Church activists: Leaders must consider climate change effects on poor
Catholic san Francisco Northern California’s Weekly Catholic Newspaper
By Barbara J. Fraser LIMA, Peru (CNS) – World leaders and negotiators participating in this month’s U.N. Climate Change Conference must remember that the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people will suffer most from environmental factors, church activists say.
See related story, page 11 “This is a pivotal point for all people of faith and good will,” said Cliona Sharkey, policy and advocacy officer for CIDSE, an international network of Catholic development agencies. “We simply cannot accept the continuation of a situation that is impacting on the people who have contributed least to the problem.” CLIMATE CHANGE, page 3
(CNS PHOTO/STRINGER VIA REUTERS)
A man walks past smoke coming from cooling towers of a power plant in China’s Jiangxi province, Nov. 26. Church groups are calling for negotiators at an international conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, Dec. 7-18 to sign a legally binding agreement that includes sharp cuts in greenhouse gas emissions by industrialized countries.
Relationship is the heart of mature faith, Sister tells religious educators Mature faith is a lifelong journey that challenges believers to enter into everdeepening relationships with God and with one another. Sister Eva Marie Lumas, a Sister of Social Service and a nationally known consultant and teacher of religious education, sounded that theme in her keynote speech to the 2009 inter-diocesan Faith Formation Conference. The speech was sponsored by the Archdiocese of San Francisco’s Office of Religious Education and Youth Ministry. The primary purpose of faith formation is to nurture mature faith, Sister Lumas told religious educators from the archdiocese and the dioceses of Monterey, Oakland, San Jose and Stockton in her remarks opening the Nov. 20-21 conference in Santa Clara. “Having mature faith enables us to rest our hearts and root our lives in an ultimate ground of being,” said Sister Lumas, who is field education director and an assistant professor at the Franciscan School of Theology in Berkeley.
(PHOTO BY RICK DELVECCHIO/CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO)
By Rick DelVecchio
Sister Eva Marie Lumas, SSS, speaks to an audience member after her keynote address to the 2009 Faith Formation Conference. Mature faith, Sister Lumas said, means to assume the right and the responsibility of being a co-creator of the world.
“The three most effective ways of developing mature faith (are) to be in the company of people who welcome us into hospitable and just relationships, engage with us as valued and gifted sojourners and strive to practice the presence of God.” Sister Lumas related a poem, “Baptism of the Spirit,” written by a former student. The poet describes her struggle to find a faith community that embraces her vision of mature faith: “I don’t go to church anymore because I’m bored, because the words are disconnected from the bodies, because there’s no fire, because no one seems to know or care of my people’s pain. “I don’t go to church anymore because it only happens on Sunday, because they read the Bible without conviction. “I don’t go to church anymore because they smile when they’re not happy, because they dress up their brokenness in fine robes or other kinds of Sunday morning ritual finery,” the poet writes, “because they don’t share the truth about their lives, because they MATURE FAITH, page 19
INSIDE THIS WEEK’S EDITION ‘On the Street’ . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Charity ‘wish lists’ . . . . . . . . 6 CCCYO Season of Caring. . . 8 Obituaries . . . . . . . . . . . . 9, 11 Archbishop’s Journal. . . . . . 14
‘Advent in Bethlehem’ News in brief ~ Pages 4-5 ~ December 4, 2009
Haiti Journal ‘voilence, abuse’ ~ Pages 12-13 ~
Music, Books, Radio Datebook ~ Pages 20-21 ~
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Scripture, reflection . . . . . . 16 Service, Classified ads . 22-23
www.catholic-sf.org VOLUME 11
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No. 37
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Catholic San Francisco
December 4, 2009
On The
Star of the Sea Academy, class of ’64: Front from left: Joan Doyle, Sue Chambers Frederickson, Bobbie Galvin Munkner, Kathy Klingenberg, and Ginny Cioppa Leal. Next row from left: Terry Murphy Aochi, Sue Carew, Joan Toomey Osborne, Judy Kowalski Brady, and Chris Pasquet Bruch. Next row from left: Annette Balestrieri Isola, Chris Collins Bray, Ann Lund, Patty Walsh, Mariann Ferretti and Mary Lou Mayer Long. Top row from left: Virginia Greene Yanke, Maureen Robertson Gonzalez, Julie Lane, Mary Handlin Martinelli, Nancy Thomas Hall-Manning and Stella George Steimer.
Where You Live By Tom Burke On November 7, San Francisco’s Nativity Parish celebrated a form of Slovenian Thanksgiving, called “Martinovanje”, in honor of St. Martin of Tours, “a most popular saint in our lands,” parishioner Ivo Ravnik, said in a note to this column. “This feast has a long tradition in all the various parts of Slovenia. It serves as a reminder of the earth’s goodness, the richness of its fruits, and blessings of new wine.” More than150 parishioners joined in the festivities, including music by the Joe Bajuk Trio, playing lots of polkas and waltzes and other dance music. “The arrival from Ljubljana, Slovenia of Msgr. Franci Petric to celebrate the Saturday and Sunday Masses, made this event ever more festive and memorable,” Ivo said…. Mercy Center, Burlingame, hosted the third Mercy International Archivist Conference in November. More than 50 archivists, heritage center directors and historians from Mercy Congregations in the United States, Newfoundland, Ireland, England, Australia, New Zealand, Chile, Kenya and South Africa took part. “Living, Telling and Sharing the Mercy Story through Good Archival Practice” was the theme that ran through four days of presentations and activities designed to strengthen and enrich the skills of those present. Among the presenters was Deacon Jeffrey Burns, Ph. D., archivist for the Archdiocese of San Francisco. I also helped out and it was a terrific experience. Though I get the chance to interview many people in my work with the communications office, I’ve never had the chance to present a workshop
Msgr. Franci Petric, with parishioners, Tom and Carol Brandi, at “Martinovanje” celebration in honor of St. Martin of Tours at Church of the Nativity in San Francisco.
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HELPLINES FOR CLERGY/CHURCH SEXUAL ABUSE VICTIMS 415-614-5506 This number is answered by Barbara Elordi, Archdiocesan Pastoral Outreach Coordinator. This is a secured line and is answered only by Barbara Elordi. 415-614-5503 If you wish to speak to a non-archdiocesan employee please call this nunmber. This is also a secured line and is answered only by a victim survivor.
on the topic. Truth told, I was scared stiff but the wonderful the items with some help from Buddy Sanchez of Attila Mercy Sisters held me up through my opening stages and Cargo the school said…. Hats off to the student body of soon we were off to the races. Thanks, too and much, to Archbishop Riordan High School who raised $1,016 in Jeff Burns who arrived early to assist me in the last segment a one-day drive to help those struggling in the Philippines. of my talk. His oral-history interview stories taught us all Alex Datoc, director of campus ministry at the school, coorand also had us laughing out loud. Thank you very much dinated the fundraiser…This is an empty space without to Mercy Sister Marilyn Gouailhardou who asked me to you. Send items via e-mail to burket@sfarchdiocese.org and gab….The class of ’64 from San Francisco’s now-closed by ground to “Street,” One Peter Yorke Way, San Francisco and much-missed Star of the Sea Academy gathered for a 94109. Electronic photos should be jpegs at 300 dpi. No 45th reunion in October. “After the luncheon, the hotel gave zip files, please. Hard copy photos are also welcome sent us this huge suite to `hang out’ in and we continued to laugh to the Peter Yorke Way address. I can be reached at (415) and talk into the late hours,” said classmate Julie Lane. “The 614-5634. eight or nine of us that spent the night all had breakfast together and said our goodbyes for another five years. Maybe we should do this every year.”…. Mary Oxley of Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish in Belmont congratulates Father Dan Carter, pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in San Francisco and a former pastor of IHM, on his 30th year as a priest, Nov. 23. Mary said the kudos include good wishes from additional “friends at IHM.” … Students and families of Holy Angels Elementary School in Colma sent 28 cargo boxes of clothes, toys, blankets, and canned food to the Philippines to assist in aid to typhoon victims there. In Manila, Father Socrates Montealto, brother Mercy Sister Katherine Doyle, archivist for the Sisters of Mercy West of Holy Angels principal, Dominican Sister Leonarda Montealto, will Midwest, Auburn campus, Mercy Sister Marilyn Gouailhardou, archivist share the goods with those who need for the Sisters of Mercy West Midwest, Burlingame campus, and them. The Holy Angels community Chris Doan, archivist for the Sisters of the Presentation of also bore the expense of shipping the Blessed Virgin Mary in San Francisco.
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December 4, 2009
Climate change . . . Church groups are calling for negotiators meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark, Dec. 7-18 to sign a legally binding agreement that includes sharp cuts in greenhouse gas emissions by industrialized countries and long-term funding to help developing countries adapt to the effects of climate change, Sharkey told Catholic News Service. It may be an uphill battle. Climate activists say that to slow climate change, industrialized countries must reduce emissions of greenhouse gases – carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide – that trap heat near the earth’s surface by 40-45 percent from 1990 levels. Brazil, a developing country whose economy and energy needs have grown rapidly in recent years, has expressed willingness to cut emissions by 38 percent from 1990 levels. U.S. President Barack Obama has offered to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 17 percent from 2005 levels, which are substantially higher than the 1990 benchmark. China offered a 40-45 percent cut from 2005 levels, with the possibility of further reductions if the United States agrees to do more. Emissions must be reduced enough to keep global surface temperatures from rising more than 2 degrees Celsius, Sharkey said. Global warming could affect food and water supplies, public health, infrastructure and political security, she said. “It’s all interrelated,� she said. “The implications are felt first by people living in poverty, but those implications will filter up with huge, devastating impacts for everybody if it’s not controlled now, when we have the chance.� Island nations and countries with coastal cities are threatened by rising sea levels, while mountain farmers who depend on glacial runoff in dry seasons are seeing glaciers disappear. Other regions, including northeastern Brazil and parts of Africa, are suffering increased drought. “Kenya has experienced three successive rainy season failures, which has affected food security,� said Janet Mang’era, national executive secretary of Caritas Kenya, the Kenyan bishops’ development and social services agency, in an e-mail interview with CNS. African countries also are suffering from decreasing water supplies, which affect hydroelectricity, drinking water, tourism, irrigation for crops and water for livestock, Mang’era said. There has been a “rise in
(CNS PHOTO/MA RCIO SILVA, AMAZONASPRESS VIA REUTERS)
n Continued from cover
A woman carries water she drew from the remaining pools of a drying tributary of the Amazon River in Parana do Paraua, Brazil, Nov. 24. Decisions made at the U.N. climate conference in Denmark Dec. 7-18 will directly affect Latin Americans.
resource-based conflicts among pastoral communities in northern Kenya and also between wildlife and humans,� she said, and people are being forced to migrate from rural areas to cities as deserts encroach on cropland. “Due to recurrent droughts, the traditional safety nets have been destroyed,� Mang’era said. “For instance, communities that never fed on fish are turning to fishing to survive.� Climate changes have severely affected food production, she said, exacerbating poverty, particularly among women, who form the majority of the poor and a big proportion of the subsistence farmers. The semi-arid northeastern part of Brazil has suffered from both drought and “political neglect,� according to Sister Delci Franzen, a member of the Sisters of St. Katherine and the Brazilian bishops’ commission on social service, justice and peace. “There’s more desertification and more poverty,� she said. Mang’era called for more research on the impact of climate change, especially on women and migration. She also stressed the need to develop crops and animals that can thrive on little water; irrigation technology; alternative sources of income for people being forced out of agriculture because of lower yields or unproductive land; reforestation; and water conservation infrastructure, such as reservoirs and tanks.
In recent years, wealthy countries have pledged funds to help poor countries adapt to climate change using measures such as those Mang’era suggested. The money also was to be used to help vulnerable countries prepare for disasters such as drought or flooding from storms. But most of the promised funds have not reached the countries with the greatest need. The U.N. fund for least-developed countries has disbursed only $47 million of $172 million pledged for climate change, and a special climate change fund has disbursed only $59.8 million of a promised $106.5 million. The shortfall is aggravated by accounting and disbursement procedures that make it difficult to track money and compare countries’ progress in fulfilling pledges. Developed countries have not met expectations for emissions reduction or in delivering promised financing to help developing nations adapt, Sharkey said. “There needs to be secure and predictable long-term financing for adaptation and for low-carbon development in developing countries,� Sharkey said. Mang’era said developed countries must commit at least 1.5 percent of global gross domestic product, in addition to regular development aid, to support adaptation projects in the neediest countries. Church groups insist that climate change aid from wealthy to poor countries must be in
Catholic San Francisco
the form of grants, not loans, said Sharkey. The foot-dragging by rich nations makes low-income countries question their commitment to fighting climate change and could make large developing countries, such as China, India and Brazil, less willing to make significant emissions reductions that could affect their development. “I don’t think even the Chinese or Indian or Brazilian government would try to deny that there are vast differences now (among) countries on the developing-country spectrum,� but leaders of those countries ask “why they should change the rules of the game when developed countries haven’t met their end of the bargain,� Sharkey said. Church activists in developing countries also have doubts about some of the programs likely to be central to negotiations in Copenhagen, especially market-driven schemes such as carbon trading and payment for avoided deforestation. “The carbon market can deliver some things, but it can’t deliver sustainable and equitable development,� Sharkey said. The Kyoto Protocol’s “clean development mechanism,� which allows countries to continue emitting greenhouse gases in exchange for “offsetting� the emissions with low-carbon projects, often in other parts of the world, shows that “the carbon market sends money where there’s profit to be made, not where the human development or environmental need necessarily is,� she said. Africa, which has the greatest need, has the fewest climate change mitigation projects under the clean development mechanism. About 74 percent of the projects are in Asia and the Pacific, 23 percent are in Latin America and the Caribbean, and less than 2 percent are in Africa. In Brazil, church leaders call for a limit on landholdings, to discourage deforestation of the Amazon for large cattle ranches, Sister Delci said. They also urge establishment of an international fund that could be used by local governments to provide incentives for forest conservation. If radical steps are not taken in Copenhagen, Sharkey fears that the world’s developing countries – whose emissions will also increase in the future – could be heading down a path toward unsustainable development. “What is necessary is a fundamental shift in our models of development,� she said. “Climate change is exacerbating and increasing poverty and inequality. The more we delay taking effective action, the greater the impacts of climate change are going to be.�
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Catholic San Francisco
NEWS
December 4, 2009
in brief
Bishops call Senate health bill ‘an enormous disappointment’ WASHINGTON – The health reform legislation now before the Senate is “an enormous disappointment, creating new and completely unacceptable federal policy that endangers human life and rights of conscience,” the chairmen of three committees of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops said. A letter from the three chairmen outlining the USCCB’s problems with the Senate bill’s provisions on abortion and conscience protections, coverage of immigrants and affordability for low-income Americans went out about 24 hours before the Senate voted, 60-39, to begin debate on the legislation. The Senate’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, drawn up by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada from legislation approved earlier in two Senate committees, “does not meet ... moral criteria” outlined by the bishops, especially on the use of federal funds to pay for abortions, the letter said. “We believe legislation that violates this moral principle is not true health care reform and must be amended to reflect it,” said Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston and Bishops William F. Murphy of Rockville Centre, N.Y., and John C. Wester of Salt Lake City. “If that fails, the current legislation should be opposed.” They head the USCCB committees on Pro-Life Activities, on Domestic Justice and Human Development, and on Migration, respectively.
US religious leaders pledge commitment to conscience issues WASHINGTON – More than 140 Christian leaders have joined in a joint declaration pledging renewed zeal in defending the unborn, defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman and protecting religious freedom. The 4,700-word statement, called the “Manhattan Declaration: A Call of Christian Conscience,” was signed by 14 Catholic bishops, evangelical and Orthodox leaders and other Catholics. The document pledges the group’s “obligation to speak and act in defense of these truths” and stressed that “no power on earth, be it cultural or political, will intimidate us into silence or acquiescence.” About 16 religious leaders who signed the document attended a Nov. 20 press conference in Washington to unveil it. Washington Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl, who welcomed the group to Washington, said the document echoed “what needs to be said” today and did so “with a collective voice.” Several speakers pointed out that the issues highlighted in the “Manhattan Declaration” are not new, but there is a new urgency to defend them. “Justice demands that we not remain silent,” said Cardinal Justin Rigali of Philadelphia.
