March 27, 2009

Page 1

Catholic san Francisco Northern California’s Weekly Catholic Newspaper

“Survivors often believe that it’s their fault, that it’s something they did.”

Domestic violence New lay effort seeks to provide help at parishes By Michael Vick

T

he Ministers of Light, an emerging group organized by lay Catholics in the Archdiocese of San Francisco, aims to shine a torch in a very dark place – the lives of those suffering from the effects of domestic violence.

The group looks to fill a gap in the pastoral care available for fellow survivors and to raise awareness of domestic violence in local parishes, Marisela Sookraj, founder of the group and a survivor of domestic violence, told Catholic San Francisco. Sookraj said that while faith communities are often the first place a survivor will turn to when looking for services

and counseling, many churches are ill equipped to handle the situation. Her goal is to train and install lay ministers to serve as in-house resources and advocates for survivors of domestic violence in each of the archdiocese’s 89 parishes. Lay ministers will receive eight to 12 hours of training over a two-day period, Sookraj said. Areas covered will DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, page 6

WASHINGTON (CNS) – Pope Benedict XVI has named Auxiliary Bishop Salvatore J. Cordileone of San Diego to head the Diocese of Oakland, which encompasses Alameda and Contra Costa counties. The appointment was announced in Washington March 23 by Archbishop Pietro Sambi, apostolic nuncio to the United States. Bishop Cordileone, 52, succeeds Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron, who had led the Oakland Diocese since 2003 until his appointment as Detroit archbishop in January. Bishop Cordileone will be installed May 5 at Oakland’s Cathedral of Christ the Light. He was named auxiliary bishop of San Diego in July 5, 2002, after having served as an official of the Supreme Court of the Apostolic Signature in Rome since 1995. As a bishop he has served on the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Canonical Affairs and Church Governance and on the USCCB’s Task Force on Cultural Diversity. James A Donahue, president and professor of eth-

ics at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, described the newly appointed Oakland bishop as a theological traditionalist with a pastoral reputation for embracing diversity in the Catholic community. That combination should serve him well in his new assignment in a highly varied diocese, Donahue said. “My sense is he’s a traditional theologian but within that there’s a lot of room for inclusion,” Donahue said. “He’s in the mainstream in the universal Church but my sense is he’s going to make use of the rich resources of the Catholic social tradition.” The Diocese of Oakland’s new bishop was born in San Diego in 1956. Following elementary and secondary school, he began his formation for the priesthood in San Diego at St. Francis Seminary and then went to Rome to study at the Pontifical North American College and the Pontifical Gregorian University. He was ordained a priest for the San Diego Diocese July 9, 1982. After ordination he was associate pastor DIOCESE OF OAKLAND, page 3

(CNS PHOTO/GREG TARCZYNSKI)

Pope names new bishop for Diocese of Oakland

Bishop Salvatore J. Cordileone speaks to media at the Cathedral of Christ the Light in Oakland March 23.

INSIDE THIS WEEK’S EDITION Archbishop’s journal . . . . . . . 5 Seminary leadership . . . . . . . 7 Health guide . . . . . . . . . . 9-12 End of life issues. . . . . . . . . 10 Letters, columnists . . . . . . . 15

Pope Benedict’s visit to Africa ~ Page 3 ~ March 27, 2009

Scripture readings and reflection ~ Page 13 ~

‘Timely, sophisticated romantic caper’ ~ Page 16 ~

SEVENTY-FIVE CENTS

Datebook of events . . . . . . . 17 Find it here . . . . . . . . . . 18-19

www.catholic-sf.org VOLUME 11

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No. 12

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Catholic San Francisco

March 27, 2009

On The

Mission Dolores grads at recent reunion dinner. From left: Mike Avila, Sam Avila, Dave Weigel, Eddie Morales, Jerry Rivera.

