 2011. “From that date forward, no other edition of the Roman Missal may be used in the dioceses of the United States of America,” the cardinal said in a decree of promulgation for the missal. The “Lift Up Your Hearts” plan developed by the Archdiocese of San Francisco’s Office of Divine Worship and the Archdiocesan Worship Commission and sent to the parishes by the Archdiocese of San Francisco’s Office of Divine Worship notes that all will be called to assimilate these changes in the liturgy. “Change can be a challenge, and the Catholic Church has experienced much of it over the past 50 years,” the handbook states. “At its core, the Mass is not changing, but the English words we speak and sing to express our faith have been significantly revised so that our worship in common might be poetically and scripturally richer, more accurate in expressing theological realities, and more faithful to ancient traditions. This is change that will be worth the effort.” Catholic News Service contributed to this story. Participants Wanted
Yoga/ Stretch Study
i
UCSF researchers are conducting a study to find whether yoga or stretching therapy improves metabolism and heart disease risk factors.
i
You may qualify if you are 21 - 65 years old, overweight, and under-active.
i
If you qualify, you will attend yoga or stretch classes for 1 year and have periodic physical exam and fasting blood tests at no cost.
i
You will be modestly compensated for your time!
For more info please call 415-885-7547 or visit http://coe.ucsf.edu/scor/prysms/
Please support Catholic San Francisco by sending the newspaper a generous donation
Students at , Dean of Academy, Anita Diaz Conception adares, Immaculate nts Elisa Ball Canaya. with students elle ra and Roch era Eliana Barr
‘Archbisho ishop hoop op’s’s Hour’ Hour’ On 1260 AM AM RRadio adio
. 4-5 ITION .......... EEK’S ED ewss in brief New THIS W ents . . . . 8-9 INSIDE ciall appointm
Essays: Respect Life focus Environment 3~ ~ Pages 12-1
Y 30 ULY E JJUL UE SU SSU NEXT IISS 22 12 E 12 M ME U UM LU VOL
•
No.
LAR
May 21, 2010
0 July 16, 201
Interview with Bishop-elect ~ Page M2 ~ September 3, 2010
Parish view of Pastor, leader ~ Page M8 ~
From early years to priesthood ~ Page M12 ~
ONE DOLLAR
Young people greet Pope at St. Peter’s Square ~ Page 5 ~
‘Letters to Juliet’ film review ~ Page 16 ~
Heraldry points to Vatican II ~ Page M16 ~ VOLUME 12
•
No. 26
By Sarah Dela ney
The pill at 50. . . . . ........3 Vatican responds to suits . . . 4 OO IGH SCHOOL Seminarian answers HIG HIGH call .MER . . . 7 CY r a ncisc o cisco F n Fran San ‘Women in Medicine’ ......9 Mercy Sister to Sudan . . . . . 11 Commentary & Letters .12-13 More than a symbol . . . . . . 14 VOLUME 12
•
SACRED CONVENT OF THE OL HEART HIGH SCHO
N
ol
Scho Notre Dame High Belmont
Woodside Priory Scho
economic, cultural,
not religiou s
A J UNI PERO S ERR H IGH S CHO OL
ption Academy
org
No. 18
says conflict is
“The victim have anything s are poor people who n responsibleto do with all this anddon’t not are ,” Archb s said. He said armed ishop Onaiyekan Fulani herde a attack ed the rs D Nahaw Berom villages of Ratt had Dogo African count ann archbishop from ry said. the ho off furthea. Soldiers were attemptingand hold The viole aid. r religious differnce is not inspired News report violence there, he said. to es,, even thoug by wome wo n and s said many victims ethnic Berom ences were farmeers rs are Chris h the appea app red to havechildren and that peopl the ethnic tian Fulani herde been e erders Archbishop rs are Musliand es. Most of the house attacked with mache tm, some s were burne orunf som with victim of Abuja toldJohn Oloru nfemi d down, Vatican Radioemi Onaiyekan interview March ““The churc s inside, the reports said. in a telephone good relatio h continues to work towar “Internation 8. Muslims,” thens between Christians ds Musl dia will say Christians and al media and archbishop other,” he said. Muslimss are killing that try to join togeth said, “and we because peopl “But thiss is not the each and ssolve concr er to quell the violen case, proble ce e don’t killl ete political for social, econo for religion, ms.” and ethnic mic, tribal reasons.” The Nigerian bal and culturbut al and no not able to government is weak Governmen contain the are vying nizations have t and humaann rights vyi for domin groups who orgaestimated hat 500 people ishop Onaiy ance of the territory, as many as Archbis were killed that ekan said. Weap March strife in the ch 7 in ethnic easy to obtain and ons are the Villagers look city of Jos. state of Plateaau, u, near the naries ““ready to fight presence of merceThe at bodies of for a few dollar makes th Muslim northe area divides the mainl victims of attac the situat the Dogo Naha s” y ks Christian south rn Nigeria from wa village, “We ppray for ion volatile, he said. m the mostl peace, for good Nigeria Marc near the capit lying in a mass grave y lar attacks in and was the scene in govern h 8. Cultural, the people under ene of simi- and that th al city of Jos January. way to sur stand that the ment in central econ feeding the surviv bloody confl omic and tribal differ the citizens e is to recognize as brothe only ences are ict between of this countr and herders Nigerian farm y,” he said. rs all that has left ers Arch hund VATICAN economic and CITY (CNS) – Cultu ral, tribal ibal differences ing the
MARIN CATHOLIC
blood are feedL y confli onflic SCHOO ATORY HIGHfarme rs and herde ctt between Nigerian rs that has left A COLLEGE PREPAR of people dead, ers hundreds
Immaculate Conce
MEXICO Archdiocese CITY – The Mexico the nation’s responded to a new lawCity capita marriages with l that permits same- in accusing the a tersely worded editor sex ial, ing an agend local government of pursu a of radical instead of fixing social pressing proble changes as rampant ms infrastructu insecurity and a crumbsuch re. ling The March the archdiocesa 7 editorial, published in n publication, Fe, accused Desde la Mexico City Ebrard “of provo Mayo king constant r Marcelo sion throug social h depending on his political activism” diviand for “implementhe advice of foreign group s abortion, homoting the legal practi ce other things sexual unions and all of that the In his Sunda they request.” Rivera Carre y homily, Cardinal Norbe ra told a gather rto Catholic family groups, “Let’s ing of lay couraged by not be disthe apparent contrary values triumph of evil, of of the family , of the individualistic vision port the true and a society that fails to needs supThe imple of households.” marriages in mentation of same -sex another point the Mexican capital marke d diocese and of conflict between the the archover the last local government, which three years, , also SAME-SEX has impleLAW, page 4 MALTA)
ents
St. Patrick San Francisco Churc in the day, the h, 756 Mission St. Auxil celebrate te Mass honor iary Bishop Willia mence at 11:30traditional St. Patric in San Francisco. Later m Justic ing St. Patric k’s Day parad a.m., beginning k Marc M h 13 at e will and proce e will comat Secon eding 9 a.m. at Festival takes to San Francisco Civic d Street and Missi on place at Civic Cente Center from r Plaza. An Irish 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
immigration reform
www.catholic-sf.
A replica of the Wor ld Yout Y The cross and icon aare h Day cross and icon is being carr in adva ied by youn carried by boat outs thee populatio nce of Pope B Benedict XVI’ ide g people to n is largely parishes thro Valletta, Malta. s April 17-1 Ca Catholic. 8 visit. With ughout Malt St. Paul was a long Chri a shipwrecked stian histo on the islan d and mini ry, stered ther e.
Nigerian arc hbishop
INSIDE THIS WEEK’S EDITIO N
ONE DOLLAR
n Special sectio INSIDE THIS
ONE DOL
20 10 -2 01 1
ATORYRY RER E PARATO HEDRRRARALA L PPREPAR SACRED HEART CATHED
REP ART PRE EAR E SACREDD HEA
Archbishop Niederau er spoke May 14 in front of Mission to reporters Dolores.
David Agre n Catholic New s Service
CO OF SA N FR AN CIS
S CH OO LS HO LI C H IG H C AT H KL ET OR MATI ON B OO I NF O St. Patrick’s Day ev
line for citizenship but because you just line you belong at the end of the line,” joined the Niederauer said. Archbishop Speaking to reporters , the archbish op Congress needs to said act will follow Arizona’s and if it doesn’t more states care; I would like to example. “They did it for healthArchbishop Niederausee them do it for immigration,” er said. The U.S. bishops measures that wouldhave long called for a series of to come “out of the allow undocumented people shadows,” create a system for foreign nationals work permit , and increase the of family and employm ent visas. While both number Barack Obama and former President GeorgePresident support the reform, it has stalled in CongressW. Bush IMMIGRATION REFORM . , page 10
COLLOPY)
Immaculate Heart Radio – 1260 AM in the Bay Area. Repeat broadcasts air Friday evening at 9 p.m., Sunday at a.m m., and and Monday at 9 p.m. 111 a.m.,
But even Versaggi doesn’t know what’s come next. going to As with many disasters BP’s Deepwater Horizon both natural and man-made, has Catholics in Florida’soil spill in the Gulf of Mexico fishing industry praying scrambling to survive. and Looking at Louisiana – whose oyster beds closed west of the Mississip have been pi thanks to the spill, and whose fishing industry the hundreds of dead has been severely crippled – and Island, Ala., the spill fish washing ashore in Dauphin worries men and women on boats, in warehous who work way that no hurricane es, in restaurants and in retail in a has “The people are lookingfor years. at a business that them 25 years to build – losing it in one fell has taken Jones, executive director swoop,” Bob of the Southeastern Fisheries GULF OIL SPILL, page 6
Justice call for action on
“The Archbishop’s opp’ss Hour” Hoouur” with San Francisco Archbish Arcchbi op George George H. Niederauer airss shop each Friday morn-ing at 9 a.m. on
(PHOTO BY MICHAEL
of New director s St. Anthony’ ~ Page 7 ~
secular Books: Sacred, cles views on mira ~ Page 22 ~
fficia Offi 1 . . . . . . . 10-1 erss . . . . . . . etter Lett 16-17 reflection. . Scripture & . . . 18 .......... Obituaries . . . . 21 events . . . . Datebook of 4 services . 23-2 Classified ads,
A worker unloads fish to be cleaned, cut and placed for sale at a market in Winter Park, Fla., May 18. Damage from the recent gulf oil spill threatens habitats and fishing industries.
Newspaper
ol
‘Archbiish sho hop ho opp’s’s HHou ourr’’ On 126600 AM AM Rad Radiioo
HA LL STU ART OOL HIG H SCH
“The Archb opp’ss Hour Hour” with San Franciscoishop Arch chhbbiishop ishop H. Niederauer Archb op Georg Georgee each Friday airss morn orn-ing at 9 a.m. on Immaculate art Radio – 1260Heart M in the Bay AM a. Repeat broadArea. casts s air Friday eveni at 9 p.m., Sund ngg ay at 111 a.m., Monday at a.m a.m m.,..,, and and 9 p.m.
OOL March 12, MERCY HIGH SCH 201 BURLINGAME
H. ARCHBISHOP GEORGE. . . . . . . . . 2 NIEDERAUER LETTER TO STEPS FOR APPLYING 2 CHOOLS . . . . CATHOLIC HIGH S ES . . . . 2-3 GRADUATION OUTCOM AR. . . 10-11 OPEN HOUSE CALEND MAUREEN SUPERINTENDENT ATIUS HUNTINGTON LETTER . . . . . . 20 SAINT IGN P
0
bishop John
INSIDE
reds of peop le dead, i Onaiyeka n of Abuja said.
Olorunfem
THIS W EEK’S
Special Spring Sports Section ~ Pages SP1 -SP8 ~
17th Century at National art Gallery ~ Page 14 ~
ONE DOL
LAR
REUTERS)
By Valerie Schmal z
Archbishop George H. Niederauer said time is now for comprehe that the th to address the estimated nsive immigration reform residents of the United 11 million undocumented States. At a May conference held in press front of Mission Dolores14 pres Francisco, the San in San failure of the federalFrancisco Archbishop said the governme nt to address immigration reform may similar to Arizona’s cause more states to pass laws . “This should not be ing for ‘open borders,’ an ‘amnesty.’ Nor are we askstanding with a woman,said Archbishop Niederauer, Rosa, a married mother four, who is fighting of deportation on an expired “Yes, to undocumented people – you belong visa. in the
By Valerie
ORLANDO, Fla. (CNS) – Sal Versaggi is no stranger to battling disaster. As one of the owners Tampa, his shrimp boats of Versaggi Shrimp Co. out of have worked up and west coast of Florida down the – including areas in the Diocese of Venice – through hurricane after hurricane. “God has a special He has to, when they’re affinity for fishermen,” he said. the winds and climate “at the mercy of nature and what and current does.”
Archdioces e criticizes same-sex marriage la w By
cisco olic
Weekly Cath
AKINLEYE,
Archbishop Niederau er, Bishop
California’s
e
/AKINTUNDE
organizations from rescuing BANGKOK – Several women dren trapped within Catholic churches the zone where clashes and chilschools have become and the two sides between by violence between safe havens for people trap trapped the Asian have escalated in the past week, reported anti-government protesters church news agency the Thai army. and Four families, including UCA News. The move came after women, children elderly, moved into Holy Redeemer School, said and prevented a Catholic-r protesters and army offic Father un charity and other officials Sirichai Laukobkul of the nongove - Church nongovern adjacent Holy Redeemer in Bangkok. THAI VIOLENCE, page 6
converting e year after s progress on week ICA report y’ jobs-based model students worked one day a sional Re return in o level profes $4,000, while or non-profit entry- starting near 7:30 to a ‘Crist r, at a corporate school longe also receive
ts attended l position and g after 4 p.m. Most studen ls, all schoo Schmalz Catholic high other high schoo a.m. and leavin ruled out a to and unlike at ICA. es who had coming back scholarships costs are covered by lot of the schools Catholic familifor their daughters areyear – drawn by a tion fees and book e years ago, from r schools, we were school educaConception Academy thisial model, school “Just a coupl Mission, our feede l. The girls schoo the Immaculate Rey jobs-based financ in public lic right here ts – they were in years to Catho t one the new Cristo losing studen it. How sad to go eight lic high school,” ng developmen exciti raofficials say. most prepa ps the college could not afford be able to afford Catho starting to come That is perha ear-old Dominican tuition-based not , they are 127-y onal school and uerre. “Now year after theconverted from a traditi ach of the Cristo 3 said Espinal-Ag TO REY,’ page tory school corporate work study approtor Gina EspinalICA’S ‘CRIS back.” model to the ICA Admissions Direcl year was the first Rey Network, The 2009-2010 schoo than $10,000 to ed from more Aguerre said. tuition dropp one where
A young girl carries a medical handed out to anti-government “red encamped in an upscale kit han shirt” supporters shoppi shopping district in Bangkok , Thailand, May 17. Service mental
By Catholic News
more pictu
Northern
By Karen Osborn
(CNS PHOTO
op 17th Auxiliary Bish of for the Archdiocese San Francisco
Catholic san Fran
E SE ES CE D I OC H DI AR CH
Congratulations to Bishop-elect Robert W. McElroy
Catholic san Francisco
Fathers y’s Cathedra g for ined priests at St. Mar .catholic-sf.or Newly orda ordination June 26 5. Visit www altar at their res on pages 14-1 pictu homily and
Newspaper
IOCESE OF
Robert W. named Msgr. the history p in ict XVI has Pope Bened the 17th auxiliary bisho archdiocesan The be Wee , McElroy to iocese of San Francisco. in San Mateo of the Archd Francisco native, a pastorssive academic priest is a Santheologian with an impre moral a and July 6 by Msgr. . background ntment was made publicd’affaires at the The appoi e, charge is Lantheaum . Jean-Franco ature in Washington Gregory Parish in St. apostolic nunci roy, 56, is pastor of since 1996. Msgr. McEl ministered will be where he has pal ordination Mass San Mateo, roy’s episco Msgr. McEl Mary’s Cathedral. that Monsignor ted at St. held Sept. 7 Archdiocese are deligh n even broader “We in this and zeal will be givenChurch and the gifts e H. the Catholicc McElroy’s ishopp Georg g the life of isco Archbbisho servin in scope here,” San Franc liary) community inn,, (Auxi us said. John Quinn Niederauer Bishop Ignatiroy Archbishop “(Former) Justice and (retired)) lectt McEl p-elec m hop-e Bishop Willia in congratulating Bisho uer said. “We rauer edera Niede rs ishop brothe Wang join me Archb our d all of ntment,” on his appoi e of this Archdiocese and join us in praying o ask the peopl the Catholic Church to s he will need to aces c Newspaper and sisters in for the gifts and the grace ia’s Weekly Catholi for him, and apostolic office. interces- Northern Californ the general parish carry out his intention in your this of e e includ peopl “Please ask the ishop Masses, and well,” Archb sions in your t McElroy as Bishop-elec iscan, to pray for said. tion San Franc-secreeneraation Niederauer fifth-g a priest roy, He served as R. Quinn Msgr. McEl April 12, 1980. ishopp John vicar at was ordained an Francisco Archbbisho a parochial tary to then-S He has also servedd as St. Pius Parish in co and from 1982-85. in San Francisco Gregory, ntmenntt to St. istration. St. Cecilia ParishBefore his appoiintme icar for admin incompan vicar Redwood City. had the the archdiocesa he served as past thirty years, I have h in the priestt he Churc “For the and the ent. “Throughou serving God rable joy of McElroy said in a statem ennobled by the tly antly t nstan hood,” Msgr. I have been const labor amids , oners who ioners the those years ge of parish obstacles to make also ng faith and coura world. I have overwhelmi sometimes in their lives andd in our bishops, priests, s upporrtt of Gospel real the constant suppo re the collaborator 6 my befo d d been stan experience deacons who have MCELROY, page id Schunk See T LECT ELEC religious and OP-E ke and Dav l in San Francisco. BISH Bjer e Wad res.
ESY OF ARCHD
’s
Weekly Catholic
Catholic churches, sch safe havens from Tha ools become i violence
ecchio By Rick DelV
FLORIDA CATHOLIC)
Califor nia
Northern California’s
Floridians who make living from sea worried by effects of gulf oil spill
(CNS PHOTO/JACQ UE BRUND, THE
Nor ther n
Catholic san Francisco
(CNS PHOTO/JERR Y LAMPEN, REUTERS)
Catholiccisco per ic Newspa san Fran kly Cathol
(PHOTO/COURT
rt McElroy, Msgr. Robe stor and pa San Mateo co native, cis an Fr San iary bishop to be auxil
EDITIO
N
Anglicans ente r Church . ...3 News in brie f. . . . . . . . . ....4 High school musicals . . . . 6-7 Commentary & letters . 10-11 Scripture & reflection . 12-13 Datebook . . .......... . . . 17 Services, class ified ads . 18-1 9
www.cath
olic-sf.org
VOLUME
12
•
No. 9
PRE COLLEGE
Your contribution to Catholic San Francisco makes a difference . . .