Web site offers resources for Advent, Christmas seasons WASHINGTON – Suggestions for daily prayer, reading, reflection and action throughout the Advent and Christmas seasons and other resources are part of a new Web site created by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The site, www. usccb.org/advent, features interactive online calendars with a menu of resources for each day of Advent and the Christmas season, which ends Jan. 10 with the feast of the Baptism of the Lord. The site includes Scripture resources focusing on the Old Testament, recommendations on holiday-themed movies from the USCCB’s Office for Film & Broadcasting and selections from the USCCB publication “Catholic Household Blessings
& Prayers.” Also available are printable calendars in English and Spanish with ideas for daily family activities to mark the two seasons. The site is decorated with photos of sanctuaries adorned for Advent and Christmas from across the country, including the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington.
Pope appeals for rights of children VATICAN CITY – Pope Benedict XVI urged governments and international organizations to give special attention to the rights of child immigrants, who often are victims of exploitation and abandonment. Minors forced to immigrate for reasons of poverty, violence or hunger are the most vulnerable, he said. The pope made the comments in his annual message for the World Day for Migrants and Refugees, which will be celebrated Jan. 17 in most countries. The pope said host countries must create policies that protect child immigrants and help them integrate into society. These children should enjoy basic rights such as going to school and being able to work legally, he added. “I warmly hope that proper attention will be given to minor migrants who need a social environment that permits and fosters their physical, cultural, spiritual and moral development,” he said. Despite increased awareness of the need to help child immigrants, the pope said, “many are left to fend for themselves and, in various ways, face the risk of exploitation.”
Report on clergy abuse in Dublin Archdiocese details failures DUBLIN, Ireland – A report detailing failures of church leaders’ handling of sex abuse cases in the Archdiocese of Dublin has resulted in calls for bishops’ resignations and further investigations and prosecution. “The Dublin Archdiocese’s preoccupations in dealing with cases of child sexual abuse, at least until the mid-1990s, were the maintenance of secrecy, NEWS IN BRIEF, page 5
Archdiocese issues statement regarding ruling by San Francisco Transfer Tax Board Following an oral ruling Nov. 30 by the San Francisco Transfer Tax Appeals Board (composed of the city controller, the city real estate director, and the city tax collector), which supported a contention made by the San Francisco Assessor-Recorder regarding an Archdiocesan intra-church property transfer, the Archdiocese of San Francisco released the following statement: Statement by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Francisco Regarding Transfer Tax Appeal
In view of the fact that the law pertaining to this intra-church property transfer matter is overwhelmingly in favor of the Archdiocese we are obviously disappointed that the City’s Transfer Tax Appeals Board did not follow the law. The Board members, all of whom are City Hall administrators rather than members of the judiciary, apparently faced a tremendous amount of pressure in view of the City’s desperate need for revenue. More than 19 months have gone by since we first
presented a straightforward transaction for recordation by City Recorder Phil Ting’s office and were met with inexcusable delays, and at times, arrogance. Therefore, we are glad that having exhausted the required administrative process we can finally proceed to a formal, neutral civil court forum. We trust that the civil court will carefully consider the applicable law, devoid of the sensationalism and politics that the Archdiocese thus far has faced.
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December 4, 2009
CINCINNATI – Music can be the language to help bring people together, crossing any nation’s boundary and driving freedom throughout the world, said jazz icon Dave Brubeck. Fifty years after the taping of his signature tune “Take Five,” the musician will be honored Dec. 6 with a lifetime achievement award from the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington. In 1958, Brubeck led his Dave Brubeck Quartet on a 14-country “goodwill” tour through Europe, the Middle East and Central Asia. “Jazz represents freedom, freedom musically and politically,” he said. He noted that his 1958 tour targeted countries such as Afghanistan, Iran and Iraq and was meant to show “how important freedom is.” Brubeck, 88, became Catholic after the 1980 premier of his composition of the Catholic Mass, “To Hope! A Celebration.” Brubeck’s Mass has been performed throughout the world, including in Russia in 1997 and before Pope John Paul II 10 years earlier in San Francisco during the pontiff’s pilgrimage to the United States. Brubeck does not draw distinctions between his work as an orchestral and chorale composer and his performances as one of the world’s most foremost jazz bandleaders. Jazz and the sacred, he said, “have always been close.”
(CNS PHOTO/DEBBIE HILL)
n Continued from page 4
Music can bring world’s voices together, Catholic jazz icon says
5
Cardinal: Beware of rights breaches disguised as protection
News in brief . . . the avoidance of scandal, the protection of the reputation of the church, and the preservation of its assets,” said the report by the independent Commission of Investigation, headed by Judge Yvonne Murphy. “All other considerations, including the welfare of children and justice for victims, were subordinated to these priorities. The archdiocese did not implement its own canon law rules and did its best to avoid any application of the law of the state.” The report said church officials and police colluded in covering up instances of child sexual abuse by clergy. The commission investigated the period from January 1975 to May 2004, during which time there were four Dublin archbishops: the late John Charles McQuaid, Dermot J. Ryan and Kevin McNamara and Cardinal Desmond Connell, who retired in 2004 and is now 83. The report emphasized that the commission was established not to determine where child sexual abuse took place “but rather to record the manner in which complaints were dealt with by church and state authorities.”
Catholic San Francisco
Nuns and Palestinians pray during Mass in St. Catherine’s Church at the Church of Nativity in the West Bank town of Bethlehem Nov. 29, the first Sunday of Advent.
CANBERRA, Australia – Breaches of religious freedom disguised as human rights protections in the United States and Britain should serve as a warning as Australia considers its own human rights charter, said Australian Cardinal George Pell of Sydney. “Anti-discrimination has become an official priority of public policy in the U.K., with serious consequences for the rights of Christians as people who are held to be inherently ‘discriminatory,’” Cardinal Pell said in an address to the Australian Christian Lobby national conference in Canberra Nov. 21. “In the United States, scholars have been turning their minds to the public policy implications of same-sex marriage, which is, of course, a part of the anti-discrimination agenda,” said the cardinal. “We need to be clear about what is happening elsewhere in the world and be both vigilant and confident in protecting all human rights, including the right to religious freedom, especially through the parliaments,” he said. “When the human rights industry starts to treat religious freedom as a problem, it makes itself an ugly Goliath. But we should not be cowed,” he added. He said the current debate in Australia over human rights has revealed similar threats to religious freedom.
Bishop says he asked congressman Swiss bishops criticize country’s privately not to receive Communion ban on construction of minarets PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The bishop of Providence said he was “disappointed and really surprised” Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I., made public a letter he wrote to the congressman almost three years ago about his practice of the Catholic faith and reception of Communion. “This comes almost two weeks after the congressman indicated to local media that he would no longer comment publicly on his faith or his relationship with the Catholic Church. The congressman’s public comments require me to reply,” Bishop Thomas J. Tobin said in a Nov. 22 statement. His remarks came after Kennedy told The Providence Journal daily newspaper that Bishop Tobin “instructed me not to take Communion and said that he has instructed the diocesan priests not to give me Communion.” The newspaper said Kennedy declined to give details on when or how the bishop issued such an instruction. Bishop Tobin said that in a February 2007 letter to Kennedy he stated: “In light of the church’s clear teaching, and your consistent actions, therefore, I believe it is inappropriate for you to be receiving holy Communion and I now ask respectfully that you refrain from doing so.” Kennedy supports keeping abortion legal.
VATICAN CITY – The bishops of Switzerland said the country’s ban on the construction of minarets, the Muslim prayer towers, represents an obstacle to interreligious harmony. The ban aggravates interfaith tensions and could have negative repercussions on Christian minorities in Muslim countries, the bishops said in a statement Nov. 29. The prohibition was adopted by Swiss voters in a referendum that passed with a 58 percent majority. There are about 150 mosques in Switzerland serving 400,000 Muslims; only four have minarets and, unlike in Islamic countries, they are not used to call Muslims to prayer. The bishops said the referendum campaign, promoted by right-wing parties, had used exaggeration and caricature, and demonstrated that “religious peace does not operate by itself and always needs to be defended.” “The decision of the people represents an obstacle and a great challenge on the path of integration in dialogue and mutual respect,” the bishops said. Banning the building of minarets “increases the problems of coexistence between religions and cultures,” they said. The bishops said the measure “will not help the Christians oppressed and persecuted in Islamic countries, but will weaken the credibility of their commitment in these countries.”
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Directions: From Highway 280, take the Hickey Boulevard exit west. Cross Skyline Boulevard and continue one block to Gateway Drive. Turn right onto Gateway Drive and continue one block to Springdale Drive. Turn left onto Springdale Drive, proceed one block, and turn left onto Sunshine Drive. Follow Sunshine Drive for a short distance until it turns right and becomes Edgewood Drive. Fairmont Field will be on your left.
Conducted by the St. Ignatius Coaching Staff Matt Stecher, Head Coach
BASKETBALL CAMP Open to Boys and Girls 4th through 8th Graders $125 per person December 28, 29, 30, and 31, 2009 9 AM to Noon At St. Ignatius College Preparatory, 2001—37th Avenue, San Francisco
Conducted by the St. Ignatius Coaching Staff John DeBenedetti, Head Boys’ Coach Mike Mulkerrins, Head Girls’ Coach
“Residents are the heart of our community.” Elder Care Alliance, a nonprofit organization, is cosponsored by the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas West Midwest Community & the Sierra Pacific Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. RCFE Lic # 385600270.
For further information or to sign up go to
www.siprep.org/winter
6
Catholic San Francisco
December 4, 2009
Catholic school students provide help to Padua Dining Room in Menlo Park
Representing St. Pius school are, front from left, Avery taraha, Brian McFadyen, Natalie Katwan. Back from left: Alec Braford, Noelle Freschet, Sam Brennan, Drew Healy, Megan Healy, Sofie Surraco, Clare McCarthy.
“Thanks to the efforts of the student bodies at St. Pius, St. Charles and Immaculate Heart of Mary the Clothing Center will have warm socks and warm winter clothing for the men, women, and children who come twice a week to the Clothing Center for free clothing,” said Max Torres, St. Anthony’s operations manager. Estimated totals were 1,000 pairs of socks from St. Pius, 100 coats and assorted items from IHM, and 235 coats and jackets from St. Charles. For information on helping the Padua facility, visit www.paduadiningroom.com or call (650) 365-9664.
Participants from Immaculate Heart of Mary Elementary School included, front from left, Victoria Villacorta, Nathan Walsh, Nathan Amarandos, Josef Seemayer, Sami DeMattei, Khiana Ghazouli. Back from left: Tatiana San Juan, Cole Bellamo, Lindsey Mifsud, Aimee Miller, Hannah Halton, Alex Adams, Marissa Marty.
Girl Scout Troop #1725 from St. Charles Elementary School with school and troop leadership. From left: Marie O’Riordan, troop leader; Julie Olsen, Laura Goulet, Nadine O’Riordan, Daniela Barbera, Samantha Quinn, Hannah Aguirre, Gracie Cardenas, John Dudley, school vice-principal, and Maureen Grazioli, principal.
This facility is available for
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Calendar of Events: .OV The Catholic Church in the World: “Leading an Ethical Business Life in an Unethical World” with Kirk Hanson .OV Sister Joan Prohaska, O.P.: “Healing with Sound and Light” .OV Thanksgiving Prayer Service with the Vallombrosa Choir $EC Advent Silent Retreat $EC Advent Day of Prayer
2 to 3:30PM
DEC. 30JAN. 1
9:30AM to 3:30PM 2:00PM 4PM 12/4 – 1PM 12/6 9AM to 3PM
NEW YEAR’S RETREAT Fr. Rusty Shaughnessy, OFM Rena Grant, MA Bro. Eric Burke, OFM
JAN. 7
SPIRITUALITY RETREAT Bro. Don Bisson, FMS
JAN. 8-10
SILENT CONTEMPLATIVE James Finley, Ph.D.
JAN. 22-24
FRANCISCAN SPIRITUALITY Fr. Joseph Chinnici, OFM
Join us for our Merry Christmas Happy Hour Wednesday, December 10th 5:30-7:30pm Elk’s Club 450 Post Street Don’t miss the CPBC annual Merry Christmas Happy Hour at the Elk’s Club. Enjoy a fun game guaranteeing you’ll meet two new people, delectable hors d'oeuvres and no-host drinks while networking in this festive space. Don’t miss this end of year celebration!
Free for Members! Non-Members pay $20 or join CPBC for $45 & the event is free! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yes, I would like to attend the Merry Christmas Happy Hour on 12/10/08. Check one:
FREE _______ I am a member and plan on attending. $20 _______ I am Not a member . Event cost is $20 per non-member FREE _______ I am a non-member but want to join CPBC with my first event free! Please make your check for $45.00. Annual Membership is $45.00 per person including your first event complimentary.
NAME: _______________________________________________
PHONE: __________________________________
ADDRESS: _________________________________________________________________________________________
2009 THEME:
Life In Abundance
RETREATS & MEETINGS
SAN DAMIANO RETREAT
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E-MAIL __________________________________________________ PARISH: _______________________________ Mail this form & a check payable to “CPBC-ADSF” to: CPBC, Attn: Mary Jansen, One Peter Yorke Way, San Francisco, CA 941096602 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
About the Catholic and Professional Business Club (CPBC) CPBC is comprised of a group of Catholics who come together and share our common faith, network, hear speakers on pertinent topics, and discuss ways to incorporate our Catholic spirituality and ethics in the workplace. We meet on the second Wednesday of the month. We’d love for you to become a member of the CP&BC of the Archdiocese of San
DECEMBER 12
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Francisco. To become a member, fill out the form above or visit our website at www.cpbc-sf.org.
