December 18, 2009

Catholic san Francisco Northern California’s Weekly Catholic Newspaper

(CNS PHOTO/NICOLO ORSI BATTAGLINI, ART RESOURCE)

INSIDE THIS WEEK’S EDITION ‘Year for Priests’ profile . . . . . . 3 Advent Season of Caring . . . . 6 St. Mary’s Chinese Schools . . . 8 Christmas Liturgies . . . . 12-17 Archbishop’s Journal, letters 18

Guadalupe pilgrimage draws 40 parishes ~ Page 5 ~ December 18, 2009

News in brief ~ Pages 10-11 ~

Media, Datebook Children’s books ~ Pages 24-25 ~ ONE DOLLAR

Scripture and reflections .20-21 Services, Classified ads . 26-27

NEXT ISSUE JANUARY 8 VOLUME 11

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No. 39

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Catholic San Francisco

December 18, 2009

On The

From left: Capuchin Father Matt Elshoff, provincial, Capuchin Friars of Western America Province; Capuchin Father Michael Mahoney, pastor, Our Lady of Angels Parish in Burlingame; and Capuchin Father Flavian Welstead at evening honoring Father Flavian on his 50th year as a Capuchin Friar.

Where You Live

By Tom Burke

and Mar Rayos, longtime parishioners of St. Stephen’s in San Francisco. Mar, a retired pediatrician, and Mila, a retired nurse, met in the Big Apple while interning in their respective fields with Mar later practicing at San Francisco’s St. Luke’s Hospital and Mila at UCSF and St. Luke’s. Their children, Marianne, Nelson and Ben are all graduates of St. Stephen school and for high school it was Mercy, San Francisco for Marianne and St. Ignatius College Preparatory for Nelson and Ben. “The whole clan will celebrate this milestone in Hawaii,” Mar said in a note to this column….. Catholic Charities CYO’s Annual Vincenzo Wine Tasting and Auction raised more than $150,000 Nov. 6. Proceeds benefit the agency’s St. Vincent School for Boys in San Rafael and the San Francisco Boys and Girls Homes. Roberta Gonzales of CBS-5 news emceed the evening. Sponsors included Maureen and Craig Sullivan, Cecilia and Jim Herbert, Jeannie Lawson, Charles Louderback, and Cristina and Robert Morris.

Hannah Bryan, a graduate of the girls’ home and now a mother of three and a nursing student, spoke about her experience moving the more than 250 guests to rally almost $50,000 for a nursing support program at the three CCCYO residential youth programs…. Rich McLinden of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Parish in Redwood City loved the service and surgeries he recently experienced Mila and Mar Rayos flanked by grandchildren, Gienel and Neil Rayos, with, back at Seton Medical Center in from left, John and Marianne Wong with their children Stephen and Caroline; Gigi Daly City. The lad underwent and Nelson Rayos; and Ben and Berty Rayos with their daughter, Catherine. back surgery, and two hip

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replacements. Rich said that before the operations, standing up was even a challenge. “Then these outstanding doctors Dr. Kevin Finnesey, Dr. Jim Reynolds, and Dr. Michael Reyes - and their staffs came to my rescue,” Rich said adding he’s been totally healed. “The little things in life that we take for granted,” Rich said, “and when you can’t do these things, it’s terrible.” Rich was also grateful to the nursing staff and all who are part of the service picture at Seton but most of all, he said, to his wife Mary, who “stands by me through everything.” Rich just celebrated his 54th birthday. “This was one of the best presents I could have received,” he said….

(PHOTO BY DREW ALTIZER, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED)

Capuchin Father Flavian Welstead was honored for his 50 years as a Capuchin Friar at a Mass and reception Oct. 17 at Our Lady of Angels Parish in Burlingame, where he serves as a parochial vicar. Father Flavian, as he is known to young and old alike, entered religious life Sept. 17, 1959 and was ordained May 21, 1967. Born in Ireland, he has served in the missions of Zambia, parishes in Oregon and California including OLA, where he has ministered for more than 20 years, and his congregation’s high school in Southern California. “I am grateful above all for the Capuchin brotherhood,” Father Flavian told me, “and for the marvelous people I have been able to serve and know. There have been hills and valleys throughout my time but the goodness of those around me and the grace of God have unfailingly lifted me up.” The Capuchin Friars of the Western America Province have served at Our Lady of Angels since the parish was founded in 1926 and celebrate their 100th year in 2010…. From the mouths of babes said Margaret Anne Kerns, who teaches fifth grade Religious Education at Holy Angels Parish in Colma. “I told the children how Mary prepared for Christ’s birth and we talked about the family connection between Christ and John the Baptist and that they were cousins,” Margaret, who also serves as music director at Holy Angels, told me “On that, my student Yvette Gomez said, ‘Oh, then God’s is John’s uncle.’ Sounds right to me,” Margaret affirmed…. Happy 50 years married to Mila

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Catholic San Francisco

December 18, 2009

3

Pastor reflects on his vocation, priesthood, parish ministry and ‘trust’ in God Father Tom Hamilton knew as early as his Anthony Parish in Novato where he was pastor boyhood years that he wanted to be a priest. from 2003-2008, and earlier, St. Robert’s in “Priesthood was always in sight for me,” Father San Bruno. The gratitude continues, he said, in Tom told Catholic San Francisco. “I grew up his work at St. Gabriel Parish in San Francisco where he has been pastor since 2008. with the idea of wanting to be a priest.”

“It’s a great thing to Study toward ordination be in a parish like St. began after eighth grade and Gabriel’s,” Father Tom led to the Marist Fathers said. “Every generation seminary program in San is represented and we’re Francisco in 1971. “I left in becoming more and more 1975 and went home to test diverse culturally.” my vocation and see if it “It’s been a wonderful was mine or my mom’s,” he experience and it’s hard to said, remembering tenderly believe a year has gone by. how his mom’s “being so St. Gabriel’s is a very welunabashedly proud” of his coming parish with a very becoming a priest somecompetent and loyal staff. I times blurred the motivahave not one complaint. I’ve tion. Father Tom returned to been very blessed everyformation and study for the Father Tom Hamilton where I’ve ever been.” priesthood 10 years later and was ordained for the Marists Dec. 10, 1988.

“I’m especially enjoying the school at St. During assignments for the Marist Gabriel’s,” he said, calling principal, Mercy congregation, Father Tom celebrated Mass Sister Pauline Borghello “an amazing lady” and on many weekends in churches of the noting confidence many have in her abilities is Archdiocese of San Francisco. “I came to “well deserved.” The school has “a wonderful know and like very much the local Church staff,” he said, with “many having attended the and priests of the Archdiocese of San school or sent their children there.”

Francisco,” he said. Father Tom’s increasing Father Tom remembered how a person connection with the Church of San Francisco approached him at a parish where he was and his “growing to love the people here” assigned at another time and asked if he was led to his requesting incardination as a priest going to “fill the shoes’ of the priest who had of the Archdiocese of San Francisco which left. ‘No,’ he told her, ‘Father took his shoes became official in 2004. with him.’

“It’s been a joy and privilege to serve the “We don’t come to replace anyone,” Father people of God,” Father Tom said, “I’ve learned Tom said. “What gifts they are and how silly and continue to learn so much from them.” He that would be to try. We come to share our said he is thankful for the time and ministry he gifts, make our home with the parishioners has been able to share with the people of St. for a while and to learn from them.”

Father Tom is named for his dad’s cousin, Father Thomas Murphy, of the Diocese of Owensboro, Kentucky. “In a sense, maybe I was predestined,” he said, “but I certainly had the mark on my forehead. We always had close relationships with priests and religious and valued their friendship.”

“I’m at home in the priesthood,” Father Tom said. “I’ve had enough positive reflection from the people of God to say there’s something to it besides my opinion and that it is something the Lord has gifted me with for the sake of the Church. I am grateful for that.”

Father Tom recalled his ordination and celebrating the funeral Masses of his mom and dad as “poignant and moving moments” of his priesthood. He said he did not think he could undergo the emotional strain of presiding at his mom’s Mass, who predeceased his dad, until he spoke with his younger sister.

“She told me that ‘none of us knows what it would take to do it, but if you could you’re the only one who can and it’s the gift only you can give.’”

Father Tom said memorable moments also come in his daily ministry experience including “kindergartners yelling and waving in the yard, being at the bedside of someone in the process of going from this life to the next and being with the family struggling to cope with that, baptizing a child and seeing the wonder and the love and the life of the family.” What he hears from these moments, he said, is “This is right.

The Lord is here.”

“Each of us in every generation, every economic class, every persuasion of any description knows as a people that the mission of the Church is the proclamation of Jesus and somewhere within each of us we know what that means in terms of our own fidelity or lack of it or struggle to live it. I continue to trust that the Spirit will lead us.”

Father Tom said in this Year for Priests he’d request prayers for himself and all priests. “It’s what keeps me going,” he said. “I really don’t need anything else.”

This story is part of a Catholic San Francisco series during the “Year for Priests.”

About the Cover

‘Let us go, then, to Bethlehem’ The Nativity is depicted in this detail view from the “Adoration of the Magi” by Italian artist Gentile da Fabriano at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy. The Christmas season begins with the Dec. 24 evening vigil commemorating the birth of Christ and ends with the feast of the Baptism of the Lord, Jan. 10, 2010.

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Catholic San Francisco

December 18, 2009

Santa Rosa election tests Catholic health care labor-management relations

By Rick DelVecchio A six-year-long union organizing campaign that has drawn national attention as a test of the ground rules for labormanagement relations in Catholic health care has reached a milestone as workers at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital vote on whether or not to be represented by a union.

An election supervised by the National Labor Relations Board will be held Dec. 17 and 18 as 664 service and technical workers vote in a three-way contest.

Workers will choose whether or not to be represented by the National Union of Healthcare Workers or the Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West, or to remain unrepresented.

The election will go to a runoff if none of the three choices wins a majority. In addition, the result could be delayed if ballots are challenged by one or more parties.

The election is unusual because the two unions vying for workers’ allegiance are campaigning against each other as well as against the employer. The two are accusing one another of thwarting unionization efforts that began at the hospital in 2004.

Organizing strategies The presence of contesting unions on the ballot reflects a national split over organizing strategies between two groups of labor leaders in the health care industry on the West Coast. The stakes for the unions and the employer are high because the election is the first attempt to organize service and technical employees in the St. Joseph Health System, which operates 14 facilities in California, Texas and New Mexico.

The break occurred in January when the Washington, D.C.-based Service Employees International put United Healthcare Workers West in trusteeship, citing an investigation that alleged financial and other improprieties.

The evicted officers and employees of UHW responded by forming the National Union of Healthcare Workers and filing a motion for a union election at Santa Rosa Memorial.

The SEIU-UHW in turn accused the new union of improper conduct in the breakaway effort and filed a motion to intervene in the election, resulting in a head-to-head battle between unions.

In a statement Nov. 30, Msgr. John Brenkle, pastor of St. Helena Parish near Santa Rosa and a long-time supporter of workers’ efforts to have a fair election at the hospital, accused the SEIU-UHW of “waging an anti-union campaign� against the newly formed union.

But SEIU-UHW spokesman Steve Trossman said his union is the better choice for workers. He called NUHW a “splinter organization� that lacks the ability and strength to represent the hospital employees.

Asked to comment on the charges leveled by SEIU-UHW, Sal Rosselli, interim president of NUHW, said in an e-mail: “SEIU will say anything to justify what they’ve done to these workers.�

Rosselli said “there is no justification— ever—for an organization that purports to be a union to spend workers’ dues money attacking other workers.� He charged that SEIU “made a decision more than a year ago to abandon these workers for political reasons.�

Extended campaign The election is the latest phase in an extended campaign by organized labor that centers on how unionization efforts are governed at St. Joseph Health System hospitals. Labor has sought agreement from the hospital chain, run by The Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange, on election rules that respect Catholic social teaching and go further than the guidelines provided for in the National Labor Relations Act. Catholic teaching requires that workers have freedom of choice in deciding who, if anyone, should represent them, and that they have the right to decide through a free and fair process, according to a 1999 U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops working paper.

A June 2009 USCCB document, “Respecting the Just Rights of Workers: Guidance and Options for Catholic Health Care and Unions�, encouraged civil dialogue and urged unions and employers to focus on how workers’ right to decide will

had standing to represent employees. “There were two unions that demonstrated a show of standing,� Kevin Andrus, a spokesman for the St. Joseph Health System, said. “We agreed that we would sit down with both of those unions and work out guidelines between the three of us. The SEIU refused to meet with us and the NUHW and thus we were not able to negotiate.�

In September, the North Bay Labor Council urged SEIU-UHW to either withdraw from the contest or agree to ground rules in order not to delay a decision on union representation.

The union later rejected an offer by Msgr. Brenkle and former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich to help set election ground rules, Msgr. Brenkle said in his in Nov. 30 statement. “Not only has the SEIU itself been waging an anti-union campaign against the NUHW,� Msgr. Brenkle said, “but SEIU’s refusal to negotiate ground rules has given management the freedom to continue the same anti-union practices we have been working for so long to prevent.�

The employer, Msgr. Brenkle told Catholic San Francisco, never agreed to USCCB ground rules but pledged not to have mandatory pre-election meetings or call meetings for the sole purpose of discussing the union.

But Msgr. Brenkle said he has been concerned about the employer’s actions leading up to the election. “The major disappointment is a Catholic institution would be so aggressively anti-union,� he said.

Msgr. Brenkle has urged the formation of a citizens’ oversight committee to monitor the election and is offering the workers a word of advice. “Whatever union you choose,� he said, “keep on eye on the union as well as management.�

The St. Joseph Health System’s stance in the election has been strictly neutral and factual, spokesman Andrus said. “We support our employees’ right to make an informed decision and to choose for themselves whether or not they would like to be represented by a union, and if they so choose, what union that should be.�

be respected. It discouraged management from using traditional anti-union tactics and unions from publicly attacking Catholic health care organizations.

Workers’ freedom of choice has been the central issue in unionization attempts at Santa Rosa Memorial since 2004, with labor supporters complaining that the employer has resisted their efforts to let workers decide. Labor’s frustration over the St. Joseph Health System’s response to unionization efforts at Santa Rosa Memorial and other hospitals made national news in the summer of 2008 when demonstrators protested outside The Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange Motherhouse in Orange, California.

The main draw of unionization for workers is that they feel it would give them more of a voice in how they do their jobs, said Nancy Timberlake, a technician at Santa Rosa Memorial and a member of the NUHW organizing committee. Economic issues are secondary, she said. “The place where I work is the one of the better places to work but I found much difficulty in working with management over the years in having my ideas heard,�

Timberlake said.

Success and setbacks The Santa Rosa Memorial campaign achieved one of its long-term goals when, in 2008, the St. Joseph Health System agreed to discuss election ground rules, according to NUHW. That October, union organizers at the hospital began gathering workers’ signatures in support of an election. By January, they had enough names to put the question of unionization to a vote.

However, in late January the effort was set back when the SEIU placed the West Coast organization in trusteeship. That action, and the SEIU’s later intervention in the election sought by the new union, halted the progress that workers had been making toward negotiating ground rules, Timberlake said. “The irony of the whole thing is the employer said they would not sit down with us,� Timberlake said. “They would only discuss ground rules with both unions.�

The employer had agreed to negotiate guidelines with any union that showed it

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Catholic san Francisco Newspaper of the Archdiocese of San Francisco

Most Reverend George H. Niederauer, publisher Maurice E. Healy, associate publisher & executive editor: healym@sfarchdiocese.org Editorial Staff: Rick DelVecchio, assistant editor: delvecchior@sfarchdiocese.org; Tom Burke, “On the Street�/Datebook: burket@sfarchdiocese.org;

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December 18, 2009

Catholic San Francisco

5

Our Lady of Guadalupe pilgrimage

(PHOTOS BY JOSE LUIS AGUIRRE/CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO.)

The 16th annual Cruzada Guadalupana pilgrimage in honor of Our Lady of Guadalupe marched Dec. 12 from All Souls Parish in South San Francisco to St. Mary’s Cathedral in San Francisco. More than 40 parishes from the Archdiocese of San Francisco participated in the multicultural event. Father Agnel De Heredia, pastor at All Souls, prayed the first decade of the rosary and blessed the pilgrims and the religious articles they carried.

Marchers prayed the second decade of the rosary at Holy Cross Cemetery, the third at Holy Angels Parish, the fourth at St. John Evangelist Parish and the fifth at the cathedral. Concluding the 12-mile walk, the pilgrims greeted the icon of Our Lady of Guadalupe in the cathedral. The event ended with a Mass celebrated by Archbishop George H. Niederauer, with concelebrants Auxiliary Bishop William Justice; Our Lady of Mt. Carmel pastor Father John Balleza, chaplain to Cruzada Guadaluplana; St. John the Evangelist pastor Msgr. Jose Rodriguez, Spanish vicar for the archdiocese; Father Marlon Verduzco, parochial vicar at St. Peter Parish in San Francisco. St. Mary’s parishioner Pedro Garcia Mendez, founder and general coordinator of the pilgrimage, also thanked St. Mary’s pastor Father John Talesfore and his staff for their support. In December, 1531, the Blessed Virgin appeared to Juan Diego in Tepeyac, a hill in the present Mexico City. Known as Our Lady of Guadalupe, she is revered for raising the indigenous people of Mexico from nature worship to Christianity.

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catholic charities cyo thanks the following individuals for their generous support of the 2009 advent season of caring fund: $10,000 or more Bernard P. Hagan Muriel & Hugh Harris Anonymous

Roger Nuxoll Marie & John Roberts Dr. Lois Scully Jennifer O. Shepard Judith & Jim Stark Victoria Turgeon Diane Wilsey

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$250-$499 Anne & Carlos Alvarez Mabel & Jeffrey Bialik Laurie E. Buntain Assia & John Cioffi Suzanne Crane Frank Giorgi Hardison, Komatsu, Ivelich & Tucker Henry C. Hatcher John V. Lowney John Morey James Reynolds Mr. and Mrs. Connie Shiu Mary & Glen Smith Anonymous (3) $100-$249 Nick Andrade & Jim McDermott Sandra Bainbridge Eileen Barry & Mike D’Arcy Shannon Bauschka Emilie & Robert Beaudreau Kathleen Beaulieu Sandra & Norman Bennett Maryann & Paul Bensi Dianna Berges Stella Bielat Margene & Louis Brignetti Lisa M. Brinkmann Margaret Buting Conchita Chao Monica & Raymond Conrady Jean & Philip Cosentino Mary Lou & Robert Coyle Justus J. Craemer

Carol & John David Kate De Martini Kathleen B. Deasy Maria Dirk Zeida & Ramon Dominguez Catherine M. Dompe Cleo Donovan Sandy Drew Shelley & Joseph Eberle Marguerite & Maury Edelstein Sister M. Ellene Egan, RSM Olallo L. Fernandez Fran & James Ferry Mr. and Mrs. Thomas A. Flahavan Jane Beatty & Matthew Foehr Dr. Lynda M. Frattaroli Freedom in Christ Evangelical Church Cecelia Gaddini Mary & Peter Gage Valerie & Edward Garaventa Rita P. Garcia Lorraine Gotelli Jean & Bob Gray Sal Guglielmino Vera Hannon Marina & Michael Hardeman Jane Harney Kathleen B. Hefner Helen M. Hough Robert T. Imagawa Christine A. Jarvis Monsignor James P. Keane Karyn & Tom Kennedy Patricia Kiely John J. Kiernan Grace M. Lam Margie R. Lariviere Margie & Lloyd LeRoy Marjorie Liboon Carol & Steve Lombardi Grace Madison Patrick Mahoney

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Because of space considerations this donor listing includes gifts of $100 and more through December 10, 2009.

we invite you to join them to help make a difference to our neighbors in need. donate at www.cccyo.org/seasonofcaring and look for stories of actual clients whose lives have been changed thanks to your generous support.

6

Catholic San Francisco

December 18, 2009

Catholic Charities CYO’s ‘Advent Season of Caring’ A glimpse into 24 Hours of Catholic Charities CYO Counseling Services • A severe alcoholic is maintaining sobriety and showing up for weekly appointments to supplement his recovery.

• A parish priest expressed concerns for two parishioners. CCCYO Counseling Services will counsel one and has provided referral services for the other • A couple working on marital issues has been energized to work on their marriage through outside ‘homework’ • A child psychology resident from a hospital in Southern California received a phone consult dealing with a 15-year-old boy who overdosed while on vacation visiting his mother • A 78-year-old depressed female received counseling to deal with personal losses and is encouraged to increase socialization at the senior center.

In 2008-09, Catholic Charities CYO’s therapists and interns provided counseling to more than 400 families and individuals struggling with emotional and behavioral challenges brought on by the stress of difficult times.

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With help from her case worker, she learned concrete skills she can use to manage her emotions.

• A childhood incest survivor began to find her voice to speak about her personal trauma, leading her on the road to recovery • A client dealing with assertiveness and self-esteem deficiencies learned to be more confident, happier and to improve personal relationships, thus advancing his career as a result of therapy.

• A formerly bitter, angry, depressed and explosive man concentrated on his goal to become more calm, loving and centered. By improving his personal and work relationships, he now feels the greater purpose in his life.

• A teenage client dealing with anger and violent outbursts at home and her parents reported more calm and easy going interactions as a result of counseling.

Special Report The stories and experiences of the clients at Catholic Charities CYO’s San Mateo Counseling Services are as dynamic and unique as the clients themselves. No two cases are alike and every day brings resolution to new challenges. We met with Dr. David Ross, Director of CCCYO’s San Mateo Counseling Services, who opened a window for us on a single day’s activities. Consider what has been accomplished in support of those undergoing stress in just 24 hours: • A man with ADHD received help and guidance in organizing his life so he can be a more supportive and attentive father.

• A teenage mother learned to access her support system so she can leave an abusive boyfriend.

• A couple repaired their marriage by communicating and getting to know one another again giving their children a more stable home life.

CCCYO’s Treasure Island Supportive Housing brings hope to a family of five took a turn for the worst, Leon hit another down point when he lost his job. He immediately went to Diego ready to meet this challenge head on.