Archbishop George Niederauer
Catholic San Francisco reaches out to inform, educate and evangelize approximately 77,000 households in the Archdiocese of San Francisco. This award-winning and highly-respected Catholic newspaper plays an important role in supporting the parishes, religious education programs, schools, and ministries of the Archdiocese.
At this time, we ask your support in a special way. We hope you will send a generous donation in support of the newspaper. You have our sincere gratitude. Please return your check made payable to Catholic San Francisco. Please mail to:
Catholic San Francisco, One Peter Yorke Way, San Francisco, CA 94109
8
Catholic San Francisco
December 10, 2010
Myanmar priest serving in Kansas named bishop of his home diocese SALINA, Kan. (CNS) – The new bishop of the Diocese of Pyay in Myanmar will have one immediate challenge: leaving behind the friends he made in Kansas. On Dec. 3, Pope Benedict XVI named Father Alexander Pyone Cho bishop of his home diocese. The priest has been serving in the Diocese of Salina since early 2007. He is currently pastor of St. Aloysius Gonzaga Parish in Osborne and St. Mary’s Parish in Downs. “I love the people here,” said Bishopdesignate Cho. He succeeds Bishop Joseph Thaung Shwe, who turned 75 in October. Under canon law, bishops must submit their resignation at age 75. The new bishop, 61, will leave his parishes shortly after Christmas to return to Myanmar, also known as Burma. He is
Jesus’ name always . . . ■ Continued from page 3 The Mass was attended by Cardinals Francis E. George of Chicago, Roger M. Mahony of Los Angeles and Donald W. Wuerl of Washington, D.C., along with 24 archbishops and bishops, and more than 200 priests. Msgr. Jean-Francois Lantheaume, charge d’affaires at the apostolic nunciature in Washington, represented Archbishop Pietro Sambi, apostolic nuncio to the United States, who was unable to attend. Archbishop Sartain’s sister, Dominican
(CNS PHOTO/DOUG WELLER, THE REGISTER)
By Doug Weller
Father Alexander Pyone Cho
among four priests from Myanmar serving in the Salina Diocese. He expects to be ordained in late March. “We are all very grateful for Father Alexander for his ministry among us these years,” said Salina Bishop Paul S. Coakley. “Though I knew he would return one of Sister Marian Sartain of Nashville, Tenn., was one of the readers. His three other siblings, Marie Looney, Sally Hermsdorfer and Jennie Alexander, were gift bearers. The entrance procession from the rectory to the 103-year-old cathedral next door was held under clear skies and temperatures in the 40s. As the cathedral bells pealed, the participants wound their way up the 33 steps into the church and then to the altar as all sang a hymn commissioned for the occasion. The hymn is titled “Of you my heart has spoken,” which is Archbishop’s Sartain’s episcopal motto, taken from Psalm 27. As he passed up the aisle, people stood on
SENIOR LIVING
these days, I was not expecting it to happen so soon, nor as a bishop. ... He’ll be a good shepherd.” Bishop-designate Cho said he was not especially surprised when the papal nuncio called to tell him of his appointment. His fellow priests there had been telling for months he should be their next bishop. Twice before, he said, he was on the list of candidates to be named a bishop. “In our diocese, I am one of the senior priests. I am on good terms with them; they want me there. That makes me think it might be that I will be the one chosen this time,” he said. So he prayed to God. “I said, ‘I am not worthy, I am not qualified, but if you choose me, you must be the one to help me,’” he said. “I have been trying to reflect on Scripture passages, trying to take courage. When I received the message from the nuncio, I said, ‘Yes, I’ve been praying,
and now I accept it as the will of God.’ I do not know how heavy the burden is for me, but I put it in the hands of God to do my best,” he told The Register, Salina’s diocesan newspaper. It is an entirely different world in Myanmar, Bishop-designate Cho said. An oppressive military dictatorship has ruled the country since 1962. “The government suppresses all religion, even Buddhism. We feel free to do our liturgy, but for external activities, we must ask permission,” he explained. “We try to make friends with government officials, first the local authorities, then higher up. It works. But we are expected to give them gifts to stay on good terms,” he added. Less than three-tenths of 1 percent of the population of Pyay Diocese is Catholic. There are about 24,000 Catholics out of a total population of 9 million. The diocese MYANMAR PRIEST, page 9
tiptoes and held digital cameras high to capture a glimpse of their new shepherd. Once the official letter of appointment from the pope was read, Archbishop Sartain said he accepted the pastoral care of the archdiocese, resolving “to serve faithfully the spiritual needs of this local church.” He then took his seat in the cathedra – the bishop’s chair – and clutched the 14-pound crosier in his left hand as the assembly erupted in applause. The crook of the crosier – which was given to Archbishop Brunett in 2008 upon his 50th anniversary of ordination – depicts Jesus washing the feet of the apostles. In his homily, the new archbishop referred to the issue of clergy sexual abuse of minors, noting that in “our awesome call to serve in the name of Jesus, we will con-
tinue to ask pardon for the times we have not been faithful to that call, and especially seek God’s healing for his little ones who have been harmed by clergy and others acting in the name of the church.” In his concluding remarks, Archbishop Sartain promised to be proactive in encouraging young people to consider religious vocations, saying he would be doing the church and its people a “disservice” if he didn’t challenge people to open their hearts to God. He said he also looks forward to his ministry in the Archdiocese of Seattle. “Together for many years to come we will love the Lord, will proclaim Christ, and we will ask the Holy Spirit to guide us in every way,” he said. “And together we will love as the Lord Jesus has asked us to love.”
Because How You Live Matters
PACE An all inclusive walk-in shower and walk-in hydrotherapy bathtub company.
• Award Winning Home Care and Care Management • Skilled Nursing Visits • Healthcare Advocacy • Counseling • Palliative and End of Life Care • Money Management • Conservatorships
Trouble-free bathing for the mobility challenged. Do you find maneuvering in and out of the bath tub difficult?
PACE BATHROOMS is your solution! We offer easy access hydrotherapy bathtubs and showers, including delivery and installation.
• Spiritual Care• Caregiver Support Groups • JFCS RIDES Transportation Service • Holocaust Survivor Services • Volunteer Services Premier Service Provider • Comprehensive • Responsive
Intake Specialists 415 449 3777 www.SeniorsAtHome.org
OUR TUBS FEATURE: • A low 6 inch step in • 18 inch (wide) door • 17 inch high seat • Hydrotherapy Message
FALL SPECIAL
Save Up to 50% OFF Winter Special For a Limited Time Only!
We provide service to all of California (H onoring Veterans with a Special Discount) CALL TODAY FOR YOUR COMPLIMENTARY IN HOME EVALUATION
1-877-559-7223 Or visit us at www.pacebathrooms.com
PACE Providing Service to All of California and Arizona • Made in the U.S.A. • Licensed (CSLB 638831) • Lifetime Warranty • Insured
Serving San Francisco, the Peninsula, Marin and Sonoma Counties
Help is on the Way! Free Medicare Counseling The Health Insurance Counseling and Advocacy Program Of San Mateo County will help you navigate through the following Medicare topics:
• Understanding your Part A & B benefits HICAP just made our life easier. • Medigap & Medicare Advantage Plans • Prescription Drug Plans and assistance paying for your drugs • Medicare Savings Program • Retiree Health Insurance • Medi-Cal Call today to schedule an appointment with a HICAP counselor at your local senior center or social security office.
1-800-434-0222 state wide HICAP telephone number 1-650-627-9350 direct line to San Mateo HICAP Office HICAP is administered by the State of California Department of Aging. HICAP counselors do not sell, recommend, or endorse any insurance product, agent, insurance company, or health plan. HICAP of San Mateo is sponsored by Self-Help for the Elderly, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the independence, dignity and self worth of senior citizens. Non-profit ID# 94-175717
December 10, 2010
Catholic San Francisco
9
ROME – The Pontifical Lateran University hosted a day-long conference Dec. 2 on Ethics, Aging, and the Coming Healthcare Challenge. The conference looked at ethical, medical, and economic issues arising in light of the new challenges presented by aging demographics and ever-extending lifespans, Vatican Radio reported. The conference was organized by the Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty, with the co-sponsorship of the Pontifical Council for the Family, and Human Life International. It brought together global academics, practitioners, clergy and policymakers. The experts focused on one key issue: How can commercial, public policy and religious interests better align to deal with the challenges of a rapidly aging world? “The longevity we’ve achieved in the 20th century – adding three decades to life – is one of the greatest social transformations of all time,” Michael Hodin, a senior fellow at the Council of Foreign Relations and one of the featured speakers, said in an interview with the Acton Institute. “The infrastructure of the 20th century is not fit for the 21st. We need to reframe public policy.”
Myanmar priest . . . ■ Continued from page 8 covers 31,000 square miles along the western coast of Myanmar. There are 35 priests and 72 women religious. Bishop-designate Cho said his nearly four years in Kansas have better prepared him for his new role. “I have learned a lot here from other priests,” he said. “I love the people here. I always feel
(CNS PHOTO/OCTAVIO DURAN)
Rome conference examines the coming generational-spiritual crisis
Franciscan Brother Daniel P. Sulmasy
He said the proportion of people over and under 60 is changing dramatically. “That’s true today but it’s going to be even more true over the next 10 to 20 years,” Hodin said. Western nations must adjust to meet the employment, health care and pension needs of an aging population, he said. But they also must manage the expectations of young people who have come to expect the same level of benefits that their parents and grandparents enjoyed. The private sector has a critical role to the people here have the Christian culture. There is love in their way of living. I also feel love from them. That has been a very good thing for me,” he added. That contrasts sharply with his homeland, where he said the people are more aggressive and there is often in-fighting. People with more influence have more rights, he said. “Here everyone is very equal. This culture, I love it,” he said. Archbishop Charles Maung Bo of the Yangon Archdiocese has overseen admin-
_\cg)`e]fid Discover investment strategies for a rising-tax environment
play in finding innovative solutions, from financial products to health care therapies, Hodin said. The private sector’s role will be vital in dealing with the rising incidence of Alzheimer’s. “With longevity the number of people who will have it on the planet is massive over the next 2-3 decades,” Hodin said. “This will unhinge or derail the 21st century from a fiscal point of view, let alone the human catastrophe that’s at hand.” Hodin concluded: “I am stunned that we don’t have an organizing framework around aging.” The secretary of the Pontifical Council for the Family, Bishop Jean Lafitte, placed the challenge of aging in a broader cultural context, Vatican Radio reported. “We are seeing in our societies, that people are getting older and older, and people are not ready anymore to welcome life as the good news,” he said. The bishop added that he is concerned that the generations are losing touch with one another and as a result are losing the ability to develop feelings and action of solidarity. Conference speaker Daniel Sulmasy, a
University of Chicago professor, Franciscan friar and member of the President’s Council for the Study of Bioethical Questions, told Vatican Radio that the medical community would benefit from the experience and guidance of the Church’s centuries of experience in thinking about matters of life and death. “The Church invented bioethics before there was the word,” Sulmasy said. “We invented the term, ‘extraordinary means’, four or five hundred years ago – it’s been a part of our tradition for centuries.” Sulmasy went on to say that the Church’s way of thinking about these matters is eminently reasonable. “Catholics believe our life here is not the sum and substance of everything,” Sulmasy said. “We’re destined for life with God and our life on this earth is temporary and finite, and it’s morally permissible to forego extraordinary means of care....The Church’s teaching is always in the middle: no extraordinary means to continue life, but not to curtail it. To recognize its value is also to value its finitude, and that we’re permitted to say with St. Paul that ‘I’ve fought the fight, I’ve run the race, I’ve kept the faith,’ and when the time comes to cease and desist these extraordinary means of care.”
istration of the Pyay Diocese, since its apostolic administrator, Auxiliary Bishop Gregory Taik Maung resigned in July because of ill health . He asked Bishopdesignate Cho to return to Myanmar as soon as possible so he could begin the transition, not only for his new role but to reacquaint himself with the political environment. “Here I can speak openly. There, I have to be careful before I speak, to see who is there listening,” Bishop-designate Cho said.
Bishop-designate Cho was ordained in 1975. He was a parish pastor for a total of 23 years, rector of his diocese’s minor seminary twice for a total of seven years and spiritual director of the country’s national major seminary for eight years. After arriving in Kansas in 2007, he was parochial vicar at Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish in Hays before being assigned to the Osborne County parishes in September 2008.
SENIOR LIVING A place to celebrate the season. “Residents are the heart of our community.”
Prepare your investments for future tax increases Taxes may be heading higher for a number of reasons. While this could have a significant impact on your investment portfolio and long-term goals, there are strategies that can help you address rising taxes within the context of your overall wealth management picture. As your Merrill Lynch Financial Advisor, I’ll work with you and your tax advisor to determine how to adjust your investment strategies to help meet your needs and potentially mitigate the impact of tax increases. Learn how to take advantage of strategies for rising taxes N Find out why taxes may be increasing N Understand the impact of higher taxes on your portfolio N Explore ways to protect your investments, retirement savings and estate from future tax hikes
I CAN HELP YOU INCORPORATE TAX-EFFICIENT INVESTMENTS IN YOUR PORTFOLIO.
Assisted Living | Memory Care Ted Moorhead First Vice President-Investments Certified Special Needs Advisor Financial Advisor
Services Include Spiritual Care/On-Site Chaplain, Housekeeping and Laundry Service, Resident Activity and Social Programs, Daily Licensed Nurse on Duty, and Upscale Meal Program.
Call Today to Schedule a Tour: 415.335.4867 5300 Stevens Creek Boulevard Suite 120 San Jose, CA 95129 (408) 554-7923 http://fa.ml.com/ted_moorhead Merrill Lynch Wealth Management makes available products and services offered by Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated (MLPF&S) and other subsidiaries of Bank of America Corporation. Investing in securities involves risks, and there is always the potential of losing money when you invest in securities. Neither Merrill Lynch nor its Financial Advisors provide tax, accounting or legal advice. You should review any financial transactions with your personal professional advisors. Investment products provided: Are Not FDIC Insured Are Not Bank Guaranteed May Lose Value MLPF&S is a registered broker-dealer, Member SIPC and a wholly owned subsidiary of Bank of America Corporation. © 2010 Bank of America Corporation. All rights reserved.
Happy Holidays
Located on the St. Thomas More Church Campus. One Thomas More Way, San Francisco www.almaviaofsanfrancisco.org Elder Care Alliance, a nonprofit organization, is cosponsored by the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas West Midwest Community & the Sierra Pacific Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. RCFE Lic # 385600270.
10
Catholic San Francisco
December 10, 2010
obituary
Sister Gloria Marie Medici, PBVM, long-time teacher enough to see the Giants win the World A funeral Mass was celebrated Series!” the Presentation Sisters said in an Nov. 30 for Presentation Sister Gloria announcement of her death. Sister Gloria Marie Medici (Mary Cyprian) at the was also a keen bowler and belonged for Motherhouse Chapel in San Francisco. many years to a bowling league which Sister Gloria, a Sister of the Presentation competed weekly. of the Blessed Virgin Mary for 59 years, Most recently, due to illness, Sister died Nov. 22. She would have been 80 Gloria retired from active ministry and years old Nov. 23. was engaged in the ministry of prayer for Sister Gloria, who held an undergraduthe needs of the world. ate degree from the University of San Interment was at Holy Cross Cemetery Francisco, was a former member of the facin Colma. ulty at schools including San Francisco’s Survivors include cousins Elaine and Epiphany, St. Anne and the now-closed Edward L. Battistini as well as her loving St. Teresa. Since 1968, Sister Gloria, a Presentation Sisters. licensed cosmetologist, provided beauty Sister Gloria Marie Memorial contributions to the Sisters care for women living in convalescent hosMedici, PBVM of the Presentation are preferred. pitals and senior centers in San Francisco. Contributions can be sent to Sisters of An avid sports enthusiast, Sister Gloria was a loyal fan of the San Francisco 49ers and the San the Presentation, Development Office, 281 Masonic Ave., Francisco Giants. “It is appreciated that she lived long San Francisco 94118.
For the careful organization, packing and disposition of your loved one’s belongings.
(408) 309-2251 patriciaotero@aol.com www.liquidationproviders.com
Patricia J. Otero P.O. Box 704 Los Gatos, CA 95030 Insured and bonded Notary Public Realtor (DRE #01225888)
Proprietor
The Irish Rose
Home Healthcare Agency Specializing in home health aides, attendants and companions. Serving San Francisco, Marin & the Peninsula.
Contact: 415.447.8463
SENIOR LIVING
For information about advertising in Catholic San Francisco visit www.catholic-sf.org or call (415) 614-5642 The Sisters of Mercy, Mercy Center in Burlingame is currently in need of on-call housekeepers and on-call reception staff.
QUALITY HOME CARE SERVING THE BAY AREA SINCE 1996 * Attendants * Companions * Hospice * Respite Care
Competitive Rates All service providers carefully screened We are insured and bonded Full Payroll Service 2021 Taraval Street #2, SF www.irishhelpathome.com
Tel: 415 759 0520
Happy Holidays and Best Wishes. “Residents are the heart of our community.”
Please apply in person or via email at 2300 Adeline Drive, Burlingame or sdegaine@mercywmw.org.
