December 13, 2002 by Catholic San Francisco

Tim O 'Hearn

Harriet Salarno

Key note Sp eaker Carmelite Father Andrew Skotnic ki

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John Clark

Ray McKeon

Restoringjustice to criminal justice

Victims, detention ministers , ex~convict , warden seek ref o rm By Patrick Joyce Harriet Salarno speaks softly, slowly, her voice emotionless. She is describing a Catholic life similar to thousands in San Francisco. She speaks about herself and her husband, the owner of a small business , about how her daughters were born in a Catholic hospital and went to Catholic schools. "One went to Dominican College, one went to St. Mary 's College in Moraga," she tells participants in a conference on criminal justice. "Our family was extremely involved in the Church. I was very involved. I coached the volleyball team, I served on the board of directors of Mercy High School.... My husband to this day attends daily Mass." Then still speaking slowly and showing little emotion, Mrs. Salarno recites one more piece of her family history. "Then , on September 3, 1979, my faith was tested. It was deeply tested , " she says. "My daughter was brutally murdered, execution style by a St. Ignatius student. " Gasps of horror fill the meeting room at the University of San Francisco as Mrs. Salarno says those

Dancers f r o m Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory Hig h School

Franciscans to leave St. Anthony of Padua ~ Page 3 ~

words. She doesn 't pause. She continues with her message: that society is not doing enough to help crime victims and the survivors of crime victims. It is a plea she has made over and over since her daughter 's murder. Mi's. Salarno talks about the murder - but gives no details - as she participates in a litu rgy opening "Responsibility, Rehabilitation and Restoration , " a conference presenting a Catliolic perspective on crime and criminal justice from the view of detention ministers, criminal justice professionals, victims, families of victims and prisoners. Only later, in a small workshop does Mrs. Salarno describe the murder. Her daughter was killed by a young man the Salarnos had befriended, she tells participants in the workshop. They took the boy from a broken family into their home. "We welcomed him with open arms. We trusted him , " Mrs. Salarno says. "I didn 't know what a stalker was in those days," Mrs. Salarno says. The young man followed their daughter to the University of the Pacific and asked to talk to her. Then RESTORING JUSTICE, page 15

Anti-war activist Philip Berrigan dies

Christmas Liturgies . . . . 9-1 1

Bringing love to life

Father John Zoph dies

~ Page 20 ~

The real Santa Claus

New Mass Norms

School Days

On The

[STREET 1 ;• ::; ¦•' !

Where You Live

by Tom Burke Helping more tan 250 families better enjoy Thanksgiving were the Chinese Young Adult Group of Sts. Peter and Paul Parish. More 30 men and women teamed up to prepare the baskets. While member Sarah Mak was sure to say "thanks to all who helped" she let me wrangle the names of some key organizers from her.They are Wing Leung, Eugene Chung, Belinda Wong, and Roque Remedios,. ...Welcome at Holy Name of Jesus to Father Charles Puthota from India. Thanks at the Sunset District parish to Father Elmer Magat who "assisted for the month of October" and whose "help was certainly appreciated," said a note in a recent bulletin. More than 300 people enjoyed crab, crab and more crab at Holy Name's annual Crab Bash. Parishioner and parish secretary Jackie Akaraz, chaired the event's planning committee and offers sincere thanks to committee members Rowena Hapin, Roberta Beach, Bernie Lee, Liz Sharpe, Joe Nicolas, Man Machado. Help came in

Happy anniversary to Marion and Patrick O'Leary who celebrated 53 years of married life November 2nd. Sharing in the joy of the occasion was their son, Mike, assistant director of development for the Archdiocese.

all fashion from all directions, Jackie said, with parishioners and parish clubs sponsoring the religious and priests at the dinner, as well as supplying raffle prizes that included everything from fine wines to a picnic basket. Special kudos to Father Don D'Angelo, pastor, and Noreen Murphy, school principal for their leadership and assistance....Marilyn Woodruff says thanks to all who donated and bought books for a recent sale benefiting St Benedict Parish for the Deaf. Hats off here to former music director Vicky Johnson who has recently retired after 9 years at St. Ben's, and welcome to new music leader Michael Healy....Remember that Catholic San Francisco's publishing schedule changes at Christmas and there will be no issue December 27th or January 3rd Thanks to Doris Zona of St Catherine of Siena Parish for her forgiving heart. While Since opening its doors on September 3, 1952, Mercy Doris' name was spelled correctly through most of her recent High School, San Francisco has graduated more than birthday mention in this column, I managed to spell it "Dora" at 8,000 young women. On October 5, Mercy alumnae and least once. "That's okay," Doris told me when I called to gab friends celebrate d the first 50 years, the women Mercy about the gaffe, "my grandmother's name was Dora."... has prepared for higher education and the world, and Birthdays, births, anniversaries, marriages, engagements, the religious and lay people who have made it possible, new jobs and all kinds of goings-on are welcome here. The gala took place in Mercy 's acclaimed MacAuley Remember this is an empty space without ya'. Send items and Pavilion and a tent set up for the occasion on the a follow up phone number to On the Street Where You Live, school's 19th Avenue campus. Chairing the committe e One Peter Yorke Way, SF 94109. Fax (415) 614-5633; e-mail that planned the evening was alumna , Sharon tburke@catholic-sf.org. Do not send attachments except phoMcCarthy Allen, now principal of San Francisco's St tos and those in jpeg, please. You can reach Tom Burke at at Stephen Elementary School. Planning committee mem(415) 614-5634.... bers included Mercy alumnae , Celia Barbaccia,

LCA Juniors are busy gathering vitals for children living in San Francisco homeless shelte rs. Junior and St Stephen parishioner, Connie D'Aura says the facilities are most in need of diapers, twin sheets, blankets and pillows, and gently used or new winter coats. Donors may also sponsor "sets of essentials " at $193 for toddlers and $231 for children aged 5 to 17 years. From left: Juniors Joanette Fong, Marisela Kitt, and Michele Crofton-Sleigh at the group 's recent Treasure Trove, proceeds of which benefited Catholic Charities ' children 's programs. See Datebook.

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Catholic San Francisco editorial offi ces are located at One Peter Yorke Way, San Francisco, CA 94109. Tel: (415) 614-5640 Circulation: 1-800-563-0008 or (415) 614-5638 Advertising: (415) 614-5642 News fax: (415) 614-5633; Advertising fax: (415) 614-5641 Adv. E-mail: jpena @catholic-sf.org Catholic San Francisco (ISSN 15255298) is published weekly except the Fridays after Thanksgiving, Easter, Christmas and the first Firday in January, twice a month during summer by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Francisco, 1500 Mission Rd., P.O. Box 1577, Colma, CA 94014. Annual subscription rates are $ 10 within lite Archdiocese of San Francisco and $22.50 elsewhere in the United States. Periodical postage paid at South San Francisco, California. Postmaster: Send address changes to Catholic San Francisco, 1500 Mission Rd., P.O. Box 1577, Colma, CA 94014 [f there is an error in the mailing label affixed to this newspaper, call 1-800-563-0008. It is helpful to refer to tile current mailing label.

Maureen De Natale Bruschera, Kathy O'Neill Callaghan, Kathy Griffin Drucker, Nuria Rocha Higueras, Maureen McGovern Kelly, Charlotte Watson Kiesel, Nancy Passantino Lee, Stephanie Mazely, Tina Pandoifi McGovern, Marguerite Sanders Rodriquez, Jeannette Kavanaug h Ryan, Liz Clifford Watson. Mercy 's faculty on its opening day consisted of six Sisters of Mercy and one lay person mentoring 199 students. Today, five women religious and 48 lay men and women participate with a student body of 600. Principal is Dotty McCrea. Rushing to proclaim the City's recognition of Mercy at the October 5 gala are from left, SF Supervisors Gavin Newsom, Tony Hall and the evening's MC, Bob Sarlatte.

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More than century of service

Franciscans to leave St. Anthony of Padua Parish in 2004

By Tom Burke The Franciscan Friars of the Province of St. Barbara will cease their longstanding service at San Francisco 's St. Anthony of Padua parish in September 2004. The Order of Friars Minor have been entrusted with St. Anthony 's since its founding in 1893. "We see that we no longer have the necessary number of Franciscan Friars to continue serving St. Anthony 's Parish," said Franciscan Father Finian McGinn , in a letter to the people of the parish. Father McGinn is Provincial Minister of the Franciscan Province of St. Barbara , which encompasses the Western United States. "Today we face a new reality : there are fewer new vocations to the Franciscan Order...and we are getting older. Because of this reality we have had to begin making difficult decisions about how much we can do." Franciscans have helped St. Anthony 's through various transitions during their more than a century of service there. "In those years the parish has changed many times from being a parish for German immigrants to becoming the rich, multi-cultural community that it is today, " Father McGinn said. "We have seen the building of the old church, its sad destruction by fire, and the creation of the beautiful new church. We have baptized countless children here, performed many weddings , and celebrated the funerals of parishioners." The decision to withdraw from St. Anthony 's is the result of a study of "all of our ministries," said Franciscan Father Mel Jurisich , Province Secretary.

The examination was the mandate of the province 's Chapter meetings of January 2000. The order will also withdraw from St . James Parish , Las Vegas, and Mission San Antonio in the Diocese of Monterey. The Franciscans are also discontinuing sponsorshi p of retreats at St. Anthony Retreat Center near Visalia which they own. The three-year process , in which all Friars participated , culminated with a convocation in June where the final decisions were made b y the order 's Provincial Council. "B y 2010 we will have 80 active Friars according to the stud y " Father Mel said. The number of Friars in the Province is currentl y 228 with 142 priests , 70 brothers and the rest formation students. Demographically, 80 of the Friars are above 70 years of age and 48 are older than 60 years of age. "We have 13 men in temporary vows and 3 novices ," Father Mel said. "With two or three ordinations a year it's not like the old days when we had 12 to 15 a year." Many Friars have had to admit that handling two and three jobs was overpowering them , Father Mel said. "We have an associate pastor at St. Elizabeth's in Oakland who is 85 years old," Father Mel said. "He still wants to work but he's 85." "This is very hard on the Friars ," Father Mel said. "We've had a relationship with the people of St. Anthony 's for more than a hundred years. We'll still be at St. Boniface and the St. Anthony Foundation. " The Province staffs more than 20 parishes in the Western States including a parish in Huntington Beach with 6,000 families and Old Mission San Luis Rey in the Diocese of San Diego with more than 4,000 families.

"This is very hard on the Friars , " Father Mel said. "We've had a relationship with the peop le of St. Anthony 's for more than a hundred years.... "

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Russian repo rt says Catholics po se threat to national security

MOSCOW — The Roman Catholic Church poses the most serious threat to national security, among the 69 religious groups working in Russia , according to a Moscow newspaper 's published excerpts of an internal govern ment report. The Dec. 5 publication in the Moscow dail y Gazela attracted intense media interest and sparked a quick reply from the country 's leading Catholic bishop to the report that ranked Catholics as more dangerous than Satanists. "If this is true, then 1tun in shock," said Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz of Moscow, chairman of the Russian bishops ' conference, in a written statement released that evening. "How can a civilized society consider as an extremist organization a church which has 2,000 years of history, makes every effort to stamp out conflict and fights terrorism? It is inconceivable."

Ukraine church still recovering f rom Soviet era, bishop says

LVIV, Ukraine — The church in southern Ukraine is only now beginning to recover from the devastation during Soviet rule , said the bishop of Odessa-Simferopol. Bishop Bronislaw Bernacki said spirituality suffered the most from the atheistic regime in the southern territories of Ukraine, particularly in Odessa. The bishop said that nearly all Catholic churches in southern Ukraine were destroyed during the Soviet era. Catholic laity — mostly ethnic Germans and Poles — were either displaced or killed, the bishop said. The main Catholic cathedral in Odessa was turned into a sports hall during Soviet times. The columns and altars of the church were destroyed and only the external walls remained intact.

Korean priests stage hunger strike after acquittal of U.S. soldiers

SEOUL, South Korea — A group of Catholic priests in South Korea has launched a weeklong hunger strike to protest the acquittal of two U.S. soldiers whose armored vehicle crushed two Korean girl s in June . Before starting the hunger strike at a park near the U.S. Embassy in Seoul Dec. 2, the 20 priests prayed for the souls of the 14-year-old girls. Some 100 nuns and many lay people joined in the prayers, reported UCA News, an Asian church news agency based in Thailand. The victims, who were on their way home from school, were ran over by the Army vehicle on a narrow road north of Seoul. Sgts. Fernando Nino and Mark Walker were acquitted of negligent homicide in late November in a U.S. military court, triggering anti-U.S. protests across the nation . The two reportedl y left the country after the jud gment.

Asians have much to teach wider church, Rome sp eakers say

ROME — The theological reflections and experiences of Catholics in Asia over the past 30 years are gifts often ignored or viewed with suspicion by the wider church, said speakers at a Rome conference. Gathered to mark the release of "Pentecost in Asia: A New Way of Being Church" by Thomas C. Fox, publisher of National Catholic Reporter , the speakers agreed

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A South Korean restauranteur discourages Americans from entering his establishment in Seoul Dec. 5. A group of priests launched a hunger strike and urged South Koreans to protest U.S. military presence after a military court acquitted two U.S. soldiers in the killing of two girls by an armored vehicle last June. that the Asian experience and approach to Catholicism has much to teach Catholics in the West. "Evangelization in Asia is not catechism," said Japanese Archbishop Stephen Fumio Hamao, president of the Pontifical Council for Migrants and Travelers, in a written message to the Dec. 4 conference. Faith is a matter of the heart, not the head, he said. "Conversion takes place only when a person meets the person of Jesus," he added. For Asians, the archbishop said, "evangelization is dialogue: dialogue with the poor, dialogue with cultures and dialogue with religions."

Pop e says Catholic universities can humanize g lobalization

VATICAN CITY — Catholic universities have the resources and obli gation to push for the protection of human di gnity in every aspect of globalization , Pope John Paul II said. Meeting Dec. 5 with some 300 Catholic university presidents, rectors, professors and benefactors from around the world, the pope said universities are in a unique position to bring human values to bear on political, economic, juridical and scientific decision-making. The university leaders met Dec. 2-6 at the Vatican for an international conference on "Globalization and Catholic Higher Education." Cardinal Zenon Grocholewski, prefect of the Congregation for Catholic Education, told reporters there are about 950 Catholic universities and institutes of higher education in the world, educating some 3.8 million students.

Romania's Catholics call f or return of seized church p rop erty

WARSAW, Poland —A Catholic coalition sent an "urgent appeal" to the U.S. government, Council of Europe and other international bodies after Romania's government ignored an ultimatum to return churches seized during communist rule. In its appeal, the coaliti on said its request to the government to end religious discrimination was treated with "arrogance and ridicule" from government officials. "In the name of all Romanian Catholics, fed up with being discriminated against in their own country by their own government, we cry out for help, " said the appeal, signed b y the committee's chairman, Ion Patiu.

"By not paying attention to our... demands, the Romanian government not only ignored our plea, but even worse, it chose to treat us with arrogance and ridicule," it said. The coalition said the return of church property should be a condition for Romania's entry into NATO and the European Union.

Af rican food crisis so severe that famin e looms, aid agencies say

BALTIMORE — The food crisis in Africa is so severe that an immediate international response is needed to prevent a famine greater than mid-1980s levels, said heads of leading U.S. humanitarian aid organizations. A coalition of 15 aid organizations , meeting at Catholic Relief Services headquarters in Baltimore , said some 38 million Africans risk starvation unless the international community mobilizes quickly. "If we wait until we start seeing pictures of emaciated, starving people, by then it will be too late," said Andrew Natsios, administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development. Those speaking at the Dec. 3 press conference said a famine could be declared in some areas as early as late January and that millions of Africans could die from starvation in the next six lo eight months.