Where You Live By Tom Burke Happy 50 years married April 4 to Clare and Chuck Cooper, longtime Immaculate Heart of Mary parishioners in Belmont and where they have seen their six sons grow, go to school Chuck and Clare Cooper and through the years with their wives add 15 grandchildren – ranging in age from 22 to 3 - to the Cooper clan. Youngest son, Colin, lives in Roseville, with his wife, Shelley, and their children, Caitlin and Carson, and told me he trades Sacramento’s Catholic newspaper, the Catholic Herald, with his mom for Catholic San Francisco. A worthy swap methinks. The Cooper boys and their families also include Cliff with wife, Dawn and children, Ryan and Breanne; Chris with wife, Cynthia and their children, Nick and Lisa; Chuck with wife, AnnaMarie, and their children, Colin, Kevin, Riley and Victoria; Craig with wife, Laurie and their children, Josh, Cassidy, Kennedy and Cody; and Curt with wife, Carolyn and their daughter, Phoebe…..Happy 100th birthday to Lena Riley of Holy Name of Jesus Parish. A special blessing for the new centenarian by pastor, Father Don D’Angelo, marked the occasion…. Fun was had by all at the second annual reunion of Mission Dolores Boys School and Notre Dame Elementary Girls School, which merged in the 1980s said alum, Katie O’Leary of Notre Dame’s class of ’66. Representing Notre Dame’s class of ’32 – the earliest with Winning pro-life orators, Victoria Lynch, left, Christian Amalu, and Vivian Abellana with Jessica Munn, chairman of San Mateo County Pro-Life.

membership present - were Helen Nash and Jane Dabovich. school….. More congrats but this time to Christian Amalu, “I’ve guesstimated that the two schools have educated close to Vivian Abellana, and Victoria Lynch, winners in the recent 100,000 children since 1843 when Notre Dame began,” Katie San Mateo Pro-Life Oratory Contest. The three high school O’Leary said. Mission Dolores School was established in students received prizes of $200, $100, and $75 and judges Jesse Perez, Judy Carlos and Jim Quinn 1893. Efforts to gather alumni and said “all three were so good that it alumnae are going strong, Katie made the decision process very difnoted, and include a newsletter, ficult.” Each contestant gives a talk The Dolorian, as well as “a lot of on pro-life from a prepared text he detective work,” the Internet and or she has written. “The main focus this column, which I am very glad of their speech is that the unborn Katie has chosen to get the word out. should be given the ‘right to live,’” Mission Dolores and Notre Dame contest organizers said in a note to grads should e-mail Katie at nutthis column. Remember that through tydames@aol.com….Congrats to Father William McCain, pastor, Palm Sunday, members and supSharon and Dan Azevedo chosen congratulates “Outstanding Role Models” porters of San Mateo Pro-life and as “Outstanding Role Models” Sharon and Dan Azevedo during Catholic San Francisco Pro-Life are praying during Catholic Schools Week at Schools Week ceremonies at Our Lady for an end to abortion during 40 Our Lady of Loretto Parish and of Loretto Parish and School in January. Days for Life. “All are welcome,” School. The couple met as first gradAt right is Susan A. Maino, principal. said Jessica Munn, chair of the ers at the school graduating in 1967. San Mateo group. See Datebook…. Father Len Calegari, now retired and living at St. Stephen Parish in San Francisco, witnessed Mercy High School, San Francisco welcomed eight visitors their marriage at Our Lady of Loretto in 1972. “Sharon and from Iraq March 3. The group toured the school and met with Dan both feel Our Lady of Loretto has been a huge part of their Dorothy McCrea, principal, Linda Ambrosini, assistant prinlives and are more than willing to volunteer whenever they are cipal, Julie Ortiz, dean of students and two members of the allasked,” said Toni Basich, proud public relations person for the girls school student body, Celina Al Asfour and Shelby Getsla. Topics discussed included “the unique qualities and environment an all-girls school provides, the extensive opportunities available to Mercy students, why students choose an all-girls school and the success of students from single gender schools,” said Teresa Lucchese, communications representative at Mercy…This is an empty space without you! E-mail items and pictures to burket@ sfarchdiocese.org. Mail items and pictures to “Street”, One Peter Yorke Way, SF 94109.Pix should be hard copy or electronic jpeg at 300 dpi. Don’t forget to include a follow-up phone number. Call me at (415) 614-5634 and I’ll walk you through it.

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Catholic San Francisco

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Pope asks Church in Africa to disperse ‘clouds of evil’ on continent By John Thavis LUANDA, Angola (CNS) – At a Mass for hundreds of thousands of Angolans, Pope Benedict XVI called on Africa to embrace the Gospel and disperse the “clouds of evil” that have brought war, ethnic rivalry, tribalism and greed to the continent. In a country devastated by 27 years of civil war, the pope quoted the biblical admonition that war can “destroy everything of value,” including families, communities and works of labor. “This experience is all too familiar to Africa as a whole: the destructive power of civil strife, the descent into a maelstrom of hatred and revenge, the squandering of the efforts of generations of good people,” the pope said. The Mass, celebrated on a vast esplanade in an industrial suburb of Luanda, was the liturgical highlight of his stay in Angola, and drew the biggest crowd of his March 17-23 visit to Africa. Some had spent the night at the site to guarantee a good seat. The pope sat beneath a curved corrugated roof that protected him from the hot sun, frequently wiping perspiration from his face with a handkerchief. Many worshippers shielded themselves with umbrellas. The Mass included prayers in six native languages of Angola, a former Portuguese colony evangelized more than 500 years ago. Unlike an open-air liturgy he celebrated in Cameroon earlier in the week, which featured rousing African song and dance, this one had a quieter tone.