ROBERT GNAM Hearing Aid Dispenser
415-346-6886 AUDIOLOGICAL SERVICES OF SAN FRANCISCO MAILING ADDRESS: P.O. Box 156410 San Francisco, CA 94115-0468
OFFICE: 3150 California Street San Francisco, CA 94115
ALZHEIMER’S RESIDENCE At Mission Villa we believe that the commitment of both staff and family members is a vital component of each of our resident’s care and well-being
(650) 756-1995 Accessible Home Lift Company (510) 521-9526 or (800) 606-1115
Independent Living | Assisted Living Memory Care | Skilled Nursing
AlmaVia of Union City 33883 Alvarado-Niles Road | 510.400.7496
AlmaVia of San Rafael 515 Northgate Drive | 415.233.6199
Dignified Living In A Home-Like Setting
995 E. Market St. Daly City, CA 94014 www.missionvillamcc.com Email: missionvillaalz@comcast.net Lic. #415600381
Call us for: * Free in-home consultations and stair lift demonstrations * Fully licensed and bonded CA contractor’s lic. # 822635 * 10-plus years experience * Expert service and maintenance for the life of your lift * Custom curved and outdoor applications * Rentals
Tell our advertisers you saw their ad in Catholic San Francisco
AlmaVia of San Francisco One Thomas More Way | 415.337.1339
Mercy Retirement & Care Center 3431 Foothill Blvd., Oakland | 510.228.4725
Salem Lutheran Home 2361 East 29th Street, Oakland | 510.269.4538
www.eldercarealliance.org Elder Care Alliance, a nonprofit organization, is cosponsored by the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas West Midwest Community & the Sierra Pacific Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. RCFE Lic # 015600254 - SNF Lic # CA020000442 - CCRC Lic #178. RCFE Lic # 015600255. SNF Lic # CA020000237. RCFE Lic # 015601209. RCFE Lic # 216801868. RCFE Lic # 385600270.
866.53-ANGEL
December 10, 2010
Catholic San Francisco
11
All-generation Christmas cheer: enjoy festive visits with those in care By Lisa M. Petsche How do you include, in family Christmas celebrations, a relative who has entered a retirement home or nursing home? The following suggestions can help make this time of the year more enjoyable for the whole family. Set realistic expectations and be prepared to modify traditions. Include your relative in preparations to the best of their ability. Contributing in even small ways – such as signing Christmas cards or helping to select gifts from a catalog – will make them feel valued and create a feeling of partnership. Reminisce about past Christmases to help your relative get into the spirit of the season. Share special memories, bring in photo albums or favorite music, read aloud a favorite holiday story or Bible passage, or watch home movies or a classic holiday film. Plan ahead and space out activities as much as possible, scheduling quiet days in between eventful ones. Here are guidelines for activities at nursing and retirement homes: Give staff at least a day’s notice when you’d like to ensure your relative is up and ready for a special visit or other event. Visit when you are not rushed for time. Bring children or grandchildren with you, taking care to insure adult supervision at all times for youngsters. Decorate your relative’s room using window clings, children’s artwork, garland, a small nativity scene or a miniature Christmas tree. Bring in greeting cards received to share with your relative, and leave some behind. Bring homemade treats and take-out coffee or a thermal carafe of tea, and enjoy a
holiday snack together. Consider supplying enough sweets for your relative to share with roommates or staff if they wish. Do check with nursing staff regarding dietary restrictions before you bring in anything. Review the activities calendar to learn about scheduled holiday events – such as a visiting choir – and attend one of them with your relative.
or suggestions. Even overnight visits may be feasible with assistance from family, friends or a privately contracted personal support worker. If feasible, take your relative home for an afternoon so they can participate in (or simply observe, depending on their abilities) holiday preparations such as baking, decorating or gift wrapping.
Reminisce about past Christmases, share special memories, read aloud a favorite holiday story or Bible passage, watch home movies or a classic holiday film. If Christmas Mass is offered onsite, accompany your relative. Otherwise, if feasible, bring them to Mass at your church. Offer to accompany family members planning a first-time visit, to ease their anxiety. Join your relative for Christmas dinner. Most facilities offer a midday meal with all the traditional holiday trimmings, and sell tickets to relatives and friends who would like to join residents. Another option is to hold a celebration in the family dining room or other private space that’s available for booking; inquire about catering service. Here are guidelines for outings: Before deciding to bring your relative home for a visit, determine their environmental needs — addressing accessibility and safety issues — as well as their care needs for the time period you have in mind. Run ideas by staff to see if they have concerns
SENIOR LIVING SUPPLE SENIOR CARE “The most compassionate care in town”
If your home isn’t accessible, take your relative out to the mall for gift shopping and lunch. Book accessible transportation if necessary. If they can get in and out of a car, take them out one evening for a holiday light tour. Ensure any destination is accessible, including its washroom facilities. If family members’ homes aren’t accessible, choose
Prop. 8 review . . . ■ Continued from page 5 supported marriage laws and have rejected the same arguments essentially that have been advanced here – that those decisions were irrational and that a large majority of the population of this country is irrational, behaving not in good faith. That position, we believe, is not sustainable and not valid.” Throughout the hearing, lawyers for the plaintiffs, Theodore Olson and David Boies, both of New York, challenged the standing of the initiative’s supporters and insisted they had not suffered harm from the proposition’s passage and is required to entitle them to appeal the case. It is gays and lesbians who are harmed, the plaintiffs’ lawyers said. “Depriving our gay and lesbian citi-
a restaurant or banquet hall that meets everyone’s needs. Book accessible transportation well in advance, since use peaks during the holidays. Consider celebrating with your relative on a day other than Dec. 25 to increase the likelihood that the service will be able to accommodate them. Give staff plenty of notice of the date and pickup and estimated return times for your relative. This allows them sufficient time to make adjustments with food services and preparations with the pharmacy, as well as obtain a temporary leave of absence (TLA) order from the doctor. Prepare relatives and friends who haven’t seen your relative in a while for any changes in their appearance, abilities or behavior. Ensure your relative has appropriate clothing on hand, including warm outerwear. Let staff know what you would like your relative to wear for an event if they’re not able to communicate this. Take along any necessary medical equipment, supplies and medications. Lisa M. Petsche is a social worker and a freelance writer specializing in inter-generational issues. zens of their right to marry harms them and harms the children of their union,” said Boies. “And third, there is simply no basis whatsoever for any rational belief that doing serious harm has any benefit for anyone in our society. Quite the contrary. Discrimination hurts everyone and discrimination against gays and lesbians hurts everyone in this country.” Brian Raum, senior counsel for Alliance Defense Fund, a group supporting Prop. 8, said Monday in a statement, “What’s at stake in this case is bigger than California and bigger than even marriage. Americans are concerned about how marriage, voter rights, religious liberty and other issues will be affected nationwide if this lawsuit is allowed to prevail.” Prop. 8, approved by voters by a margin of 52 percent to 48 percent, overturned a 2008 California Supreme Court ruling that permitted same-sex unions.
Steven T. Kmucha, MD, JD, FACS Nearly 20 years of providing conservative, patient-centered medical and surgical treatment of all disorders of the ear, nose, throat and associated structures in the Bay Area.
1655 Old Mission Road #3 Colma, SSF, CA 94080
Board Certified: • Head & Neck Surgery • Allergy of the Ear, Nose & Throat • Otolaryngology (Ear, Nose & Throat)
415-573-5141 or 650-993-8036
1800 SULLIVAN AVENUE, SUITE 604 • DALY CITY, CA (650) 756-2900 • WWW.DRKMUCHA.COM
*Irish owned & operated *Serving from San Francisco to North San Mateo
M A R T I N FA M I LY
Conveniently located near BART, 280, SamTrans and Muni. Free parking and free BART shuttle to our building.
m
C olumbian Retirement Home L AW F I R M
An Independent Living Facility Located in Historic Marysville, California
A T T O R N E Y S A T L AW
Providing Advice, Perspective, and Hope Lawyers Helping Families Through Difficult Transitions At All Ages And All Stages Of Life
Rates Starting at $1250 per Month Margaret Laughlin Martin Conservatorships and Trusts Caring for Elderly Parents Planning for a Disabled Child Guardianships Disputes in Family Trusts Dementia Issues
Timothy D. Martin* Family Law and Divorce Support and Custody Mediation Services Collaborative Practice Post Judgment Modifications Referrals for LMFT & Financial
Includes Comfortable Private Rooms, 24 Hour Medical Emergency Monitoring, Complete Dining Program with Delicious Meals, Snacks, Full Housekeeping Services, Spacious Living Room with HD TV, On Site Chapel,Two Spacious Courtyards, Free Lighted Parking and Security
230 8th Street Marysville, CA *Certified Specialist in Family Law, State Bar of California, Board of Legal Specialization
The Borel Estate Building 1700 South El Camino Real Suite 502 San Mateo CA 94402-3051 tel (650) 340-1166 margaret@martinfamilylawfirm.com timothy@martinfamilylawfirm.com
(Across from St. Joseph’s Parish)
For Information and a Tour (530) 743-7542 kofccenter@comcast.net www.columbianretirementhome.org California Knights of Columbus Retirement Facilities
12
Catholic San Francisco
December 10, 2010
(PHOTO BY GEORGE RAINE/CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO)
Cathedral deacon seeks volunteers to console witnesses, survivors after a loss By George Raine Each week in San Francisco, 25 or more people die from suicide, homicides, accidents or other sudden causes, leaving survivors so traumatized they are thrust into a kind of desperate, altered state. They need immediate help, particularly consolation that police and other first responders often can’t provide – they have other work to do – amid crisis. In fact, there are cadres of volunteers in major West Coast cities providing just that service – on-scene personal support. The newest chapter, S.F. Crisis Care, is now forming in San Francisco, directed by Christoph Sandoval, a deacon for the past six years at Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption and a veteran health care executive and counselor of people with terminal illnesses. Sandoval’s new role is nonsectarian. There won’t be any proselytizing of survivors in critical junctures of their lives. But the skill set Sandoval will be utilizing is the same he exercised when he began his career as a volunteer at Shanti Project in San Francisco, the first agency in the nation providing direct service to people with AIDS/HIV, then as director of clinics for the Santa Clara County Health Department and as director of the Multicultural AIDS Resource Center of California and doing other non-profit and for-profit work. Sandoval is already providing Crisis Care-like service at the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption: He is a spiritual support group facilitator, assisting people newly diagnosed with life-threatening illnesses and for family, friends and caregivers. “There is a psychic wound to the soul that happens at the moment of a tragic loss,” said Sandoval, a 62-year-old San Franciscan. “It creates a moment in which all belief systems
Deacon Christoph Sandoval heads S.F. Crisis Care, a non-profit providing personal support to survivors in the aftermath of homicides, fatal accidents and other sudden causes of death and trauma.
and assumptions about life collapse, and I see an opportunity through the breakdown – and opportunity for a breakthrough to answer some of the essential questions about the life experience.” As the chapter prepares to launch in San Francisco, Sandoval is developing relationships with police, fire and other agencies with the aim of building trust so that the public safety sector will notify Crisis Care when their services would be useful, 24 hours a day. Crisis Care Los Angeles, for example, has 150 volunteers responding to more than 500 incidents a year, as the service they provide is tried, tested and valued. When the system is up and running in San Francisco, officers or firefighters on the scene of a trauma, once it is secured, will request a Crisis Care volunteer via a dispatcher. Sandoval thinks he or she could be on scene within 20 minutes.
There is a psychic wound to the soul that happens at the moment of a tragic loss. – Deacon Christoph Sandoval Even with the chapter in its nascent state, Sandoval has already been pressed into service: A California Highway Patrol officer called him on Nov. 11 requesting he comfort a young woman who had run from her father’s car when he stopped it on the Bay Bridge and threatened to jump or blow up the SUV. On Nov. 17, Sandoval consoled the witnesses of an auto-pedestrian fatal accident at Geary and Leavenworth streets. “I am wired to do this,” said Sandoval. A number of prospective Crisis Care volunteers have come forward. Those who pass initial screening will have 48 hours of training in multi-disciplinary emergency compassionate consolation techniques – but the most successful among them will have what Sandoval calls “the tools of the intellect and the tools of the heart and the tools of the spirit” to provide “humanitarian support on the streets.” Of volunteers, he said, “They really have to have the capacity to learn, to be an on-going student. A person has to be openminded, have the ability to step up and be compassionate. Through the training process we let them know what to do – and, sometimes, not to say anything.” Sandoval said his search for volunteers will take him to San Francisco’s Catholic parishes. While he will emphasize that Crisis Care is a nonsectarian non-profit, he senses a “groundswell of support in the Archdiocese. “We’re preserving hope in the darkest moments in a person’s life,” he said.
Sacramento-based U.S. Crisis Care is a non-profit that has developed chapters on the West Coast somewhat modeled after the first, in San Diego County, formed in 1988. Volunteers are trained to deliver compassionate consolation, beginning as soon as possible following a trauma, as a kind of bridge to service providers who can assist survivors more long-term. In the face of a tragedy, survivors can become suicidal, depressed and lack coping mechanisms, said Sandoval. “What we need to do is bridge from the moment of the trauma and hand them into another safety net. That is what is missing here,” he said. “Do we want to duplicate all the services available in the city? No. What we want to do is provide the critical services of bridging,” he said. In other cities in which U.S. Crisis Care operates – including San Diego, Los Angeles, Sacramento, Portland and Seattle – municipalities provide the majority of Crisis Care budgets, said David Vincent, director of the non-profit. San Francisco, although supported by a Board of Supervisors resolution and the encouragement of Police Chief George Gascon, Fire Chief Joanne HayesWhite and others, has been unable to contribute because of its own budget crisis, said Vincent. Meanwhile, private donations have helped incubate the program, now seeking the up to 60 or 70 volunteers necessary to launch services. Information is available at www.crisiscare.us/sf.
Italian priest keeps hope alive for Congolese refugees in Sudan
Independence vote won’t bring easy peace, bishop says
MAKPANDU, Southern Sudan (CNS) – An Italian priest who has spent four decades in East Africa said the church is committed to accompanying Lord’s Resistance Army victims wherever they are found. “Part of our mission is to help people carry the cross of their suffering,” said Comboni Father Mario Benedetti. “That’s what (St. Daniel) Comboni meant when he said that your suffering is also my suffering. So we walk together, we live together, we hope together. That’s how I share the suffering of the people in my parish.” Father Benedetti’s parish is a sprawling camp of more than 4,000 people who fled LRA violence inside Congo, one of four nations where LRA rebels can be found. The camp is a ramshackle collection of huts spread through a remote section of forest 25 miles from Yambio, the capital of Southern Sudan’s Western Equatoria state. Father Benedetti’s hut – mud walls and thatched roof like his neighbors’ homes – is in the middle of the camp, near a simple chapel. The 73-year-old priest spent 38 years as a missionary in Congo. Then in 2008, the LRA attacked and burned the Catholic mission in Duru, killing several people and abducting dozens of children. The priest was captured at one point by the rebel group but managed to escape. Along with two other Comboni priests, he found his way to neighboring Southern Sudan, where thousands of Congolese had also fled. Fear of the LRA’s continuing presence in the zone has kept most of the refugees from returning home, Father Benedetti said. Although the refugees grow a little food on neighboring plots, they are afraid to venture far from the camp for fear of encountering the LRA, so they remain dependent on assistance from the U.N. World Food Program. “I am here with them, and I try to encourage them a little with prayer, as well as with education. The schools are an expression of love toward the children, a gift to help keep alive their hope of return-
(CNS PHOTO/ PAUL JEFFREY)
By Paul Jeffrey
Italian Comboni Father Mario Benedetti talks with villagers in the Makpandu refugee camp in Southern Sudan Nov. 16. Father Benedetti’s parish is a sprawling camp of more than 4,000 people who fled the Lord’s Resistance Army inside Congo.
ing to the Congo. That’s their hope – not to stay here,” Father Benedetti told Catholic News Service. The refugees have formed their own contingent of what are known locally as Arrow Boys – a self-defense militia, armed with bows and arrows. Members patrol the forest beyond the camp at night, keeping watch for LRA soldiers. Father Benedetti expressed doubt that traditional approaches to ending the scourge of the LRA will yield positive results. He said both the Southern Sudanese military and a locally based contingent of specialized Ugandan troops charged with pursuing the LRA have failed to capture its leader, Joseph Kony, or cripple his army. He said the refugees hold out hope that U.S. President Barack Obama, who in May signed the Lord’s Resistance Army
Disarmament and Northern Ugandan Recovery Act, will personally end their nightmare. The new law requires the U.S. government to develop a comprehensive strategy to protect civilians from the LRA, to apprehend or remove Kony and his top commanders in the continued absence of a negotiated solution and to disarm and demobilize the remaining LRA combatants. The law also promises humanitarian assistance to LRA victims and assistance in rebuilding communities targeted by the rebel army. “People are expecting that Obama will intercede. They believe he has promised to intercede. So we’re waiting to see when he’ll move, either sending in the Marines or someone else. This has to change. The people are living in poverty, in suffering,” Father Benedetti said.
YAMBIO, Southern Sudan (CNS) – The people of Southern Sudan should not expect quick results from a January referendum on independence, said a Catholic bishop in the war-torn African country. “People expect a lot. They think that independence means milk and honey, that all will be OK. And while ordinary people think that, the politicians are only thinking of having power and the riches it can bring,” said Bishop Eduardo Hiiboro Kussala of TomburaYambio. The church should help people from both groups understand the new responsibilities that independence – the expected outcome of the referendum – will bring, the bishop told Catholic News Service. “The church must help people understand that we have to take upon ourselves the noble duty of building our own nation,” Bishop Kussala said. “We are the privileged generation that is going to be voting and laying a strong foundation. We need to help instill pride in being a nation and help people understand that they have a God-given right to be free. They can only do that together with one another, not just within their own ethnic group. We are a multicultural, multireligious community, and we need to respect one another. The January vote on independence was stipulated by the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement that ended decades of civil war between Sudan’s North and South. Southerners are expected to vote overwhelmingly for secession, but Bishop Kussala said creating a functional and effective government will not be easy.