“A job offers security and hope for any man,” notes Diego. “When anyone loses their job, they also lose a piece of their dignity. Leon is a man who wants to provide, I couldn’t let him lose his dignity when it is out of his control.” With Diego’s support Leon was able to secure another position and is currently employed.

The Figgins Family is on a path to self-sufficiency.

They are active in the Treasure Island community and benefit from the opportunities available through the TISH program. The community acts as an extended family that supports clients where they live. Leon meets with LaShay and Diego on a regular basis so he can continue to grow in independence. When the childcare program Kidango needed to close, LaShay helped Leon obtain alternative care for the children. Leon’s son is now enrolled in kindergarten with a CCCYO, page 7

secure childcare for his children and employment for himself. With the help of his case manager LaShay Thomas and TISH Employment Coordinator Diego Rios, Leon started working to meet his goals immediately.

“When you don’t have anything, you know you have to work to obtain something,” Leon explains. “Treasure Island provides me with opportunities that many others don’t have. I couldn’t let my children down.”

Diego was able to line up job opportunities for Leon almost immediately. Leon was able to complete the Maintenance Training Program through Community Housing Partnerships (CHP). It was not long until TISH helped find childcare through another island program, Kidango Treasure Island Center. Once the children were enrolled, Leon was able to begin working. Patricia also started seeking better opportunities. She completed the CHP Desk Clerk Program and is now working.

Leon had finally reached a balance in his life through working and providing for his family. But as the economy

Special Report Leon Figgins is a hard-working father of three children all under the age of five. For his family, life has been full of ups and downs. After years of struggling with homelessness and unemployment, Leon and his family are working toward a life of independence with the help of Catholic Charities CYO’s Treasure Island Supportive Housing Program.

Before arriving at Treasure Island, The Figgins Family spent their time trying to keep a consistent roof over their heads. Leon, his girlfriend Patricia and their children spent time in emergency shelter housing including Hamilton Family Shelter, a CCCYO partner program, and CCCYO’s own St. Joseph’s Family Shelter. Leon wanted more for his children and for himself. He was determined to break his own cycle of poverty.

In 2007, Leon moved his family to Treasure Island Supportive Housing (TISH). His first priorities were to

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ol has now chosen issue and in his speech ki tive to address this issu be a priorvery clear that this will Bishop ying there made it in this administra tion,” – Saying adm WASHINGTON (CNS) psalmist’s mist’s call ity for him Catholi News Service. the is “no greater work than it,’” nearly five Hubbard told Catholic positive response “(The letter) is a vvery and shows supto ‘seek peace and pursue edged their pledged have delivered deliv leaders he dozen Christian bama in his to the address Obama face of religious leaders support to President Barack ing Israeli- port across a broad fa begun now has what that determination tha effort to end the long-stand openn a new era our proceed with al all diligence,” he said. must Palestinian conflict and University, In his address at Cairo of U.S.-Muslim relations.4 too the White a renewed effort In a letter sent June ch in Cairo, the president called for Israelis and speech be House after Obama’s they were pleased to seek peace between the effort must s said said but s, leaders the Egypt, clear commit- Palestinian world as partners in the to hear about the president’son diplomacy” involve the entire w a two-state for support hands-on offered He ment “to sustained, for Palestinians process. which he ssaid would end the conto secure safety and peace safety and security to rally Christians solution, flict and guarantee the and Israelis and offeredthe effort. nationwide to support lic, Episcopal, for both Israel and Palestine. s to abanObama called ffor Palestinian Representing Catholic, erican merican their goal of a frican-Am African-A a Protestant, Orthodox, es, the Christian don violence to achieve to end the as well as for Israel and evangelical churches, s on Palestinian itical stalemate homeland of settlement sett expansion leaders said the political andd Israelis requires b people to recognize between Palestinians d” to negotiate an land. He urged both the United right to exist and said a “strong, helping hand” ingg people the other’s wor such an outcome. ng-warrin long-warr States would work for must involve the agreement between also effort The peace eff in the region. of Albany, A states, the president Bishop Howard J. HubbardConference cooperation of Arab polihe U.S. promise to align America’s N.Y., chairman of the Committe e on said. He promised ps w pursue peace. of Catholic Bishops Peace, was among cies with those who that tension exists dg Acknowledging International Justice and president’s posiid the U and Muslims around between the U.S. the signatories. He said S, page 22 the bishops.

CHRIST N LEADER CHRISTIA tion paralleled that of that the president eased pleased very are “We

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and much to learn from science The Catholic Church has says jurist John Noonan. change, , law about welcoming is no threat to core principles Adapting to experience as much by modifying its shown and the Church has freedom and other important a judge views on slavery, religious Noonan, years, the over areas of moral teaching of Appeal, said Feb. 17 in a Court made by the Speaker invitation of the Ninth Circuit of San Francisco. r’s controversial remarks Archbishop Niederaue until Feb. talk at the University ‘We were wrong,

By Cindy Wooden Pelosi had accepted place all the time saying, take met are s not XVI did “Courts “Scientist said.

Benedict meeting the – Pope theory,’” Noonan at the time, but a were released following VATICAN CITY (CNS) speaker of the change, and but now we have a better Rep. Nancy Pelosi, all Catholics, 8. No details or statements p Niederauer and Speaker Experience dictates privately with U.S. change their minds. the legitimacy of the courts. But and told her that meeting between Archbisho House of Representatives, work to protect this doesn’t underminein litigation of cases for change. coinare lawmakers, must Pelosi. with Pope Benedict especially those who there is a mechanism Speaker Pelosi’s meetingto Italy, where she met with stage. always invite this. , has been human life at every and it can visit The Church doesn’t from San Francisco for keepinfallible, it’s fallible, cided with her official political leaders. than Pelosi, a Democrat “If a statement is not for her support Italian government and “Certainty is less important Her 15-minute meeting criticized by many Catholics be changed,” he said. stating that she is “an took publicly while the with Pope Benedict in the ing abortion legal, understanding.”

5 appointed Noonan to Niederauer’s Sept. place in a small room after ardent” Catholic.

President Ronald Reagan Notre Dame the See Archbishop as professor at the and of Vatican audience hall “His Holiness took the bench. He has served general of law at the University of at www.catholic-sf.org the pope’s weekly School and professor was special staff member opportunity to speak natural column Law Noonan audience. rchdiocese.org requirements of the California at Berkeley. Council, chair of the Brookline church’s www.sfa on the meeting, Security al comment National moral law and the on the Vatican the Presidenti of member of the Subsequent to the Francis in which she said, death,” consistent teaching Redevelopment Authority, and the American Future and cans mark office distributed a statement from conception to natural ty to praise Pelosi’s life Population the human opportuni on of the and anniver on had following dignity I Health 800th Commissi a statement released sary “In our conversation, in fighting poverty, hunger and National Institutes of the Vatican said in consultant to both the nt for the Humanities. leadership church’s dedication the Father’s Endowme meeting. require Church as the Holy Feb. 18 the National church’s own teaching on his 2005 book “A ~ Page 10 ~ global warming, as well his upcoming trip and message Natural law and the Noonan’s talk focused and legislators, jurists and freedom second especially the religious to Change.” for and society, to revised “all Catholics, trip is scheduled That Can and Cannot that, just as the Church April the common good of of good 10, to Israel.” The papal husband, Paul, accompanied her those responsible for The book argues saw authentic 2009 with all men and women week of May. Pelosi’s pope. over the years as it (and thus its work in cooperation system of laws capable of prothe dogmatic teaching its practice to the meeting with staunch defender of legalized ent, so it has revised seen authentic developwill in creating a just stages of its development,” the a developm been g has all Pelosi Coincidin as it has 7 tecting human life at of reproductive rights.n five weeks teaching) over the years USF SPEAKER, page abortion in the name Speaker statement said. for Life in Washingto meeting with the pope, with the 2009 March POPE TELLS PELOSI, page 10 H. Ten days prior to her with Archbishop George to Pelosi Pelosi met in San Francisco extended an invitation Niederauer, who had

pope s must protect life, Catholic legislator in meeting at Vatican followed tells Speaker Pelosi meeting. The invitation August. last last fall for a pastoral

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Square, the pope May 8-15 trip said he would make the remem to Jordan, Palestinian territories as Israel and the have ber the Palestinian peace, in the peopl endured great a “pilgrim hardship and e who father of all.” name of the one God who of ing,” he said. sufferis Pope Bene Pope Bened dict praye would show the regionict said he wante d to region bless the Palestiniansd that God

By Cindy ted the Catho ’s people how comm ’s people “with and all Wooden the gifts of the ing everyone lic Church is to suppo it- and peace.”

VATICAN unity engaged in rtN CITY (CNS recon In his main dialogue ciliation XVI asked ) – Prepa or prayers stable and lastinand working “to reachand addition to goingtalk, the pope said that Palestinian for for his trip, ring to visit the Holy in to a g encou peopl peace for ople. ing Land, rage mutual respe peace in the he with justice Reciting thee e. ct.” and Pope wanted to follow in the peacemakregion and Pope Benedict “Regina Coeli Addressing for the suffer Paul VI, footsteps ” prayer May English-speakin ing tors, 1964, and Popewho visited the region of 3 with tthous the pope g in ands of visito afflicted peopl asked for prayers for visi- his pilgrimage John Paul II, who made rs in St. Peter’ in “the e” s Pope Bened 2000.

“In a specia of the Holy Land. ict said he would l way, I ask “princ ipal visit holy sites of that you the our POPE PRAYfaith” and, as

By Rick DelV ERS, page 6 ecch cchiio o Patrick Tinsley at the comes wit Focus on search with the proces H. Niederauer confirms Park. ingg for a new Archbishop George s Parish in Menlospiritu with a sens sense of ally health job but Mass at St. Raymond from May 20 Confirmation place of trust y and never let pride takestay calm and kknowlfaith and . To see more images guided attem in God. sponsor, Bill Campbell edge of the the comp the link on the With Patrick is his Jesuit. Father aanionship at St. Raymond, follow our desolationpt at solving on such topics George Schul of olic-sf.org Jesus. tual the Confirmation Mass www.cath by at directo e as tze, sinful values labor the spirir means.”

Online homepag and the spiritu organizing and Catholic ick’s University in at St. Patric k’s Seminary “You and I, Catholic San Francisco the sons Alcohol, drugs, He recounted al nature of work. k, shared that and and daughte sage with job Menlo Park, por- his father ters of God, a person nography, infide 27 for a meetinseekers who gathered mes- clearly find ourse , George Schul al story about lity and o lves at theft are the April times operator tze Sr., employment g of Edgew ewood ood Works in the desert Christ rises from d vices, he said.well-known in Redw who worked in a shingl a forklift of life his social justice support group up started by , an with thought hts Teresa Wo Ye at St. tomb in this depiction of the Easter moral risks The list of to injury ood City until he lost hise factory also includes in Redwood ministry at St.. Matthias the donment and of abanin his early job due story by Ignatius Cathedral Parish he debilitating City. despair,” the feast of the Resurr “My own father, 50s. in Shanghai, China. despondency said. “We comFather his after Schult who was forced and thoughts Easter, are in a ection, is April 12 at an early state of society.” In an interview their total focus ze said job seeker of suicide. to eekers age, in the Latin rite this Bishop Dowling “Our body has to passed away,” within a year’s timeretire . task off s must give have twodesolation. We H the e g mencement speech, fellow bishops, r year. o e But G p o he findin a h s Father had will to said it is also choic cho his g work. can Archbi live and we said he agreed with faithful of vital that need to dispel a later phone interview.Schultze recounted in ence the frustra either trust es: we

By Michael Vick such thoughts Niederauer invites Father Georg tion, even the at they experi- or fall “In reflection in God part of it at least in part.

San Francisco e Schultze, desola I think to the tem esolattion, takes a nuanced Privett, presiion, that tempt and seek the immediately ing in his was a loss of direction the Archdiocese of S.J. n for To be sure, the bishop Jesuit Fatherr Stephen San Francisco, and meanhelp of others Father Schul ation of pride.” own experience, usage. Bishop Mass of Ordinatio Rev. the of if to condom t tze they iversity on anxiet University define and the persist Schult of position y also just the d pride as “a dent Quinn, his San Francisco he mis- indust ze, who has an academic ,” said Father early ageof being without work at Rev. Mr. Michael , and Rev. troversyy May 22 with to a Dowling told Catholic stirred up controvers a relatively background in rial labor relatio in his life.” sexuality, Thornton on degree William teaching Mr. honorary an Easter message . . . f ns of Church n and publishes Father Schult supports June 20 at 10 the marriage and . . . . presentatio articles ze spoke of jobles . . . . African Mr. Joseph Previtali 3 bishop who has defied , 1111 saying “abstinence before South sness as an partner within a JOB SEEKERS, a.m. at St. Mary’s Cathedral Interfaith move for omoting the use of condoms by promoting faithfulness to a single ip is obviously Blvd. page 8 poor .Vatican . . . 5cases.. USF honored Bishop Kevin Gough Street at Geary stable marriage relationshpreventing yourin some Africa at its of Passion play drama of Rustenburg, South the only failsafe way with HIV.” . . . . . Dowling . . . 6 uatete commencement ceremony self from being infected promotes abstiundergrad in South positions. They News in brie Academic decathlon ention to the millions are livThe bishop said he “draw attention young women to extreme al sex.” f. . . . . . . . . . . . . .to8-9 world who faithfulness especially the transaction marital into around and and forced nence . . 4-5 Africa adults, running are with the South ,” read the honorary Holy Land Chrism Mass homily IV/AIDS,” with HIV/AIDS Bishop Dowling said with children and young modification many Palm SSunday begins prev . . . . . ing shambles, iew . behavior 14 in and l . economy ation. . ......6 educationa Five-part series on Americ degree citation. in HIV/ to make proper African ed women wind up in the slums Flu advisory Bishop Kevin Dowling Bi an Scripture & reflections . 16-17Bishop Dowling has worked Holy H Week programs to teach people 1992. including unemploy .......... come looking for Indians to air on PBS in all areas of life, re and prevention sinceday care around the mine. They illegal immigrants AIDS care ...7 though Bishop choices Astronau ‘Greening’ earth priest Our Lady’s many are ~ Pag se runs a clinic, school, hospice own bishops’ Pages 12-13 ~ bisho conference, autt alum repri- sexuality.

Ministry . . . . . . His in Africa is far jobs, though secure proper identification.

18diocese ng center and h received no official ~ Page 21 ~ kills-trainiing But he said the reality Dowling has . . . . 11 and cannot facility, skills-train nt, bishop in shanty communiGuest commen searching for employme at NDNU continues to serve as www.catholic-sf.o facility too care for vastshadow from the ideal. values, and With so manyhave difficulty finding work. of a local mand and SEVENTY-FIVE CENTS tary . . . . . . rgties that grew in the Catholic Lobb Ca stan “We can promote those Michelangelo citizens good standing. ~ Page 9 ~ . 12 y well in the context evenorder to feed themselves and their Day pretty Scri 5 statement, the Congolese M May work a m mine. ptur In they VOLUME 11 • No. platinum In use e reflection women feel drew public documentary security net,” Bishop 14 Bishop conference called condom the bishop saidMay . . . . . . . 14 ~ Page 10 ~ hop Dowling first where a person has a 11 G, page ately, extreme children, BISHOP DOWLIN a reporter asked bishops’ , and said it is “not only an 8, “Unfortun when 200 Date said.

2001 in on 9 Dowling book of even ineffectiv attention usage to ineffective ~ Page 16 ~ but above all the proof poverty is driving particularly vulnerable ts . . . . . . . 17 d is opinion on condom the ire of ethical disorder him his drew on of sexuality in our SEVENTY-FI tr fight HIV. His response Africa and his of the trivializati www.cath VE CENTS olic-sf. the papal nuncio to South

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Site of a papa l Mas Mass is prepa red Pope Benedi dict XVI will near the Garden of Geth celebrate Mass semane in the May 12 at this site duri Josafat Valley in Jerus alem May ng his visit 5. to the Holy Land.

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– Pope Benedict XVI’sa includes VATICAN CITY (CNS) Holy Land May 8-15 planned trip to the pastoral and interreligious events number of important to Jordan and meetings. would take the pope The proposed itinerary new King Hussein Mosque to the May 8-11, for a visit officials, a Mass for Jordanian with in Amman, meetings stadium, a stop at Jesus’ baptism Catholics in a soccer and a pilgrimage to Mount Nebo, Land. site at the Jordan River out at the Promised where Moses once looked from Jordan to Israel May The pope would travel memorial in Vashem Holocaust 11 and visit the Yad Over the next three and a half day. to Jews; Jerusalem the same the Western Wall, sacred days, he would visit Muslim leaders; hold talks with meet with Jewish and leaders; visit a Palestinian refugee Land Holy the of Nazareth and Israeli and Palestinian is seen in a view Mass in Bethlehem, XVI artist Giovanni Fantoni camp; and celebrate sculpture by Italian to Jordan, Pope Benedict schedhis May 8-11 trip The Brazen Serpent Jerusalem.

May 15, the tentative in Jordan. During the promised land. from Mount Nebo once looked out on Before returning to Romea brief ecumenical encounter Moses where to hold will visit Mount Nebo, . There was ule calls for the pope of the Holy Sepulcher and visit the Church war-devastated Gaza, but Vatican talk of a papal stop in no firm plans for such an event; sources said there were Gaza residents was expected to of instead, a delegation Masses. papal the of one attend

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Job seeekkeers rs urged to trust their fai th in momen ts of desolat ion

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INSIDE

N WEEK’S EDITIONews in brief. . . . . . . . . . . 6-7 INSIDE THIS

Slumping economy forum advice ~ Page 3 ~ June 12, 2009

Forming a priest: Joseph Previtali ~ Page 4-5 ~

ges tax. . 9 Archdiocese challen . . . 12-13 Catholic graduates . . 14-15 Letters and columnists ns .16-17 reflectio and e Scriptur . . . . . . 18 . . . . . . . . ies Obituar Book mixes intrigue Datebook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

with faith values ~ Page 20 ~

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December 18, 2009

7

Nuncio says climate summit should recognize ecology’s moral dimension

By Carol Zimmermann WASHINGTON (CNS) – The U.N. climate summit in Copenhagen, Denmark, should not just be about “targets, indicators, figures and planning� said Archbishop Celestino Migliore, the Vatican’s nuncio to the United Nations and leader of the Vatican’s five-person delegation to the conference.

Instead, he said the Dec. 7-18 summit should emphasize “human beings, local populations, poor and vulnerable countries.�

In response to questions submitted by Catholic News Service, the archbishop said he was confident the summit would “reach a political consensus to produce within a reasonable amount of time a binding agreement on emission-cuts targets and financing for adaptation and mitigation, especially in poor and more vulnerable countries.�

But he stressed that he would be content if the summit did not focus solely on technicalities such as “reducing greenhouse gas emissions a percentage point, allocating investments and establishing who will pay what.� “Rather, it should focus more on the operational and moral dimension at the grass-roots level, involving not only technology and law but also the lifestyles of everybody – the patterns of production and consumption,� he said.

CCCYO. . . ■Continued from page 6 bright future ahead which he may not have had without Leon’s dedication and TISH’s support.

Leon knows that life is full of ups and downs but finally has reached a point of personal security. Catholic Charities CYO is dedicated to help support, stabilize and strengthen families like the Figgins Family.

Catholic Charities CYO has supported,

More than 100 world leaders were expected at the two-week summit and nearly three dozen representatives of Catholic aid and development organizations were on hand for the two-week summit. They were urging world leaders to take prompt action to ease the impact of global climate change on poor and vulnerable people adversely affected by drought, flooding and rising sea levels brought on in part by the high levels of greenhouse gas emissions from more developed countries.

Members of the Vatican delegation included climate expert Marcus Wandinger, who has published numerous articles on environmental issues, and Paolo Conversi, an official of the Vatican Secretariat of State, who teaches human ecology at Rome’s Pontifical Gregorian University.

Caritas Internationalis, the umbrella organization for more than 150 Catholic relief and development organizations, also was represented at the summit. Caritas and the Catholic International Cooperation for Development and Solidarity have called for a “fair, effective and binding agreement in Copenhagen� based on commitments by developed countries to lessen greenhouse gas emissions and help developing countries adapt to climate change. stabilized and strengthened more than 9,800 hours to families like Leon’s this year.

The Stories from 24-hours in Counseling Services and Leon’s story are the third and fourth in a series from Catholic Charities CYO’s Advent Season of Caring campaign.

This holiday giving campaign shares intimate stories of the clients we serve and the ways in which their lives have been changed for the better, because of our work and the generosity of our loyal supporters. For ways you can help, visit www.cccyo.org/seasonofcaring or call Marti Sullivan at (415) 972-1291.

Archbishop Migliore said the church has much to say about the environment and Pope Benedict XVI has developed this theme in recent years.

He said the pope “does not speak of the environment but of creation� and he also speaks of the urgency to safeguard it instead of defending it.

The use of the word creation “places the question in the correct perspective,� the archbishop said, “reminding everyone that the environment is a gift of God. Therefore it is not a matter of defending it from an enemy who is usually identified as man, but of safeguarding it because God himself desired to entrust creation to mankind.�

He said the pope has spoken of the “moral dimension of human activity in dealing with creation and places the emphasis on the mutual rapport between safeguarding creation and encouraging development. It is development that will help us adapt to climatic phenomena,� the archbishop said.

The day before the summit began, Pope Benedict XVI said protection of the environment requires more sober lifestyles and a rediscovery of the “moral dimension� of development.

He also said he hoped the conference would identify policies that “respect creation

and promote a cooperative development founded on the dignity of the human person and oriented toward the common good.�

When asked how countries might respond to the pope’s suggestion to adopt sober and responsible lifestyles, the archbishop said “sobriety does not equate with scarcity and want.� Instead, it means that “we use our resources with responsibility and solidarity� and place a renewed focus on the “search for lasting and equitable solutions to the degradation of our ecosystem.�

The archbishop said the focus on potential manipulation of global warming data demonstrates how “the relationship between truth and politics is as old as humanity.� “These days we are witness to a disquieting gap between the two orders of knowing and acting and perhaps because of this it is more difficult to reach an agreement in a reasonable amount of time and make common and effective decisions to resolve the problems of humanity,� he said.