15-17 VIETNAMESE RETREAT
Start your New Year with CPBC - Upcoming Programs January 2010 – Change Will Happen: Hot Trends for 2009 January 14, 2009 February February 11, 11, 2010 2009 – Relationships- Finding and Keeping your Soulmate March11, 11, 2010 2009 – Our Lenten Journey- Fr. Tom Weston, SJ March
22-24 SPECIAL RETREAT 29-31 MEN & WOMEN (Limited) – Fr. Benedict Groeschel, CFR
(831) 423-8093 • Fax: (831) 423-1541
December 4, 2009
Catholic San Francisco
7
Local charity ‘wish lists’ provide Christmas giving ideas Holy Family Day Home www.holyfamilydayhome.org • (415) 565-0504 ext. 201 Holy Family Day Home provides affordable, high quality, early education and family support services for families in a stable and nurturing environment, thereby providing the children of working families skills and hope for lifelong development in the tradition of our founders, the Sisters of the Holy Family. We serve 21 infants and toddlers 3 months to 2 years in our Minna Street and we serve 150 children 2 to 5 years at our Dolores Street facility. We ask donors to please call Kathleen at (415) 565-0504 ext. 201 before dropping off donations at 299 Dolores Street. Our website is holyfamilydayhome.org. Wish List Classroom project items: construction paper, large crayons, glue, child-sized scissors; Infant/toddlers - diapers, tissues, wipes; Children’s clothing - new toddler underwear (small, medium and large), warm sweaters and jackets - sizes 2 - 6 years; Office supplies - copy paper, manila file folders, boxes of pens; Larger items for the classrooms - TV and rolling stand, DVD recorder and DVD player. St. Vincent de Paul Society of Marin County www.vinnies.org • (415) 454-3303 ext. 12 Last year, the St. Vincent de Paul Society of Marin County served more than 150,000 free meals to our hungry and struggling neighbors in our award winning Free Dining Room. In addition, we touched 16,043 lives by providing rental and utility aid, transportation, medical prescriptions and other basic needs for our low income and homeless citizens throughout the county. Wish List Turkey (fresh or frozen), Ham (fresh or canned), Ground beef or other meat, Canned tuna, Safeway cards ($10 each), Phone cards ($10 each), New sleeping bags, Cash donations Please bring to 820 B Street, San Rafael, between 6:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m., 7 days/week Mail to PO BOX 150527 San Rafael, 94915 St. Anthony Foundation www.stanthonysf.org • (415) 592-2600 St. Anthony Foundation is a Franciscan organization that addresses root causes of poverty with compassion, and offers a gateway out of poverty through a network of life-sustaining services. Through our Dining Room and adjoining support-
ive programs, we provide food and clothing, employment skill training, drug and alcohol recovery, and physical and mental health care for San Francisco’s homeless and those in need. For more information call (415) 592-2600 Curbside drive: Bring donations to 121 Golden Gate Ave November 21-November 26th 8 a.m. – 6 p.m. M-F • 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. Weekends December 19 -December 24 8 a.m. - 6 p.m. M-F • 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. Weekends Non-curbside donations: (other than dates specified) Bring to 150 Golden Gate Wish List Cans of tuna fish, Jars of peanut butter, Large quantities of rice, beans, and pasta, Men’s shirts and trousers, Socks and underwear: new and unopened, Shampoo and hand lotion: new and unopened, Toothpaste and toothbrushes, Blankets, Gloves for cold weather, Rain ponchos, Flash drives Catholic Charities CYO www.cccyo.org/wishlist • (415) 972-1200 Catholic Charities CYO CCCYO changes lives and breaks the cycles of poverty, homelessness, abuse and neglect. The mission is to serve and advocate for the most vulnerable of our neighbors. CCCYO operates more than 30 programs and services in four counties. The central element of our work is to support, stabilize and strengthen families. We serve families by providing emergency shelter, rental assistance, counseling and case management. We support families through children-focused programs that bring youth together to take part in organized athletic programs, summer camp, safe out-of-school care and environmental education. We strengthen families through aging programs that promote alternative solutions to permanent placement in residential facilities and provide respite to caregivers. We stabilize families through HIV/AIDS housing and support programs that serve as key links in the HIV continuum of care. Wish List Gift cards to Safeway, Target, Walmart and Bed Bath & Beyond to aid in program needs A full list by program can be accessed at www.cccyo. org/wishlist Drop Off or Mail to: 180 Howard Street, Suite 100, San Francisco, 94105 – Drop
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off between 9:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday Phone: (415) 972-1200 - Website: www.cccyo.org/wishlist Society of St. Vincent de Paul of San Mateo County www.svdp-sanmateoco.org • (650) 373-0622 ‘Turning Compassion into Action’ is the way the Society of St. Vincent de Paul of San Mateo County implements its mission to help families and individuals facing emergency situations. Feeding the homeless, keeping people housed, offering basic survival necessities, SVdP is the safety net for those in need. More than 1,000 volunteers bring compassion and hope to all areas of San Mateo County. SvDP advocates for the working poor, children, seniors and immigrants, regardless of their faith. Last year more than 41,000 people in San Mateo County were assisted including dinner for more than 4,000 at Thanksgiving, 5,000 at Christmas as well as gifts of clothes and toys to more than 5,000 peninsula residents. Visit www.svdp-sanmateoco.org for volunteer information or to make a donation on-line. Donations may be dropped off Mon. through Fri. from 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. at, or mailed to St. Vincent de Paul District Office 50 No. B St., San Mateo, 94401 Or drop off gifts at any of our Thrift Stores Mon. through Sat. from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. or Sundays from 11 a.m. – 3 p.m. Daly City: 6256 Mission St. South San Francisco: 344 Grand Ave. San Mateo: 40 North B St. Redwood City: 2406 El Camino Real Wish List Money to help with rent and utility assistance, Grocery gift cards, Diapers of all sizes, Infant and children’s clothing, New sleeping bags, Bus tokens, Rain ponchos, Gloves and knit hats, Socks, underwear – men and women, Gift cards to Target, Pre-paid phone cards, Toiletries, razors and shaving cream, Feminine hygiene products, Toothbrushes & toothpaste , Peanut Butter, Instant soup mixes, Individual packets of hot cocoa mix, Juice and juice boxes, Canned tuna or nonperishable protein-rich entrees, Biodegradable paper cups & bowls (8oz), Plastic forks and spoons, Postage stamps , Laundry detergent, Toilet paper and paper towels, Napkins, Mustard, mayonnaise and relish
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Catholic San Francisco
December 4, 2009
Helping others in Catholic Charities CYO’s Advent Season of Caring Special Report Though compassion has no season, it is at this time of year that we are especially reminded of unselfish giving for the benefit of others. As economic difficulties have rippled through society, the demand for services at Catholic Charities CYO is dramatic and your support this Advent Season is more vital than ever. Over the coming weeks of the Advent Season, CCCYO will be sharing stories about the families and individuals we support, stabilize and strengthen through our programs and services. The stories reflect the Advent themes of hope, peace, joy and love. This series is part of CCCYO’s Advent Season of Caring campaign. When you support CCCYO with your Advent Season of Caring gift, you’re helping more than 30 programs serve more than 40,000 families, at-risk youth, aging and disabled adults, and people with HIV/AIDS each year. When you consider all the services CCCYO offers and all the people who can benefit, you will see why your support of the organization at this time is so critical. “This Advent Season, as we remember another family in need – the Blessed Mother and her newborn, who stayed in a stable because there was no room at the inn – we ask you to remember families who need a safe place to stay and a friend like you who cares,� notes CCCYO Executive Director Jeff Bialik.
Herb and Carolyn Olsen
For more information on ways to give please visit our website at www.cccyo.org/advent or call 415-9721291. Catholic Charities CYO program helps a wife care for her husband battling Alzheimer’s When Carolyn Olsen looks at her husband Herb, she remembers his independent character and a social
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personality which has now become overshadowed by effects of Alzheimerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s disease. Herb grew up in Cleveland and enjoyed travel and dancing. He served in the Navy and after the Korean War, he settled down in San Francisco where he has lived ever since. He found leisure in Masonic groups and as a lodge man. Herb, who is now 78 years old, was diagnosed with Alzheimerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s in 2006. Since then, a man who once preferred living his life helping others â&#x20AC;&#x201C; never needing help for himself â&#x20AC;&#x201C; is now facing the effects of memory loss, behavior changes and dementia. Carolyn knew that she needed extra support to keep up with her husbandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s need for care. For the last two years, Herb has been attending San Francisco Adult Day Services (SFADS), a licensed adult day program through Catholic Charities CYO that provides structured, supervised care for seniors. Through SFADS and its Alzheimerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Day Care Resource Center (ADCRC), seniors with middleto-late stage Alzheimerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s disease can safely participate in social education and recreational activities. When Herb was diagnosed, Carolyn began research on support programs. She still works and was looking for an alternative from placement in permanent care facilities. The Olsens were referred to SFADS through Kaiser Permanenteâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s outreach services in San Francisco. At first, Herb was cantankerous â&#x20AC;&#x201C; unhappy to rely on help from a day care and unwilling to participate in activities. As Herbâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s doctors and Carolyn searched for the best combination of medication to control his moods and ease his struggle with Alzheimerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s, the staff at SFADS remained calm and dedicated to providing the best support possible. Now, two years later, Herb rarely complains and Carolyn believes that the consistency that the SFADS environment provides has helped balance Herbâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s changing behaviors. The Olsens have developed their own routine: Herb attends SFADS five days a week as Carolyn works, then they spend many of their evenings enjoying dinners out. On nights where Carolyn has plans away from home, SFADS staff members often are available to provide care and supervision for Herb. HELPING OTHERS, page 10
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Catholic San Francisco
December 4, 2009
9
obituaries
Monsignor Peter G. Armstrong, priest for 55 years A funeral Mass was celebrated Nov. 24 for Monsignor Peter Armstrong at St. Pius Church in Redwood City, where he served as pastor from 1979 until his retirement in 2001. Monsignor Armstrong died Nov. 17 from an apparent heart attack at Alma Via residence in San Rafael where he had resided in recent years. He had been a priest for 55 years and was 80 years old. He was named a Monsignor in 1966, and was a longtime chaplain to the San Francisco 49ers football team. The late priest was born in San Francisco’s Cow Hollow and attended St. Brigid Elementary School and St. Ignatius High School. Following studies at St. Patrick’s Seminary in Menlo Park, he was ordained at St. Mary’s Cathedral (formerly at O’Farrell and Van Ness) on June 11, 1954 by Archbishop John J. Mitty. His initial assignment as a new priest was as assistant pastor at St. Pius Parish in Redwood City. In 1959, Father Armstrong undertook post-graduate studies at Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., earning a Master’s degree in social work. Between semesters, he resided at St. Thomas More Parish in San Francisco.
In 1961, Father Armstrong was appointed assistant director of the Catholic Youth Organization (CYO), becoming director in 1965. In 1969, Monsignor Armstrong was named Director of Youth Activities of the Archdiocese of San Francisco, and two years later, was named President of the San Francisco Comprehensive Health Planning Council, responsible for overseeing a staff that coordinated health delivery services and facilities in the city and county of San Francisco. In 1975, Monsignor Armstrong was appointed Director of St. Vincent’s School for Boys in San Rafael. He also served as Chairman of the Juvenile Justice Commission of the Youth Guidance Center and as a director of Friends of Recreation and Parks. In 1976, Mayor George Moscone appointed Monsignor Armstrong to the San Francisco Recreation and Park Commission, where he served four years. During this time, he met Eddie DeBartolo, Jr., of the San Francisco 49ers, and shortly thereafter, he was named Chaplain to the 49ers.
In 1979, after nearly twenty years as Director of CYO, Monsignor Armstrong accepted assignment as pastor at St. Pius Parish in Redwood City. In 1982, Archbishop John Quinn named him chairman of the Social Justice Commission of the Archdiocese, and in 1993 to chair the Archdiocesan Pastoral Planning Commission. Monsignor Armstrong retired from St. Pius Parish on July 1, 2001, and took up independent residence in Kenwood before his move to the facility in San Rafael where spent his final years. Remembrances may be made to the Priest Retirement Fund of the Archdiocese of San Francisco, One Peter Yorke Way, San Francisco 94109.
Daughters of Charity Sister Louise Camous, Catholic educator A funeral Mass was celebrated Nov. 17 at Seton Provincialate in Los Altos Hills for Sister Louise Camous, a Daughter of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul. Sister Louise had been principal of Our Lady of the Visitacion Elementary School in San Francisco since 2008. She died Nov. 13 from cancer. A memorial Mass was celebrated at Church of the Visitacion Nov. 25. Born in San Francisco, Sister Louise was 55 years old and entered religious life in 1987. She is a graduate of San Francisco’s Presentation High School and completed undergraduate work in Elementary Education at San Francisco State University in 1975. “Sister Louise spent her entire life as a Daughter of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul committed to Catholic
education,” the Daughters of Charity said in an announcement of her death. Her missions included schools in Phoenix, Arizona; Price, Utah, and Southern California before her appointment as principal of Visitacion, where she served until her death. According to Sister Chris Maggi, education councilor for the Daughters of Charity, Province of the West, Sister Louise embodied the spirit of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, founder of the American Daughters of Charity, educator and credited with establishing the Catholic school system known today in the United States. “Sister Louise shared a deep spirituality and a love for Jesus Christ and his Word,” Sister Chris said. “She
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was committed to her students, dedicated to lifelong learning and lived a life filled with prayer.” Sister Louise is survived by her mother, Betty Camous, a resident of Villa Siena in Mountain View, brothers, Richard, Jerry and Deacon David Camous, and sisters, Paulette Magee and Suzette Walker. Memorials may be sent to the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, Province of the West, Seton Provincialate, 26000 Altamont Rd., Los Altos Hills 94022.
Listen to ‘The Archbishop’s Hour’ Immaculate Heart Radio--1260 AM “The Archbishop’s Hour” with San Francisco Archbishop George H. Niederauer airs each Friday morning at 9 a.m. – with encore broadcasts Friday evening at 9 p.m., Sunday at 11 a.m., and Monday at 9 p.m. Be informed, inspired and entertained, while meeting interesting Catholics from the Bay Area and beyond. Produced by the Office of Communications of the Archdiocese of San Francisco, the Archbishop’s Hour is broadcast without charge by Immaculate Heart Radio-1260 AM San Francisco.
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Catholic San Francisco
December 4, 2009
Guest Commentary
Continuing tragedy in Gaza With so much concern about the economy, no wonder that most of us have lost track of an ongoing tragedy taking place in our name and with our tax money. Israel began a brutal assault on the Gaza Strip last December that left more than 1,440 Palestinians dead – predominantly civilians, 431 of them children – and injured another 5,380. The Israeli Defense Force lost 13 soldiers. This assault followed 18 months of a crippling Israeli siege with the clear goal of shattering all spheres of life and collectively punishing the entire population, prompting the UN Special Reporter for Human Rights to describe it as “a prelude to genocide.” The 1.5 million residents of Gaza were subjected to Israeli warplanes systematically targeting civilian areas, reducing vital infrastructure to rubble and damaging scores of schools, including several run by the United Nations where civilians were taking shelter. Israeli military from a group called “Breaking the Silence” have testified to utilizing several practices forbidden by international law: the use of white phosphorus in densely populated areas; the use of civilians as shields; and the wholesale bombing of civilian targets where there was no evidence of hostile activity. International human rights organizations and the UN are now carrying out war crimes investigations. Today, 96 percent of the Gaza population is dependent on humanitarian aid for basic needs. According to the World Food Program, the Gaza Strip requires a minimum of 400 trucks of food daily just to meet basic nutritional requirements. Yet,
despite a decision by the Israeli cabinet in March to lift all restrictions on foodstuffs, two months later less than a quarter of the food and supplies needed were allowed entry. Israel still allows entry for only a fraction of the 4,000 commercial items approved prior to June 2006. According to the Israeli journalist, Amira Hass, Gazans still are denied many commodities (a policy in effect long before the December assault): building materials, electrical appliances, spare parts for cars, machines, and sewer system repair, fabrics, candles, matches, mattresses, sheets, blankets, cutlery, crockery, musical instruments, books, tea, coffee, sausages, semolina, chocolate, sesame seeds, nuts, milk products in large packages, most baking products, light bulbs, crayons, clothing, and shoes. “What possible benefit can be derived from an increasingly impoverished, unhealthy, densely crowded, and furious Gaza alongside Israel?” asks Sara Roy, senior research scholar at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Harvard University. She notes, “Gaza’s terrible injustice not only threatens Israeli and regional security, but it undermines America’s credibility, alienating our claim to democratic practice and the rule of law.” We can do something about this situation. We can call or e-mail our congresspersons to demand that conditions be placed on the $2.775 billion dollars requested in military aid to Israel in the FY2010 budget. The money should only be disbursed in quarterly installments after verification of all of the following conditions: Possible violations of the Arms Export Control Act
(using weapons against an occupied people) during the most recent attack must be investigated. Israel’s use of U.S. assistance must only be used within the 1967 borders and weapons cannot be used by Israel in its Sheral military occupation of the Marshall, OSF Gaza Strip, West Bank and East Jerusalem. There must be a freeze on expansion of Israeli settlements on Palestinian territory (otherwise, the much-discussed “two state solution” becomes geographically impossible). And lastly, Israel must lift the blockade, opening the border crossings to humanitarian aid and normal economic transactions. For more information, please go to www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org or www.endtheoccupation.org or www.cmep.org, Churches for Middle East Peace.
Helping others . . .
been an excellent place for Herb to spend his days in a social environment. The staff is extremely trustworthy and it is a relief to have this program available.” In September 2008, Herb had a bout of pneumonia as a result of dehydration. The results caused his personality to become irate and difficult for Carolyn to handle by herself. With SFADS help – in conjunction with support from Veteran’s Affairs – Herb was able to overcome this hurdle. SFADS has helped Herb maintain a nutritious diet and accommodates his personal needs of staying hydrated. Herb is just one of the faces of aging adults who
have developed a life of consistency and stability as a result of attending SFADS. In 2008 – 2009, a total of 1,019 seniors benefited from the community and integrative programs and services through Catholic Charities CYO. Herb’s story is the first 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.
n Continued from page 8
“Herb is not at the point where he needs to be put in a home facility full-time,” notes Carolyn. “SFADS has
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heaven can’t wait Serra for Priestly Vocations Please call Archdiocese of San Francisco Fr. Tom Daly (415) 614-5683
Respect Life Coordinator
Who are we? Since 1883, the Young Men’s Institute (YMI) has operated as a fraternal ho arsupporting e w e? its motto of “Pro Deo, Pro Patria” (For God, CatholicWorder For Country). Today, over 2500 members (called brothers) honor this motto by working together on worthwhile programs & activities for our Catholic faith & for our communities. Besides doing good deeds, YMI brothers and their families enjoy a variety of fun social events (e.g., dinners, tournaments, picnics, etc), as well as membership benefits (e.g., scholarships, death benefits).