December 10, 2010
Catholic San Francisco
13
Archbishop’s Journal
Awaiting the Messiah, “…for his dwelling shall be glorious” Archbishop George Niederauer delivered this homily Dec. 5 at a special Mass to rededicate St. Charles Church in San Carlos. Advent is a beautiful season in which to re-dedicate St. Charles Parish Church. Advent is a season of hope and joy, of anticipation of the coming of Jesus Christ, in the celebration of his birth for us in Bethlehem and in his coming to us in the saving grace of this Mass we celebrate, of all the other sacraments, and of our life together in Church. Advent reminds us too of the Lord’s coming in glory in the judgment that leads to eternal life. In our first reading for this Second Sunday in Advent, we hear from the Prophet Isaiah. Almost 800 years before the birth of Jesus Christ the prophet foresees that “a shoot will sprout from the stump of Jesse.” We ourselves often speak of past generations as our “family tree,” and Isaiah is saying that the Messiah or Savior to come will be from the family “tree” of King David, whose father was Jesse. Centuries later, the Angel Gabriel will announce the birth of Jesus to Mary, his Mother, and tells her that the child will be from the royal life of David. What more does Isaiah tell us about the Messiah? All the gifts of the Spirit of God will rest upon him, and peace and justice will spread among men and women who follow him and his way. The Savior will not be for just one people or one place, but for all the Gentiles, all the nations: “The nations will seek out the root of Jesse for his dwelling shall be glorious.” We can be bold enough to extend that compliment to this church of St. Charles here this morning, this dwelling of the Lord is truly “glorious”. A very good friend of mine, a Lutheran, tells me that she greatly admires in Catholics the courage of their conviction about the Incarnation, God made flesh with us in Jesus Christ, his Son. I understand her to mean in particular the “sacramental vision” of Catholics, our belief that we meet Jesus Christ most profoundly in the seven sacraments, but also in people, places and things in the world around us. That’s what the poet Gerard Manley Hopkins meant by saying that “the world is charged with the grandeur of God.” Our churches have music, incense, statues, colored windows, paintings, and more besides, because we believe that God the creator meets us and makes us holy in his creation, in his creatures, that we can see, smell, taste, touch, and hear. The arts give us some of our most profound natural expressions of those meetings between creatures and the Creator. We Catholic Christians believe that this world we live in is not a dead end, but a gift that leads us to the loving God who gave it. Our human life and experience is not an end in itself; rather, it is meant to be united with Christ’s life and experience, now and forever. Because God created everything, we believe that
everything God made can, and should, be used to praise him. No Catholic ritual expresses this belief more richly than this Mass for the dedication of a church. We began at the front door, handing over the construction plans and the keys. Those are not mere storage closet details, because God was in the building of this church. We were sprinkled with holy water, to remind us of our baptism, our oneness in Jesus Christ. We will continue with the Litany of the Saints, who are one with us in Christ. The Prayer of Dedication will use many beautiful images to describe our call to the Church together. We will anoint the walls with Sacred Chrism, the same oil with which we anoint the newly baptized and confirmed, and those who are ordained priests and bishops. We will incense the altar with fragrance, just as Mary of Bethany poured perfumed ointment over the feet of Christ. We will solemnly light the altar and the building because light was one of God the Creator’s first gifts to us, and it should be used to praise him and his Son, who named himself the Light of the World. We will bring the Body of Christ to the Reservation Chapel, so that Jesus will dwell here constantly, in this most special way, with the people he redeemed.
We Catholic Christians believe that this world we live in is not a dead end, but a gift that leads us to the loving God who gave it. Jesus Christ came for all peoples of all times, and his Church is for everyone. When the great Catholic convert and social worker Dorothy Day first started visiting Catholic churches in New York nearly a hundred years ago, she was astonished to see such a variety of people, young and old, rich and poor and in-between, from all races and ethnic backgrounds, speaking lots of different languages, but all feeling spiritually “at home,” “belonging” in the church. She later said that the only place she had ever seen that much variety before was in a railroad station! That sounds just right. In our second reading from his letter to the Romans we hear St. Paul saying that Christ is the Savior for everyone, for all the nations, all the Gentiles. We are all God’s children in the child at Bethlehem. We are all called to find and serve Jesus Christ in each other, and especially in those who most need us. We are all redeemed by the Sacrifice on the Cross and
delivered to eternal joy by the empty tomb of Easter Sunday morning. We are one in Christ. Hence Jesus chalArchbishop lenges us to be careful George H. how we treat, deal with, talk about, and Niederauer sum up each other, because we are to be Christ for one another. There is less value in a graceful, devout genuflection if it is preceded or followed by careless, caustic words. Here on earth Eucharist is the Church’s most precious gift from Jesus Christ; Eucharist is His Body and Blood, but the sacramental Body of Christ is meant to nourish and make holy the Mystical Body of Christ, the People of God. In heaven there will be no 10 a.m. Mass, but there will be our brothers and sisters in Christ. We Catholic Christians believe we are called by Jesus to come together as Church in our following of him. We need to gather with each other in faith. You can do many things alone, but some you can’t. You can’t get married alone; you can’t have a friendship for one; and you can’t be a Christian church off in a corner by yourself. Jesus tells the woman at the well, in John’s Gospel, that “the hour is coming, and is now here, when true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth – indeed the Father seeks such people to worship him.” That hour is here and now, in St. Charles Parish Church, around this altar with Jesus Christ. Once I heard a speaker at a Catholic event say an arresting thing: he described the experience many of us have had, of being asked by a non-Catholic, “Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior?” Father Dick Benson challenged us to give an honest, Catholic Christian answer: “No, I have not!” Why? These are at least two good reasons: 1) I haven’t accepted Christ, Christ has accepted – called and chosen – me; 2) Jesus Christ is not my “personal savior,” a kind of heavenly personal trainer – instead, Jesus Christ is the Head of his Body, the Church, of all Christians together. Materialism, consumerism and especially individualism are the smog we breathe, so we need the oxygen of our belief in the People of God, the Body of Christ, in the welfare of the many over the comfort and convenience of the individual. This church building is crucial. A family, including this family of faith, is its members, but a family needs a house all the same. Without a place to live, a family is homeless. And this is a beautiful new home for the family of Catholic Faith at St. Charles Parish. ARCHBISHOP’S JOURNAL, page 20
By Tom Burke Archbishop George Niederauer presided at rededication ceremonies of St. Charles Church in San Carlos Dec. 5. The rites were witnessed by more than 1,100 parishioners who filled every inch of space in the church, built in 1966. The church has been completely remodeled, updated and re-roofed at a cost of $1.5 million as part of a larger parish capital campaign that includes improvements to the parish school and increasing the school endowment. Father David Ghiorso, pastor of the 2,000-family parish since 2005, spoke with Catholic San Francisco the day before the rededication amid tending to last minute details. “We waited until the recession hit to start the fundraising,” Father Ghiorso said with a laugh. “We like a challenge here.” The chuckle turned to joy as he spoke of the generosity of St. Charles parishioners who donated to the campaign with gifts of all sizes even in these difficult financial times. “People have been unbelievably generous,” he said. “I’m very lucky, blessed to be here.” The church has been closed since July with parishioners gathering for worship in the parish’s Borromeo Hall. “It was nice cozy community in the hall,” Father Ghiorso said noting that most liturgies filled the facility’s 300 seats. “Five months were plenty” however, he said, and he and parishioners are ready to return to the 950-seat church. The sanctuary is all new save for a relief-like marble backdrop and crucifix that remains from original construction. The altar stone from the original St. Charles Church in 1927 has been “enthroned under the new altar,” Father Ghiorso said.
The ambo where the Gospel and readings are proclaimed is behind and upstage of the altar. ”It’s all right here,” Father Ghiorso said. “Our goal was to focus on the Word and the Eucharist.” Parishioners built and donated a new processional cross and stand for the Book of Gospels. A new Blessed Sacrament Chapel is available for meditation and prayer. “The church reflects our faith and the St. Charles community and the importance we put on the beauty of what God has given us,” Father Ghiorso said. Dianne Bonino, a St. Charles parishioner for 24 years, coordinated the reception that followed the rededication Mass. It’s an assignment she accepted in August. “Father Dave approached me last summer and asked me to organize the reception,” Bonino said, on her way – checklist in hand - with daughter, Julie, to gather more supplies. “We decided to have a potluck, and asked the different parish ministries as well as school parents to provide the food. The response has been incredible!” Youth from the parish’s “Charlie’s Angels” also pitched in. Loretta and Lou Boris have been parishioners for 51 years and married for 59 years. They spoke with Catholic San Francisco the morning of the Mass as they helped set tables and buffet line for the reception. The couple like most parishioners had not seen the new church. “I’m so excited, I can’t wait,” Loretta said. Asked what they would miss from the old church, both said with a laugh, “our seats” knowing that the new chapel had caused their regular pew to be moved. Concelebrants of the rededication Mass in addition to Father Ghiorso included former pastors, Father John Ryan and Father Tom Moran.
(PHOTO BY ARNE FOLKEDAL/CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO)
St. Charles Church rededicated after $1.5 million overhaul
A young St. Charles Parish member enjoys a treat after the rededication of St. Charles Church Dec. 5.
14
Catholic San Francisco
December 10, 2010
Catholic san Francisco Northern California’s Weekly Catholic Newspaper
Pope Benedict a model of a thinking Catholic Much of the ink spilled over Pope Benedict XVI’s new book-length interview, “Light of the World,” has focused on his treatment of hot topics: the clerical sex abuse scandal, condom use in the fight against AIDS, Pope Pius XII’s record on the Holocaust, whether the Church needs a Third Vatican Council, and many more issues. While that is understandable, there is a more enduring takeaway for readers: Pope Benedict models an adult faith that should be the goal of all Catholics – reflective, informed, humble, sober and searching. Some examples: At a time in Church history in which so many Ultimately, the pope believers both on the right and the left have set themselves up as little says, joy is what the popes – their own ultimate Church – Pope Benedict ironiChristian life is all about. authority cally fails to fit the part, at least like central casting defines it. Yes, he is fully aware of his own responsibility as successor of St. Peter, including as custodian and promoter of the fullness of Church teaching. But what is striking is the humility he combines with confidence and quiet self-assurance. Take, for instance, his description of a person’s ability to know “truth.” The pontiff has been one of the loudest voices warning about the “dictatorship of relativism,” and defending the concept not only of an absolute truth but also of our capacity to recognize it. Yet in this book he also warns that “one must be careful and cautious in claiming the truth.” “We never have it (the truth); at best it has us,” he said. Later, he adds, “The truth comes to rule, not through violence, but rather through its own power.” Pope Benedict faults those who automatically reject miracles like the Resurrection for “intellectual arrogance” by attempting to set their own boundaries on “how many possibilities are latent in the cosmos, how many possibilities are hidden above and in it.” But he also warns of a simplistic, mechanistic, overcredulous faith in spiritual matters, whether regarding apparitions or supposed calculations of the end of the world. Here’s how he describes the spiritual life: “It is not as if, to use an image, an extra floor were added on top of our ordinary existence. The point is rather that inward contact with God through, with, and in Christ really does open in us new possibilities and enlarge our heart and our spirit. Faith truly does give our life a further dimension.” The pope that emerges in the book is intellectually curious and fearless. With God as creator of the cosmos, there can be no possible contradiction between faith and reason, no truth worth probing that won’t ultimately lead back to him. Courage and “resistance” is another theme he returns to time and time again, especially as it relates to believers’ witness in the face of relativism and secularism. “One often wonders how it happens that Christians who personally are believers do not have the strength to put their faith into action in a way that is politically more effective,” he observes. But “enduring hostility and offering resistance” cannot be the whole picture, because the goal is to “bring to light what is positive.” “Ultimately someone who is always only in opposition could probably not endure life at all,” he says. Perhaps most revealing, however, is Pope Benedict’s answer to the question of how he prays. This world-class theologian and former professor says he talks to Jesus, “begging, for the most part, but also in thanksgiving – or quite simply being joyful.” Ultimately, as the pope himself says, joy is what the Christian life is all about. This editorial appeared in the Dec. 5 issue of the independent Catholic weekly Our Sunday Visitor and is reprinted with permission from the publication.
Advent prayer traditions enrich faith and fellowship We in the Archdiocese of San Francisco are fortunate to share our Catholic faith with many different nationalities and traditions. In the Advent season, Filipino and Latino Catholics have brought us a rich tradition of the Christmas novena. This is an opportunity to share the Eucharist and fellowship and friendship with others during this special season of preparing for Christ’s birth. So often, amid the hustle and bustle of shopping, advertising and general hubbub, it is easy to feel lonely and alone. And many of us are alone in ways those around us may or may not know. The Simbang Gabi and Las Posadas traditions are nine days of Mass leading up to Christmas. In almost every corner of the Archdiocese, there are early morning or evening Masses followed by refreshments and fellowship. Consider taking an hour or so to discover these beautiful traditions, to come closer to Christ and to his Church, and attend Mass at one of the many Simbang Gabi or Las Posadas events around the Archdiocese. For a schedule of Simbang Gabi events in the Archdiocese, see catholic-sf.org.
Pastors, stay positive on the new missal For some reason there is controversy over some of the translations in the new missal. I guess that is natural for people in general, but I find it difficult to understand coming from priests and pastors who are charged with the souls of their parishioners. I see that pastors are speaking out negatively to their entire parishes about these changes. This can be very counter-productive and destructive. We need to be encouraged to be open and receptive to the graces that will come from wording that is more conducive to expressing the sacred truths of our Faith and bringing us to a higher level of understanding what is actually before us at Mass. The goal of these changes is to do just that, to lift our hearts and souls to heaven, to God and the truth of His love for us. The original wording of the prayers at Mass is so profoundly beautiful. This can be readily seen by reading the translations into English in any missal of the traditional Mass. The translation used in the Novus Ordo is actually very loose and not true to the real meaning of the prayers used in the Mass. The full participation of the mind and heart at Mass is far more important than the bodily participation that has been put upon us by the misinterpretation of what was intended in the Vatican II documents. May we all be open to the new translations for the sake of the beauty intrinsic to Catholic prayer and for our souls. Yes, some of the translations are awkward and difficult to accept, but for the sake of the great, we accept the minor. Please, Fathers, accent the positive, not the negative. Diane Dawes San Francisco
Disputes with Church on Prop. 8
Catholic San Francisco welcomes letters from its readers. Please send your letters to: Catholic San Francisco One Peter Yorke Way San Francisco, CA 94109 Fax: (415) 614-5641 E-mail: delvecchior@sfarchdiocese.org, include “Letters” in the subject line.
Bishops, listen to the faithful, don’t direct them Wounded ego more like it. In the Nov. 19 Catholic San Francisco, Cardinal Francis George of Chicago, in his final address as president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, states the debate over health care reform was a “wound to the Church’s unity.” The Cardinal goes on to state “the bishops … speak for the Church in matter of faith and in moral issues and the laws surrounding them.” This is an example of the arrogance of a majority of our bishops and the train of thought that has gotten them into recent moral scandals. If the bishops would listen to their flocks instead of trying to direct them they might just become better servants of Christ. And that would truly promote unity. Patrick Quinn San Francisco
L E T T E R S
Issue must be taken with the premise of Bishop Lori (Nov. 19 edition) that the authority of our Church requires it enforce religious liberty as a God-given human right and that “marriage” is a joining of two people which is governed by Church law as a matter of our Catholic faith. The bishop is in error. It must not be forgotten that a civil marriage in the United States changes individual civil rights. It alters the tax liability of married people as distinguished with that of non-married citizens. It also gives rights to inherit, to insure the lives of persons to whom they are not related; it can alter a citizen’s duty to serve in the armed forces and the passage of title to real property. Thus, the Church’s support of Proposition 8, which would make unlawful the civil marriage of a gay couple – male or female – is the Church’s effort to deprive certain non-Catholics of civil rights granted to us Catholics. Does our Church in the 21st century wish to revert to the ethics of the suppression of heresy it practiced in the 14th and 15th centuries? Then, one either believed or he was killed. This is the present practice of some segments of Islam with respect to a strict interpretation of Islamic law. We cannot permit our Church to evolve from a “believe or we’ll kill you” mentality it once exhibited, into a “believe or we will bar you from the exercise of your civil rights.” Just as freedom of religion is a God-given human right, efforts by the Church to deprive a segment of society of rights intended to be enjoyed by all is incompatible with basic
Letters welcome
Church teaching and the Constitution of the United States. Jerome F. Downs San Francisco
Dress modestly but be sensitive I agree with Ms. Danijela Brekalo (Letters, Dec. 3) that we Catholics should encourage a sense of modesty and decorum, especially when educating our young people. This is why the Archdiocese of San Francisco asks confirmation candidates to wear appropriate “Sunday go to meeting” clothing rather than covering them up in graduation gowns. However, I was saddened the Catholic San Francisco chose to publish a letter that called the young woman standing next to Sister Helen Prejean “clueless,” as the strong words in Ms. Brekalo’s letter might be a source of great hurt and humiliation to the young lady who so happily was pictured with Sister Helen on Nov. 19. Rather than publishing such potentially damaging words about a person, wouldn’t it be better for the newspaper staff to simply respond to Ms. Brekalo’s letter privately, and then take her words to heart when choosing which photos to publish in the future? Father William E. Brown Pastor St. Hilary Parish, Tiburon
Savior’s coming reminder: protect life The Catholic Church has always and will always condemn abortion. The very enactment of Roe v Wade in 1973, an obviously flawed legal decision, has brought forth a decline of American morals, the killing of over 50 million fetus and also, for many Catholics, a struggle with the issue of abortion. Oddly this illogical decision has never been overturned and continues to get support from the secularist movement. A San Francisco priest recently sermonized on the issue of abortion -- something not often enough spoken about from the pulpit. Not a day passed before this Shepherd of Christ received calls from parishioners who castigated the sermon. In a study completed in Boston in 2003, Catholics were asked, “Do you agree or disagree with the Church’s position on abortion?” Only 32.1 percent said they agreed, while 62.6 percent disagreed. How do our priests address the issue of abortion when we fail to listen? The Church must preach more consistently against abortion and lend support to those in need of moral advice. During the coming weeks as we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ we may also look upon the New Year with assurance that thousands of fine Catholics will join the San Francisco Walk for Life events starting Jan. 21 with the 24th Annual Interfaith Service for Life. Last year over 30,000 Catholics and Christians joined the Walk for Life. It would be reassuring to see an increased gathering at the pro-life event held Saturday, Jan. 22. Christ is the savior of mankind; a child is a gift from God. Rich Bodisco San Francisco
December 10, 2010
Catholic San Francisco
15
Guest Commentary
Health care: an inalienable right Now that the elections are over, the health care debate is coming back to national attention. Many members of the new Congress ran against the recently passed Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act which aims to bring over 30 million Americans, who previously had no health care, into coverage. While the arguments against the health care legislation run the gamut from its cost to the ineffectual nature of government handling health care, a key element in the discussion often gets overlooked by Catholics. Catholic Social Teaching, specifically the words of Pope John XXIII in “Pacem in Terris” call health care a basic “human right.” According to this teaching, health care is not a commodity to be bought and sold. It is as much a right for the abandoned child in an African village as for the children of our parishioners here in the Archdiocese. These children do not have to “earn” adequate health care; they don’t have to be smart enough to figure out how to get it; they don’t have to be born into a certain privileged economic class to enjoy it. They deserve it and have a right to it because they are children of God, made in His image. Pope Benedict XVI reaffirmed this fundamental teaching when he wrote to participants at the 25th International Conference of the Pontifical Council for Health Care Ministry at the Vatican Nov. 18-19. In his written message, he said that access to adequate medical attention was one of the “inalienable rights” of man. The care of man, his transcendent dignity and his “inalienable rights” are issues that should concern Christians, the pope said. Because an individual’s health is a “precious asset” to society as well as to himself, governments and other agencies should seek to protect it by “dedicating the equipment, resources and energy so that the greatest number of people can have access.” From these words, it seems abundantly clear that
puts them squarely on the political fringe. Their ideas do not represent catholic social doctrine and certainly not the position of Pope Benedict XVI. Missing from this approach is a George Wesolek full appreciation of the church’s teaching about the “social” nature of man. While salvation and redemption is based on the individual person and his/her sacred relationship to God, in the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church we read: “Discovering that they are loved by God, people come to understand their own transcendent dignity, they learn not to be satisfied with only themselves, but to encounter their neighbor in a network of relationships…. (They) are able to change the rules and the quality of relationships, transforming even social structures.” This health care law has fundamental flaws. It is porous in regard to access to abortion. It does not protect the conscience rights of health care workers sufficiently. It leaves out millions of legal immigrants. The Catholic starting position is that health care is an “inalienable right” but also that abortion is not health care and can never be. Hopefully, this new Congress will rectify and clarify these points. And hopefully, millions of Americans who now live in a shadow-land of no health insurance or insufficient health insurance will be able to claim their dignity.