In response to those who are emphasizing that climate change could be alleviated by a decreased population, the archbishop said: “the real issue is the growth in the number of consumers and their consumption levels rather than the growth in the number of people.�

February 6 & 7, 2010

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Catholic San Francisco

December 18, 2009

New building for St. Mary’s Chinese Schools rises in San Francisco’s Chinatown Francisco’s first Chinese woman police chief, Heather Fong, and 5 foot 5 inch Willie “Woo Construction cranes rising above Chinatown Woo” Wong who played for the championship signal the final phase of a renewed Catholic University of San Francisco Dons in the 1950s.

Chinese presence – the brand-new St. Mary’s In 1961, St. Mary’s Drum and Bells Corps Chinese Schools and Center building, a 4 ½ represented San Francisco at the inauguration -story building with a rooftop play-yard and of President John F. Kennedy. Founder of the an underground gym.

Drum and Bells Corps, late principal of the With the new school structure at 836 language school John Yehall Chin, was also Kearney Street scheduled to open in 2011, St. elected city wide to the S.F. Community College Mary’s will continue a nearly century-long Board. Chin was made a papal knight for his tradition of Catholic school teaching in the more than 60 years of service to St. Mary’s.

Chinese community – and, its backers hope, With his close colleague Helen Jow, another St. renew the Church’s presence among not just Mary’s graduate, Chin was also awarded the Pro children and their parents but the seniors in Ecclesia et Pontifice Medal, one of the highest the associated new low-income senior houshonors of the Catholic Church. ing complex. The new building will continue The Stockton Street building sustained little to house the Chinese language school and the damage in the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake, Chinese Catholic grammar school, which have but building codes passed in response required been working together since the Catholic school costly retrofits of the original unreinforced was founded in 1921, shortly after a Chinese masonry structure. The changes would have Students at St. Mary’s Chinese School gather for ceremonies marking herbalist founded the language school. reduced the old building’s 29,000 square feet by the beginning of construction of a new school building in Chinatown.

“Our philosophy is Christian values and 25 percent, so St. Mary’s and the Archdiocese the harmony between Chinese culture and of San Francisco opted to build a new school.

Catholicism,” said Paulist Father Daniel McCotter, school who calls himself a “middle generation” because mother had Students have attended classes at the reconfigured church builddirector and pastor of the Chinese Catholic mission. Ten per- attended St. Mary’s and later Lee’s niece attended. ing of Our Lady of Guadalupe at 910 Broadway in the interim. cent of the student body is Catholic but all receive a Catholic St. Mary’s Chinese Schools and Center was originally estabWhen completed, St. Mary’s will be 49,500 square feet, and education at the school, the priest said. Most students are first lished at Stockton Street by the Paulist Fathers and the Sisters of will be a “structural wonder” built on the very compact site of the or second generation Chinese.

St. Joseph of Orange, and for 75 years educated generations of ST. MARY’S SCHOOLS, page 9 “Our goal is not only to educate but to keep the Chinese Chinese immigrants and their children, including Newberry Award culture and traditions alive,” said attorney Jerry Lee, ’65, winning author Laurence Yep, who wrote Dragonwings, San

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St. Mary’s Schools . . .

■ Continued from page 8 razed International Hotel, a single occupancy hotel, Father McCotter said. In Phase I, the archdiocese financed a 150-space underground parking garage, while the St. Mary’s capital fund funded the foundation and first floor of the school and center. Phase II is the completed 15-story 105-unit low income senior housing tower built with federal and local housing funds.

Phase III, now underway, completes the project with the remaining four floors of the school and a social center. A capital campaign is focused on raising the remaining $10 million of the $27 million total cost.

The mission and the school were founded at a time when Chinese were not allowed to own property and were barred by local law from traveling out of Chinatown unless to work in the “homes of the wealthy on Nob Hill,” Father McCotter said. The original wave of Chinese immigrants came shortly after the 1849 Gold Rush and to work on the transcontinental railroad. A series of federal Chinese Exclusion Acts barred Chinese immigrants from becoming naturalized citizens from the late 19th century until the laws were repealed in 1943.

The Paulists assumed pastoral ministry of San Francisco’s first cathedral, St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception, at the corner of Grant and California in 1894. When a new cathedral was built decades later, the church became Old St. Mary’s Cathedral. In 1903, the Paulists founded St. Mary’s Chinese Mission (renamed Holy Family Chinese Mission in the 1980s), which is a canonical mission of Old St. Mary’s. With the assistance of Helpers of the Holy Souls sisters from Hong Kong, the Paulists offered childcare and sewing classes, religious and English education to provide alternatives to the wild life of the Barbary Coast along Kearny Street and Grant Avenue, Father McCotter said.

In 1921, the Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange and the Paulists founded the grammar school and two Sisters of St. Joseph continue to teach at the school today.

More than 90 percent of St. Mary’s students graduate from college, school officials say. Three Chinatown public institutions are named after St. Mary grads: John Yehall Chin Elementary School, Gordon J. Lau Elementary School, and the Willie “Woo Woo” Wong Playground.

“The children are taught what’s right and more importantly what’s wrong,” said St. Mary’s parent Wellington Chun. “The level and the standards are really high.”

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Food packages offer lifeline to needy West Bank Palestinians BEIT SAHOUR, West Bank (CNS) – Ra’ed Abu Rdneineh surveyed the overcast sky with satisfaction. Despite early morning threats of rain, the weather held out and the second truck of basic food supplies in as many days destined for East Jerusalem from Catholic Relief Services was almost loaded.

If it had rained during the loading process the sacks of flour would have been spoiled, explained Abu Rdneineh, CRS project officer in Bethlehem. Thankfully, the distribution was not being postponed and 300 families in Al Ayzariyah would receive the much-needed food packages.

CRS has distributed food supplies to needy West Bank Palestinian families in conjunction with the U.N. World Food Program since 2003.

Only recently, however, has the U.S. bishops’ aid and development agency renewed its work in East Jerusalem, Abu Rdneineh said.

The program works in two-month distribution cycles, providing flour, rice, oil, salt and other staples to people in need.

In other locations participants work in various sectors identified by the U.N. in return for aid. On this brisk December morning the supplies were slated for the most vulnerable people: those unable to work because of illness or age and families led by a single mother.

As the final supplies were loaded, project coordinators Issa Muallem, 24, and Adi Khalil, 22, began their own trek into Al Ayzariyah. If they traveled directly to the village through Israel, it would be a 15-minute trip. But now that they – like all Palestinians – need a special permit to travel the direct route through Israel-controlled Jerusalem. So they travel the Wadi Nar bypass road. The route can take a lot longer depending on the mood of the soldiers at the checkpoint in East Jerusalem at the Israeli separation barrier before entering Palestinian territory.

After navigating the bustling taxi station which cropped up in Bethlehem to accommodate the travelers using the bypass road,

Muallem and Khalil board a cab which will take them on the first leg of their trip.

The taxi careened down the steep and winding back roads on the edge of the Judean desert toward Jerusalem. The driver directed the car over potholes and overtook slower cars, effectively making a two-lane road into three.

Wadi Nar means valley of fire, Muallem explained. “But we call it the valley of death,” he said with a grin.

As the taxi approached the checkpoint passengers began rummaging in their bags, preparing for an identity check. Today, however, like the weather, the soldiers at the checkpoint cooperated and the taxi drove through without even a perfunctory look.

At the edge of the municipality the taxi stopped. From there the passengers transferred to another cab for the final part of the trip to the distribution site at the Ministry of Waqf and Religious Affairs, a program that promotes awareness and understanding of the Islamic religion and culture. By the time they arrived a dozen women in hijabs or robes had already gathered in the parking lot.

“The (Israeli) wall has influenced us a lot,” said Olah Abu Damous, the local committee coordinator, as she helped Khalil and Muallem set up tables before the food distribution. She said most of the households receiving aid made less than $300 a month. Some households include up to 15 people, she said.

“The municipal capital for Al Ayzariyah was Jerusalem and now people can’t get to work (because of the wall),” she explained. “Now many of the families are being supported only by the women who do embroidery in workshops. We need this help urgently.”

Walid Bakri, assistant project officer for CRS, said plans call for the project to be extended for another six months.

“Poverty here is not as acute as in some villages but the cost of living here is higher,” he said.

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NEWS

December 18, 2009

in brief

U.S. bishops again urge ban on abortion coverage in health reform WASHINGTON – The U.S. bishops again have urged U.S. senators to put Hyde amendment language into proposed health care reform legislation to prohibit federal funds from being used for elective abortion coverage. Such a step, they said, would align the legislation with policies now governing all other federal health programs and the just-passed appropriations bill. The bishops urged the action in a Dec. 14 letter from Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities. The bishops noted that senators voted overwhelmingly Dec. 13 for the Consolidated Appropriations Act, which contains Hyde language banning federal funding for health coverage that includes elective abortion and maintains laws protecting conscience rights. A major problem with the current health care reform legislation in the Senate, Cardinal DiNardo’s letter said, is that “it explicitly authorizes the use of federal funds to subsidize health plans covering elective abortions for the first time in history.” On Dec. 8 the Senate rejected a bipartisan abortion amendment to its version of health care reform legislation. The bishops said their three top priorities for health reform are respecting life

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and conscience, ensuring affordability and giving immigrants fair access to health benefits for which they pay taxes.

Campaign aims to increase Hispanics in Catholic schools SOUTH BEND, Ind. – A national task force commissioned by the University of Notre Dame launched a campaign Dec. 12 that seeks to enroll 1 million Hispanic students in Catholic schools by 2020. The Catholic School Advantage campaign comes out of a 65-page report the task force released the same day: “To Nurture the Soul of a Nation: Latino Families, Catholic Schools and Educational Opportunity.” Dec. 12 also was the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the patroness of the Americas, to whom Hispanics have a special devotion. A key finding of the report showed that while more than 75 percent of Latinos in the U.S. are Catholic, only 3 percent of Latino children currently attend Catholic schools while public schools across the country have seen a rapid growth in the number of Hispanics. The report also said public schools have not served Latino students well, say-

ing they are behind their peers on most measures of educational achievement. According to the report, Latino students fare much better at Catholic schools where they are 42 percent more likely to graduate from high school and two and a half times more likely to graduate from college than peers who attend public schools.

“Much is at stake. No less than the future generation of leaders for our country,” said task force co-chair Juliet Garcia, president of the University of Texas at Brownsville. “Catholic schools must remain a steady and strong conduit for the many new generations of Latinos at their doorstep,” she said in a statement.

Archbishop Dolan: Sheen knew Jesus was ‘way to heaven’ NEW YORK – The purpose of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen’s philosophy and theology, radio and TV programs, books, articles, retreats and conferences was “to help us discover the purpose of life – eternal union with God,” said Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan of New York. “His pivotal NEWS IN BRIEF, page 11

Death takes Jesuit Father William C. McInnes Jesuit Father William C. McInnes, respected Jesuit priest and educator who served as president of Fairfield University, the University of San Francisco and the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities, as well as faculty member, academic dean and alumni chaplain at Boston College, died in Weston, Mass. Dec. 8 after a long illness. He was 86.

Father McInnes was born in Boston in 1923. He entered Boston College in 1940 to study business, but left the University in 1942 to enlist in the US Army Air Force, where he served as a meteorology officer in Africa, India and China during World War II. When he returned to Boston, he studied for the priesthood, joining the Society of Jesus, where he became one of the first Jesuit educators to specialize in business administration.

After completing his philosophy studies at Weston College, Father McInnes earned a doctoral degree in business administration from New York University. Following his ordination in 1957 and advanced theological studies, he joined the faculty at Boston College’s College of Business Administration (now the Carroll School of Management) in 1959 and in 1964 was appointed assistant dean of the business school.

In 1964, Father McInnes became president of Fairfield University and in 1972 was named president of the University of San Francisco.

During his USF presidency, the Fromm Institute for Lifelong Learning was established. He served at USF until 1976 when he was named to head AJCU in Washington, DC.

(CNS PHOTO/LEE PELLEGRINI)

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December 18, 2009

News in brief . . .

■ Continued from page 10

Orthodox and Catholics take aim at secularism

(CNS PHOTO/ZOHRA BENSEMRA, REUTERS)

insight, central to revelation, was that Jesus Christ was the way to heaven, the truth about how to get there, the life we hope to share for all eternity,” he said in a homily Dec. 9 at St. Patrick’s Cathedral. The archbishop was the principal celebrant of a Mass at the cathedral to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the death of Archbishop Sheen. Masses were celebrated in all 50 states and in 35 countries – including Pakistan, Fiji and the Czech Republic – to mark the anniversary and to promote the late archbishop’s cause for canonization, formally opened by the Vatican in 2003. In New York, Archbishop Dolan was joined by cardinals, bishops and priests from around the U.S. and abroad.

U.S Army soldiers from Task Force Denali 1-40 CAV pray during a Christian service at Forward Operating Base Clark in Khowst province, Afghanistan, Dec. 13.

VATICAN CITY – For years, the Vatican has suggested that a promising area of ecumenical cooperation was a joint struggle by Christian churches against the moral and social challenges posed by a predominantly secular society. Now the Russian Orthodox Church has come forward to propose a strategic alliance with the Catholic Church aimed, in effect, at saving Europe’s soul from “Western post-Christian humanism.” The offer came in an introduction written by Russian Orthodox Archbishop Hilarion to a book of speeches by Pope Benedict XVI on Europe’s spiritual crisis, published in Russian by the Orthodox Moscow Patriarchate. In an unusual move, the Vatican newspaper published almost the entire introduction in its Dec. 2 edition. Archbishop Hilarion, who is president of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations, took a combative tone in his text. He denounced the “militant secularism” adopted by an increasingly united Europe, warned that religion was being closed off in the “ghetto” of private devotion, and urged Christians to confront their governments on issues like abortion, euthanasia and same-sex marriage – even to the point of civil disobedience.

incompatible with the purpose of faith. He also addressed the concept of just war and said faith in human progress is one of the best aspects of humanity, a “moral compass” or a “North Star that guides us on our journey.” Obama said that compared to some of the past Nobel Peace Prize winners his “accomplishments are slight.” He said perhaps the “most profound issue surrounding my receipt of this prize is the fact that I am the commander in chief of the military of a nation in the midst of two wars,” referring to Iraq and Afghanistan. “One of these wars is winding down. The other is a conflict that America did not seek, one in which we are joined by 42 other countries – including Norway – in an effort to defend ourselves and all nations from further attacks.” Obama said that, given the pace of globalization, it should not surprise anyone that “people fear the loss of what they cherish about their particular identities ... perhaps most powerfully, their religion,” and this has led to conflict. “Most dangerously, we see it in the way that religion is used to justify the murder of innocents by those who have distorted and defiled the great religion of Islam, and who attacked my country from Afghanistan,” he said.

Obama: extremists’ ‘warped view’ incompatible with purpose of faith Vatican, world’s largest particle OSLO, Norway – U.S. President Barack Obama, accept- physics lab plan to collaborate ing the Nobel Peace Prize Dec. 10, said extremists who “kill in the name of God” have a “warped view of religion” that is

VATICAN CITY – The Vatican and the world’s largest particle physics laboratory, CERN, plan an informal

Catholic San Francisco

11

exchange of scientists. The Geneva-based laboratory would like to invite an astronomer from the Vatican Observatory to collaborate on studies concerning the origin of the universe, said Ugo Amaldi, a professor of medical physics and president of the TERA Foundation, which works closely with CERN in finding ways to apply atomic research in treating cancer. CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, “is an international and European (facility), and to have the Vatican Observatory send some or one of its young scientists will be something that is extremely important,” he said. He made his comments during a Dec. 10 Vatican press conference launching the Italian-language version of “The Heavens Proclaim,” a book about the history of the Vatican and astronomy. The head of the Vatican Observatory, Jesuit Father Jose Funes, said during the book presentation that he hopes Gabriele Gionti, a young Vatican astronomer who will be ordained in June, will be involved in the CERN collaboration.

Gionti has a doctorate in physics and specializes in quantum gravity, and he is finishing his theology studies at the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences in Berkeley, Calif.

Irish bishops apologize for ‘depravity of abuse’ DUBLIN, Ireland – The Irish bishops have apologized as a group for clerical abuse of children and agreed to work with the government to set up a mechanism to ensure that abuse allegations are properly handled. The bishops suspended normal business at their winter general meeting in Maynooth to consider the findings of a special commission investigating the handling of clerical abuse in the Archdiocese of Dublin. That report, published Nov. 26, described a “scale and depravity of abuse” that “deeply shocked” the bishops, they said in their statement, issued Dec. 9. “The avoidance of scandal, the preservation of the reputations of individuals and of the church, took precedence over the safety and welfare of children,” the bishops said. “This should never have happened and must never be allowed to happen again. We humbly ask for forgiveness.”

The bishops acknowledged that the culture of abuse and cover-up was “a culture that was widespread in the church” and that people felt “rightly outraged and let down by the failure of moral leadership and accountability that emerges from the report.”

– Catholic News Service

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Catholic San Francisco

December 18, 2009

Christmas Message 2009 ‘We are brothers and sisters to one another in Christ’ (CNS PHOTO/KAREN CALLAWAY, CATHOLIC NEW WORLD)

That last example is sometimes the hardest way Each morning some of our daily newspapers to recognize Jesus and respond to him: in other lists the names and ages of some famous people people’s needs. But Jesus put so much emphasis whose birthday it is. After a number of years, I’ve on it in his teaching that we need to keep trying. noticed a pattern: the men and women with the best After all, our Savior most deserves the birthday chance of making the list are actors, actresses and gift he wants most. recording artists.

Sometimes people’s needs are so great, they But December 25 will be different. It always is. frighten us off: so many hungry, homeless people, Jesus Christ, a former carpenter turned street preachand so little each of us can do; what to say to er, who died a criminal’s death at age 33, and who someone we know who is dying of cancer; someone never had an album go gold, let alone platinum, will so angry and bitter and alienated, we don’t know have a birthday—his 2009th. Our world will pause where or how to begin. and celebrate this day–not always appropriately, but At other times, the needs are so simple we still taking notice, twenty centuries later. Why? might miss them: the need for a friendly gesture; Because things and people are seldom what they for a time of patient listening; for an encouraging seem at first. Jesus, the street preacher and healer, or forgiving word. Whether the needs are great or is actually the Son of God, born human like us in small, we need to give of ourselves whatever we time, born of his mother Mary. We Catholics believe can, knowing that Jesus measures not volume but that God became human so that we could become the caring of the heart. the adopted daughters and sons of God. We are We give thanks, then, for the Father’s gift to us at brothers and sisters to one another in Christ, now The Nativity is depicted in a detail of a mural displayed at Christmas – Jesus His Son and our Brother. We pray in this life, and forever with Him, and His Father, Holy Angels Church, an African-American parish in Illinois. for each other and for all the world, that together and the Holy Spirit of their love. Jesus was born, The work was painted by Father Englebert Mveng, we may come to recognize him and respond to him lived, died and rose again so that we could share a Jesuit priest from Cameroon who was murdered in 1995. in all the ways he gives us. Most of all, we give God’s life in Him. thanks for our own birth into the life of heaven In a sense, then, Christmas is every Christian’s birthday. Because Jesus was born, each of us can be born The lasting lesson of Christmas for us as Catholics is to that comes to us through the birth of the infant in the crib. again, with the promise of eternal life. But there is a con- be sure not to miss Jesus; to put it more positively, to be sure A joyful Christmas to all of you, and, in a very real sense, dition: we must recognize Jesus and respond to him. And to recognize him and respond to him. We can recognize him Happy Birthday! that response is not automatic or easy. The shepherds and teaching us in the Church, nourishing us in the Sacrifice of the wise men did recognize how special Jesus was, and did the Mass, forgiving our sins in the Sacrament of Penance, respond to him. Others did not. Still others, like Herod, calling us to share our life of faith in our local parish, and Most Reverend George H. Niederauer resisted and attacked him. That was true all over again while asking for our help and encouragement in people around Archbishop of San Francisco he went about preaching and healing as a man. us who are in need.

CHRISTMAS LITURGIES 4th Sunday of Advent Masses Saturday 3:30 – 4:15 p.m. (Confession) 4:30 p.m. (Sunday Vigil) Sunday 8:00, 9:30, 11:30 a.m. & 6:45 p.m.

5:00 p.m. – Msgr. Michael Harriman 8:00 p.m. – Fr. Joe Landi with our Children’s Choir 11:15 p.m. – Singing Carols Midnight Mass – Msgr. Michael Harriman and Clergy with our Adult Choir and Orchestra

No Evening Mass on Christmas Day

Eucalyptus Drive @ 23rd Avenue (near Stonestown Mall) 415.681.2444 www.saintstephenSF.org

Simbang Gabi Masses 6:00 a.m. December 16th thru 24th Christmas Eve Masses 4:30 p.m. Family Mass 12:00 a.m. Midnight Mass Christmas Day Masses 8:00, 9:30 & 11:30 a.m.

No evening Mass on Christmas Day

7:30 a.m. – Msgr. Michael Harriman 9:30 a.m.– Fr. Daniel Keohane with Holy Spirit Music Ministry 11:30 a.m. – Fr. Joe Landi with Adult Choir and Orchestra

Saint Stephen Catholic Church

Christmas Celebrations 2009

Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary & Joseph Masses Regular Sunday Mass Schedule Saturday 3:30 – 4:15 p.m. (Confession) 4:30 p.m. (Sunday Vigil) Sunday 8:00, 9:30, 11:30 a.m. & 6:45 p.m.

January 1st Mass Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God 9:30 a.m.

Traditional Christmas Music at All Masses

CHRISTMAS SCHEDULE ST. MATTHEW C CATHOLIC CHURCH ONFESSIONS Sat., Dec. 19, 11:30 a.m. – 12 Noon Mon., Dec. 21, Tues. Dec. 22, Wed. Dec. 23, Chapel 5 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.