The Diocese of Sacramento has an immediate opening for a Respect Life Coordinator. This full-time position provides leadership in all aspects of the Catholic Church’s pro-life mission, including education, public policy advocacy and pastoral care (especially for those suffering after abortion).
The successful candidate must: • be a practicing Catholic • have at least two years of proven experience in pro-life work • be fluent in both English and Spanish.
Can I Join? Yes, we are looking for new members to join us. If you are a Catholic adult male, simply email us at ymius@aol.com or call us at 1-650-5887762 orCa 1-800-964-9646. You can also visit our website for more info n I J oi n? at www.ymiusa.org. We will provide you a brief YMI application form simp ly m a il council. us at Membership to complete and the location of the nearest YMI ius@a ol.c om or ca$4 ll or$5 us d uring [ M- F 9 a m to 5 fees are ym very affordable (about per month) pm] a t 1 -6 5 0- 58 8- 7 76 2 or 1- 8 00 -9 6 4- 96 46 . ur website for mor e info at The YMI . .visit . . . oJoin the Brotherhood! www. ym iusa.or g.
For a full job description please visit www.diocese-sacramento.org under Employment Opportunities. Please send resume and cover letter to: personnel@diocese-sacramento.org Applications accepted until position is filled.
December 4, 2009
Catholic San Francisco
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Archdiocesan priest speaks on moral aspects of climate change at Brussels meeting Special Report BRUSSELS, BELGIUM – “Climate change is the defining challenge of our age,” Father Kenneth Weare, Ph.D., pastor of St. Rita Parish in Fairfax and an adjunct professor of social ethics at the University of San Francisco, told an international conference on creation held Oct. 28-31 at the University of Louvain in Brussels. “Humanity has very few years remaining to reverse the rise in greenhouse gas emissions in order to avoid abrupt and catastrophic climate change,” he said. Speaking on the moral issues related to global warming, Father Weare said creation theology and Catholic social teaching together provide the fundamental moral principles for analyzing and evaluating ethical concerns in ecology. “We now face an indisputable and devastating challenge,” he said. “Climate change is the most formidable obstacle to sustainability and global justice especially impacting impoverished people and future generations.” Referring to the Church in the United States, Father Weare pointed out that while employment, health care, and war must remain at the top of its list of moral priorities, the environmental issue of climate change is no less significant. “Even today, the lives of 300 million people are directly
affected by climate change, and upwards of 300,000 human lives are lost each and every year because if climate change”. Father Weare concurred with the recent warning of German Cardinal Karl Lehman that “Global climate change represents the greatest existential threat for the present and, to a much greater extent, for coming generations as well as for non-human nature.” In his lecture, Father Weare offered a comparative multidisciplinary analysis of the works of cosmologist Brian Swimme, cultural historian Yhomas Berry, World Bank economist Herman Daly, theologian John Cobb, liberation theologian Leonardo Boff, and Bishop David Atkinson. He concluded: “The common thread among them is the challenge for persons, local communities, and the Church at large to become converted from any existing individualistic, exclusionist, provincial, or self-centered attitude or conviction of domination, materialism, narcissism, or hedonism, to a new dynamic Christian self-understanding and self-giving attitude embracing a profound respect and esteem for all of God’s creation.” He noted, “This ecological worldview is the imperative for a climate change morality.” Examining the environmental statements of the Catholic bishops of the Philippines, Guatemala, Australia, Italy,
and the United States, he noted, “At the core of each statement is the common call to a conversion of conscience and the corresponding development of an ecological awareness on the part of all Christians Father Kenneth Weare and all people of good will.” The bishops’ collective theological reflection on scripture and Catholic social teaching in light of the environmental crisis culminates in “an exceptional call to conversion.” The U.S. Catholic bishops emphasized that “we need a change of heart to save the planet for our children and generations yet unborn.” Father Weare also took up the collective statement of the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Community. He explained that in their new report, “A Christian View on Climate Change,” the bishops reviewed three issues: scientific facts on climate change and projections for the future; the impact of climate change on ecosystems and citizens; and, the policy challenges of climate change. They then addressed the ethical considerations. “The bishops begin with creation theology’s understanding of humanity’s relationship with nature, the responsibility for safeguarding the Earth, and the concept of stewardship for God’s creation,” said Father Weare. With that background, the bishops delineate ecological moral values, he added. “The values the European bishops identify as most important for ethical evaluation,” Fr. Weare noted, “include: respect for human dignity; aspiration for global justice; subsidiarity as a principle of organization; solidarity as the principle of charity; sustainability; and the precautionary principle.” Father Weare concluded, citing the European bishops: “Ecological responsibility constitutes an essential element of Christian faith relating to Creation and Redemption.”
obituary
Father Louis Robello, priest for 44 years A funeral Mass was celebrated Dec. 4 at St. Raphael Parish for Father Louis Robello, who died Nov. 27 following many years of declining health. Father Robello attended the parish school at St. Raphael’s as did his now-late sister, Evelyn, a Daughter of Charity. He was 78 years of age, and had been a priest for 44 years. Fa t h e r L o u , a s he was known, was ordained by Archbishop Joseph McGucken on June 5, 1965 at Mission Dolores Basilica in San Francisco as a priest of Diocese of Pueblo, Colorado. He served at Sacred Heart Church in Alamosa, Colorado and then at Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in Pueblo, Colorado before returning to the Bay Area to be closer to his family. He was initially Father Louis Robello assigned by Archbishop McGucken as assistant pastor at Saint Vincent de Paul Church in San Francisco. He was incardinated into the Archdiocese of San Francisco in 1971. During his years of active ministry, Father Robello served at Church of the Epiphany, San Francisco (19711974), St. Michael Church, San Francisco (1974-1977), St. Martin of Tours, San Jose (1978-1981), St. Philip the Apostle Church, San Francisco (1981-1982), St. Cecilia Church, San Francisco (1982-1987), St. Raymond Church, Menlo Park (1987-1988), St. Matthew Church, San Mateo (1988-1990), and St. Sylvester Church in San Rafael (1990-1995). Archbishop John Quinn accepted Father Robello’s request for retirement, due to complications related to diabetes, in 1995. Father Lou lived at his family residence thereafter, supplying as needed at nearby parishes in Marin County. The late priest is survived by a niece, Berneice Morre. Remembrances may be made to the Priests Retirement Fund of the Archdiocese of San Francisco, One Peter Yorke Way, San Francisco 94109.
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Catholic San Francisco
Haiti Journal: On the migration trail
December 4, 2009
December 4, 2009
Catholic San Francisco
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“No one ever gets convicted”: Haitian migrants face violence, abuse in the Dominican Republic
By Rick DelVecchio uanaminthe, Haiti – Reporters went to the Jesuit-run center for newly arriving deportees to hear the stories of undocumented Haitians sent back from the Dominican Republic. But Leonard Jean, an advocate at the center, said there were no deportees that day: Expulsions had been halted because of an incident on the southern frontier. Four Haitians had been killed in a confrontation earlier in the week near Jimani on the Dominican side. At least some of the victims’ bodies had been burned, prompting Jean to speculate that the men had been lynched. As the story emerged in Dominican and Haitian reports, the Haitians had been illegally gathering wood for charcoal, which is the household fuel of the poor in a country that can’t supply its people with energy. Jean said he couldn’t speculate on who was behind the killings. “But we know there are a lot of people who would be more than happy to do that,” he said. There were no deportees that day to speak about their lives, but in a way the dead spoke for them. The Jimani incident symbolized the plight of desperate Haitians spilling over to the Dominican Republic to find the means to survive, and it reflected the difficulty the two countries are having in dealing with it separately and together. The way the incident was portrayed on the two sides showed the tension. Dominican authorities condemned the crime and vowed to bring the perpetrators to justice. But Dominican press reports focused on the problem of charcoal racketeering and deforested Haiti’s growing pressure on the Dominican environment. In Haiti, the Senate observed a minute of silence for victims of border violence, and the Haitian Support Group for Refugees and Repatriated Persons called the Jimani incident “disgusting, intolerable.” Haitian intellectuals wrote a letter to Dominican President Leonel Fernández Reyna, pleading with him to bring the countries together before something worse happens. The intellectuals, alarmed by the number of critical Dominican press reports on Haitians’ presence in the country, also said they feared for the safety of Haitian migrants. The fears are well-grounded, Belius Saint Marc, a Haitian who spent 25 years in the Dominican Republic and was repatriated in 1994, told a reporter at his home outside Ouanaminthe. “Whatever happens in the Dominican Republic, they blame a Haitian,” said Saint Marc, 66. “Somebody died, they blame a Haitian. They rob a house, they LEJANDRO blame Haitians. You might be lying on your bed and next thing they come and OBLES get you because they accuse you of a crime.” He said older Haitians warn younger ones to stay home, “but they still go and they end up being killed.” Haiti isn’t the dictatorship in was in Belius’ day, but its government has failed to develop an economy that can absorb even a fraction of the energies of its growing population. The lack of work drives illegal migration to the Dominican Republic. “They’re just going over there to work, to see if they can make a little bit of money,” Saint Marc said. “Here, there is no work.” Nearly all Haitians in the Dominican Republic are undocumented, and their status primes them for victimization. They get little help from their own government. “Haitian authorities do little or nothing to help their citizens regularize their status in their host countries,” Jesuit Refugee Service said in a statement after a conference in the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince Oct. 25. This further marginalizes Haitians and puts them at risk of human rights violations and deportation, the group said. Haiti’s incapacity has long been a source of irritation on the Dominican side. The Dominican vice president and attorney general, responding to the letter of the Haitian intellectuals decrying Haitians’ treatment in the neighboring country, defended their nation’s policies and said Haiti should work harder to control its borders. Humanitarian workers interviewed in both countries said human rights on the frontier remain fragile despite some positive steps by the Dominican government over the past 10 years. They said the risks to migrants include violence, labor exploitation, trafficking, extortion and deportation abuses. Incidents such as a the multiple killings in Jimani are unusual, labor rights lawyer Alejandro Robles said. But he noted that in the first four months of 2009, seven Haitian bodies turned up on the northern frontier. He said none of the cases has been solved. The bodies were not identified and were buried on the spot. On the northern border last July 24, a mob “beat up whoever Haitians they could find” and put four in the hospital, said Sister Nidia Victoria Zuluaga of the St. John the Evangelist, or Juanistas, community in Ouanaminthe. The incident was a response to the killing of a Dominican by a Haitian in a nearby town. “No one ever gets convicted of these things,” she said. “Not so long ago a Haitian professor was attacked in the market because he was coming to the aid of a child who was being attacked. People said, ‘Shut up, you’re Haitian.’” The Dominican Republic has “a profound problem of racism and discrimination,” in particular affecting black Dominicans, Dominican-born Haitians and Haitians, two United Nations experts reported in 2008. They urged the nation’s leaders to recognize the existence of racism and express the political will to combat it. The Dominican government, rejecting such criticisms as evidence of an international conspiracy against the country, said the report was based on subjective and inaccurate statements and emphasized that it has no policy or practice of racial discrimination. Even though Haitians may be targets, they are also valuable. Everywhere they move, someone makes money, advocates said. Haitian workers earn less than Dominicans doing the same work but risk being underpaid, denied vacation pay or fired when they're due a holiday bonus. For seasonal workers, crossing back and forth costs them heavily in illicit payouts at a chain of border stations.
An Oct. 21 confrontation over illegal charcoal production on the Dominican frontier left four Haitians dead. “We know there would be a lot of people who would be more than happy to do that,” said Haitian migrant rights advocate Leonard Jean, at right, seen with an unidentified construction worker at a Jesuit-run run center for newly arriving deportees in Ounaminthe, Haiti.
O
(PHOTOS BY RICK DELVECCHIO/CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO)
“There’s more trafficking than rice is eaten here” –A R
Human smuggling, which involves a coerced victim, is a separate but related problem. Dominican law against smuggling is extremely tough but “doesn’t work,” Robles said. Relatively little is known about the victims of smuggling, who often transit over the Dominican border to destinations in third countries. “This (migration) phenomenon is not alone,” said Jesuit Father Kenel Senatus, who promotes migrants’ rights on the northern frontier. “It has to do with other phenomena such as trafficking and smuggling. “It’s mainly human smuggling we’re concerned with,” he said, adding that the crime is routine in the north. The advocates also were critical of the Dominican government’s handling of undocumented people picked up and sent back to Haiti. The Inter-American Court of Human Rights exposed this problem almost 10 years ago, but advocates said abuses remain. Repatriations are discriminatory and people are selected mainly for their skin color, according to the most recent report on a Haitian repatriates’ aid project funded by Catholic organizations and other donors. New arrivals “usually are really in bad shape” physically, said Jean, the advocate at the Ounaminthe center. “We usually take them to a hospital.” Jean added that deportees have told him that some are allowed to stay at the last minute after paying the authorities. Haiti and the Dominican Republic have never had an easy relationship. Haiti’s independence from France in 1804 created “an extreme and enduring fear” and the demonization of Haitians throughout the hemisphere, according to a United Nations summary of the roots of anti-Haitian feeling. The summary said anti-Haitian sentiment in the Dominican Republic reached its strongest expression during the Trujillo regime from 1930 to 1961. From the time of Haiti’s birth, nationalists in the Dominican Republic have worried that Haitian pressure holds back Dominican progress. But Eduardo Saint Jean, who heads the Haitian ministry for the Archdiocese of Santo Domingo, said the nationalists are wrong about Haitians’ contribution to Dominican society. “All the work that goes into domestic national production – sugar cane, rice, construction, security guards – are things Dominicans won’t do for any price,” he said. “It’s the same thing that happens with Dominicans in Puerto Rico: They do what Puerto Ricans won’t do.” Instead of working in the fields, young Dominicans, Saint Jean said, “prefer to buy a motorcycle and work as taxi drivers.”
Belius Saint Marc said older Haitians warn younger ones not to cross into the Dominican Republic, “but they still go and they end up being killed.” “You have to think you are going to spend 5,000 in pesos just to get back,” labor organizer Johnny Rivas said. Border guards “get rich so fast,” said Robbins Joseph, a Haitian college student in Santo Domingo, the Dominican capital. “Haitians that are living in the Dominican Republic illegally, that’s very, very good for soldiers.” Migrants aren’t the only Haitians at risk. A 21-year-old Haitian teacher was fatally shot in a confrontation with border police Nov. 7 at Anse-a-Pitre, the Haitian Support Group for Refugees said. The group denounced what it called the increasing incidence of extortion of Haitian travelers. The Dominican government isn’t doing enough to stop it, and the Haitian government “abandons border users to their fate,” the group said. To give migrants more protection, Robles’ group has begun equipping more than 5,000 Haitian workers on the northern frontier with a “moral identification” badge. It shows the authorities that the Haitian who carries it has proper business and that his rights will be defended.
“It’s mainly human smuggling we’re concerned with,” said Jesuit Father Kenel Senatus.
Trafficking, where middlemen charge for helping people move over the line, is rampant. In 2008, the United Nations warned about a rise in reports of trafficking because of the high demand for cheap labor in sugar cane, tourism and construction. “There’s more trafficking than rice is eaten here,” Robles said. Robles said that although there is a general will in Dominican society to address the problem, there is no political will. “There is a law that deals with human trafficking, which comes out of an international scandal,” he said. “Even though the law exists, not even 10 cases have been processed. What does that tell you? It tells you there’s no will.” Robles said: “The problem here with migration is it’s a business.” The Dominican government has shown a heightened awareness of the problem. It has removed 45 migration inspectors since August 2008 for suspected complicity. But no senior officials have been accused and no one has been convicted under the trafficking law since 2007, according to the U.S. State Department.