Thai archbishop urges Christians to reach out to AIDS orp hans BANGKOK , Thailand — A Thai bishop has urged Christians to be sensitive to the plight of AIDS orphans during the Christmas season. Thai children whose parents have died of AIDS-related illnesses should not be viewed with prejudice or suspicion, Archbishop Lawrence Khai Saen-Phon-On of Thare and Nonseng, based in Sakon Nakhon, said in a World AIDS Day message Dec. 1. His remarks were reported by UCA News, an Asian church news agency based in Thailand. Archbishop Saen-Phon-On, chairman of the Catholic Commission for Pastoral Health Care, said society still views these children with mistrust, fearing that AIDS could be transmitted easily through them. Such a view is a fallacy and instills a feeling of inferiority in these children, Archbishop Saen-Phon-On said. - Catholic News Service

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Anti-war activist Philip Berrigan dies at 79 facing death. "It 's extraordinary to see someone look at death and not be afraid because his life has been all about looking at bad things and then doing something WASHINGTON (CNS) — Philip Berrigan, a former about them, so death doesn ' t hold any weight ," she said. Josep hite priest who was a leading figure in the In a 1976 interview, Mr. Berri gan criticized the Catholic anti-war movement over the past 40 years, church for "organizing itself along the lines of bureau:_ - re _ ' died of liver and crauc eniciency kidney cancer Dec. just like its secular 6 at Jonah House in counterparts ," sayBaltimore. He was ing, "it's impossi79. ble to remain faith"I die with the ful to the Gospel conviction , held under those condisince 1968 and tions." Catonsville , that Born Oct. 5, nuclear weapons 1923, in Two are the scourge of Harbors , Minn., the earth ; to mine Phili p Francis for them, manufacBerrigan served as ture them , deploy an infantry p latoon them, use them is a officer in the U.S. curse against God , Army during the human famil y World War II, and the earth itself ," fighting in France, Mr. Berrigan said in B e l g i u m , a final statement Netherlands and released through his Germany. famil y. After the war, His funeral took Mr. Berrigan gradplace Dec. 9 at St. uated from Hol y Peter Claver Cross College in Church in Notre Dame, Ind., Baltimore, where he then entered the had once served as Josephite seminary juJ a priest. in Washington. He Mr. Berrigan was ordained a 18 Josephite priest in was best known as the leader of the 1955. Philip Berrigan, center, leaves the federal courthouse Catonsville Nine , a In his early in Hartford, Conn., Dec. 14, 1970, with his brother Daniel group of peace years as a priest , activists who he served as an burned 500 draft files using homemade napalm at a assistant pastor in Washington, counselor 1 at a Catholic Selective Service office in Catonsville, Md., in May high school in New Orleans, director of promotion for 1968. He estimated that he spent more than 11 years in the Josephites in New York and English instructor at jail for a series of protests against war and nuclear Epiphany College in Newburgh, N.Y. weapons. "From the beginning, he stood with the urban poor," Mr. Berrigan had been married since 1969 to his brother, Jesuit Father Daniel Berrigan, wrote. "He Elizabeth McAlister, a former nun who shared his life 's rejected the traditional, isolated stance of the church in work of peacemaking and who also spent many years in jail for anti-war efforts. When their three children were growing up, the couple alternated their participation in nonviolent actions that could bring jail terms, so that both parents would not be imprisoned at the same time. The marriage was made public in 1973, the same year that the couple found- k I Wireless Depot ed Jonah House, a commu- C Get a FREE DISH Network (8^ Satdlite ''¦ n vr J*C*0 Vj âJI 1NOW nity dedicated to nonvio; B I W systeni(MSRP $149) aid FREE Standard lent action against the " P^ Professional Installation (MSRP $13D). For arms race and commitment I , . . . . snbscdbe s H|» ttt a $348 value! Just Tlsat' / for Installation to a simple lifestyle. Mr. •" to Amerfea^ lop 50 pacfcê P6 : (4 15) 760-0301 Berrigan worked as a Km ^ "-1^1 house painter, in addition to writing and lecturing, to pay the bills. Daug hter Frida Berrigan said in a Dec. 4 ..[MH. USB, AMEMCIVS IOWESI > : W **%*P« IVG, Ka il Nil. |Wt»ol),««« l«. C-!fMI, c-sl«n. [5nii ^„SZTSI ^JS^^^™»^ZliI al "^Ba^ Bh,.imi.llAaroSht.lH».a.|IIM;illl ^l2B^l^nMdi ALL-PK3TALPBICej radio interview that her oSKJ« «H«mil* t JI(Sî,^™ 1 " Valid major crettrlcard and 12-jnoBtri «m«nitraEiH required. PHialties aFtily for earlj teraiiution. :Sit ™XES "2S' «"»«Stt father had been fearless in mis Mat Jo mm. Product to promatinn nuy be new, renariifattured or discoaUaaed system based on aiailatillty. By Nancy Frazier O'Brien Catholic News Service

black communities. He was also incurabl y secular; he saw the church as one resource, bring ing to bear on the squalid facts of racism the light of the Gospel , the presence of inventive courage and hope. ... He took Freedom Rides, did manual work of all kinds , begged money and gave it away, strugg led for scholarships for black students. " Although his best-known brushes with the law were in relation to his anti-war and anti-nuclear stands , Mr. Berrigan says his first arrest was in 1962 or '63 during the civil ri ghts demonstrations in Selma, Ala. His first anti-war arrest was in 1966, when he poured blood on draft files at the U.S. Custom House in Baltimore to protest the Vietnam War. The Catonsville Nine action Jed to a three-and-ahalf-year prison term for Mr. Berrigan and brother Daniel. After the war ended , Mr. Berrigan continued his activism with a numb er of Plowshares protests against nuclear weapons. His last prison term ended on Dec. 14, 2001, when he completed a 30-month term for malicious destruction of property for banging on A-10 Warthog warplanes during a 1999 protest at the Middle River Air National Guard base near Baltimore. In addition to his wife , daughter and brother Daniel , Mr. Berri gan is survived by son Jerry MechtenburgBerri gan of Luck , Mich.; another daughter , Kate Berrigan of Oberlin , Ohio; and three other brothers: Jerome Berrigan of Syracuse, N.Y.; Jim Berri gan of Salisbury, Md.; and John Berri gan of Prescott , Ariz.

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Cardinal Keeler decries GM , AT&T support of p ornograp hy

administration , which he said prosecuted only five cases a year on average. Efforts to enforce existing laws on pornography have WASHINGTON (CNS) — been slow to increase during the Cardinal William H. Keeler of first two years of the Bush adminBaltimore and other reli gious lead, he added , but the office istration ers met Dec. 6 with U.S. Attorney responsible for enforcement was General John Ashcroft seeking receiving greater funding and more vi gorous prosecution of comp lete staffing. "We expect companies that distribute illegal those numbers to rise dramaticall y pornograp hy. in the next two years ," Schatz told At a press conference following CNS. the meeting, the religious leaders Alliance co-chairman Jerry identified three companies listed Kirk , said the alliance , which was among the Fortune 500 as distribfounded in 1986 in the home of utors: AT&T and AT&T/Comcast the late Cardinal John J. throug h their cable televisions sysO'Connor of New York, has repretems, and General Motors through S sentatives from the Jewish , its ownership of the Echostar satelo Muslim and Eastern Orthodox lite TV service. communities as well as many Meetings with companies over O m Christian denominations. the past two years to persuade >E He cited polls indicating that them to stop distributing pornogra80 percent of those asked were o phy failed , religious leaders said, xa. "surprised and dismayed" that prompt ing the meeting with ¦s, V. GM and AT&T were distributing (J Ashcroft. pornograph y. "We asked him to ascertain the Kirk alluded to an FBI stud y of Cardinal William H. Keeler considers a question at the National Press Club in Washington. legality of the (pornograp hic) serial killers, say ing that 81 permaterial," Cardinal Keeler said. "All laws governing the distributorship of pornography the Rev. Eileen Lindner, a Presbyterian minister who is cent of them got their primary sexual interactions associate executive secretary of the National Council of throug h pornograp hy, and a second study that indicated should be — must be — enforced. " Cardinal Keeler is co-chairman of the Religious Churches , said pornograp hy had once been "the 82 percent of child molesters used pornograp hy "both Alliance Against Pornography, and one of six delegates province of fl y-by-night motel-based operations " but is to excite themselves and to seduce the child. " "You can either keep your good name or you can disfrom the organization that met with Ashcroft. The now "a profit center for Fortune 500 companies." Because of this, pornography is now available inside tribute pornography," Kirk said , "but you cannot do group is targeting AT&T, AT&T/Comcast and GM because they carry programming from the Hot the home, she said , to "any 12-year-old with cable both." Cardinal Keeler said alerting Ashcroft to big-busiNetwork, which, according to alliance members, vio- access and the wits to press a remote-control button. " "Just because. ..criminal activities are pro fitable ness comp licity in pornograp hy was just one of the lates the "community standards " provision of federal doesn 't mean they 're ri ght ," said Rick Schatz , president alliance 's goals. The other, he added , was "to alert peolaws on pornograp h y. The cardinal said the Fortune 500 firms ' support of of the National Coalition for the Protection of Children p le to what is happening and to get the attorney general to prosecute peop le wherever applicable. " pornograp hy is "an alarming indication of the main- and Families . "You'd have to ask why " companies with longSchatz said that , during a meeting with AT&T chairstreaming of pornograp hy." Cardinal Keeler told Catholic News Service that he standing connections to such product icons as man Michael Armstrong, Armstrong admitted to distribgave Ashcroft letters in support of the alliance's stance Chevrolets , Cadillacs and Ma Bell , "don't think pornog- uting pornograp hy but that it was too profitable to stop. rap hy would be a bad business decision ," he said. "Our goal is to change the equation ," Schatz said, from 17 U.S. archbishops , including four cardinals. Schatz tied more widespread distribution of pornog- adding that pornography "may be legal , but it comes A statement read during the press conference from raphy to enforcement practices during the Clinton with it a stigma that they don ' t want." By Mark Pattison Catholic News Service

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As Superintendent of Schools for the Diocese of Sacramento, the candidate will lead 46 elementary schools , 1 middle school , 1 pre-school and 7 high schools (4 diocesan; 3 private) , with approximately 17,000 students. If interested , send a cover letter explaining interest in the position , a resume/curriculum vitae by January 15, 2003, to:

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The Diocese of Sacramento is seeking a qualified and experienced educational leader, with a strong commitment to the mission of Catholic education to fill the position of Superintendent of Catholic Schools, beginning on July 1, 2003. We are committed to selecting a candidate who: • is a practicing Catholic, an experienced educator and administrator with a master 's degree in education administration; • has a vision for the future of Catholic education and is committed to working closely with Vicar for Pastora l Ministry pastors and principals in carrying out the diocesan mission of Catholic education; • has exceptional interpersonal and collaborative skills and is an excellent presenter and effective communicator; • has demonstrated ability to relate openly with all members of the school community; • has good organizational and administrative skills, is a team worker and a creative problem solver; • is energized to accept the challenge of developing and imp lementing a strategic plan for our diocesan Catholic school system.

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Anti-war voices grow louder as inspectors enter Ira q By Catholic News Service WASHINGTON (CNS) — With both U.N. weapons inspectors and a delegation of U.S. religious leaders in Iraq, Catholic organizations and individual s continued their call for peace and against a U.S. war. Timing their visit to coincide with the inspectors ' work, the delegation , which includes laity, sisters and priests , planned to visit hospitals , orphanages and schools and meet with reli gious leaders , U.N. agencies, relief organizations and government officials before returning Dec. 21 . Committed to "active nonviolence" for "reconciliation and healing of the conflicts that grip our world today," the 11 -member delegation , calling itself Iraq Peace Journey, said in its mission statement that the trip 's purpose is to "stand with our sisters and brothers who daily live under the threat of violence and war," Meanwhile , a Vatican official said it appeare d Washington was determined to disregard the inspectors findings and make war. The current administration holds a "preconceived attitude that disqualifies the inspection campaign as useless and reduces it to a sort of farce," said Jesuit Father Pasqual e Borgomeo, director general of Vatican Radio. a "The desire to use force appears increasingly evident: to s rely on military megapower to fill the holes and failures of I politics," he said. But "bankrupt policies cannot be compensated by multiplying military commitment," he added. as 0. War on Iraq will backfire as an attempt to clamp down on « terrorism , he said, and "is in fact an incentive for terrorism s itself." A Christian boy lights a candle inside a church in Baghdad. Minority Christians Recentl y, Pope John Paul II has begun addressing terheld special services across Iraq to offer prayers to avert war. rorism as an organized international evil. Welcoming the new British ambassador to the Vatican The agency said the move would be a way to mark the in September, he spoke of the "urgent need to combat the tive war," wrote leaders from Christian, Jewish and phenomenon of well-financed and highly organized inter- Muslim congregations in the letter, sent Dec. 1, the first fifth anniversary of the 1997 U.N. convention banning land national terrorism, which represents a formidable and day of Advent, which also fell during Hanukkah and mines, embraced by every member of NATO except the Ramadan. United Sates. Some reports claim the United States has immediate threat to world peace." "It 's a moral issue, and religious leaders are supposed tc anti-personnel mines, responsible for nearl y 20,000 casualIn November, he encouraged Catholic students at Urbanian University in Rome, where many of the church' s be moral leaders of their peop le," Auxiliary Bishop ties worldwide annually, stored in Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi missionaries are educated, to "work against the clash of Timoth y J. Lyne of Chicago told The Catholic New World , Arabia, Oman and Bahrain for use in Iraq. civilizations that sometimes seems inevitable." newspaper of the Chicago Archdiocese. He represents the Communities in 15 states planned rallies, marches, In the United States, anti-war protests, lobbying and archdiocese on the council , along with Chicago Cardinal teach-ins and protests to coincide with International prayer services were organized by Catholic and interfaith Francis E. George and Dominican Sister Joan McGuire, Human Rights Day, observed Dec. 10. director of the archdiocesan Office for Interreli g ious and The day of action was to be the first national collaboraorganizations. tion of United for Peace, whose members include dozens of In Chicago, parishes held prayer services and a candle- Ecumenical Affairs. Jesuit Refugee Service USA, one of 15 members of the faith , business, peace, justice and human rights organizalight procession, while the Council of Religious Leaders of steering committee of the U.S. Campai gn to Ban tions, including Georgetown Peace Action , the National Metropolitan Chicago sent a letter to President Bush. "We urge you to continue working with our allies and Landmines, urged the United States to remove anti-per- Council of Churches, Pax Christi USA and Network, which other nations to achieve greater security in the region while sonnel land mines it said are part of the nation ' s Iraq war is a national Catholic social justice lobby. avoiding, if at all possible, a costly, dangerous and destruc- arsenal. IRAQ, page 10

Mater Dolorosa Church 307 Willow Avenue, South San Francisco, CA 94080 CHRISTMAS 2002

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Sacrament of Reconciliation Saturdays - 3:30 - 4:30 p.m. FAMILY PENANCE SERVICE Wednesday, December 18"', 7:30 p.m.