1 NOTRE DAME AVENUE SAN MATEO, CA 94404 CHRISTMAS 2009 May the peace of the Lord Be yours today And His love abide With you forever!

Masses: Sat. 5:00 PM Sun. 7:30 AM • 8:45 AM Spanish • 10:30 AM Gospel Mass

Devotedly in Christ Rev. Anthony E. McGuire Rev. William J. Ahlbach Rev. Dominic S. Lee Rev. Juan M. Lopez Deacon James F. Shea Deacon Rafe E. Brown

Thurs., Dec. 24, Main Church 11 a.m. – 12 Noon, 4 p.m. – 5 p.m.

MASSES Thurs. – Christmas Eve, Dec. 24: 5:00 p.m. Family Mass, 7 p.m. (Spanish) and Midnight Christmas Carols begin at 11 p.m.

Fri. Christ Day, Dec. 25: 6:30 a.m., 7:30 a.m., 8:45 a.m.

(Spanish), 10:45 a.m. & 12:30 p.m.

NEW YEARS’ DAY –FRI. JAN. 1, 2010 Is not a Holy Day of Obligation but a day of special devotion to Mary, the Mother of God. You are encouraged to begin the New Year under her patronage.

Fri., Jan. 1, Masses: 6:30 a.m., 8:15 a.m., 10 a.m. (Spanish), 12:05 p.m.

December 18, 2009

Catholic San Francisco

13

(CNS PHOTO/ALESSIA GIULIANI, CATHOLIC PRESS PHOTO)

Pope’s ‘World Peace Day’ message: Environmentalism part of promoting peace

By Cindy Wooden VATICAN CITY (CNS) – The degradation of the environment is a pressing moral problem that threatens peace and human life itself, Pope Benedict XVI said.

“We cannot remain indifferent to what is happening around us, for the deterioration of any one part of the planet affects us all,” the pope said in his message for World Peace Day, Jan. 1, 2010.

Government policies, the activity of multinational corporations and the day-to-day behavior of individuals all have an impact on the environment, the pope said. While the future of the world hangs in the balance because of what people are doing today, the negative effects of pollution and environmental exploitation already can be seen, he said.

“Can we remain indifferent before the problems associated with such realities as climate change, desertification, the deterioration and loss of productivity in vast agricultural areas, the pollution of rivers and aquifers, the loss of biodiversity, the increase of natural catastrophes and the deforestation of equatorial and tropical regions?” the pope asked.

Already, he said, the world is seeing the “growing phenomenon of ‘environmental refugees,’ people who are forced by the degradation of their natural habitat” to migrate in search of food, water and unpolluted air.

“It is becoming more and more evident that the issue of environmental degradation challenges us to examine our lifestyle and the prevailing models of consumption and production, which are often unsustainable from a social, environmental and even economic point of view,” the pope said.

In addition, he warned of the “actual and potential conflicts involving access to natural resources.”

“Protecting the natural environment in order to build a world of peace is thus a duty incumbent upon each and all. It is an urgent challenge, one to be faced with renewed and concerted commitment; it is also a providential opportunity to hand down to coming generations the prospect of a better future for all,” the pope wrote.

With the real suffering environmental destruction already is causing and the devastation it will wreak in the future, the pope’s message said, “humanity needs a profound cultural renewal; it needs to rediscover those values which can serve as the solid basis for building a brighter future for all.”

“Our present crises – be they economic, food-related, environmental or social – are ultimately also moral crises and all of them are interrelated,” Pope Benedict wrote.

Solving the crises will require people to work together and take responsibility for their individual actions, he said. Specifically, a solution will require “a lifestyle marked by sobriety and solidarity, with new rules and forms of engagement, one which focuses confidently and courageously on strategies that actually work, while decisively rejecting those that have failed.”

Christians believe the entire cosmos was created by God, who drew harmony out of chaos, the pope said. Human sin – Adam and Eve’s desire to take the place of God and their refusal

CHRISTMAS LITURGIES

St. Dunstan Church 1133 Broadway Millbrae, CA 94030 650-697-4730

One of the greatest pleasures of the Christmas Season is the opportunity to send our thoughts and prayers to those whose friendship and goodwill we value so highly.

The priests and staff of St. Dunstan Parish join in wishing you a very blessed Christmas.

May the gift of faith, the blessing of hope, and the peace of God’s love be with you and yours throughout the New Year.

Fr. Diarmuid, Fr. Joe, Fr. Paddy, Fr. John and Fr. Jim

CHRISTMAS CELEBRATIONS AT ST. DUNSTAN 2009 Saturday, December 19 8:30 – 9:00 am Confessions 3:30 – 4:45 pm Confessions Monday, December 21 Masses 6:30 am, 8:00 am & 5:10 pm Tuesday, December 22 Masses 6:30 am, 8:00 am & 5:10 pm Wednesday, December 23 Masses 6:30 am, 8:00 am & 5:10 pm Thursday, December 24 8:30 - 9:00 am Confessions Christmas 4:30 pm 11:00 pm 11:30 pm

Eve Masses Children’s Mass with Pageant Christmas Carols Christmas Mass

Christmas Day Masses 7:00 am, 8:30 am, 10:00 am, and 11:30 am

NO 5:00 pm Mass on Christmas Day

to recognize that they, too, were his creatures – disrupted that harmony.

When the Bible said that God made man and woman in his image and gave them dominion over the earth, the pope said, it meant God called them to be stewards of creation, drawing from the earth what they needed and safeguarding its riches for future generations.

“Sad to say, it is all too evident that large numbers of people in different countries and areas of our planet are experiencing increased hardship because of the negligence or refusal of many others to exercise responsible stewardship over the environment,” the pope said.

Pope Benedict said that because the environmental crisis is global, it must be met with a universal sense of responsibility and solidarity toward people living in other parts of the world as well as toward generations who have not yet been born.

The church’s commitment to environmental protection flows from a religious duty “to protect earth, water and air as gifts of God the creator meant for everyone, and above all to save mankind from the danger of self-destruction,” Pope Benedict said.

The biblical story of creation makes it clear that human beings hold a special, important place in the order of creation, he said, therefore, it is obvious that protecting creation requires protecting human life and dignity first of all.

“The book of nature is one and indivisible; it includes not only the environment but also individual, family and social ethics. Our duties towards the environment flow from our duties towards the person, considered both individually and in relation to others,” he said.

An authentic Christian ecology, one that recognizes the special place of the human person, is one that recognizes “the inviolability of human life at every stage and in every condition, the dignity of the person and the unique mission of the family, where one is trained in love of neighbor and respect for nature,” Pope Benedict said.

The pope ended his message with a plea to “all believers to raise a fervent prayer to God, the all-powerful creator and the father of mercies, so that all men and women may take to heart the urgent appeal: If you want to cultivate peace, protect creation.”

CATHEDRAL OF ST. MARY OF THE ASSUMPTION 1111 Gough St., San Francisco • Tel: (415) 567-2020

CHRISTMAS SCHEDULE 2009 Las Posadas Sunday, December 20, 2009 Mexican/Latin American tradition reenacting Mary and Joseph’s journey to Bethlehem and their search for lodging before Jesus’ birth 6:00PM-9:00 PM

Christmas Eve Thursday, December 24, 2009 HOLY NAME OF JESUS PARISH 2009 Christmas Schedule CHRISTMAS EVE MASSES Thursday, December 24 5:00 PM (Family {Children’s}Mass) 7:00 PM (Vietnamese Mass) 11:30 PM Christmas Carols Holy Name Choral Ministry 12:00 MIDNIGHT Concelebrated Mass Rev. Arnold E. Zamora, Main Celebrant Most Reverend Ignatius C. Wang, Presiding CHRISTMAS DAY MASSES Friday, December 25 7:30 AM 9:30 AM 11:30 AM NEW YEAR’S DAY MASS Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God (Not a Holy Day of Obligation) Friday, January 1 9:30 AM Confessions Saturday, December 19, 2009 4:00 – 5:00 PM

S T . M ONICA P ARISH Geary Boulevard at 23rd Ave, San Francisco (415) 751-5275

CHRISTMAS SCHEDULE 2009

7:30 PM Caroling - Cathedral Choirs of Boys and Girls 8:00 PM – Mass 11:30 PM – Caroling with the Cathedral Choir Midnight Mass Archbishop George Niederauer, Principal Celebrant

Christmas Day Friday, December 25, 2009 No 6:45 AM, 8 AM or 12:10 PM Mass on Christmas Day 9:00 AM — Gregorian Mass 11:00 AM – Mass with Cathedral Choir Rev. John Talesfore, Rector/Pastor, Principal Celebrant 1:00 PM – Misa con el Coro Hispano The Cathedral will close after the 1:00 PM Mass

Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph Sunday, December 27, 2009 Regular Sunday Mass Schedule Saturday, December 26 – Vigil – 5:30 PM Sunday, 7:30 AM, 9 AM, 11 AM and 1 PM (Español)

Seventh Day in the Octave of Christmas Thursday, December 31, 2009 Regular Daily Mass Schedule 6:45 AM, 8:00 AM and 12:10 PM Archbishop Niederauer has determined that, in accord with the practice of neighboring dioceses, the obligation to attend Mass on January 1, 2010, the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God is dispensed.

January 1st is not a holy day of obligation

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 19

Confessions: 4:00 – 4:45 p.m. ✩ Mass: 5:00 pm

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 20 Masses: 8:00 a.m. – 9:00 a.m. (Cantonese) 10:30 a.m.

CHRISTMAS EVE THURSDAY, DECEMBER 24 5:00 p.m. Family Christmas Eve Mass with children’s choir and Nativity Play 11:30 p.m. Joyful music of the season with Saint Monica’s choir 12:00 a.m. Solemn Midnight Mass Mozart’s Mass in C Major

CHRISTMAS DAY FRIDAY, DECEMBER 25 Masses: 8:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. with choir No Cantonese Mass ✩ No Evening Mass

NEW YEAR’S DAY FRIDAY, JANUARY 1, 2010 Mass: 10:30 a.m.

FEAST OF THE EPIPHANY SUNDAY, JANUARY 3, 2010 Masses: 8:00 a.m. – 9:00 a.m. (Cantonese) 10:30 a.m. Mass with Choir Evening Prayer and Benediction at 4:00 p.m.

The Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God Friday, January 1, 2010 The Celebration of the Eucharist at 6:45 AM., 8 AM., 12:10 PM and First Friday Mass 7:30 PM

The Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord Sunday, January 3, 2010 Regular Sunday Schedule Saturday, January 2 – Vigil – 5:30 PM Sunday, 7:30 AM, 9 AM, 11 AM and 1 PM (Español) 3:30 PM – Epiphany Lessons and Carols

Feast of the Baptism of the Lord Sunday, January 10, 2010 the conclusion of the Christmas Season Regular Sunday Mass Schedule – Concert at 3:30 PM

14

Catholic San Francisco

December 18, 2009

By Patricia Zapor WASHINGTON (CNS) – A major study of the values, circumstances and aspirations of Latino youths paints a portrait of optimism and enthusiasm in the face of significant struggles, including inadequate education, problems with their immigration status and high rates of poverty.

The study by the Pew Hispanic Center released Dec. 11 highlights many similarities between the way previous generations of immigrants and recent Latino immigrants and their children become a part of American society. And it notes that Hispanic cultural traditions of close family ties, religious faith and hard work remain strong even several generations after a family resettles in the United States.

Ties to church were singled out as a particularly strong influence in helping young Latinos avoid getting involved with gangs.

“Between Two Worlds: How Young Latinos Come of Age in America” reported on a national survey sample of

more than 2,000 Hispanics questioned in August and September. Focus groups from Chicago, California, New Jersey, Maryland and the District of Columbia provided further information.

One particularly pervasive problem faced by Latino youths more so than other demographic groups, the survey reported, is that they are much more likely to become involved with weapons, fights and gangs, and more likely to land in jail or prison.

First-generation and second-generation offspring of Hispanic immigrants in particular are more likely than immigrants themselves to have been in fights or have friends or family members who are in a gang, the Pew report said.

It noted that 7 percent of youths who are immigrants reported getting into a fight and 17 percent said they know someone in a gang. That compares to 16 percent of U.S.-born Latino youths who had been in a fight and 41 percent who said they know someone in a gang.

One factor for that, the study suggested, is that immigrants tend to be more involved with their churches than do later generation Latinos. And “young Hispanics

CHURCH OF THE GOOD SHEPHERD 901 OCEANA BLVD., PACIFICA, CA 90444 650-355-2593 www.gschurchca.org Good.shepherd.pac@sbcglobal.net

Thursday, December 24th Christmas Eve

Friday December 25, Christmas Day

5:00pm Family Mass 8:30pm Christmas Concert

9:00 AM Mass 11:00 am Mass

9:00pm Mass

January 1, 2010 New Year’s Day

There is No Mass at Midnight

9:00 AM Mass Pianist

Merry Christmas and Blessed New Year

Please Celebrate Christmas With Us! ¡Ven y celebra Navidad con nosotros!

December 24th – 8 p.m.

With Gospel Choir Our Lady of Lourdes Church, Innes & Hawes Streets and 11 p.m. With Samoan Choir All Hallows Chapel – Newhall & Palou th December 25 – 9 a.m. All Hallows Chapel

Mater Dolorosa Church

307 Willow Avenue, South San Francisco, CA 94080 650-583-4131

Confessions: Deanery Advent Penance Service at St. Veronica: Monday, December 14th, 7:30 p.m.

Individual Confessions at Mater Dolorosa: Saturday, December 19th, 4:15 – 4:45 p.m.

Simbang Gabi Masses Tuesday, December 15th through Wednesday, December 23rd at 7:00 p.m.

Christmas Masses Christmas Eve, Thursday, December 24th: Caroling Begins at 4:30 p.m.

5:00 p.m. (Children’s Mass) Caroling Begins at 9:30 p.m.

10:00 p.m. (Midnight Mass) Christmas Day, Friday, December 25th: 8:00 a.m., 10:00 a.m., 12 Noon

New Year’s Eve, Thursday, December 31st Pot Luck Gathering beginning at 10:30 p.m. in the Parish Hall Followed by Mass at 12:15 a.m.

New Year’s Day, Friday, January 1st 12:15 a.m., 8:00 a.m., 12:00 Noon

CHRISTMAS L I T U R G I E S

(CNS PHOTO/DON BLAKE)

Study of Latino youths sees optimism, hope amid struggles

Just before a First Communion, a religious education teacher reviews how to receive Communion with students. The growth of the Latino population in the U.S., through both immigration and births, is the primary reason that the percentage of Catholics in the nation has remained unchanged at just under a quarter of the total population.

Forty-one percent of immigrant Latinos said they attend religious services weekly, compared to 31 percent of those born in the United States. Among both immigrants and U.S.-born Latino youths, those who attend church regularly were only half as likely to report being threatened with a weapon in the previous year – 5 percent – compared to their peers who are less religiously involved – 12 percent, it said.

The report did not analyze the conLATINO YOUTHS, page 15

who are highly religious are significantly less likely than others to engage in risky behaviors,” it said.

Young Latinos who attend church services at least once a week are less likely to say they have had contact with the police, gotten into a fight, carried a weapon or ever been in a gang, it said. “Regular attendees of religious services also are less likely to say they have ever been in a gang (2 percent versus 7 percent) or to have been questioned by police in the past year (17 percent versus 25 percent).”

St Anthony Church 24 December 11:45 PM

Merry Christmas and a happy New Year from C.S.F. Staff

Choir & the Mariachi

Confessions from 11 PM.

PEACE PAZ

Confesions a partir de las 11 PM.

25 December @ 9 AM English Mass “During the Day” 25 Diciembre 11 AM “Misa del Dia” en Espanol 3215 Cesar Chavez Street @ Folsom Street, San Francisco.

December 18, 2009

Latino youths . . .

Catholic San Francisco

15

vices at least weekly, compared to 31 percent of those whose families have been in the U.S. at least two generations. n Continued from page 14 – Among all Latinos, 60 percent identify How often do you attend themselves as Catholic, followed by 14 percent nection between avoiding violence and going Percent who said the following was “very important” religious services? who say they are evangelical. Among immito church, beyond saying “religion may help to them personally grants, 66 percent of young people are Catholic. explain why immigrants, who tend to be more being successful 85% in a career % weekly 37 That figure declines to 49 percent among U.S.religious than native-born Latinos, are less likely sometimes 50% born Latino youths. U.S. native Latino young to tempt fate by carrying weapons, getting into having children 70% adults are more likely to describe their religion fights or joining gangs.” never 10% as “other.”

Among some of the other findings in the being married The report was drawn from National Survey 100-page report: 56% What is your religion? of Latinos and an oversample of 1,240 Hispanics – Large majorities of Hispanics, both young between the ages of 16 and 25, interviewed for and old, immigrant and U.S.-born are satisfied living a religious life Catholic 56% 60% the Pew Hispanic Center by Social Science with their lives and optimistic about their futures.

Protestant 3% Research Solutions. Interviews were conducted U.S.-born Latinos are even more optimistic about being wealthy 23% no religion 6% in English and Spanish, by cell phone and land being upwardly mobile than are immigrants, with 14% 14% evangelical line. more than three quarters saying they expect to be other The margin of error for the full study is better off financially than their parents. Just 66 plus or minus 3.7 percentage points, and plus percent of immigrant Latinos say the same.

– Among all young Latinos, 89 percent ranked being same frequency as the general population. Among young or minus 4.6 percentage points for the survey of 16- to successful in a career as very important. There was no dif- Hispanics, 40 percent of immigrants attend religious ser- 25-year-olds. ference among immigrants or U.S.-born people. The next priority listed as very important was “having children,” cited by 50-60 percent, followed by “being married,” cited The Parish of by 41-53 percent. “Being wealthy” was cited as very imporT ARTHOLOMEW St. Catherine of Siena tant by between 21 and 28 percent of Latino youths.

ARISH OMMUNITY – “Living a religious life,” was listed as a very impor1310 Bayswater Ave., Fr. Michael Healy – Pastor tant priority by 60 percent of immigrant Latinos, and by Corner of Alameda & Crystal Springs Rd. Burlingame CA 94010 51 percent of all Latino youths. That compares to the 39 San Mateo, CA 94402 percent of the general population age 16-25 who considered (650) 347-0701 stbarts@barts.org a religious life very important.

Christmas Masses: www.barts.org – Latino youths even a generation removed from their Christmas Eve (Thursday, December 24) family’s home country tend to support the tradition of CHRISTMAS LITURGIES children living at home with their parents until they marry.

4:00 p.m.

Christmas Vigil Mass Christmas Eve, December 24th Sixty-nine percent of all Latinos agreed with that tradi6:00 p.m.

Family Mass Children’s Mass 4:00 & 6:00 pm tion, as did 61 percent of those between ages 16 and 25.

12 Midnight Christmas Midnight Mass Eighty-one percent of immigrants agreed with the stateCaroling at 11:15 pm followed by 11:30 p.m. - Christmas Concert ment, while just half of first generation U.S.-born youths Midnight Mass 12:00 am agreed and only 45 percent of those whose parents also Christmas Day (Friday, December 25) Christmas Day December 25th were born in the U.S. Masses: 8 a.m., 10:30 a.m., and 12 Noon 8:00, 9:30 & 11:15 am – Across all generations, more than 85 percent of all Latinos believe that “relatives are more important than friends.”

– All Latinos attend church services at about the 2009 CHRISTMAS A MAJOR STUDY OF THE LATINO YOUTH paints a portrait of optimism in the face of significant challenges, including inadequate education, problems caused by immigration status and high poverty rates.

Source: Pew Hispanic Center

©2009 CNS

S .B P C

Our Lady of Angels Catholic Church

Our Lady of Mercy Parish 5 Elmwood Drive, Daly City Between South Mayfair and Southgate Avenues, with plenty of free parking!

®®® Mon., Dec. 14: 7:30 p.m. Communal Penance Service (with Individual Confession & Absolution).

Tue., Dec. 15, to Wed., Dec. 23: 7:30 p.m. Simbang Gabi Masses (except for Saturday at 5:30), followed by a Reception downstairs in our Church Hall.

Thursday, December 24: 4:00 p.m. Christmas Eve Mass with our Children’s Choir.

5:30 p.m. Christmas Eve Mass.

11:30 p.m. Sing-Along Christmas Carols with our Parish Choir.

12:00 a.m. Midnight Mass with our Choir.

Friday, December 25: Christmas Day Masses at 7:30 a.m.

9:00 a.m.

10:30 a.m. with our Children’s Choir.

12:00 p.m. with our Choir.

1721 Hillside Drive, Burlingame Capuchin Franciscans 650-347-7768

SCHEDULE

2009 Christmas Schedule Confessions Wednesday, December 23, 7:00-8:00 p.m.

Thursday, December 24, 10:00a.m.-12 Noon

Christmas Eve, Dec. 24th 4:30p.m. A Christmas Concert 5:00p.m. Family Mass

Christmas Eve 4:00 p.m.

6:00 p.m. (Children’s Mass) Midnight Mass

11:30p.m. A Christmas Concert

Christmas, December 25th 12:00 Traditional Midnight Mass (English) 7:30, 9 & 10:30 a.m. Sung Masses (English) 12:00 noon Cantonese Mass New Year’s Day, January 1st 9:00 a.m. Mass (English)

St. Anne of the Sunset Church

850 Judah St., San Francisco (415) 665-1600 www.stanne-sf.org

CHRISTMAS LITURGIES

St. Augustine Church 3700 Callan Blvd.

S. San Francisco, CA 94080

CHRISTMAS 2009

Christmas Day 8:00, 10:00 and 12 noon New Year’s Day Masses 8:00 a.m. & 10:00 a.m.

New Year’s Day is not a Holy Day of Obligation The Capuchin Franciscans & Parish Staff wish our Parishioners and Friends Peace, Love and Hope for Christmas and the New Year

ST. DOMINIC’S CATHOLIC CHURCH CHRISTMAS

Christmas Eve, Thursday, December 24 Advent Masses: 6:30 a.m. & 8:00 a.m.

