Archbishop Levada issues Pastoral Letter, ‘Year of the Eucharist’
Catholic san Francisco Northern California’s Weekly Catholic Newspaper
By Jack Smith San Francisco Archbishop William J. Levada has issued a pastoral letter urging the faithful to a “fruitful celebration” of the “Year of the Eucharist” called by Pope John Paul II for 2005. The letter also makes recommendations and suggests resources for the observance of the year in the parishes and institutions of the archdiocese. While every year “is a year of the Eucharist,” Archbishop Levada writes, this occasion offers an “opportunity for all of us to deepen our faith in the Eucharist, to deepen our understanding of its true meaning,” and so to “respond with greater love . . . for such a great gift of love.”
The Archbishop’s reflections and recommendations follow upon the experience of the liturgical year. Starting with Lent, he writes, the gift of Jesus, himself, in the Eucharist “is first of all the gift of redemption and salvation, the gift of his death on the cross ‘for the remission of sins.’” Sin has “alienated us from God and from our true nature and destiny,” he writes. “It is important to understand Jesus’ death and Resurrection in the perspective of this alienation of humanity from its Creator.” Christ “broke the bonds of slavery to sin and rose to a new life” by his obedience to the Father. Referring to the words of the Holy Father, Archbishop Levada writes, when the Church celebrates the Eucharist, “this central event of salvation becomes really present.” In the Easter season “We too are privileged to recognize the risen Christ in ‘the breaking of the bread,’” Archbishop Levada writes. He said that those who drift away from “coming to Sunday Mass are missing the most significant opportunity of life: of encountering the One whom Thomas confessed: ‘My Lord and my God!’” The celebration of the sacraments of initiation (Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist) at Easter time “naturally invites us to reflect on the meaning of these gifts.” The mystagogy (guidance into the mysteries/sacraments) engaged by those entering the Church at Easter time is an experience with value for all Catholics. For that reason, Archbishop Levada proposes “a program of Eucharistic adoration YEAR OF THE EUCHARIST, page 8
(CNS PHOTO COURTESY OF THE FABBRICA DI SAN PIETRO)
See complete Pastoral Letter inside
The baldacchino designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini inside St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome honors the apostle buried below and highlights the artist’s devotion to the Eucharist as the continuing sacrifice of Christ. Statues of St. Veronica and St. Helen look toward the altar.
INSIDE THIS WEEK’S EDITION Interfaith understanding. . . . 3 Dutch euthanasia . . . . . . . . . 7
Joan of Arc premieres at Notre Dame des Victoires News-in-brief
Praying for Terri
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Scripture. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Editorial and letters . . . . . . 10 Commentary. . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Datebook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Lenten movie series . . . . . . 13
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Catholic San Francisco
March 4, 2005
On The Where You Live by Tom Burke Losses great and greater are weighing on the hearts of church musicians and assemblies in the Archdiocese. Jim Bogue, forever the Singing Fireman, is moving to southern Utah – “about 90 minutes from Las Vegas” - with his wife Elaine in a few weeks. The Mission High School grad will be 75 in June and has been singing for some 60 years – 40 of them as song-leader/soloist at the Apostleship of the Sea and for 45 years at St. John the Evangelist Church. “I’ve sung probably 2,000 funerals and hundreds of weddings,” Jimmy told me. His most requested song has been Danny Boy, he said, with the Schubert Ave Maria a close second. “I’ll miss the City and its wonderful people,” Jim said, “ but we’ll be back to visit.” Dick Davis, an organist and choirmaster here for 53 years has retired. Dick is well known for his service at St. Bartholomew, All Souls and St. Anne of the Sunset parishes and as well his accompaniment at funerals and weddings. He put the number of Masses he’s played for at “in the thousands” and said he’s been “grateful for them all.” Retirement will keep him available for freelance engagements and perhaps more frequent trips to Reno from where he said he usually comes home a winner. All hats off at St. Ignatius parish for longtime cantor, Micheline Steacy, who died February 8th at age 53. An accomplished soprano, Micheline was a 10-year member of the San Francisco Symphony Chorus and had a presence in
Mercy Sister Maureen Culleton
Catholic san Francisco Northern California’s Weekly Catholic Newspaper
Official newspaper of the Archdiocese of San Francisco
Most Reverend William J. Levada, publisher Maurice E. Healy, associate publisher & editor Editorial Staff: Jack Smith, assistant editor; Evelyn Zappia, feature editor; Tom Burke, “On the Street” and Datebook; Patrick Joyce, contributing editor/senior writer; Sharon Abercrombie, reporter Advertising: Joseph Pena, director; Mary Podesta, account representative Production: Karessa McCartney, manager; Tiffany Doesken Business Office: Marta Rebagliati, assistant business manager; Sandy Dahl, advertising and promotion services; Judy Morris, circulation and subscriber services Advisory Board: Jeffrey Burns, Ph.D., James Clifford, Fr. Thomas Daly, Joan Frawley Desmond, James Kelly, Deacon William Mitchell, Kevin Starr, Ph.D. Catholic San Francisco editorial offices are located at One Peter Yorke Way, San Francisco, CA 94109. Tel: (415) 614-5640 Circulation: 1-800-563-0008 or (415) 614-5638 News fax: (415) 614-5633 Advertising: (415) 614-5642; Advertising fax: (415) 614-5641 Advertising E-mail: jpena@catholic-sf.org Catholic San Francisco (ISSN 15255298) is published weekly except the Fridays after Thanksgiving, Easter, Christmas and the first Friday in January, twice a month during summer by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Francisco, 1500 Mission Rd., P.O. Box 1577, Colma, CA 94014. Periodical postage paid at South San Francisco, California. Postmaster: Send address changes to Catholic San Francisco, 1500 Mission Rd., P.O. Box 1577, Colma, CA 94014 If there is an error in the mailing label affixed to this newspaper, call 1-800-563-0008. It is helpful to refer to the current mailing label.
It’s “Congrats” and a bit of deja one-and-two at Mater Dolorosa Elementary with the school’s retaking of the win and place positions in this year’s Girls in Science competition at Mercy High School in San Francisco. From left: 7th grader, Maryanne Kenney, Linda Tenerowicz, who placed 2nd; Science teacher, Maureen Zane; Chelsea Camacho, who placed 1st and then-principal, Jeanette Swain.
the local opera scene. Also one to “tread the boards,” Micheline once played middle daughter, Hodel, in a West Coast tour of Fiddler on the Roof enchanting audiences eight times a week with what I’ve always thought is the most beautiful song in the show, “Far from the Home I Love.” She and her husband Patrick had been married for 30 years and are the parents of Micaela, Tony and Michael….Congrats from the Department of Catholic Schools to Mercy Sister Pauline Borghello, principal, St. Gabriel Elementary School and Lisa Harris, principal, Sts. Peter and Paul Elementary School who were nominated by their peers for this year’s national Dr. Robert J. Kealey Distinguished Principal Award. The esteemed educators were honored at a recent meeting of principals, said Marilyn Lynch, associate superintendent of schools. Lisa has been at Sts. Peter and Paul School for 20 years, serving as principal for the past six years. A fourth generation San Franciscan, she is a graduate Mercy High School, San Francisco and recently completed doctoral studies at the University of San Francisco. Sister Pauline has been principal of Saint Gabriel School since 1980. Among her accomplishments are the creation of a special needs program and rallying parents and alumni to the support of the school. Sister Pauline is a member of the No Child Left Behind Private School Advisory Committee and is on the board of Mercy High School, San Francisco…. Don’t miss next week’s fest benefiting Redwood City’s St. Francis Center, a longstanding immigrant family outreach program. “St. Francis Center is a step-up and a great start for newcomers to this country,” said Trudy Cattermole of
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the St. Francis Auxiliary, the group sponsoring the event. It all takes place March 12th at St. Patrick’s Seminary in Menlo Park beginning with seminarian-led tours at 11 a.m. Later, it’s a silent auction and raffle as well as a tasty and March-appropriate corned beef and cabbage lunch. Also lending a hand are auxiliary members including Mary Lou Putnam, Jose Vanos, and Norma Rawlings. Much missed will be center founder Franciscan Sister Monica Asman, now living in retirement in Santa Maria. Tickets are $50 per person. Call (650) 854-1262 or (650) 851-9858. Happy 50th anniversary to Trudy and her husband John who marked the milestone July 31st….Happy Birthday to new centenarian, Mercy Sister Maureen Culleton, who entered her 100th year January 28th. A Fresno native, she entered the Sisters of Mercy in 1933 and for 50 years served as nurse and Nurse Supervisor at her congregation’s St. Mary’s Hospital in San Francisco and other respected facilities. Sister Maureen was not alone in the family with a vocation. Her brothers are late Msgr. James Culleton and late Father Richard Culleton of the Diocese of Monterey….Prayers please for Father Hugh O’Donnell, pastor, Mater Dolorosa Parish in South San Francisco who is now on the mend from recent heart bypass surgery….The email address for Street is now burket@sfarchdiocese.org. As this continues to be but an empty space without you, please jot it down and get those items in here??!! All the rest is the same. Mailed items should be sent to “Street,” One Peter Yorke Way, SF 94109. Pix should be hard copy or electronic jpeg at 300 dpi. You can reach me at (415) 614-5634.
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November ballot likely to include one parental notification initiative By Patrick Joyce With one parental notification initiative likely to appear on the ballot in the fall, the backers of a second measure, which also requires that parents be told their daughter is seeking an abortion, have decided not to seek signatures for their initiative this spring. “We have made a decision to wait,” said Mark Bucher, spokesman for the second parental notification initiative. Going forward “would guarantee defeat if two initiatives were on the ballot. We don’t feel we should be putting ourselves in that position.” Backers of the other measure, the Parents Right To Know and Child Protection Initiative, say they have collected more than 600,000 signatures, more than enough to qualify for the ballot, but they are aiming to gather a total of 900,000. The signature gathering deadline for the measure is April 14. It would probably be on the ballot in the fall during a special election
dealing with Governor Schwarzenegger’s government reform proposals. “Experience has shown that to be on the safe side an initiative should have 50 percent more signatures than the required number,” Albin Rhomberg, spokesman for the measure, said. The extra signatures are often needed to make up for invalid signatures, duplications and other errors, he said. “We are pleased that they will not be seeking signatures,” Rhomberg said when informed of Bucher’s comments. “Now there will be no more unnecessary confusion. There is only one initiative. It’s a good one, and it’s well on the way to qualifying for the ballot. We still need to get a lot more signatures to be safe, and everyone should get on board now.” The Parents Right to Know Initiative requires that at least one parent be notified 48 hours before an abortion is performed on a daughter under 18. The initiative allows for an immediate abortion in a medical
emergency. Minors in California may now undergo abortions without the knowledge or consent of their parents. Backers of the initiative say the number of abortions in California would drop “a minimum of 20,000” in the first year, if the initiative becomes law. The state’s Legislative Analyst says that, based on experience in other states, abortions on minors in California would be cut by up to 25 percent a year. “If this were to get on the ballot and pass and were upheld, it accomplishes parental notification. So it’s not bad.” Bucher said. Some supporters of the second initiative may now support Parents Right To Know, he said, but “a lot of the groups will be taking a hands off approach. . . . Hopefully something good will come of it.”
Bucher believes that the Parents Right To Know initiative is legally flawed because of a provision that prohibits coerced abortions of minors. He cites lawyers who say this violates the rule that initiatives must be on a single subject. Rhomberg, citing other lawyers, says the initiative will withstand any legal challenges. If the initiative loses at the polls or in court, Bucher said his group would “most likely file our initiative in the exact same language” and seek a place on the ballot next year. Ned Dolejsi, executive director of the California Catholic Conference, said the conference “has always conceptually supported” parental notification. “We look forward to reviewing it,” if the Parents Right To Know Initiative does win a place on the ballot.
Interreligious dialogue can build peace, Vatican official says By Jerry Filteau WASHINGTON (CNS) — Interreligious dialogue can contribute to peace in the world, a Vatican official told a gathering at Georgetown University Feb. 28. Archbishop Michael L. Fitzgerald, president of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, described concrete cases in different parts of the world where interreligious dialogue is in fact contributing to peace by calming tensions and promoting new understanding and mutual respect among people of different religions. He related the principles and practices of interreligious dialogue to the four “pillars of peace” outlined in Pope John XXIII’s 1963 encyclical, “Pacem in Terris” (“Peace on Earth”) — truth, justice, love and freedom. To those Archbishop Fitzgerald added a fifth — prayer — saying that when members of different religions are “standing together before God” in prayer it changes the way they view one another. Archbishop Fitzgerald quoted the papal encyclical’s description of what is needed for peace: “Its foundation is truth,
and it must be brought into effect by justice. It needs to be animated and perfected by men’s love for one another and, while preserving freedom intact, it must make for an equilibrium in society which is increasingly more human in character.” “There can be a wrong conception of what is meant by truth,” he said. “One of the obstacles to dialogue is self-sufficiency, which leads to a lack of openness to others. If one party declares that it has the truth and that all others are in error and are therefore not worthy of consideration, no relationship can be possible.” “We, as Christians, must remember that the fullness of truth received in Jesus Christ does not give individual Christians the guarantee that they have grasped the truth fully,” he said. He added later that honest, open dialogue with representatives of other religions can lead Christians to a deeper understanding of their own faith. On the role of justice in building peace, he quoted Pope John Paul II: “Justice will build peace if in practice everyone respects the rights of others and actually fulfills his duties toward them.”
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Through 3 April 2005 Courbet • Delacroix • Ingres • Géricault • Cabanel Millet • Rousseau • Gérôme The Bruyas Collection from the Musée Fabre, Montpellier examines Alfred Bruyas’s (1821-1877) role as one of the foremost collectors of contemporary art in France. The exhibition
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Top: Gustave Courbet, The Meeting or Bonjour, Monsieur Courbet (detail), 1854. Bottom: Henri-Jacques-Edouard Evenepoel, Au Square, 1897.
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March 4, 2005
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Record crowd ‘awakens,’ learns at religious education congress (CNS PHOTO BY TODD PLITT)
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Undaunted by inclement weather, a record 38,577 people gathered at the Anaheim Convention Center for the 37th annual Los Angeles Religious Education Congress. “There’s a new awareness in our church for adult formation,” declared Sister Edith Prendergast, a Religious Sister of Charity and director of the Los Angeles archdiocesan Office of Religious Education, which sponsors the congress, the largest annual event of its kind. “It reflects a hunger in the people for God. Conversions and transformations are occurring at (the) congress, drawing people to deepen their faith life,” she added. Attendees included nearly 15,000 young people who participated in a special youth day aimed at offering teens the guidelines for making smart decisions and living a spiritual life within popular culture.