Diocese of Oakland . . . ■ Continued from cover at St. Martin of Tours Parish in La Mesa, Calif., for three years. During 1985-89, he pursued doctoral

The offertory was the most typically “African moment,” as men and women carried fruits, vegetables, bread and a live goat to the foot of the altar and swayed to a lilting tune picked out on an electric guitar. Nearing the end of his weeklong African journey, the pope looked and sounded good as he read his homily in Portuguese and English. He said he had come to Africa to preach a message of forgiveness, hope and new life in Christ. He praised Angola for embarking on the path of national reconciliation, but said true reconciliation “can only be the fruit of conversion, a change of heart, a new way of thinking.” The task facing the church in Angola, he said, is to become itself a place of unity and communion in order to bring to others “the healing touch of God’s merciful love.” “How much darkness there is in so many parts of our world! Tragically, the clouds of evil have also overshadowed Africa, including this beloved nation of Angola,” he said. “We think of the evil of war, the murderous fruits of tribalism and ethnic rivalry, the greed which corrupts men’s hearts, enslaves the poor, and robs future generations of the resources they need to create a more equitable and just society – a society truly and authentically African in its genius and values,” he said. He warned of an “insidious spirit of selfishness” that leads to hedonism, drug use, sexual irresponsibility, the weakening

of marriage and “the pressure to destroy innocent human life through abortion.” Against these dangers, the church preaches a message of “unbounded hope,” knowing that reconciliation begins in the human heart and with small acts of kindness, he said. It means the church will have to be a “sign of contradiction in the face of hardened attitudes and a mentality that sees others as a means to be used,” he said. The pope said Angolans know from bitter experience that the work of rebuilding society is slow and arduous, compared with “the sudden, destructive fury of evil.” But they

should not become discouraged, he said, because “God does not give up on us.” The liturgy included a moment of prayer for two young women trampled to death the day before at a Luanda stadium where the pope later presided over a youth rally. Eighty-nine others were injured in the stampede, which occurred when gates to the stadium were opened several hours before the pope’s arrival. Speaking to reporters aboard his plane back to Rome March 23, Pope Benedict said he had felt a great sense of family and respect for the sacred during his weeklong trip to Africa.

studies in canon law in Rome. He returned to San Diego and from 1989 to 1991 he was secretary to the bishop and from 1985 to 1991 was an official of the diocesan tribunal. In 1991-95 he was pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish in Calexio, Calif., a town

on the U.S.-Mexican border. He was named a monsignor in 1999. Bishop Cordileone holds a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from the diocesanrun University of San Diego. At the Pontifical Gregorian University, he earned a bachelor’s degree in sacred theology, and

a licentiate and doctorate in canon law. As the fourth bishop of Oakland, Bishop Cordileone will be the chief shepherd of more than 550,000 Catholics who reside in Alameda and Contra Costa counties. The diocese, created in 1962, has 84 parishes and more than a dozen ethnic pastoral centers.

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Pope Benedict XVI greets women and children in Luanda, Angola, March 21.

4

Catholic San Francisco

NEWS

March 27, 2009

in brief

OAKLAND – A pro-life minister convicted of unlawfully approaching people entering an abortion clinic has been ordered to serve 30 days in jail. Alameda County Superior Court Judge Stuart Hing handed down the sentence March 19 to the Rev. Walter B. Hoye II, who had been convicted Jan. 15 of violating an Oakland city law designed to protect people entering abortion clinics by requiring sidewalk counselors or demonstrators to stay back at least eight feet. The Berkeley minister was jailed and fined $1,130 after refusing to agree not to counsel women on alternatives to abortion. At a hearing Feb. 19, Judge Hing stated that he had not intended to impose any fine or jail time if the defendant would agree to stay away from the downtown abortion clinic where he had been counseling women. As part of his outreach to women, Hoye hands out leaflets in front of the clinic and carries a sign reading, “Jesus loves you and your baby. Let us help.” In a post on his blog last month, Hoye spoke of his efforts to “stop the shedding of innocent blood in the African-American community.” Hoye’s work will continue in his absence, his wife, Lori, said in an e-mail to supporters, who are planning demonstrations at the abortion clinic and the Oakland City Council.