Christmas Eve Masses: 5:30 p.m. Family Mass 11:15 p.m. Carols followed by Mass at Midnight (solemn) Christmas Day, Friday, December 25 Masses at 7:30 a.m. (organ), 9:30 a.m. (family), 11:30 a.m. (solemn), 1:30 p.m. (en español) (No confessions today and no Masses at 5:30 p.m. or 9:00 p.m.)

Solemnity of the Holy Family, Sunday, December 27 Masses at 7:30 a.m., 9:30 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 1:30 p.m., 5:30 p.m. & 9:00 p.m.

Christmas Vigil: Thursday, December 24

Solemnity of Mary the Mother of God, Friday, January 1, 2010 Parish Mass at 9:30 a.m. (No other Masses this day) Vigil Mass on Thursday, December 31, at 5:30 p.m.

4:00 P.M. Vigil Mass 7:30 P.M. Children’s Caroling 8:00 P.M. Children’s Mass 11:00 P.M. Caroling 12:00 A.M. Midnight Mass

Solemnity of the Epiphany, Sunday, January 3, 2010 Masses at 7:30 a.m., 9:30 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 1:30 p.m., 5:30 p.m. & 9:00 p.m.

Christmas Day: December 25

Solemnity of the Baptism of The Lord, Sunday, January 10, 2010 Masses at 7:30 a.m., 9:30 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 1:30 p.m., 5:30 p.m. & 9:00 p.m.

This marks the end of the Christmas Season

Novena of masses (Simbang Gami) December 15-23 – 7:30 P.M.

7:00 A.M., 8:15 A.M., 9:30 A.M., 11:00 A.M., 12:30 P.M. NO 5:30 P.M. Mass

New Year’s Day 2010 Schedule of Masses: 8:40 A.M. & 5:30 P.M.

On Steiner at Bush St. parking available; (415) 567-7824; www.stdominics.org

16

Catholic San Francisco

December 18, 2009

Health reform, Pope Benedict named top story, newsmaker of 2009

By Nancy Frazier O’Brien WASHINGTON (CNS) – The debate over health care reform topped the religious news stories of 2009, and Pope Benedict XVI and President Barack Obama were again the top newsmakers, according to the annual poll conducted by Catholic News Service.

The continued effects of the recession on the U.S. and global economy took second place among the 30 news stories on the ballot. The controversy over Obama’s commencement address at Notre Dame University in May and the decision to award the president with an honorary degree came in third.

Rounding out the top five for religious news stories were the papal encyclical “Caritas in Veritate� (“Charity in Truth�) and the Vatican-ordered visitation of U.S. women religious, which was to continue into 2010.

Most first-place votes on the newsmakers list went to either Obama or Pope Benedict, although the pope was the clear winner this year. The late Sen. Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts was a distant third.

The poll was the 48th annual survey conducted by CNS. This year’s ballots were distributed Dec. 4 and the deadline for returns was Dec. 10.

When the editors’ poll was first conducted in 1962, the

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overwhelming choice for top story was the opening of the Second Vatican Council. Last year, editors chose the election of the first African-American U.S. president and controversy surrounding the role of Catholic voters in the campaign as the top religious story of the year.

Pope Benedict and Obama were the top newsmakers.

Pope Benedict took first place in the 2009 CNS poll for his travels to the Middle East and Africa, his outreach to Anglicans and traditionalist Catholics and his proclamation of a Year for Priests. Obama, whose first year as president included the Notre Dame controversy, his reception of the Nobel Peace Prize and a fight over abortion funding in health reform legislation, was second.

The next three top newsmakers were separated by only one vote each. The late Sen. Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts was third, new Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor fourth and Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan, named to head the New York Archdiocese in February, was fifth.

2009 TOP STORIES

1. Health Reform The role of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in the debate over health care reform drew criticism and praise, depending primarily on where the commentators stood on the abortion issue.

2. Recession/Economy 3. Notre Dame Controversy 4. Encyclical “Caritas in Veritate�

5. Visitation of U.S. Women Religious

TOP NEWSMAKERS 1. Pope Benedict XVI In his fourth year as pope, Benedict XVI traveled to the Middle East and Africa, released an encyclical and proclaimed a Year for Priests.

2. President Barack Obama 3. Sen. Ted Kennedy 4. Justice Sonia Sotomayor 5. Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan Š2009 CNS

CHRISTMAS LITURGIES MOST HOLY REDEEMER 100 Diamond Street, San Francisco, CA 94114 Tel. (415) 863-6259

St. Gabriel Church 2559-40th Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94116 (415) 731-6161

Advent / Christmas 2009 Sacrament of Reconciliation (Confessions) Saturday, Dec. 19 – 3:30 PM Communal Reconciliation Monday, Dec. 21 – 7:00 PM Communal Reconciliation

Christmas Masses Christmas Eve (Thursday, December 24) 4:00 PM Christmas Vigil Mass. Guitar Accompanist.

5:30 PM Christmas Carols with Children’s Choir.

6:00 PM Family Mass. Children’s Choir 11:30 PM Christmas Carols with Adult Choir.

12:00 AM Christmas Midnight Mass. Adult Choir.

Christmas Day (Friday, December 25) 7:00 AM Christmas Mass at Dawn.

8:30 AM Cantor.

10:00 AM Cantor.

11:30 AM Adult Choir.

NO EVENING MASS.

CHRISTMAS SCHEDULE Thursday _ 9 pm Dec. 24, 2009 10 pm

Readings and Carols Christmas Vigil Mass

Friday 8 am Dec. 25, 2009 10 am

Christmas Mass Christmas Mass

Thursday Dec. 31, 2009

8 am

Friday Jan. 1, 2010

10 am

Octave of Christmas Mass (No Evening Mass)

Mass of the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God (Not a Holy Day of Obligation)

God’s Inclusive Love Proclaimed Here!

SAINT EMYDIUS CHURCH 286 Ashton Avenue San Francisco, CA 94112 (415) 587-7066 Fax (415) 587-6690

ST. PATRICK CHURCH CHURCH 756 Mission Street (between

3rd

&

4th

Sts.)

San Francisco, CA 94103 Tel. No. (415) 421-3730 www.spcsf.org

ADVENT / CHRISTMAS / EPIPHANY SEASONS PARISH CELEBRATIONS 2009 – 2010 Sunday, December 20 Fourth Sunday of Advent – 8:30 am, 10:30 am Thursday, December 24 Christmas Vigil Mass – 8:00 pm

CHRISTMAS EVE & CHRISTMAS DAY SCHEDULE

December 24, 2009 – Christmas Eve D 6:00 6:0 00 am Misa de Gallo 7:30 am Mass 12:10 pm Mass 4-5 4-5 pm Confessions (All priests of SPC) 77:00 00 pm Christmas Concert 8:00 pm “Midnight� Mass December 25, 2009 – Christmas Day (Holy Day of Obligation) Sunday Mass Schedule 7:30, 9:00, 10:30 (Latin) am; 12:15, 5:15 pm

CNS photos

Friday, December 25 Christmas Midnight Mass – 12:00 midnight Christmas Morning Mass – 10:00 am Sunday, December 27 Feast of the Holy Family – 8:30 am, 10:30 am Friday, January 1, 2010 Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God & Octave of Christmas – 10:00 am

St. Francis of Assisi Church 1425 Bay Road, East Palo Alto

650/322-2152

Mass Schedule For Christmas and New Year Confessions Thursday, December 24, 2009 10:30 am to 12:00 pm and 3:30 pm to 6:00 pm

Christmas Masses Thursday, December 24, 2009 6:00 pm Bi-lingual Children’s Mass Midnight Bi-lingual Mass

Friday, December 25, 2009 7:30 am English 9:30 am Spanish 11:30 am English 1:30 pm Spanish

New Year Masses Friday, January 1, 2010 7:30 am English 9:30 am Spanish 11:30 am English 1:30 pm Spanish

Saint Church SaintAgnes Agnes Church Saint Agnes Church A Parish Saint Agnes Saint Agnes Church Church AWelcoming Welcoming Parish A Welcoming A Welcoming Parish Parish A A Welcoming Welcoming Parish Parish

Sacrament of Reconciliation Wednesday, December 16 9am to 11am & 5pm to 7pm If you have been thinking about going to Confession, this may be the day for you. All are welcome.

Christmas Eve Thursday, December 24 Liturgies of the Nativity of the Lord 5:00 pm Children’s Liturgy with Children’s Choir 10:00 pm Christmas Vigil with Choir, Woodwinds, Strings and Brass

Christmas Day Friday, December 25 Liturgy of the Nativity of the Lord 10:30 am with Choir, Woodwinds, Strings and Brass There is no 8:30 am or 6:00 pm Liturgy

New Year’s Day Friday, January 1, 2010 Solemnity of Blessed Virgin Mary Liturgy at 10:30 am

Sunday, January 3, 2010 Solemnity of the Epiphany – 8:30 am, 10:30 am

1025 Masonic Avenue, San Francisco (415) 487- 8560 www.saintagnessf.com

Saturday, January 9, 2010 Anointing of the Sick Mass – 10:00 am

Inclusive + Diverse + Jesuit

Parking is available in our Oak Street Lots.

Merry Christmas and a happy New Year from Catholic San Francisco

December 18, 2009

Catholic San Francisco

17

EWTN’s Christmas telecasts: Masses, choral singing, children’s programs EWTN’s Christmas Season programming will include Solemn Masses from Rome and Washington, choral concerts and yuletide specials for children. Special programs include the following: Choral Meditations and Solemn Mass of Christmas Eve broadcast live from the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., Dec. 24 at 7 p.m.

Midnight Mass celebrated by Pope Benedict XVI will be broadcast from St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, Dec. 24 at 1 p.m. Encore telecasts Dec. 25 at 5 a.m. and 1 p.m.

Urbi et Orbi: The Pope’s Christmas Message to the World will be broadcast live from St. Peter’s Square, Dec. 25 at 3 a.m., with encores Dec. 25 at 8 p.m. and 10:30 p.m.; and Dec. 26 at 3 p.m.

At the year’s end, the Holy Father will preside over the First Vespers of Thanksgiving broadcast from St. Peter’s Basilica, Dec. 31 at 9 a.m., with an encore Dec. 31 at 2 p.m.

Catholic University’s annual Christmas Concert blends choral voices and the sounds of the season on a special broadcast Dec. 20 at 10:30 a.m. and Dec. 25 at 3 p.m.

Join the Poor Clare Nuns of Perpetual Adoration at Our Lady of the Angels Monastery in Hanceville, Alabama, for special Christmas music and devotions, Dec. 21 at 12:30 a.m., Dec. 24 at 4 p.m. and Dec. 27 at 2 p.m.

“The Word Is Born: Christmas with the Louisville Chorus” presents favorite carols from an historic church in Louisville, Kentucky, Dec. 22 at 6 p.m., Dec. 24 at 8 a.m. and Dec. 28 at 1 a.m.

“The Chimes,” written by Charles Dickens, is a children’s

Local Christmas programs on radio and TV A Christmas message from Archbishop George Niederauer is featured Dec. 25 on the “Archbishop’s Hour,” a weekly program broadcast on Immaculate Heart Radio-1260 AM in the San Francisco Bay area. The radio program, heard every Friday at 9 a.m., also will feature music of the season from harpist, Anna Maria Mendieta, and parishes including St. Patrick in Larkspur and St. Eugene Cathedral in Santa Rosa. Programming for Jan. 1 will include a look at news stories of the past year with Maurice Healy, director of communications and outreach for the San Francisco Archdiocese, George Wesolek, director of public policy/social concerns and Archbishop’s Hour host, Tom Burke.

The Archbishop’s Hour is rebroadcast Friday and Monday at 9 p.m. and Sunday at 11 a.m.

Msgr. Harry Schlitt will celebrate a special Christmas TV Mass Dec. 25 at 9 a.m.. The Mass will air on KTSF-Channel

26 (Comcast Cable Channel 8) in the San Francisco Bay Area, and KTXL-FOX 40 in the Sacramento/Central Valley Area.

The program is closed captioned for the hearing impaired.

Msgr. Schlitt celebrates the TV Mass, which is televised each Sunday at 6 a.m.

CHRISTMAS LITURGIES

(650) 588-2121 555 W. San Bruno Avenue, San Bruno, CA 94066

2009 CHRISTMAS WEEK SCHEDULE December 22 & 23, Tuesday & Wednesday: 5 AM

Misa de Gallo

December 24, Thursday: 5 7 9 10

AM PM PM PM NB

Misa de Gallo Vigil Mass (Spanish) Christmas Carols Midnight Mass (Multi-lingual) Confessions: 5 PM–6PM

December 25, Friday, Christmas Day: 8 AM 10 AM 12 NN

English Mass Spanish Mass English Mass

December 27, Sunday, Feast of the Holy Family: Blessing of Families at all masses

December 31, Thursday: 7 PM Vigil Mass •

12 Midnight Midnight Mass

January 1, Thursday, New Year’s Eve: 8 AM Morning Mass 6 PM Evening Mass MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY NEW YEAR

St. Thomas More Church 1300 Junipero Serra Blvd.

San Francisco (415) 452-9634

Christmas Schedule 2009 International Christmas Novena 7:00pm December 15th to the 23rd Thursday, December 17th 6:30-8:30pm coffessions (continues during the Novena) Wednesday, December 23rd Last Day, International Novena Potluck in Carroll Hall Thursday, December 24th: 8:30am-Mass of the Day Christmas Vigil 6:00pm Children’s Pagentwith School/Parish Mass, English 9:00pm: Arabic Mass 12:00am: Midnight Mass Christmas Day 10:00am Mass in English No 11:45 (Arabic) Mass 4:00pm Brazilian Mass 8:00pm English Mass Sunday, December 27th Masses are in honor of the Holy Family, regular Sunday schedule.

Thursday, December 31st New Year’s Eve Party in Carroll Hall Thursday, January 1st Feast of the Epiphany, regular Sunday schedule.

TV Mass Special with C hristmas Monsignor Harry Schlitt Friday, December 25 at 9:00 AM KTSF-Channel 26 San Francisco/Bay Area (on Comcast Cable Channel 8)

KTXL - FOX 40 Sacramento/ Central Valley

The TV Mass is closed-captioned ed for the hearing impaired.

St. Philip the Apostle Church 725 Diamond Street @ 24th Street 415-282-0141

CHRISTMAS SERVICES 2009

Christmas Eve, Thursday, December 24 Vigil of Christmas Children’s / Family Mass: 5:00 p.m.

Christmas Carols: 9:30 p.m.

Evening Mass: 10:00 p.m.

Christmas Day, Friday, December 25 Mass of the Lord’s Nativity

at Brotherhood & Thomas More Ways

St. Bruno’s Church

story about a discouraged man who is magically transformed by chiming church bells, Dec. 21 at 1 p.m., Jan. 1 at 1 p.m. and Jan. 2 at 6:30 a.m.

“We Celebrate Christmas: The Birth of Jesus” features lively singing, dancing and puppetry. The program airs Dec. 19 at 7 a.m. and Dec. 22 at 1 p.m.

“The First Christmas” presents Christopher Plummer narrating the timeless Nativity story with a musical background of familiar carols. The special program for the whole family airs Dec. 19 at 7:30 a.m., Dec. 22 at 1:30 p.m., Dec. 23 at 3 p.m. and Dec. 28 at 3 p.m.

All broadcast times are Pacific Standard Time. EWTN is carried 24 hours a day on Comcast Channel 229, AT&T Channel 562, Astound Channel 80, San Bruno Cable Channel 143, DISH Satellite Channel 261 and Direct TV Channel 370.

Comcast airs EWTN on Channel 70 in Half Moon Bay and on Channel 74 in southern San Mateo County. Visit www.ewtn.com for other special programming and updates in coverage.

Mass: 9:30 a.m.

December 27, Sunday Saturday Vigil, 5:00 p.m.

Sunday, 8:00 and 10:30 a.m.

January 1, Friday Mary, Mother of God, Mass: 9:00 a.m.

January 3, Sunday Epiphany of the Lord Saturday Vigil 5:00 p.m.

Sunday, 8:00 and 10:30 a.m.

Traditional Christmas Music at all Masses Join us, for the Nativity Celebration of our Lord…

Come Home for Christmas, in the heart of Noe Valley!

Saint Veronica Church www.stveronicassf.com 434 Alida Way South San Francisco, CA 94080 (650) 588-1455

CHRISTMAS EVENTS SCHEDULE 2009 MONDAY, DECEMBER 14 Advent Penance Service (Deanery-level) 7:30PM at St. Veronica Church DECEMBER 15 TO 23, 2009 SIMBANG GABI ADVENT MASSES All Masses at 6:30PM except Dec 15th 6:30AM & Dec 19th 5:00PM SATURDAY, DECEMBER 19 CONFESSIONS 10AM to Noon & 3:00 – 5:00 PM THURSDAY, DECEMBER 24 CHRISTMAS EVE 5:00PM (Children’s Mass) & 9:00PM FRIDAY, DECEMBER 25 CHRISTMAS DAY 6:45, 8:00, 9:30, 11:00AM & 12:30PM THURSDAY, DECEMBER 31, 2009 Prayer Service – 10:30PM “Midnight Mass” – 11:30PM FRIDAY, JANUARY 1, 2010 NEW YEAR’S DAY 9:00AM only

18

Catholic San Francisco

December 18, 2009

Archbishop’s Journal

‘Rejoice! I say it again. Rejoice!’

During the year, Archbishop George H. Niederauer visited many parishes in the Archdiocese of San Francisco for confirmations, parish anniversaries, pastoral visits, and special occasions. On a Mass Dec. 13 in this “Year for Priests,” he installed Father Thomas Parenti as pastor of St. Mary Star of the Sea Parish in Sausalito. The following is Archbishop Niederauer’s homily at that Mass.

Holiday preparations are revving up very fast these days: lots of plans, shopping, decorating – lots of everything, and less and less of us to get around to it all. Into the midst of this “fast forward” time of our lives comes the Apostle Paul this morning, saying, “Rejoice! I say it again. Rejoice!” Perhaps a mutinous little voice inside some of us can be heard to say, “Yeah, right!”

But let’s hear St. Paul out: What he says in full is, “Rejoice in the Lord always! I say it again, Rejoice!” We are to rejoice in a special way, in Jesus Christ the Lord. We hear that same message in the first reading, from the Old Testament prophet, Zephaniah: “Shout for joy, 0 daughter Zion! The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty savior. Fear not. Be not discouraged!”

For Paul this was hard-earned joy. He was sitting in a prison as he wrote that letter to his converts in Philippi. Paul was not centered on himself, however, but on them. He focused on the wonderful new experience of faith those Christians were having, and on how it was changing their lives daily. The rejoicing was over the presence of Jesus in their lives, not about their everyday details and circumstances, which were probably as difficult as ever.

We know that two people in love can face a challenging existence together better than either of them could alone. In the same way, a church full of people in love with God, believing in his love shown to them in Jesus, their brother, can face the challenges of daily life together better than each of them could alone, without faith or direction or purpose. So St. Paul does not call us to rejoice about our up and down moods, or about the mercy and justice filling the world around us. He calls us to rejoice about the good news of God’s love breaking into our human lives forever in Jesus the Savior.

John the Baptizer, the cousin of Jesus, was the last prophet to prepare the way for him into people’s lives. Luke tells us that the people then wondered if John himself might be the Messiah, the one God would send. John set them straight: “I am baptizing you in water, but there is one to come who is mightier than. I am not fit to loosen his sandal strap. He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and fire.”

Those people wanted to know how to get ready for the coming of the Messiah. So they asked John: “What should we do?” the answer applied to all of them, and now applies to all of us: “Let the one with two coats give to him who has none. The man who has food should do the same.” That’s the lesson Jesus would teach. Christians, if they are followers of Jesus Christ, will share what they have. That was a tough teaching then, and it is a tough and demanding teaching now. It challenges you and me to be content with what we need, and to give away what we don’t need to those who do need it.

Paul agrees with John the Baptizer; in the second reading we hear him say: “Everyone should see how unselfish you are.” Well, to tell the truth, lots of times people should not see how unselfish I am, because I’m not all that unselfish lots of the time.

I make an effort, of course. For example, each Lent I

try to go through my clothes closet and collect everything I seldom wear to give it to the needy through the St. Vincent de Paul Society. But if I’m not careful, I start saying to myself that maybe I will wear it someday. No, I won’t. How easy it is for me to surrender an ideal that challenges me and demands something from me.

John the Baptizer’s next teaching in today’s gospel reading gets very practical, ordinary, and down-to-earth. Luke tells us that the tax collectors also came to be baptized by John and they asked him, “Teacher, what are we to do?” He replied, “Exact nothing but the fixed amount.” Remember, tax collectors in Jesus’s time didn’t work for salary; they worked on commission, i.e., they received a percentage of what they collected. Believe me, you do not want the person collecting your taxes to work on commission – he’ll gouge you for all he can get!

Soldiers also asked John, “What about us?” He answered, “Do not bully anyone. Denounce no one falsely. Be content with your pay.” In other words, everyone is to go on doing the job they’re doing, but do it now with justice and caring toward others. We need to follow and serve Christ where he has put us: student, worker, professional, mother, father, spouse. Doing our jobs as they should be done will keep us close to Christ and make us holy.

Oops, there’s that word: “Holy.” Isn’t “being holy” just for priests and monks and nuns? No! Holiness is not mainly about doing extraordinary things. It’s mostly about doing ordinary things with as much love as possible, for God and for others.

We are called to live our lives as we would live them with Jesus Christ as our neighbor, because he is.

Jesus Christ is the Good Shepherd, who died and rose for us, and appointed shepherds for his church, his people – Peter and the Apostles. They in turn appointed others to succeed them, Pope and the bishops. Bishops appoint priests as pastors to the people in the various parishes; they are co-workers with me, and with you, your shepherd here in St. Mary Star of the Sea Parish (the word for shepherd in Latin is “pastor”). Father Tom Parenti is your guide and companion as you live out your life in Christ as Catholic Christians here in Sausalito, day by day. The priest is a servant-leader of the people.