MASSES

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Christmas Eve, Tuesday, Dec. 24lh Vgrio v f uy v ^i—5 p.m. and 12 Midni ght Christmas Day, Wednesday, Dec. 25lh 8 a.m„ 10 a.m. and 12 Noon NO EVENINQ MASS ON CHRISTMAS DAY

2003 NEW YEAR 2003

New Year's Day, Wednesday,January 1!l 10 a.m. Solemnity of Mary Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

St. Gabriel Church

2559-4<Jtti Avenue , San Francisco , CA 94116(415) 731-6161

Advent/Christmas 2002

Sacrament of Reconciliation (Confessions) Saturday, December 21, 3:30 pm Communal Reconciliation Christmas Masses Christmas Eve (Tuesday, December 24) 4:00 pm Christmas Vigil Mass. Guitar Accompanist. 6:00 pm Family Mass. Children 's Choir. 11:30 pm Christmas Carols with Adult Choir. 12:00 am Christmas Midni ght Mass. Adult Choir. Christmas Day (Wednesday, December 25) 7:00 am Christmas Mass at Dawn. 8:30 am Cantor. 10:00 am Guitar Accompanist. 11:30 am Choir and Brass Ensemble. No evening Mass. New Years Wednesday, January 1 I 10:00 am Mass of the Solemnity of Mary.

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« I&Mi^ MME3MEm 100 D AMOND STREET-SAN FRAN ISCO \

415-863-6259

Christmas Eve-Tuesday. December 24. 2002 8:00 am Morning Mass Carol Service* 7:00 pm Mass of the Vigil of Christmas* 7:30 pm *These are new timesf or this year. Christmas Day-Wednesday. December 25. 2002 8:00 am Mass of Christmas Day 10:00 am Mass of Christmas Day New Year's Eve-Tuesday. December 31. 2002 8:00 am Morning Mass Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God-Vigil 5:30 pm New Year's Day-Wednesday, Jannary _ 200 3 10:00 am Solemnity of Maty, Mother of God

ST. STEPHEN CATHOLIC CHURCH Confessions Saturday, December 21 - 3:30-4:15 p.m. Tuesday, December 24 - 2:30-3:30 p.m. Christmas Eve Masses Tuesday 4:30 p.m. "Family Vigil Mass " 12 o 'clock Midnight Mass - Carols and choir music at 11:30 p.m.

11:15p.m. - Christmas music

Christmas Day Masses Wednesday 8:00, 9:30 & 11:30 a.m. -Caro l and choir music at 9:15 a.m. There is no evening Mass on Christmas Day New Year's Day Mass - 9:30 a.m. 601 Eucalyptus Drive (at 23rd Avenue)

1:30 p. in (esp tif wl)

Father John Zoph dies

'He made time for students and that 's his leg acy

Father John Zoph, a priest of the Archdiocese for 66 years, died December 6 at Mercy Retirement and Care Center in Oakland where he had lived since 1999. He was 94 years old. Born in Los Angeles , Father Zoph spent most his life as a priest in the education apostolate. He taught at schools including the now closed St. Joseph's College Seminary in Mountain View, and Junipero Serra High School, San Mateo where he served as a founding member of the faculty and librarian from 1944 to 1973. He also served in parish ministry at churches including St. Elizabeth, Guerneville and St. Francis de Sales, Oakland. "He was tin excellent educator and a veiy demanding teacher," said Father Stephen Howell, former president of Junipero Serra and now chaplain at Notre Dame High School, Belmont. "His goal was to help students be the best they could possibly be and help them stretch as far as they could in whatever discipline they studied." During his teaching career, Father Zoph taught English, Latin, French, Greek and "one year of PE" at Junipero Serra "when there was no one else to do it," Father Howell said. Though he retired "officially" in 1973, Father Zoph continued at Junipero Serra after that time estabhshing its library - now named for him - in 1984. His service to the school continued until age demanded his move to Mercy Care Center in

1999. It was only a stroke in 2001 that took him away entirely from the work of the school. He had been assisting in the ordering of books and other details from his rooms at the Oakland facility. "Father Zoph loved being an educator," said Father Albert Vucinovich, pastor, St. Catherine of Siena Parish, Burlingame, and a colleague of Father Zoph's at Junipero Serra in the 1970s. "He liked his students and pushed them for that reason. He was always considered strict by the students but he's the one they talk about." It's been estimated that Father Zoph corrected more than 92,000 compositions as a teacher . Father Vucinovich said. Father Joseph Bradley, now president of Junipero Serra, graduated from the school in 1973. 'Teachers would tell us to take our term papers to Father Zoph for grammar checks and he was never shy to correct them for us but always with good cheer," Father Bradley said. "In his later years, when I was here as chaplain, he was always very, very supportive of me. Father Zoph made time for students and that 's his legacy to us." Father Howell presided at a funeral Mass for Father Zoph at St. Bartholomew Parish, where for many years the late priest presided at weekend Masses, on December 11. Father Bradley was a concelebrant. Father Vucinovich was homilist. Junipero Serra students assisted in

the Mass as readers. Interment was at St. John 's Cemetery, San Mateo. Remembrances may be made to The John L. Zoph Scholarship, Junipero Serra High School, 451 West 20th Ave., San Mateo 94403.

"in the heart of San Francisco's Mission District," welcomes the gift of your presence at Christmas! —— o » ) •( i mi December 24 7 p.m. - (English) Christinas Eve Mass 9 p.m. - (Spanish) Christmas Eve Mass December 25 (English) Christmas Day Masses 9 a.m. and 12:15 p.m. 1086 Guerrero Street at 23rd Street (415) 824-4232

HOLY NAME OF JESUS CHURCH 39th Avenue and Lawton Street • San Francisco, CA 94122 (415) 664-8590 • www.holyname-sf.com

IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY CHURCH 1040 Alameda de las Pulgas Belmont, CA 94002 650-593-6157 SACRAMENT OF RECONCILIATION Communal Penance Service, 12/17/02, 7:30 p.m. Individual Confession , 12/21/02, 3:30-4:45 p.m. CHRISTMAS EVE MASSES 5:00 p.m. Children's Mass Midnight (Carols at 11:30 p.m.) CHRISTMAS DAY MASSES 7:30, 9:30 and 11:30 a.m.

-J 0k)

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ST. MATTHEW * p\ CATHOLIC CHURCH

1100 Woodside Road * Redwood City

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([>/iwslma&*JcAedul& 200J2 CONFESSIONS Daily: 5:00-5:30p.rn. in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel Tuesday,December24: ll:0Oa.m.-12:00 noon; 4:00-5:30p.m. MASSES Christmas Eve, December24: 5:30, 7:30 p.m. and Midnight Christmas Carols begin at 11:30p.m. Christmas Day,December 25: 6:30, 7:30, 9:00 (Spanish), 10:30a.m. and 12:30p.m.

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=== CHRISTMAS MASS SCHEDULE 2002

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"^JLf Saturday. December 21. 2002 Confessions: 4:00 - 4:45 p.m. Sunday Vi gil Mass - 5:00 p.m. <J» n A n. December 22. 2002 8:00 a.m., 9:00 a.m. (Cantonese), 10:30 a.m., 12:00 Noon CHIRSTMAS EVE - December 24 Family Mass with Children's Choir 8c Nativity Play 5:00 p.m. Carols b y Adult Choir 11:30 p.m. Solemn Mass 12:00 Midni ght

rmttSTMAS DAy - December 25

8:00 a.m., 10:30 a.m. Adult Choir, 12:00 Noon 10:30 a.m. (Not a Holy Day of Obligation), (no 8:30 a. m. Mass) Sunday, January 5, 2003 - Feast of the Epiphany 9:00 a.m. (Cantonese) , 10:30 a.m. Adult Choir, 12:00 p.m. a.m.. 8-00 Evening Prayer and Benediction - 4:00 p.m.

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CHRISTMAS EVE Jj £&W*t Tuesday, December 24 11:30 PM Christmas Carols, Anthems &Scrip ture Holy Name Choral Ministry

MASSES 5:00 PM (Family {Children*} Mass) 7:00 PM (Vietnamese Mass) 12:00 Midnight Solemn Midnight Mass with Christmas Carols, Choir, Brass, Strings, Organ &Piano CHRISTMAS DAY Wednesday, December 25 7:30 AM Christmas Day Mass 9:30 AM Christmas Day Mass with Christmas Carols, Cantor, Brass, Strings, Organ dr Piano 11:30 AM Solemn Mass with Christmas Carols, Cantor, Brass, Strings, Organ &Piano NEW YEAR'S DAY (Not a Holy Day of Obligation) Wednesday,January 1 11:30 AM Communal Penance Service Monday, December 16 - 7:30 PM

YEAR S DAY ^^^IB

Masses will be offered at ________Jr30 8^m. ^ li05pji^ 1

S t. Mo nica Tarish Geary Boulevard at 23rd Avenue, San Francisco

NEW YEAR'S DAV

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SAN MATEO, CALIFORNIA

Saturday, December 21st 3:30 to 4:30 Sacrament of Penance

CHRISTMAS DAY Wednesday, December 25th Masses: 8:00, 9:30 and 11:30 am No 5:0© pm Mass

CHRISTMAS SCHEDULE 2002 Eucharistic Celebrations:

Christmas Eve - Tuesday, December 24 5:00 PM - Family Mass 9:00 PM - Vigil Mass 11:00 PM- "Midnight " Mass Christmas Day - Wednesday, December 25 7:30, 9:00 and 11:00 AM No Evening Masses on Christmas Day

ST. PIUS CHURCH

CHRISTMAS EVE Tuesday, December 24th 1:30 to 3:00 pm Sacrament of Penance Masses:4:3.0pm, 7:00 pm, 10:00 pm Special Christmas Music Program begins 15 minutes before each Mass. No Midnight Mass

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2002 Christmas Schedule

Confessions Saturday, December 21, 2002, 4:30-5:00 PM Monday, December 23, 2002, 7:30-8:30 PM Sunday, December 22, 2002 Vs hour before 7:30 AM, 9:30 AM and 11:30 AM Masses

St. Veronica Church .

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434 Alida Way

South San Francisco 650-588- 1455

Christmas Eve Masses: TPill" J|y^ES Children 's Liturgy at 5:00 pm Vigil Mass at 9:00 pm [l ^lPlPJll Christmas Day Masses: 7:00, 8:30, 9:45, 11:00 am and 12:15 pm - One block west of El Camino Real at Ponderosa Road -

Jud ge says suit against abuse hotline has no legal merit By Julie Sly Catholic News Service SACRAMENTO, Calif. (CNS) —An effort to shut down the Diocese of Sacramento's sexual abuse hotline over allegations of fraud , emotional distress and negligence was ruled to have no legal merit. A Sacramento Superior Court judge ruled Nov. 26 that the diocese can continue its hotline for complaints of sexual abuse. James Sweeney, an attorney for the diocese, praised the ruling by Superior Court Judge Loren McMaster, calling the allegations made against Sacramento Bishop William K. Weigand and the diocese "baseless, and part of a publicity stunt." The lawsuit was filed against the bish op in Jul y by two Sacramento women who said they were molested by priests decades ago. They sought unspecified general and punitive damages. The two plaintiffs, identified in court documents as Joan

Ira q ... ¦ Continued from page 8 The national coordinators of Pax Christi and Network, David Robinson and Mercy Sister Kathy Thornton respectivel y, joined the Iraq-bound delegation. "Our faith compels us to go," Sister Thornton said. "Advent is the season of peace, and our journey is meant to show that war is not the answer." Robinson said he sees the Iraqi people as brothers and sisters regardless of faith, a theme reiterated in Iraq Peace Journey 's mission statement. 'There is a significant Chaldean Catholic presence there, in the church started by the apostle Thomas," he told the Lake Shore Visitor, newspaper of the Diocese of Erie, Pa. "I don't think a lot of Americans realize that. But I'm also talking about all of the 22 million people of Iraq who suffer because of U.S. economic embargo and destruction

K., 52, and Delores Sharp Nelson, 64, claimed that they were misled by the diocese's complainant liaison, Nancy Milton, who responds to calls on the diocese 's hotline for victims of sexual misconduct. Bishop Weigand created the toll-free hotline in April as part of his response to the clergy sex abuse crisis, so that victims could report possible misconduct on the part of priests or church workers. He appointed Milton, a diocesan employee, to monitor the hotline to "make sure any victim of misconduct receives the care and attention he or she deserves." The plaintiffs alleged that their pre-existing emotional injuries were exacerbated because the diocese did not provide them with appropriate counseling through the hotline program. The court's ruling said the diocese did not have a duty to disclose other acts of abuse by other priests to the plaintiffs as part of its spiritual counseling and did not have a duty to pay for one of the plaintiff's counseling. of infrastructure that the (Gulf) war brought. " He said for him it was also a personal journey "to stand in solidarity with the people and let them know that not all Americans agree with the U.S. government 's position on war. I want to talk to the people of Iraq. I don 't have the answers. I' m hoping to ask them for their ideas, and bring those ideas home to help find a peaceful solution." "We are traveling to Iraq because we have family there," the Iraq Peace Journey delegates wrote in a statement released before their departure Dec. 8, which was the U.N. deadline for Iraq to disclose its weapons of mass destruction. "We believe that all children of God are sisters and brothers, gifted with human dignity and basic human rights. We are responsible for each other. We got to be with our family in Iraq to listen to their stories, to create relationships ... if we face our fears together, new opportunities for peace will unfold ," the statement said.

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St. Anne of the Sunset Church St. Dunstan Church 850 Judah St., S.F., 415-665-1600 2002 Christmas Schedule Community Penance Service

Friday, December 20, 7:30 - 8:30 p.m.

Christmas Eve, December 24 5:00 p.m. Family Mass 11:15 p.m. Choir Concert

Christmas Day, December 25

12:00 midnight English Mass 7:30, 9:00, 10:30 a.m. English Mass 12:00 noon Cantonese Mass

New Year's Eve, December 31 4:00 p.m. Concert by Parish Choir

St. Ignatius Church C^

A Jesuit Parish

650 Parker Avenue • San Francisco (415) 422-2188 Christmas Eve Vigil December 24, 2002 4:00 p.m. - Children's Choir 8:00 p.m. — Contemporary Ensemble 11:00 p.m. - Motet Choir 12 O'Clock Midnight Mass - Motet Choir Christmas Day December 25, 2002 8:00 a.m. 9:30 a.m. - Contemporary Ensemble 11:00 a.m. - Motet Choir No Af ternoon Mass December 25, 2002

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Lady Angels Catholic of Church

l721 Hillside Drive, Burlingame Capuchin Franciscans 650-347-7768

2002 Christmas Schedule Christmas Eve 5:00 p.m. 7:00 p.m. (Children's Mass) Midnight Mass Christmas Day 8:00 , 10:00 and 12 noon Confessions Saturday, December 21, 10-11 a.m., 3:304:45 p.m. Tuesday, December 24, 10-12 noon, 3-4 p.m. New Years Day Masses at 8:00 and 10:00 a.m. The Capuchin Franciscans _ Parish Staff wish our Parishioners and Friends Peace, Love and Hope for Christmas and the new Year

The court based its ruling on the precedent set in the California Supreme Court's 1988 decision in Nally vs. Grace Community Church of the Valley, which said no cause of action for clergy malpractice exists in the context of providing counseling and spiritual advice. The ruling said it would be inappropriate for the court to interfere with the manner in which the church provided spiritual counseling to the plaintiffs , as this would "impermissibly interfere" with the religious affairs of the church in violation of the First Amendment's guarantee of church-state separation. The court gave the plaintiffs until Dec. 13 to file an amended complaint to allege additional facts. Sweeney described the lawsuit as "an effort by a group of p laintiffs attorneys to dictate what is appropriate pastoral care to sexual abuse victims." "Decisions by the church or the bishop on how best to provide pastoral care cannot be second-guessed," he said. "It is time to seek new paths, together," it added. "We are responsible for each other. We all have family in Iraq." Contributing to this roundup was Marianne OberleyOrris in Erie.