Assisted-suicide toll climbs PORTLAND, Ore. – Oregon’s annual report on assisted suicide showed that doctors helped 60 patients take their lives in 2008. That marked the highest annual total since the Oregon ‘Death With Dignity Act’ went into effect 11 years ago. In all, 401 Oregonians have died by the legal lethal prescriptions, which are legal only for those judged to have six months or less to live. State health officials said nearly all the patients were older, suffered from cancer and died at home. Health officials in Washington state have filed rules to guide that state’s new assisted-suicide law. The law, which closely resembles Oregon’s, took effect March 5. It protects doctors from prosecution if they help terminally ill patients hasten their deaths. The new rules include the forms doctors must complete before the deaths as well as documents for secondary doctors, psychologists and the pharmacists who fill the lethal prescription. As in Oregon, the rules say the patients must be expected to die within six months and may take the drugs themselves.

New Mexico ends death penalty SANTA FE, N.M. – New Mexico repealed the death penalty after Gov. Bill Richardson had a change of heart about his long

(CNS PHOTO/KAREN CALLAWAY, CATHOLIC NEW WORLD)

Pro-life minister jailed

An an Interfaith prayer forum in Chicago, Jose Castrillon, a parishioner at Mary Queen of Heaven Church in Cicero, Ill., prays with more than a thousand people at Our Lady of Mercy Church March 21. Cardinal Francis E. George of Chicago urged President Barack Obama and his administration to stop immigration raids and deportations that are separating families and to work toward more comprehensive immigration reform. The event was similar to a community forum on immigration held March 8 at the parish hall of St. Anthony Church in San Francisco.

support for capital punishment. Richardson said at the press conference where he signed the bill into law that he only decided that afternoon to sign it. As he considered it that morning, Richardson, a Catholic, said he went to Mass and then to visit the state’s highsecurity penitentiary where prisoners would serve out life-withoutparole sentences in lieu of facing execution. He said he also had met with murder victims’ family members who wanted the law to remain in place and weighed the fact that few nations in the world practice capital punishment, making the United States out of step with most Western democracies. Reports by New Mexico newspapers and television stations described an obviously unsettled Richardson relating his struggle over whether to sign the bill. Long a supporter of capital punishment, Richardson said he had been re-evaluating his beliefs and his position for six years.

Progress on human trafficking WASHINGTON – The United States has made important progress in the last decade in recognizing the problem of human trafficking, creating laws and systems to try to stop it and aiding victims, said witnesses at a March 19 congressional

hearing. The next steps toward addressing human trafficking should start with increasing awareness of the problem, said experts from the Department of Homeland Security, from a police task force in California and from Migration and Refugee Services of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Testifying before the Subcommittee on Border, Maritime and Global Counterterrorism of the House Homeland Security Committee, Anastasia Brown, director of refugee programs for MRS, credited the recent laws and an expansion of the program approved by Congress in the fall for valuable progress. The William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act signed into law in December by President George W. Bush included new services for trafficking victims, including making them eligible for benefits without waiting periods and opening up the array of assistance available to child victims.

Criticism hits Notre Dame WASHINGTON – University of Notre Dame officials were standing firm on their choice of President Barack Obama as NEWS IN BRIEF, page 5

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Catholic San Francisco

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Archbishop’s Journal ‘For God so loved the world … he gave his only Son’ other. And, God created us free. We can choose to believe in him or not; we can choose to serve him or not. We can choose the light, as Jesus says at the end of this gospel passage; we can act in truth and come into the light of Christ. Or, we can hate the light, choose to do evil, choose the darkness.