American Catholics should begin the discussion on health care with the premise that health care access for all is a pressing mandate and of the highest priority. That we didn’t have it is a great scandal. Unfortunately, there are those Catholics who have denied that health care is a “human right.” There are those who have used distorted arguments with a blend of bad
It seems abundantly clear that American Catholics should begin the discussion on health care with the premise that health care access for all is a pressing mandate and of the highest priority. That we didn’t have it is a great scandal. theology and partisan, political rhetoric to deny that there is any need to extend this coverage. They say that what we have is working just fine. Some have even called the new law “socialism” using a flawed interpretation of the principle of “subsidiarity” which calls for any action to be accomplished by the smallest possible entity. Using that logic, these same people would call Medicare and Social Security “socialism.” This thinking
George Wesolek directs the Archdiocese of San Francisco’s Office of Public Policy and Social Concerns.
Guest Commentary
Archbishop Dolan’s milestone election By choosing Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan of New York as president of their national conference for the next three years, the American bishops made an important symbolic break with their past and moved in a strongly countercultural direction. The Nov. 16 vote at the fall general assembly of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in Baltimore was remarkable in several ways. For the first time since the bishops’ conference was created in 1966 after the Second Vatican Council, a vice president running for president was defeated. In a head-to-head runoff, Bishop Gerald F. Kicanas of Tucson, Ariz., a moderate liberal dogged by a controversy over a sex abuser priest, received 111 votes to 128 for Archbishop Dolan. Three years earlier he had bested the New Yorker for the vice presidency by 22 votes (although Archbishop Dolan recalled it as a one-vote lead in a widely reported conversation with reporters). Archbishop Dolan, 60, has headed the New York archdiocese since 2009. An outspoken moderate conservative, he may be best known for charging The New York Times with anti-Catholic bias. His previous positions include staff member at the Vatican embassy in Washington, rector of the North American College in Rome, auxiliary bishop of St. Louis and archbishop of Milwaukee. Hardly less noteworthy was the voting for USCCB vice-president, in which Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville, Ky., defeated Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of Denver in another head-to-head runoff, 147-91. Archbishop Kurtz chairs the committee spearheading the organization’s opposition to same-sex marriage. The day before the vote he warned the bishops that “today is like 1970 for marriage” – meaning the Supreme Court in the next few years may deliver a decision on same-sex marriage with impact on that issue comparable to its 1973 decision legalizing abortion. As for Archbishop Chaput, before the Baltimore meeting his outspoken conservatism had placed him outside the USCCB mainstream. In 22 years as a member of the hierarchy, he has never been elected chairman of a conference committee. To be in the running for the organization’s No. 2 job now was vindication for him and a big change for the body of bishops. Observers familiar with the USCCB saw these events – above all Bishop Kicanas’s defeat – as a break with a 30-year period that historians are likely to label the
(CNS PHOTO/NANCY WIECHEC)
By Russell Shaw
New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan smiles after being elected the next president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops during the bishops’ annual fall meeting in Baltimore Nov. 16. The vote was 128-111 on the third ballot.
American hierarchy’s Bernardin era. For two decades before his death in 1996 – and since then as well – Cardinal Joseph L. Bernardin of Chicago exerted a profound influence on the policy, style and personnel of the episcopal conference, which he served as general secretary and president and in other leadership posts. Bishop Kicanas, as a former rector of the Chicago archdiocesan seminary and former auxiliary bishop of Chicago, was viewed as a protégé of the late cardinal. In years past, that would have been an asset in seeking the presidency of the USCCB. Now, it seems, a new generation of bishops is in charge, with other ideas about what to do and how to do it. Above all perhaps, the shift may reflect change in the bishops’ relationship with the USCCB itself. A high-ranking member of the hierarchy remarked privately that with Cardinal Francis E. George of Chicago as president in the last three years, the bishops were learning to take ownership of their own national
organization. The voting results were a dramatic illustration of what that meant. Apparently contributing to Bishop Kicanas’ defeat was an episode dating to the early 1990s when as a seminary rector he gave a green light for the ordination of a man named Daniel McCormack. As a priest, McCormack was accused of abusing more than 20 boys. Convicted and laicized, he is now in prison. Bishop Kicanas said he had no reason to think McCormack was a potential child abuser and wouldn’t have approved his ordination otherwise. But he admitted knowing of homosexual incidents in McCormack’s past – an investigation called this immature sexual experimentation – along with a drinking issue for which he received counseling. For bishops eager to shake off the sex abuse albatross, that was enough not to elect Bishop Kicanas president. In another sign of changing times at USCCB, Bishop Roger P. Morin of Biloxi, Miss., chairman of the committee for the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, outlined new, tighter policies and procedures of the bishops’ anti-poverty program in funding projects by outside groups. The CCHD was accused of giving money to organizations linked in one way or another – especially, through coalition memberships – in advocacy for abortion and same-sex marriage. In the past year, it withdrew funding from five such groups, while 10 bishops declined to take up the CCHD collection in their dioceses. In public, the bishops seemed content with the remedial steps. But the issue also was on the agenda of the closed-door part of the meeting, perhaps allowing them to ventilate privately about what has become a continuing embarrassment for them. As has been the custom in the last 15 years, half the USCCB meeting was held in executive session. The bishops voted 225 to 5 to accept a $180 million budget in 2011. But, reflecting the economic downturn and the cost of settling sex abuse cases, they rejected raising the rate at which dioceses are assessed for core operating costs of the USCCB. During the debate Bishop Robert Brom of San Diego asked, “Can we proceed as if we haven’t been devastated” by abuse-related costs? For now, the answer was no. Russell Shaw is a contributing editor to the independent Catholic weekly Our Sunday Visitor. This article, which appeared in OSV’s Dec. 5 issue, is reprinted with permission from the publication.
16
Catholic San Francisco
A READING FROM THE BOOK OF ISAIAH IS 35:1-6A, 10 The desert and the parched land will exult; the steppe will rejoice and bloom. They will bloom with abundant flowers, and rejoice with joyful song. The glory of Lebanon will be given to them, the splendor of Carmel and Sharon; they will see the glory of the Lord, the splendor of our God. Strengthen the hands that are feeble, make firm the knees that are weak, say to those whose hearts are frightened: Be strong, fear not! Here is your God, he comes with vindication; with divine recompense he comes to save you. Then will the eyes of the blind be opened, the ears of the deaf be cleared; then will the lame leap like a stag, then the tongue of the mute will sing. Those whom the Lord has ransomed will return and enter Zion singing, crowned with everlasting joy; they will meet with joy and gladness, sorrow and mourning will flee. RESPONSORIAL PSALM PS 146:6-7, 8-9, 9-10 R. Lord, come and save us. The Lord God keeps faith forever,
December 10, 2010
Third Sunday of Advent Isaiah 35:1-6a, 10; Psalm 146:6-7, 8-9, 9-10; James 5:7-10; Matthew 11:2-11 secures justice for the oppressed, gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets captives free. R. Lord, come and save us. The Lord gives sight to the blind; the Lord raises up those who were bowed down. The Lord loves tahe just; the Lord protects strangers. R. Lord, come and save us. The fatherless and the widow he sustains, but the way of the wicked he thwarts. The Lord shall reign forever; your God, O Zion, through all generations. R. Lord, come and save us.
A READING FROM THE BOOK OF JAMES JAS 5:7-10 Be patient, brothers and sisters, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains. You too must be patient. Make your hearts firm, because the coming of the Lord is at hand. Do not complain, brothers and sisters, about one another, that you may not be judged. Behold, the Judge is standing before the gates. Take as an example of hardship and patience, brothers and sisters, the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.
I
n the fantasy film “Willow,” the characters are introduced to a magical enchantress of whom they had heard so much, one who would aid them in their quest, the great Fin Raziel. However, much to their disappointment, she had long since been transformed into a ferret by the evil empress. When she is first seen by two of the characters, equally small in stature, their disillusionment is apparent – “I expected something a little more grand; less...fuzzy!” With the expectation of Israel’s liberation from the Roman Empire, many contemporaries of Jesus expected a great military leader to ride triumphantly at the head of an army to drive out the Roman legions. The last thing they expected in a so-called Messiah, an anointed one called to free his people, was a simple, middleclass carpenter from Nazareth. Even as Jesus hung from the cross, the skepticism continued: “So you are the one who was going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days!” (Matt 27:40); “Let him save himself if he is the Messiah,” (Luke 23:35). Even some of the men who would eventually become His Apostles first reacted to Jesus with skepticism: “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” (John 1:46). Even John the Baptist, after such dramatic preaching, preparing the way of the Lord, found himself asking questions regarding the Messiahship of Jesus of
Scripture reflection FATHER WILLIAM NICHOLAS
What did you expect? Nazareth when he sends a delegation to ask what would be the last question we would expect the Baptist to ask – “Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?” (Matt 11:3). Perhaps John the Baptist, himself, expected something a little grander in Jesus than what he got. His question reflects an apparent confusion, or at the very least, a crestfallen curiosity. Jesus regularly challenges the expectations of Israel against what they got in both His preaching and the preaching of John the Baptist. What was it they expected? What was it that ultimately attracted their followers? When Jesus sends his reply to John, he turns to the crowds in a
teaching that expresses deep understanding in John’s question. He reminds the people of their own attraction to John’s preaching. He reminds them that they did not go into the desert to listen to a nobleman; that one does not find a sophisticated individual living in the wilderness. Rather, they were drawn by the words and zeal of a wild-man; and they found in John, the “voice crying out in the wilderness.” Yet, Jesus further asserts, there is no one, born of woman, who is greater than this wild prophet of the desert. How much more is the Messiah and Savior to be found, not among the grand finery of polite society, not among the elite intellectuals and academic pillars
A READING FROM THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW MT 11:2-11 When John the Baptist heard in prison of the works of the Christ, he sent his disciples to Jesus with this question, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?” Jesus said to them in reply, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have the good news proclaimed to them. And blessed is the one who takes no offense at me.” As they were going off, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John, “What did you go out to the desert to see? A reed swayed by the wind? Then what did you go out to see? Someone dressed in fine clothing? Those who wear fine clothing are in royal palaces. Then why did you go out? To see a prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written: Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you; he will prepare your way before you. Amen, I say to you, among those born of women there has been none greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.”
of knowledge and learning, not among the icons of political power and military might? Despite their expectations of a political liberator, the people were nonetheless drawn to a healer, a preacher of the kingdom, one who associated with the poor and the sinner, the downtrodden and the despised; a man of modest background, this carpenter from Nazareth, who would liberate his people not through mighty military victories, but by shedding Himself completely, according to the will of his Heavenly Father, even to surrendering to Death on a Cross. As we prepare to celebrate the birth of that Savior, not in luxurious royalty in a great capital city, but, in a modest working class family in a small town, we might ask ourselves during our observance of Advent, 2011: What do we expect in the Savior as we await his Return in Glory? Do we expect great signs in the sky and displays of power and might over creation and civilization? May we perhaps, instead, witness His Great Return in a manner less grand? More simply, more modestly, and in a context in which that return would hardly be noticed by the world; and, as such, be all the more unexpected. Father William Nicholas is parochial vicar at Our Lady of Loretto Parish in Novato. Visit his website at www.frwcnicholas.com.
By Therese J. Borchard We know well how the story goes. Three men from Persia or Arabia see a bright star rising in the East. They follow the star from Jerusalem to Bethlehem to find the infant Jesus, to whom they bestow the gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. Warned in a dream to avoid King Herod, the mysterious three men return to their home by another route. But there is much more to the story, according to an ancient manuscript called “Revelation of the Magi.” It was translated into English for the first time by religion scholar Brent Landau, an expert in ancient biblical languages and literature. Landau’s research provides insight into an early Christian tradition and offers fascinating details that enliven the tale of the Magi. Landau explains that the ancient text, written in Syriac, was left unnoticed for centuries in the Vatican Library. The earliest version of the text was probably written in the second or third century. According to the text, we learn that the Magi are an ancient order of mystics from Shir, a mythical land on the eastern edge of the world that ancient writers sometimes identified with China. (The name “Magi” is a play on the words “silence” and/or “prayer.”) The manuscript also says there were definitely more than three Magi; it mentions 12 by name. The tale goes back to the Garden of Eden, because the Magi are actually the descendants of Seth, Adam’s third
son. Seth was believed by many early Jews and Christians to be extremely pious and virtuous. The star had initially hovered over the tree of life in the Garden of Eden before Adam’s sin caused it to disappear. Adam revealed to Seth that the star would one day return, signifying the birth of God in human form. Seth wrote this prophecy down in a book for his descendants, and the Magi anxiously awaited its fulfillment for thousands of years. Interestingly enough, the star is visible only to the Magi. Brighter than the sun, it descends to earth and transforms into a “star-child,” revealed to be Christ himself, who speaks to the Magi, instructing them to follow the star to Bethlehem. When they arrive, the star beckons them inside a cave in the outskirts of the village, where it transforms into a luminous, talking infant, whose birth is accompanied by unseen angels, who sing his praises. The Magi then make their journey back to Shir under the guidance of the star. They proclaim the Gospel of Christ to the entire country. After many years, the apostle Thomas comes to Shir and baptizes the Magi, commissioning them to preach throughout the whole world. So if you want to do a little holiday reading that is both entertaining and inspiring, spend some time with this ancient account of the tale of the Magi. Therese J. Borchard writes a column for Catholic News Service.
(CNS PHOTO/NANCY WIECHEC)
We 12 kings: a new look at the Magi
December 10, 2010
Catholic San Francisco
17
Capturing the sacred in daily life Funny how a single picture can change everything. In the tiny town of Bovey, Minn., four years into World War I, an old man peddling foot scrapers knocked on Eric Enstrom’s door. Eric was 43, a Swedish immigrant who had bought land, opened a photography studio and raised his kids to speak perfect English. He fed the peddler and studied him. There was something striking about the man, a gentle strength in his deep wrinkles and straggly beard. Sitting before a loaf of bread and a bowl of porridge, the peddler closed his eyes and dropped his head into his folded hands. Eric flashed his bulb and pressed his accordion-like bellows camera. Poof! “Grace” was born, the picture that has been hung in kitchens and living rooms across the world, a call to gratitude, a symbol of faith that is both sturdy and hushed. Eric had long embraced its meaning, leading his family in grace before every meal. His third born, Warren, tagged along on fishing trips and photo shoots of Minnesota’s Scenic State Park. Warren watched his dad shoot panoramas, turning a slow circle that seemed to sweep in every detail. When Warren departed for England to serve in World War II, he packed a 116 camera. “I took quite a few,” he said, “but not as many as I should have.” The photographer’s son can still see the bus he rode
when the Nazis captured him and the machine gun fire that granted him an exit three days later. His favorite war-time snapshot – a black and white that is missing from his album but vivid in his mind – shows a uniformed Warren sitting by the entry of a small Austrian church right after the war ended. “I look pretty happy,” he said. “Oh, God, the war was over.” Warren went on to work as a construction superintendent, and throughout his life, “Grace” was never far from him. He was once given more than 200 pictures and he framed every one before sharing them with friends. His wife embroidered the image. “She won first prize in that category at the Texas State Fair,” he boasted. Decades later, when she passed away and Warren began receiving food from Meals On Wheels, a volunteer noticed the picture in his room and was inspired to feature it in a promotional postcard. Today Warren is 95, one of five or six residents at Juliette Fowler Homes in Dallas who hung a “Grace” portrait in his apartment to make it feel like home. He’s given talks about the photograph and hands out a “Grace” brochure to everyone who will accept it. Promoting the picture gives him purpose. “I think that’s the most pleasant thing I’ve done,” he said, “except my wife and I went to Hawaii once.” Isn’t that how grace works? It comes as a flicker, a
sprinkle of the sacred. But at any moment, any one of us can capture a shot of it, creating a permanent record, a legacy that inspires generations. Last weekend brought our first snow of the season. I woke and grabbed my camera, shooting the old oak that had been made new. Friends exerChristina cised the same impulse, blogging in their pajamas. Capecchi Deep down we understood what Pope John Paul II wrote to artists, that beauty is “an invitation to savor life and to dream of the future.” The holidays can be dizzying, but we have the ability to press pause, to wade through scattered wrapping paper, grab a camera and process the world through its grateful lens. Christina Capecchi is a freelance writer from Inver Grove Heights, Minn. She can be reached at www.ReadChristina.com.