ST . A NITHONIY

1000 Cambridge St., Novato, CA Reconciliation Service at St. Anthony Thursday December 19 at 10:30 AM and 7:30 PM Confessions at St. Anthony 's Member 21 4:00 PM to 4:45 PM December 24 / 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM 2:00 PM to 3:00 PM MASSES Christmas Eve, December24 5:00 PM Children's Mass 10:30 PM Christmas Music 7:00 PM Christinas Music 11:00 PM Mass 7:30 PM Mass No MidnightMass Christmas Day,December25 Masses:7:00 AM, 9:00 AM, 11:00 AM Sunday Mass December 28 Vigil 5:00 PM Masses: 7:00 AM, 9:00 AM, 11:00 AM New Years Eve, December 31 5:00 PM Mass New Years Day,January 1, 2003 Masses: 9:00 AM and 12:00 Noon

k St. Cecilia's Parish frl Live Church Broadcast: www.stcedlia.com

Saturday; December 21

9:30 a.m. - Communal preparation for the Sacrament of Reconciliation Rite II, followed by individual confession. 3:30 - 4:30 p.m. - Sacrament of Penance

Tuesday, December 24

Sacrament of Penance 3:30 - 4:30 p.m. Christmas Eve Masses: 5:00 p.m.-Msgr. Michael Harriman 8:00 p.m.-Fr. Joe Landi & Children's Choir 11:15 p.m.-Christmas Carols Midnight-Concelebrated Mass Msgr. Michael Harriman and other priests with Choir and Orchestra

Wednesday, December 25 Christmas Day Masses7:30 a.m.-Msgr. Michael Harriman 9:30 a.m. Family Mass—Fr. Vito Perrone 11:00 a.m.—Fr. Joe Landi with Choir and Orchestra 12:30 p.m.-Msgr. John Foudy with the Gospel Jubilation Singers

1 7th Avenue and Vicente Street San Francisco, CA 94116 415-664-8481

Snow and cold highlight needs of homeless youths By Tracy Earl y Catholic News Service NEW YORK (CNS) — Snow on the streets and cold in the air sharpened the sense of urgency of an annual Covenan t House candlelight vigil held Dec. 5 in New York's Times Square to highli ght the needs of the nation 's homeless and runaway youths. As a day of snow was beginning to clear, young peop le marched to the vigil from a nearby shelter of Covenant House, a New York-based international agency for homeless and runaway youths. They were joined by adult friends and supporters , thoug h fewer in number than in previous years. "We don 't like the snow and cold either," Sister Mary Rose McGeady, a Daughter of Charity and Covenant House president , told the gathering. But the elements "remind us that many homeless teen-agers have to cope with snow, cold and wind when they are living on the street ," she said. "They have to cope with hunger as well," she added. Sister McGeady will retire in June, when she reaches her 75th birthday, Covenant House announced earlier this year. In 1990 she succeeded the agency 's founder, Franciscan Father Bruce Ritter. She began the vigil the following year, and it has drawn the support and participation of many public officials and celebrities. Appearing at her last vigil as president, she said the participants had come "to tell the world that kids deserve better than the street."

ST. FINN BARR PARISH <3&|i

415 Edna Street, SF

m\W ^ 7 Tuesday, December 24th V" ! I J Confessions: 3-4:30 pm, 8-9 pm, 11-12 midnight -^ Posadas: 7:00 pm Vigil Masses: 4:30 pm, 12:00 midni ght Wednesday, December 25th Masses: 8:30, 10:00 & 11:30 am (Spanish)

vigils the same day in other cities across the country, in Canada and in Latin America. Covenan t House in Washington held its vigil as planned even though the nation 's capital received more snow than New York. In St. Louis, Covenant House arranged a program that included partici pation by Archbishop Justin F. Rigali, a youth choir and youths speaking about their experiences living on the street. Covenant House in Vancouver, British Columbia, contributed to the international character of the vigil , marking the agency ' s anniversary, "5 Years, 5000 Kids." The Latin American observ ance included a march of boys and girl s in Guatemala City, capital of Guatemala , from Casa Alianza to a church in the center of the city for a candlelight Mass. In Times Square , Tiffany Alford , a 19-year-old parP v\ ticipant in the Covenant House program, read a letter t fro m President Bush. S "It is vital to our future that Americans remain com>ta mitted to protecting our nation 's youth ," the president p sx said. He praised Covenant House for its "serv ices and prevention programs which reach out to homeless and V. runaway youth. " O "With dedication , compassion and cooperation , you are helping to strengthen our communities and create a Covenant House supporters in Detroit brave bri ghter future for all," Bush said. below freezing temperatures to highlight Sister McGeady told Catholic News Service that the needs of homeless and runaway youths. she began holding the vi gil each December because "I Covenant House is "a place for hope," and homeless wanted to do something to wake peop le up at young people who go there receive "a new opportunity Christmas and remind them that a lot of kids wouldn ' t be home at Christmas because they didn 't have a home to change their lives," she said. Branches of Covenant House were holding similar they could go to." pCfl

ST.TERESAOF AVILA CHURCH On Potrero Hill 1 9th at Connecticut Sts.

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Sacrament of Reconciliation December 19, Thursday Christmas Eve Mass December 24, Tuesday December 25, Wednesday Christmas Day Mass January 1, 2003, Wednesday New Years Day Mass

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Pleasefeetf ree to call us at (415) 285-5272 if you have questions.

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ST. PHILIP 'S CHURCH M fk 725 Diamond Street -

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Christmas Eve 4:00 to 5:00 PM 5:30 PM 11:15 PM Midnight

Confessions Mass {English) Christmas Carols Mass(Eng lish) upper church Mass (Chinese) lower church

Christmas Day Masses 7:30 AM 8:45 AM 10:15 AM 11:30 AM 12:45 PM

In English In English In Chinese In Italian In English

666 FHbCTjjt # Washington Square -fr 431-0809

Sx. THOMAS M ORE CHURCH r

off Brotherhood Way

Vigil Masses: Saturday at 5:00 PM December 24th: 5:00 PM Children 's Mass 7:00 PM Parish Mass 9:00 PM Arab-American Mass and 12:00 Midnight Parish Mass December 25th: Masses: 10:00 AM, 11:45 AM ArabAmerican Mass , and 8:00 PM

Visit our special displays for Christmas: Different Stations that represent the history of Christmas; Displays of over 100 mangers and 200 Icons from all over the world.

415-282-0141

CHRISTMAS SERVICES 2002

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Saturday, December 21 W^ __M Confessions: 4:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. Christmas Eve, Tuesday, December 24 Masses: 8:00 a.m. Family Mass at 5:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. Confessions: 3:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. Christmas Day,Wednesday, December 25 Masses: Same as on Sunday: 8:00 and 10:00 a.m.; 11:15 a.m. in Spanish at the Convent, and 12:00 noon. New Year's Day,Wednesday, January 1, 2003 Mass: 10:00 a.m. only COME HOME FOR CHRISTMAST

SAINT AGNES CHURCH Inclusive -v* Diverse -$¦ Jesuit

This holiday season, Saint Agnes welcomes you to be a part of our family. Sacrament of Reconciliation Wednesday, December 18 Individual Confessions: 9:00 AM until 7:00 PM Christmas Eve - Tuesday, December 24 Liturg ies of the Nativity of the Lord 5:00 PM Children's Liturgy with Children's Choir and Instruments 10:00 PM Christmas Vigil Christmas Carols with Choir and Brass Christmas Day - Wednesday, December 25 Liturgies of the Nativity of the Lord 8:30 AM with Carols 10:30 AM with Carols, Choir, and Brass There is no 6:00 PM Liturgy Wednesday, January 1, 2003 New Year's Day Mass at 10:00 AM 1025 Masonic Avenue San Francisco, CA 94117 (415) 487-8560 www.salntagnessf.com Parking Is available In our Oak Street Lots.

A CATHEDRAL OF ST. MM OF THE ASSUMPTION J mi Gciih~5t., SiiTrancisco, » TelTfll?) 567^2020 Confessions - 3 -5:00p.m. 5:30pm. VigilMass 7:30a.m. -Mass 9:00 am. - GregorianChantMass 11:00a.m. - Mass- Cathedral Choir 3:00-4:00p.m. - Confessions 5:00p.m. - Carolingwith Cathedral Choirs of Boysand Girls 5:30pm. -Eucharist- Cathedral Choirs of Boysand Girls 7:30pm - Eucharist - Bilingual(English/Spanish) 11:30pm. - Caroling - Cathedral Choir 12:00a.m. - Midnight Mass Archbishoplevada, PrincipalCelebrant Wednesday, December25,2002 9:00 am. - Eucharist- GregorianChant Cathedral Schola 11:00am. - Eucharist - Cathedral Choir ArchbishopLevada,PrincipalCelebrant 1:00p.m. - En Espanol

7:30am. -Mass Gregorian Chant 9:00 am. ¦ 11:00am. - Choir 1:00p.m. -En Espanol

6:45am.-Eucharist 8:00am. - Eucharist 12:10pj n,- Eucharist

JLCATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO He will save his people Over the past decade or so, the word Christmas has faded from the airwaves and advertising columns of America. The old Christmas season has been quietl y transformed into the "holiday season." The hallowed national Christmas tree has become the "Holiday Tree." Clerks at cash registers wish customers "Happy Holidays" instead of a Merry Christmas. It's never clear- just what these "holidays" are. At times, it seems they are Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years. At other times, the holiday s seem to include Hanukkah and Kwanza and Ramadan and perhaps a few others. Apparently, however, the transformation of Christmas into "the holidays" is simply a notvery-well-thought-out way of dealing with religious diversity. In a nation whose people belong to many religions â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and an increasing number who belong to none - the change isn't shocking. And in many ways, it is not a bad thing. There certainly has never been anything religious about the "Christmas shopping season," and "Christmas parties." In fact, this new "Holiday Season" may be a very good thing for those who truly believe in Christmas - not the Christmas of Santa Claus and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer - but the Christmas of the Child Jesus. Perhaps it is best to have two parallel celebrations a secular "holiday season" for those who do not share our beliefs and a Christmas season for those who believe that December 25 is more than a holiday, that it is a holy day. This would simply be acknowledging reality: Christmas has gradually been converted into an allpurpose celebration that does not reflect the full meaning of the day. Non-Christians do understand part of the reality of Christmas. They see it as a day of peace and joy, of love and hope, a day for families and children, a time of generosity and gift-giving. But for them, Christmas is a warm and pleasant story - no more. They see the real gentleness of Christmas but they miss its power. Christmas is not simply the celebration of the birth of a holy person. It is the day when the great unseen God stepped into our world, took on flesh and became one of us. It is day when eternal light shined in the darkness. While Christmas is a festival of life and love, it would not exist at all if we had not been mired in sin and darkness. ". . . behold , the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, 'Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. For it is through the holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.'" This child will save his people from their sins and, it turns out that we are all his people. He comes not with salvation simply for Israel but for the world. Joseph had no trouble dealing with the concepts of sin and salvation. He promptly took Mary into his home and then raised Jesus as his son. These concepts do not fit so easily into the 21st century celebrations of the "Holiday Season." It's hard to build an advertising campaign around those themes. But that is the message of the Christmas season: this Christ Child, this baby Jesus will save his people from their sins. It is easy during the "holiday season" to look at only one side of the story. When we do so, we miss the point. The Christmas story and the Christian message in its fullness is the story of light and darkness, good and evil, life and death, sin and salvation. The Christmas story is our story. It is not a pleasant fairy tale with a vague message of peace and good will. Christmas is the first act in an epic drama, a struggle between good and evil. And. like it or not, that is what our lives are all about: a struggle between good and evil , with evil too often the winner. Now, as the angel told Joseph, things will be different: Jesus. He will fight the same fight, preach and teach and heal, suffer and die. Most of all, he will triumph. In the darkness before the Easter dawn, he will rise from the dead, a light once again shining in the darkness as it did on the day of his birth. He will save his people. PJ

Are these opposed?

In his article of 0ct.4th, George Weigel attempts to advise us as to how the United States should conduct itself as regards Iraq. Jesus asks us to love out enemies. Mr. Wei gel asks us to kill them. They can 't both be right can they? Alan Dean Burlingame

Time for reflection

Sharon Thank you , Sister McMillan for your article on the liturgical norms at Mass. I was especiall y delighted to read there was time for extended silence following the reception of the Eucharist. It would seem to me that quiet could be observed during the reception of the Eucharist as well. During the reception of the Eucharist we are asked to keep singing a chorus over and over again. We did this type of singing in second and third grade. For most of the congregation second or third grade are a 60 or 70 year old memory. Rather than this singing, perhaps , soft organ music , very soft organ music would permit better reflection on this great mystery. Robert J. Theis Daly City

More catechesis

I am responding belated ly to the item on page 19 of the November 22 issue, titled "Young Adults Tell Bishops of their Difficulties in Fitting into Church ." I am in sympathy with those young Catholics who seem to have no defined place in their Church , in the middle of a very confusing world. However, I found all of the suggested remedies to be mere band-aids , which will do nothing to make the situation better for children and teenagers now growing up in the Church . I think a large part of the solution is complete , intellectuall y ri gorous catechesis starting at a young age, and continuing in CCD and Catholic schools until hig h school. If the Churc h does not take responsibility for teaching young Catholics (noting that parents are always the primary educators of their children , but also noting that these parents are often poorly catechize d themselves), then it has failed in its mission to create trul y Catholic adults. Elizabeth Sewell Menlo Park

I 1

Think bef ore war

In his letter to Catholic San Francisco Dec.6, Wayne Racek has it wrong. The US Catholic Bishops want the United Nations and not only President Bush or the US administration to decide if the United States should bomb another country. The bishops also required that the decisions of the United Nations workers be respected and no drastic action should be taken without evidence or actual proof that Saddam Hussein possesses or has the potential to manufacture weapons of mass destruction. Saddam Hussein is a mass murderer of his own people, a loathsome despot and if Saddam is overthrown and killed by his own people - God himself will say it is just. I agree. Jesus did not, and I would add, would not let our enemies destroy us. But He would say there has to be accurate evidence for any drastic action to be taken. We should be reminded that bombs and missiles do not only hit and explode - people are also killed. Lenny Barretto Daly City

Pro-choice Catholics

This country 's leading abortio n advocates - Nancy Pelosi, Gray Davis , Tom Daschle, Ted Kennedy - call themselves Catholic. But they loudly and publicly dissent fro m one of the Church's most sacred teachings, the sanctity of human life from conception to natural death. Major Catholic newspapers cry out against these politicians' mutually exclusive positions as "pro-choice" and "Catholic ". However , r arely does a prelate publicl y admonish them by name , let alone threaten excommunication. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church , a person who procures a completed abortion incurs excommunication latae sententiae, by the very commission of the offense. But why are the victims punished when the enablers are acclaimed. These nominal Catholics are not onl y causing confusion among the faithful, they are causing scandal. And it is happening here in our own Archdiocese with our own House Minority Leader. Shouldn 't the bishops do something? Victoria Evans Larkspur

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Strongervoice needed

Letters welcome Catholic San Francisco welcomes letters from its readers. Please: > Include your name, address and daytime phone number. > Sign your letter. > Limit submissions to 250 words. > Note that the newspaper reserves the right to edit for clarity and length. Send your letters to:

Catholic San Francisco One Peter YorkeWay San Francisco, CA $4109 Fax: (415) 614-5641 E-mail: mhealy@cathoIic-sf.org

I read your article "Pro-Life Voters Score Big Wins Across Country. " They certainly did not score bi g wins in Catholic San Francisco nor in the Bay Area. Perhaps the Archdiocese should look in the mirror and ask itself why this is so. Two years ago, I asked my parish priest when he was going to speak from the pulpit about Senator Barbara Boxer 's outspoken leadership of the pro-abor tion forces. He replied that he was forbidden to take a position on any political race from the pulpit. Yet, your story highlighted the successful electioneering efforts of Archbishop Chaput in Colorado. The Archdiocese should learn from tactics of groups like the NRA who are successful in their efforts. They know their friends in Congress and they know their enemies. They act accordingl y and they deliver the vote. The Archdiocese should also be asking why Catholic California Hispanics vote overwhelmingly for Democratic pro-abortion candidates. Frank Berto San Anselmo