A recent Harris Poll reveals that 90 percent of Americans believe in God. That’s an impressive and encouraging statistic. But when you dig a bit deeper, the matter seems more complicated: less than half of that 90 percent are in a church or synagogue weekly. A major question for many people is this: “Where is God in my life?” By which people mean things like: Where do I find God in my daily situation? Where does God find me? How do I know I’m finding God and he’s finding me? How is God present and active in this economic crisis? In the lives of people with no home, no hope, not even any job or health insurance? Where is God? What is he doing? Jesus answers these questions, in perhaps the most beloved and famous verse in the entire New Testament, John Chapter 3, verse 16: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him may not die but may have eternal life.” I often refer to this verse as the official Scripture verse of the National Football League – John 3:16. During almost every professional football game on television we see someone in the stands unfurl a banner that reads: “John 3: 16.” That’s this verse! These 25 words contain the entire truth of the history of our salvation. Most important of all, Jesus teaches that saving all of us from sin and death is the initiative, the plan of a loving God. It’s nothing we could ever do for ourselves. “God so loved the world,” Jesus says. Notice how that directly contradicts the attitude we sometimes meet in some Christian spiritual advice, namely, that followers of Jesus Christ should hate or despise this world we live in. Jesus did not do that or teach that. He says that his Father in heaven created the world and loves the world he created. In particular, a loving God created us to love him and each other in return. God our Father created us, his children, and remains faithful to us even when we are unfaithful to him, and to each

Of course, few people choose evil as evil. Instead, when we sin, we pretend that what is evil is actually good for us right here and now. My friends and I choose to behave in a racist way, because we are just defending our rights, or keeping undesirables out of our community. You eat an entire box of chocolates at one sitting, because you deserve it, because you’ve been so good for so long now, and it will make you feel so much better. Then God, our loving and forgiving Father, helps us to change, if we will let him. St. Paul tells us in that second reading that God is rich in mercy. Even though we have been dead in sin, the Father brings us to life in Christ, through Christ’s suffering, dying and rising. This salvation is God’s gift, not

News in brief . . .

and others shared stories of how the broken immigration system has separated families and affected the church and society.

n Continued from page 4

‘Goodness tests those who meet it; the goodness doesn’t fail, but sometimes those who meet the goodness do.’

Women play crucial role

commencement speaker at the institution’s May 17 graduation, in spite of a large number of Catholics calling on them to rescind the invitation. The Indiana university, run by the Congregation of Holy Cross, and the White House announced March 20 that Obama would be Notre Dame’s 2009 commencement speaker and confirmed he will receive an honorary doctor of laws degree at the graduation. “The invitation to President Obama to be our commencement speaker should not be taken as condoning or endorsing his positions on specific issues regarding the protection of human life, including abortion and embryonic stem-cell research,” said Holy Cross Father John I. Jenkins, president of the University of Notre Dame. “Yet, we see his visit as a basis for further positive engagement,” he said in a March 23 statement. The announcement on Obama was promptly followed by a flurry of criticism from Catholics, who said the president’s support of legal abortion and embryonic stem-cell research makes him an inappropriate choice to be the commencement speaker at a Catholic university.

Cardinal: End ICE raids CHICAGO – Cardinal Francis E. George of Chicago, joined by nearly a thousand people at a Chicago Catholic church, urged President Barack Obama and his administration to stop immigration raids and deportations that are separating families and to work toward more comprehensive immigration reform. “This will be a clear sign that this administration is truly about change,” the cardinal said. The March 21 interfaith prayer service at Our Lady of Mercy Church was organized by the Catholic Campaign for Immigration Reform, Priests for Justice for Immigrants, Sisters and Brothers of Immigrants and a number of interfaith groups. U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., also was present; he will be promoting similar events at churches in other cities in Illinois and around the U.S. The focus of the event was on the family, as Cardinal George

VATICAN CITY – Women have a crucial role to play in promoting human rights, the dignity of life and the family, Pope Benedict XVI said. “Given the distinctive influence of women in society, they must be encouraged to embrace the opportunity to uphold the dignity of life through their involvement in education and their participation in political and civic life,” the pope said in a written message to participants of the Vatican’s first international conference dedicated to women and human rights. Because of their “unique capacity for the other, women have a crucial part to play in the promotion of human rights, for without their voice the social fabric of society would be weakened,” said the message released March 20. The March 20-21 conference, titled “Life, Family, Development: The Role of Women in the Promotion of Human Rights,” was organized and sponsored by the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, the World Union of Catholic Women’s Organizations and the Rome-based World Women’s Alliance for Life and Family.