Great expectations Two weeks ago, Scott and the boys and I headed to the photo Of all of the holidays, Christmas seems to attract the studio for our annual Christmas portrait. We were color-coor- most traditions and expectations. There are so many things dinated, perfectly on-time, and ready to create holiday magic. that we do to usher in the day – the family portrait, the After waiting forty minutes (“Makes you wonder why baking, the decorations, the cards. And these are not bad; they even bother to make appointments,” Scott said), we in fact, I absolutely love doing them. But even things we were finally ushered into a photo room. After the exhilaration love take time and energy, which are often in short supply. Even when we plan ahead, of running around the mall, twocircumstances beyond our control year-old Luke did not warm to the (like the whims of a two-yearidea of being confined on a lap. No Sometimes the sweet old) can conspire to defeat us. amount of sweet words or goofy Maybe the photo fiasco is a “I’m-going-to-get-you!”s would sugarplum visions just useful chance to practice letting make him sit still or crack a smile. go, where the holidays are conThe photographer gamely snapped have to be sacrificed. cerned. Sometimes, the sweet a few family shots, but the proofs sugarplum visions just have to revealed a four-year-old boy with And that’s okay. be sacrificed. And that’s okay. a beautiful smile, two parents with It’s okay if I don’t get the cards expressions of grim determination, out until January. It’s okay if the and a wailing toddler arching his entire neighborhood is lit up like the Sunset Strip and our body like an Olympic gymnast. house boasts nothing more than a tiny snowman flag, parWe had to abandon ship. It was really disappointing to me, because every year we tially obscured by rosebushes. As beloved as our holiday give a framed family picture to the grandparents. It’s always traditions are, they are in fact negotiable. Christmas will a hit. And I love having a formal portrait of the four of us, happen without them. And when it comes to letting go of holiday expectasuited up in holiday colors and looking, for a brief moment, like a family that has it all together. It’s become a big part tions, I am in very good company. Two thousand years ago, a pregnant woman found herself in a strange and crowded of the season for me, a special Christmas ritual.
city. It’s safe to say that this was not part of her plan. She surely had envisioned giving birth in her own home, surrounded by competent female family members, in the bosom of all that was familiar and warm. Instead, her baby was born in a stable. There were animals Ginny there instead of loved ones. But she rolled Kubitz Moyer with it gamely – and we can all learn something from her. Because what Mary discovered that night in Bethlehem is a message that speaks to me, too. In spite of all of the hopes and plans, in spite of all the cherished Christmas expectations, the only thing that truly matters is the birth of her son. Ginny Kubitz Moyer is the author of “Mary and Me: Catholic Women Reflect on the Mother of God.” Contact Moyer at www.blog.maryandme.org.
“O ‘Troubled’ Little Town of Bethlehem”
(CNS PHOTO/DEBBIE HILL)
As we prepare to celebrate the birth of Jesus, our The resulting poverty rate in Palestine’s West Bank thoughts naturally turn to Bethlehem. “Oh little town of – which includes Bethlehem – has climbed to over 45 Bethlehem, how still we see thee lie,” sings the heartwarm- percent, according to the World Bank. ing Christmas carol. But sadly, present-day Bethlehem is With added disregard for Palestinian human rights, the not very still. Israeli government – in defiance Bethlehem’s approximately of the International Court of 27,000 inhabitants – over 30 Justice – has illegally built over percent Christian – are almost 120 settlements in the Occupied totally surrounded by a combiPalestinian Territories of the nation of the Israeli separation West Bank – many sitting on rich barrier (the wall), military check water aquifers. points and road blocks. Very Yet, the United States profew of Bethlehem’s people are vides – nearly unconditionpermitted to leave the area. ally – approximately $3 billion Maryknoll Father Jack annually in direct financial and Sullivan, who has led numermilitary aid to the Israeli govous spiritual retreats in the Holy ernment. Land, told me “Many pilgrims Father Sullivan said, “A small going through the gate in the number of Palestinians engage in wall have said they feel like they rocket attacks directed at southPalestinian Catholic Samar Basir, 26, lights entering an outdoor prison.” ern Israel. This too is gravely a candle while holding his niece, Salina, The wall in Bethlehem is immoral. But none of these terat the Church of Nativity in the West Bank part of a much larger separarorist activities have originated in town of Bethlehem last Christmas Eve. tion barrier which runs through the West Bank for many years.” the Palestinian West Bank – The fact that some desperate Occupied Territories captured by people turn to violence when Israel in the 1967 war. justice is denied, calls us to seriously consider Pope Paul The separation barrier often prevents Palestinians from VI’s famous plea: “If you want peace, work for justice.” going to their fields and marketing their produce in other Please give the residents of Bethlehem, the entire West areas of the West Bank. Restrictions on movement have Bank and Israel a Christmas gift built on justice. also caused thousands of additional Palestinians to lose Pope Benedict XVI continues to insist that peace requires their jobs in Israel. the establishment of an independent viable Palestinian
nation, together with a secure Israel. Despite much bad news, there are signs of goodness and hope in the Holy Land. Catholic Near East Welfare Association, a papal humanitarian agency, supports many essential projects that help the needy throughTony Magliano out the region. One such project is the Creche, a place of refuge for dozens of abandoned infants and children in Bethlehem. The Creche offers security, medical care, education and love to little ones who have come from dysfunctional Palestinian families too stressed to cope with the many miseries associated with living under military occupation. There are many more children waiting to get into the Creche, but there is no room for them because space and money is tight. You can help make room in this modern day Bethlehem inn by sending a Christmas donation to the Creche through Catholic Near East Welfare Association, 1011 First Ave., New York, N.Y. 10022-4195. “Oh Come All Ye Faithful!” and bring to our often dark and troubled planet the love of Jesus – the light of the world. Tony Magliano writes a column on social justice issues for Catholic News Service.
18
Catholic San Francisco
December 10, 2010
Local Catholic school reunions Reunions with classmates from elementary and high school are very popular events among graduates and former students of Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of San Francisco. May we hear about yours? Reunion information can be sent to Catholic San Francisco via e-mail to burket@sfarchdiocese.org or by mail to Reunions, One Peter Yorke Way, San Francisco 94109.
The Class of 1960 from Mercy High School, San Francisco marked its 50th year Sept. 23 at the 19th Avenue school. A Mass with current students, tours of the facility – much changed since their time there – as well as an on-campus reception and presentation of memorial Golden Pins were highlights of the event. Reunion committee members included Kathy Griffin Drucker, Joy Boito Walsh, Peggy Niland Cooney, Nancy Donovan Pendergast, Betty Dwyer Murray, Sharon Fanucchi Thomas, and Janelle Greggains Becerra.
The Class of 1960 from San Francisco’s St. Paul High School celebrated a 50th reunion in September at Embassy Suites in Burlingame. There were 38 women in attendance. Also putting their shoulder to the reunion wheel were Lil Carter, Denise Brand, Nancy Wade, Mag Melton, Barbara Lawrence, Mag Ragusin, Lucy Stasiowski and Mary Joyce.
The Class of 1950 from San Francisco’s St. Paul High School celebrated their 60th reunion at the school’s recent all-class Communion Breakfast. From left: Shirley Cavalli Korm, Janice Toynton Olsen, Helen Galvin Rainville, Maureen Curley Duncan, Nan Loughran Scarpino, Teresa Maza Distel, Margaret Anne McGowan Kerns, Johanna Lucey Cullen, Mae Kelly-Redmon.
The Class of 1960 from San Francisco’s St. Peter’s Academy recently celebrated its 50th reunion at the academy’s legacy school St. Peter Elementary in San Francisco. “Laughing, telling stories, sharing pictures and memory books made the afternoon fly by,� said classmate, Sheryn Smith. The 26 alums received Golden Diplomas from current St. Peter principal, Vicki Butler, and long-serving vice principal, Mercy Sister Marian Rose Power. San Francisco Auxiliary Bishop Robert McElroy was principal celebrant of St. Peter’s annual all-class Mass Nov. 7.
The Class of 1960 from Star of the Sea Academy in San Francisco gathered in June at the El Rancho in Millbrae. Each of the 31 classmates received a memory-filled DVD put together by Ed Hunt, husband of reunion coordinator and classmate, Rita Hunt. Also in on much of the planning was classmate Loretta Repetto, who said the group has held reunions every five years over the last two decades. St. Joseph of Carondelet Sister Mary Lou Schneider made her first reunion in 50 years and coming from afar were Holy Names Sister Diane Maguire – Las Vegas – and Gaelann Roth – Arizona.
60 years of service 37 million meals countless lives changed Faithfully responding to the challenges of people in need requires wisdom and experience. Few San Francisco organizations have as much experience as St. Anthony’s. For this we are proud to celebrate 60 years of service to the poor. Every year, thousands of people ďŹ nd food, clothing, healthcare, and help at St. Anthony Foundation. Over the decades, we have helped hundreds of thousands of guests with different stories face similar problems. As we look back at our 60 years of service, it is the communion of guests, clients, patients, volunteers, advocates, and donors that give us hope that miracles will continue to occur in the futures, as so many have occurred in the past. St. Anthony’s Curbside Drive: We need your donations of ÄŠĹ— & (Ä…Ĺ—! (.&3Ĺ—/- Ĺ— &)."#(! ÄŠĹ— ,# Ĺ— ( Ĺ— (( Ĺ— )) ÄŠĹ— 1Ĺ—-) %-Ä…Ĺ—.))." ,/-" -Ä…Ĺ— and underwear For more information: Call 415-592-2700 Or visit: stanthonysf.org.
St. Anthony Foundation p 150 Golden Gate Ave. f San Francisco, CA 94102 w
Where 105 Golden Gate Ave at Jones St. in San Francisco When )0 ' ,ŗŗßúĚßÿŗċŗ ' ,ŗÝĂĚßÞ Weekdays 8AM to 6PM and Weekends 9AM to 3PM
415.286.4036 415.286.4036 www.stanthonysf.org
Catholic San Francisco
December 10, 2010
“Pope’s Cologne� creator’s holiday offering: scented holy cards silver polish, an idea for treating a dog with fleas, removing carpet stains, as well Here’s the updated short list of the as a section with fragrances. talking points for the papacy of Pius IX: There it was – the formula for Pope the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, Pius IX’s cologne, said to have been overseeing the decree of papal infallibil- passed down by descendants of the pope’s ity, the second longest-reigning pope, commander of the Papal Guard and a and a pope who favored a cologne with a faithful friend, Gen. Charles Charette. fragrance with notes of violet and lemon “We have followed this complex, verbena. exclusive formula meticulousAt least we are led to ly, using the same essential believe that “The Pope’s oils that his perfumers used Cologne,� being marketed 150 years ago,� Hass writes by a San Rafael physician, on the website. is indeed the very same forThe brand was launched mula Pius IX used during his a few years ago, but Hass tenure, from 1846 to 1878. recently began manufacturing No one has come forward to the Pope Pius IX “Scratch ‘n’ say otherwise, and the orders Sniff� Holy Card, which comcontinue to roll in at www. memorates the life and work A holy card with thepopescologne.com – at of the pope and contains a tab the image of $25.95 per two-ounce bottle. “scented with the authentic Pope Pius IX “It’s a hobby and I make fragrance of His Holiness’s very little and it’s not worth personal cologne.� all the time I take on it. In The cards are going out fact, I spend an inordinate amount of with cologne ordered from the website, time on it, but it amuses me,� said Dr. and are being used in marketing – largely Fred Hass, 72, a general practitioner, who to catch the attention of the nation’s largfounded his company. He keeps at the est religious retailers, “to introduce them project, mixing his formula in his kitchen, to this crisp and fresh fragrance from the because, he said, he has met many pleas- past,� according to Hass. ant people, via his website, and because There will always be critics, he noted. he continues to learn Church history and “A lot of people are offended,� he about the life and times of the pope affec- said. “They tell me I am making a profit tionately known as Pio Nono.� out of something sacred, which I guess is “The things he had to go through would true, but they just don’t get it,� he said. make an epic movie,� said Hass, a life- “How can that be any worse than selling long Catholic who is a graduate of Marin a crucifix and making a profit? I don’t Catholic High School, the University of understand the difference.� San Francisco and Creighton University As for the “Scratch ‘n’ Sniff� holy School of Medicine. cards – well, said Hass, holy cards have About 20 years ago, when Hass’ sister been produced for centuries. Nothing new was living in Annapolis, Md., she sent there – except, perhaps, for the use of him an old cookbook, titled “Maryland’s “modern day fragrance micro-encapsulaWay.� Helpful housekeeping hints were tion technology in the scenting of a holy in the back. They included a formula for card,� as the website notes.
By George Raine
Sinai hostage . . . ■Continued from cover Vatican Radio reported that between 200 and 600 men and women refugees from Eritrea, Ethiopia and Sudan are being held in chains, tortured, beaten and threatened with being traded to organ traffickers. The hostages have been held in the Sinai desert on the Egypt-Israel border for more than a month, and their captors are demanding payment of up to $8,000 for their release, according to Vatican Radio. “These are people who are fleeing persecution, for the most part,� in their home countries, Dr. Khataza Gondwe, advocacy officer for sub-Saharan Africa for U.K.-based Christian Solidarity Worldwide, said in an interview recorded by Vatican Radio. “So they have paid these Bedouin peopletraffickers to take them into Israel, where they feel it may be slightly better, since the route to Europe has been virtually closed off for them. “They had already, with the help of friends and families, raised $2,000 to be taken to Israel but when they get into the Sinai they were detained and forced to pay $8,000 on top of this, on pain of death,� she said. The hostages are being chained by the ankles, electrocuted, beaten, forced to drink salty water and tortured in an attempt to elicit this money, Dr. Gondwe said. She said there have been reports that three Eritrean hostages were shot and 12 beaten after they tried to run away. She said others have
'HSDUWV 0D\ $XJ 6HSW
'D\V Celebrate Mass 9 Days! IURP
520( ² 9$7,&$1 ² 32578*$/ ² )$7,0$ 63$,1 ² )5$1&( ² /285'(6 ² 3$5,6
Fully Escorted + Your YMT Catholic Chaplain–Priest!
7RXU WKH 9DWLFDQ LQFOXGLQJ $XGLHQFH ZLWK 3RSH %HQHGLFW ;9, VXEMHFW WR KLV VFKHGXOH 7RXU 5RPHœV UHOLJLRXV KLJKOLJKWV LQFOXGLQJ 6W 3HWHUœV %DVLOLFD 6LVWLQH &KDSHO DQG 5RPHœV ILUVW FKXUFK WKH ³&DWKHGUDO RI 5RPH DQG RI WKH :RUOG ´ &HOHEUDWH WZR 0DVVHV LQ 5RPH LQFOXGLQJ 0DVV DW 6W 3HWHUœV 6HH DQFLHQW 5RPH WKH &RORVVHXP 6SDQLVK 6WHSV 7UHYL )RXQWDLQ %DVLOLFD 6DQWD 0DULD 0DJJLRUH DQG PRUH )O\ WR /LVERQ 3RUWXJDO YLVLW /DG\ RI )DWLPD &KXUFK FHOHEUDWH SULYDWH 0DVVHV DW WKH %DVLOLFD RI )DWLPD DQG $SDULFLRQHV &KDSHO RI )DWLPD DQG WRXU WKH %DWDOKD PRQDVWHU\ 7UDYHO WR 6DODPDQFD 6SDLQ YLVLW WKH 2OG &DWKHGUDO DQG 1HZ &DWKHGUDO RYHUQLJKW LQ 9DOODGROLG 6SDLQ 9LVLW /RXUGHV )UDQFH FHOHEUDWH 0DVV DW WKH *URWWR RI /RXUGHV 7DNH WKH KLJK VSHHG WUDLQ WR 3DULV IRU WZR QLJKWV 3DULV KLJKOLJKW LQFOXGHV 7KH 6KULQH RI WKH 0LUDFXORXV 0HGDO ZLWK 0DVV DW WKH &KDSHO RI 2XU /DG\ RI WKH 0LUDFXORXV 0HGDO D IXOO GD\ WRXU RI 3DULV YLVLWLQJ WKH /RXYUH 0XVHXP (LIIHO 7RZHU %DVLOLFD RI WKH 6DFUHG +HDUW DQG PRUH 7KLV 3LOJULPDJH ,QFOXGHV %UHDNIDVWV 'LQQHUV 3ULFH SHU SHUVRQ GRXEOH RFFXSDQF\ SOXV WD[ VHUYLFHV JRYœW IHHV $XJXVW 6HSWHPEHU GHSDUWXUHV DGG $LUIDUH LV H[WUD &DOO QRZ IRU FRPSOHWH GHWDLOV 6SDFH LV OLPLWHG
)RU LQIRUPDWLRQ LWLQHUDU\ UHVHUYDWLRQV DQG OHWWHU IURP \RXU FKDSODLQ ZLWK KLV SKRQH QXPEHU FDOO GD\V D ZHHN
<07 9DFDWLRQV
Americaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s best choice for affordable travel since 1967!
been threatened with having a kidney removed to be sold to organ traffickers. The reporter interviewing Dr. Gondwe for Vatican Radio said the accounts sounded â&#x20AC;&#x153;like something from ancient Roman times.â&#x20AC;? Dr. Gondwe replied that â&#x20AC;&#x153;a lot of officials who could intervene frankly do not believe it.â&#x20AC;? She said prayer and public pressure will help ease the victimsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; plight. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Those who pray, please do,â&#x20AC;? she said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;But also, in terms of taking action, if they could contact politicians within their own sphere and ask them to put pressure on their own governments â&#x20AC;&#x201C; authorities that can do things if they choose to move; that would be really helpful.â&#x20AC;? Elsa Chyrum, director of Human Rights Concern Eritrea, said advocates for the victims are grateful for the popeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s intervention. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It will assure Eritrean and other refugees that their plight is not forgotten, and will hopefully spur the international community into action,â&#x20AC;? she said in a statement published on the website of Christian Solidarity Worldwide.â&#x20AC;? On Dec. 1, advocates sent a joint appeal to the United Nations, the European Union and the British, the Italian and the Egyptian governments for urgent intervention to aid the Sinai victims, saying â&#x20AC;&#x153;the lives of hundreds of refugees currently appear to hang in the balance.â&#x20AC;? The U.N. refugee agency is urging Egypt to step in to secure the release of about 250 Eritreans who have been held hostage for about a month by human traffickers in the Sinai, Voice of America reported Dec. 7. â&#x20AC;&#x201C; CNA/EWTN News contributed to this story.
2011 HOLY LAND PILGRIMAGES May 28-June 8 & September 17-28
Join Franciscan Fr. Mario DiCicco President and Rector Franciscan School of Theology, Berkeley
n i a p S Fr. Mario has a PhD in New Testament, has lived in the Holy Land and has 34 years experience in leading pilgrimages to the Holy Land
TRAVEL DIRECTORY (XURSHDQ 3LOJULPDJH
19
Write, call or e-mail for free brochure
LAKE TAHOE RENTAL
Fr. Mario DiCicco, O.F.M. 1712 Euclid Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94709 (510) 280-4327 e-mail: mdicicco@fst.edu
n i a Sp
Catholic San Francisco invites you
to join in the following pilgrimages
SPAIN, LOURDES & FRANCE October 3 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 14, 2011
Vacation Rental Condo in South Lake Tahoe. Sleeps 8, near Heavenly Valley and Casinos.
Call
925.933.1095 See it at RentMyCondo.com#657
Departs San Francisco 12-Day Pilgrimage with Fr.