Haitian construction workers like these in Santo Domingo, the Dominican capital, are in high demand even though the Dominican government fears the social impact of unfettered Haitian migration.
Catholic San Francisco Assistant Editor Rick DelVecchio and two other Catholic journalists recently spent eight days in Haiti and the Dominican Republic to report on migrants and refugees, whose vulnerability as they cross national borders in search of a better life is a growing humanitarian concern. The trip was organized by Catholic Relief Services. The itinerary highlighted CRS-backed efforts to aid migrants – efforts involving personal courage and risk by people in the Church and their beneficiaries. This is the second installment in a five-part series. Part 1, “Once someone exists, they always try to find a better way,” appeared in the Nov. 20 issue and is accessible from CSF’s website at www.catholic-sf.org. The name of the bishop of Haiti’s Diocese of Fort-Liberté was misspelled in Part 1 of this series, which ran in the Nov. 20 issue. He is Chibly Langlois.
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Catholic San Francisco
December 4, 2009
Archbishop’s Journal
Season of Advent: Lessons on time San Francisco Archbishop George H. Niederauer delivered the following homily, for the First Sunday of Advent, Nov. 29 at St. Mary’s Cathedral. In this country we have many ways of telling time, of keeping track of the days: the calendar year (32 days left after today); the academic year that begins around Labor Day; the fiscal year (often July 1st); the sports seasons. We Catholics have still another way: our “big picture” is “out of sync” with those others. Our Year of Worship begins today with the season of Advent, then comes Christmas, then Lent, then Easter (Resurrection), Ascension, Pentecost, Ordinary Time, then Advent again. Today is the Catholic Church’s “New Year’s Day.” In this season of Advent we experience and express the hope and longing for the Savior who is to come to us. We live between the first coming of Jesus Christ in Bethlehem and his second coming as Judge at the end of the world. The readings in the past two weeks and the readings in this week and next touch on the anticipation and fulfillment of both “comings” of Christ. The message in the Gospel reading from Luke is clear: Do not run and hide in fear and dread. Instead, hold up your head in anticipation: “stand up straight, raise your heads, because your ransom is at hand.” These readings support a joyful spirit, an “attentive joyfulness”: we know Jesus is here and has won our salvation. In one sense, then, there is another third coming of Christ, the one here and now, in each moment, each Mass, each relationship, each time of prayer. Jesus has promised to be with us all days until the end of the world. We Catholics don’t engage in fortune-telling or star-gazing about the future, or the end of the world. Instead, we take literally the last words of Jesus to his followers before he ascended to the Father: “The exact time is not yours to know. The Father has reserved that to Himself. You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes down on you; then you are to be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, yes, even to the ends of the earth. Our work is to live and rejoice in the “now” of the coming of Jesus the Lord. That is the Catholic’s “power”: not prognostication, but proclamation and hope. Listen to the prayer of St. Paul in the second reading: “May the Lord increase you and make you overflow with love for each other and for all; may he strengthen your hearts, so you may be blameless and holy before the Father
in the coming of the Lord Jesus.” That is what it means for Catholics to live in hope: the daily, practical love of family and friends and neighbors and strangers who need us, and whom we need. That is the effect of the power of Christian hope in our lives: we are called out of the vicious circle and dead end of self-centeredness, into a relationship of love with God, and therefore with each other, with all his children. That’s what Paul means by his exhortation to us in the second half of that reading: just as you learned from us how to conduct yourselves in ways pleasing to God, so now you must learn to make still greater progress, “because,” Paul says, “you know the instruction we gave you in the Lord Jesus.” St. Paul is merely developing what Jesus says in his warning in the Gospel of Luke. What is the counter-sign to living as Catholic Christians who hope for the Lord’s return? It is the opposite of a life of faith, hope and love: Jesus describes it and warns us, “Be on guard lest your spirits become bloated with indulgence and drunkenness and worldly cares. Then the great day will suddenly close in on you like a trap.” And we can become as drugged and self-absorbed with worries and anxieties and ambitions and resentments as we can with alcohol or drugs! Instead of that, Jesus says, we are to be watchful and outward-looking, rather than self-absorbed. We are to be “on the lookout” for the Lord coming to us in so many ways: we are to watch for him in prayer, in worship around this altar, in listening to his word, in our daily relationships and responsibilities. Then we will live in ways that reveal our Christian hope in the care and concern we show toward others. Listen to these words from the First Letter of Peter: “Venerate the Lord, that is, Christ, in your hearts. Should anyone ask you the reason for this hope of yours, be ever ready to reply, but speak gently and respectfully.” That is particularly good advice in a world more tuned in to Santa’s Village than Bethlehem. That’s how we should understand our call as Catholic Christians, because of our Baptism and Confirmation. We are to be “lookouts” for the coming of Christ, watching for how Jesus our Savior is present and active and meeting us each day in our lives, because he is. There’s a fine little four-line verse: “Yesterday is history/Tomorrow is a mystery/ Today is a gift/That’s why we call it the present.”
Catholic san Francisco Northern California’s Weekly Catholic Newspaper
Two criticisms I am writing about two items in the Oct. 30 issue of Catholic San Francisco. The first is the more egregious; a frontpage Catholic News Service story by Sheila Archambault about the plight of people in the Palestinian Holy Land. I read the article with innate skepticism. At the end of the article the author states that the three women’s trip was sponsored by Partners for Peace. Did the writer do any fact checking? A quick search turned up
a website for the group. I will not repeat the whole write-up, but it is an easy read. There is a prominent bullet on the writeup by www.DiscoverTheNetwork.org that states “Anti-Israel organization.” Also, has the author read anything about the ArabIsraeli conflict over the decades? Second, the “On the Street” mention of a young man meeting Dan Rather should not only have mentioned Dan Rather’s start in high school, but caution the young man to not finish his career as did Mr. Rather in disgrace with a permanent blot, or blots,
Time is a marvelous “present” which God keeps giving us. How are we using it? Are we burying ourselves in the past, pawing over its meaning, again and again? Are we so totally distracted with our long-range plans Archbishop that we miss Christ and George H. others in the present? Or are we just mechaniNeiderauer cally going through the motions of a kind of “rut” in life? As followers of Jesus Christ we are called away from living in those ways. As Catholics we believe that history is going somewhere, not round in circles, aimlessly. Because of that faith we are not consumed with anxieties, like outcasts in an empty universe, scratching and scrambling for survival. Remember one definition of an atheist: “a man with no invisible means of support.” In contrast, we disciples are called to depend on the Lord, to be present to him, in everything, not just in a few “great moments” in life. We Catholic Christian “lookouts” need constantly to familiarize ourselves and others with the “invisible means of support” in Christ and Christ’s Church. If we meet Jesus Christ as a friend each day–in prayer and in our neighbor–Christ our Judge will never be a terrifying stranger. Spirituality is basically about being awake to God and what he is doing in our lives, and what he is beckoning us to do. Just because other people say things like “I don’t know where the time goes” and “Is another Christmas here already?” doesn’t mean we should say those things. As Catholics, we do know where the time goes, and where it comes from, and what it’s for. We believe there is a meaning to what is happening and that meaning is given by Jesus Christ. In this beautiful season of Advent, let’s not get hectic. Let the way we are hosts or guests be a reaching out to pull everyone inside the circle of our love and concern. The most precious gift under your tree, 365 days a year, is the “present”, the time, the Father gives you to spend in Jesus, His Son.
on his career. Mr. Rather was one of many blots on the Fourth estate. John Wagner San Francisco
U.S. and Israel The fine article by Sheila Archambault on the terrible human toll of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories (CSF, Oct. 30) prompts one to explore the relationship between the United States and Israel. Thirty percent of all U.S. Foreign Aid goes to Israel – 80 million dollars annually in direct aid – even though Israel has a robust economy with a GDP of $2,206 billion ($29,000 per capita). Israel ignores the repeated insistence of the U.S. and the International community that no more settlements be built. John C. Bennett, M.D. San Rafael
Keep up the good work
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After reading Jane Sears’ Nov. 13 column “Neutering God” and the corresponding letters from Nov. 20, I worry that Ms. Sears and some readers might be left with the misperception that Catholics believe God is male. This is a subject that comes up each year in our RCIA classes, and many attendees, confirmed and “considering” Catholics alike, seem confused about it. The good news is that the Catechism is quite clear on this subject (#370): “In no way is God in man’s image. He is neither man nor woman. God is pure spirit in which there is no place for the difference between the sexes. But the respective ‘perfections’ of man and woman reflect something of the infinite perfection of God: those of a mother and those of a father and husband.” I like that we’re a Church that can hold tight to the gift that Jesus gave us in knowing God as our Father, while still understanding that even this word does not fully capture the wonder that is God. The US Bishops said this well in their document The Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Sacrament of the Eucharist: “Any time that we are speaking of God we need to keep in mind that our human concepts never entirely grasp God. We must not try to limit God to our understanding, but allow our understanding to be stretched beyond its normal limitations by God’s revelation.” As a pilgrim people, let’s all stretch together! Scott Moyer Director of Adult Faith Formation St. Dominic’s Church, San Francisco
L E T T E R S
How can we ever thank you for highlighting our parish (St. Raphael’s in San Rafael, Nov. 6) and the Year for Priests? All here are so pleased and thankful. Deacon Gene Smith San Rafael
Letters welcome
Image of God
God the Father Our God is male because He was written about some 2000 plus years ago by men in a “paternalistic culture,” according to a letter to the editor (CSF, Nov. 20). HELLO??!! Do you really think our great, all-powerful, immutable, awesome God is defined by the LETTERS, page 18
December 4, 2009
Catholic San Francisco
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The Catholic Difference
Natural law = bigotry? Please. On Nov. 3, Ken Cuccinelli was elected attorney general of Virginia in a landslide. His 15 percent margin of victory strongly suggests that Old Dominion voters were unimpressed by a shrill Washington Post editorial published on Oct. 30, which opined that Mr. Cuccinelli “would likely become an embarrassment for the commonwealth” as his “affability and quick wit … have tended to mask his extremist views.” What, you ask, were those “extremist views”? Well, the Post’s indictment—in an editorial titled “Mr. Cuccinelli’s bigotry”—centered on the fact that candidate Cuccinelli had described homosexual behavior as contrary to “natural law” and had further suggested that natural law was a useful guide to public policy. Mr. Cuccinelli did not propose to prosecute, much less jail, every gay and lesbian between the Potomac River and the North Carolina border, and no sane person thought he intended to do so. Yet the Post’s anonymous editorial writer described Mr. Cuccinelli’s appeal to natural law as a “retrofit (of) the old language of racism, bias, and intolerance in a new context.” Baloney. What’s being retrofitted here is old-time antiCatholic bigotry, tarted up in the guise of tolerance and extended to those who think there are moral truths built into the world and into us—truths that we can grasp by reason. Ken Cuccinelli is a serious, practicing Catholic. He’s also a sophisticated politician who knows that you don’t argue public policy in the public square on the basis of uniquely Catholic theological premises. Rather, you make your arguments in a
public vocabulary, accessible to all. That’s the grammar and vocabulary of the natural moral law: the basis on which Thomas Jefferson argued the case for American national independence, Martin Luther King, Jr., promoted the civil rights of African Americans, and John Paul II passionately and effectively defended the religious and political rights of all. Was Jefferson a bigot when he staked America’s claim to independent nationhood on “self-evident” moral truths derived from “the laws of nature?” Was King a bigot when, in his “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” he argued that “an unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law”? Was John Paul II a bigot when, at the United Nations in 1995, he suggested that the truths of the natural moral law—“the moral logic which is built into human life”—could serve as a universal “grammar” enabling genuinely cross-cultural dialogue? Please. On the 20th anniversary of the Revolution of 1989, it was a sadness that the editors of the Washington Post misread the moral texture of the American founding, the civil rights revolution, and the revolution of conscience that brought down the Berlin Wall—revolutions in which believers, non-believers, skeptics, and agnostics united in defense of human rights that could be known as such through the natural moral law. Jefferson and the other American Founders would have found the Post’s identification of “natural law” with “bigotry” simply bizarre. So would Dr. King. And so would Vaclav Havel and other leaders of the Revolution of 1989, if they happened to be surfing the Internet on Oct. 30 and stumbled across the Post’s lamebrained
attack on those who think that rationally known moral norms ought to have some bearing on how we should live together. To be sure, the Post was not quite as over-thetop as Frank Rich of the George Weigel New York Times, who labeled as “Stalinists” those Republicans in upstate New York who thought abortion-on-demand and gay “marriage” bad ideas. But that’s Frank Rich: the former “Butcher of Broadway” is always over-the-top. The Post editorial branding natural law reasoning as bigotry was worse, because the moral lexicon of the natural law is the common vocabulary by which Americans of every political, ideological, and religious flavor have argued in defense of life, in defense of marriage rightly understood, and in defense of religious freedom. To call such arguments retrofitted “bigotry” is a crude attempt to drive classical moral understandings out of the public square, by smearing their advocates as morally coarse anti-social misfits. Memo to Post editors: we’re not impressed and we’re not going away. George Weigel is Distinguished Senior Fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C.
Consider This
Food insecurity can’t wait until after the holidays “Black Friday” is past. Now begins the period called “the holidays,” still known to many of us as Advent – a good time for reflection. Amid the hype about the one toy that every store is out of, the buzz over the newest gadget for adults, the romanticizing of snow on television commercials, comes this fact: There are a lot of hungry people not just in the United States but throughout the world. But let’s not think about this now, let’s wait until “after the holidays.” On second thought, this is something that needs immediate attention. Here is hunger by the numbers as reported this month by the U.S. Department of Agriculture: Forty-nine million Americans lack dependable access to adequate food, 17 million children live in households in which food ran out at times and 1.1 million children were sometimes outright hungry. These are people lacking resources to buy foods through the month or having to eat less to make ends meet. Government calls it “food insecurity.” Pope Benedict XVI calls it a “cruel and concrete sign of poverty.” Opulence and waste are unacceptable when hunger continues to increase, the pope said this month at a summit in Rome of world leaders on food security. “Norms, legislation, development plans and investments are not enough,” he said. “What is needed is a change in the
lifestyles of individuals and communities, in habits of consumption and in perceptions of what is genuinely needed.” “Everyone wants to do it,” said Deacon Brian Escobedo of Catholic Charities in Albuquerque, N.M. “It’s not a matter or whether, but how you are going to do it.” Prior to the U.N. World Summit on Food Security, at which Pope Benedict made his remarks, a U.N. official asked people around the world to join him on a 24-hour hunger strike. “We are suggesting that everyone in the world who wants to show solidarity with the one billion hungry people on this planet go on strike,” said Jacques Diouf, director general of the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization. This is an idea not limited to the conference but perfect for Advent – or the holiday shopping season, as it is known by some. If consumerism uses “Black Friday” as its benchmark, those committed to solidarity with the poor could pick a day and call it their own. It would be a day to not shop, not buy, concluding with a simple bowl of soup for the evening meal and a chance for family discussion about the meaning of the numbers. Catholic Charities USA is aiming to cut poverty in the United States by half by 2020. Federal officials say 40 million Americans live in poverty and 15 million are unemployed. Facing Catholic Charities is not the what, but the how.
There are signs that global poverty is gaining attention through education and advocacy. The Catholics Confront Global Poverty initiative, a joint effort of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and Catholic Relief Stephen Kent Services, has in seven months reached one-quarter of its goal to mobilize one million Catholics. Participants in the initiative are involved in social networking presentations and prayers. They connect with elected officials on measures to fight global poverty. This responds to what the pope said at the food summit, that not enough is being done to lift people out of poverty because some people exhibit “resigned regret, if not downright indifference” to the plight of the other. Maybe one day of fasting and reflection doesn’t seem like much. But consider it a response to the poverty initiative. Stephen Kent is a retired editor of archdiocesan newspapers in Omaha and Seattle.