The CatholicDiff erence

The Pope, the Italians, and the rest of us Given the Catholic Church's historic role in forming what we now know as "Italy," you might think that relations between the Vatican and the Italian government had always run rather smoothly. If you thought that , however, you 'd be very wrong. To begin with, what we now know as "Italy" took final form in 1870 when the nascent Italian state seized what was left of the Papal States, whose French military protectors had gone home to be bludgeoned by Prussia in the FrancoPrussian War. From 1870 until 1929, the Vatican acted as if the Italian state simply didn 't exist — the "Piedmontese usurpation," some called it. The 1929 Lateran Treaty created a formal thaw, the Holy See recognized the Italian state , while Italy recognized the independence of Vatican City and paid an indemnity to the Church for properties lost in 1870. But when Pope Pius XI condemned fascist pretensions in the 1931 encyclical Non Abbiamo Bisogn o, Vatican-Italian relations became difficult again. Nor did Mussolini much appreciate Pius XI's 1937 condemnation of Nazism, or Pius XII's work to forestall Italy 's entry into World War II. During the post-war decades, when the Christian Democratic Party dominated Italian politics , the party both sought and resented the involvement of senior Catholic officials in its internal affairs. And while the Christian Democrats controlled the government until the last decades of the twentieth century, Italy's high culture was controlled by secularists and communists who hated the Vatican's entanglement with the Italian government. For almost a quarter of a century, Pope John Paul II has worked hard to "widen the Tiber" — to put some dis-

tance between the Vatican and the Quirinale, the symbolic seat of the Italian government (and a former papal palace) . At the same time, the Polish pope has expended far more effort on the re-evangelization of Rome and of Italy than any of his most recent Italian predecessors. That effort has had , in the broadest sense, a "political" purpose, for the Pope is convinced that the Church best shapes politics through helping shape a culture of life capable of nurturing true human freedom. Still , as far as John Paul II is concerned, the machinations inside the Italian government and the fractious Italian political parties are not something into which churchmen should meddle. These efforts, and the Italian people's palpable affection for the man they call "Papa Wojtyla," helped create a scene last month that would have been unimaginable in the not-too-distant past: a papal address to the Italian parl iament that was interrupted two dozen times by applause and concluded with the deputies giving the Pope a thirteen minute standing ovation. In that November 14 speech, John Paul gave further evidence that, as Mark Twain might have put it, rumors of his demise have been greatly exaggerated. His lengthy, substantive address took on a series of hot-button issues: Europe's Christian roots (now being virtual l y ignored in the drafting of a pan-European constitution); democracy and moral truth; Italy's catastrophically low birth-rate; parental rights in the education of children; the conditions in Italy 's overcrowded prisons. Some in the Italian press worried that the Pope, by stressing that a democracy without authentic human values

risks severe decay, was retreating from the g Second Vatican Council's 0. teaching on the legitimate autonomy of governm Z ments. What , they asked, x o does moral truth have to do with democracy? It's a question not infrequentl y asked in the United States. John Paul' s answer — which is the Catholic Church's answer, not Karol Wojtyla 's personal opinion — is that democracy is not a machine that can ran by itself. It takes a certain kind of people, living certain virtues, to make the adventure of self-government work. People who can't govern themselves from within can't make self-government in public life work indefinitely. That's why the character of a culture is the Church's first "political" concern . If the sum total of a culture's wisdom about what makes for human flourishing is captured in the lyric, "I did it my way," that culture is unlikely to produce the kind of people who will be committed to civility, tolerance, and the arts of compromise in democratic politics. That's what John Paul II was reminding the Italian parliament, and all the rest of us.

George Weigel

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

Family Lif e

Hearts and hands of the invisible God From the time our children were very small, we have celebrated the Feast of St. Nicholas December 6. The day before, the children help bake cookies, hear about the courage and generosity of this 4th century bishop, and hang out their Christmas stockings. The next morning, they find foil-wrapped chocolate coins in their stockings and give away the cookies they made to their neighbors. Whenever the kids have asked, "Mom, is St. Nicholas real?" 1have been able to answer with a straight face, "Yes, he is real. He walked this earth doing good; and , he is still doing good from heaven, along with the other saints. " I have stressed the reality of St. Nicholas because I want my children to understand that this follower of Christ, this persecuted shepherd of the Church, this giver of good things to the poor is the antecedent of our modern, secularized Santa Claus. That whiskered, portly gentlemen in a red velvet suit, I tell them, is the shadow of a real man who lived many years ago. Even with this grounding, my children still suffer from

crises of faith. One St. Nicholas morning, my then sevenyear-old daughter asked, "Mom, who really puts the chocolate in our stockings? Isn 't it you?" "Of course, it's Mom!" my older son exclaimed, as if his sister were some kind of dummy for not knowing that sooner. The scene painfull y remini ea me of the time my older brother led me to the close ' where my parents had hidden our Christmas pr :sents and told me in so many words that Santa Claus was a bunch of baloney. "Not so fast," I said, trying to keep the mystery alive. "Even if I do put the chocolates in your stockings, I don 't do it on my own. St. Nicholas inspires me." "Yea, yea," my younger son chimed in. "It's the same story with the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, and all the rest of it." "The Tooth Fairy !" his older brother gasped. "I knew about the Easter Bunny — but the Tooth Fairy's not real either?" To see this thirteen-year-old boy grappling with the truth about the Tooth Fairy was almost too much to be

borne without a smile. I suppose it served him right for being so harsh with his sister, who saw her opportunity for poetic justice and said, "Gee, even I knew that Mom and Dad were the Tooth Fairy." Tooth Fairy, Easter Bunny, Santa Claus .. . we parents nave a lot •oles to play, and in each one we are the images, the humai aearts and hands, of the great, generous and invisible Go< who loves our children.

Vivian W. Dudro

Vivian Dudro is the mother of four children (ages 6 to 14) and a member of St. Mary 's Cathedral Parish

Sp irituality

Lighting Advent Candles: an act of hope To li ght a candle is an act of hope. In the days of apartheid in South Af rica, Christians there used to li ght candles and place them in windows as a sign to themselves and to others that they believed that someday this injustice would end. A candle burning in a window was a sign of hope and a political statement. The government didn 't miss the message. It passed a law making it illegal to p lace a lit candle in a window, the offense being equal to owning a firearm , both considered equall y dangerous. This eventually became a jok e among the kids: "Our government is afraid of lit candles!" They had reason to be! Lit candles , more than firearms , overthrew apartheid. Hope, not guns , is what ultimately transforms things. To light a candle as an act of hope is to say to yourself and to others that, despite anything that might be happening in the world , you are still nursing a vision of peace and unity based upon something beyond the present state of things and this hope is based upon deeper realities and powers than the w orl d admits. To li ght a candle is to state publicly that you believe that what 's real and what isn 't is ultimately determined b y powers and issues that go beyond what ' s

seen on the evening news. To light a candle is an act of political defiance. It's also an act of hope. What is hope? First of all , it 's not wishful thinking. I can wish to win a lottery, but that wish, all by itself, contains no real power to make it happen. Second, hope is not just natural optimism, an upbeat temperament that always sees the bright side of things. An unwavering optimism about things can sometimes even be helpful , but it's no basis for hope. Like wishful thinking, it lacks the power to make its own dream come true. Finally, hope is not simply shrewd observation and common sense, the talent for sorting out the real from the fluff. Useful as this is, it's still not hope. Why not? Because hope doesn 't base itself upon a shrewd assessment of the empirical facts, but upon belief in a deeper set of realities: God's existence, God' s power, God' s goodness, and the promise that flows from that. There's a story told about Pierre Teilhard de Chardin that helps illustrate this. Teilhard wasn 't much given to wishful thinking or even to an optimistic temperament , but tended rather toward a lonely realism. Yet he was a man of real hope.

For example, on one occasion , after giving a conference within which he laid out an historical vision of unity and peace for the world that paralleled the vision of Scripture, he was challenged by some colleagues to this effect: "That 's a wonderful , idealistic vision of things, but suppose we blow up the world with a nuclear bomb? What happens to your vision then?" "That would set things back some millions of years," he replied, "but this will still come to fruition , not because I say so or because the facts ri ght now indicate that it will, but because God promised it and in the resurrection of Jesus has shown that he is powerful enough to deliver on that promise." Hope, as we can see from this , require s both faith and patience. It works like yeast, not like a microwave ROLHEISER, page 14

Father Ron Rolheiser

New Normsf orMass

Distributing hosts consecrated at Mass, receiving from chalice Each year St. Patrick's Seminary celebrates a feast dear to the heart of the Sulpician Fathers , the Presentati on of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The seminary community keeps the day holy with the celebration of the Eucharist at which Archbishop Levada is the principal celebrant and at which many of the priest-alumni of St. Patrick' s concelebrate. And of course the conversation top ic for some of us was the new norms for Mass from the General Instruction of the Roman Missal which began to be implemented on the First Sunday of Advent. One such conversation was with a priest from another diocese who told me the story of giving a series of talks to parishioners recentl y on the General Instruction. He was presenting to them the importance of observing one of the norms that refers to ending the practice of distributing consecrated hosts from the tabernacle. He described how he laughed when one skeptical student asked him, "Father, do you work in a parish?" In other words, anyone who understands parish reality would never dream of suggesting that it is possible not to need the consecrated hosts in the tabernacle for the communion rite. Yet this is precisely what the General Instruction calls us to do. The consecrated hosts distributed during Mass are not to be those consecrated during a previous Mass. The document states: "It is most desirable that the faithful , just as the priest himself is bound to do, receive the Lord 's Body from hosts consecrated at the same Mass and that they partici pate in the chalice, so that even by means of the signs Communion will stand out more clearly as a parti cipation in the sacrifice actually being celebrated."

Sister Sharon McMillan, SND The full , conscious , and active participation of all the baptized at the celebration of the Eucharist includes receiving the Bod y of Christ consecrated at that celebration. The bread and wine that are brought up by parishioners, the bread and wine that are blessed and consecrated during the Eucharistic Prayer, the bread and wine which are broken and poured out for us during the fraction rite, the bread and wine which have tru ly become Christ 's Bod y and Blood during this Mass: this is the sacrament that we receive. As the skeptical student asked my priest friend in class, "Father, how realistic is this? We always use sev-

eral ciboria from the tabernacle at every Mass." And here is the key. There is a real difference between careful planning to avoid using hosts from the tabernacle and choosing not to plan at all since there are plenty of hosts in the tabernacle. This is the choice that the General Instruction urges us to make. Pastors , priests , deacons , communion ministers, and sacristans generally have an excellent sense of how many parishioners come to any given Mass and how many will receive Communion. If the decision is made to distribute only hosts consecrated during the present Mass, it is possible to estimate that number fairl y accurately by keeping track Sunday by Sunday. What if there are too many hosts at the end of the communion rite? Then ask the communion ministers to give more than one host to those who receive and then ask the ministers to consume whatever remains. Of course if there is an excessively large number of consecrated hosts remaining, return them to the tabernacle. Or if the number of communicants was underestimated , then use the hosts reserved in the tabernacle. The General Instruction invites local parishes to make this decision because of the centrality of the Eucharist in our lives. It is the effort we make in working toward this goal , not perfectl y accurate calculations that matter.

Notre Dame Sister Sharon McMillan is assistant professor of sacramental theology and liturgy at St. Patrick Seminary, Menlo Park.

Evangelization

A time 'to be j olly' and to share the good news The old English Christmas carol , Deck the Halls," reminds us "'tis the season to be jolly." We are reminded of this all over the stores as we go about the business of choosing Christmas gifts for friends and famil y. What exactly does the word "joll y " mean? As I was thinking about this, I decided to look it up in Webster ' s dictionary. I found that it means "being in good spirits." How interesting that the writer of this ancient carol reauy unuerstoou ine meaning of Christmas on such a deep level. When we are "in good spirits" we are at peace with the world and with ourselves because we know the deep love of God. One reason for being able to be at peace at Christmas time is because we have been given the good news - the greatest news or all, namely, th at God so loved the world that he gave his only son to redeem us." The message of Christmas is one of love and redemption. How sad it is that so many people have not heard this "good news." Because we have heard it, we take for granted that , of course, everyone knows wh y we celebrate Christmas. However, that is not true. The real meaning of Christmas is lost, for the most part , in our world of commercialism and the frenzy of buying so that we can continue the tradition of gift giv-

ing while the tradition of "being joll y " is somehow lost. True, we are reminded to be joll y by the jolly old man in the red suit. However, the original jolly old man , St. Nicholas went about bring ing peace and good cheer to the poorest of the poor. Santa Claus/St. Nicholas , we are told, delivered food and good cheer to those who were most in need and by doing this , he spread the love of God. rrue peace comes from knowing that God loves us unconditionally. This is the message of the Christ Child. During the Advent time of preparation it is importan t that we ponder this in our hearts. How do we understand and believe this? When we go about spreading Christmas cheer how do we make the unconditional love of God known? What message do we send in our Christmas greetings? How do people who come to our house for a Christmas know they are coming to a Catholic home that is celebrating the birth of Christ? How well do our children, both young and grown up, understand the real meaning of Christmas? I invite you all to take a break from the hectic rushing around and find some quiet time to think about those questions.

When we go about spreading Christmas cheer how do we make the unconditional lo\e of God known? What message do we send in our Christmas greetings?

Several years ago there was a bumper sticker that read: "Put Christ Back in Some Christmas." enterprising peop le realized that what was missing in his/her Christmas celebration was Christ, the One who loves us uncondiand who tionall y proved this by becoming one of us. Our challenge as disciples is to make sure that those with whom we celebrate this Christmas will trul y come to know the reason for this great celebration — not because we are going around preaching it but because by our Christlike attitude they will come to know the real reason for "being jolly." During this season of Advent I invite you to reach out to your family members, friends and neighbors who do not regularly participate in the Eucharistic celebration and invite them to participate in this "feast of love" on Christmas day. Yes, it t akes courage to do this, and I know it is not easy. However, if we do it with love and in a "joll y " way, it will bear fruit for you and for the receiver of the good news.

Sister Antonio Heaphy

This one in a series of columns by Presentation Sister Antonio Heap hy, director of the Office of Evangelization of the Archdiocese of San Francisco.

Lighting Advent Candles: an act of hope ¦ Continued from page 13 oven. Jim Wallis, the founder of Sojourners, expresses this colorfully: "All politicians are alike," he says. "They hold a finger up and check which way the wind is blowing and then make their decisions in that direction. That will never change, even if we change politicians. So we must change the wind! That 's hope 's task — to change the wind!" When we look at what has morall y changed this world — from the great religious traditions coming out of deserts, caves, and catacombs and helping morally leaven whole cultures to apartheid being overthrown in South Africa — we see that it has happened precisely

when individuals and groups lit candles and hoped long enough until the wind did change. We light Advent candles with just that in mind, accepting that changing the wind is a long process, that the evening news will not always be positive, the stock markets will not always rise, the most sophisticated defenses in the world will not always protect us from terrorism, and secular liberal and conservative ideologies will not rid this planet of selfishness. But we continue to light candles and hope anyway, not on the basis of a worsening or improving evening newscast, but because the deepest reality of all is that God exists, that the center holds, that there 's ultimately a gracious Lord who rules this universe, and this Lord

is powerful enough to rearrange the atoms of the planet and raise dead bodies to new life. We light candles of hope because God , who is more real than anything else, has promised to establish a kingdom of love and peace on this earth and is gracious, forgiving, and powerful enough to do it.

Oblate Father Ron Rolheiser, a theologian, teacher and award-winning author, serves in Rome as general councilor for Canada for the Oblates of Mary Immaculate.