Garry Zerr
2,999 per person
only $
($3,099 after June 25, 2011)
Visit: Madrid, Toledo, Avila, El Escorial, Segovia, Burgos, Garabandal, Bilboa, Loyola, Javier, Lourdes, Zaragosa, Barcelona, Manresa, Montserrat
For a FREE brochure on these pilgrimages contact: Catholic San Francisco (415) 614-5640
Please leave your name, mailing address and your phone number
California Registered Seller of Travel Registration Number CST-2037190-40 (Registration as a Seller of Travel does not constitute approval by the State of California)
20
Catholic San Francisco
December 10, 2010
“A Christmas Carol” is university’s way of giving back – for 25 years By Valerie Schmalz
Free performances of a musical version of Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” have drawn more than 100,000 people to Notre Dame de Namur University since the tradition began in 1984. This photo is from last year’s production.
Archbishop’s Journal . . .
We meet and hear St. John the Baptist in our Gospel reading for this Sunday, and he proclaims a very serious message. He was preaching and baptizing for repentance near the River Jordan, in anticipation of the beginning of the public ministry of Jesus the Savior. He challenges people – he challenges us – not to be spiritually self-satisfied or complacent. He tells the Pharisees and the Sadducees (religious leaders at the time) not to rest on their spiritual laurels, not to say so confidently, “We are sons of Abraham.” Perhaps if St. John were here this morning he might challenge us not to think or say, “Oh well, our family has always been Catholic!” Christian is as Christian does; Catholic is as Catholic does. There may be changes of heart or mind or behavior that Jesus asks of us to welcome him more sincerely at Christmas. John uses an image from life on the farm at the time of Jesus. After the harvest, the workers needed to separate the heavier grains of wheat from the lighter, useless husks. They picked up what they harvested on long, flat paddles and tossed it into the air. The heavy grain fell to the threshing floor, while the lighter chaff or husks blew away on the wind. The lesson is clear: don’t be spiritually “lightweight;” instead, let your words and your actions show you are solid grain. Our call as Church is to be one in
■ Continued from page 13 Does that mean St. Charles Church is finished at last? The answer to that question is a small “yes” and a large “no.” This beautiful building is finished. But the Church, the People of God will never be finished. The life, the work of being Church together goes on and on, until the Lord comes again. Christ the prophet and teacher preaches his Good News of the Kingdom through you, his sisters and brothers. Christ the priest gathers you around this table and in this place for Eucharist and the other sacraments, for worship and prayer. Christ the shepherd gathers you in love and fellowship and service, to one another and the world around you, especially the most needy and most vulnerable. This is a very happy moment in the life of St. Charles Parish. Still, we know that witnessing as the Church in the world is difficult and challenging, that there can be pain, conflict and misunderstanding. That can happen between the Church and the world around it, and within the Church itself. While Jesus Christ is perfectly loving, we, his sinful members, are not. These past years have brought that reality home to us all too vividly. As Church we are constantly called to conversion, forgiveness and reconciliation.
SCRIPTURE SEARCH Gospel for December 12, 2010 Matthew 11:2-11 Following is a word search based on the Gospel reading for the Third Sunday of Advent, Cycle A: when Jesus speaks about John the Baptist. The words can be found in all directions in the puzzle. THE CHRIST LAME THE DEAF CROWDS GO OUT BORN LEAST
DISCIPLES LEPERS BLESSED A REED BEHOLD WOMEN KINGDOM
BLIND CLEANSED NO OFFENSE BY THE WIND MY MESSENGER THE BAPTIST HEAVEN
YOU CAME TO SEE M
O
D
G
N
I
O T
K
W
Y
J
D
D
E
S
S
J
M
E
L
L
A
B
H
B
D
E
G
O
O
U
E
B
B
R
S
R
J
C
L
E
A
N
S
O
M
E
N
E
L
B
O
U
Y
T
O
T
H
S
F
H
E
E
A
F
E
D
N
A
E
E
H
I
H
W
O
W
E
N
A
V
L
N
R
N
O
J
I
A
O
N
P
E
E
S
I
D
L
N
F
C
H
O
G
N
P
E
S
S
D
W
O
R
C
H
O
E
E
M
T
S
I
T
P
A
B
E
H
T
R
A
O
L
D
I
S
C
I
P
L
E
S
L
© 2010 Tri-C-A Publications www.tri-c-a-publications.com
Sponsored by Duggan’s Serra Mortuary 500 Westlake Avenue, Daly City 650-756-4500 ● www.duggansserra.com
Michael Elkins will take the stage as Ebenezer Scrooge – his 25th year singing the lead role in “A Christmas Carol: The Musical,” a live theater experience that has become a Notre Dame de Namur University and community tradition. People come from throughout the area to attend the free performances – this year from Dec. 11-19. The idea came to Elkins, who heads the school’s theatre department, in 1984 when he took over as theater manager, and recruited theater professionals and college students to stage a “gift musical” that gives everyone, regardless of income and with no income test, the chance to join in a community celebration of the Christmas spirit. “It worked,” said Elkins, who chairs the Belmont university’s Department of Theatre and Dance and who has played Scrooge in “A Christmas Carol: The Musical,” since the beginning. “It’s a huge tradition,” he said. “We’ve had over 100,000 people see it in the last 24 years.”
“A Christmas Carol” is based on a Broadway version of the story by Charles Dickens, with musical score written by Alan Menken, lyrics by Lynn Ahrens, and book by Mike Ockrent and Lynn Ahrens. The 600-seat theater is expected to be full for all nine performances, as it has been through the past quarter century, said Elkins. For the schedule of performances and to request tickets, go to www.christmascarolthegift.org, download the form and check several choices of performances and send to Notre Dame with a stamped self-addressed envelope. There are limited opportunities for admission on the day of the show. The university begins taking names for a waiting list 45 minutes before each performance. Theatergoers are asked to bring a nonperishable food item or an unwrapped toy to contribute but that is not a requirement for entry, he said. One performance on Dec. 10 is a gala fundraiser but the remaining eight are free.
U.S. bishops launch website for pope book The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has launched a website dedicated to the new book “Benedict XVI: Essays and Reflections on His Papacy,” which was published this fall by the USCCB in conjunction with Sheed & Ward, an imprint of Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. The site, www.popebenedictbook.com, went live. Dec. 1. The site offers a full-color tour of the new book, with a photo gallery, excerpts from the essays and a selection of the personal reflections featured in the book, and Q&As with several of the contributors. Video clips of Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston, Cardinal Francis George of Chicago, and Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York add reflections from three of the book’s contributors. Visitors to the site
Christ as the Father is one with the Son. That is what this Eucharist makes happen: St. Augustine said that when we eat earthly bread, the bread becomes us, but when we eat the bread from heaven, we become what we receive. That, finally, is the power of this place: we hear the Shepherd’s voice, and we become one
can click to purchase the book from a variety of retailers. The book, edited by Mercy Sister Mary Ann Walsh, features forewords by King Abdullah II of Jordan and President Shimon Peres of Israel, and includes introductory material from Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone; Cardinal Francis George, OMI; and John Thavis, Rome bureau chief for Catholic News Service. “With brief essays on various themes of this papacy, the book serves as ‘Cliff Notes’ for understanding Pope Benedict XVI,” says Sister Walsh. The book includes more than 100 fullcolor photographs. Images range from formal public appearances and meetings with leaders and lay Catholics around the globe, to quiet moments of personal study or contemplation.
with the One we receive, empowered to follow him throughout our lives together. Congratulations on the completion of this beautiful church building. Henceforth, with God’s grace, may you gather here, day after day, year in and year out, to build together the Church in this parish.
Meet your new bishop: Bishop Robert McElroy San Francisco’s new auxiliary, Bishop Robert McElroy, will speak to us on the topic of “The Role of Professional Men and Women as Disciples Evangelizing the Public Square.” With two PhDs (Political Science from Stanford, and Moral Theology from the North American College in Rome), Bishop McElroy is uniquely qualified to discuss how faith intersects with politics. A San Francisco native, he was ordained a bishop in 2010 after 30 years serving the Archdiocese as a priest. WHEN: Wednesday, January 12. 2011, 5:30pm to 7:30pm WHERE: Caesar’s Restaurant, 2299 Powell Street at Bay Street, SF, 94133 COST: $20 per members, $30 for non-members (become a member for $45) Includes delicious Italian appetizers and no-host bar THIS EVENT WILL SELL OUT! RESERVATIONS STRONGLY ENCOURAGED! RESERVATIONS: Mail your contact information & a check payable to “CPBC-ADSF” to: CPBC, Attn: John Norris, 1 Peter Yorke Way, SF, CA 94109 or pay at the door.
www.cpbc-sf.org
December 10, 2010
Our Lady of Guadalupe Dec. 11, 9:30 a.m.: Day of Recollection and Mass heralding Simbang Gabi at Mater Dolorosa Parish, 307 Willow off Grand in South San Francisco. Auxiliary Bishop Robert McElroy is a featured speaker at the retreat day. Auxiliary Bishop William Justice will preside at the 1:30 p.m. Mass. This year Simbang Gabi, a novena in the days before Christmas, will be celebrated in more than 20 parishes in the Archdiocese of San Francisco. The nine days of prayer, a longtime rite of the Filipino people, also includes the making of the parol, lanterns shining in the light of Christ. Dec. 11, 5 a.m.: Pilgrims gather at All Souls Church, 315 Walnut Ave. in South San Francisco for a 6 a.m. departure on the Guadalupana Pilgrimage to St. Mary’s Cathedral in San Francisco. A Mass will be celebrated at the Cathedral at 2 p.m. Father John Balleza, pastor of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Parish in Redwood City and chaplain to the event, will be among the celebrants. Musicians, dancers and decorated floats accompany the prayer parade. Call (415) 333-4868 or (415) 586-4292. Dec. 12, 5 a.m.: “Mananitas Mass” honoring Our Lady of Guadalupe at Mission Dolores Basilica, 16th St. at Dolores in San Francisco. Celebration starts in school auditorium with procession to Basilica church. Music led by Mariachi band. Auxiliary Bishop William J. Justice, formerly pastor of Mission Dolores, will preside. Father Arturo Albano, pastor, will concelebrate. Color Guard from Knights of Columbus. A light tamale and Mexican pastry breakfast with hot chocolate follows. Parking in schoolyard. Call Bob or Kati Huerta at (415) 239-9107. Dec. 12, 2-3 p.m.: A short pro-life procession with San Mateo Pro-Life under the banner of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Patroness of the Pre-Born Child. Pray the rosary and process from St. Gregory Parish, Hacienda and 28th Ave. in San Mateo to Golden Gate Community Health/Planned Parenthood at 2211 Palm Ave. - about one mile. The rosary continues there and on the walk back to St. Gregory. For further information, call Jessica at (650) 572-1468.
New Year’s Eve Dec. 31, 7 p.m.: Join the Dominican Sisters of Mission San Jose and friends who will gather for a sixth year to welcome the New Year! We’ll share a reflective evening. We’ll use the book “The Shack” as a lens to look at our year and look ahead to 2011. Pray with Taize – Prayer Around the Cross and celebrate the faith together with Mass starting at 11:30 p.m. followed by a potluck celebration. Come for any part or all of the evening at the Motherhouse of the Dominican Sisters of Mission San Jose 43326 Mission Blvd. (entrance on Mission Tierra Place), Fremont. For more information, specific times on the schedule or to RSVP contact Sister Frances Mary Pierson at blessings@msjdominicans.org or (510) 933-6335. If you need to reach us on New Year’s Eve, Dec. 31, for any reason, call Sister Beth Quire, OP, at (510) 449-7554.
Advent Opportunities Dec. 10 -22 except Dec. 16, 4:30 p.m. – 6: 30 p.m.: Picture biography of Blessed Mother Teresa at Star of the Sea Convent, Geary at 8th Avenue in San Francisco. Exhibit features 78 panels each 47 inches square including pictures taken by Michael Collopy, whose photography is known around the world. Collopy who studied with famed photographer Ansell Adams and is a graduate of Junipero Serra High School, was Mother Teresa’s personal photographer for many years. Items used by Mother Teresa while she was in San Francisco including a prayer book and utensils will also be on display. Exhibit opens with Mass in Star of the Sea Church, 8th Avenue at Geary, Dec. 10 at 4 p.m. Veneration of Blessed Mother Teresa relic after Mass. Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament happens simultaneously with times of exhibit in the convent chapel. Dec. 11, 9:30 a.m.: “This is the Way — Deanery Two Advent Reconciliation Service” at St. Paul of the Shipwreck Church, 1122 Jamestown Ave. at Third Street in San Francisco. Music led by “St. Paul of the Shipwreck’s Gospel Choir.” Refreshments follow service. Dec. 13 – 16: “Harvesting God’s Gifts,” a parish retreat at St. Hilary’s, 761 Hilary Dr., Tiburon, with Dominican Father Jude Siciliano and Dominican
P UT
Catholic San Francisco
21
Teresa of Avila Parish, corner of 19th Street and Connecticut in the Potrero Hill neighborhood of San Francisco. For more information e-mail info@ stteresasf.org or call (415) 285-5272. December 15, 7 p.m.: Santa Sabina Center, 25 Magnolia Ave, San Rafael. Taize Prayer with Kayleen Asbo accompanied by cantor, piano and flute. Suggested offering $10-20. Call (415) 457-7727 or e-mail info@santasabinacenter.org.
Datebook
Food & Fun Dec. 12, 11:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.: St. Monica School Santa’s Village and Christmas Boutique in Foudy Hall, 5950 Geary Blvd. at 23rd Ave. in San Francisco. Pancake brunch, Santa’s Workshop plus kids’ activities/games, Santa photos, numerous crafters selling handmade unique and one-of-akind gift items. Admission to the Boutique is Free. Brunch $10 in advance, $13 at the door. Contact Stephanie at (415) 751-9564 or e-mail santasvillage@stmonicasf.org.
St. Mary’s Cathedral – Celebrating its 40th year
San Francisco’s St. Kevin Parish was host in October to “A Night of Prayer and Song” with Bob Hurd and Dan Schutte. “It brought together two of the best talents of contemporary liturgical music along with orchestra and choir,” parishioner, Steve McCormick, said. Parishioners iced the evening with homemade refreshments. St. Kevin Music Director, Matt Lanier, produced the concert/sing along drawing more than 200 people. Schutte, right, Hurd, and Music Director Lanier, front row second from right, kept a prayerful and steady beat for choir and assembly. St. Kevin pastor is Father Ulysses D’Aguila.
Sister Patricia Bruno.The schedule for each day will be 8:15 a.m. Mass, 9 a.m. Scriptural Reflection and Meditation Session, 7:30 p.m. evening session of ritual and prayer. All are welcome. Call (415) 435-1122. No fee or reservation required – free will offering accepted. Visit www.Preachers’Exchange December 15, 9:30 a.m. – 2 p.m.: Contemplative Day of Prayer with Father Joe Nassal, CPPS, at Santa Sabina Center, 25 Magnolia Ave, San Rafael. Suggested offering is $20. For more information call (415) 457-7727 or e-mail info@santasabinacenter.org. Dec. 16, 3-5 p.m.: Free Caregiver Workshops offered by Catholic Charities CYO. Family caregivers who are caring for an older adult with memory loss and confusion, especially when challenging behaviors begin to surface. This is an opportunity to get some respite and relaxation while refreshing caregiver skills. Workshops are not for professional caregivers. Workshops are funded by the Sequoia Healthcare District in support of primary family caregivers and Aging in Place. The sessions will be offered at San Carlos Adult Day Services, 787 Walnut Street in San Carlos. Contact Michael Vargas at (650) 592-9325 or mvargas@cccyo.org Dec. 17, 7:30 p.m.: St. Charles Parish Annual Christmas Concert under the direction of Claire Giovannetti. Join the adult and children’s choirs in St. Charles newly renovated church to celebrate the rich heritage of Advent and Christmas music, carols both old and new - some for listening and some for singing along. Admission is free. An offering will be taken for the support of the music programs. St. Charles Church is located at 880 Tamarack Ave. in San Carlos. Call (650) 591-7349 x32 for more information. Dec. 18, 6:30 p.m.: “Annual Christmas Celebration for the Divorced, Separated and Widowed of the
Archdiocese of San Francisco” at St. Dominic Church, lower floor, 2390 Bush St. at Steiner St. in San Francisco. A potluck dinner, and gift collection for charity will be followed by caroling, and a possible visit from Santa. To reply and more information, contact Gail Castro, (650) 591-8452 or Vonnie McGee at (650) 873-4736. Dec. 18 – Jan. 2: “Live Nativity Scene” at Our Lady of the Pillar Church, Kelly and Church St. in Half Moon Bay with actors in roles of the Holy Family, Wise Men, and Shepherds. For times and additional details, call Mel Schwing at (650) 726-6765 or Cesar Sanchez at (650) 823-1259. Dec. 19, 5 p.m.: Mission Dolores Basilica Choir performs its 19th Annual Candlelight Christmas Concert, in the basilica, 16th and Dolores in San Francisco. Jerome Lenk conducts. Program includes Handel’s Utrecht Jubilate and additional songs of the season. Tickets are $25 reserved, $18 premium general and $15 general admission Call (415) 621.8203; visit www.missiondolores.org or go to parish office. Free parking. Taize Sung Prayer: 1st Friday at 8 p.m.: Mercy Center, 2300 Adeline Dr., Burlingame with Mercy Sister Suzanne Toolan. Call (650) 340-7452; young adults are invited each first Friday of the month to attend a social at 6 p.m. prior to Taize prayer at 8 p.m. The social provides light refreshments and networking with other young adults. Convenient parking is available. For more information, e-mail mercyyoungadults@sbcglobal.net. Tuesdays at 6 p.m.: Notre Dame Des Victoires Church, 566 Bush at Stockton, San Francisco with Rob Grant. Call (415) 397-0113. 3rd Friday, 8 p.m.: Dominican Sisters of Mission San Jose, Motherhouse Chapel, 43326 Mission Blvd. (off Mission Tierra), Fremont. For further information, please contact Dominican Sister Beth Quire at (510) 449-7554 or visit www. msjdominicans.org; Advent Thursdays, 7 p.m.: St.