Rabbi Arthur Schneier, left, president of the Appeal of Conscience Foundation, Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, and Rabbi Yaakov Bleich, chief rabbi of Ukraine, greet each other during a Feb. 28 meeting of Catholic and Jewish leaders. The gathering, called the World Symposium of Cardinals and Rabbis: An Alliance of Hope, was hosted by the World Jewish Congress in New York. Among topics the leaders discussed was how to combat genocide in Sudan.
Thousands prepare to join U.S. Catholic Church
tion — baptism, confirmation and their first Eucharist. Those already baptized in other churches or who were baptized Catholic but not raised in the faith are called candidates. At Easter they receive confirmation and the Eucharist. During the first two weeks of Lent, catechumens and candidates across the country gathered — most often in special diocesan ceremonies led by a bishop — to participate in a Rite of Election, for catechumens, or a Call to Continuing Conversion, for candidates. Those who choose to go through the RCIA program are men and women, young and old.
WASHINGTON — During this year’s Easter Vigil Masses, tens of thousands of people across the country will be welcomed into the Catholic Church. Last year more than 150,000 Americans were baptized as Catholics or joined in full communion with the church during the Easter Vigil. Those who are not yet baptized are called catechumens. At Easter they receive all three sacraments of Christian initia-
(CNS PHOTO FROM REUTERS)
Senators urged to reject renewed threat to conscience protection
Members of Brazil's Federation of Rural Agricultural Workers pay tribute to U.S. Sister Dorothy Stang, a member of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, during a meeting in Brasilia Feb. 28. The 73-year-old nun, an outspoken advocate for Brazilian peasants, was shot several times in the chest and head Feb. 12. Brazilian authorities had arrested three suspects in the murder, but were still looking for the person they believe ordered her killing. The rural workers organization was meeting in Brazil's capital to discuss government agrarian policies.
WASHINGTON — Leaders of three Catholic organizations appealed to members of the Senate last week to resist efforts to strip conscience protection on abortion from a previously passed appropriations bill, even if they support keeping abortion legal. “If you see yourself as ‘pro-choice,’ this is an opportunity to affirm that your commitment to ‘choice’ includes respect for everyone’s choices on abortion,” said a letter to all senators from Msgr. William P. Fay, general secretary of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops; Sister Carol Keehan, a Daughter of Charity who chairs the board of the Catholic Health Association; and Dr. Steven White, president of the Catholic Medical Association. The three were asking senators to oppose moves to rescind the Hyde-Weldon Conscience Protection Amendment, enacted in December. The amendment protects the rights of health providers — individual and institutional — from government discrimination because they decline to provide, pay for, cover or refer for abortions. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., has said she will introduce a motion to rescind the amendment before the end of April.
Pope’s recovery from tracheotomy called ‘completely normal’ VATICAN CITY — Five days after a tracheotomy to relieve breathing problems, Pope John Paul II was able
to say Mass in his hospital room, meet with aides and continue initial sessions of speech therapy. Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who brought the pope some papers to work on, told reporters March 1 that the pontiff had spoken to him in German and Italian. “The pope was able and alert,” said the cardinal, who heads the Vatican’s doctrinal congregation. Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls told reporters that the pope’s recovery at Rome’s Agostino Gemelli Polyclinic was “completely normal.” He called the 84-year-old pope a “good patient” and said he was carrying on with breathing and speech rehabilitation exercises. Medical experts consider a tracheotomy a fairly routine operation, but given the pope’s age and his frail condition the recovery period was expected to be longer than usual. Insertion of a tracheotomy tube can be temporary or permanent. One Vatican source said he expected the tube to be left in to make it easier to deal with potential breathing problems in the future. However, the tracheotomy compromises the pope’s ability to speak.
Church, media must be open to each other, Archbishop says VATICAN CITY — The church must be more open to the media while journalists must become more competent in their coverage of religious issues, U.S. Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory of Atlanta told a Vatican meeting. “The church must work with this significant human institution in ways that serve the church itself as well as the broader human family,” the archbishop said. “The church cannot choose to ignore or fail to employ the services of so powerful an institution of public benefit,” he said Feb. 25 at a symposium sponsored by the Pontifical Council for Social Communications. The symposium brought together speakers from Europe, Russia and the United States to discuss “The Church and the Media: An Unlimited Future.” Archbishop Gregory, who was installed in January as head of the Atlanta Archdiocese, served three years as president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
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obituaries
Father Didacus Ma Father Didacus Ma died February 22, 2005, at Seton Medical Center in Daly City. He was 81 years of age. Father Ma had been a patient at Seton for much of the past four months as a result of debilitating infections following heart surgery last October. His niece, Mary Ma, and her husband, Dr. Joseph Li, had arrived from Shanghai in recent weeks, and had been able to visit with him regularly at the hospital, along with his many friends. Father Ma was raised in Kiangsu, China, and moved to Manila, Philippines, in 1948, where he enrolled in Saint Joseph’s Seminary. He was ordained in Manila on June 8, 1952. He remained in the Philippines for the next 14 years, serving as a missionary in Cagayan; chaplain and assistant principal of the Immaculate-Conception Anglo-Chinese Academy in Manila; chaplain of St. Joseph’s Hospital in Manila; principal of Saint Joseph School in Naga City; and rector of the Filipino-Chinese Catholic Center in Naga City. In 1966, Father Ma came to San Francisco, where he was assigned to All Souls Church in South San Francisco. In 1970, he was appointed parochial vicar at St. Patrick Church in San Francisco. After becoming a priest of the Archdiocese of San
Francisco in1972, he served as a parochial vicar at St. Sebastian Church in Kentfield, St. Raphael Church in San Rafael, St. Bartholomew Church in San Mateo, St. Augustine Church in South San Francisco, and St. Catherine Church in Burlingame. He retired July 1, 1997 and moved to St. Monica Church in San Francisco, where he remained active and in excellent health until last October. Archbishop William J. Levada presided at a funeral Mass Feb. 26 at St. Monica Church. Auxiliary Bishops John C. Wester and Ignatius Wang as well as priests from the Archdiocese concelebrated. Homilist was Father John Greene, pastor of St. Monica’s. Interment is at Holy Cross Cemetery in Colma. Remembrances may be made to the Priests’ Retirement Fund, One Peter Yorke Way, San Francisco 94109.
Sister Mary Anne Wittman, CSC Sister Mary Anne Wittman, a member for 36 years in the Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Family died in San Francisco, February 20. Sister Mary Anne entered the Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Family on September 7, 1968. She ministered several years in the Congregation’s day homes and was a religious educator coordinator for many years throughout California, Nevada and Hawaii. Sister Mary Anne worked for the Archdiocese of San Francisco in several capacities during the 80s and 90s, including as staff for the Archdiocesan Pastoral Planning Commission and Pastoral Center building manager. Following her work at the Archdiocese, Sister Mary Anne studied canon law and served as a Canonist in the Matrimonial Tribunal for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. Sister Mary Anne was born on April 8, 1948 in Portland, Oregon to Stephen and Clara Wittman. She is survived by three Sisters - Sister Patricia Wittman
of the Sisters of the Holy Family, Santa Clara California; Stephanie Storms of Spokane, Washington; and Margaret Mensing of Portland, Oregon, and several nieces. A Memorial Mass was celebrated at the Motherhouse of the Sisters of the Holy Family in Fremont, Feb. 26. Burial was at Holy Cross Cemetery in Colma. Contributions in Sister Mary Anne’s memory may be made to the Sisters of the Holy Family, P.O. Box 3248, Fremont, CA 94539.
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Church hails court ruling on death penalty for juvenile offenders WASHINGTON (CNS) — The Supreme Court’s March 1 ruling overturning the death penalty for crimes committed by juveniles was hailed as validating the position of religious, child advocacy, legal and medical groups that had urged the court to find such executions unconstitutional. In a statement issued the same day the court’s 5-4 decision was announced, Bishop Nicholas A. DiMarzio of Brooklyn, N.Y., chairman of the U.S. bishops’ domestic policy committee, said the bishops’ conference “is very encouraged that the Supreme Court has recognized that executing juvenile offenders is indeed cruel and unusual.” The ruling applies to 19 states that have permitted death sentences for crimes committed by 16- and 17-year-olds. Of those, seven states have no one awaiting execution for crimes committed while juveniles. Previous rulings raised the minimum age for capital punishment to 16. In an amicus, or friend of the court, brief written on behalf of 30 religious organizations, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops argued that the death penalty for juveniles permits a radical legal inconsistency “because in virtually every other area of law a person’s youthfulness is taken into account.”
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March 4, 2005
By Catholic News Service CLEARWATER, Fla. — Facing a new court deadline of March 18 for removal of the feeding tube that keeps Terri Schindler Schiavo alive, the parents of the brain-damaged Florida woman found in the words of a Vatican cardinal new support for their fight against removal of the tube. Cardinal Renato Martino, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, told Vatican Radio Feb. 24 that if Terri Schiavo’s husband, Michael, “is legally able to provoke the death of his wife, this would not only be tragic in itself, but it would be a serious step toward the legal approval of euthanasia in the United States given the weight which court decisions have in the formation of laws in that country.” Michael Schiavo — who remains legally married to Terri Schiavo but now has two children by another woman — says his wife would want the feeding tube removed. Her parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, say their daughter would want to live, in part because of her Catholic beliefs. In the Vatican Radio interview, Cardinal Martino recalled a recent message from Pope John Paul II to the Pontifical Academy for Life, in which the pope reaffirmed “that quality of life cannot be interpreted as economic efficiency, beauty or the enjoyment of physical life, but it consists in the supreme dignity of the creature made in the image and likeness of God.”
“No one can be arbitrary about it except for God himself,” the cardinal added. Pinellas County Circuit Court Judge George W. Greer ruled Feb. 25 that Michael Schiavo could order doctors to remove the feeding tube March 18. In January, the U.S. Supreme Court refused without comment to review a lower court decision overturning the Florida law that allowed Gov. Jeb Bush to order reinsertion of the woman’s feeding tube when it was removed for six days in 2003. Terri Schiavo, 41, has been impaired for the past 15 years. She can breathe on her own but requires nutrition and hydration through a feeding tube. A resident of a nursing home in Pinellas Park, she has been receiving food and water through a feeding tube since 1990, when she collapsed at her home in St. Petersburg because of what doctors believe was a potassium imbalance. Her brain was deprived of oxygen for several minutes. The Catholic Medical Association, citing a talk last year by Pope John Paul, said in a statement that the withdrawal of food and water from Terri Schiavo “constitutes euthanasia, a gravely immoral act” and “represents a violation of her constitutionally protected right to life and a violation of her religious freedom as a Catholic.” “Please join us in prayer on behalf of Terri, her family and our country, that by the grace of almighty God some interven-
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A Cathlic family gathers to pray the rosary outside the hospice house in Florida where Terri Schiavo lives.
tion will save her life and save us from the inevitable consequences if she were euthanized,” the statement added. The Florida Catholic Conference, representing the state’s Catholic bishops, summarized many of its earlier statements on the Schiavo case Feb. 15. They said Catholic teaching has a “presumption in favor” of providing nutrition and hydration, but “when the burdens exceed the benefits of providing them, they may be withdrawn or withheld. We note that what is too burdensome for one person may not be too burdensome for another.” The bishops also expressed regret at the continuing “confusion as to Terri Schiavo’s actual condition and prospects for her treat-
ment” and at the fact that she “left no written instructions as to who should make such decisions in her absence (a health care surrogate), or what criteria ought to be used to make such determinations.” They also reiterated their opposition to euthanasia. “While withdrawal of Terri Schiavo’s nutrition and hydration will lead to her death, if this is being done because its provision would be too burdensome for her, it could be acceptable,” they said. “If it is being done to intentionally cause her death, this would be wrong.” Contributing to this story was Cindy Wooden in Rome.
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Expansion of euthanasia in Netherlands leads to ‘right to live’ decisions By Patrick Joyce In the Netherlands, the death slide began in 1971, when Dr. Geertruida Postma killed her deaf and partly paralyzed mother with a lethal injection. Two years later Dr. Postma was convicted of mercy killing. Her punishment: a oneweek suspended sentence. Over the next three decades, that case became the pattern in the Netherlands: euthanasia was illegal but tolerated. Doctors could kill willing patients without fear of punishment. In a few cases, doctors who went too far for Dutch sensitivities were convicted but not punished. In 2001, the Dutch Parliament tore down that fragile legal façade. It enacted a law legalizing euthanasia. Under the law, the patient must ask to be killed and must face a future of “unbearable suffering” but need not be either near death or in great pain. Doctors can, with the approval of parents, kill children as young as 12 if the child fits those criteria. Beginning at 16, children can be killed without parental approval. When the law went into effect in 2002, opponents of euthanasia said that the Netherlands had reached the bottom of the slippery slope. It hadn’t. Last December doctors at a Dutch hospital revealed that they have been killing not only willing adults but “terminally ill” newborn babies — four in 2003. The hospital revealed the deaths as it proposed guidelines for future killings, not only of terminally ill but of severely handicapped babies. The news surprised many, but not the Justice Ministry. Doctors had reported killing the babies and at least 14 others in the three previous years. Following the precedent set with adult “mercy killings” in the past, prosecutors took no action. The killings of babies by their doctors added to the intensity of a new Dutch debate: whether doctors should be legally empowered to kill not only patients who ask to die but also babies, the mentally retarded, comatose patients and others “with no free will.” The outcome of the debate is uncertain but the advocates of euthanasia have reason to be optimistic. Dutch public opinion polls indicate more than 80 percent approval of euthanasia. Euthanasia has been socially acceptable in the Netherlands for decades, so much so that in 1987, while the practice was still illegal, the national pharmacists association provided doctors with a list of drugs to use when killing their patients. The Dutch process is so efficient that some states in the United States execute murderers using the method pioneered by a Dutch doctor who kills patients with lethal injections. In 1991, the reasons for allowing euthanasia were widened to cover not only the ill but the healthy who wish
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to die. A 50-year-old woman, disconsolate because of the deaths of her two sons, asked a doctor to help her die. He did, giving her a lethal prescription of drugs. The doctor was prosecuted but acquitted. Ten years later, the door to death was opened for people who were simply “tired of life.” A man suffering from incontinence, dizziness and immobility asked his doctor to help him die. The doctor did. He was brought to trial and convicted but given no punishment. “The reason he was found guilty was because he did not act for medical reasons, but rather because the patient was tired of life,” a court official said. But the court did not sentence him because he acted out of compassion for his patient. In 1993 the Dutch Parliament passed a law that, while not authorizing doctors to kill their patients, guaranteed them freedom from prosecution if they followed a detailed government checklist in the process: the patient must be lucid and suffering unbearable pain and must repeatedly ask to be killed. Doctors could still be prosecuted if they killed comatose patients, babies and others who did not ask to be killed. In 1995, one of those exceptions became meaningless after a court refused to punish a doctor who had used a lethal injection to kill a baby born with a partly formed brain and spina bifida. The court found the doctor guilty of murder but said his action was justifiable. A 1997 study of euthanasia in the Netherlands indicated that babies were not the only unwilling victims of euthanasia. In 1995, doctors killed 2,844 people who had not asked to die, out of a total of 6,368 euthanasia deaths, the study reported. “In too many cases,” a researcher said, “it’s the physician who decides.” “The care of terminally ill people in the Netherlands is worse than what we provide, and it’s worse because they have euthanasia,” said the article’s lead author, Dr. Herbert Hendin of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. The study appeared in the Journal of the American Medical Association. In 2001, the Dutch parliament’s approval of the euthanasia law was widely condemned in Germany. For Germans, it stirred memories of the Nazi euthanasia campaign of 1939 to 1941. In this prelude to the Holocaust, doctors declared 100,000 people with physical or mental handicaps unfit to live. Nazis then killed them, mostly by gassing. “The government thugs who went into institutions for the handicapped to select who was unworthy for life were very careful not to broadcast their intentions,” Die Welt, a German daily, said in comparing the Nazi killings with the 2001 Dutch law. “At some level, the old scruples linked to
the commandment against killing were present. The scandal in The Hague is that Parliament has imposed a state norm in place of the freedom to uphold such scruples.” Dr. Stephan Sahm, a German cancer doctor, described many euthanasia deaths in the Netherlands as “life-ending actions without explicit request” and said, “The process has gained its own dynamics and logic, which is nothing short of merciless. Where continuing to live is only one of two legal options, everyone who burdens others with his or her continued existence is held accountable.” Peter Huurman, a leading Dutch opponent of euthanasia, takes a similar view. “If a person is dying in this country,” he said “he or she often feels some pressure to consider assisted death from the attitude of doctors and nurses. That is one reason I oppose the law. The other is religious: life is sacred.” In 1987, Fred Borgman, a Christian Democratic member of parliament who opposed euthanasia, looked into the future and saw what would happen. He didn’t like it. “There is no place in the world where they are talking about euthanasia like we are,” he said. “It is crazy. When you cross that frontier, where do you stop? Now it is only people who ask for it, but what about comatose patients? You start here, but what about 10 years from now?” This is the third of a three-part series on assisted suicide.