Potpourri Sarah Palin may be more “Catholic” than some Catholics Many love Sarah Palin because she is so easy to hate. Although she honors family, country, her home state and the citizens of the United States; the attacks heaped on her are vicious and too numerous to count. Her decision to give birth rather than abort a Down’s syndrome baby boy is, to some, no more than an act of extreme far right radicalism in support of abortion. Scholarship snobs of both the liberal and conservative persuasions look down on Palin because she received her education in a non Ivy League college. But it is her “loopy” religious beliefs and love of God for which she is taking most of the heat. In today’s political arena, moral and ethical standards are no longer part of the criteria demanded of a candidate running for political office. Palin’s Christian views are, in fact, in stark contrast to the current indifference of Catholic politicians about moral issues condemned by their own Church. Paradoxically, what some Catholics ignore, non-Catholic Palin embraces. Thus, her alleged “loopy” religious beliefs are basically Catholic in essence and her adherence to moral values echoes the teaching of the Catholic Church, which is why she is being hung in spiritual effigy; to anti-Catholics, and their number is legion, she is a closet Catholic. Sally Quinn, the religious writer for the Washington Post complained in a Bill O’Reilly TV segment that Palin’s belief
that “God has a plan for her life” contradicts the idea that we all have free will. The religious writer then laughingly asked if God had “planned” that Palin and McCain lose the election, and that Palin give birth to a Down’s syndrome baby. Bill O’Reilly gave Quinn a quick tutorial in Roman Catholic theology: “Here’s where you’re going off the rails. God has a plan for you, but you can disrupt the plan. Evil can intrude in your life and make you do things that God does not want you to do. Mrs. Palin believes there’s a plan, but free will can alter that plan.” Quinn, who is not a Catholic but brazenly received Catholic Communion at journalist Tim Russert’s funeral, stating that afterward she “felt nauseated”, obviously holds Catholics and all they hold dear in profound disrespect. Palin who is not a practicing Catholic nonetheless holds and embraces the same values as Catholics, thus she is more Catholic than some Catholics. As the saga of Sarah gathers momentum, Catholics who dislike her personally or because of her political views might do well to take notice of the Palin persecution that is basically religious in nature, and hostile toward our own faith. If our beliefs continue to be the butt of jokes, and our standards compromised by politicians seeking power and political favor at the expense of their religious principles, we must recognize the real enemy in our midst and do all we can to slay it. Interestingly, Palin was baptized in the Catholic Church,
but because her parents immediately joined and attended another nonCatholic Church she has never been a practicing Catholic. As has happened to others deprived of their faith origin at an early stage, it is not inconceivable that Sarah Palin is Jane L. Sears seeking something more than power and politics with which to aid her country and its citizens, but is seeking her own spiritual roots, which lie in Catholicism. As she continues to win the admiration of those who value her standards of moral decency, hopefully the Christianity she displays to the world will eventually stifle the ages old persecution of all things Catholic. If and when that happens, the many who currently love Sarah because she is so easy to hate, will become just a few who will hate Sarah because she is so easy to love. Jane L. Sears is a free lance writer and a member of Our Lady of Angels Parish in Burlingame.
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Catholic San Francisco
A READING FROM THE BOOK OF BARUCH BAR 5:1-9 Jerusalem, take off your robe of mourning and misery; put on the splendor of glory from God forever: wrapped in the cloak of justice from God, bear on your head the mitre that displays the glory of the eternal name. For God will show all the earth your splendor: you will be named by God forever the peace of justice, the glory of God’s worship. Up, Jerusalem! stand upon the heights; look to the east and see your children gathered from the east and the west at the word of the Holy One, rejoicing that they are remembered by God. Led away on foot by their enemies they left you: but God will bring them back to you borne aloft in glory as on royal thrones. For God has commanded that every lofty mountain be made low, and that the age-old depths and gorges be filled to level ground, that Israel may advance secure in the glory of God. The forests and every fragrant kind of tree have overshadowed Israel at God’s command; for God is leading Israel in joy by the light of his glory, with his mercy and justice for company. RESPONSORIAL PSALM PS 126:1-2, 2-3, 4-5, 6 R. The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy. When the Lord brought back the captives of Zion, we were like men dreaming. Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with rejoicing. R. The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy.
December 4, 2009
Second Sunday of Advent Baruch 5:1-9; Psalm 126:1-6; Philippians 1:3-11; Luke 3:1-6 Then they said among the nations, “The Lord has done great things for them.” The Lord has done great things for us; we are glad indeed. R. The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy. Restore our fortunes, O Lord, like the torrents in the southern desert. Those who sow in tears shall reap rejoicing. R. The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy. Although they go forth weeping, carrying the seed to be sown, They shall come back rejoicing, carrying their sheaves. R. The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy. A READING FROM THE LETTER TO THE PHLIPPIANS PHIL 1:4-6, 8-11 Brothers and sisters: I pray always with joy in my every prayer for all of you, because of your
Stature showing Jesus being baptized by St. John the Baptist.
partnership for the gospel from the first day until now. I am confident of this, that
E
Scripture reflection ROB GRANT
What kind of Messiah do we really want? The ancient world (and, perhaps our modern world as well) was expecting a Messiah of epic proportions, a savior who would restore the fortunes of Israel, destroy the armies of oppressing invaders, and whose mighty arm would be feared by all. Even Paul, who experienced God’s power first-hand saw “the end,” the time when God’s justice would smite all infidels like a sword, as being near.
(CNS PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY PAUL FINCH, CATHOLIC SUN)
ven after 30-plus years of really paying attention to the amazing way in which the Vatican Council scholars assembled the sequence of readings we hear as the seasons of the Church Year unfold, I never cease to be amazed at the wisdom with which the readings were chosen, paired and offered to us in such a marvelously integrated way. The brilliantly planned fullness of the readings goes far beyond the cohesiveness of the Sunday readings. It extends into the way that the readings of each weekday further uncover the power, depth and beauty of our story. With this seasonal integration in mind, it’s important to see the readings and themes of Advent not as simply the readings and themes of the four Sundays, but of the weekdays and the feast days that flow through this powerful season where Scripture and Tradition intersect so dramatically. The thrust of our Second Sunday of Advent readings from Baruch, Philippians and Luke propels the intensity and power which we hear in the other two major feasts we also celebrate this week, the Immaculate Conception and Our Lady of Guadalupe. In the Sunday reading from the prophet Baruch, we hear God’s promise that the Israelites, taken in the 6th century BCE as captives to Babylon by the conqueror Nebuchadnezzar, would return to their beloved Jerusalem. In Paul’s letter to Philippians, we witness his encouragement “that the one who began a good work in you will continue to complete it until the day of Christ’s coming.” And in the Gospel of Luke, we hear recounted the work of John the Baptist, “Preparing a way for the Lord….so all flesh shall see the salvation of God.” What do Baruch’s prophecy to the Israelites, Paul’s encouragement to the Philippians and Luke’s introduction of the witness of John the Baptist have to do with us in this third millennium? In this Advent? The answer plays out perhaps more palpably for us moderns in the two Marian feasts that so wisely are placed in this second week of Advent: the Immaculate Conception (Dec. 8), and Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe (Dec. 12). In both of these Marian feasts, we see the fulfillment of the prophecies of Baruch, Paul and John the Baptist, but in a way far from what the ancient world would see.
Silhouette image depicting St. Joseph with the expectant Virgin Mary.
Luke’s Gospel quickly, in the opening verses of the very first chapter, reminds us that the Messiah we wanted would not be the Messiah we were to get. As a gentile himself, a Syrian, a physician well acquainted with the best of the broad-minded Hellenic world, Luke opens his Gospel with the story of Mary, a simple peasant girl from the backwaters of Galilee. No royalty (though a distant descendent of David), no power, no influence – just a willingness to say the simplest, and most complex word, “Yes!” Mary’s “Yes” to the invitation of God, despite her youth, despite her knowledge that she, a pregnant, unmarried girl would be the object of judgment and humiliation, and despite her knowledge that her son, the Messiah, would be rejected and murdered by his own people – this “Yes” was the quintessential statement of her commitment to let go of fear, let go of limiting assumptions, let go of stereotypes, let go of social expectations, let go of “practicality,” and trust in the loving providence of God. We sing of “Immaculate Mary,” yes, the pure vessel honored to hold the gift of God’s love. But it does Mary a great disservice to see her purity as a distancing from her humanity. In her willingness to be the bearer of the Christ, and, soon enough, his teacher, and, in the end, the 40-something mother who watches her son being murdered and finally placed, broken and lifeless in her arms, there is nothing neat clean and “pure” about her. She is as immersed in the dirt, messiness and chaos of this human experi-
the one who began a good work in you will continue to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus. God is my witness, how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus. And this is my prayer: that your love may increase ever more and more in knowledge and every kind of perception, to discern what is of value, so that you may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God. A READING FROM THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE LK 3:1-6 In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the desert. John went throughout the whole region of the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah: A voice of one crying out in the desert: “Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths. Every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill shall be made low. The winding roads shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.” ence as any of us – and all the more so as the first disciple of this Jesus who chose to be the exemplar of truest humanness by himself embracing the unclean, the disposed of, the messy. Far beyond the obvious connection of Mary to Advent in her physical role of bearer of the Christ, the Promised of Ages, we celebrate her in Advent as a reminder that she, blessed among women, actually was willing to walk that radically messianic road from fear to courage, from selfprotection to generosity, from possession to surrender, from pettiness to bigness, from childishness to maturity. And, just days after December 8, we celebrate the glorious feast of Guadalupe, the celebration of Mary as the divine figure who, as did her Son Jesus, recognizes in the humble gentility of the peasant Juan Diego a nobility and worthiness to which the Old World was blind. Mary appears not to a saint, nor a prelate, nor the ruling Spanish Conquistadores, but, instead, to the simple Indio Juan, starkly announcing to this New World that the old ideas of God as conqueror, as rewarder of the “successful,” are to be cast aside in favor of the view of God as protector of the oppressed and champion of justice. Mary’s reverence for the displaced challenges us to see that the God of imagination calls us to lives not of competition, self-preservation and practicality, but of cooperation, selflessness, and simple integrity. As Christ did for the ancient world of the first century, so Mary, through this intervention in the 16th century, gives the New World (in terms far more than geographical) the challenge to revamp its priorities, its assumptions of righteousness, and return to the elemental Christian principles of universal dignity and worth. This Advent season, this season of Mary, this season of nature, is about newness and movement – from darkness to light, from fear to courage, from convention to imagination, from pragmatism to idealism. Are we really ready for this movement? What kind of Messiah do we really want? Rob Grant is a 30-year veteran of parish ministry in San Francisco. He serves as Director of Music and Liturgy at Corpus Christi Church and cantor/accompanist at the parishes of St. Gabriel, Notre Dame des Victoires and St. Denis.
December 4, 2009
Catholic San Francisco
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Spirituality for Life
Prayer with an ‘Infallible Guarantee’ There are several places in the gospels where Jesus assures us that if we ask for something in his name we are guaranteed to receive it. In Matthew’s gospel, for example, he says: Ask and you shall receive, because everyone who asks receives. In John’s gospel he promises us that if you ask anything in my name, the Father will grant it. Why doesn’t this always work? Sometimes we pray for something, pray for it in Jesus’ name, and our request isn’t granted. Sometimes we literally storm heaven with our prayers and heaven seems shut against them. Did Jesus make an idle promise when he assured us that God would give us anything we ask for, if we ask in his name? Spiritual writers and apologists have offered a number of answers to this question: Maybe our prayer wasn’t answered because we asked for the wrong thing. A loving mother wouldn’t give her unknowing child a knife to play with, would she? Or perhaps our prayer was answered, but at a deeper level and only in time will we understand that answer. C.S. Lewis once quipped that we will spend most of eternity thanking God for those prayers of ours that he didn’t answer! There’s merit in all these answers, though they are not the answers that Jesus used. Indeed, when he promised us that our prayers would be answered, he didn’t add that it is on the condition that we ask for the right thing. He invited us to ask for anything in his name. He didn’t specify that it be the right thing. So why aren’t our prayers always answered? Jerome Murphy-O’Connor, a renowned scripture scholar,
suggests that in Matthew’s gospel, as well as in much of the rest of the New Testament, prayer of petition is linked to concrete charitable action within the community. Hence to pray truly for someone involves also reaching out concretely to help that person. To pray truly for justice and peace involves working actively for justice and peace. When we pray “through Christ” we pray not just through the resurrected Christ in heaven but also through the “body of Christ” on earth, ourselves. We need to be involved in helping answer our own prayers. Thus when our prayer doesn’t seem to be answered it might mean that we, Christ’s body on earth, have not been enough involved in trying to answer our own prayer, that we haven’t in fact prayed “through Christ.” Karl Rahner, in commenting on Jesus’ promise in John’s gospel that anything we ask for in his name will be given us, offers us this reflection: “To ask for something in Jesus’ name does not mean that we invoke him verbally and then desire whatever our turbulent, divided heart or our appetite, our wretched mania for everything and anything, happens to hanker for. No, asking in Jesus’ name means entering into him, living by him, being one with him in love and faith. If he is in us by faith, in love, in grace, in his Spirit, then our petition arises from the centre of our being, which is himself, and if all our petition and desire is gathered up and fused in him and his Spirit, then the Father hears us. Then our petition becomes simple and straightforward, harmonious, sober, and unpretentious. Then what St. Paul says in the letter to the Romans applies to us: We do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself
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Catholic San Francisco
December 4, 2009
PASSION PLAY 2010 Presents…
Passion Play & Bavaria July – August 2010
8 Days • 10 Meals: 6 Breakfasts • 1 Lunch • 3 Dinners
Highlights... Munich - Glockenspiel • Innsbruck • Nuremberg • Rally Grounds • Justice Palace • Oberammergau • Passion Play
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September 16 - 25, 2010
Letters . . .
n Continued from page 14 very humans He created? He is precisely who He says He is! He is the Alpha and the Omega, the creator of our universe, and an immensely loving Father to send His Son to save us from our wretched selves and the eternal punishment we rightly deserve. Jane Sears (CSF, Nov. 13) is correct, and it is no small issue. We are His adopted sons and daughters and He is our Abba Father. To neuter or neutralize Him violates the Third Commandment. To change His Word to fit our own philosophy or to seem politically correct is outright scary. From our little footprint and 70 years on this earth, none of us have the authority to change His Word. “Do not be deceived; God will not be mocked“ Gal 6:7. Thankfully, we can rest in the fact that He has the last word. Ann Ponty San Carlos
Vallombrosa update
10 Days • 15 Meals: 8 Breakfasts • 2 lunches • 5 Dinners
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As your readers may know, good things are happening at Vallombrosa, the Archdiocesan Retreat Center in Menlo Park. We have spent the past few months developing new retreats, lectures and liturgical celebrations. We’ve published a newsletter and have become home to a wonderful choir that will be performing regularly throughout the year. The first weekend this month will be dedicated to Advent reflection at Vallombrosa Center. We are sponsoring a quiet retreat for individuals
May 17 - 26, 2010
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In his Catholic News Service column (“Afghanistan: Another immoral war,” CSF, Oct. 16) Tony Magliano contends that this war is immoral, because many innocent civilians have been killed by actions taken by the United States, which were in response of AI-Qaeda’s irresponsible actions, when they wiped out nearly 3,000 civilians in New York. If we are to agree to Mr. Magliano’s argument, then we will have to agree that after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, the U.S. war on Japan was immoral. Remember Nagasaki, and Hiroshima? Thousands of men, women, and children were either killed or maimed for life. The attack on Germany by B1 Bombers was also immoral. Millions of civilians were killed. Mr. Magliano would have us believe that if Jesus was here on earth today, and saw the havoc that was rained down on the United States on 9/11, He would tell the Leaders “They slapped you on one cheek, now give them the other one to slap too.” Come on, Mr. Magliano. Go smell the coffee, and give us a break. Walter Marston San Francisco
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Highlights…Engelberg • Bern • Bear Pit • Lucerne • Innsbruck • Austrian Alps • Salzburg Mirabell Gardens • St. Peter’s Restaurant • Bavaria • Oberammergau • Passion Play
An immoral war?