That’s a complicated idea: servant-leader. After all, being a shepherd of people is not like being a shepherd of sheep! Father Parenti is your leader, but he leads by serving, as Jesus did. The journey of faith you are on is his journey too; he gives you nothing in the Christian life that he doesn’t need as well.

On any Saturday Father Parenti can go from a funeral to a quinceañera to a baptism to a wedding to the Saturday evening Mass. (I hope not too many of the Saturdays are that crowded, and so does he!) It may be his second or third funeral that week, but it is the only time that wife will bury her husband and those children will bury their father, so he has to be as profoundly present to them as possible. The wedding may be the twentieth of the year, but it is the only wedding for that bride and groom (at least we fervently hope so!) Prayer, and the sense that Jesus Christ is acting through him and living in them gives Father Parenti the vision and the strength and the presence to serve and minister to them.

Father Tom needs to lead the saints and the sinners, the young and the old, the fervent and the fallen away, the poor and the rich and the in-between. He will share in their sorrows and their joys. That is his joy, his challenge and his consolation. Jesus Christ calls you to support Father with your prayers, your love

Catholic san Francisco Northern California’s Weekly Catholic Newspaper

Our heavenly Father In his letter to the editor (CSF, Dec. 4) concerning the column, “Neutering God,” Scott Moyer worries that columnist Jane Sears and some of her readers might be left with the misperception that God is male. I don’t see where he got that notion.

Letters welcome Please send your letters to: Catholic San Francisco One Peter Yorke Way San Francisco, CA 94109 Fax: (415) 614-5641 E-mail: healym@sfarchdiocese.org Also, visit our website at www.catholic-sf.org, Contact Us.

Sure, God is true spirit as we all know, but worrying about using masculine terms as some do, is a stretch.

Calling God “Father” refers to Jesus’ teaching found in the Gospel of St. Matthew, when He said, “Do not call anyone on earth your father. Only one is your father, the One in heaven” (Mt 23:9).

Taken literally, we would have to wonder why we do use the title Father when Jesus seems to forbid it. Considering the context of the passage, Jesus is addressing the hypocrisy of the scribes and the Pharisees who in looking for places of honor forgot they were called to serve the Lord in humility. Given that context, Jesus says not to call anyone on earth by the title, “Rabbi,” “Father” or “Teacher,” in the sense of giving oneself an authority which rests with God and of forgetting the responsibility of the title. Yes, as Jesus said, only the

and your encouragement. Each good pastor – and Father Tom Parenti is a good pastor –is the best vocation program there is. Young men can see the difference he makes daily in the lives of Catholic families and people, and perhaps can Archbishop hear the call to go and do George H. likewise.

Finally, in today’s Niederauer gospel reading, John describes the Messiah coming in judgment for his people. John describes the judge: “His winnowing fan is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and gather the wheat into the granary, but the chaff he will burn in unquenchable fire.” Luke then adds, “Using exhortations of this sort, John preached the good news to the people.”

“Unquenchable fire?” That doesn’t sound like very good news! But we need to understand the image: the winnowing fan was a large, flat paddle with a long handle. The harvester would toss the grain high in the air, and the heavier grains of wheat would fall to the ground, while the useless, lightweight flecks of husk would blow away on the breeze. The lesson is clear: if you and I live our lives showing our love for God and for one another, especially for the needy, we will add the weight of love to our lives, and we will become the genuine grain that God gathers into his storehouse of heaven, not the lightweight, un-nourishing chaff.

How do we do that? Jesus asks nothing of us that he doesn’t help us to do, indeed, do alongside us and with us.

The Savior teaches us through the Church, nourishes us with his Body and Blood in the Mass, and speaks his loving word to us in prayer.

Prayer is our listening to God speak to us and lead us in our lives. But we need to make room for that speaking, and to listen for God’s voice in the midst of our lives. It’s like the difference between background music and foreground music.

When you go a concert or a play, they ask you to turn off your cell phones and pagers, and the house lights go down, and everyone grows quiet – that’s foreground music. By contrast, when you step into an elevator you are not there to listen to the piped in music. You’re there to get to the fifth floor.

Similarly, if you are driving along with your family in a car during an approaching storm, and the radio is on, maybe no one is really listening closely. It’s background music. But suppose the news comes on, and there is a weather report. You might find yourself saying to everyone, “Shhh! I want to hear this!” Sure, you want to hear it; it affects your life.

In the same way, Jesus wants to be the foreground voice in our lives, not the background music. He wants us to listen closely for him, to pay attention, and to let what he teaches and says make a difference in the way we live. During Advent and at Christmas each of us makes room for him in the inn that is our heart, letting him become the loving companion who shares our thoughts, our decisions, and our lives. All year round, you and your new pastor, Father Tom Parenti, will listen together for Jesus, the foreground voice in the life of St. Mary Star of the Sea Parish in Sausalito.

heavenly Father is the true Father, and the Messiah, the true teacher and rabbi.

This confirms the correctness of His earthly children referring to God as Father – the loving, authoritative figure we are meant to worship and obey.

Thura Straus Belmont

We still love George

Good will for Jane I asked Santa this year to bring Catholic San Francisco columnist Jane L. Sears a bag full of spiritual gifts, including an appreciation of the people around her, who happen to include the women she seems lately to be disparaging in her most recent columns.

One doesn’t have to travel as far as Alaska to find real Catholics, but if she did visit the Polar Regions for inspiration, she might also observe the effects of melting polar ice caps she has recently decried as so much “hot air.”

I’d also invite her to come to St. Sebastian’s, in Kentfield, to attend our Sunday 11 a.m. Mass and to shake the hands of our faithful young girl and young lady altar servers, who literally stepped up to the plate when the sexual abuse scandal frightened the boys away, and they are still here – week after week.

I wish Merry Christmas and good will to all in 2010.

Rosemary K. Ring Kentfield

L E T T E R S

What happened to the George Weigel column in the Dec. 11 issue of? It is the first thing we read when we get your excellent paper, and we were dismayed to note its absence.

Thank you.

Lidia Pringle Doug Pringle Alexandra Pringle Christina Pringle Janina Wasowicz Goriszowska Wlodzimierz Goriszowski Tiburon Editor’s note: While columns by George Weigel often are included in Catholic San Francisco, the newspaper staff reviews available commentaries each week and selects the best columns on a variety of topics expressing a range of opinion.

LETTERS, page 23

December 18, 2009

Catholic San Francisco

19

The Catholic Difference

The many moral questions in health-care reform The Catholic Church in the United States has done a public service during the recent health-care debate by keeping a crucial proposition in play: no reform should reverse the 32-year- old national consensus that keeps the federal government out of the business of funding abortions. Defending that proposition will not get any easier in the weeks ahead, but it must be done.

The defense of the inalienable right-to-life is not the only moral principle involved in the health-care debate, however.

There are several other such principles and social justice concerns at stake. Here are some of the most important: – The principle of solidarity teaches us to cherish a sense of responsibility across generations. How is that principle honored in a reform of health care that dramatically reduces the funding of Medicare for senior citizens, as bills in Congress now do?

– The principle of cross-generational solidarity also raises grave questions about the real costs of the plans that have emerged from the House and the Senate—real costs, as distinguished from the numbers being pulled out of hats on Capitol Hill. One experienced Catholic public-policy analyst estimates that the bill brought before the Senate will increase total federal spending by about $4.9 trillion (that’s $4.9 trillion) over the next 20 years. There is no way to pay for this, even with spending reductions and tax increases. Does saddling our grandchildren with an Everest of debt satisfy the demands of cross-generational solidarity?

– The principle of subsidiarity teaches us to be wary of concentrating too much power in the national government. Yet

the House bill that (barely) passed in November puts the federal government squarely on the hook for controlling health care costs because it requires Americans to buy government-approved insurance. Voters will rightly turn to their representatives and insist that the government make that insurance affordable. Thus the sea change: the U.S. government will become responsible for containing all health-care costs, which will inevitably involve both rationing and a decline in the quality of care.

Moreover, does anyone seriously propose that a federal government incapable of producing and distributing flu vaccine efficiently is capable of managing a national health-care system well? Subsidiarity teaches us to be deeply skeptical about affirmative answers to that question. Common sense suggests that any government, given such power, will never give it up.

If we make a mess of this now, we’re stuck; ask the British and the Canadians.

– The principle of the common good teaches us to avoid public policy that destroys jobs; that moral imperative becomes even more urgent under current circumstances. The taxes that proposed health-care reforms will impose on all but the smallest employers who don’t offer health insurance, and the tax surcharge that will be laid on higher income persons who own small businesses, are both likely to discourage hiring and force layoffs. That’s bad public policy at any level of unemployment.

It’s unconscionable when the national unemployment rate hovers around 10 percent.

– The politicization of medical decisions—which will

inevitably follow the kind of health- care reform now being proposed—will put new pressures on the rightto-life principle, as well as on the principles of the common good, subsidiarity and solidarity. Decisions that should be made by George Weigel patients and doctors will be made by regulators as governmental intrusion trumps moral and medical judgment. How this builds a free and virtuous society, as Catholic social doctrine bids us do, is not clear.

For all its virtues, today’s American medical system does not afford access to needed care for some, so it fails the tests set by Catholic social doctrine. We can meet those tests and fix the system’s gravest problems by working incrementally, testing results as we go: changing the liability laws that distort insurance costs, reforming the insurance industry to mandate portability and coverage of pre-existing conditions, lifting the ban on interstate competition in health insurance, and covering the uninsured by tax credits and small business reforms. That would be health-care reform that satisfies Catholic principles across-the-board.

George Weigel is Distinguished Senior Fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C.

Potpourri

Quo Vadis Episcopalians?

The news of the Vatican’s acceptance of the request made by traditionalist Anglicans to enter the Catholic Church en masse is one of great joy. Anglicans will be able “to enter full communion with the Catholic Church while preserving elements of the distinctive Anglican spiritual and liturgical patrimony,” said Cardinal William J. Levada, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

How wonderful to know that sometime some of the loveliest architectural edifices of worship will have the red votive lamp confirming the Real Presence of Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ in their elaborate tabernacles gracing magnificent altars. Like the onion-domed churches of the Orthodox, these gothic edifices with their steeples and stained glass, baroque vestibules and ringing bells have dotted hillsides or rested on tree lined streets and hamlets for eons. Now, they may finally come home to Rome.

Although the crossing of the Tiber to Rome by traditionalist Anglicans gladdens our hearts, the Episcopalian Church (the branch of the Anglican Church of America and Scotland) is not as yet in the fast lane opened by the Vatican to allow the long awaited transformation. Factions surrounding the ordination of women and active homosexual clergy have stifled dialogue between traditionalists and liberals. Bishops and clergy have

clashed over the insidious modernity that has gradually insinuated itself into the very heart of Anglicanism, and the result has erupted into spiritual and theological chaos.

Many, including this writer, have happened into a solemn Mass celebrated exactly like the reverent and gloriously ritualistic Catholic Masses of yesteryear, when at the most solemn moments a reverential hush enveloped the prayerful congregation. And many, including this writer have discovered along the way that – if the priest is not male - they are attending an Episcopalian rather than a Roman Catholic service.

Some of the most compelling arguments for the mass exodus of Anglicans to Rome is found in a splendid article by Father Raymond J. de Souza in which he quotes the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, as saying the Vatican invitation to Anglicans is not an “act of aggression” on the part of Catholics, but rather an indication of how much Catholics and Anglicans share in common.

Father de Souza goes to say: “It is true that what unites us has always been greater than what divides us, but it is also true that differences make a difference, and at some point one has to decide where one stands. The Anglican Communion has been wrestling with its very identity for some time now, and at least some part of it has decided that becoming Catholic is God’s

will for them. It behooves the Catholic Church to respect that.”

Then there is the patrimony. English-speaking Catholics for generations have admired the Anglican patrimony, especially in liturgy and sacred music.

Jane L. Sears That this patrimony might soon enrich Catholic worship is news for great rejoicing. In much the same way as the riches of Greek Catholic worship were grafted back on the Catholic vine after the eastern divisions of the 11th century, this modest step is the first grafting back onto the vine of those western Christians who were divided in the 16th century.”

Thank God for this return to the terrain of traditionalism that so enriches the Catholic Church, filling our hearts, and those of our Anglican brethren, with gratitude.

Jane L. Sears is a free lance writer and a parishioner at Our Lady of Angels Parish in Burlingame.

Consider This

Legislating against charity It has been an interesting time around the Washington area these last few weeks.

The District of Columbia City Council passed a law restricting the ability of Catholic Charities to continue its same level of social services to the city’s poor and homeless.

The Baltimore City Council passed a bill subjecting crisis pregnancy centers to a $150-a-day fine for not posting signs stating what services they do not offer.

Suburban Montgomery County Council is considering legislation to impose a $750-a-day fine (it is, after all, one of the richest areas in the U.S.) on pro-life pregnancy centers for not stating they do not provide medical advice or establish a doctor-patient relationship.

So far there’s no indication that Home Depot stores will be required to post signs that they do not perform brain surgery or that Pizza Hut franchises will be mandated to advise patrons they do not offer home loans.

Mandating that organizations must say what they do not do is ludicrous (if not unconstitutional).

The situation within the District of Columbia casts a far darker shadow over the freedom of religion.

The district council made it clear for some time that it would pass the Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Equality Amendment Act of 2009 to legalize same-sex marriage there.

Religious organizations would be required to recognize and

promote same-sex marriage in employment, adoption and foster care polices, Washington Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl said in an op-ed piece published in The Washington Post.

“The new requirements by the city for religious organizations to recognize same-sex marriages in their policies could restrict our ability to provide the same level of services as we do now,” Archbishop Wuerl wrote.

“Since Catholic Charities cannot comply with city mandates to recognize and promote same-sex marriages, the city would withhold contracts and licenses,” the archbishop said.

Misstatements about the archdiocese’s position – intentional and otherwise – began with headlines such as “D.C. Archdiocese Threatens to Axe Social Service Programs Over Same-Sex ‘Marriage’ Law.” “The Catholic Archdiocese of Washington is threatening to stop providing social services, including management of city homeless shelters, unless lawmakers change a proposal to legalize same-sex marriages,” began another article.

If services are reduced, it is because of the city’s requirements. The archdiocese is perfectly willing to continue all services at the existing level, but it cannot do so when it is required to abandon its basic principles.

A pattern seems to be developing. Pro-life pregnancy centers are threatened by needless and harassing fines with no other apparent purpose than to disrupt their life-saving work. City

council members would rather deny the needy vital social services than to work for a compromise that could balance religious principles and anti-discrimination legislation.

Meanwhile, the Stephen Kent American Humanist Association held a news conference to introduce plans to place 270 ads on Washington-area trains and buses with the tag line “No God? No Problem” under a photo of four wholesome young people bedecked in Santa hats.

“We’re not trying to put down people’s religious faith,” said Roy Speckhardt, the association’s executive director. “We just don’t see the evidence.”

The evidence is there, seen in the 68,000 people served annually by Washington’s Catholic Charities and in the thousands counseled and assisted by crisis pregnancy centers.

That evidence of faith is just not appreciated by the atheists, the secularists and the humanists.

Stephen Kent is retired editor of archdiocesan newspapers in Omaha and Seattle.

Catholic San Francisco

A READING FROM THE PROPHET MICAH MI 5:1-4A Thus says the Lord: You, BethlehemEphrathah too small to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel; whose origin is from of old, from ancient times. Therefore the Lord will give them up, until the time when she who is to give birth has borne, and the rest of his kindred shall return to the children of Israel. He shall stand firm and shepherd his flock by the strength of the Lord, in the majestic name of the Lord, his God; and they shall remain, for now his greatness shall reach to the ends of the earth; he shall be peace.

RESPONSORIAL PSALM PS 80:2-3, 15-16, 18-19 R. Lord, make us turn to you; let us see your face and we shall be saved.

O shepherd of Israel, hearken, from your throne upon the cherubim, shine forth.

Rouse your power, and come to save us.

R. Lord, make us turn to you; let us see your face and we shall be saved.

Once again, O LORD of hosts, look down from heaven, and see; take care of this vine, and protect what your right hand has planted the son of man whom you yourself made strong.

R. Lord, make us turn to you; let us see your face and we shall be saved.

December 18, 2009

Micah 5:1-4a; Psalm 80:2-3, 15-16, 18-19; Hebrews 10:5-10; Luke 1:39-45

A READING FROM THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE LK 1:39-45 Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.”

May your help be with the man of your right hand, with the son of man whom you yourself made strong.

Then we will no more withdraw from you; give us new life, and we will call upon your name. Lord, make us turn to you; let us see your face and we shall be saved.

A READING FROM THE BOOK OF HEBREWS HEB 10:5-10 Brothers and sisters: When Christ came into the world, he said: “Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me; in holocausts and sin offerings you took no delight. Then I said, ‘As is written of me in the scroll, behold, I come to do your will, O God.’“ First he says, “Sacrifices and offerings,

A

merican writer and philosopher William Henry Channing (18101884) says: “To live content with small means; to seek elegance rather than luxury, and refinement rather than fashion; to be worthy, not respectable, and wealthy, not rich; to listen to stars and birds, babes and sages, with open heart; to study hard; to think quietly, act frankly, talk gently, await occasions, hurry never; in a word, to let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious, grow up through the common – this is my symphony.”

As Christmas fast approaches, an important question would be: “What is my symphony?” We are perhaps rushed at this time, with our days packed with feverish activities, deadlines – and some anxiety.

Of course, we have to get our homes ready for guests, buy the gifts, mail the Christmas cards, and possibly prepare for travels. Beautiful and simple as these preoccupations are, we need also at the same time come home to ourselves to contemplate the mystery of the Incarnation revealed in the inimitably humble way.

It is truly unbelievable and awesome that God becomes one with us in such a simple and intimate manner.

Channing’s insight of symphony beckons us to view the larger canvas of our life and raise some existential questions.

What is our symphony? Is it possible that we forget that life consists of small, hidden, unsung thoughts, words, and deeds? Are we distracted perhaps – and consumed – by the yearning to achieve something fantastic in life? Do we burn with the desire to be known, recognized, and applauded by the world? Are we sad and frustrated that we have not achieved anything earth shaking? As years slip by, are we burdened with disillusionment that we have not done anything significant

holocausts and sin offerings, you neither desired nor delighted in.” These are offered according to the law. Then he says: Behold, I come to do your will.” He takes away the first to establish the second. By this “will,” we have been consecrated through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

Fourth Sunday of Advent

(CNS PHOTO FROM CROSIERS)

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Scripture reflection FATHER CHARLES PUTHOTA

Embracing Bethlehem: Small things; great love to leave our footprints on the sands of time?

The Word of God addresses these questions, inviting us to discern the way the mystery of the Incarnation unfolds in the course of history. God becoming human inspires us to rearrange our lives in simplicity and humility. At Christmas we realize that our little lives are forever rounded by divinity; our modest endeavors for love, dignity, and justice are infused with light and energy. How could we miss the truth that because Jesus is with us everything in our lives, no matter how small, becomes significant?

In prophet Micah we realize that God does not care for the big and the powerful. He would rather choose the lowly “Bethlehem-Ephrathah, too small to be among the clans of Judah.” Moving away from Jerusalem, center of worldly power, God chooses the tiny Bethlehem where the Shepherd-King will be born. God shuns the glitz and glamour, and opts for the

ordinary and unsophisticated Bethlehem to give birth to the mighty ruler of the world. His “kingdom is not of this world.”

“Meek and humble of heart,” he will rule and shepherd people through the power of love.

The Visitation story in Luke deepens Micah’s insight about God’s unassuming ways. Again, away from the prestige and power of Jerusalem, notorious for wheeling and dealing, the event takes place in the hill country of Judah. In the meeting of two simple women, Elizabeth and Mary, in a town the name of which is not even mentioned, the momentous Jesus event happens, uplifting everyone involved. Elizabeth, considered too old to conceive, the single woman Mary, considered unimportant in their society, both vulnerable and fragile, are filled with the Holy Spirit as they recognize the presence of Jesus who makes John leap in the womb of his mother.

God does not need the worldly respect-

The visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary to her cousin Elizabeth is depicted in a wall painting at the Church of the Visitation in Jerusalem. Mary’s meeting with Elizabeth took place between the Annunciation and the birth of John the Baptist.

ability and renown. In the ordinary people filled with His grace, He can bring about the Savior of the world. Two unpretentious pregnant women, an ordinary visit rooted in the family setting, a deep desire to help the older vulnerable person–-these are good enough to usher in the extraordinary ruler of the world.

Jesus’ way is celebrated in the letter to the Hebrews. With his coming, the elaborate system of blood offerings is set aside. Offering his own body on the cross, Jesus fulfills the will of his Father.

The shameful death on the cross is the ultimate anti-glamour statement. The cross is completely devoid of power, position or fame. Not through some worldly renown or recognition does Jesus fulfill his Father’s will, but through obedience, sacrifice, and death on the cross.

The cross casts a shadow over the crib already. Jesus is born to die. At his birth, there is no room in the inn. At his death, there will be utter helplessness. This is Jesus’ symphony. His symphony is his Father’s symphony. His will is totally aligned with his Father’s. Completely in tune with his Father’s mind and heart, Jesus can never cling to what the world considers as success. Jesus’ way is selfeffacement, poverty, service, humility, and the cross.

This Christmas, can we, the followers of Jesus, move away from our Jerusalems and embrace our Bethlehems? Mother Teresa reminds us: “We can do no great things, only small things with great love.”

May our symphony be pleasing to God and one another. May the God of small things draw close to us and delight us this holy season.

Father Charles Puthota, Ph.D., is pastor of St. Veronica Parish in South San Francisco

The origin of the three Masses of Christmas: Midnight, Dawn, Day

By Brother John M. Samaha, S.M. Our feast of Christmas came from a pagan observance which was Christianized.