End of life care workshop at St. Mary’s St. Mary’s Hospital in San Francisco will hold an evening of information and discussion called “Implementing the Healthcare Decisions Law” March 10 from 1 – 3 p.m. “Hospitals receiving any federal funding including Medicare and Medi-Cal are required to offer training in this area to staff and the public,” said Mercy Sister Mary Kilgariff, St. Mary’s Liaison for Community Health. “We have expanded it to this kind of forum because there are so many questions people have about their rights and their care.” Sessions include an opening presentation by Sister Kilgariff followed by a question and answer period. Connie Borden, coordinator of palliative or end of life care at St. Mary’s; Father Edward Murray, a chaplain at St. Mary’s as well as pastor of St. Teresa Parish on Potrero Hill; Mercy Sister Terese Perry, an attorney with Catholic Healthcare West; and a physician will answer the queries. The sessions will take place in Morrissey Hall, 2200 Hayes St. in San Francisco. For more information, call (415) 750-5683.
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Catholic San Francisco
March 4, 2005
Waves of spirituality seen in Europe’s secular ocean By Peter Ford The Christian Science Monitor PARIS - “God is back among intellectuals,” says Aleksander Smolar, a leading European thinker who teaches at the Sorbonne in Paris. “You can feel there is a problem of soul in Europe; people are conscious of a void and there is a certain crisis of secularism.” Seeking to fill that void, several dozen faithful Catholics gathered one recent Tuesday evening, as they do each week, to pray in the freshly painted basement of the St. Denys church in northern Paris. One after another, standing in a circle, they gave thanks aloud to God: one woman was grateful that an argument with her son had not gotten out of hand; another prayed for continued strength to keep looking for a job; a third, in tears, thanked the Lord “for helping me put up with all the humiliation I suffer.” And then they all sang a simple hymn. Some swayed; some held their palms outstretched; others closed their eyes. For the past nine years, the parish of St. Denys has been run by a priest from the “New Path Community,” a charismatic Catholic movement that has borrowed much from the American Pentecostal tradition. While the pews in traditional Catholic churches have emptied, the New Path and similar communities have blossomed, attracting thousands of believers to prayer groups and Sunday masses across Europe. They are drawn, says parish priest Louis-Marc Thomy, “by the charisma of a community life. They say they feel unity and peace with us. And they find joy in rediscovering faith in a joyous manner.” On the face of it, religion has continued to suffer setbacks in Europe recently. Just last year, the French government reinforced its secular approach by banning Muslim head scarves and other religious symbols from schools. Catholic teaching on such questions as abortion, contraception, divorce, and homosexuality, meanwhile, is honored more in the breach than in the observance. That would seem to continue a secularist trend visible in Europe for several decades. That trend is offset, however, by a growing awareness that European secularism is an aberration in a world where religion is largely on the rise. The prominent role that religion continues to play in American public life, meanwhile, has undermined the widespread European view that modern societies inevitably grow more secular, and that religion is an attribute of underdevelopment. “A preoccupation with spirituality is much more present
Year of the Eucharist. . . ■ Continued from cover and catechesis . . . as a focal point for our celebration of the ‘Year of the Eucharist.’” As such, the Office of worship has prepared a collection of resources for use by parishes and institutions. Pentecost, the “birthday” of the Church, is a time for the Church to reflect on the mission and gifts it has received and its holiness and identity as the Body of Christ. Chief among the gifts and central to the Church’s mission and identity is the Eucharist. The Eucharist is “an expression of communion in the Church’s life,” and also the means by which “the Church becomes ever more aware of her role as ‘sacrament’ (sign and instrument) of the unity of the whole human race,” Archbishop Levada writes. The Mass also has an “apostolic” character, sending “us out on ‘mission’ into the world to imitate Christ.” Archbishop Levada follows with a reflection on “Sunday: Day of the Lord,” in which he notes that adherence to the
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now at a religious and philosophical level” than it was a few years ago, says Dominique Moisi, a French political analyst. In Britain, the country’s largest bookseller has noticed that preoccupation, and has expanded the shelf space it devotes to religious and spiritual books. Lucy Avery, a spokeswoman for the Waterstone’s chain, said sales of such books rose by nearly four percent last year. Titles such as the Dalai Lama’s “The Art of Happiness” and a modernlanguage “Street Bible” have become bestsellers, she said. In France, leading philosopher Régis Debray, once a comrade in arms of Che Guevara in the Bolivian mountains, has devoted two of his most recent books to explorations of God and religion. Le Monde, the French establishment’s newspaper of record, this year launched a glossy bimonthly “World of Religion.” “The need for meaning affects the secularized and deideologized West most of all,” wrote Frédéric Lenoir, the editor of the new magazine, in his first editorial. “Ultramodern individuals mistrust religious institutions ... and they no longer believe in the radiant tomorrow promised by science and politics; they are still confronted, though, by the big questions about origins, suffering, and death.” Rocco Buttiglione, a confidant of the pope who was denied a bid to join the European Commission last year because of his staunch Catholic views on social issues, has a ready answer to such questions. “For a long time they told us that science and math would give us the identity we need,” he says. “Both failed. Now when Europeans ask themselves ‘Who are we?’ they don’t have an answer. I suggest we are Christians.” That opinion is not widely shared. Critics point to the millions of immigrant Muslim Europeans living in France, Germany, Britain, and Spain, not to mention Europe’s indigenous Muslims in the Balkans. Nor are there many signs of a resurgence of organized religion on a continent where church attendance has been plummeting almost everywhere in recent decades. Yet 74 percent of Europeans say they believe in a God, a spirit, or a life force, according to the latest findings of the European Values Study, a 30-year, Continentwide survey. And youth workers in Britain are finding “consistent evidence ... that a secular generation is being replaced by a generation much more interested in spiritual issues,” says Stuart Murray-Williams, a theologian at Oxford University who recently published a book entitled “After Christendom.” A wide array of religious groups has sprung up across Europe to meet that generation’s needs, most notably Buddhist communities. “I’ve noticed a steady increase in interest,” says Suvannavira, a Russian-born, British-educated monk who runs the Western “solemn obligation” of assisting at Mass on Sunday is “sadly disappearing from the practice of many Catholics.” He proposes a return to understanding the Sunday obligation as proceeding from the commandment for Sabbath rest; as a day for the celebration of creation; and as a day for the celebration of the new creation in “the Resurrection of the Lord, the One who overcame death, the certain fate of all creation.” Archbishop Levada writes that he wishes to communicate better and to encourage parishes, schools and all Catholics to communicate better the importance of Mass. “We don’t go to Mass for entertainment, or even intellectual stimulation; we go to Mass to meet Jesus, our Savior and the Lord of the universe. We go because he has made us an invitation on which our life – our eternal life – depends!”
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Buddhist Order’s Paris outpost in a cramped storefront meditation center. “Our order has doubled in size since 1990.” “The discourse has changed,” Dr. Murray-Williams says. “Ten or 15 years ago, any mention of spiritual experiences would have drawn blank looks. Today people are hungry to talk about them.” Murray-Williams says it’s too soon to say what all this portends. “There is a kind of inchoate spirituality that could be significant, or it could be a passing trend,” he says. “It will be a while before we know whether or not it is strong enough to challenge the culture of secularism.” That culture is showing signs of wear, argues Jacques Delors, who once bemoaned Europe’s lack of “soul” when he was president of the European Commission. “I fear that the construction of Europe is sinking into absolute materialism,” he worries. “Things aren’t going well for society, so society is little by little going to start asking itself what life is for, what death is, and what happens afterwards.” Some European politicians are picking up on that message. One with a particularly keen nose for the way the political wind is blowing is Nicolas Sarkozy, head of Jacques Chirac’s conservative ruling party in France and a leading contender to be the country’s next president. “Politicians should not talk only about the economy, about social affairs, about the environment or security. We should also tackle spiritual questions,” he said in a series of interviews published last November as a book, which has already sold 65,000 copies. “Religion’s place in France at the beginning of the third millennium is central.” Suggesting that the state should subsidize churches and mosques - a radical break from the country’s 100-year-old secular tradition - Mr. Sarkozy insists that he will “continue to argue for a new relationship between religions and the public authorities.” Sarkozy’s novel approach, says Mr. Moisi, is based on “a sense that while for some, religion is the problem, it can also be part of the solution. He is bringing a kind of oxygen to the debate.” Mr. Buttiglione is bringing his own oxygen into that debate, devoting his time now to setting up a think tank and a popular movement to promote his beliefs. Traveling around most of Europe, he says, he has found “enormous interest” in his campaign “for a Christian presence in European politics.” Though the Catholic church lost that battle, it can take some consolation from Article 52 of the proposed Constitution, concerning the European Union’s relationship with churches. “Recognizing their identity and their specific contribution,” the article reads, “the Union shall maintain an open, transparent, and regular dialogue with these churches and organizations.”
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March 4, 2005
Catholic San Francisco
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A Pastoral Letter for the “Year of the Eucharist” Most Reverend William J. Levada Archbishop of San Francisco Pope John Paul II introduced his Apostolic Letter Mane nobiscum Domine [October 7, 2004] with the words of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus that first Easter Sunday: “Stay with us, Lord, for it is almost evening” (cf. Lk 24:29). In this Letter the Holy Father offers a wide-ranging reflection on his reasons for proclaiming this year the “Year of the Eucharist.” It is true that every year is a year that the Church, and each one of her members, lives by eating the “Bread of life” in Holy Communion, by celebrating the memorial of the Sacrifice of Christ on the cross, by assembling around the altar table set for us by the Risen Christ, just as he set the table of the Last Supper for his first apostles and commanded them, “Do this in remembrance of me.” Every year is a year of the Eucharist. Moreover, every Sunday is the Lord’s Day, when the People of God enter into the Sabbath rest of the God of creation to offer Him our praise, our thanks, and our adoration. Our Sunday celebration is not only rest from the toil of earthly labor; it is also a “re-creation” - a renewal to give us strength, energy and desire for our pilgrim journey to be co-workers with the “new Adam,” Christ, in his mission to prepare the “new heavens and the new earth” that are the final purpose of that litany of the first creation, “And God said, let there be ... and God saw that it was good” (cf. Gen. 1). “To you, dear brother bishops, I commend this year, confident that you will welcome my invitation with full apostolic zeal.” Since reading this invitation of the Holy Father, I have prayed and reflected much on how we might profitably observe the “Year of the Eucharist” here in the Archdiocese of San Francisco. I look upon this year as a time of opportunity. It is an opportunity for all of us to deepen our faith in the Eucharist, to deepen our understanding of its true meaning. It is an
opportunity to respond with greater love of God our Father and his Son Jesus Christ for such a great gift of love. It is an opportunity - both individually and as a community of disciples - to build up the Church in unity and love, to increase our desire and zeal for the spread of the Gospel, to open our hearts to the transforming power of Christ’s love and so reach out in love to serve the needs of our brothers and sisters. In short, it is an opportunity to live more fully a Eucharistic spirituality! In responding to the Pope’s invitation, it occurred to me that I do not need to write a lengthy Pastoral Letter reviewing the many important doctrines of Church teaching on the Eucharist. Such magisterial teaching is already available to us in the wonderful teachings of the Second Vatican Council’s “Constitution on the Divine Liturgy” (Sacrosanctum Concilium), whose 40th anniversary we have just marked with great gratitude; in the concise but fresh summary of Church teaching on the Liturgy and the Eucharist presented in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (Part Two: The Celebration of the Christian Mystery); and most recently in the Encyclical Letter of Pope John Paul II Ecclesia de Eucharistia [2003]. This Latin title contains the first words of the Letter, whose opening sentence in English says, “The Church draws her life from the Eucharist.” [The above referenced documents and many others can be read online at http://www.usccb.org/liturgy/documents.shtml.] Rather it is my intention in this Pastoral Letter to offer reflections on the Eucharist that may help our local church to achieve a fruitful celebration of this year, and to make some recommendations - and to provide resources to implement them for the observance of the year in our parishes and institutions. It is my genuine hope that such a celebration may assist us to achieve the above-mentioned goals, and to enrich our understanding and practice of a Eucharistic spirituality and life.