Restorative justice: Old idea grounded in Catholic faith By Patrick Joyce "The church knows better than anyone how to make people better," Carmelite Father Andrew Skotnicki, said in his keynote address at "Responsibility, Rehabilitation and Restoration," a conference on restorative justice held Dec. 7 at the Lone Mountain Campus of the University of San Francisco. In the fourth century, the Catholic Church "invented prisons " but those institutions were far different from their counterparts today, Father Skotnicki , an associate professor of Christian ethics at Manhattan College in New York City, said. In addition , he said , the Catholic practice of confession and penance offers insi ghts that can give added depth to the "restorative justice " movement. Restorative justice is one the oldest way s of dealing with crime, Father Skotnicki said. "That is where people take responsibility of their own problems within their own communities. And there are face-to-face encounters between victims and perpetrators and family members and community members. It 's so old it sounds new." "The goal of restorative justice is to confront the offender with the grace that transforms human lives." Father Skotnicki said. "The restorative justice perspective is grounded so strong ly in the Catholic understanding of the fundamental goodness of the human family.... We know that a kid can sit down with the man or woman he hurt , with his own'parents , his priest or minister, with the parents of the person who has been hurt , with teachers and all sit around him and say, 'Son, you have to pay for what you did. We have to work out some way to show you are sorry.'" Sentencing of criminals in the American justice system is "an elaborate shaming procedure ," Father Skotnicki said. The restorative justice process ends not with the punishment but with "a ritual of re-incorporation. " An Australian study showed that crime victims usual ly wanted to hurt their attacker, he said, but after going

Restoring j ustice . .. ¦ Continued from cover as they walked together, "He shot her execution style Mrs. Salarno says. "He left her to bleed to death. He ran upstairs and watched her die." _ ..& Mrs. Salarno makes it clear at f t i" k^\ ^ both liturgy and the workshop that ^k\ her commitment now is to hel p j m victims and people like herself , £k the survivors of crime victims. Mm "The first thing I tell vie- m tim-survivors of violent « crimes is: 'You need your « faith . You and your family will ^B be destroyed by the criminal j us- ^B tice system, and you will be a vie- ^^ tim for the rest of your life. God did- ^^ n 't let us down. Man with his freewill chose freely to commit this crime,'" she says Victims find little support in their grief, from thencommunities, churches and government , said Mrs. Salarno, president of California 's Victims United. Families are traumatized by the long and confusing prosecution process, she says, and they often find themselves victimized a second time during trials at which defense attorneys try to shift blame for the crime to the family. "Sure, you should be going to prisons ," Mrs. Salarno tells the audience, "but you should be coming to us also." The next speaker introduces himself simply as Tim, "a civil engineer, a dad , a practicing Catholic, a taxpayer." But for years, he traded his name for a number. "I was known as '13,'" the last two digits of his prisoner identification number at San Quentin. Tim does not describe the crime that put him in prison but speaks simply of "dark and serious sin - I'm talking about me." "I have assumed responsibility ," he says. "I have survived the shame and terror and torment of prison life, and I am happier for it." Deacon George Salinger met Tim in San Quentin State Prison where he has ministered for 11 years. "I remember when I met Tim O'Hearn ," Deacon Salinger tells the participants. " I remember the times he and I spent together, talking about life, talking about God, talking about the presence of Christ in his life. I watched Tim grow and change into the person he is today." "I minister to men who feel hopeless who feel there is nothing for them in their lives," he says. "I try to bring to them the message of God's unconditional love, mercy and love. Many of the men I minister to may never walk out of prison. Many of these men when they come into prison feel totally abandoned not only by God but by everyone they know, by their families. But more often than not I have seen

through the restorative justice process the vast majority of victims "no longer wanted to hurt - they wanted to forgive." "Current thinking in criminal justice focuses on incapacitation and retribution ," Father Skotnicki said. "Rehabilitation , if not dead , is on life support. " Catholic thinking takes a much different approac h, he said. "Punishment can't be an end in itself. It must always be pointed to reconciliation. . . . As Catholics we hope to take the person who has sinned or erred or committed a crime and we hope that the experience of punishment will make him or her understand that we love them and want them to be part of the community." In the 4th century, monks began with the idea of doing penance for sins and added a new element , Father Skotnicki said . "The Church said you not only had to do penance but you had to do it in a specific place and for a specific amount of time." That developed into the prisons founded on "believing in their fundamental goodness, encouraging them to pray." Prisons have changed for the worse over the centuries , Father Skotnicki said , but that ancient monastic concept is making a comeback , thanks to Charles Colson , a for-

mer Nixon White House aide who went to prison for Watergate-related crimes. Colson, a Protestant , runs a prison ministry and understands Catholic criminal justice system better than many Catholics, Father Skotnicki said. "The western system of criminal justice is based on the Catholic practice of confession ," he said. "Confession involves a willing penitent. Penance work if you are willing . . . How do we make them willing ?" Colson is trying to build on that vision , Father Skotnicki said, by operating prisons "run from top to bottom on the Gospel message." Instead of simply turning over criminals to a professional criminal justice system, he said, Americans should become involved in "minding our own business " through the face-to-face involvement of restorative justice. The criminal justice system isn't working, he said. While the crime rate has been dropp ing, the prison population has been rising. Two million people are in prison in the United States and another five million are on "penal supervision. " "Those," he said, "are seven million good reasons to mind our own business."

Through viewpoint of faith "Our communities are broken. They are broken by violence . . . by hatred. We are divided ," George Wesolek, director of the archdiocesan Office of Public Policy and Social Concerns told conference participants. "What we want to do today is to look at that from many different perspectives. We look at it all through the viewpoint of faith. . . . That is the common thread of all we do," he said. Conference participants included representatives of law enforcement, the court and prison systems and detention ministry. "There are also the victims. Many people in our

the miracle of God's love manifested in how these men suddenly begin to talk to me about what is important in their lives." "It hasn 't been an easy ministry because it causes me to _ walk out angry, to see what is happening in a system th at is a ^f"''* TH ^' failure . Yet I try each day — ^P \t0r to bring some kind of restoration /: to the men and hopefull y allow them to feel the dignity they deserve no matter what they have done. . . . I try to bring th em the peace of God." "How did I get involved? Because I' ve been locke d up twice," Deacon Salinger says. > "Because I spent a life messed up. Through the grace of god I found a F different way to live my life." "I'm there because of him," Deacon Salinger says, nodding toward Ray McKeon. Mr. McKeon, tells the audience that as a 13-year-old he was on a path that could have led him to a prison cell. He would get in .^^^ trouble, suffer a beating at the hands 3|W of his father, then get in trouble mL ^tk again. The cycle was finall y broW| at ken by his high school dean of ents - As a youngster, he W H stu ^ N^f^ wasn 't familiar with the term but now Mr. McKeon said, he realizes that the dean "intervened" on his behalf. The dean told his father that his 16-year-old son had cut class but he convinced the father to change his ways. Inste ad of a beating, young Ray earned a two-week "grounding" for his misdeed. "For once," he said, "my

parishes have been victims... Many times in the system we have today, victims become re-victimized," Mr. Wesolek said. "Then we have the perpetrators - those who are in need of our support in their rehabilitation . . . in need of our love and forg iveness.... they need somehow to be part of what we are doing today." The conference was sponsored by the Office of Public Policy and Social Concern s, the School of Pastoral Leadership, the St. Thomas More Law Society and the St. Vincent de Paul Society from the Archdiocese of San Francisco, and by the Dioceses of Oakland, San Jose and Stockton .

father didn 't talk to me with his fists." Mr. McKeon says he is still grateful for the dean's intervention. That experience helped change his life. Eventuall y, he became a police officer and retired , after 30 years of service, as a captain on the South San Francisco police department. He is now program director of the archdiocesan prison ministry program. John Clark, former director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, worked on prison cell blocks and as a warden, and found the jobs filled with "conflict and stress and ambiguity" - and much more. "Prison life has a strong impact for both good and evil ," Mr. Clark says. "Prison work can be a noble form of work - yes, even holy work when it is modeled on the values and the vision of Christ." Some people find that description as "crazy," Mr. Clark says. He doesn 't. "I see in Christ a wonderful model - a man who never hesitated to wade into the most difficult and confrontational situation s of life . . . to restore the sp irit of the weak and fallen. Christ made the rejects of society comfortable around him." Prisoner workers, he said, have a "uni que calling . . . to foster safe and humane conditions where restoration and hope can blossom ," he says. In doing so, they follow the example of Christ who "tells us that these outcasts who are so much in need of hope and restoration are indeed our brothers and sisters."

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Deacon George Salinger

Catherine Regan explains her use of centering prayer with inmate s at San Quenti n

Datebook

Dec. 14: Holiday House Tour of five Redwood City homes owned by former students of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Elementary School and decorated for the season. Homes date from 1926 through 1985. Toui includes entertainment, refreshments , and holiday gifl shop. Tickets $20 advance/$25 at door. Call Julia Tollafield at (650) 366-8817 oi development@mtcarmel.org. Proceeds benefit OLMC school.

$231 for children aged 5 to 17 years. Call (415) 5929243. Information about Natural Family Planning and people in the Archdiocese offering instruction are available from the Office of Marriage and Family Life of the Archdiocese, Chris Lyford, director, at (415) 614-5680. Sat. at 9 a.m.: Pray the Rosary for Life at 815 Eddy St. between Franklin and Van Ness, SF. Call (415) 7524922. Worldwide Marriage Encounter Weekends can add to a Lifetime of Love. For more information or to register, call Michele or George Otte at (888) 568-3018.

Dec. 15: Marche de Noel at Notre Dame des Victoires Elementary School, in NDV Church Hall at 556 Bush St., SF from 10 a.m. - 3 p.m. Food, games, entertainment and a lot of fun including the chance to brush up on your French. Everyone is invited. Call (415) 4210069.

Natural Family Center Seton Medical Planning/Fertility Care Services offers classes in the Creighton Model of NFP. Health educators are also available to speak to youth and adults on topics of puberty, responsible relationships, adolescent sexuality, the use of NFP throughout a woman's reproductive life, and infertility. Call (650) 301-8896 Retrouvaille, a program for troubled marriages. The weekend and follow up sessions help couples heal and renew their families. Presenters are three couples and a Catholic priest. Call Peg or Ed Gleason at (415) 221-4269 or edgleason@webtv.net or Pat and Tony Fernandez at (415) 893-1005..

Dec. 17: Imaging the Nativity: The Gospels, the Arts and St. Francis, an Advent presentation with Franciscan Sister Ramona Miller at National Shrine of St. Francis ol Assisi, 610 Vallejo at Columbus. SF at 7:15 p.m. Call (415)983-0405, Feb. 1: First Annual Crab Feed benefiting St. Paul ol the Shipwreck Elementary School beginning with cocktails at 6:15 p.m.; dinner at 7:15 p.m.; and dancing from 10 p.m. until midnight. Menu features all you can eal crab. Tickets, $30 per person, must be purchased in advance. Call (415) 467-1798.

Pray the Guadalupe Sunday Pro-life Rosary on Dec. 15th starting at 2:45 p.m. Meet at St. Mary 's Cathedral Plaza for procession to Planned Parenthood at 815 Eddy St. Will take place nationwide. Call (415) 752-4922. The Rosary for Life is prayed each Saturday at the site beginning at 9 a.m.

Feb. 8: Late Nite Catechism presented by St. Dunstan Elementary School in Parish Center 115C Magnolia Ave., Millbrae. Curtain at 7 p.m. Tickets $37.50/$35/$32.50. Call (415) 692-9705. First Fridays: Catholic Marin Breakfast Club meets. Mass at 7 a.m. in St. Sebastian Church, Bon Air Rd. and Sir Francis Drake Blvd., Kentfield, with breakfast and presentation following in parish hall. Reservations required to Sugaremy@aol.com or (415) 461-0704 daily. Members $5, others $10. Dues $15 per year. 3rd Wed.: All you can eat Spaghetti Luncheon at Chapel of the Immaculate Conception, 3255 Folsom up the hill from Cesar Chavez, SF. $7 per person. A San Francisco tradition for decades. Reservations not required. Call (415) 824-1762. Knights of Columbus of the Archdiocese meet regularly and invite new membership. For information about Council 615, call Tony Biaiotta at (415) 661-0726; Dante Council, call Vito Corcia at (415) 564-4449; Mission Council, call Paul Jobe at (415) 333-6197; Golden Gate Council, call Mike Stilman at (415) 7523641.

Perf ormance Admission tree unless otherwise noted. Dec. 15: An Evening with Frederica von Stade, at St. Catherine of Siena Church, 1310 Bayswater Ave at El Camino Real, Burlingame at 5 p.m. The internationally known and widely praised mezzo-soprano will be accompanied by St. Catherine's own Chamber Orchestra featuring the talents of Keith Cerny and Francis Renk. Tickets $35/$10. Benefits music programs at St. Catherine Elementary School. Call (650) 344-6669.

Sundays: Concerts at St. Mary Cathedral at 3:30 p.m. Gough and Geary Blvd., SF. Call (415) 567-2020 ext. 213. Concerts are open to the public.

6 Tuesdays, Jan. 21 - Feb. 25: Catholic Evangelization of the Laity with Father Paul Minnehan of the Diocese of Oakland.

Reunions

12 Tuesdays, Jan. 21 - April 8: A Seminar on C.S. Lewis and His Writings with Margaret Turek of Campion Hall College, and John Hurst of St. Gabriel Parish.

Dec. 15: Annual Noel Party of Broadway Alumnae of the Sacred Heart benefiting Convent of the Sacred Heart and Stuart Hal! schools. Celebrate with visits from Santa, kids' arts and crafts, raffle and sing-a-long. Tickets $25/$15/$5. Call (415) 292-3171.

6 Tuesdays, March 4 - April 8: Life in Christ: A Study of Catholic Moral Theology with members of School of Pastoral Leadership faculty.

A February reunion of the class of '52 from Daly City's Jeffe rson High School is being planned. Class members should contact Ario Gregori at (650) 343-7009.

6 Thursdays, Jan. 23 - Feb. 27: Life in Christ: A Study of Catholic Moral Theology with members of the School of Pastoral Leadership faculty.

Vocations/Prayer Opportunities

3rd Sat.: Handicapables gather for Mass and lunch at St. Mary Cathedral, Gough and Geary St., SF, at noon. Volunteer drivers always needed. Call (415) 584-5823. 4th Sat.: Handicapables of Marin meet at noon in the recreation room of the Maria B. Freitas Senior Community adjacent to St. Isabella Church, Terra Linda, for Mass, lunch and entertainment. Call (415) 457-7859.

Dec. 14: Christmas Remembrance Service in All Saints Mausoleum at Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery, Old Mission Rd., Colma at 11 a.m. Prayer service includes music, candle lighting ceremony and tree decorating in memory of loved ones who have passed away. Mass is offered each fi rst Saturday of the month in All Saints Mausoleum at 11 a.m. Call (650) 756-2060. Dec. 18: The Sacrament of Reconciliation is available from 9 a.m. -7 p.m. at St. Agnes Church, 1025 Masonic Ave., SF. The Blessed Sacrament will be present on the main altar throughout the day. Call (415) 487-8560. Jan. 17-19: Discernment Weekend at St. Patrick's Seminary, 325 Middlefield Rd., Menlo Park, for men 21 to 50 years old who want to explore the possibility of the priesthood. Seminary faculty and students conduct the program that includes a look at life at the seminary, personal vocation stories, and concerns about the image of the priest today. An undergraduate degree by 2004 and sponsorship by a Catholic priest required. Call Father Thomas Diaz at (415) 325-5621.