Catholic San Francisco
with Oberammergau’s Passsion Play 10 Days • 15 Meals: 8 Breakfasts • 1 lunch • 6 Dinners
from Friday, Dec. 4 to Sunday, Dec. 6, as well as an Advent Day of Prayer on Saturday, Dec. 5. We also will hold pre-Christmas lessons and carols on Sunday, Dec. 20 at 2 p.m. in the Vallombrosa Chapel. Call us at (650) 325-5614 or visit www. vallombrosa.org for more information. Father Patrick LaBelle, OP Director, Vallombrosa Center
2,599
only $
($2,699 after Oct. 7, 2009)
Fr. Chris Crotty, Spiritual Director
Kylemore Abbey
Visit: Shannon, Cliffs of Moher, Knock, Croagh Patrick, Kylemore Abbey, Galway, Limerick, Blarney Castle and more.
ITALY
Holy Shroud of Turin
April 20 – 30, 2010 Departs San Francisco 11-Day Pilgrimage
Mexico’s Colonial Jewels
featuring Mexico City, Guanajuato, San Miguel de Allende, Zacatecas, Tequila & Morelia
Feb. 20th, April 17th, May 29th, 2010 12 Days • 17 Meals: 11 Breakfasts • 6 Dinners
2,599 per person
only $
($2,699 after January 10, 2010)
Visit: Milan, Turin, Florence, Assisi, Norcia, Rome (papal Audience)
Shroud of Turin
Highlights…Our Lady of Guadalupe • Pyramids of Teotihuacan • National Folkloric Ballet Performance • San Miguel de Allende • Granaditas Museum • Rafael Coronel Museum • El Eden Silver Mine • Hospicio Cabanas • Tequila Agave Fields • Patzcuàro • Morelia - National Museum of Anthropology
Double $2,189 (100% inclusive) All tours depart from SFO
OBERAMMERGAU plus Munich, Salzburg, Vienna & Budapest Sept. 28 – Oct. 8, 2010 Departs San Francisco 11-Day Pilgrimage
3,999
only $
($4,099 after June 20, 2010)
Fr. Dennis Duvelius, Spiritual Director
Schöenbrunn Palace
Visit: Munich, Neuschwanstein, Oberammergau, Salzburg, Danube River Cruise, Vienna, Budapest
DOOR TO DOOR Airport Transportation ( 100% included for all tours)
For a free brochure or information contact
BJ Travel @ (800) 897-5170
California Sellers of Travel #1003860-40
For a FREE brochure on these pilgrimages contact: Catholic San Francisco (415) 614-5640
Please leave your name, mailing address and your phone number California Registered Seller of Travel Registration Number CST-2037190-40 (Registration as a Seller of Travel does not constitute approval by the State of California)
December 4, 2009
Mature faith . . . n Continued from cover
seem to want my money or my labor but not my visions or my leadership. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I want to shout and they just say, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Sit quietly for awhile.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; â&#x20AC;&#x153;I sometimes feel I have to fight,â&#x20AC;? the poet writes, â&#x20AC;&#x153;and all they feel is, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;You have to wait.â&#x20AC;&#x2122;â&#x20AC;? Calling for an active faith that renounces injustice and intolerance, the poet closes with the plea: â&#x20AC;&#x153;I really want to go back to church.â&#x20AC;? Each of us wants hospitable and just relationships and the freedom to live them without feeling defensive, Sister Lumas reflected after reciting the poem. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Each of us wants to rise to our full stature in the company of others who presume our dignity, participation, giftedness, and our right to responsibilities as co-creators of the world,â&#x20AC;? she said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;That is what it means to develop mature faith, to assume the right and the responsibility of being a co-creator of the world, of bringing the world closer and closer to the reign of God.â&#x20AC;? Sister Lumas proposed that â&#x20AC;&#x153;church affiliation is less and less compelling in American society because our churches have severely backed off in our engagement in the daily concerns of peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s lives.â&#x20AC;? She said there is a growing movement in our society that no
longer deems it necessary to be actively involved in a specific faith community in order to develop a relationship with God. At the same time, she said, we live in a society that is littered with the â&#x20AC;&#x153;little godsâ&#x20AC;? of media and technology. These false idols, she said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;promise to relieve us of the demands of being a responsible person in the world.â&#x20AC;? But there are no easy answers in the quest for mature faith, Sister Lumas said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It requires a commitment to live for the love of another,â&#x20AC;? she said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Because in our pursuit for the holy, for the sacred, for God, there is also a pursuit to be in communion with other persons.â&#x20AC;? She urged the gathering of religious educators to embrace the responsibilities and rewards of relationship. â&#x20AC;&#x153;These are the requirements of Christian community,â&#x20AC;? she said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Let our lives and our ministries, whatever they are, lead us to consciously and carefully keep those relationships uppermost in our heart, and let us trust that if we can hold those relationships as the most enduring and the most precious gifts that we have been given, we will learn that we are more and more able to enflesh the Word that is Lord.â&#x20AC;? Sister Lumas urged the faith formation teachers to walk life as a â&#x20AC;&#x153;sacred pilgrimage.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;Praise God,â&#x20AC;? she concluded, â&#x20AC;&#x153;we are determined to make this journey while creating an ever-expanding community that will not allow anyone to make this journey despairing or alone. May the Word of God live on in our lives.â&#x20AC;?
Leading students to the person of Christ behind the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;magicâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; of the miracles By Rick DelVecchio The goal of teaching Scripture to Catholic faith formation students, says Gloria Reinhardt Majerus, is to show the face of Christ. And the key to this approach, she says, is to teach the Gospel miracle stories with a focus not on the extraordinary events but on how Jesus responds to believersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; display of faith. Majerus, who is religious education consultant for Our Sunday Visitorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Curriculum Division, shared her insights with religious educators at a workshop at the inter-diocesan Faith Formation Conference Nov. 20 in Santa Clara. Majerus was emphatic that teachers must look beyond the supernatural events in the miracles to Christâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s affirmation of faith that follows the introduction of the person in need and precedes the miracle itself. She said the pattern holds true in all four kinds of miracles, those concerning healing, nature, exorcism and death. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Most of us when we teach miracles get wrapped up in the magic,â&#x20AC;? Majerus said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s an injustice to the Scriptures.â&#x20AC;? Majerus said the message of faith in the miracle stories can be taught by dividing each narrative into its five parts: introduction, display of faith, response, result and reaction. For example, in Markâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Gospel the paralyzed man is borne to Jesus through the crowd surrounding the teacherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s house at Capernaum. Jesus sees the faith of the onlookers and says to the man in need, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Son, your sins are forgiven.â&#x20AC;? He beckons the man to stand, and when he does so the crowd reacts with awe.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;The response will always be from Christ, and it will be very definite,â&#x20AC;? Majerus said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;But it will only be to the display of faith. Why? Because Christ is responding to the heart of that person. The compassion of Christ, the person who empathizes with our weaknesses and our vulnerability, is responding to that faith. You will always have Jesus responding, and in that response is the power. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not that the guy gets up and walks.â&#x20AC;? Majerus also advised the religious education teachers to explore the historical and cultural roots of each of the four canonical Gospels so their students can better understand how the writers expressed their faith. The evangelists Mark, Matthew, Luke and John wrote at different times, in different styles and to different audiences as they worked in an oral tradition to put the meaning of the risen Christ into writing for diverse believers. Distortions and cultural influences may have crept in as the texts evolved, but these matters are irrelevant to the message of the person of Christ, Majerus said. Every text is an opportunity to bring children and adults alike face to face with Jesus, she said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve got to break open the Word,â&#x20AC;? she said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Sometimes the community fails and sometimes people fail, but as teachers and as adult faith formation people, if you can give them the person of Jesus, then you can give them the Scripture.â&#x20AC;? For adults, Majerus said, mature companionship with Jesus is one of the gifts of such teaching. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Trust me, when the marriages fail and when the pink slips come, and when they canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t make the mortgage payment, they have something to turn to,â&#x20AC;? she said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m really serious.â&#x20AC;?
Catholic San Francisco
Science, faith link benefits humanity Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Galileo Galilei showed the world that scientists cannot discover the truth solely through empirical study, but that philosophy and faith are also necessary for revealing the true meaning of the universe, Pope Benedict XVI said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The more people realize how complex the cosmos is, the more necessary it is to use a number of tools that are capable of satisfyingâ&#x20AC;? peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s thirst for knowledge, he said. The tools of philosophy and theology complement scientific endeavors and â&#x20AC;&#x153;no conflictâ&#x20AC;? exists between these fields, he said. The pope made his remarks in a written message sent to participants of an interdisciplinary congress titled, â&#x20AC;&#x153;From Galileoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Telescope to Evolutionary Cosmology: Science, Philosophy and Theology in Dialogue.â&#x20AC;? The Nov. 30-Dec. 2 congress was organized by Romeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Pontifical Lateran University. The popeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s message, which was published by the Vatican newspaper, Lâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Osservatore Romano, Nov. 30, highlighted the â&#x20AC;&#x153;deeply religious soulâ&#x20AC;? of the Italian astronomer who revolutionized the scientific method. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Galileoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s discovery represented a decisive step for the history of humanity,â&#x20AC;? wrote the pope. His establishment of the modern scientific method of observation and testing hypotheses made possible the great scientific advancements of modern times, Pope Benedict wrote. With his first use of the telescope to study the cosmos in 1609, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Galileo had penetrated the unknown paths of the universe; he threw open the door for observing an ever increasingly immense space,â&#x20AC;? said the papal message. Galileoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s discoveries stirred in him a sense of wonder and praise for the creator of the cosmos and prompted questions about the origin and evolution of the universe, the pope wrote. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Still today the universe continues to generate questions that simple observation is not able to give satisfactory answers to; the natural and physical sciences alone are not enough,â&#x20AC;? said the message. â&#x20AC;&#x153;In fact, if the analysis of phenomena remains holed up within itself, it risks making the cosmos appear to be an unsolvable riddle,â&#x20AC;? it said. Yet Galileo indicated that there is a logic to nature that can â&#x20AC;&#x153;speak to human intelligence and point out a path that leads beyond the simple phenomenon,â&#x20AC;? wrote the pope. Questions about the universe â&#x20AC;&#x201C; understanding it origin, its purpose and end â&#x20AC;&#x201C; cannot be answered by science alone, he wrote. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Following Galileoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s lesson, whoever observes the cosmos cannot limit himself or herself to what is observed with the telescope, but must go beyond in order to examine the meaning and end to which all of creation is directed,â&#x20AC;? said the pope in his message.
European Pilgrimage
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OBERAMMERGAU PASSION PLAY Germany with Rome, Assisi, Florence, Shroud of Turin, Switzerland May 6-17, 2010 (12 days) â&#x20AC;˘ Estimated cost of tour: $3,390 land only, Air cost: $850+air taxes TBD ***************************************************************************** OBERAMMERGAU PASSION PLAY, GERMANY w/ CZECH REPUBLIC, SWITZERLAND Berlin, Prague, Munich, Oberammergau, Vaduz, Lucerne, Zurich June 15-26, 2010 (12 days) â&#x20AC;˘ Estimated cost of tour: $3,390 Land only, Air cost: $850+air taxes TBD ***************************************************************************** OBERAMMERGAU PASSION PLAY, GERMANY W/ AUSTRIA, CZECH REPUBLIC, POLAND Salzburg, Prague, Krakow, Divine Mercy-Wadowice, Czestochowa-Warsaw May 28-June 8, 2010 (12 days) â&#x20AC;˘ Estimated cost of tour: $3,390 land portion only, Air cost $850+taxes TBD
19
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Catholic San Francisco
December 4, 2009
Music TV
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The Berlin Philharmonic in Davies Symphony Hall For over a hundred years the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra has been a touchstone of musical excellence. Despite wars, economic turndowns and internal squabbles (women were only admitted as playing members fairly recently), this has been a giant of the symphonic world with few peers and fewer rivals. Its two concerts at Davies Hall last month under music director Simon Rattle – I heard the one on November 21 – displayed the orchestra’s ongoing mastery not only of the standard repertory but of more recent works as well. The Philharmonic was long noted, under Herbert von Karajan, for the silken sheen of the strings and the glowing sound which sometimes made even the spikiest of scores seem like a like a luxuriant musical featherbed. Under Mr. Rattle (do the players call their British leader Herr Rattle?) the orchestra has lost none of its smoothness but there is a brilliance and vitality to the playing which serves it well in the music of a modernist bent. Arnold Schoenberg wrote his Chamber Symphony No. 1 in 1906, just as he was trying to shake the grip of 19th century romanticism, which he had already mastered, to make his mark as the definitive voice of modern music. As the name indicates he wrote Chamber Symphony for fifteen solo instrumentalists and it was a marvel of clear, singing lines. Many years later the composer brought out a new version for full orchestra, which the Philharmonic played on this occasion. It seems like a different piece of music, bigger and richer in sound, but lacking the clarity and concision of the
original. It has become an enjoyable showpiece for a great came from players and conductor in total harmony and in service to the music. orchestra, but this is a clear case of less is more. With the Brahms Second To end with the beginning, the Symphony the orchestra let the concert opened with the Prelude audience revel in the breadth and to Wagner’s Meistersinger. It is power of its magnificent sound somewhat frustrating for an opera while paying its dues to the lover to hear this music cut off from wonder of the last master of the the ensuing chorale in honor of St. classical symphony. After strugJohn the Baptist that follows when gling for years to write his First the curtain rises. But such quibbles Symphony with what he felt was fade when one hears this immense the terrible burden of following symphonic composition played as in Beethoven’s footsteps, Brahms it could never be done in the opera was able to relax and write in his house with its much smaller space Second music that maintained the than the concert hall stage. rigor of classical form but allowed The opening, possibly the most his warm, genial temperament to famous C major chord in all music, shine through. announced a performance of bright The second movement, for light and joyous affirmation. This example, starts with a serious was, as George Solti once said, theme that never turns heavy – and immodestly, of one of his own how the chorus of Berlin cellos performances: Wagner never heard Simon Rattle showed their song-like beauty at it so good. this moment. Likewise at the beginning of the third moveFather Basil De Pinto is ment, Brahms’s marking is so apt: gracious, practically the definition of lilting music. a frequent contributor on the arts. The finale was an object lesson in music that is powerful but not overpowering, what Gerard Manley Hopkins Editor’s note: The Berlin Philharmonic’s recent American tour called “the achieve of, the mastery of the thing.” There included concerts in a handful of U.S. cities including New York, was never any bombast but a fullness and richness that Boston, Chicago, Ann Arbor, San Francisco and Los Angeles. (PHOTO BY MAT HENNEK)
By Father Basil De Pinto
‘The Glory of Angels’ mixes religion and art THE GLORY OF ANGELS by Edward Lucie-Smith, Collins Design, (New York, 2009) 192 pp., $35.00
Reviewed by Christian Newswire NEW YORK – Throughout their history, human beings have felt a need for supernatural support – for powers that help, powers that guide, powers that either proclaim important events or bring news of them. In “The Glory of Angels,” Edward Lucie-Smith explores the importance of angels, and the myriad ways in which they have been depicted in illustrations, short stories, and aphorisms. In this beautiful and oversized “coffee table” book (that opens with church-like doors), Lucie-Smith highlights the importance of the guardian angels and archangels, including Michael, Gabriel and Raphael. And he explores the ways in which music has been used to portray the voice of angels, the appearances of angels in mythology, and the role the
SCRIPTURE SEARCH Gospel for December 6, 2009 Luke 3:1-6 Following is a word search based on the Gospel reading for the Second Sunday of Advent, Cycle C: the historical appearance of John in the desert. The words can be found in all directions in the puzzle. FIFTEENTH CAESAR PRIESTHOOD JOHN JORDAN CRYING FILLED
YEAR HEROD ANNAS ZECHARIAH FORGIVENESS LORD ROUGH
REIGN TETRARCH WORD OF GOD REGION VOICE VALLEY SMOOTH
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© 2009 Tri-C-A Publications www.tri-c-a-publications.com
Sponsored by DUGGAN’S SERRA MORTUARY 500 Westlake Avenue, Daly City 650-756-4500 ● www.duggansserra.com
angels play in the last judgment. He explores how angels guide us by protecting and warning us of danger, healing and comforting us, and urging us to follow God’s path. While angels as we now know them are specifically associated with monotheistic religions, specifically Christianity and Islam, most cultures seem to offer equivalents, even if they do not always take the forms that would be familiar to us today. And yet, while many people have a strong instinctive belief in angelic presences, both good angles and sometimes bad ones, they generally find it difficult to visualize these other-worldly creatures for themselves. Even Joan of Arc found it hard to describe her angelic visitor, the Archangel Michael. What clearly helped her to “see” as well as hear him were the statues and paintings of angels she had seen in churches. If wee look at the whole story of belief in angels,, we immediately understand how our ownn conception of them has been formed not only by sacred texts, but also by great artists over the centuries. It is works of art that have been instrumental in creating the strongly established traditions about the
physical appearance of angels, and about their role as guides, protectors, and messengers. In-depth essays in The Glory of Angels reveal the stories of fallen angels, angels in disguise, and angels who have given in to temptation. There are also inspiring accounts of those who have been inspi visited visit by angels, including King Lear, William Blake, Lot, Daniel and Jacob, and Will how each eventually overcame hardship with wit the help of an angel. Through these stories, we see how a desire to personalsto ize wisdom, protection and strength, is satisfied by angels who embody these sa qualities so completely. Artists step in to qu give g these concepts physical existence, bringing them into our world. b Visually stunning, with lavish gatefolds and gold foil throughout, g The Glory of Angels is an inspiration to return to, and reflect on, time and time tim again. Author Edward Lucie-Smith lives in London and is an internationally known art critic and historian who has published more than a hundred books in all, including a biography of Joan of Arc, a historical novel, and more than sixty books about art.