I. LENT: THE EUCHARIST AND THE CROSS OF CHRIST From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer greatly from the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised. ... Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me” (Mt. 16:21,24). Every year during Lent the Church sets out anew on her pilgrim journey with Christ to Jerusalem, there to remember the events of his passion, death and Resurrection, and to participate sacramentally in this “memorial” (anamnesis) in the liturgies of the Paschal Triduum. On Holy Thursday, the forty days of Lent open onto the central events of Christ’s life and mission: his death “for the sake of our salvation,” and his Resurrection - his victory over sin and death. Linked to these events of Good Friday and Easter is the liturgical celebration of the Lord’s Supper: “on the night before he died,” Jesus prepared the Passover meal for his disciples, and there he instituted the Eucharist and the Priesthood. Every year the Church gathers with her Lord in the Upper Room to celebrate this Eucharist again, as he himself commanded, “Do this in memory of me.” We celebrate the gift he made of himself, when he took bread and gave it to his disciples: “Take this, all of you, and eat it: this is my body which will be given up for you.” Then he took a cup of wine, gave thanks to God, and gave it to his disciples: “Take this, all of you, and drink from it: this is the cup of my blood, the blood of the new and everlasting covenant. It will be shed for you and for all so that sins may be forgiven.” In the intention of Jesus, this gift of himself in the Eucharist is first of all the gift of redemption and salvation,
the gift of his death on the cross “for the remission of sins.” Every Mass, every celebration of the Eucharist, is the “memorial” and making-present in sacramental signs of the sacrificial death of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Since the original sin of Adam and Eve, “the Scriptures had foretold this divine plan of salvation through the putting to death of ‘the righteous one, my Servant’ as a mystery of universal redemption, that is, as the ransom that would free men from the slavery of sin” (CCC 601). St. Peter’s first speech on Pentecost alludes to this divine plan: “Jesus the Nazorean was a man commended to you by God with mighty deeds, wonders, and signs, which God worked through him in your midst, as you yourselves know. This man, delivered up by the set plan and foreknowledge of God, you killed, using lawless men to crucify him. But God raised him up, releasing him from the throes of death...” (Acts 2:22-4). And St. Paul, citing a confession of faith that he himself had “received,” wrote to the Corinthians that “Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures” (I Cor. 15:3). Living in a world like ours, it is easy enough to become blasé about sin. We are surrounded by examples, and sometimes we too make them our own. But God’s plan began with our creation “in the divine image” (Gen I :27);
we were created to be holy, like God, sharing in his divine life. Only when we remember this can we recall the disaster that sin has entailed. It has alienated us from God and from our true nature and destiny. The Gospel for Wednesday of the fifth week of Lent uses a dialogue between Jesus and group of Jews “who had believed in him,” but who - like us at times - just “didn’t get it.” Jesus said, “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” They answered him, “We are descendants of Abraham and have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean by saying, ‘You will be made free’?” Jesus answered them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not have a permanent place in the household; the son has a place there forever. So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:31-6). It is important to understand Jesus’ death and Resurrection in the perspective of this alienation of humanity from its Creator - and from its own true nature - to recall why our redemption had to be “intrinsic,” not an external pat on the back, but an internal, radical conversion that
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would open our minds and hearts to be made over in the “divine image,”in the very holiness of God. This is what the Son of God did. By his obedience to the will of his Father “even to death, death on a cross” (Phil 2:8), he broke the bonds of slavery to sin and rose to a new life, thereby opening up a path for us to follow. This is the first and in many ways the most important meaning of the Eucharist: as Pope John Paul expresses it in his Encyclical
(no. 11), “The Eucharist is indelibly marked by the event of the Lord’s passion and death, of which it is not only a reminder but the sacramental re-presentation. It is the sacrifice of the cross perpetuated down the ages.” He goes on to remind us, “When the Church celebrates the Eucharist, the memorial of her Lord’s death and resurrection, this central event of salvation becomes really present and the work of our redemption is carried out. This sacrifice is so decisive for the
salvation of the human race that Jesus Christ offered it and returned to the Father only after he had left us a means of sharing in it as if we had been present there at the cross with Mary and the disciple whom he loved. What a great display of God’s mercy we have in the Eucharist! As the Pope asks, “What more could Jesus have done for us? Truly, in the Eucharist, he shows us a love which goes “to the end” (cf. John 13:1), a love which knows no measure.”
II. EASTER: THE EUCHARIST AND THE RISEN CHRIST Let us proclaim the mystery of faith: Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again! There is a certain tentative character to the Easter experience of the disciples, as reported in the Gospels. In Matthew’s Gospel, the women to whom the angel announces the resurrection are described as “fearful yet overjoyed” (Mt 28:8). And when the Eleven saw the risen Lord at the appointed rendezvous in Galilee, the Gospel says, “When they saw him, they worshiped, but they doubted” (28:17). In the Gospel of Mark, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome at the tomb are described as “utterly amazed”; they “fled from the tomb, seized with trembling and bewilderment. They said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid” (Mk 16:5,8). Moreover, Jesus rebuked his apostles “for their unbelief and hardness of heart” (16:14). In John’s Gospel, when Peter and John ran to the tomb on receiving Mary Magdalene’s report that Jesus’ body was missing, we read that “they did not yet understand the scripture that he had to rise from the dead” (John 20:9). The tearful Mary mistook Jesus for the gardener (20:15). The apostle Thomas vehemently protested that he would not believe unless he could see and touch Jesus’ risen body for himself (20:25). Only after Jesus’ suggestion about where to fish had yielded an abundant catch did John turn to Peter on the boat and opine, “It is the Lord” (21 :7). After eating the breakfast he had prepared for them on the shore, the Gospel says “none of the disciples dared to ask him, ‘Who are you?’ because they realized it was the Lord” (21 :12). In Luke’s Gospel, the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, deep in thought and conversation about the events of the past several days, had the risen Lord as their walking companion “but their eyes were prevented from recognizing him” (Lk 24:16). Even though, as they later said, their “hearts were burning within us as he opened the scriptures to us,” they did not recognize him as he, “beginning with Moses and all the prophets, interpreted to them what referred to him in all the scriptures” (24:27). Even though they were prevented from recognizing him, they did not want to lose him. So they invited him, they “urged” him, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening and the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them (24:29). And we are told that while Jesus “was with them at table, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it
to them. With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him ... in the breaking of the bread” (24:30-1,35). We too are privileged to recognize the risen Christ in “the breaking of the bread,” the Eucharist. Should we be surprised if at times we experience the fear and doubt of the first disciples about the “Mystery of faith”? Like Thomas in the Upper Room, and the disciples on the road to Emmaus, it is in the Eucharist that we are able to recognize and believe in the risen Christ present with us. It is Jesus, risen from the tomb, who is really present in every Eucharist! There are several possible conclusions to make from this brief look at first encounters of the risen Christ with his disciples. First, the Eucharist is the privileged place for our encounter with the risen Lord; we too can receive the gift of recognizing and knowing him “in the breaking of the bread.” It follows, then, that people who “drift” away from coming to Sunday Mass are missing the most significant opportunity of life: of encountering the One whom Thomas confessed: “My Lord and my God!” It has always impressed me how often those who convert to the Catholic faith experience the Eucharist as that which draws them. Should we not try to find ways to bring our friends and relatives who have “dropped out,” as some put it, back to where they may again discover how to recognize the Lord “in the breaking of the bread?” Second, the resurrection of Christ is the “interpretive key” to the Scriptures. Until they could reflect on his victory over death and sin, the disciples were prevented from “recognizing” how Jesus was the focal point of God’s plan of salvation history. The “table of the word” is an integral part of every Eucharist. The word of God finds its true interpretation in the Church’s liturgy, in the Eucharist par excellence. And the word of God, rightly understood, shows how the plan of God has unfolded in Christ “according to the Scriptures.” Jesus himself, in the liturgy of the Church, walks with us and “opens the Scriptures to us” (Lk 24:32). Third, as Pope St. Leo the Great said, “what was visible in our Savior has passed over into his mysteries,” his sacraments - especially the Eucharist. The celebration of the Easter sacraments - the sacraments of Christian initiation (Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist) - naturally invites us to reflect on the meaning of these gifts, especially throughout the Easter season. The challenge of “mystagogy,” (“guidance into the mysteries/sacraments”) with which a genera-
tion of catechists in RCIA and catechumenate programs has been grappling, is a challenge for the whole Church, not just for neophytes. The Easter season should be the time of mystagogy for the whole People of God. For this reason, I am proposing a program of Eucharistic adoration and catechesis as “mystagogical” experience for all of us this coming Easter season. It will serve, I hope, as a focal point for our celebration of the “Year of the Eucharist,” as we deepen our understanding of the beauty and richness of the gift of the Eucharist, and give thanks and praise to our gracious God for it. [The Archdiocese of San Francisco’s Office of Worship has prepared a separate binder to provide parishes with the resources for this program.] “Stay with us, Lord,” said the disciples on the road to Emmaus. How perfectly this invitation complements the great grace of the Incarnation, in which the eternal Son of God took flesh of the Virgin Mary, and gave himself to be “with us” - one of us - as Emmanuel, which means “God is with us.” The disciples were anxious; they were fearful of losing Jesus. They could not fathom how they could still have him “with them” when he said “Now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father” (John 16:28). “Stay with us, Lord” we hear them plead - and they found that he would indeed remain with them when “he was made known to them in the breaking of the bread” (Lk 24:35).
III. PENTECOST AND ORDINARY TIME: THE EUCHARIST AND THE CHURCH O Sacred Banquet, wherein Christ is received, The memory of his passion is renewed, The mind is filled with grace, and The pledge of future glory is given to us. O Sacrum Convivium by St. Thomas Aquinas (d. 1274) Pentecost is often referred to as the “birthday” of the Church. On this day the promised Holy Spirit was poured out upon the first Apostles gathered in the Upper Room in Jerusalem, and through their witness begun that day “the Church was made manifest to the world.” As the Catechism says, “the gift of the Spirit ushers in a new era - the age of the Church” (CCC 1076). The mission of Christ and the Holy Spirit is brought to completion in the Church, which is the Body of Christ and the Temple of the Holy Spirit.
Again, in the words of the Catechism, the Holy Spirit “makes present the mystery of Christ, supremely in the Eucharist, in order to reconcile [people], to bring them into communion with God, that they may ‘bear much fruit’ (Jn 15:8)” (CCC 737). At Mass the celebrant prays “Grant that we who are nourished by his body and blood may be filled with his Holy Spirit, and become one body, one spirit in Christ.” The Spirit is ever active in the Church, filling her with his
gifts. The Eucharist is “supreme” among these gifts. Through the Eucharist, the Holy Spirit builds the unity of the Church: our communion is first of all with God, and then with one another in Christ’s one body. And the Spirit guides the apostolicity of the Church, ensuring through the gift of Holy Orders that the Eucharist continues to effect what it promises: God’s gift of holiness and grace, the redemptive love of Christ, the unity of God’s people, fidelity to God’s word, and the pledge of eternal life.
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“The Church draws her life from the Eucharist,” the Pope says at the beginning of his Encyclical. The communion that the Eucharist makes a reality affects the Church externally and internally. Externally, the Eucharist draws the faithful together around the table of the Lord, just as Jesus did his first disciples, in a sign of unity with him and with one another. Internally in the Eucharist, especially in Holy Communion, Jesus gives us himself, his own body and blood, to eat; he makes us one with him, and therefore with the Holy Trinity. Both the external and the internal reality of communion show that the Church is principally a work of God’s grace. The fact that it is also a sociological reality, an “institution,” is witness to the incarnational reality of Christ, who became man. In the Church, and in her prayer - especially the Eucharist Christ takes this created reality and offers it to his Father in
a continual liturgy of adoration, praise and thanksgiving as Head of the Church. Christ is the invisible celebrant of every Eucharist! But the Eucharist goes beyond the expression of communion in the Church’s life. As Pope John Paul says in his Apostolic Letter, “it is also a project of solidarity for all of humanity” (no. 27). This means that in the Eucharist, the Church becomes ever more aware of her role as “sacrament” (sign and instrument) of the unity of the whole human race. The members of the Church who participate in the Eucharist must learn to become “promoters of communion, peace and solidarity” in every situation. This is the other aspect of the “apostolic” character of the Mass. It “sends” us out on “mission” into the world to imitate Christ, who not only said “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all” (Mk 9:35), but
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also gave the supreme example at the Last Supper by bending down to wash the feet of his disciples. There is so much to reflect upon, and to act upon, as we contemplate the face of Christ really present with us in the Eucharist. It is just such reflection that our Holy Father urges upon us when he says to us bishops and priests, “Pastors should be committed to that ‘mystagogical’ catechesis so dear to the Fathers of the Church by which the faithful are helped to understand the meaning of the liturgy’s words and actions, to pass from its signs to the mystery which they contain and to enter into that mystery in every aspect of their lives” (Apostolic Letter, no. 17). In this way the “Ordinary Time” of our daily lives becomes quite extraordinary in placing us in communion with our God, in unity with our fellow disciples, and in solidarity with the spiritual and material needs of all the human family.