Dec. 15: Evening of seasonal and spiritual music at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church, James and Fulton St., Redwood City beginning at 7 p.m. Refreshments follow. Call (650) 366-3802. Dec. 15: Christmas Concert by St. Philip the Apostle Parish Choir, 725 Diamond St. at Elizabeth St., SF at 4 p.m. $10 donation requested. Call (415) 282-0141. Dec. 19: Christmas Concert by Adult and Children's choirs of St. Charles Parish, 880 Tamarack Ave., San Carlos, at 7:30 p.m. Program includes favorites of the season. Admission free with any donations benefiting the parish organ fund. Call Claire Giovannetti at (650) 591-7349, ext . 32. Sundays: Concerts at 4 p. m. at National Shrine of St. Francis of Assisi, Vallejo and Columbus, SF. Call (415) 983-0405 or www.shrinesf.org. Open to the public. Dec. 9: Sarah Giles, violin; Jonathan Lee, harpsichord; Dec. 16: John Fenstermaker, organ; Tues. Dec. 24: Three Sopranos: Cathy Ellis, Jennifer Ellis, Natasha Hoehn sing carolstraditional and new.

Dec. 19, 26: Courage, a Catholic support group for persons with same-sex attraction, meets Thursdays at 7:30 p.m. Call Father Lawrence Goode at (415) 3333627 or Father Agnel Jose de Heredia at (415) 5672020, ext. 209. Jan. 8: Serra Club of San Mateo meets at 12 noon at the Cronin Center of St Matthew Parish, El Camino Real and 9th Ave., San Mateo with a presentation by Joe Denzel, campus minister at Stanford University. Call Dennis Petlinelli at (650) 341-5050, ext. 130.

School of Pastoral leadership For additional information, callJoni Gallagher at (415) 614-5564 or spl@atl.nel.Pre-registration is necessary lor many programs. Visit the SPL Web site al www.splst.org. 2003 Spring Classes San Mateo

2nd Fri. at 7:30 p.m. at St. Peter Church, 700 Oddstad Blvd., Pacifica. Call Deacon Peter Solan at (650) 359-6313.

6 Thursdays, March 6 - April 10: Models of the Church and Lay Pastoral Leadership Today with Social Service Sister Celeste Arbuckle and members of the Office of Religious Education. When I Was in Prison, You Visited Me with Ray McKeon, Coordinator of Prison Ministry services for Office of Public Policy and Social Concerns plus others from the field. Ministry To and For Young Adults with Dominican Sister Christine Wilcox , Director, Office of Young Adult Ministry, and Mary Jansen, Assistant Director. Catholic Evangelization for the Laity with Nick Wagner of Celebration magazine. Classes are held 7:30 - 9:30 p.m. at Junipero Serra High School, 451 W. 20th Ave., San Mateo; Marin Catholic High School, 675 Sir Francis Drake Blvd. at Bon Air Rd., Kentfield; Mercy High School, 3250 19th Ave., San Francisco. Classes also take place at the Pastoral Center of the Archdiocese, One Peter Yorke Way, San Francisco. For additional information, call Joni Gallagher at (415) 614-5564 or spl@att.net. Preregistration is necessary for many programs. Visit the SPL Web site at www.splsf.org.

Dec. 15: Guadalupe Sunday Pro-life Rosary starting at 2:45 p.m. Meet at St. Mary's Cathedral Plaza for procession to Planned Parenthood at 815 Eddy St. Will take place nationwide. Call (415) 752-4922. Help the LCA Juniors gather vitals for children living in San Francisco homeless shelters. Facilities are most in need of diapers, twin sheets, blankets and pillows, and gently used or new winter coats. Donors may also sponsor "sets of essentials" at $193 for toddlers and

2nd Fri. at 7:30 p.m., St. Dominic Church, 2390 Bush St., SF. Call Laura McClung at (415) 362-1075 3rd Fri. at 8 p.m. at Woodside Priory Chapel, 302 Portola Rd., Portola Valley. Call Dean Miller at (650) 328-2880 1st Sat. at 8:30 p.m. at SF Presidio Main Post Chapel, 130 Fisher Loop. Call Catherine Rondainaro at (415) 713-0225

Single, Divorced, Separated 3rd Thurs.: Meetings at 7 p.m. for New Wings at St. Thomas More Church, 1300 Junipero Serra Blvd. at Brotherhood Way, SF. Dec. 19: Mass at 5:30 p.m., sandwich supper at 6 p.m., Cable Car caroling at 7 p.m. Registration required for caroling. Jan. 16: Jesuit Father Al Groskopf on Annulments. Jan. 18: Potluck dinner at 6 p.m. Call (415) 452-9624 or www.stmchurch.com. Catholic Adult Singles Assoc, of Marin meets for support and activities. Call Bob at (415) 897-0639 for information.

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.Listingmust reach Catholic San Francisco at least two weeks before the Fridaypub licationdate desired. Mail your notice to: Datebook, Catholic San Francisco, One Peter Yorke Way, S.F. 94109, orf a x it to (415) 614-5633.

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3rd Thurs. at 7:30 p.m. at Vallombrosa Center, 250 Oak Grove Ave., Menlo Park with Sister Toni Longo

12 Thursdays, Jan. 23 - April 10: A Study and Practice of the Corporal Works of Mercy with Father William Myers, parochial vicar, St. Anne of the Sunset Parish.

ATTENTION: Teachers and Group Leaders! Back to School Time!

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Dec. 31 - Jan. 1: Welcoming in the New Year with Father John Talesfore provides opportunities for reflective prayer, looking over the past year, and looking forward to the year ahead. $75 per person.

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VALL0MBR0 SA CENTER 250 Oak Grove Ave., Menlo Park. For fees, times and details about these and other offerings call (650) 325-5614. Presentation Sister Rosina Conrotto, Program Director.

The Party Palace

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The Adoption Network of Catholic Charities offers free adoption information meetings twice a month. Singles and married couples are invited to learn more about adopting a child from foster care. Call (415) 4062387 for information.

Our party plans include a discounted bear for all!

111Sutter Street -San Francisco • 415 - 781-7371 (at Montgomery Street) Validated Patent233SutterStreet www.cnaaliajewders.com

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Holy Name of Jesus.... Putting the environment first and winning a prize to boot are , from left, Natalie Haymond, Theresa Chan, and Claire Hill who took the top three spots in the San Francisco Renewable Energy Invention Contest. They were honored in ceremonies at City Hall, with Mayor Willie Brown in attendance. Donning winning wear in the Recycled Fashion Show were Franny Downing, Cruz Ramirez, and Tanya Lau, who designed a vest and belt from plastic 6-pack rings.

St. Emydius. ..First graders here celebrated Halloween by making patriotic ornaments that were shared with firefighters of SFFD. "They're not just a cute group of kids," says longtime parishioner. Cathy Collins, "They're a great group of kids. " First grade teacher is Gale Rosbord. Principal is Judith Borelli. Back from left: Teddy Ford, Jah'Lil Batiste, Dylan Branch, Chris Campbell, Omar Larrea, Christina Vickers. Middle from left: Winston Hill, Jacely Gorospe, Marilyn Mullaney, Tamia Jackson, Treyvon Brown, Front: Sierra Hillman. St. Veronica, South San Francisco...Hats off to faculty here who are marking their 25th year as educators. First grade teacher Janet Burke has taught at St. V's for 16 years with previous service at schools including St. Anne of the Sunset. Her "quality teaching" emanates from her "strong Catholic values and especially her joy in loving children," the school said. Eighth grade teacher Terry Hanley has been a St. V's faculty member for 10 years having also taught at St Charles, San Carlos; St Philip, St Emydius. "Dedication and love" are the heart of his teaching model complemented by a "unique style and sense of humor.".. .Making Happy Meals even happier are 7th grader Kasondra Walsh, 4th grader Jacquelyn Urbina, and 2nd grader Koreena Walsh who have gathered toys from the Mickey D's kids' entree and used them to hel p fill the stockings of needy children at Christmas. Thanks to the girls ' grandmother, Janet Walsh, a St. Veronica parishioner since "the first Mass in 1951," for the info.... —. cj_ Brendan.. .Kudos here -^

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St. Gabriel. . .A sneaker salute to the more than 400 students and friends who partici pated in the 20th Annual Jog-a-Thon in October. Coordinators were Betsy Harrington and Linda Milani-Walker. Missing from the action was 3rd grader Martin Schmalz, son of Valerie anc Patrick, who had to sit out due to a knee injury. Among those out on the track was 3rd grader James Clark, son of Jack and Janet, who also served as race coordinator for the class. The school hopes to beat the $24,000 raised last year. Thanks to neighboring St. Ignatius College Preparatory for use of its track. From left, raising money and their heartbeats, are Christina Torres, Courtney Gong, Caroline Cosgrove, Kaitlin Crawley.... to the many who helped prepare more than 100 desserts for the reception following special commemorations on the first anniversary of the 9/11 tragedies at St. Mary's Cathedral. Special thanks to Holly Olson, Anne Duskin, Kathy and Sarah Lotti and St. Bren's pastor, Father Tom Parenti.... Goings-on at Catholic and non-Catholic schools are welcome here. Simply jot down the basics include a follow-up phone number and mail to School Highlights, One Peter Yorke Way, SF 94109; f a x (415) 614-5641; e-mail tburke@catholicsf.org. Please do not e-mail attachments except photos and those in jpeg at no less than 300 dpi. You may also mail photos - color or black and white - to the above address. Persons in photo must be identified. Questions? Call Tom Burke at (415) 614-5634...

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The Heart's Deepest Longing Our Lady of Angels, Burlingame.. .Showing winning ways on the diamond were this school's boys baseball team recently securing its 3rd consecutive Peninsula Parochial School League championship. Back from left: Cbuck Chavez, coach; Matthew Chavez, Trafton Bean, Chris McCaffery, Bobby McCarthy, Jake Lawson, Tim Ellingson, Mike Ellingson, coach. Front from left: Richie Mirowski, Kevin McGuigan, Kevin Diefendorf, Shaun Partee, Mason Howard.

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Blue Army

May 11-21 Fatima, Portugal / Lourdes , France |AV Bk^*^ Burgos, Zaragoza & Madrid, Spain: $1954 IMay 29-Jun 3 Guadalupe, Mexico (dep, San Diego & Houston) $1198/ $1160 IJuly 15-25 Fatima / Lourdes / Nevers / Chartres / Paris $2333 Huj ¦Sep. 15-25 Loreto, Assisi , Rome TBA Italy: St. San Giovanni Rotondo, ^?^ ISep. 28-Oct 8 Faustina's Poland-Czestochowa/Warsaw/Krakow $2175 TBA H'^M ISep. 29-Oct 9 Madrid & Zaragoza / Lourdes / Fatima BUS PILGRIMAGES 2003 W£>9 of Canada / Auriesville / Stockbridge TBA Shrines L^Z*H June 8-16 St. Jos. Oratory, Our Lady of the Cape, St. Anne I a^Z IOct. 11-19 California Missions; San Diego to San Francisco $1340 ^^^ Capistrano, San Luis Obisbo, Monterey Peninsula

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we visit Shrines in the U.S.A. Army Tours by bus and air |jteW| Journey with Bluerious willasmake departure locations it possible ^^ W Va to I lor everyone join our pilgrimages wL^

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e-mail: bluearmytours@juno.com

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I>r. Peter Kreeft speaking at St. Mary's . . ¦! ' fp IP^I 'SNfcv W I § raHS- * i *^Hp % 1 :

A re nowned speaker and prolific writer , Dr. Peter Kreett is widel y recognized as an authoritative voice on Catholic life. Drawing from his background as a professor of philosophy at Boston College, Dr. Kreeft will be speaking on that mysterious longing for life eternal. Dr. Kreeft will reflect on the nature of Heaven and provide a fascinating glimpse of that "undiscovered country." Come hear him engage intriguing questions about Heaven.

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at Low Cost Retreat Pilgrimages. Special presentations Fatima l^E|FATIMA for private prayer. Led by Fr. Ladis Cizik of The Blue Army and « H |with time Handmaids ^^^^^B by The of Mary Immaculate. July 9-14: Feb. 21-26: $883 ^*J1 Aug. 10-15:$1187 Mar. 9-24: $925 $1578 1 B^*^ |i Bfl $1220 Sep. 10-15: $1165 9-14: May June 10-15: $1215 Oct. 9-14: ^ ^J $1059 November - December: TBA J^s%al

Topics include:

I N FORM ATION : Saturday, January 1 lilt at 4:0(1 & 7-30 Heaven: The I kon 's Deepest timgmg (:athednl (if St. Mary of the Assumption t i l l Gough St., San Francisco (at die comer of"Geary and Gmijtfi Streets) Admission; ¦on , ,,. $15.00 D r Ii j tiv pna. ran TTJUU ,, . ,. "- .,7:30 ... ... , n T , H S:.w OSTS oQewres pm. Light 7:30 - 9:30 pm, Part 2 For more information, call (415) olt-5564 .. .y; ¦¦

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• Why did God create us? ' What is Gud's plan for humanity? « How can we know what Heaven is like? • Does Heaven begin now? • What will we do in Heaven? .How many roads to Heaven? _ , ,. . ,, JJon to see and hear _ _t missT.this ropportunity . . Ur. reter Kreett m person ' __^ '= Brought to you by the Sim FranciscoAnbdiocesanSchool of Pastoral Leadership

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Coming up... t'f. Ikatiiicr Groeschcl, founder ot die Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, wilt tie speaking on "Devotion '•> Ghrtst in tht. 1 li-itory of Christianity " on YVetlnesJay,January 29, 2MB at 10;00 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.

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! Dr. Peter Kreeft , "Heaven : The Heart 's ! Deepest Longing " January 11, 2003 5 ,. , ° o ' „ (Includes light Hors dA>n Oeuvres) 1 r~ _ . .. j. / , , ¦ Jo register pl°.ease nil out this torm and make your 6 i , , , . , ,. v, cc ; check payable to the Archdiocese of San , Francisco, send it to the School of Pastoral tTtS ^ M ^ '^ ] r ! Way, o rrZ . ^ #228 , San Franasco, CA. 94109-6602 j

« Fr. Benedict Groeschel, "Devotion to j Christ in the History of Christianity" $10.00 \ January 29, ¦ 2003. Cost: , ,. «!v™ Cclease¦ibring, own liae lunch) j . •i V L- c r To register please C filln out» this form and make * . hh m of San ^ ^^^^ ^ . Francisco, send it to the School of Pastoral Leadership, c/oJoni GaUagher, One Peter Yorke \ , j Wa> #22g j San FrandsC0j QV 94109-6602.

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Capsule Film Reviews U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops ' Office for Film and Broadcasting. 'The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers ' Visually spectacular second installment of J.R.R. Tolkien's epic fantasy trilogy about the struggle between the forces of good and evil , set in the mythical realm of Middle-earth. Director Peter Jackson seamlessly blends breathtaking locations with cutting-edge effects to tell the timeless tale of Frodo (Elijah Wood), the humble hobbit and unlikely hero, and his companions as they continue their perilous quest to destroy the One Ring, an amulet of unspeakable, seductive power. Many gory scenes of battle violence with several frightening images. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops classification is A-III — adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 — parents are strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

'Treasure Planet'

Cage) easil y sells his cheesy first screenplay. Written by Charlie Kaufman and directed by Spike Jonze, it's a wackily creative mix of serious ponderings and quirky satirical humor offset by Cage 's whiny character, but the final half-hour goes into lethal overdrive. Brief but intense violence, recreational drug use, a sexual encounter, implied masturbation , fleeting nudity and glimpses of a pornographic Web site, much rough language and some profanity. USCCB: A-IV — adults , with reservations. MPAA: R — restricted.