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our doing, St. Paul tells us. Paul describes it beautifully: “We are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to lead the life of good deeds which God prepared for us in advance.” It’s a beautiful plan, made and carried out in love. But right in the middle of all this beautiful talk of God’s love, Jesus says something that sounds almost sinister: “God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. [So far, so good. But then…] Whoever believes in him avoids condemnation, but whoever does not believe is already condemned for not believing in the name of God’s only Son.” Why this talk of condemnation? Is God taking away with one hand the gift of salvation he just gave us with the other? Not at all. This truth that Jesus teaches is completely in line with our everyday human experience. Love and judgment, goodness and judgment are often bound up together: life can offer a person an experience that’s meant to be nothing but love and goodness, but that person can respond in a way that turns the experience into a judgment. For example, someone loves us and is good to us, but we are free not to respond in love, or even to betray that love. If we do that, judgment follows. There’s a story told of a young man being guided through an art gallery filled with priceless, beautiful paintings. At the end of the tour, the young man said to the guide, “Well, I don’t think much of your old paintings.” The guide replied: “These pictures are no longer on trial. Those who look at them are.” Exactly! Goodness tests those who meet it; the goodness doesn’t fail, but sometimes those who meet the goodness do. Occasionally someone is honest enough to admit the test and the judgment: in ancient Greece there was a wealthy, spoiled nobleman named Alcibiades, who said to Socrates one day, “Socrates, I hate you, for every time I meet you, you let me see who I am.” “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him may not die but may have eternal life.” For meeting God in his Son, Jesus Christ, tests each of us. We spend this season of Lent in prayer, fasting and generosity, in order to get – and to stay – in spiritual shape. We want to meet Jesus Christ in the Mass, in prayer, in Confession, in the teachings of the Church, in all the people in our lives. We want to believe deeply in the name of Jesus, to live and make our choices out of that faith, and to accept the gift he came to give us: eternal life. San Francisco Archbishop George H. Niederauer delivered this homily at St. Mary’s Cathedral on March 22, 2009, the Fourth Sunday of Lent.