IV. SUNDAY: DAY OF THE LORD, DAY OF THE EUCHARIST We all gather on the day of the sun, For it is the first day when God, Separating matter from darkness, Made the world; and on this same day Jesus Christ our Savior rose from the dead. – St. Justin Martyr (d. 165). [quoted in CCC no. 1274] “Remember to keep holy the Lord’s Day.” In these words centuries of Catholics and other Christians have recognized the solemn (third) commandment of God to worship God on Sunday by going to Church - for Catholics, by going to Church for the celebration of Mass, the Eucharist. This solemn obligation has never disappeared from the teaching of the Church. But it is sadly disappearing from the practice of many Catholics. Last year I read that for the first time in over 40 years of nationwide Gallup polls on the question of going to Church on Sunday, more Protestants responded that they had gone to Church the previous Sunday than did Catholics. This frankly astonished me. As a priest ordained 44 years this year, and a bishop ordained 22 years this year, I have certainly noted the emptier pews in many of our churches on Sunday. But the demographic shifts in San Francisco (and not only here) over the years has perhaps masked for me a more
serious problem about Catholics’ understanding of – indeed faith in - the Eucharist. This surely poses a challenge for all of us. With my brother bishops and priests, I have done my best to implement the many and wonderful new insights into the liturgy that have been opened up for clergy and laity by the Second Vatican Council, and the post-conciliar liturgical renewal. This is not a time for criticism, but for reflection and assessment. And it cannot be done only at clergy meetings; it must involve our people, especially through the work of our pastoral councils of lay representatives at the diocesan and parish level. As Archbishop of San Francisco, I will say that it is my responsibility to invite my brother bishops and priests, our deacons, catechists, religious educators and high school religion instructors - and indeed our parents - to make this assessment with me. With that premise I would also like to offer a few orientations for such an assessment of “keeping the Lord’s Day holy.”
i. Sabbath rest: the celebration of creation From the Old Testament perspective, the commandment of God is about the Sabbath, which takes its symbolic origin in the “work” of creation described in the first chapter of the Book of Genesis, with which the divinely revealed Scripture opens. “God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work he had done in creation” (Gen 2:3). Of course the literalist among us might think that, after the enormous output of creative activity of those six days, God might well be tired and in need of rest. But the real meaning of
the Sabbath rest in the religious terms of the Bible is anticipated at the end of each of the “days”: “God looked at everything he had made, and he found it to be very good” (Gen 1 :31). The purpose of the Sabbath rest is contemplative, a time to rejoice in the goodness of being, and in the goodness of the love of God who willed to create it. It is the weekly day of gratitude for such wonders of creation and of love. Today more than ever the world needs this contemplative view of creation, of the world in which we live. Although I am
too old for such endeavors, I am always interested in the motivations of the many people today who are vegans, “greens”, new agers, etc., who invest themselves in political, health and spiritual movements to be in harmony with nature. They all seem to find in our patron saint Francis of Assisi a guide: his Canticle with its familiarity for brother sun, sister moon, mother earth shows him to be kindred spirit. Perhaps it is not too much of a stretch to say, the Sabbath observance is the original “green” thing to do!
ii. Sunday: the celebration of the new creation The change of day for this celebration from the seventh day (Shabbat) to the first day of the week is not accidental. It was theological in purpose; it also seems to have been spontaneous. No doubt the first Christians, devout Jews, continued to go to synagogue every Sabbath. But they also had to celebrate something else: the Resurrection of the Lord, the One who overcame death, the certain fate of all creation. The Resurrection on Easter Sunday made Sunday the day for celebrating the new creation and the new life made possible through the risen Christ. “The day of Christ’s Resurrection is both the first day of the week, the memorial of the first day of creation, and the “eighth day,” on which Christ after his “rest” in the tomb
on the great Sabbath inaugurates the “day that the Lord has made,” the “day that knows no evening” [from the Byzantine liturgy] (CCC no. 1166). Every Sunday is thus a “little Easter” that celebrates the great victory over death of the risen Christ; on Sunday the whole community of the faithful encounters the risen Lord, who invites us to his Eucharistic banquet. St. Athanasius called Easter the “Great Sunday.” St. Augustine in turn called Sunday “the sacrament of Easter”! In his rich meditation on Sunday (1998 Apostolic Letter “Dies Domini” - the “Day of the Lord”), the Holy Father provides this beautiful reflection on the notion of Sunday as the “eighth day,” mentioned above:
Sunday is not only the first day, it is also “the eighth day,” set within the sevenfold succession of days in a unique and transcendent position which evokes not only the beginning of time but also its end in “the age to come.” St. Basil explains that Sunday symbolizes that truly singular day which will follow the present time, the day without end which will know neither evening nor morning, the imperishable age which will never grow old; Sunday is the ceaseless foretelling of life without end which renews the hope of Christians and encourages them on their way. In celebrating Sunday, both the “first” and the “eighth” day, the Christian is led towards the goal of eternal life (no. 26).
iii. Celebrating Sunday today The observance of Sunday, in particular participation in the Sunday Eucharist, may seem to be “counter-cultural” to some, too great a burden to others, one option among many to yet others, etc. But it is not an option, according to the law of God. I have opened a few doors into
the rich thinking of Christian tradition that underlines the importance of every disciple of Christ to encounter his or her Lord in the Sunday Eucharist. It is the Lord’s “school” of our discipleship, par excellence. The Church’s law has not ignored our obligation in
regard to Sunday Mass, but it is important to recognize that this law is simply a reflection of the direct command of God. In the Old Testament, he commanded, “Keep holy the Lord’s Day” and in the New Testament he commanded, “Do this in memory of me.” This is why canon law
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instructs that, “unless impeded by a grave cause, all of the faithful are bound to participate in the Sunday Mass.” Certainly we recognize that “grave cause” does exist for not a few people, especially the sick or those who have to care for them. Some people have to work at the only time Mass may be offered; others are impeded by travel arrangements that don’t admit of a suitable alternative. But realistically we can recognize the real culprit: too many other “options.” Oh, I know some will say, “But Mass is boring,” or “I don’t like Fr. X’s
or Deacon Y’s homilies.” But such reactions, real as they may be, beg the question. We don’t go to Mass for entertainment, or even intellectual stimulation; we go to Mass to meet Jesus, our Savior and the Lord of the universe. We go because he has made us an invitation on which our life - our eternal life - depends! I will be the first to admit that we need to do a better job communicating the importance of the Mass to people. That can begin in a significant way in this “Year of the Eucharist.” I sincerely hope that the “mystagogical catechesis” planned
for this Easter season in our parishes and schools will be a good start. But we need to give each other the good example of our commitment as well. And we need to reach out to relatives, friends and neighbors, to help them learn what our faith makes so clear to us: there is nothing more important in the whole week than Sunday Mass. I am not a great fan of slogans. But if I wanted to push a slogan for the “Year of the Eucharist,” I would try this: EVERY CATHOLIC IN CHURCH ON SUNDAY!
V. ADORATION OF THE BLESSED SACRAMENT Adoro te devote, latens Deitas, Quae sub his figuris, vere latitas: Tibi se cor meum totum subiicit, Quia te contemplans, totum deficit. – St. Thomas Aquinas In more than six of its documents, the Second Vatican Council called the Eucharistic liturgy “the summit and source of the life of the Church.” This insight has truly been taken to heart by the Church, and it has been made visible in the liturgies of so many parishes throughout our Church, and throughout our Archdiocese. The Council moreover called for the active participation of the faithful in the liturgical rites. This too has borne fruit in so many ways, notwithstanding the number of Catholics who have sadly forsaken the practice of Sunday Mass. Still, the work of liturgical renewal cannot be said to be finished. In many areas we are always in need of new insights, ready to meet new challenges. I think of issues like liturgical music, hospitality and welcome of strangers and new parishioners, multi-cultural awareness, and the importance of reverence and silence at our Eucharistic celebrations in order to allow for the interplay between the prayer of our lips and the prayer of our hearts. Another example: pastoral planning work in the Archdiocese has placed the need for better homilies at Mass at the top of the list of liturgical challenges for at least the past decade. I know I can speak for my brother bishops and priests in renewing our common commitment to do everything within our abilities to continue our ministry as leaders of worship in our churches. May this work continue to bear fruit in opening to our people the manifold gifts of holiness of life received by those who encounter our Lord in the sacraments. The Eucharist offers a remarkable twofold dimension of this encounter with the risen Christ, as we are invited to
God-head here in hiding, whom I do adore Masked by these bare shadows, Shape and nothing more, See Lord, at they service, low lies here a heart Lost, all lost in wonder, at the God Thou art. – translation by Gerard Manley Hopkins, S.J.
receive the very Lord of life himself at Mass in Holy Communion, and to contemplate his real presence as an abiding gift to his Church in our Eucharistic adoration outside of Mass. The real presence of Christ in the tabernacle of our Churches is an extension of his love, yet another
instance of his response to the desire of every Christian heart, echoing the plea of the disciples on the road to Emmaus: “Stay with us, Lord!” So our Holy Father has indicated that “the presence of Jesus in the tabernacle must be a kind of magnetic pole attracting an ever greater number of souls enamored of him, ready to wait patiently to hear his voice and, as it were, to sense the beating of his heart. O taste and see that the Lord is good!” (Ps 34:8). [Apostolic Letter, no. 18] Many parishes in the Archdiocese have times of Eucharistic Adoration, concluded by Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. I encourage every parish to provide this devotion, at least once a month, perhaps on the first Friday. I have recommended the above-mentioned “mystagogical catechesis” on the Eucharist for the Easter season in the context of an hour of Eucharistic Adoration in order to provide a model for such devotions; listening to catechetical instruction on the Eucharist in the context of adoration of the Blessed Sacrament seems to me a uniquely appropriate means of fostering a richer understanding of and devotion to the Eucharist in our local church. In his own encouragement of such devotions, Pope John Paul’s Apostolic Letter “Mane nobiscum Domine” proposes that we “take the time to kneel before Jesus present in the Eucharist in order to make reparation by our faith and love for the acts of carelessness and neglect and even the insults which our Savior must endure in many parts of the world. Let us deepen through adoration our personal and communal contemplation, drawing upon aids to prayer inspired by the word of God and the experience of so many mystics, old and new” (no. 18).
V. CONCLUSION: EUCHARIST AS THANKSGIVING O Sacrament most holy, O Sacrament divine, All praise and all thanksgiving Be every moment Thine. At the beginning of this Pastoral Letter I offered the hope that the “Year of the Eucharist” might be an opportunity for us to “live more fully a Eucharistic spirituality.” Perhaps some of these reflections, and the invitation to a Eucharist mystagogy during the Easter season, will enrich such a spirituality. I want to conclude these reflections by going back to the root sense of the word Eucharist - thanksgiving - and how it can truly be for every one of us the heart of a Eucharistic spirituality. Our Holy Father wrote that “in Jesus, in his sacrifice, in his unconditional yes to the will of the Father, is contained the yes, the thank you and the amen of all humanity.” Perhaps our living such an “amen” will help form just a little bit more a society where giving thanks will bring people to a greater awareness of the God who is Creator and Father of us all. When we bring this
Eucharistic “plan” into our daily lives, it will have an effect. And its effect cannot but be for the good! We can find many ways to express our thanks to God. But beyond every human effort is the way God himself has given us – in the Eucharist we have the great privilege of uniting our gratitude to the thanksgiving offered by Jesus himself in his body, the church throughout the world. At every Mass the bread and wine placed on the altar as the “work of human hands” represent us, our work and our lives as well. At every Mass these gifts are transformed into the body and blood of Christ. When we receive them in Holy Communion, we are transformed into the Christ whom we receive. For this we must truly give thanks! A few weeks ago my eye was caught by the prayer concluding one of the Psalms in the Office of Readings (Saturday of Week IV). It seems now a good way to sum up the reflections offered in this Pastoral Letter:
Father, because Jesus, your servant became obedient even unto death, his sacrifice was greater than all the holocausts of old. Accept the sacrifice of praise we offer you through Him, and may we show the effects of it in our lives by striving to do your will until our whole life becomes adoration in spirit and truth. Amen.
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FOURTH SUNDAY IN LENT
RESPONSORIAL PSALM (PS 23: 1-3A, 3B-4, 5, 6) R. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want. The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. In verdant pastures he gives me repose; beside restful waters he leads me; he refreshes my soul. R. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want. He guides me in right paths for his name’s sake. Even though I walk in the dark valley I fear no evil; for you are at my side With your rod and your staff that give me courage. R. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want. You spread the table before me in the sight of my foes; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. R. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want. Only goodness and kindness follow me all the days of my life; and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord for years to come. R. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want. A READING FROM THE LETTER OF SAINT PAUL TO THE EPHESIANS (EPH 5:8-14) Brothers and sisters: You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light, for light produces every kind of goodness and righteousness and truth. Try to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the fruitless works of darkness; rather expose them, for it is shameful even to mention the things done by them in secret; but everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for everything that becomes visible is light. Therefore, it says: “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.” A READING FROM THE HOLY GOSPEL ACCORDING TO JOHN (JN 9:1-41 OR 9:1, 6-9, 13-17, 34-38) As Jesus passed by he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “Neither he nor his parents sinned; it is so that the
works of God might be made visible through him. We have to do the works of the one who sent me while it is day. Night is coming when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” When he had said this, he spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva, and smeared the clay on his eyes, and said to him, “Go wash in the Pool of Siloam”—which means Sent—. So he went and washed, and came back able to see. His neighbors and those who had seen him earlier as a beggar said, “Isn’t this the one who used to sit and beg?” Some said, “It is,” but others said, “No, he just looks like him.” He said, “I am.” So they said to him, “How were your eyes opened?” He replied, “The man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and told me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ So I went there and washed and was able to see.” And they said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I don’t know.” They brought the one who was once blind to the Pharisees. Now Jesus had made clay and opened his eyes on a sabbath. So then the Pharisees also asked him how he was able to see. He said to them, “He put clay on my eyes, and I washed, and now I can see.” So some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, because he does not keep the sabbath.” But others said, “How can a sinful man do such signs?” And there was a division among them. So they said to the blind man again, “What do you have to say about him, since he opened your eyes?” He said, “He is a prophet.” Now the Jews did not believe that he had been blind and gained his sight until they summoned the parents of the one who had gained his sight. They asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How does he now see?” His parents answered and said, “We know that this is our son and that he was born blind. We do not know how he sees now, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him, he is of age; he can speak for himself.” His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone acknowledged him as the Christ, he would be expelled from the synagogue. For this reason his parents said, “He is of age; question him.” So a second time they called the man who had been blind and said to him, “Give God the praise! We know that this man is a sinner.” He replied, “If he is a sinner, I do not know. One thing I do know is that I was blind and now I see.” So they said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” He answered them, “I told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples, too?” They ridiculed him and said, “You are that man’s disciple; we are disciples of Moses! We know that God spoke to Moses, but we do not know where this one is from.” The man answered and said to them, “This is what is so amazing, that you do not know where he is from, yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if one is devout and does his will, he listens to him. It is unheard of that anyone ever opened the eyes of a person born blind. If this man were not from God, he would not be able to do anything.” They answered and said to him, “You were born totally in sin, and are you trying to teach us?” Then they threw him out. When Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, he found him and said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” He answered and said, “Who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, the one speaking with you is he.” He said, “I do believe, Lord, “ and he worshiped him. Then Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment, so that those who do not see might see, and those who do see might become blind.” Some of the Pharisees who were with him heard this and said to him, “Surely we are not also blind, are we?” Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you are saying, ‘We see,’ so your sin remains.”