It is a pagan festival revisited. The first mention of the celebration of the Lord’s nativity in a liturgical calendar appears in the fourth century. This was the baptism of the pagan festival of the invincible sun (sol invictus), an observance introduced in 274 by the Emperor Aurelius (270-275), and celebrated in Rome on December 25, the

winter solstice. The “Sun of Justice” (Mal 3:20) came as “the light of the world” (Jn 8:12) to vanquish darkness and to triumph over sin and death.

As the Christianization of the winter solstice, observed in Egypt and in Arabia on January 6, developed into the feast of the Epiphany, it became a major feast of the East. To counteract certain pagan myths, Epiphany, which means “showing forth” or “manifestation,” placed emphasis on the baptism of Jesus and his mission, and on the

revelation of his glory at Cana. Gradually the feast of Epiphany spread to the entire West in the fourth century, and the East adopted the feast of Christmas about the same time.

In the fourth century at Rome the celebration of Christmas was a rather ordinary Mass celebrated by the pope. The Mass was similar to our present Mass at Dawn, and proclaimed the prologue of John’s Gospel. To refute and oppose the Arian heresy rampant at that time, the Mass affirmed and celebrated the Word made flesh. This Christmas Mass was

clearly Christological and dogmatic in character, and in 360 mentioned the adoration of the magi and the massacre of the innocent children of Bethlehem.

At Bethlehem, a night Mass was celebrated for Epiphany in the grotto of the Lord’s birth. Beginning in the fifth century a night Mass was celebrated in Rome also, but it was the Mass of Christmas and not that of Epiphany. The pope celebrated the night Mass at the Church of St. Mary Major, ORIGIN OF MASSES, page 21

December 18, 2009 A READING FROM THE PROPHET ISAIAH IS 52:7-10 How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings glad tidings, announcing peace, bearing good news, announcing salvation, and saying to Zion, “Your God is King!” Hark! Your sentinels raise a cry, together they shout for joy, for they see directly, before their eyes, the Lord restoring Zion. Break out together in song, O ruins of Jerusalem! For the Lord comforts his people, he redeems Jerusalem. The Lord has bared his holy arm in the sight of all the nations; all the ends of the earth will behold the salvation of our God. RESPONSORIAL PSALM PS 98:1, 2-3, 3-4, 5-6 R. All the ends of the earth have seen the saving power of God. Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done wondrous deeds; his right hand has won victory for him, his holy arm.

R. All the ends of the earth have seen the saving power of God. The Lord has made his salvation known:

The Nativity of the Lord Christmas Mass During the Day Isaiah 52:7-10; Psalm 98:1, 2-3, 3-4, 5-6; Hebrews 1:1-6; John 1:1-18 in the sight of the nations he has revealed his justice.

He has remembered his kindness and his faithfulness toward the house of Israel.

All the ends of the earth have seen the saving power of God. All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation by our God. Sing joyfully to the Lord, all you lands; break into song; sing praise.

R. All the ends of the earth have seen the saving power of God. Sing praise to the Lord with the harp, with the harp and melodious song.

With trumpets and the sound of the horn sing joyfully before the King, the Lord.

R. All the ends of the earth have seen the saving power of God. A READING FROM THE BOOK OF HEBREWS HEB 1:1-6 Brothers and sisters: In times past, God spoke in partial and various ways to our ancestors through the prophets; in these last days, he has spoken to us through the Son, whom he made heir of all things and through whom he created the universe, who is the refulgence of his glory, the very imprint of his being, and who sustains all things by his mighty word. When he had accomplished purification from sins, he took his seat at the right hand of the Majesty on high, as far superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.

For to which of the angels did God ever say: You are my son; this day I have begotten you? Or again: I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me? And again, when he leads the firstborn into the world, he says: Let all the angels of God worship him.

A READING FROM THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO JOHN JN 1:1-18 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Catholic San Francisco

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He was in the beginning with God. All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be.

What came to be through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race; the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

A man named John was sent from God. He came for testimony, to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him.

He was not the light, but came to testify to the light.

The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.

He was in the world, and the world came to be through him, but the world did not know him.

He came to what was his own, but his own people did not accept him.

But to those who did accept him he gave power to become children of God, to those who believe in his name, who were born not by natural generation nor by human choice nor by a man’s decision but of God. And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father’s only Son, full of grace and truth.

John testified to him and cried out, saying, “This was he of whom I said, ‘The one who is coming after me ranks ahead of me because he existed before me.’”

From his fullness we have all received, grace in place of grace, because while the law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

No one has ever seen God. The only Son, God, who is at the Father’s side, has revealed him.

Spirituality for Life

Chastity and Christmas Scripture and Christian tradition emphasize that Jesus could only be born out of a chaste womb, just as Christian Spirituality emphasizes he can only come to full bloom inside of a chaste heart. Why? Why this emphasis on chastity?

Chastity needs to be properly understood. For too long we have had an overly-narrow and mostly false concept of chastity. Chastity is too commonly identified with sexual abstinence and sexuality is then seen as something that, in itself, militates against chastity and spirituality. But chastity is not the same thing as celibacy; indeed it is not even, first and foremost, a sexual concept. Someone can be chaste but not celibate, just as someone can be celibate but not chaste. My parents were not celibate, they gave birth to a large family, but they were wonderfully chaste persons.

The reverse can also be true. Someone can be celibate but far from chaste.

What is chastity? We are chaste when we stand before the world, others, and God in a way which allows them to be fully themselves without letting our own impatience, selfishness, or unwillingness to remain in tension violate their reality and their natural unfolding. What is meant by that?

Allow me to present three images for this: • In her book, “Holy The Firm,” Annie Dillard shares this story: One evening, alone in her cabin, she was watching a moth slowly emerge from its cocoon. The process was fascinating but interminably slow. At a point she lost patience and needed to get on to other things, so she picked up a candle and applied a little heat to the process. It worked. The added heat sped up the process and the moth emerged more quickly from its cocoon, but, since a natural process had been interfered with and unnaturally rushed, the moth emerged with ill-formed wings which didn’t allow it to fly properly. A fault in chastity led to stunted growth.

• The movie, “Sense and Sensibility,” based on Jane Austen’s classic novel, presents its leading character, a woman played by Emma Thompson, as someone who is asked to carry an extremely painful tension for a long time, one having to do with unrequited and unconsummated love. She has no one with whom she can really share her pain and her circumstance requires her to carry on as if she was not carrying this pain. She carries that tension for a long time, sublimating her pain into a graciousness that she extends even to the very persons who are the source of her tension. Only after a long time is the tension finally resolved and her forbearance in not forcing an earlier, premature resolution, her willingness to carry the tension to term, helps bring about deeper life for everyone, not least for herself. This is the essence of chastity.

• After the Italian, spiritual writer, Carlo Carretto, had spent a number of years living as a hermit in the Saharan desert, he was asked what message he would give to the world if someone asked him the question: What, in your solitude and prayer, do you hear God saying to those of us who are living active lives in the world? Carretto replied: God is saying: learn to wait, learn to wait for everything – for love, for fulfillment, for consummation, for God! Learning to wait, giving God and life the space to unfold as they need to, is the very essence of chastity.

In a number of his books, Nikos Kazantzakis, both fondly and bitterly, makes this assertion: God, it seems, is never in a hurry, while we are always in a hurry. He’s right: Life unfolds according to its own innate rhythms which try our patience and it will not let themselves be rushed, except at a cost. Life and love demand both the time and the space within which to unfold according to their

own internal dictates.

Whenever, because of impatience, selfishness, or our unwillingness to stay inside a tension, we short-circuit that process we, in slight or deep ways, violate their reality.

Father Chastity is the virtue Ron Rolheiser that invites us to live in patience, to wait, to respect what’s other, and to carry tension long enough so that the other can truly be other and gift can unfold precisely as gift.

The word sublime takes its root in the word sublimation. Nothing can be sublime unless there is first sublimation. Nobody gives birth to a baby without a long period of gestation, nobody writes a doctoral thesis in two hours, nobody creates an artistic masterpiece without long hours of sweat and labor, and nobody becomes a heroic individual without carrying unbearable tension. Cinderella only got to go to the ball after she had spent sufficient time in the ashes. Jesus only got to the glory and freedom of Easter Sunday by first sweating blood in the garden.

That is why the Messiah can only be born from a chaste womb and come to life fully only inside of a chaste heart.

Christmas allows for no shortcuts.

Origins of Masses . . .

that is, near the crèche. Since the account of Jesus’ birth at Bethlehem was read from the Gospel of Luke, the theme of this celebration was historical.

The Greek (Byzantine) colony in Rome celebrated December 25 too. They assembled at the Church of St. Anastasia (Holy Resurrection). To respect the Byzantines the pope celebrated Mass with them in the morning before

going to St. Peter’s Basilica. In that Mass the gospel reading was the announcement of the good news to the shepherds found in Luke’s Gospel.

This is how the three Masses of Christmas originated.

The pope and the faithful celebrated Mass at night at St. Mary Major, at dawn at St. Anastasia, and during the day at St. Peter.

■ Continued from page 20 built after the Council of Ephesus. Wood from a crèche was displayed in one of the basilica’s chapels, and the Mass celebrated there became known as the Mass ad praesepe,

Oblate Father Ron Rolheiser, theologian, teacher, and award-winning author, is President of the Oblate School of Theology in San Antonio, TX. He can be contacted through his website www.ronrolheiser.com.

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n Continued from page 18

Climate change assumptions I am writing to you about the article quoting Father Kenneth Weare (CSF, Dec. 4) on the moral aspects of climate change.

May I ask, what is the reader to think when a priest analyzes the works of individuals known for their pantheistic and pagan views in order to come up with an ecological worldview by which we should all live?

It is not necessary to examine the works of Thomas Berry or Brian Swimme in order to respect God’s creation and to act as a responsible steward toward it. In fact, these writings might do us harm. A good resource for fostering ethical care of the natural world can be found online, in the articles of the Catholic Conservation Center.

Persons who make assumptions about the causes of climate change, and what is needed to halt it, are not accounting for the human weakness of scientists, whose worldview affects the data they present and promote.

Mrs. Sonia Sherard-Braa San Francisco

Caution on extremes Those on the extremes of opinion regarding the effects of greenhouse gas emissions ought to

be viewed with great caution. On one extreme are those who deny any relationship between human actions to environmental degradation.

On the other extreme are those who advance the notion that the countries of the world need to de-industrialize because of the damage being done to the environment by human beings. The first extremists, like ostriches, bury their heads in denial, while the alarmist extremists seek to drastically and dogmatically alter human behavior.

A common sense course is one that recognizes the fact that greenhouse gasses do harm the environment and quality of life (consider the air quality in nearly every large city in the world).

The middle course also demands accountability from scientists (we can forgive their venality, but not their manipulation of data). We should not be so narcissistic to think a portion of the human population could destroy the climate in less than one hundred years of industrialization.

At the same time, we should find cleaner technologies that are more environmentally friendly.

We absolutely should not set back civilization in developed countries, nor should we sentence millions of people in developing countries to lives of poverty and starvation.

Roger S. Thorne San Francisco

Brief and to the point I have a one-word answer to those who fear “global warming.” – Climategate!

Denis N. Kray San Francisco

The Catholic Cemeteries

◆

23

Cathedral choirs concert

(PHOTOS BY JOSE LUIS AGUIRRE/CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO.)

Letters . . .

Catholic San Francisco

St. Mary’s Cathedral Choir, Christoph Tietze (at left) conducting, will join the choirs of St. Joseph’s Cathedral in San Jose and the Cathedral of Christ the Light in Oakland for a concert of Christmas and Epiphany selections Jan. 6 at 7:30 p.m. at the Cathedral of Christ the Light at the corner of Harrison St. and Rand Ave. in Oakland.

Parking garage entrance is on 21st St. Tickets are $25 each and available by calling (510) 496-7215.

Archdiocese of San Francisco

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24

Catholic San Francisco

December 18, 2009

Music TV

Books RADIO Film

stage

Two handfuls of children’s books suitable for Christmas giving Reviewed by Barb Fraze WASHINGTON (CNS) – The following children’s books are suitable for Christmas giving.

– “Max and Benedict: A Bird’s Eye View of the Pope’s Daily Life” by Jeanne Perego, illustrated by Donata Dal Molin Casagrande, translated by Daria Kissel. Ignatius Press (San Francisco, 2009). 48 pp., $17.95.

Perego has mastered the art of storytelling, as shown by the narrative of Max, the rock-thrush who lives at the Vatican and tells about a typical day for Pope Benedict XVI. Max knows all kinds of details about his friend the pope – gathered from peering into windows and from observation in public areas – and peppers his tales with additional tidbits about the Vatican and about the other birds in Rome. Readers of all ages will enjoy this book, which can be read aloud to younger children. Ages 6-up.

– “Really, Really Big Questions About Life, The Universe, and Everything” by Stephen Law, illustrated by Nishant Choksi. Kingfisher (New York, 2009). 63 pp., $16.99.

Here is a book that challenges children to think outside the box: It poses scientific and psychological questions and explores possible scenarios and answers. Law, editor of Britain’s Royal Institute of Philosophy journal Think, challenges young readers with questions like “Can I think about nothing?” or “Does having good evidence mean we can’t be wrong?”

“What does my brain do?” and “Is time travel possible?” The questions are divided into four chapters, including “The Great Big Universe Puzzle” and “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.” He does not impose his opinion, but urges young readers to think for themselves.

Choksi’s humorous illustrations and clever design add to this book’s appeal. Ages 9-12.

– “Sleepy Time Blessings” by Sally Anne Conan, illustrated by Nicole Rutten.

Eerdmans Books for Young Readers (Grand Rapids, Mich., 2009). 12 pp., $7.99.

Short, sweet rhymes assure very young children that they are safe at bedtime and that God loves them. Rutten’s bunny watercolors and the board book’s 7-by-7 format will appeal to the very young. Ages 1-4.

– “Awakening” by Claudia Cangilla McAdam. Sophia Institute Press (Manchester, N.H., 2009). 152 pp., $14.95.

This time-travel book seems a bit contrived in the beginning but will quickly draw in teen readers. Ronni, who has been sick, is not allowed to go away with her friend just before Easter. When an angry Ronni falls asleep, she finds herself back in the time of Jesus, smack in the middle of Holy Week events. McAdam cleverly weaves characters from Ronni’s real life into the events unfolding in Jerusalem, and Ronni believes she might have a chance to change history by keeping Jesus from being crucified. Ages 10-14.

– “Dinosaur Park” by Hannah Wilson, illustrated by Steve Weston. Kingfisher (New York, 2009). 11 pp., $17.99.

This book is the tyrannosaurus rex of dinosaur books! It has four double-page popups with clues that include dinosaur tracks.

A small field guide to the left of the pop-ups helps young readers interpret the clues. It also includes nine press-out dinosaurs to use on the pop-ups. Highly recommended and sure to provide hours of amusement. Ages 3-10.

– “Lolek: The Boy Who Became Pope John Paul II” by Mary Hramiec Hoffman and Mark Hoffman. Hramiec Hoffman Publishing (Harbor Springs, Mich., 2009).

49 pp., $18.95.

Your City

The Hoffmans look at some of the cultural and historical factors surrounding the childhood of Karol Wojtyla to show influences on the young boy who later became pope.

Sounds boring, but they use simple language, some humor and tidbits that will interest children. Graphically, this book is beautiful, with whimsical illustrations, including maps and a family tree. An appendix teaches young readers how to say the rosary. Ages 7-11.

– “Little Book of Saints,” Volumes 3 and 4, by Susan Helen Wallace, FSP, illustrated

by Tim Kinarney. Pauline Books and Media (Boston, 2009). 24 pp. each, $4.95 each.

These two little volumes – perfect sizes for stocking stuffers – introduce some of the church’s newest saints, including Sts. Damien of Molokai and Alberto Hurtado Cruchaga.

They also include some prominent potential saints, including Blesseds Teresa of Calcutta and Jacinta and Francisco Marto. Each saint or “blessed” has a one-page biography and a one-page color portrait. A page in the back of each book explains a blessed, a saint and a miracle. Ages 5-7.

– “Gonzalo Grabs the Good Life” by Janice Levy, illustrated by Bill Slavin.

Eerdmans Books for Young Readers (Grand Rapids, Mich., 2009). 32 pp., $17.50.

When Gonzalo the rooster wins the lottery, he quits his farm and heads off in search of the good life. He buys a mansion in Miami and even goes to Hollywood and becomes a party animal. But “ay caramba!” the misadventures

he encounters are quite amusing. Levy’s humorous look at the search for happiness reflects people, not just animals. Slavin’s beautifully painted but hilarious illustrations are perfect for those being read to as well as those doing the reading. Ages 3-8.

– “Olivia and the Little Way” by Nancy Carabio Belanger, illustrated by Sandra Casali LewAllen. Harvey House Publishing (Rochester, Mich., 2008). 224 pp, $10.95.

When fifth-grader Olivia Thomas moves to a new state and a new school, she finds inspiration in St. Therese of Lisieux, introduced to her by her grandmother. She tries to imitate St. Therese’s “Little Way” while navigating the preteen corridors of friendship and peer pressure. Olivia faces real-life situations with grace; the story is inspirational without being preachy. Each chapter begins with a quote from St. Therese that relates to Olivia’s situation. Ages 9-12.

– “A House for Wally and Me” by Gene Stelten, illustrated by Chelsea Johnson.

Grateful Steps Inc. (Asheville, N.C., 2009).

30 pp., $13.95.

Here is a multicultural look at how working together – through building Habitat for Humanity houses – can make dreams come true. I did not want to like this book, because it was written to raise funds for Habitat, and all proceeds go toward two local Habitat chapters.

I viewed it as an ad, but it really is a quiteinteresting look at how such houses are built.

The story is told from the perspective of a young girl, and some photos and illustrations even include conversation balloons with her annotations. It breaks boundaries of stereotypes – for instance, the house leader pictured on her Bobcat is a woman. Ages 5-8.

SCRIPTURE SEARCH Gospel for December 20, 2009 Luke 1:39-45

Following is a word search based on the Gospel reading for the Fourth Sunday of Advent, Cycle C: the visit of Mary to the house of Elizabeth. The words can be found in all directions in the puzzle.

Your Archbishop

MARY THE HOUSE HEARD FILLED AMONG MOTHER MY EARS

HASTE ZECHARIAH LEAPED HOLY SPIRIT WOMEN MY LORD FOR JOY

JUDAH ELIZABETH HER WOMB LOUD FRUIT COME TO ME BELIEVED

BLESSED WOMEN

Your Business Join Archbishop George Niederauer and the Catholic Professional and Business Club for a lively discussion at our new downtown meeting place.

WHEN: Wednesday, January 13, 5:30 to 7:30pm WHERE: Chancellor Hotel, 433 Powell (btwn Post and Sutter), San Francisco COST: $20 per members, $30 for non-members (become a member for $45)

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Pettingell Book Bindery Klaus-Ullrich S. Rötzscher Bibles, Theses, Gold Stamping.

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Sponsored by DUGGAN’S SERRA MORTUARY 500 Westlake Avenue, Daly City 650-756-4500 ● www.duggansserra.com

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December 18, 2009

St. Mary’s Cathedral Gough and Geary Blvd. in San Francisco. Call (415) 567-2020

CHRISTMAS EVE MASS SCHEDULE 8 p.m.: Caroling from Cathedral Choir of Boys and Girls at 7:30 p.m.

Datebook

December 31, 7 p.m. - January 1, 1:30 a.m.: Evening of Reflection – Enter the New Year with Love, Peace and Hope. in Dominican Sisters of Mission San Jose, Motherhouse Chapel, 43326 Mission Blvd. (off Mission Tierra) in Fremont. Contact Sister Beth Quire at (510) 449-7554 or visit our website at www. msjdominicans.org for more information.

Saturdays: San Mateo Pro-Life prays the rosary at Planned Parenthood, 2211 Palm Ave. in San Mateo at 8 a.m. and invites others to join them at the site. The prayer continues as a peaceful vigil until 1 p.m. The group is also open to new membership. Meetings are held the second Thursday of the month except August and December at St. Gregory Parish’s Worner Center, 138 28th Ave. in San Mateo at 7:30 p.m. For more information, call Jessica at (650) 572-1468.

Saturdays, 9 a.m. – 10 a.m.: Rosary for Life 815 Eddy St. – Planned Parenthood – in San Francisco.

CHRISTMAS DAY MASS SCHEDULE

Special Liturgies

Year for Priests Events

Advent Opportunities The Archbishop’s Hour airing Christmas morning at 9 a.m. on Immaculate Heart Radio 1260 AM will feature a Christmas message from Archbishop George H. Niederauer, and music of the season from the choirs of St. Eugene Cathedral in Santa Rosa, St. Joseph Parish in Cotati, and well-known harpist, Anna Maria Mendieta. The show reruns Friday and Monday at 9 p.m. and Sunday at 11 a.m.

Dec. 18, 7:30 p.m.: 8th Annual Christmas Concert at St. Charles Church, 880 Tamarack Ave. in San Carlos celebrates the rich heritage of Advent and Christmas music – carols both old and new, some for listening and some for singing along. The concert features the Adult, Youth and Children’s Choirs. Admission is free. An offering will be taken for the support of the music proJan. 1, 8 a.m.: Candlelight memorial and prayer vigil in memory of the nearly 2,000 people who have jumped from the Golden Gate Bridge since it was built in 1937. Sponsor Bridgewatch is a San Francisco-based Christian group inviting anyone who has lost a loved one, to suicide or other means, to meet at the Golden Gate Bridge and light a candle in memory. The group hopes for more than 2,000 participants to show those contemplating suicide that people do, in fact, care. Participants may assemble at the entrance to the pedestrian walkway on the San Francisco side of the Golden Gate Bridge at 8 a.m. The two-hour Memorial Walk begins at 9 a.m. Due to the windy conditions at the bridge, participants are asked to bring battery-operated candles. Visit www.247woc.com/bridgewatch.htm for more information or call (415) 377-5377.

25

Trainings/Lectures/Respect Life

Midnight: Caroling with the Cathedral Choir at 11:30 p.m. Archbishop George H. Niederauer is principal celebrant.