GET HOME BEFORE DARK! 4 p.m. Saturday Vigil Mass in San Francisco!
ST. EMYDIUS CATHOLIC CHURCH 286 Ashton Avenue, San Francisco (one block from Ocean Ave.) Serving the Ingleside community of San Francisco, since 1913, St. Emydius is a multi-cultural, multi-racial, all inclusive faith-sharing community. Daily Mass At 8:30 am 4:00 pm Saturday Vigil Mass 8:30 am Sunday Mass 10:30 am Sunday Mass To reach us from 19th Ave., take Holloway Ave., (near S.F. State, heading East), to Ashton Ave., left on Ashton to De Montfort Ave. To reach us from 280 S. (at City College) exit Ocean Ave. going West, turn left on Ashton to De Montfort Ave., (1/2 block up).
YOU ARE ALWAYS WELCOME TO JOIN US!
Listen each week to ‘The Archbishop’s Hour’ Immaculate Heart Radio – 1260 AM “The Archbishop’s Hour” with San Francisco Archbishop George H. Niederauer airs each Friday morning at 9 a.m. on Immaculate Heart Radio 1260 AM in the Bay Area. Repeat broadcasts of The Archbishop’s Hour air Friday evening at 9 p.m.; Sunday at 11 a.m.; and Monday at 9 p.m. Catholics will be informed, inspired and entertained, while hearing interesting stories from the Bay Area and beyond. Hosted by Tom Burke and produced by the Archdiocese of San Francisco’s Office of Communications , The Archbishop’s Hour is broadcast without charge by Immaculate Heart Radio-1260 AM San Francisco. On The Archbishop’s Hour this week, Sulpician Father James L. McKearney, president and rector of St. Patrick Seminary and University is a guest.
December 4, 2009
Advent Opportunities The National Shrine of St. Francis of Assisi announces the following rites at its Nuova Porziuncola, Vallejo at Columbus in San Francisco. Dec. 8, 12:15 p.m.: Mass; Dec. 12, 7 p.m.: Rosary and Litany honoring Our Lady of Guadalupe; De. 15, 7 p.m.: Vespers; Dec. 22: Benediction and Communion Service. Call (415) 271-0189. Dec. 5, 6 p.m.: Mass and reception honoring Our Lady of Guadalupe at St. Thomas the Apostle Church, 40th Ave. at Balboa in San Francisco. Evening includes music by Mariachi Musicians, Aztec Dancers and food. Call (415) 387-5545. Dec. 6, 2 p.m.: “The Choirs and Musicians of St Bartholomew Parish present their annual Christmas Concert. Program features Vivaldi’s “Gloria.” Soloists, Festival Choir, Contemporary Choir, Children’s Choir, and Faith Formation Choir will perform. Free will donations appreciated. Church is at corner of Alameda de las Pulgas and Crystal Springs Road in San Mateo. Dec. 6, 2:30 p.m.: Concert featuring voices of Nativity Parish in Menlo Park and other singers at St. Patrick’s Seminary and University, 320 Middlefield Rd. in Menlo Park. Tickets are $20 adults/$15 seniors. Call (650) 323-7914. Dec. 6, 7 p.m.: You are invited to a spectacular and dramatic presentation of scripture, light, and movement when Michael Reardon prayerfully and powerfully proclaims The Advent Narratives, directed by Patrick Lane. A reception will follow the event. No charge. Good will offerings accepted. St. Matthias Church, 1685 Cordilleras Rd. in Redwood City. Dec. 8, 7:30 p.m.: Simbang Gabi commissioning Mass at St. Mary’s Cathedral, Gough St. at Geary Blvd. in San Francisco. San Francisco Auxiliary Bishop William Justice will preside. Call (415) 699-7927 for more information. Dec. 11, 12, 7:30 p.m.: The Mater Dolorosa Hallelujah Chorale and Cherubim Children’s Ensemble will present the cantata “A Christmas to Remember”, a unique collection of traditional carols, well-known seasonal songs and original material at Mater Dolorosa Church, 307 Willow Avenue, South San Francisco. Tickets are $10 in advance and $15 at the door. All proceeds benefit Mater Dolorosa Church. For tickets and sponsorships, call (650)-583-4131, (650)-952-4333, or email MDConcert09@yahoo.com. Dec. 12, 11 a.m.: Christmas Remembrance Service, All Saints Mausoleum Chapel. Father John Talesfore, pastor, St. Mary’s Cathedral will lead the prayer service. Come to remember and be comforted as you share time with others who are grieving this Holiday Season. Rite includes inspirational music, time for reflection and an opportunity to share in a “Memory Tree” Service. 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 programs. 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 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. Dec. 15-23: 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
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Boutique and Tea in Carlin Commons at St. Ignatius College Preparatory, 2001 37th Avenue, San Francisco. Tickets are $35 per person. Make checks payable to the “Loyola Guild” and mail reservations to Caroline Smith, 1643 Beach St., San Francisco 94123. Call (650) 303-1256 for more information. Dec. 6, 8 a.m. – 7 p.m.: SFB Christmas Faire at St. Finn Barr Parish Hall, 415 Edna St. at Hearst in San Francisco. Bring your family to a day filled with fun, food and entertainment. Vists with Santa plus pictures with the Jolly Old Elf are available for purchase. Raffles, vendors, caroling and more. Dec. 6, 4:30 p.m.: Star of the Sea School presents “An Evening of Stars”, a centennial fashion show and boutique on December 6th, 2009 from 4:30-7 p.m. at the school gymnasium on 8th Avenue between Geary and Clement in San Francisco. Tickets range from $20 (general admission) to $75 (VIP). To learn more or order tickets, call the Centennial Hotline at (415) 2213399.
Datebook
Vocations
Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Elementary School celebrates its 125th year beginning Jan. 31 with a commemorative Mass. Archbishop George H. Niederauer will preside. OLMC students, seen here forming the school’s anniversary year, have all been issued “Blue Monday” anniversary tee shirts. The tops are also available to the public. “People wearing these tee shirts are popping up all over Redwood City as OLMC families get into the spirit of the celebration,” said Michelle Conci, school communications person. Events including an all-school reunion and Blue and Gold Ball are planned. For more information call (650) 366-8817. Father John Balleza is pastor. Teresa Anthony is principal. Priest alumni include Monsignor Edward McTaggart, retired pastor, St. Brendan Parish in San Francisco and Father Lawrence Goode, pastor, St. Francis of Assisi Parish in East Palo Alto. (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 Dec. 16-24: 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) 479-1560 on Dec. 20, 22, 23 and at 5 a.m. at St. Bruno (650) 588-2121 on Dec. 22, 23, and 24.
Single, Divorced, Separated Dec. 12, 6:30 p.m.: A potluck Christmas celebration, charity donation and raffle at St. Dominic Church, 2390 Bush St. at Steiner in San Francisco. There is a minimal cost of $5 if you bring food, $10 if you do not. To ensure a balanced meal please call for suggestions. This year we would like to help families who are victims of abuse. We ask you to bring a Store Gift card of any amount - $5 amount is fine - and we will deliver them to C.O.R.A., a San Francisco shelter for such victims. Call Gail (650) 5918452 or Vonnie McGee (650)873-4236 for more information.
cialist who works with patients who suffer from back pain. St. Mary’s Spine Center, One Shrader Street, Suite 450. RSVP to (888) 457-5202. December 10, 4:30 p.m.: Reclaim your life: Answers to Joint Pain, Are you a candidate for total joint replacement surgery? Come and have all of your questions answered by Brian Rottinghaus, MD. St. Mary’s Medical Center, 450 Stanyan Street, Mercy Conference Room – Level C. RSVP to (888) 457-5202
Taize/Chanted Prayer 1st Friday at 8 p.m.: Mercy Center, 2300 Adeline Dr., Burlingame with Mercy Sister Suzanne Toolan. Call (650) 340-7452; young adults are invited each first Friday of the month to attend a social at 6 p.m. prior to Taize prayer at 8 p.m. The social provides light refreshments and networking with other young adults. Convenient parking is available. For information contact mercyyoungadults@sbcglobal.net. Tuesdays at 6 p.m.: Notre Dame Des Victoires Church, 566 Bush at Stockton, San Francisco with Rob Grant. Call (415) 397-0113. 3rd Friday, 8 p.m.: Dominican Sisters of Mission San Jose, Motherhouse Chapel, 43326 Mission Blvd in Fremont. Contact Maria Shao at (408) 839-2068 or maria49830@aol.com or Dominican Sister Beth Quire at (510) 449-7554 or beth@msjdominicans.org.
Food & Fun
Good Health The National Association of Catholic Nurses is hosting information session for a newly forming local council. Information sessions will be held Dec. 5 from 4 to 6 p.m. in Menlo Park. The organization is open to RNs, LVNs, and nursing students. For more information or to register, contact Mary Ann Haeuser at haeuser@sbcglobal. net or at (415) 454-0979. December 7, 2 p.m.: Technology in the Treatment for Back Pain, Dr. Hattori will discuss ways to treat your back pain using the latest technologies. Dr. Hattori is a pain management spe-
Dec. 5, 10 a.m. – 8 p.m.; 6, 10 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.: St. Brendan School presents Christmas on Main Street, its 38th Annual Christmas Boutique and Carnival featuring handcrafted gifts for giving or collecting, ornaments, home décor, incredible raffle prizes, gourmet and food court specialties and the ever-popular carnival. Takes place at St. Brendan Church Hall and Parish Center, Laguna Honda Blvd. off Portola in San Francisco. Proceeds benefit St. Brendan School. Bring the Whole Family! Free admission and parking. (415) 731-2665. Dec. 6, 1 – 4 p.m.: Loyola Guild Christmas
Dec. 5, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.: The California Province of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) invites single men, ages 18 to 45, to a “Come and See” event held at Loyola House Jesuit Residence, University of San Francisco, Lone Mountain Campus, 2600 Turk Blvd., San Francisco. This informal gathering enables men who would like to explore a possible vocation to religious life, serving as a priest or brother, to get to know the Jesuits. Event includes prayer, Mass, vocation stories and other talks from Jesuits (priests, brothers and men in formation), Q&A session, and lunch. Reservations encouraged. Contact Joe Frias, S.J. at jojo4_frias@hotmail.com or him at (310) 621-9674. For more information, contact Br. Jim Siwicki, S.J., Vocation Director, at jsiwicki@ calprov.org or call (408) 884-1613.
TV/Radio Fridays at 9 a.m.: The Archbishop’s Hour on Immaculate Heart Radio, KSFB - 1260 AM, San Francisco. Enjoy news, conversation and in-depth look at local and larger Church. Program is rerun Fridays and Mondays at 9 p.m. - e-mail info@ sfarchdiocese.org with questions about faith and comments. Sunday, 6 a.m., KOFY Channel 20/Cable 13 and KTSF Channel 26/Cable 8: TV Mass with Msgr. Harry Schlitt presiding. Saturday, 4 p.m.: Religious programming in Cantonese over KVTO 1400 AM, co-sponsored by the Chinese Ministry and Chinese Young Adults of the Archdiocese. 1st Sunday, 5 a.m., CBS Channel 5: “Mosaic,” featuring conversations on current Catholic issues. 3rd Sunday, 5:30 a.m., KRON Channel 4: “For Heaven’s Sake,” featuring conversations about Catholic spirituality. KSFB Catholic Radio 1260 AM offers daily Mass, rosary and talk on the faith. Visit www. ihradio.org EWTN Catholic Television: Comcast Channel 229, AT&T Channel 562, Astound Channel 80, San Bruno Cable Channel 143, DISH Satellite Channel 261, Direct TV Channel 370. For programming details, visit www.ewtn.com
Datebook is a free listing for parishes, schools and non-profit groups. Please include event name, time, date, place, address and an information phone number. Listing must reach Catholic San Francisco at least two weeks before the Friday publication date desired. Mail your notice to: Datebook, Catholic San Francisco, One Peter Yorke Way, S.F. 94109, or fax it to (415) 614-5633, e-mail burket@sfarchdiocese.org, or visit www.catholic-sf.org, Contact Us.
PUT YOUR BUSINESS CARD IN THE HANDS Attach Card Here Deadline for January 8th Issue is December 18th
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READERS OF CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO For only $112.00 per month in our business card section now appearing the first Friday of each month. This new section is certainly less expensive than the $65,000 it would cost to print and mail your business cards to all our readers. Only $96.00 per month on a *12-month contract. * Free listing in our Business Directory on our website*
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SERVICE DIRECTORY For Adver tising Information Call 415-614-5642 or visit our website: www.catholic-sf.org Fax: 415-614-5641 E-mail: penaj@sfarchdiocese.org
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For your local & international Catholic news, website listings, advertising information and “Place Classified Ad” Form
Do you want to be more fulfilled in love and work – but find things keep getting in the way?
Roofing
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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
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December 4, 2009
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.
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Maui Condos for Rent
NOVENAS classifieds PUBLISH A NOVENA
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We are looking for full or part time
RNs, LVNs, CNAs, Caregivers In-home care in San Francisco, Marin County, peninsula Nursing care for children in San Francisco schools If you are generous, honest, compassionate, respectful, and want to make a difference, send us your resume: 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.
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Catholic San Francisco
MAUI RENTAL
NEAR WAILEA STEPS TO KAMAOLE BEACH
Catholic San Francisco
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
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.
R.O’L.
Prayer to the Blessed Virgin never known to fail. Most beautiful flower of Mt. Carmel Blessed Mother of the Son of God, assistme in my need. Help me and show me you are my mother. Oh Holy Mary, Mother of God, Queen of Heaven and earth. I humbly beseech you from the bottom of my heart to help me in this need. Oh Mary, conceived without sin. Pray for us (3X). Holy Mary, I place this cause in your hands (3X). Say prayers 3 days. M.O.
Visit www.catholic-sf.org
For website listings, advertising information & Place Classified Ad Form OR Call 415.614.5642, Fax 415.614.5641, Email penaj@sfarchdiocese.org
Vocations Desire Priesthood? Religious Life? Lay Ministries? Superb Sabbatical? Jesuit Retreats? 800-645-5347 – 24/7 gonzaga.edu/ministryinstitute
Certified Geriatric Aide CERTIFIED GERIATRIC HOME AIDE, native San Franciscan, 19 yrs. exp. seeks employment with elderly woman exc. ref. Will work overnight shifts 415-252-8312
Live-In Companion Seeking live-in companion, female, honest, to help with personal care and light housekeeping, in San Francisco. (415) 587-5331
Room for Rent Room in beautiful, modern, open floor plan Mill Valley home w/views. Common areas are living room, dining room & kitchen. Private room with private bathroom. Washer/dryer, street parking. No smoking, no pets. Rent $975/mo. Shared utilities. Call (415) 324-9193
Christmas Faire
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
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December 4, 2009