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Scripture
1 Samuel 16:1b, 6-7, 10-13a; Psalm 23:1-3a, 3b-4, 5, 6; Ephesians 5:8-14; John 9:1-41 or 9:1, 6-9, 13-17, 34-38 A READING FROM THE FIRST BOOK OF SAMUEL (1 SAM 16:1B, 6-7, 10-13A) The Lord said to Samuel: “Fill your horn with oil, and be on your way. I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem, for I have chosen my king from among his sons.” As Jesse and his sons came to the sacrifice, Samuel looked at Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed is here before him.” But the Lord said to Samuel: “Do not judge from his appearance or from his lofty stature, because I have rejected him. Not as man sees does God see, because man sees the appearance but the Lord looks into the heart.” In the same way Jesse presented seven sons before Samuel, but Samuel said to Jesse, “The Lord has not chosen any one of these.” Then Samuel asked Jesse, “Are these all the sons you have?” Jesse replied, “There is still the youngest, who is tending the sheep.” Samuel said to Jesse, “Send for him; we will not begin the sacrificial banquet until he arrives here.” Jesse sent and had the young man brought to them. He was ruddy, a youth handsome to behold and making a splendid appearance. The Lord said, “There— anoint him, for this is the one!” Then Samuel, with the horn of oil in hand, anointed David in the presence of his brothers; and from that day on, the spirit of the Lord rushed upon David.
Catholic San Francisco
GLENN NAGUIT
Looking along the Light of Christ In order to really know and see a person, we sometimes need to get into that person’s experience of life. And when we have done just that, we begin to see things as that person sees them. More importantly, we begin to know the person in a more intimate way. This is the invitation offered to us in the Gospel story of the man born blind - an invitation to catch a glimpse of the Light of Christ in an intimate way by getting inside that Light, by entering into an experience of Christ. This reminds me of C.S. Lewis’ words in his Meditation in a Toolshed. Lewis describes standing in a dark toolshed one day, and through a crack at the top of the door, he could see a sunbeam. As he looked at the sunbeam, he could see bits of dust floating in it, but everything else was dark. Then Lewis walked into the beam so that the light fell directly on his eyes and he was able to look along that light. “Instantly the whole previous picture vanished,” Lewis writes. “I saw no toolshed, and (above all) no beam. Instead I saw framed in the irregular cranny at the top of the door, green leaves moving on the branches of a tree outside and beyond, ninety-odd million miles away, the sun.” There is a great deal of difference between “looking at” and “looking along” something. “Looking at” the beam, all he could see was that shaft of light; but when he “looked along” the light, he could see outside the dark toolshed and onto the source of that light. A scientist merely “looking at” the experience of a young man in love from the outside, Lewis said, might notice merely the biological and chemical reactions in his body. But getting into the young man’s experience of being in love, we would know how that young man’s world looks differently whenever he sees his beloved and how “her voice reminds him of something he has been trying to remember all his life.” “Looking at” love is very different from “looking along” from entering into - that love. The man cured of blindness in the Gospel has entered into an experience of Jesus. He experiences interrogation from the religious authorities, accusation, abandonment from those close to him, and lastly rejection, as Jesus did. The short drama of the cured man
encapsulates the larger drama of the earthly life of Jesus. And only after undergoing these trials and being thrown out was the man able to see who Jesus really is. Our calling is to go where the cured man has gone by getting into that Light - by experiencing something of what Christ experienced. Although no experience of ours can ever perfectly reflect the full meaning and depth of what happened to Jesus, ours can reflect a glimmer. When we hang onto our faith and convictions in a society and culture which sometimes see them as irrelevant, when we continue to show the love that Christ has for others in the midst of their rejection, or when we suffer abandonment from those on whom we count for support, then we have entered into an experience of Christ and have caught a glimpse of the Light. It is an experience of entering into Christ’s total gift of Himself. This calling is not an easy one and so we must turn to God for help. This is what our liturgies partly mean for us. We receive help and grace when we enter into our Eucharistic celebrations as well as our celebration of the Triduum - the “Three Days” of Good Friday, Holy Thursday, and the Easter Vigil - when we recall Christ’s saving work and the experience of His passion, death, and resurrection: Christ’s loving self-gift. Also our celebrations point us forward into the future when Christ returns - when finally we will behold the fullness of the Light of Christ. By entering into Christ’s experience, we “look along” that beam of Light and we see “not as man sees” but as God does, to use the words of the reading from the Book of Samuel. And whom do we see? After the man cured of blindness had been thrown out by the Pharisees, experiencing the fate that will also befall Jesus, he met Jesus a second time and asked him who the Son of Man is so that he may believe. Jesus said to him in reply: “You have seen him.” Glenn Naguit is a transitional deacon studying at St. Patrick’s Seminary in Menlo Park. He will be ordained to the priesthood for the Diocese of Oakland this spring.
Chirst Healing the Blind – El Greco, 1570.
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Catholic San Francisco
March 4, 2005
Catholic san Francisco Northern California’s Weekly Catholic Newspaper
The Lord’s Day From the introduction to “Dies Domini” – a 1998 Apostolic Letter by Pope John Paul II. 1. The Lord’s Day — as Sunday was called from Apostolic times — has always been accorded special attention in the history of the Church because of its close connection with the very core of the Christian mystery. In fact, in the weekly reckoning of time Sunday recalls the day of Christ’s Resurrection. It is Easter which returns week by week, celebrating Christ’s victory over sin and death, the fulfillment in him of the first creation and the dawn of “the new creation” (cf. 2 Cor 5:17). It is the day which recalls in grateful adoration the world’s first day and looks forward in active hope to “the last day,” when Christ will come in glory (cf. Acts 1:11; 1 Th 4:13-17) and all things will be made new (cf. Rev 21:5). Rightly, then, the Psalmist’s cry is applied to Sunday: “This is the day which the Lord has made: let us rejoice and be glad in it” (Ps 118:24). This invitation to joy, which the Easter liturgy makes its own, reflects the astonishment which came over the women who, having seen the crucifixion of Christ, found the tomb empty when they went there “very early on the first day after the Sabbath” (Mk 16:2). It is an invitation to relive in some way the experience of the two disciples of Emmaus, who felt their hearts “burn within them” as the Risen One walked with them on the road, explaining the Scriptures and revealing himself in “the breaking of the bread” (cf. Lk 24:32,35). And it echoes the joy — at first uncertain and then overwhelming — which the Apostles experienced on the evening of that same day, when they were visited by the Risen Jesus and received the gift of his peace and of his Spirit (cf. Jn 20:19-23). 2. The Resurrection of Jesus is the fundamental event upon which Christian faith rests (cf. 1 Cor 15:14). It is an astonishing reality, fully grasped in the light of faith, yet historically attested to by those who were privileged to see the Risen Lord. It is a wondrous event which is not only absolutely unique in human history, but which lies at the very heart of the mystery of time. In fact, “all time belongs to [Christ] and all the ages”, as the evocative liturgy of the Easter Vigil recalls in preparing the Paschal Candle. Therefore, in commemorating the day of Christ’s Resurrection not just once a year but every Sunday, the Church seeks to indicate to every generation the true fulcrum of history, to which the mystery of the world’s origin and its final destiny leads. It is right, therefore, to claim, in the words of a fourth century homily, that “the Lord’s Day” is “the lord of days.” Those who have received the grace of faith in the Risen Lord cannot fail to grasp the significance of this day of the week with the same deep emotion which led Saint Jerome to say: “Sunday is the day of the Resurrection, it is the day of Christians, it is our day.” For Christians, Sunday is “the fundamental feastday,” established not only to mark the succession of time but to reveal time’s deeper meaning. 3. The fundamental importance of Sunday has been recognized through two thousand years of history and was emphatically restated by the Second Vatican Council: “Every seven days, the Church celebrates the Easter mystery. This is a tradition going back to the Apostles, taking its origin from the actual day of Christ’s Resurrection — a day thus appropriately designated ‘the Lord’s Day.” Paul VI emphasized this importance once more when he approved the new General Roman Calendar and the Universal Norms which regulate the ordering of the Liturgical Year. The coming of the Third Millennium, which calls believers to reflect upon the course of history in the light of Christ, also invites them to rediscover with new intensity the meaning of Sunday: its “mystery”, its celebration, its significance for Christian and human life. Sunday is a day which is at the very heart of the Christian life. From the beginning of my Pontificate, I have not ceased to repeat: “Do not be afraid! Open, open wide the doors to Christ!” In the same way, today I would strongly urge everyone to rediscover Sunday: Do not be afraid to give your time to Christ! Yes, let us open our time to Christ, that he may cast light upon it and give it direction. He is the One who knows the secret of time and the secret of eternity, and he gives us “his day” as an ever new gift of his love. The rediscovery of this day is a grace which we must implore, not only so that we may live the demands of faith to the full, but also so that we may respond concretely to the deepest human yearnings. Time given to Christ is never time lost, but is rather time gained, so that our relationships and indeed our whole life may become more profoundly human.
Fr. Len is right What a joy to again hear the thoughtful, compassionate, logical voice of Fr. Leonard Calegari (Letters – Feb. 25). I have been blessed to have been a parishioner at St. Peter, Pacifica during the 23-year pastorship of Fr. Len. All these qualities, along with a great sense of humor, were evident during the time he spent with us. His love of his parishioners was apparent in his ministry to us. I agree with Fr. Len in his comments about the review of the movie “Million Dollar Baby” and also believe that “the mercy of God covers a multitude of sins.” My prayer is that Fr. Len, while now retired, will continue for a long time to come to share with us his love and compassion. It is important for us to hear his voice. Brian A.Kelly Pacifica
Thanks for McElroy Thank you for printing Msgr. Robert McElroy’s article on Prudence and Eucharistic Sanction (CSF – Feb. 18). He expresses better than anyone else has how difficult it is for voters to make a decision, particularly when their religion seems to be endorsing a candidate against abortion even though that candidate seems to be against all the social teachings of the Church. I wish that Church officials would realize that politics is the art of the possible, not the art of the perfect, so that Catholics who want to be good citizens and vote have to make a decision based on which candidate comes closest to supporting all their beliefs, not only their belief that abortion is wrong. Costanza Foran San Francisco
Church under bushel
L E T T E R S
Msgr. McElroy’s conclusions about the possible fallout of imposing sanctions on those who openly support abortion while claiming to be Catholics in good standing are probably true. I would add that imposing sanctions might cause increased anti-Catholic persecution. Having said that I think there is a whole dimension of the problem that Father missed. If we want to stop the dissension in the Church, our priests and bishops must start to do something that they have by and large not been doing – Teach the truth, the whole truth. I apologize to those holy priests whom we all know are doing such a good job. But I’m sure they would agree that it is not so much that our priests have been teaching heresy (although some do), but that they omit the majority of the Church’s moral teaching. Most of our catechetical
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instruction is watered down to such an extent as to contain virtually no doctrine outside of the fact that Jesus loves us and we are part of a community and we should all feel really good about ourselves. Our priests are frightened to teach boldly. Who wouldn’t be? If they do they will make parishioners very upset. It is so much easier to continue ignoring the difficult truths so that everyone feels comfortable. But what has this approach gotten us so far? It has given us a Church full of illiterate Catholics who don’t know what grace is, what sin is, how wonderfully they are made and how much joy they can experience by living according to the laws they have never learned. We have a tremendous problem when large numbers of the Church that Jesus established not only don’t have a problem with unborn babies being killed but who actually defend and protect that practice. This will not change until the Church which is the light of the world is taken out from under its own bushel basket. People are hurting and hungry for meaning and truth in their lives. Our Church has teachings which meet the deepest longings of men’s hearts. Let them out and then the Holy Spirit can work on turning hearts of stone into hearts of flesh again. Until we start dealing with these core issues nothing, including sanctions, will bring us back together again. Anne Emery Belmont
Prudence and action
Just where does the Roman Catholic Church in America stand on abortion? Cadinal William Keeler’s letter to the United States’ Senate (CSF – Feb 18) seems clear enough: “There is no doubt that the Catholic Church stands out for its commitment to the right to life from conception to natural death.” But turn the page and read Msgr. Robert McElroy’s caution against meaningful action affirming Cardinal Keeler’s words. His article unleashes “the charioteer of virtues,” Prudence, a breaker on the virtue of action in support of the Cardinal’s decisive spoken truth. The article counsels Catholics that it is imprudent to recognize that Catholics who promote the brutal killing of innocent human babies have separated themselves from communion with the Church. But prudence must not be a stalking horse for the anti-virtues of hypocrisy, public scandal and cowardice. Is it not hypocrisy and scandal for the unrepentant extinguishers of innocent human life to stand at the table in mocking false communion with the Giver of Life? Prudence does not require the Church to accept silently, without contradicting action, the great hypocrisy and public scandal of “pro-abortion Catholics.” But beyond this, a few Catholic clergy and religious, including, alas, some members of the hierarchy, publicly welcome and sometimes even faun over powerful public figures who are leaders in the army of death. Great Catholic institutions of learning and charity make special places for and give high honors to the promoters and facilitators of abortion. Without action, action to contradict so many actions by pro-abortion Catholics, Catholic leaders, and by great American Catholic institutions, it cannot be said that there is no doubt about the Catholic Church’s stand on abortion. Edmond Francis McGill San Rafael
March 4, 2005
Catholic San Francisco
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Spirituality
Toxic thinking A recent column of mine titled “How to Be Your Own Best Friend,” received a lot of positive response. The essential point was this: To be your own best friend, you must first disidentify with your own thoughts. You have to be clear on this: You are not your thoughts; rather, you are the observer of your thoughts. This means that you have control over what you allow to come and go in your thinking process. More than that, it means you are responsible for your own happiness. Every human being has the power to choose a happy mind-set. To wallow in the swamp of toxic thinking is to suffer needless anxiety. Jesus said, “Be not anxious.” Everything that enters your stream of consciousness is not from God. Too many good people live in a prison of self-imposed mental anguish, allowing themselves to feel they are doomed by the past. Nonsense! God is pure mercy and forgiveness. No matter what happened in your life, his love never changes. You are under his blessed shelter, and he is always there to minister to you. The human mind is like a living room. Some of your thoughts are like rats and mice that sneak in and take over, soiling your new rug. Get rid of those unwel-
come rodents; exterminate them. Do not identify with your troubling thoughts. If you can’t do this by yourself, call on Jesus, the great exterminator of evil thoughts. Wallowing in hurtful memories only intensifies and perpetuates a bad habit. Don’t let the past drag you down. Break free from all this emotional pain through prayer and will power. Live in the present moment, not in your own head. The brain only has room for one set of thoughts at a time. You can replace poisonous thinking with good thoughts in the here-and-now. Smell the roses, feel the consolation of warm water on your hands, go for a walk, breath in the fresh air. Remember, whenever you look at a beautiful sunset, it is God’s way of telling you how much he loves you. Thoughts of suicide, remorse over some terrible failure or feelings of fear and suspicion can bring with them an overwhelming sense of insecurity. These can all be washed away in the pure waters of God’s love. Put yourself in his loving presence more, and trust in his mercy when you feel under attack. Bad habits are hard to break, but don’t be discouraged. There is always grace. All will be well once you
begin to believe that you are solely responsible for your thoughts and actions. Blame no one else for your present state. If you have suffered a great reversal or humiliation, do not Father blame your parents, John Catoir your superiors, your upbringing or your environment. Realize that you made your own choices. Face up to the truth, and make those tough decisions with courage. Pray with confidence: “Dear Holy Spirit, soul of my soul, protect me and comfort me in this present moment. Cleanse me of my toxic thoughts, and give me peace.” Everyone can adopt a happier frame of mind. Jesus said, “I have told you all these things that your joy may be full”(Jn 15:11). Father John Catoir writes a spirituality column for Catholic News Service.