'Die Another Day '

Stripped of his official agent 007 status , James Bond (Pierce Brosnan) teams with a strong , smart American agent (Halle Berry) in Iceland to uncover the identity of a traitor and thwart a pair of villains (Toby Stephens and Rick Yune) from provoking a nuclear confrontation. While the characters seem more superhuman than human, director Lee Tamahori orchestrates lightning-paced , nonstop action and intrigue with visually impressive imagery. Several brief sexual encounters, much stylized violence and mayhem and an instance of profanity. USCCB: A-IV — adults , with reservations. MPAA: PG-13 — parents are strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

'Analyze That '

Coarse sequel in which a jailed mobster (Robert De Niro) is released into the custod y of his reluctant psychiatrist (Bill y Crystal) who soon finds himself in the middle of a mob war. Director Harold Ramis substitutes vulgarity for witty humor in this often flat , always mean-spirited comedy. Comic treatment of crime and promiscuity, intermittent stylized violence, crude sexual references , some profanity and continuous rough language. USCCB : A-IV — adults, with reservations. MPAA: R — restricted.

'The Emperor 's Club'

Thoughtful tale set at a mid-1970s boys ' academy where an idealistic classics teacher (Kevin Kline) compromises his standards while try ing to mold the character of a troubled student (Emile Hirsch). Despite a somewhat pat ending, director Michael Hoffman ' s ethics-centered drama sensitively explores the crucial importance of personal and professional integrity and its lifelong consequences. Mild sexual innuendo , fleeting topless photos and a few instances of profanity. USCCB : A-II — adults and adolescents. MPAA: PG-13 — parents are strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

'Equilibrium'

Derivative sci-fi tale set in a dictatorial future where anyone showing human emotion is summarily executed, but the leading law enforc er (Christian Bale) who is charged with infiltrating the underground resistance movement begins to come around to their way of thinking. Writer-director Kurt Wimmer copies elements of numerous better movies in the genre and pump s up the action but Bale's cold , empty performance dooms interest in the film. Excessive violence and an instance of profanity. USCCB: 0 — morally offensive. MPAA: R — restricted.

Imaginative new animated spin on Robert Louis Stevenson's classic pirate yarn is set in outer space as swashbuckling young Jack Hawkins traverses the galaxy searching for the fabled secret hiding place of a storied treasure trove. Directors John Musker and Ron Clements combine cutting-edge digital effects and traditional animation with captivating visuals, an engaging story and mem- 'Adaptation ' Oddball tale of a self-loathing screenwriter (Nicolas orable characters to underline valuing personal relations and selfless virtue over material gain. Some mildly scary Cage) whose frustrations adapting a book about an scenes. USCCB: A-II — adults and adolescents. MPAA: orchid smuggler and a reporter (Chris Cooper and Meryl Streep) increase when his shallow twin brother (also PG — parental guidance suggested.

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Become a MENTOR for a homeless youth. Local nonprofit seeks volunteers to mentor homeless/formerly homeless youth. Make a difference, become a mentor. Call 415-561-4621 mentor @ homeaway.org I did it so can you ! Sponsored by: jclifford @mcguire.com

Helping Hands. Elderly assistance, pet sitting, dog walking, running errands, reliable person. CAREGIVER Seeking a compasionate and patient caregiverfor an elderly/ handicappedwoman. Valid drivers license. English speaking. References and monthly salary discussed upon interview. Pleasecall Mike at 650-369-6595 or 650-868-9954

ORGANIST WEDDINGS • FUNERALS

Worship Services, Catholic Experience

I'lease confirm your event before contractine music!

Need someone to help care for elderly lady. Light housekeeping $10 per hr. 3 hrs. per day, 3 days per week. Must be honest

Apartment for rent. Extra large 1bedroom, new carpets and paint, parking. Bernal Heights area. $1200 per month.

415-239-1471

Caribbean Mar 16-23, 03 from $899 US. Many Priests & Speakers. Indudes 7 nights cruise, all meals, port taxes, conference, two daily Masses, Healing Masses, Perpetual Adoration, Divine Mercy, Rosarvs, Private Spiritual Guidance, Benediction, Confession. Extension to Betania (Venezuela) (Feast of the Annunciation) Get a Group of 9 & TravelFREE

Dr. Alzona (562) 860-3602 maryspilgrims.com 1-800-VIR-MARY (847-6279)

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TO PlBCe RN AD: By phone, coll (415) 614-5642 or (415) 614-5640 or fox (415) 614-5641 or e-mail: jpena@cotholic-sf.org; Moil or bring ads to CatholicSan Francisco. One Peter Yorke UJoy. Son Francisco, Cfl 941 09; Or by (please include credit card number S expiration date) . „.... „ _«„_„ „_ , * .00 per CXTRfl line - applies to PHIVHTC PARTY HD5: (Four line minimum) $10 for four lines, $1 individuals only, Garage Sales. Help UJanted, Transportation / Vehicles.

COMAttflClnl ADS: (four line minimum) $15 for four lines $2 per gXTR fl line - opplies to Business Services, Real €stote. Buying or Selling for profit and Transportation Dealers

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ads must be paid in advance. Money order or imprinted checks Credit Cards by telephone, mail , or fax. ONLY VISA or MflSTC-RCflRDRCCCPTCD

1st line has 19 spaces, subsequent lines have 26 spaces. €verij letter, punctuation mark or spaces between morels counts as a space.

CATEGORIES:

Announcements Appliances Business Opportunities Child Care Chi dren s Misc. Collectibles Counseling Education/Lessons

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reserve the right ™&™— Uj0 to or LewmmoSiw ._rg^MJ * rejectu canceli advertising For any reason deemed appropriate. UJe want _i 1 . readers . our to know that it is not alujays possible to verif y promises mode by | our advertisers.

Sisters of the Presentation are seeking a Controller to direct most of die organizational unit 's accounting functions; oversee daily accounting operations, cash flow and budgets; analyze and interpret fiscal trends; and prepare financial reports and procedures. Send resume and references to: HR Director, 281 Masonic Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94118-4416 or fax to 415-422-5026. For further information call 422-5024

.• • Special Needs Companion Services % .^ ¦ ¦ ¦

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Looking lor a change? Work lor an organization that is part ol your life .

The Archdiocese of San Francisco has an immediate op ening for a full-time Administrative Assistant to support an executive office which requires heavy word processing and transcription.

Work Full or Part-time in San Francisco - Marin County • Provide non medical elder care in the home • Generous benefit package Fax your resume to: Jeannie McCullough Stiles, RN 415-435-042 1

App licants must have a minimum of 5 years experience in word processing, type at least 60 w.p.m. and have extensive experience transcribing dictation. All candidates must have advanced level of proficiency in Windows 2000 and MS Word and be comfortable doing internet searches. A knowledge of Access, Excel and Outlook would be help ful.

Send your resume: Jeannie McCullough Stiles , RN Special Needs Nursing, Inc. 98 Main Street, #427 Tiburon, Ca 94920

.. Special Needs Nursing, Inc. .. m B H fek —¦MaWa VaWMal ¦B ^dtkt'fcM IKWZ^SiHfti^^ .^tffl I %M ^ikWii^H n^jfllavEc^H ^tahk.

Work FULL or PART time while your children are in school.

The successful app licant will have excellent communication skills, both written and verbal; will demonstrate a high level of organizational skills and be able to work in a fast-paced, multi-tasked environment. Excellent grammar and proofreading skills are required and a proven ability to compose correspondence from general instructions is necessary. Proven ability to handle confidential information in a discreet manner is essential. The successful app licant must have proven experience in coordinating and managing special proj ects and duties as assigned. Familiarity with Catholic terminology is also needed.

Nurses are needed to provide specialized nursing care for children in the San Francisco Public School setting. Generous benefit packages for generous nurses. Fax your resume to: Jeannie McCullough Stiles, RN 415-435-0421

We offer an excellent benefits package. Please fax or e-mail your resume along with salary requirements and a cover letter to:

Send your resume: Jeannie McCullough Stiles, RN Special Needs Nursing, Inc. 98 Main Street, #427 Tiburon, Ca 94920

Katy Andrews Office of Human Resources Fax: 415-614-5536 or e-mail; andrewsk@sfarchdiocese.or g

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The Peninsula Men's Group, now in it's 7th year, is a support group which provides affordable counseling in a safe and nurturing setting. Interested candidates may call for a free brochure.

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Christian Family Counselor te .

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LILA CAFFERY, MA, CCHT

• Family • Marriage Divo rce Recovery • H Change Addictive Patterns: • M|Mf§j§|Smoking, Eating Disorders, Etc. st. Dominies

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How to heal a broken heart? Become a clown By Sharon Abercrombie otre Dame DeNarnur Sister Pat Hoffman became a clown because one year her heart broke in half. Now, in her ministry as "Bodelia ," a juggler, mime and | i worker of magic, Sister Pat helps put other shattered hearts back together. Sister Pat's story of grief goes back to 1982. At the time she was working as a third grade teacher in one of her community 's inner city schools in Los Angeles. Within the same school year, Sister Pat lost two little girl students - one died from leukemia, the other from a drive-by shooting. "There was such sadness, all around. I had to do something to keep my inner child cheered up, " Sister Pat explained. She credits a retired social worker and puppeteer named Miss Pink for saving the day by introducing her to the ministry of clowning. Since then , Sister Pat, a retired teacher at Mission Dolores School, has entertained at L.A. veterans ' hospitals, in the mountains of El Salvador and the Capitol in Washington, at Bay Area parish birthday parties and, most recently, at retirement homes and an oncology center in San Carlos. Sister Pat met Miss Pink at a center for homeless women and children in LA. It was the same place Sister Pat often volunteered as a cook on weekends. She recalls: "I was always in awe of how she was simply available as friend, healer, smiler, and gentle listener to the tales of shattered dreams and aching hearts that poured forth from the lonely women who frequented the center. Even the most hardened faces and calloused hands would soften and relax as the ladies gently stroked Miss Pink's stuffed duck. She could enter deeply into the tangled webs of their lives and give these women hope and encouragement, if even for just a day." As Sister Pat watched Miss Pink from the kitchen, she came to realize this gentle woman in her clown suit and greasepaint and wig had "become a powerful Christ figure for me." Sister Pat says she felt like Zaccheus, tire man in the Scriptures who watched Jesus from afar, too shy to come foiward. In her own case, Sister Pat longed to tell Miss Pink her own story—she wanted to share the journal she had been keeping and show her the pictures of the two little girls who had died. She wanted to tell Miss Pink, how much it had hurt when she rushed to the hospital to bring communion to the child suffering from leukemia, only to find she had died moments before Sister Pat's arrival. Miss Pink must have been blessed with a strong intuitive sense because one day she approached Sister Pat and said, "The healing ministry of Jesus has many faces. Would you like to wear one? Do you want to be a clown?" Sister Pat said she felt like Alice in Wonderland. That's the Above: Sister Pat Hoffman, as day "Bodelia ," her clown charBodelia, and her companion acter, was conceived. The name Bodelia is a variaCharlotte entertain Notre tion on the name of a children's Dame Sister Marie Patrice book, "Amelia Bedelia, " "It' s Donohoe. To the right, Miss about a little girl who is always Pink's Carousel of Clowns. doing something wrong," chuckles Sister Pat, who confesses that for most of her school teaching career, "I only stayed three pages ahead of the kids." Sister Pat joined Miss Pink's Carrousel of Clowns, a philanthropic group whose motto was "bringing love to life " in homeless centers, hospitals and retirement homes. "They welcomed me, helped me to fashion a character, taught me to discover and develop skills I barely knew I had." The Carrousel even gave Sister Pat a new take on Psalm 104 in the Scriptures. "I mean to sing to Yahweh all my life. I mean to play for my God as long as I live., .with juggling balls and bubbles, let me dance, let me skate before the Lord , and proclaim how good you are, my God. I mean to proclaim it and rejoice ," she wrote. Her favorite painting of Christ is "the laughing Jesus. " If die Carrousel of Clowns hadn't invited Sister Pat to go along with them on their joy ride, she probably never would have known she had the ability to juggle, roller skate, or do mime and magic. She probably never would have even considered taking classes to learn how.But a few years later, when she was recovering from surgery, and couldn't teach full time, Sister Pat signed up for these classesat L.A. City College. "They helped to shape my clowning," she said.

In 1989, she took her skills to El Salvador with the San Francisco Sanctuaiy Covenant, even though she didn 't speak Spanish. "At first I hesitated, but soon learned that a clown supercedes language. " She spent her time doing magic tricks for the kids, painting their faces and blowing bubbles. "The kids were delighted. " Soap was so much of a luxury in that country, the idea of having enough of it to play with, to make beautiful glistening bubbles fly through the air and then chase them, prompted many giggles of delight from the small fry. "This ministry is such a contradiction of what goes on in the world," she reflected. A makeup kit, a bottle of bubbles, the witness of a smile, and sometimes even doing deliberately wacky things, can carry people through the day, she said. Sister Pat has been known to infuse large doses of outrageous humor in her ministry. One of Bodelia's mainstay props is a banana shaped telephone, which Sister Pat often brings along on clowning stints. She even took it to Washington D.C., in 1999, when a group of Notre Dame Sisters attended a prayer vigil calling for the closing of the School of the Americasin Ft. Benning Georgia. The School trains elite military corps for Central America, and many of its graduates have been implicated in human rights violations and massacres of indigenous people. Sister Pat would ride the elevators up and down the Dirksen, Hart and Rayburn buildings. When the car would be at its most crowded she would whip out her phone and pretend to be talking to Bill or Hilary Clinton. Mercy Sister Maureen Hally, one of Sister Pat's traveling companions that trip, recalls in the Notre Dame Sisters social justice newsletter, "In typical cell phone tones she would loudly carry on an outrageous conversation that cracked the pretentiousness of the those in the halls and on the elevators. Grins gradually spread into laughter. The clown then gave her pitch to close the SOA. For just a few moments the rich and powerful experienced the joy of not taking themselves so seriously, a much needed tonic!" She repeated her performance on crowded metro cars. "Is that a real banana?" someone would ask. "Yes" she'd reply. "It 's so hard to get carrots at this time of day." In recent years, a delightful monkey hand puppet named Charlotte has become Sister Pat's constant clowning companion. "She 's my alter ego," admits the nun. Charlotte and Sister Pat have been inseparable since the afternoon when Sister Pat was entertaining kids at a birthday party at Mission Dolores School. A parent handed the furry critter over to Sister Pat , "to be your companion in this ministry." Charlotte goes most places with her clown-chum. She even came along to the offices of Catholic San Francisco for their interview. Charlotte and Bodelia have matching outfits, which they change, according to the seasons.

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The two have their own

"clown mobile "—Sister Pat's Toyota which she has papered with just about every progressively environmental, pacifist and social j ustice sticker to be found in the Bay Area. "I never have any trouble finding my car in large parking lots," she says cheerily. Sometimes just for fun , while driving, Sister Pat will whip out her ban ana telephone , and pretend to chat , joining the cadre of other freeway drivers doing the same thing. One day, when a truck driver looked over at Sister Pat , he grinned, and held up a real banana, which he began munching on. Using droll humor to momentarily offset people's feelings of loneliness and sadness "is a wonderfulway to celebrate tire joys of my life and to share my faith with others , " said Sister Pat. Eveiy time she dons her clowning outfit , she begins to "experience living on the edge betwixt and between the worldly and the divine. Clowning around helps me to rehabilitate the region of feeling in my religious life , to stay in touch with the child within me, and to enable others to do likewise. Through clowning, humor can become a vehicle for transforming and changing things. It helps people to listen with their hearts. " Sister Pat Hoffman keeps an assortmentof mottos, which define clowning as a ministry. One of her favorites , is "the greatest exercise of the heart is to reach down and lift others up." From the loving circle of her clown friend's arms, Charlotte the Monkey shakes her head in agreement.