9 a.m.: Gregorian Mass 11 a.m.: Mass with Cathedral Choir. Father John Talesfore, rector/pastor is principal celebrant 1 p.m.: Misa con el Coro Hispano – Cathedral closes at 1 p.m.

Jan. 20, 10:30 a.m.: You are invited to a free Grief Support Workshop at St. Mary’s Cathedral in the Msgr. Bowe Room, on the west side of the lower level of the Cathedral (enter directly from Cleary Ct. side of parking lot). Presenter is Barbara Elordi, MFT, director of the Archdiocesan Grief Care Ministry. Call Sister Esther at (415) 567-2020 ex. 218.

Feb. 4, March 24, 7 p.m.: St. Patrick’s Seminary and University Year for Priests Speaker Series in Olier Hall at the seminary, 320 Middlefield Rd. in Menlo Park.

Feb. 4: “Priest as Teacher” with Sulpician Father Gladstone Stevens. Father Stevens, vice-rector and academic dean at St. Patrick’s, holds a post-graduate degree in Systematic Theology from Marquette University and is a priest of the Archdiocese of Louisville.

March 24: “Spirituality of the Priesthood” with Sulpician Father Jim McKearney, president and rector of St. Patrick’s, and a priest of the Archdiocese of Hartford, Connecticut.

Tickets are $10 per session. Seating is limited.

Register on-line at www. stpatricksseminary.org Father James L. under Speaker Series.

Register by mail with McKearney, SS payment to: Speaker Series, St. Patrick’s Seminary and University, 320 Middlefield Road Menlo Park 94025.

Catholic San Francisco

Visit the Nativity Scene at St. Mary’s Cathedral, Gough St. at Geary Blvd. in San Francisco, beginning Dec. 20. Hours are 6:45 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday; 6:45 a.m. – 7 p.m. Saturday; and 7 a.m. – 5 p.m. on Sunday. Caroling with the St. Mary’s Cathedral Choir begins 11:30 p.m. Dec. 24 as a prelude to Midnight Mass. Archbishop George H. Niederauer is principal celebrant. grams. Call (650) 591-7349 x32 for more information.

Dec. 18 6 p.m. – December 19, 6 p.m.: Advent Retreat - Discerning Life Choice – Retreat for young men and women discerning life choice at a significant juncture in their lives at Dominican Sisters of Mission San Jose, 43326 Mission Blvd. in Fremont. Contact (510) 789-7079, blessings@msjdominicans.org or visit our website at www.msjdominicans.org for more information.

Dec. 20, 2:30 p.m.: Afternoon Christmas Concert featuring voices of Verbum Dei Music at 3365 19th St. in San Francisco. The event is a fundraiser for Verbum Dei Missionary Fraternity founded in 1963. Call (415) 282-3005 or e-mail verbumdeisf@gmail.com.

Returning Catholics Have you been away from the Church? Have you ever thought about returning? Would you like to know more about the Catholic Church as it is today? If so, we would like to welcome you back at St. Bartholomew’s Church. Please join us for an eight-week program, with topics covering: faith sharing, the Mass, the Church today, Sacraments, and the Creed. Next session begins Jan.12. All are welcome, however, space is limited. To register or more information contact Ingrid Pera at (650) 3470701, ext. 14 or ingrid@barts.org

Married/Engaged Love Languages: A day of enrichment for engaged and married couples presented by World Wide Marriage Encounter. Ever wonder what happens to love after marriage? Could it be that you and your spouse are speaking different languages? Spend a day exploring the languages of love and learn which love language you and your spouse understand most easily. Join us Saturday, Jan. 9 for a day of enrichment at St. Bartholomew’s Parish, 600 Columbia Dr. in San Mateo. For more information, contact Ingrid Pera at (650) 347-0701, ext. 14 or ingrid@barts.org.

Single, Divorced, Separated Information about Bay Area single, divorced and separated programs is available from Jesuit Father Al Grosskopf at grosskopf@usfca.edu (415) 422-6698.

Divorce Recovery Course offered by the Separated and Divorced Catholics of the Bay Area provides a chance to understand the emotional journey begun with the loss of a relationship. It will be held for seven Sunday evenings beginning Jan. 10 and will meet at St. Bartholomew Church, Spirituality Center, 600 Columbia Dr, San Mateo from 7 to 9 p.m. The cost of $45 covers book and materials.

To register or for more information, call Joanne at (650) 347-0701 or Susan at (415) 752-1308

Youth Teens interested in attending the Walk for Life West Coast are invited to a pizza party Dec. 18 at 7 p.m. in San Francisco’s Sunset District. Meet with high school coordinator Annie Bowman and other Walk for Life organizers. Eat pizza, play ping pong, shoot hoops, play RockBand, and X-Box. For more information, including the location in a private home, email info@walkforlifewc.com.

Arts and Entertainment Jan. 8, 9 7:30 p.m.: Earth Dance Returns featuring New Ground Theater Dance Company - www. newgrounddance.com - a benefit performance with Dorothy Stang Center for Social Justice and Community Engagement and the University of Notre Dame de Namur’s Department of Theatre and Dance. $20 general seating/$10 student/senior rate with ID. For ticketing information e-mail boxoffice@ndnu.edu or call (650) 508-3456.

Taize Prayer A New Year’s Eve Vigil will be held December 31, 9 p.m. – midnight at Mercy Center, 2300 Adeline Dr. in Burlingame. The vigil includes readings, review of the year, silent time for reflection, optional sharing and Taizé Prayer, and concludes with Eucharist. The vigil will be led by Mercy Sisters Mary Ann Scofield, Suzanne Toolan, and Bernie Hart with Father Tom Moran presiding at Mass. A potluck follows the service at midnight. Free will offerings and potluck items are gratefully accepted.

For questions, call Sister Mary Ann Scofield at 650 340-7483. Taize will not be held at Mercy Center on Jan. 1, 2010.

Simbang Gabi, a novena in anticipation of Christmas, will be prayed at the following churches at dates and times noted. Please call (415) 699-7927 for further information.

Through Dec. 23: 5:30 a.m. at Our Lady of the Pillar (650) 726-4674; 5 p.m. at Church of the Epiphany, (415) 333-7630; 6:00 p.m. at All Souls (650) 871-8944; 6:30 p.m. at St. Veronica (650) 588-1455; 7 p.m. at Corpus Christi (415) 585-2991 and Mater Dolorosa (650) 583-4131, St. Andrew (650) 756-3223, St. Elizabeth (415) 468-0820, St. Timothy (650) 342-2468; 7:30 p.m. at Holy Angels (650) 755-0478, Our Lady of Mercy (650) 755-2727, and St. Augustine (650) 873-2282.

Through Dec. 24: 5:30 a.m. at Holy Name Church (415) 664-8590, and Our Lady of Perpetual Help (650) 755-9786; 6 a.m. at St. John the Evangelist (415) 334-4646, St. Patrick, San Francisco (415) 421-3730, and St. Stephen (415) 681-2444; 6:30 a.m. at Visitacion (415) 239-5950.

Three day events: 7 p.m. at St. Isabella (415) 4791560 on Dec. 20, 22, 23 and at 5 a.m. at St. Bruno (650) 588-2121 on Dec. 22, 23, and 24.

Food & Fun Jan. 16, 6 p.m.: Young Men’s Institute’s Annual Crab Cioppino Dinner at All Souls Church Cafeteria in South San Francisco. Cocktails will begin at 6 p.m. with dinner by Chef Rich Guaraldi to follow. Tickets are $40 per person, checks payable to the YMI. Contact Tom Fourie at (800) 964-9646.

Jan. 30, 5:45 p.m.: 22nd Annual St. Elizabeth High School Crab Feed and Auction at St. Theresa Parish Event Center, 4850 Clarewood Drive, Oakland. Live Auction features trips to Morro Bay, Pine Mountain Lake (5 bedrooms!), South Lake Tahoe, and Maui plus Bocce and Brunch for 8, Firehouse Dinner for 6, and Dominican Sisters Brunch for 12. Tickets are $50. Proceeds benefit St. Elizabeth Tuition Assistance Program. Call (510) 532.6473.

Jan. 30: St. Elizabeth School (Cantwell Hall-490 Goettingen St. off Silver in San Francisco) is hosting its annual Crab Dinner and Dance. We will be serving marinated and/or non marinated crab or roast chicken, along with appetizers, salad, pasta and desert. No-host bar starts at 5:30 p.m. with dinner at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $45 each. Call the school at (415) 468-3247 or e-mail at stelizabethfsa@ yahoo.com.

Datebook is a free listing for parishes, schools and non-profit groups. Please include event name, time, date, place, address and an information phone number.

Listing must reach Catholic San Francisco at least two weeks before the Friday publication date desired. Mail your notice to: Datebook, Catholic San Francisco, One Peter Yorke Way, S.F. 94109, or fax it to (415) 614-5633, e-mail burket@sfarchdiocese.org, or visit www.catholic-sf.org, Contact Us.

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Catholic San Francisco

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415-573-5141 or 650-993-8036 *Irish owned & operated *Serving from San Francisco to North San Mateo

Homecare for Seniors

Deborah Weisinger, PsyD Licensed Clinical Psychologist

2409A Sacramento St., San Francisco, CA 94115 (415) 522-7393 L ICENSE PSY 18123

Specializing in work with those who are grieving & coping with loss.

Do you want to be more fulfilled in love and work – but find things keep getting in the way?

Unhealed wounds can hold you back - even if they are not the “logical” cause of your problems today. You can be the person God intended.

Inner Child Healing Offers a deep spiritual and psychological approach to counseling: ❖ 30 years experience with individuals, couples and groups ❖ Directed, effective and results-oriented ❖ Compassionate and Intuitive ❖ Supports 12-step ❖ Enneagram Personality Transformation ❖ Free Counseling for Iraqi/Afghanistani Vets

Lila Caffery, MA, CCHT San Francisco: 415.337.9474 Complimentary phone consultation www.InnerChildHealing.com

Starting at $17/hr

by Accredited Caregiver Specialists Serving the SF Bay Area • Professional, Affordable, Safe • For hourly, overnight, or Live-in • Prescreened, experienced, careeer caregivers

Free in-home assessment www.accreditedcaregivers.com 650-307-3890

Clinical Gerontologist Care Management for the Older Adult Family Consultation –Bereavement Support Kathy Faenzi, MA, Clinical Gerontologist Office: 650.401.6350 Web: www.faenziassociates.com Striving to Achieve Optimum Health & Wellbeing

Handy Man Painting, roof repair, fence (repair/ build) demolition, carpenter, gutter (clean/ repair), kitchen/bathroom remodel, decks, welding, landscaping, gardening, hauling, moving, janitorial.

Call (650) 757-1946 Cell (415) 517-5977 NOT A LICENSED CONTRACTOR

Roofing

Healthcare Agency (415) 786-0121 • (415) 586-6748

Serving all your plumbing needs. ◆ Complete bathroom renovations ◆ Senior, parishioner discounts

HOLLAND Plumbing Works San Francisco

Visit our website: www.catholic-sf.org Call 415-614-5642 Fax: 415-614-5641 E-mail: penaj@sfarchdiocese.org

Investment

◆

Serving the entire S.F. Bay Area www.adanplumbing.com 650.270.7766 Lic# 841835

FOR ADVERTISING INFORMATION

The Irish Rose

Home Healthcare Agency Specializing in home health aides, attendants and companions.

Visit us at

catholic-sf.org For your local and international Catholic news, Datebook, advertising information and “Place Classified Ad” Form

Auto Service HABELT’S AUTO SERVICE

Complete Auto Repair 3865 Irving St. at 40th Ave. – Since 1964 –

415-664-1735

Licensed contractors are required by law to list their license numbers in advertisments. The law also state that contractors performing work totaling $500 or more must be state-licensed. Advertisments appearing in this newspaper without a license number indicate that the contractor is not licensed.

For more info, contact: Contractors State License Board

800-321-2752

Serving San Francisco, Marin & the Peninsula.

Contact: 415.447.8463

Hauling ➤ Hauling ➤ Job Site Clean-Up ➤ Demolition ➤ Yard Service ➤ Garbage Runs ➤ Saturday & Sunday

Tell our advertisers you saw their ad in Catholic San Francisco

Massage Theraphy RELAX, RENEW Trained In: Conscious Body Work,

FREE ESTIMATES! • Fast & Affordable

PAUL (415) 282-2023 YOELSHAULING@YAHOO.COM

LAST-MINUTE SERVICE AVAILABLE

Carpet Cleaning

Shiatsu, Foot Massage, Reflexology Swedish, Deep Tissue. Cranio – Sacral, Pre-natal, Hot Stone & Aromatherapy.

Safe Non-Toxic, No Shampoo, Dry in Hours not Days

Transform your muscles back to your supple blissful state and harmonize your energies.

(650) 593-5959

Call Desiree, CMP

415-756-4581 Gift Certificates Available $10 Off with this ad

desi173@yahoo.com

Commercial & Residential Serving SF & San Mateo Co. St. Charles Parishioner

Maintenance Services GARIBALDI MAINTENANCE CO. Complete Janitorial – Window Cleaning Quality Service Since 1946

“Large Enough to Matter, Small Enough to Care”

FREE ESTIMATES (415) 441-2454 www.garibaldimaintenance.com

Fully Insured

Catholic San Francisco

December 18, 2009

Catholic San Francisco

classifieds Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! ~ Catholic San Fancisco PUBLISH A NOVENA Pre-payment required Mastercard or Visa accepted

Cost $26

If you wish to publish a Novena in the Catholic San Francisco You may use the form below or call 415-614-5640 Your prayer will be published in our newspaper

Name Adress Phone MC/VISA # Exp. Select One Prayer: ❑ St. Jude Novena to SH ❑ Prayer to St. Jude

❑ Prayer to the Blessed Virgin ❑ Prayer to the Holy Spirit

Please return form with check or money order for $26 Payable to: Catholic San Francisco Advertising Dept., Catholic San Francisco 1 Peter Yorke Way, San Francisco, CA 94109

San Juan Island Home Live in the San Juans: 3 bedroom, 2 bath home on Lopez Island on 2.1 acres with 240-degree views of San Juan Channel and the Olympic Mountains.

Master suite features jetted tub, its own deck, and a den.

Home also includes stone firepplace, 2-car garage, sleeping loft, main-floor deck and a pleasant walk to the beach.

Within walking distance of golf course and tiny island airport. Served by ferry from Anacortes, WA – and a walk-on ferry ride to Victoria BC. $549,500.

Call Heather (agent): (425) 350-5508

St. Jude Novena May the Sacred Heart of Jesus be adored, glorified, loved & preserved throughout the world now & forever. Sacred Heart of Jesus pray for us.

St. Jude helper of the hopeless pray for us.

Say prayer 9 times a day for 9 days.

Thank You St. Jude.

Never known to fail.

You may publish.

W.H.

Prayer For Motherhood O good St. Gerard, powerful intercessor before God and Wonder-worker of our day, I call upon thee and seek thy aid. Thou who on earth didst always fulfill God’s design help me do the Holy Will of God. Beseech the Master of Life, from Whom all paternity proceedeth to render me fruitful in offspring, that I may raise up children to God in this life and heirs to the Kingdom of His glory in the world to come.

Amen.

S.F.

Live-In Companion Seeking live-in companion, female, honest, to help with personal care and light housekeeping, in San Francisco.

(415) 587-5331

Lake Tahoe Rental

FOR ADVERTISING INFORMATION CALL: 415-614-5642 Fax: 415-614-5641 Email: penaj@sfarchdiocese.org

Help Wanted Experienced Cook needed, 4 hours a day Monday-Friday.

Benefits.

LAKE TAHOE RENTAL

27

Daly City.

650-991-6465

heaven can’t wait Serra for Priestly Vocations

Please call Archdiocese of San Francisco Fr. Tom Daly (415) 614-5683

We are looking for full or part time

RNs, LVNs, CNAs, Caregivers

Vacation Rental Condo in South Lake Tahoe.

In-home care in San Francisco, Marin County, peninsula Nursing care for children in San Francisco schools

Sleeps 8, near Heavenly Valley and Casinos.

If you are generous, honest, compassionate, respectful, and want to make a difference, send us your resume:

Call 925-933-1095 See it at RentMyCondo.com#657

Stocking Stuffers ST. CECILIA’S MOTHER; CLUB RECIPE COLLECTION

The Perfect Stocking Stuffer Need a holiday gift or a hostess present?

The St. Cecilia Recipe Collection is the answer! This fabulous cookbook is filled with 250 tried and true family recipes from St. Cecilia families. From delicious and simple everyday favorites to the grand and gourmet, this collection has a recipe for every level of cook. Your new holiday favorite may be just a phone call or email away!

Just $15 each, or 3 for $30, order via email at cookbooksc@earthlink.com or call Sally Maske at 415-753-6950.

Support St. Cecilia’s, and introduce some new numbers to your culinary repertoire!

Chimney Cleaning

Jeannie McCullough Stiles, RN Fax: 415-435-0421 Email: info@sncsllc.com Voice: 415-435-1262

OFFICE SPACE AVAILABLE Approximately 2,000 to 10,000 square feet first floor office space available (additional space available if needed) at One Peter Yorke Way, San Francisco (between Gough & Franklin), is being offered for lease to a non-profit entity. Space available includes enclosed offices, open work area with several cubicles, large work room, and storage rooms on the lower level of the Archdiocese of San Francisco Chancery / Pastoral Center. We also have mail and copy services available, as well as meeting rooms (based on availability). Reception services available.

Space has access to kitchen area and restroom facilities. Parking spaces negotiable. Ready for immediate occupancy with competitive terms.

Come view the space.

For more information, contact

Katie Haley, (415) 614-5556 email haleyk@sfarchdiocese.org.

28

Catholic San Francisco

December 18, 2009

In Remembrance of the Faithful Departed Interred In Our Catholic Cemeteries During the Month of November HOLY CROSS COLMA

Barbara G. Kast Paul Ignatius Kelly Neyo C. Kim Carmel M. Agius George J. Koniaris Rose Alioto Phyllis E. Lang Virginia B. Arata Angelo L. Leone John “Jack” Armas, Jr. Jay Leonard Leone Msgr. Peter Gomez Armstrong William A. Lewis Harry Atkinson Lucila A. Lindenfelser Doris M. Attard Paul A Makarczyk Charlene Baca Juanita Marckwordt Solomon C. Balingit Norma Martini Helen Ryan Baranski Catherine Mullan May Helen Beirne Helen K. McGee Edward Benjamin Richard G. McKay Rita Bianchi Kathleen A. McKenzie Katherine Borrelli Marian G. McLaughlin Thelma Louise Cain Boster Tiburcio G. Melo Cormac J. Brady Anderson J. Diaz Molina Joseph Brennan Edward Murphy Raymond T. Burke Jamileh J. Nasrawin Bonnie Jean Caie Catherine V. Navarro Virginia Caldwell Paulina V. Ng Rinaldo J. Candau Geraldine Nichols August W. Cantoni Ellen M. O’Leary Obdulia G. Castro Ekuasi Faioso Pahulu Ke Shing Chang Fe R. Palisoc Isabel G. Clough John Peter Paulin Julius Anthony Console Jose C. Pereira Margaret A. Costello Carlos M. Perez Anita M. Craig Lois Petri Timothy Creedon Clarence M. Petterson Louis J. Cuyala Helen M. Phipps Gail M. Davis August Pini Dolores Delli Gatti Josephine Bianchi Pizzolon Gregoria U. Devera Monico S. Pumaras, Sr. Paul John Domeniconi Fidelino Ravelo Steven Patrick Dub Florentina P. Rimban Joseph T. Elsbernd Richard P. Rossi Henrietta M. Engler Antoinette M. Saghi Amancio G. Ergina Sandra Rose Sherwood Edward Formosa Oscar Siguenza Lawrence Fraschieri Elisabeth C. Sliney Winnie T. Fu Edith Claire Sooy Maria Siraguen Garcia Mary J. Spadini Raymond Gibbons Joyce A. Stanich Mary Claire Giffra Ila D. Stenson Loretta Grossman Steven A. Stern Brandon D. Harding Frank F. Sylvestri Mildred I. Huddleston Margaret B. Talevi Imelda S. Hult Raymond M. Teulier Branden Alexander Hyde Michael Henry de Young Tobin Lois L. Jones Jose Gonzales Torrefiel

Faredah S. Totah Dorothy M. Valdivia Richard E. Valerga Dolores Vaszko Esperanza Waldo Frances I. Waldvogel Christopher D. Walsh Michael Webb Michael V. Whimple Rolland C. Wickersham Rev. Stan Wu Geraldine Yingling Teresa Zolezzi

MENLO PARK Jeanne Marie Bell

MT. OLIVET Rene L. Castro Lina Fonio Al G. Niehaus Kathleen L. O’Connor William D. Provines Margaret M. Ruggiero Jack P. Schotte Raymond W. Swanson Maria W. Tarabbia Sidney E. Tate Michael E. Walsh

OUR LADY OF THE PILLAR Josie Faughender Donald Isaac, Jr. Gisela Kaiser

HOLY CROSS CATHOLIC CEMETERY, COLMA First Saturday Mass Saturday, January 2, 2009 All Saints Manusoleum - 11:00 am Rev. L. Joseph Landi, Celebrant

The Catholic Cemeteries Archdiocese of San Francisco www.holycrosscemeteries.com HOLY CROSS CATHOLIC CEMETERY 1500 Mission Road, Colma, CA 650-756-2060 PILARCITOS CEMETERY Hwy. 92 @ Main, Half Moon Bay, CA 650-712-1676

HOLY CROSS CATHOLIC CEMETERY Intersection of Santa Cruz Avenue, Menlo Park, CA 650-323-6375 ST. ANTHONY CEMETERY Stage Road, Pescadero, CA 650-712-1679

MT. OLIVET CATHOLIC CEMETERY 270 Los Ranchitos Road, San Rafael, CA 415-479-9020 OUR LADY OF THE PILLAR CEMETERY Miramontes St., Half Moon Bay, CA 650-712-1679

A Tradition of Faith Throughout Our Lives.