Family Life
When rituals replace reality By Cyril Jones-Kellett Our son turned 6 recently. My wife invited a few neighborhood friends and some cousins over. She served cake, had a pinata and let the kids play. This doesn’t sound like an act of defiance but, increasingly, this type of thing is. Many kids’ birthday parties have become major events, and there is pressure on parents to keep up. When I was a kid we loved the church festival, in part because they had one of those inflatable jump houses. Nowadays many kids don’t think they’re at a party unless someone rents a jump house. Parents hire entertainers, rent pizza places, import petting zoos - anything to let the kid know that their birthday is absolutely the most important event going on anywhere on earth this particular day. There are other areas in contemporary life in which there seems to be a creeping surfeit of rituals. There was a time when the prom was just a very nice dance; now it is not really a prom unless someone rents a super-stretch limo. Hotel suites are involved. Unbelievable sums are spent. And we used to graduate from high school and college. Now there are elaborate graduation ceremonies from pre-school, kindergarten, grade school, middle school and any other stage of learning we can manage to muddle through. Weddings - don’t even get me started on weddings. Good God, people bankrupt themselves for the perfect flower arrangement.
Of course, part of the reason we do these things is that we can. Our society has become rich beyond the dreams of any society in history. To be middleclass in America today is to live in luxury once reserved for emperors. Many people spend more on their annual cable bill than a Bangladeshi family might earn in a year. But this is only part of the problem; the other reason we invest so much in the ever-grander celebration of life’s rituals is that we feel we have to. If our lives are to have meaning, then these moments of passage must be invested with almost magical power to confer that meaning. We bankrupt the family to pay for the ridiculously expensive wedding because we have invested the wedding with meaning beyond all reason. A bride who has a magnificent wedding is, somehow, transformed into the princess she cannot be in the rest of her life. The child who has an elaborate birthday party is not just a child; he or she is, for a day, the center of creation. The kids who go off to prom in the super-stretch limo are not just gangly teens; they are special teens living through the great dream of American adolescence - “The greatest years of their lives!” No doubt the coming decades will see innovations in the celebration of these rituals that we cannot yet imagine. A child’s birthday will not be complete unless it is held on a rocket and shot around the moon. The wedding will not be a success unless a new island is built in the middle of the ocean just for this day. The prom won’t be the prom unless the super-stretch limo is surrounded by police, who will escort it quickly through every traffic light as we poor souls who are no longer living the dream of American adolescence look on in envy.
Sadly, our lives will not be made fuller by any of this; our rituals will only get more grandly empty. This is not the fault of ritual, per se. Life can be ennobled by ritual. True ritual is a means to touch what is deeper in our lives. Baptism, for example, is a rather plain, even sparse ritual - all it takes is a little water but when we know what is underneath the actions of this ritual, we find they expresses an incomprehensible beauty. Life that is dubious about its own meaning, however, cannot be made fuller by ritual; it can only be given the veneer of fullness. It seems to me that this is what we are doing when we inflate what should be the little rituals of everyday life, turning them into festivities that would make the Roman Empire blush. We are trying to find meaning through ritual, instead of letting rituals express a meaning that is deeper than ourselves. It has always amused me when proudly secular people make fun of religious rituals and then go off to their New Years Eve extravaganzas and their Super Bowl parties and their elaborate Valentine’s Day trysts. You can’t get away from ritual; it is part of our nature. But when a birthday party turns into a circus, when a wedding rivals the splendor of the Academy Awards - ritual has replaced real life and become an ever more demanding tyrant. And, no matter how big the jump house, the emptiness remains unfilled. Cyril Jones-Kellett is editor of The Southern Cross, newspaper of the Diocese of San Diego.
Personal Perspective
On prudence and politicans One can agree with Msgr. Robert W. McElroy’s assertion in “Personal Perspective: Prudence and Eucharistic Sanctions” (Catholic San Francisco - Feb. 18) that the Church in the United States would be well served if its bishops could achieve consensus before the next election cycle on the critically important question of whether Catholic public officials who dissent from Catholic doctrine on abortion should be eligible to receive the Eucharist. Commentaries published last fall by Archbishops John Myers and Charles Chaput, argued with authority that Catholic politicians who openly and consistently dissent from the crystal-clear teaching of the Church are, as Archbishop Myers wrote, “not objectively in communion with Christ and His Church.” Msgr. McElroy fears an escalation of reasons to bar politicians from the Eucharist might include, in addition to support for abortion, their promotion of euthanasia, cloning, or support for same-sex marriage. Is that illogical? He also worries about the “image of the Church in the public square” if bishops declare Catholic politicians who
dissent repeatedly and actively from Catholic doctrine ineligible to receive Holy Communion. Imagine the nerve of the Church in contradicting what passes for conventional wisdom in the public square in America today. To spare the Church a bad repute in the public square, Msgr. McElroy suggests practice of the virtue of prudence. That is a prudence that is not always easily distinguished, one might infer, from indifference to true doctrine or to timidity. He also suggests four unintended consequences that would flow from a unified position by Catholic bishops, which would declare politicians who dissent from Catholic teaching as, in fact, having removed themselves from full communion with the Church. They are: 1. Americans might perceive the Church as coercive. The Church indeed is coercive when acting as Mater et Magistra, as in denying Holy Communion to those Catholics who find themselves in illicit marital arrangements. The coercive element is nothing more than the Church teaching, guiding, and disciplining those who are its members by free choice.
2. Identification of abortion as a “sectarian Catholic issue.” This ignores the shared position with Catholics of orthodox Jews and Latter Day Saints, indeed all those who find in Scripture or in Gordon M. natural law philosophy Seely, Ph.D a prohibition against the taking of innocent life. 3. A narrowing of the Church’s social agenda. Certainly there exists a hierarchy of moral values. None is more fundamental than the right to life. Americans have enshrined that God-given right in our founding Declaration of Independence. Issues of war and peace, care of the poor, capital punishment, or even of the environment are ambiguous in Catholic teaching. Teaching about “the culture of death” is not. Because all PERSONAL PERSPECTIVE, page 14
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Catholic San Francisco
Lenten Opportunities Sundays: Concerts at St. Mary’s Cathedral, Gough and Geary St., SF at 3:30 p.m. Call (415) 567-2020 ext. 213. Open to the public. Admission free. March 6: Mauro Correa, guitar. March 13: Irena Chribkova, organist visiting from Prague. Sundays: Concerts at 4 p. m. at National Shrine of St. Francis of Assisi, Vallejo and Columbus, SF. Call (415) 983-0405 or www.shrinesf.org. Open to the public. Admission free. March 6: Eric Hamilton with a classical guitar recital. March 13: Schola Cantorum sings music of Shrine’s resident composer. Sundays: Walking with Biblical Personalities along the Path of the Enneagram: Spiritual Reflection for Lent 2005 at St. Thomas More Church in San Francisco. Claudia Devaux facilitates. $50 for entire series. Enrollment limited. Call (415) 452-9634. Fridays: Lenten Soup and Scripture Agape, a simple meal, Readings and prayer at Star of the Sea School auditorium in San Francisco at 6 p.m. Call (415) 751-0450. March 2: The Year of the Eucharist, a Lenten Series with Father David Pettingill at St. Gabriel Church, 40th Ave. at Ulloa in SF, 7 – 8:30 p.m. Call (415) 731-6161. March 5, 2005: Annual United for Life Dinner, 6 PM No Host Cocktails & Fellowship 7 PM Dinner, Irish Cultural Center, 45th Avenue at Sloat in SF. Curtis Martin President & Founder “Fellowship of Catholic University Students” (FOCUS) is guest speaker.Tickets are $40 per person. Call (415) 567-2293 for reservations. March 9: Carol Williams, British concert organist, performs an exciting and unusual “classical jazz” program on the great organ of St. Mary’s Cathedral at 7 p.m. Composers will include Philip Glass, William Bolcom, Dan Locklair, Giles Swayne and more! Carol Williams is well known for her delightful concerts in Balboa Park in San Diego. Suggested donation will be $10. For more information please call (415) 567-2020 ext. 213 or email ctietze@stmarycathedralsf.org. March 9: Monthly breakfast meeting of the Catholic Professional & Business Club. New members are always welcome! Join us at our new location, SF City Club at 155 Sansome (at Bush). Featured speaker is Dominican Father Michael Sweeney who will address Secular Competence in the Mission of the Church. Include a full breakfast beginning at 7:00 a.m. Speaker program begins at 7:30 a.m. Cost is $20 for members, $27 for non-members. Membership dues are $45 annually. Call (415) 614-5579, or visit the website at www.cpbc-sf.org for more information. March 9: St. Mary’s Cathedral will host a Grief Support Workshop 10:00 – 11:30 AM in the Monsignor Bowe Room. Pathways Hospice Social Workers will present the workshop, providing information on the grief process and tips on “Coping with the Loss of a Loved One.” For further details, call Sr. Esther McEgan at 415-567-2020 ext. 218. March 10: Joan of Arc: Child of War, Soldier of God, a drama from the producers of acclaimed pieces on St. Francis of Assisi and St. Patrick, will premiere at 6 p.m. at Notre Dame des Victoires Church at 566 Bush St. in San Francisco. Anna Paquin, who won an Academy Award for her work in The Piano, is the voice of the title character. Tony Award nominee and star of Spiderman II, Alfred
Fiesta Fever takes hold of St. Cecilia’s Durocher Pavilion March 19th for the parish Mothers’ Club’s annual dinner dance and auction beginning with theme oriented appetizers at 6 p.m. Music by Ben Hunter and the Celtic Scandal. Tickets are $75 per person. Proceeds benefit parish school. Call Tanya Bolshakoff at (415) 759-8582.
2005
official directory
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Separated and Divorced support groups meet 3rd Sat. at 6:30 p.m. at St. Mary’s Cathedral, call Pat at (415) 492-3331; and 1st and 3rd Wed. at 7:30 p.m. at St. Stephen Parish Center, SF, call Gail at (650) 591-8452. Catholic Adult Singles Assoc. of Marin meets for support and activities. Call Bob at (415) 8970639 for information.
Datebook
Consolation Ministry
The election and inauguration is over but 5th grade students at Our Lady of Angels Elementary School have the electoral process planted firmly in their minds. “We studied the system for six weeks and finished with a talk about city government from Burlingame mayor, Rosalie O’Mahony,” said teacher, Donna McMorrow. The mayor (center) posed with the class and Mrs. McMorrow after her presentation. Molina, narrates. Additional comment on the youthful saint and her efforts provided by historical experts. Admission is free but seating is limited and reservations are required. Call (888) 254-4104. The film is scheduled for March 21st on the Hallmark Channel. Check local listings for times. Mar. 12: Training for New Lectors at St. Matthew Church, 1 Notre Dame Ave., San Mateo. Sat., 9 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. Please pre-register at (415) 614-5585. March 19: Day of Recollection sponsored by SF Guild – Catholic Medical Association in the Green Room of St. Cecilia Church, 17th Ave. and Vicente, SF, beginning at 9 a.m. Talks focus on Christ’s Passion with Philip Calanchini and Richard Sonnenshein. Tickets $35 per person include lunch. Father Mark Taheny, chaplain, will guide the day. Call (4150 219-8719. March 20: Palm Sunday Bunch at St. Mary Church in Nicasio, 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. Enjoy fresh fried eggs, hash browns and a ration of ham plus raffle and silent auction. Tickets $15 adults/$5 under 12. Call (415) 662-2191. March 21: San Francisco Council of Catholic Women “Evening of Recollection” at Star of the Sea Church in San Francisco beginning with Mass at 6 p.m. St. Anthony Padua Dining Room in Menlo Park needs volunteers Wed., Thurs, and Sat. from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. to help prepare and serve noon meals. The program helps more than 500 people daily. Call (650) 365-9664.
Food & Fun March 5: Crab Feed at St. Luke Church Community Center in Foster City. Socialize, dance, bid on super auction items and eat.Tickets $40 per person include all you eat crab, pasta, salad, and more. No host wine and beer are available. Starts 6:30 p.m. Call (650) 345-6660. March 9: Annual Spring Luncheon and Boutique of North Marin Auxiliary of the St. Vincent de Paul Society. No-host cocktails at 11 a.m. Luncheon at 12:15 p.m. Proceeds benefit SVDP Dining Room in San Rafael and works of SVDP Conference of St. Anthony Parish in Novato. Tickets $37 per person. Call Gwen Johnson at (415) 883-3055. March 12: Annual Luncheon Redwood City’s St. Francis Center, a longstanding immigrant family outreach program, at St. Patrick’s Seminary in Menlo Park beginning with seminarian-led tours at 11 a.m. Later, it’s a silent auction and raffle as well as a tasty
and March-appropriate corned beef and cabbage lunch. Tickets are $50 per person. Call (650) 8541262 or (650) 851-9858. March 12: Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with St. Anne of the Sunset Parish. Evening includes traditional Irish fare plus music by Alex and the Trade Winds and Cora Beloy. Irish pipers and dancers too. Tickets $30 adults/ $20 seniors and teens/$10 under 10. Call Patty Diner at (415) 566-7500. Sponsored by parish Men’s Club. March 12: Star of the Sea Parish honors the auld sod saint with Irish food, dancers and music of the Over Commitments from 8 – 10 p.m. Call (415) 7510450 for ticket information.
Respect Life/ Family Life March 18-20: Rachel’s Vineyard, a weekend retreat for women and men seeking healing from an abortion in a supportive and non-judgmental environment. Call Mary Peter at (408) 426-7343 or (888) 467-3790. For information about additional Project Rachel services, please call the Archdiocese of San Francisco at (415) 717-6428. Are you in a troubled marriage? Retrouvaille, a program for couples with serious marital problems, might help. For information, call Tony and Pat Fernandez at (415) 893-1005. Information about Natural Family Planning and people in the Archdiocese offering instruction are available from the Office of Marriage and Family Life of the Archdiocese, Chris Lyford, director, at (415) 614-5680. Sat. at 9 a.m.: Pray the Rosary for Life at 815 Eddy St. between Franklin and Van Ness, SF. Call (415) 752-4922. Worldwide Marriage Encounter Weekends can add to a Lifetime of Love. For more information or to register, call Michele or George Otte at (888) 568-3018. The Adoption Network of Catholic Charities offers free adoption information meetings twice a month. Singles and married couples are invited to learn more about adopting a child from foster care. Call (415) 406-2387 for information.