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Catholic San Francisco

March 27, 2009

Domestic violence . . . ■Continued from cover be the nature, causes and means of prevention for domestic violence, training in cultural factors involved, and education in peer counseling. “The vision of the initiative is that each and every one of our parishes is not only viewed as a refuge for survivors of domestic violence, but that it is also in fact a refuge,� Sookraj said. Sookraj, a parishioner at Mission Dolores Basilica in San Francisco, said that while she was largely happy with the response of her parish when she encountered domestic violence in her relationship with her former boyfriend, she wished she had been referred to a domestic violence survivor service and advocacy organization and to a faith-based support group. And while Sookraj’s response to the perceived lack of a formalized structure within the Church to minister to survivors of domestic violence was to create just such a structure, she said she has encountered many who simply left the church altogether. Sookraj said she is appealing to those who have left to come back into the fold and join her effort to help survivors. Sookraj said she started the ministry in direct response to a call by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops for Catholics to “ignite a moral revolution against domestic violence.� “I can’t think of a better way to respond to that call,� Sookraj said. Marisela Sookraj, Maria Rosales-Uribe, Beth Powers and Diana Linaja on the steps of Mission Dolores Basilica She also said the group will not seek to saddle overworked where the domestic violence counseling and prevention group Ministers of Light began. pastors with an additional burden. “The effort is about offering priests a resource in their community to respond to domestic violence,� Sookraj said. “It’s Powers, a member of the Ministers of Light’s advisory board people who are in crisis are allowed to go to freely. Now the certainly not about inundating priests who already have a lot and a prospective lay minister at her parish, St. Brendan in San Church will be able to offer refuge to those who need it.� Emily Rosenthal, project manager at Marin Abused Women’s Francisco, said the group is a natural fit. on their plates.� “There hasn’t been an avenue for women whose faith is Services, said her group plans to train lay ministers in domestic To that end, Sookraj said she only asks for priests’ support in identifying parishioners who may be interested in taking important to them to deal with domestic violence,� Powers said. violence prevention and counseling at parishes within Marin domestic violence intervention and prevention training, and for “I want to mesh my faith and my work. This is exactly where I County. Though still in its earliest phase, Rosenthal said the program is an important step. want to be, and it’s nice to be involved from the beginning.� their help in publicizing the group. “We have cooperated with faith communities before, and they The group has already established relationships with domestic Maria Rosales-Uribe, fellow Mission Dolores parishioner and a lay facilitator who worked with Sookraj when she was in the par- violence survivor service and advocacy organizations in each play a really important role in domestic violence education and of the three counties of the archdiocese. The groups are San prevention,� Rosenthal said. “We’re thrilled the Catholic comish’s catechumenate program, said this approach is important. Mateo’s Community Overcoming munity has prioritized this issue.� “We need priests’ support, but Katharine Berg, associate director at La Casa de las Madres, Relationship Abuse, San Franciscowe don’t want to add anything to based La Casa de las Madres, and agreed. their agenda,� Rosales-Uribe said. “There hasn’t been an “It’s really important for faith communities to be supportive Marin Abused Women’s Services. “We’re making it a grassroots moveThese groups will train lay ministers of victims,� Berg said. “It’s a part of their healing process that we ment from the people, bottom-up.� in their respective counties. Sookraj can’t address. What we do as a community is try to build trusted Rosales-Uribe said once people avenue for women whose has also reached out to Catholic access points. Churches are natural place for people to turn to for know about the initiative and its Charities CYO, and to Bishop help and guidance, so this creates an important synergy.� goals, she hopes and believes they faith is important to them to Sherie Querol Moreno, community outreach coordinator at William Justice, vicar for clergy. will get on board. Her support Christopher Martinez, senior CORA, said the Ministers of Light campaign is an important step comes in part from personal experi- deal with domestic violence.� program manager for refugee and toward making the Church a helpful environment for survivors ence, as her daughter is a survivor immigrant services at CCCYO, of domestic violence. of domestic violence that occurred “Many folks don’t realize the position of Church from the said forging a connection between domestic violence service prowhen she was a teenager. “She is 30 now, but there are still lingering effects,� Rosales- viders and local Catholic parishes has been a vision of his group bishops’ statement in 1992 declaring abuse as that which breaks Uribe said. “Survivors often believe that it’s their fault, that it’s for some time. Martinez said CCCYO created a resource guide up families, not divorce,� Querol Moreno said. “It is okay for something they did. What they should know is that it is not for parishes, but the effort did not bear much fruit. Now that a both parties to seek help, because there is help available. People their fault. They just don’t understand the dynamics of abusive survivor-led and parish-based movement has emerged, Martinez should not be afraid to speak up.� Diana Linaja, a parishioner at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel said he is happy to lend his group’s resources to the cause. relationships.� “When someone is in crisis and fleeing violence, the Church Parish in Redwood City and a domestic violence survivor, said With a history in social work and a strong Catholic faith, DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, page 7 Beth Powers said she was excited to learn of Sookraj’s group. is a place of sanctuary,� Martinez said. “It’s one of the few places Grades K-6: June 22 - July 10 Grades 7-8: June 15 - July 19 Grades 9-12: June 15 - July 3 Information and applications available online at www.sacredsf.org - click on “Summer� or call (K-6) Colleen McGarry at 415.292.3159 2222 Broadway (Webster & Fillmore)

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March 27, 2009

Domestic violence . . . ■ Continued from page 6 she joined the group in order to help others dealing with the aftermath of abuse. Linaja said she specifically hoped domestic violence prevention training would aid couples considering marriage. “If you are already in a relationship that is not working, and you think marriage will make it better, it would be beneficial to stop the relationship from the beginning, rather than to get into something you can’t get out of later,” Linaja said.

Linaja said if getting out of the relationship is not an option for the woman, she recommended seeking couple’s therapy and anger management classes to help make the relationship healthier. When asked what advice she would give fellow survivors, Linaja said it is important that they simply not be ashamed. “Don’t think you’re alone,” Linaja said. “Don’t be embarrassed. Seek assistance from a shelter or the many programs offered. If I can get out and make a better life for myself and my children, they can do it, too. There is hope.” For more information, contact Ministers of Light at (415) 625-2710 or ministersoflight@gmail.com.