Gough and Geary Blvd. in San Francisco (415) 567-2020. Visit www.stmarycathedralsf.org Cathedral Viewing Times. Open every day from the first Mass until 5 p.m. Touring is not allowed during Mass times. Docents are on duty in the Cathedral from April through October, Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to noon, and Sunday after the 11 a.m. Mass. The Docent Program also offers special tours and a school program. Schedule a tour at (415) 567-2020, ext. 220. Mass Times Monday – Saturday 6:45 a.m. – Chapel of Our Lady 8:00 a.m. – Chapel of Our Lady 12:10 p.m. – Main Cathedral Saturday Evening 5:30 p.m. (Vigil Mass) – Organ and Cantor Sunday 7:30 a.m. – Organ and Cantor 9 a.m. (Gregorian Chant) – Schola Cantorum 11a.m. Cathedral Choir 1 p.m. (Español) – Coro Hispano
TV/Radio Fridays at 9 a.m.: The Archbishop’s Hour on Immaculate Heart Radio, KSFB - 1260 AM, San Francisco. Enjoy news, conversation and in-depth look at local and larger Church. Program is rerun Fridays and Mondays at 9 p.m. and Sundays at 11 a.m. - e-mail info@sfarchdiocese.org with comments and questions about faith. 1260 AM also offers daily Mass, rosary and talk on the faith. Visit www.ihradio.org Sunday, 6 a.m., KOFY Channel 20/Cable 13 and KTSF Channel 26/Cable 8: TV Mass with Msgr. Harry Schlitt presiding. Sunday, 7 a.m.: TV Mass on The Filipino Channel (TFC) (Channel 241 on Comcast and Channel 2060 on Direct TV. Saturday, 4 p.m.: Religious programming in Cantonese over KVTO 1400 AM, co-sponsored by the Chinese Ministry and Chinese Young Adults of the Archdiocese. 1st Sunday, 5 a.m., CBS Channel 5: “Mosaic,” featuring conversations on current Catholic issues. EWTN Catholic Television: Comcast Channel 229, AT&T Channel 562, Astound Channel 80, San Bruno Cable Channel 143, DISH Satellite Channel 261, Direct TV Channel 370. For programming details, visit www.ewtn.com.
Datebook is a free listing for parishes, schools and non-profit groups. Please include event name, time, date, place, address and an information phone number. Listing must reach Catholic San Francisco at least two weeks before the Friday publication date desired. Mail your notice to: Datebook, Catholic San Francisco, One Peter Yorke Way, S.F. 94109, or fax it to (415) 614-5633, e-mail burket@sfarchdiocese.org, or visit www.catholic-sf.org, Contact Us.
YOUR BUSINESS CARD IN THE HANDS
Attach Card Here Deadline for January 14th Issue is January 3rd
210,000 R EADERS
OF
Deadline for February 4th Issue is January 21st Please do not write on your card.
C ATHOLIC S AN F RANCISCO
FOR
ONLY $112.00 PER MONTH IN OUR BUSINESS CARD SECTION NOW APPEARING THE FIRST FRIDAY OF EACH MONTH. THIS NEW SECTION IS CERTAINLY LESS EXPENSIVE THAN THE $65,000 IT WOULD COST TO PRINT AND MAIL YOUR BUSINESS CARDS TO ALL OUR READERS. ONLY $96.00 PER MONTH ON A *12-MONTH CONTRACT.
* FREE LISTING IN OUR BUSINESS DIRECTORY ON OUR WEBSITE*
AD HEADING NAME ADDRESS CITY ZIP
STATE PHONE
MAIL TO: CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO, BUSINESS CARD ONE PETER YORKE WAY, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109
22
Catholic San Francisco
December 10, 2010
Handy Man
SERVICE DIRECTORY Counseling
Painting, roof repair, fence (repair/ build) demolition, construction, gutter (clean/ repair), kitchen/ bathroom remodel, decks, welding, landscaping, gardening, hauling, moving, janitorial.
For Advertising Information visit www.catholic-sf.org, Advertising; Call: 415-614-5642 • Fax: 415-614-5641 E-mail: penaj@sfarchdiocese.org
All Purpose Cell (415) 517-5977 NOT A LICENSED CONTRACTOR
Fences & Decks
Painting BILL HEFFERON
PAINTING INTERIOR, EXTERIOR All Jobs Large and Small
10% Discount: Seniors, Parishioners
Call BILL 415.731.8065 • Cell: 415.710.0584 • • • •
Retaining Walls Stairs • Gates Dry Rot Senior & Parishioner Discounts
Limousine
FREE ESTIMATES! • Fast & Affordable
PAUL (415) 282-2023 YOELSHAULING@YAHOO.COM
LAST-MINUTE SERVICE AVAILABLE
N. San Mateo County - SFO…$30 San Francisco - SFO………….$40* *plus airport fee Any other charter with reasonable price. Good Service. A-A Limousine Service • 415.308.2028 email: Augustshi@sbcglobal.net
(TCP 10581P)
*
Drivers Ed
DA LY
CONSTRUCTION
Affordable Decks • Additions • General Remodel • Carports
415.383.6122
Lic.# 593788
KEANE CONSTRUCTION ➮ ➮ ➮ ➮
Clinical Gerontologist Care Management for the Older Adult Family Consultation –Bereavement Support
Exterior / Interior Additions ➮ Baths Foundations, Stairs, Dry Rot Replacement Windows ➮ Kitchen Remodeling Architect Available ➮ Senior Discount
Call: 415.533.2265
Service Changes Solar Installation Lighting/Power Fire Alarm/Data Green Energy Fully Licensed • State Certified • Locally Trained • Experienced • On Call 24/7
Painting S.O.S. PAINTING CO. Interior-Exterior wallpaper hanging & removal Lic # 526818 Senior Discount
415-269-0446 650-738-9295
www.sospainting.net FREE ESTIMATES
Lic. 407271
Roofing
• Family • Work • Relationships • Depression • Anxiety • Addictions
Dr. Daniel J. Kugler Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist Over 30 years experience • Reasonable Fees
Confidential • Compassionate • Practical (415) 921-1619 • Insurance Accepted 1537 Franklin Street • San Francisco, CA 94109
Unhealed wounds can hold you back - even if they are not the “logical” cause of your problems today. You can be the person God intended.
Construction ➤ Hauling ➤ Job Site Clean-Up ➤ Demolition ➤ Yard Service ➤ Garbage Runs ➤ Saturday & Sunday
When Life Hurts It Helps To Talk
Do you want to be more fulfilled in love and work – but find things keep getting in the way?
Bonded, Insured – LIC. #819191
6 5 0 .2 9 1 . 4303
Airport Special
ALL ELECTRIC SERVICE 650.322.9288
bheffpainting@sbcglobal.net Member of Better Business Bureau
Lic. #742961
John Spillane
Electrical
FOR PEOPLE WHO NEED HELP Marriage, Family, and Individual Counseling David Nellis M.A. M.F.T. (415) 242-3355 www.christiancounseling2.com
Inner Child Healing Offers a deep spiritual and psychological approach to counseling: ❖ 30 years experience with individuals, couples and groups ❖ Directed, effective and results-oriented ❖ Compassionate and Intuitive ❖ Supports 12-step ❖ Enneagram Personality Transformation ❖ Free Counseling for Iraqi/Afghanistani Vets
Lila Caffery, MA, CCHT San Francisco: 415.337.9474 Complimentary phone consultation www.InnerChildHealing.com
Fundraising FUNDRAISING FOR NON-PROFITS
Enjoy unique travel experiences throughout the US and Canada by train and ship while raising money for your church or charity. Call Mary Rose at Uncommon Journeys
1.415.259.6700 ĨŽƌ ŝŶĨŽƌŵĂƟŽŶ ĂŶĚ ĐŽŶƐƵůƚĂƟŽŶ͘
Investment
Kathy Faenzi, MA, Clinical Gerontologist Office: 650.401.6350 Web: www.faenziassociates.com
CST #2044749-40
Striving to Achieve Optimum Health & Wellbeing
Electrical (415) 786-0121 • (415) 586-6748 Construction CAHALAN CONST.
DEWITT ELECTRIC YOUR # 1 CHOICE FOR Recessed Lights – Outdoor Lighting Outlets – Dimmers – Service Upgrades • Trouble Shooting!
Ph. 415.515.2043 Ph. 650.508.1348
Lic. 631209) 9)
Healthcare Agency
Foundations, Earthquake Dryrot, Termite, Siding, Stucco
Lic. # 907564
Plumbing HOLLAND Plumbing Works San Francisco ALL PLUMBING WORK PAT HOLLAND BONDED & INSURED
415-205-1235
Home Healthcare Agency Specializing in home health aides, attendants and companions.
S anti
Notary Breens’ Mobile Notary Services
Certified Signing Agent
Timothy P. Breen Notary Public
PHONE: 415-846-1922 www.breensnotary.com
* Member National Notary Association *
NOTICE TO READERS
Licensed contractors are required by law to list their license numbers in advertisments. The law also state that contractors performing work totaling $500 or more must be statelicensed. Advertisments appearing in this newspaper without a license number indicate that the contractor is not licensed. For more information, contact:
Contractors State License Board 800-321-2752
lic# 582766
415.279.1266
painting and remodeling John Holtz Ca. Lic 391053 General Contractor Since 1980
(650) 355-4926
Plumbing and Heating 415-661-3707 Michael T. Santi
Since 1972 Ca License # 663641 24 Hour Emergency Service
Serving San Francisco, Marin & the Peninsula.
Contact: 415.447.8463
Housekeeping & Senior Care
by Accredited Caregivers
650.307.3890 Insured and Bonded - Affordable Rates Driving • Housekeeping • Meal prep • Personal Care
Additions. Remodels
CA LIC #817607
The Irish Rose
Senior Care
BEST PLUMBING, INC. Your Payless Plumbing
Lic. # 872560
➤ Drain-Sewer Cleaning Service ➤ Water Heaters ➤ Gas Pipes ➤ Toilets ➤ Faucets ➤ Garbage Disposals ➤ Copper Repiping ➤ Sewer Replacement ➤ Video Camera & Line locate PROMPT AND UNPARALLELED SERVICE
(650) 557-1263
EMAIL: bestplumbinginc@comcast.net Member: Better Business Bureau
Carpet Cleaning Safe Non-Toxic, No Shampoo, Dry in Hours not Days Commercial & Residential Serving SF & San Mateo Co. St. Charles Parishioner
(650) 593-5959
Painting & Remodeling •Interiors •Exteriors •Kitchens •Baths Contractor inspection reports and pre-purchase consulting
SUPPLE SENIOR CARE “The most compassionate care in town”
1655 Old Mission Road #3 Colma, SSF, CA 94080 415-573-5141 or 650-993-8036 *Irish owned & operated *Serving from San Francisco to North San Mateo
Home Care Mariah’s Garden Home Care Agency Provides home help, companionship, personal care to seniors. Serving San Francisco Bay Area. Free assessment service 24/7.
Contact 650.619.5870 • 650.921.8161
Casarotti + Design
• Remodels • Additions • Free Estimates • Permit Drawings
650.255.5821 Lic. #933007
QUALITY HOME CARE SERVING THE BAY AREA SINCE 1996 * Attendants * Companions * Hospice * Respite Care Competitive Rates • Screened • Insured • Bonded
Full Payroll Service www.irishhelpathome.com
Tel: 415 759 0520
December 10, 2010
Catholic San Francisco
classifieds
Ad Form OR Call 415.614.5642, Fax 415.614.5641, Email penaj@sfarchdiocese.org
Pre-payment required Mastercard or Visa accepted
Cost $26
If you wish to publish a Novena in the Catholic San Francisco You may use the form below or call 415-614-5640
St. Jude Novena May the Sacred Heart of Jesus be adored, glorified, loved & preserved throughout the world now & forever. Sacred Heart of Jesus pray for us. St. Jude helper of the hopeless pray for us. Say prayer 9 times a day for 9 days. Thank You St. Jude. Never known to fail. You may publish.
P.P.
Prayer to the Blessed Virgin never known to fail. Most beautiful flower of Mt. Carmel Blessed Mother of the Son of God, assistme in my need. Help me and show me you are my mother. Oh Holy Mary, Mother of God, Queen of Heaven and earth. I humbly beseech you from the bottom of my heart to help me in this need. Oh Mary, conceived without sin. Pray for us (3X). Holy Mary, I place this cause in your hands (3X). Say prayers 3 days. P.P.
Your prayer will be published in our newspaper
Prayer to the Blessed Virgin never known to fail.
Name Adress Phone MC/VISA # Exp. â?&#x2018; Prayer to the Blessed Virgin â?&#x2018; Prayer to the Holy Spirit
Select One Prayer: â?&#x2018; St. Jude Novena to SH â?&#x2018; Prayer to St. Jude
Please return form with check or money order for $26 Payable to: Catholic San Francisco Advertising Dept., Catholic San Francisco 1 Peter Yorke Way, San Francisco, CA 94109
Most beautiful flower of Mt. Carmel Blessed Mother of the Son of God, assistme in my need. Help me and show me you are my mother. Oh Holy Mary, Mother of God, Queen of Heaven and earth. I humbly beseech you from the bottom of my heart to help me in this need. Oh Mary, conceived without sin. Pray for us (3X). Holy Mary, I place this cause in your hands (3X). Say prayers 3 days. M.A.B
Prayer to St. Jude Oh, Holy St. Jude, Apostle and Martyr, great in virtue and rich in miracles, near Kinsman of Jesus Christ, faithful intercessor of all who invoke your special patronage in time of need, to you I have recourse from the depth of my heart and humbly beg to whom God has given such great power to come to my assistance. Help me in my present and urgent petition. In return I promise to make you be invoked. Say three our Fathers, three Hail Marys and Glorias. St. Jude pray for us all who invoke your aid. Amen. This Novena has never been known to fail. This Novena must be said 9 consecutive days. Thanks. P.P.
Chimney Cleaning Summ e Speciar/Fall ls
$89
$119
23
Room for Rent
Nanny Needed
Room for rent, $600 per month. First and last monthâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s rent. Private bath and kitchenette. One tenant only. Utilities included if reasonably used. No pets, smoking, or loud music.
Caring and fun adult care needed for twin girls aged 7, part-time, weekdays. Contact Jennifer at jleemrs@yahoo.com
Please contact Mrs. Cruz at (415) 661-2788 amarcyb@hotmail.com
Tahoe Rental
Visit www.catholic-sf.org For website listings, advertising info & Place Classified PUBLISH A NOVENA
Catholic San Francisco
RENTAL CONDO LAKE VINACATION SOUTH LAKE TAHOE. TAHOE Sleeps 8, near Heavenly Valley and Casinos. Call 925-933-1095 RENTAL See it at RentMyCondo.com#657
Help Wanted ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT / BOOKKEEPER St. Denis Parish, Menlo Park seeks an administrative assistant/bookkeeper to provide secretarial and administrative support and assistance to the Pastor, manage the accounting system, keeps up to date the Parish records, answer and screen incoming calls and handle the payroll materials. Successful candidates will have a bachelorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s degree or equivalent experience, must have excellent computer skills using MS office, familiarity with QuickBooks, excellent phone manners, positive attitude and pleasant demeanor, requires 4-6 years administrative experience in a parish center or non-profit organization and must work with a high level of confidentiality. Interested candidates should forward a resume and a cover letter to: Rev. Jose Shaji 2250 Avy Ave, Menlo Park, CA 94025 Or Fax to 650-854-3754
Christmas Concert
$139
Automotive
Hilltop Buick Pontiac GMC Truck I P L B A ! â&#x20AC;˘ Extensive inventory means selection â&#x20AC;˘ Competitive pricing â&#x20AC;˘ Give us your bid â&#x20AC;˘ We can offer YOU SAVINGS! â&#x20AC;˘ Exceptional customer service â&#x20AC;˘ Easy access off I-80 at Hilltop Richmond
J
N â&#x20AC;˘ 510.222.4141 3230 Auto Plaza, Richmond 94806
. .
Visit us at www.catholic-sf.org
24
Catholic San Francisco
December 10, 2010
2011 Pr o m ot i o n Sc h e d u l e JAN
7
NO ISSUE
JAN
14
Vocations
Business Card
Retreats
Travel
Education
JAN
21
Funeral
Travel Guide
Financial
Education
Seniors
JAN
28
Catholic Schools Week
Funeral
Travel
Education Restaurants
Coupons
FEB
4
Business Card
Retreats
Travel
FEB
11
Funeral
Travel
Women in Business
FEB
18
Seniors
Travel
FEB
25
Funeral
Travel
Wedding
MAR
4
Business Card
Retreats
Travel
Summer School
Legal
Travel
Funeral
Summer School
Home Improvement
Sports
MAR 11 MAR 18
Seniors
Summer School
Travel
MAR 25
Funeral
Summer School
Restaurants
Travel
APR
Business Card
Retreats
Travel
Summer School
Health Tab
1
APR
8
Summer School
Travel
Financial
APR
15
Summer School
Travel Guide
Funeral
Easter Liturgies
Volunteer Week
APR
22
Funeral
Travel
Summer School
Seniors
Eco-Friendly
APR
29
NO ISSUE
MAY MAY MAY MAY
6 13 20 27
Business Card Seniors Tab Summer School Wedding
Retreats Summer School Travel Travel
Travel
Summer School Vocations
Coupons
JUNE 3 JUNE 10
NO ISSUE Business Card Summer School
Retreats Restaurants
Travel
Funeral
Women in Business
JUNE 17 JUNE 24
NO ISSUE Travel
Seniors
Funeral
Legal
Home Improvement
JULY
1
NO ISSUE
JULY
8
NO ISSUE Retreats
Travel
Eco-Friendly
Health Tab
Funeral
Coupons
Funeral
Travel Funeral Summer School
JULY 15
Business Card
JULY 22
NO ISSUE
JULY 29
Funeral
Travel Guide
Seniors
Back to School
AUG AUG
5 12
NO ISSUE Business Card Senior Tab
Retreats
Travel
Back to School
AUG
19
NO ISSUE
AUG
26
Back to School
Funeral
Travel
Labor Day
SEP SEP SEP SEP SEP
2 9 16 23 30
NO ISSUE Business Card High School Supplement Wedding Travel
Retreats Travel Travel Women in Business
Travel Seniors Funeral Home Improvement
Funeral
OCT OCT OCT OCT
7 14 21 28
Business Card Vocations Seniors Grief
Retreats Funeral Travel Funeral
Travel Travel Legal Travel Guide
Respect Life
Health Tab
NOV
4
Business Card
Retreats
Travel
Funeral
Coupons
NOV
11
Senior Tab
Travel
NOV
18
Funeral
Gift Guide
Restaurants
Travel
Eco-Friendly
NOV
25
NO ISSUE Funeral
Gift Guide
Restaurants
Travel
DEC
2
Business Card
Retreats
Travel
DEC
9
Seniors
Travel
Gift Guide
DEC
16
Christmas Liturgies
Funeral
Gift Guide
DEC
23
NO ISSUE
DEC
30
NO ISSUE
Funeral
Sports
Pet Guide
Sports
Take advantage of this opportunity to advertise in our publication Call 415.614.5642 or go to www.catholic-sf.org and download the media kit or email Penaj@sfarchdiocese.org