Single, Divorced, Separated Feb. 26: Potluck Supper at 6:30 p.m. at St. Mary’s Cathedral conference center. Sponsored by Divorced and Separated Ministry of the Archdiocese. Call Vonnie at (650) 873-4236.
Groups meet at the following parishes. Please call numbers shown for more information. San Mateo County: St. Catherine of Siena, Burlingame. Call (650) 344-6884; Our Lady of Angels, Burlingame. Call Louise Nelson at (650) 343-8457 or Barbara Arena at (650) 344-3579. Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, Redwood City. Call (650) 366-3802; Good Shepherd, Pacifica. Call Sister Carol Fleitz at (650) 3552593; St. Robert, San Bruno. Call (650) 589-2800. Immaculate Heart of Mary, Belmont. Call Ann Ponty at (650) 598-0658 or Mary Wagner at (650) 591-3850. Marin County: St. Isabella, San Rafael. Call Pat Sack at (415) 472-5732. Our Lady of Loretto, Novato. Call Sister Jeanette at (415) 897-2171. San Francisco: St.Gabriel. Call Barbara Elordi at (415) 564-7882. St. Finn Barr in English and Spanish. Call Carmen Solis at (415) 584-0823; St. Cecilia. Call Peggy Abdo at (415) 564-7882 ext. 3; Epiphany in Spanish. Call Kathryn Keenan at (415) 564-7882. St. Dominic. Call Margaret Passanisi at (415) 931-5241. Ministry for parents who have lost a child is available from Our Lady of Angels Parish, Burlingame. Call Ina Potter at (650) 347-6971 or Barbara Arena at (650) 344-3579. Young Widow/Widower group meets at St. Gregory, San Mateo. Call Barbara Elordi at (415) 564-7882. Information about children’s and teen groups is available from Barbara Elordi at (415) 564-7882.
Returning Catholics Programs for Catholics interested in returning to the Church, have been established at the following parishes: Marin County: St. Hilary, Tiburon, Mary Musalo, (415) 435-2775; St. Anselm, Ross, call (415) 4532342; St. Sebastian, Greenbrae, Jean Mariani at (415) 461-7060; Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, Mill Valley, Rick Dullea or Diane Claire at (415) 388-4190; St. Mary Star of the Sea, Sausalito, Lloyd Dulbecco at (415) 331-7949. San Francisco: Old St. Mary’s Cathedral, SF, Michael Adams at (415) 695-2707; St. Philip the Apostle, 725 Diamond St. at Elizabeth/24th, SF. Call (415) 282-0141; St. Dominic, SF, Lee Gallery at (415) 221-1288; Holy Name of Jesus, SF, (415) 6648590. San Mateo County: St. Bartholomew, San Mateo, Dan Stensen at (650) 344-5665; St. Catherine of Siena, Burlingame, Silvia Chiesa at (650) 685-8336; Our Lady of Angels, Burlingame, Dorothy Heinrichs or Maria Cianci at (650) 347-7768; St. Dunstan, Millbrae, Dianne Johnston at (650) 697-0952; Our Lady of the Pillar, Half Moon Bay, Meghan at (650) 726-4337; St. Peter, Pacifica, Chris Booker at (650) 738-1398.
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.
ARCHDIOCESE OF SAN FRANCISCO 2005 DELUXE DIRECTORY
of
Archdiocese San Francisco
Monte Carlo Cruise is the theme of this year’s annual dinner dance, auction and party benefiting Notre Dame High School in Belmont March 12th. The evening is on-campus at the school’s Moore Pavilion complete with sumptuous buffet dinner, live auction, gaming and dancing to Hitop Posse. Early bids can be placed at www.ndhsb.org. Tickets are $50 per person. Call (650) 595-1913, ext. 351.
March 4, 2005
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Lenten movie series On the Waterfront Following is part of a series of movie reviews for Lent. On the Waterfront (1954) was nominated for 12 Oscars, winning 8, including Best Picture. It is listed by the Vatican as one of 15 top films relating to “values”.
Reviewed by Steven D. Greydanus “A Going My Way with substance” is how Elia Kazan’s classic, controversial On the Waterfront was recently described in a lecture at Boston College. The reference to sentimental classic Going My Way, with Bing Crosby’s affable, pianoplaying priest, invokes a whole era of Hollywood religion, when priests and nuns were sweet, high-minded, and concerned either with entirely spiritual matters or else with issues no more controversial than saving or building some church, school, or hospital, or perhaps with some youth program or the like. On the Waterfront, based on a true story of racketeering on the New York waterfront, is where religion and social action finally meet in Hollywood. It isn’t just that cigarette-smoking, alcohol-drinking Father Barry (Karl Malden), based on real-life Jesuit Fr. John M. Corridan, takes on the corruption and strong-arm tactics of the mob bosses who control the lives of hardworking longshoremen. It’s that he does it in much the same way as John Paul II would later take on the Soviet machine in Communistoccupied Poland — by using faith and social structures to build solidarity among the laborers and empower them to resist their oppressors. In his great “sermon on the docks” speech, Fr. Barry puts the moral issues of the waterfront in a Christological light: “Some people think the Crucifixion only took place on Calvary. They better wise up… every time the mob puts the crusher on a good man — tries to stop him from doing his duty as a citizen — it’s a crucifixion… Christ is always with you… And He’s saying with all of you, if you do it to the least of mine, you do it to Me!” (Jewish screenwriter Budd Schulberg, who spent time on the waterfront with Fr. Corridan in preparation for writing the screenplay, has said that the sermon is “eighty percent” Corridan’s own words, from a speech he heard Corridan give numerous times.)
As arresting as the sermon on the docks is, it’s not the one speech from On the Waterfront that everyone knows whether or not they’ve seen the film. That speech was delivered by Marlon Brando sitting opposite Rod Steiger in the back of a taxicab: “Whadda I get? A one-way ticket to Palookaville… I coulda had class. I coulda bin a contenda. I coulda bin somebody, instead of a bum, which is what I am.” On the Waterfront is a great film for many reasons, but its most enduring asset may be the young Brando, whose incandescent acting style ushered in a new era of more naturalistic, less mannered acting. It’s a tribute to the almost unprecedented emotional power of Brando’s performance that although the character he plays here is among the screen’s least articulate and eloquent heroes, he has one of the best-known and most quoted bits of dialogue in movie history. Brando plays Terry Malloy, a loutish but not unfeeling young ex-boxer who is owned by corrupt union boss Johnny Friendly (Lee J. Cobb) until an unexpected murder shakes him and he slowly begins developing a conscience through the graces of the dead man’s sister (Eva Marie Saint) and Fr. Malone. Parallels between Malloy, who breaks the waterfront code of silence by testifying against his former mob bosses, and director Kazan, who followed up a brief sojourn in the Communist Party by testifying against other party members before the House Un-American Activities Committee, are impossible to overlook; and Kazan himself has said that the film was in part an answer to his critics. At the same time, as Roger Ebert points out in his “Great Movies” essay on the film, directors make films for all sorts of motives. Whatever one thinks about the personal meaning of the film for Kazan or the application of Malloy’s moral choices to the director, the film’s portrait of a flawed but ultimately heroic figure is certainly valid in itself. Brando’s character was inspired by real-life longshoreman Anthony De Vincenzo, whose whistle-blowing efforts failed. The film gives his story a triumphant climax that feels a bit tidy, but perhaps confers a kind of symbolic
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success on De Vincenzo’s efforts. The climax also brings the Christological dimension of the dock workers’ oppression into sharp relief, as Malloy walks a personal via dolorosa and leads the embattled longshoremen to freedom.
Steven D. Greydanus is film critic for the National Catholic Register. He has written several reviews for the Office of Film and Broadcasting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Catholic San Francisco invites you
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Fr. Martin Gillespie Spiritual Director Visit: Paris, Lisbon, Lisbon, Fatima, Coimbra,Alba De Tormes, Avila, Segovia, Burgos, Garabandal, Santander, Loyola, Pamplona, Sanguesa, Lourdes
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Catholic San Francisco
March 4, 2005
Joan of Arc film premieres at NDV EWTN’s TV specials during March A new film on the life of Joan of Arc produced and directed by Emmy Award winner Pamela Mason Wagner will be screened at Notre Dame des Victoires Church in San Francisco March 10, at 6 p.m. The docudrama is the latest in a series on the lives of saints by Faith and Values Media, which has included award winning productions on St. Patrick and St. Francis of Assisi. At 13 years old, Joan began hearing voices calling her to a holy life. Later these voices called her to lead an army to throw off the English rule in the north of France. At 17 she left home to seek out the idle and beleaguered Dauphin, heir to the French throne. The Dauphin was rumored, even by his own mother, to be illegitimate. Joan declared to him that he was legitimate and that God had called her to lead an army against the English, enabling the Dauphin to be crowned king. The Dauphin granted her an army and leading her very first siege she was struck badly by an arrow. She removed the arrow, recovered her composure and led her army to victory at a number of towns. The Dauphin was crowned at the Cathedral of Rheims with Joan at his side. Joan was later captured at another battle and put on trial for heresy by an unscrupulous bishop. After lengthy interrogation and fearful of torture and burning at the stake, Joan confessed to heresy. Back in her jail cell, Joan, filled with remorse for abandoning her calling, recanted her confession. At age 19 she was burned at the stake as a heretic in front of the bishop, who was later excommunicated. Joan’s heresy conviction was
Special programming in March on EWTN, Catholic TV network, includes a documentary on Ireland’s Marian Shrine at Knock, March 15 at 3:30 p.m., and a children’s special on the life of St. Patrick, March 17 at 1 p.m. A program on St. Joseph airs March 19 at 5 p.m. EWTN airs a celebration of the Mass weekdays and Saturdays at 5 a.m.,9 a.m., 4 p.m. and 9 p.m. Sunday Mass air three times during the day. EWTN is carried on Comcast Channel 229; RCN Channel 80; Dish Channel 261; and Direct TV Channel 422. Comcast airs EWTN on Channel 54 in the Half Moon Bay area and on Channel 74 in southern San Mateo County.
Personal Perspective . . . ■ Continued from page 11
posthumously overturned and she was canonized in 1920. Commentary for “Joan of Arc: Child of War, Soldier of God” is provided by Barbara Hall, creator and executive producer of Joan of Arcadia. Narration is by Tony Award nominee Alfred Molina and Academy Award winning actress Anna Paquin is the voice of Joan. Seating is limited for the private screening. RSVP by March 7 to claudiaduran@faithandvaluesmedia.org or 888-254-4104. The one-hour film, “Joan of Arc: Child of War, Soldier of God,” premieres on the Hallmark Channel, March 21. Check local listings for time.
humans are made in the image and likeness of God, how can one be sympathetic to the poor if their most fundamental right is ignored? 4. The fourth unintended consequence is Msgr. McElroy’s worry that imposition of eucharistic sanctions by bishops somehow makes the Church a partisan actor. Certainly on the most fundamental issues of abortion — particularly partial birth abortion — the Republican Party and leading Republican politicians on the whole, but not without exception, express views held by the Church. That congruence of views does not make the Church Republican — rather, to the degree that a party reflects church teaching, it makes that party, in a sense, Catholic oriented. The Christian Democratic parties of Europe are no less independent of clerical control because their principles are shared with the Church. There is not now and never has been in America a Catholic party. An option to reflect Catholic moral teaching on social issues is available to any political group. Such a choice is certainly available to the Democratic party or any other party. Msgr. McElroy’s advocacy of prudence
strikes me as asking Catholic bishops to adapt their mandate to teach and to discipline in conformity to the Zeitgeist of the contemporary public square. Our Lord said in Gethsemane, “My kingdom is not of this world.”(John 18:36) Christ’s teaching has always been counter-cultural; it was never prudential. Ideally, a convinced Catholic politician in a position of opposing the doctrine of the Church would recognize that he or she has ipso facto withdrawn from full communion with the Church. One would hope that until such time as the politicians can harmonize their beliefs with those of the Church, they would refrain from receiving the Eucharist, as do many Catholics who find themselves in marital situations that are illicit. The Eucharist is the premier sacrament of unity in faith and in the Church. Failing such a selfawareness, it would seem the obligation of any bishop to give clear and correct teaching to Catholic politicians so that their failure to do so does not cause scandal. Gordon M. Seely is Professor of History, emeritus, of San Francisco State University. He is a parishioner at Immaculate Heart of Mary parish in Belmont
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Catholic San Francisco
March 4, 2005
Sts. Peter and Paul Church shines after cleaning, lighting upgrades
(PHOTOS BY JACK SMITH)
By Amira Atallah Lent is a time of spiritual renewal for Catholics. This year, it’s also a time of physical renewal for Sts. Peter and Paul Church on Washington Square in San Francisco’s North Beach. The church, on Filbert St. between Powell and Stockton, is undergoing a major cleaning project with lighting upgrades, painting and repairs of the church interior, including artwork and statues in the chapels as well as the main church. Sts. Peter and Paul Parish was established in 1884. The current church structure was completed in 1924 after the original church, at the corner of Filbert and Grant, was destroyed in the 1906 earthquake. It has been close to sixty years since the last major internal work of this kind according to Salesian Father John Malloy. “We will reveal some of the beautiful details in this church, many of which have been hidden by years of built up grime and the poor lighting,” said Father Malloy. “The new lighting will highlight some of these wonderful things that have been hidden in the corners.” Scaffolding went up in the week of Ash Wednesday. The project is expected to be completed by the middle of March, certainly in time for Easter, said Father Malloy. While
the interior scaffolding has been in place, Mass has been celebrated in the parish center, the school gym below the church, or the parts of the church not currently covered with construction equipment. During a recent Mass in the gym, Salesian Father Stephen Whelan said that during the initial building of Sts. Peter and Paul, the congregation used the subchurch, now the gym, for years. “They started construction after the earthquake in ’06 and finished the subchurch first. This was used as the main church while the construction continued above. The building was suspended during World War I, so they didn’t actually move into the church until 1922.” The current cleaning and lighting project is one of several renewal projects that Father Malloy has overseen in recent years. The façade of the church was redone in stone work, replacing the original cement, along with upgrading the seismic safety of the building in 2003. Pews were repaired or replaced last year. Father Malloy, who is pastor, plans other projects. “We’re having a group that specializes in museum work restoration come in to do the detailed work of cleaning the artwork along the side aisles of the church, like the mosaics and paintings. Then we need to do some seismic work on the spires.”
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