What can be done to help? For abused women: • Begin to believe that you are not alone and that help is available for you and your children. • Talk in confidence to someone you trust: a relative, friend, parish priest, deacon, religious sister or brother, or lay minister. • If you choose to stay in the situation, at least for now, set up a plan of action to ensure your safety. This includes hiding a car key, personal documents, and some money in a safe place and locating somewhere to go in an emergency. • Find out about resources in your area that offer help to battered women and their children. The phone book lists numbers to call in your local area. Your diocesan Catholic Charities office or family life office can help. Catholic Charities often has qualified counselors on staff and can provide emergency assistance and other kinds of help. • The National Domestic Violence Hotline provides crisis intervention and referrals to local service providers. Call 800-799-SAFE (7233) or 800-787-3224 (TTY). E-mail assistance is available at ndvh@ndvh.org. In some communities, cell phones programmed to 911 are made available to abused women. For men who abuse: • Admit that the abuse is your problem, not your partner’s, and have the courage to seek help. Begin to believe that you can change your behavior if you choose to do so. • Be willing to reach out for help. Talk to someone you trust who can help you evaluate vthe situation. Contact Catholic Charities or other church or community agencies for the name of a program for abusers. • Keep in mind that the Church is available to help you. Part of the mission Jesus entrusted to us is to offer healing when it is needed. Contact your parish. • Find alternative ways to act when you become frustrated or angry. Talk to other men who have overcome abusive behavior. Find out what they did and how they did it. For pastors and pastoral staff: • Make your parish a safe place where abused women and abusive men can come for help. • Include information about domestic violence and local resources in parish bulletins and newsletters and on websites. • Keep an updated list of resources for abused women. • Find a staff person or volunteer who is willing to receive in-depth training on domestic violence. • Provide training on domestic violence to all church ministers, including priests, deacons and lay ministers • In homilies, include a reference to domestic violence when appropriate. • In parish reconciliation services, identify violence against women as a sin. • Include intercessions for victims of abuse, people who abuse people, and those who work with them. Source: U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops

Catholic San Francisco

7

St. Patrick Seminary Rector to retire, successor named Father Ulshafer praised the appointment of Sulpician Father Gerald L. Brown, rector and president of St. Patrick Seminary and Father McKearney, saying, “Father McKearney University in Menlo Park, announced March 23 is deeply dedicated to the priesthood and to that he would retire from this position effective priestly formation. His fine education in theology, his professional training July 1, 2009. as a musician and his pastoral At the same time, the sensitivity will serve him well Provincial Council of the as leader of St. Patrick’s.” U.S. Province of the Society Father McKearney, 46, of St. Sulpice, which staffs was ordained a priest for the seminary, appointed the Archdiocese of Hartford Sulpician Father James L. in 1995 and he became a McKearney to be the new Sulpician in 2001. An alumrector and president. The nus of Western Connecticut appointment was made State University in Danbury, with the approval of the Connecticut, and St. Mary’s San Francisco Archbishop Seminary & University in George H. Niederauer, who is Baltimore, Maryland, Fr. Chancellor of St. Patrick’s. McKearney holds an S.T.D. In a letter to the St. Patrick Father Gerald Brown from the Pontifical Gregorian community, Father Brown said he had made his request to retire “after University in Rome. He first joined the faculty several weeks of careful consultation, discern- of St. Patrick’s in 1999 and was appointed ViceRector in 2007. In addition, Fr. McKearney ment and prudent planning.” Archbishop Niederauer said Father Brown, has been the Director of Music and Dean of 70, would remain in residence and on the Students at St. Patrick’s and has taught homiletfaculty at St. Patrick Seminary. Archbishop ics there for many years. St. Patrick’s Seminary Niederauer thanked Father and University, under the Brown for “his excellent auspices of the Archdiocese leadership and enthusiastic, of San Francisco, has been generous service to the work staffed by the Sulpicians of priestly formation in the for more than a century and Bay area.” maintains as its primary purSulpician Provincial pose the initial and ongoing Father Thomas R. Ulshafer formation of Roman Catholic said, “Father Brown brought priests in a contemporary a wealth of experience and a multicultural world, especlear vision to his duties as cially for dioceses within the president and rector.” Western United States and Immediately before comthe Pacific Rim. ing to St. Patrick’s in 2004, Founded in 1641 in Paris, Father Brown was rector of Father James McKearney the Society of St. Sulpice is Assumption Seminary in San Antonio, Texas. From 1985 to 1997 he served a community of diocesan priests dedicated to as Provincial Superior of the U.S. Province of the formation and education of Catholic priests and seminarians. the Sulpicians.

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Catholic San Francisco

March 27, 2009

obituary

Father Bill Duggan, priest for 56 years A funeral Mass was celebrated March 24 for retired Father making sure to get together at least in the days preceding their William Duggan at St. Thomas the Apostle Church in San ordination anniversary. “Bill was always willing to help and did an awful lot of good Francisco where the late priest served as pastor from 1980 – 85. Santa Rosa Bishop Daniel F. Walsh presided. Father John wherever he was,” Father Murray recalled. “He was a very fine Talesfore, pastor, St. Mary’s Cathedral, was homilist. Father person, sympathetic to people’s needs.” Father Ray Zohlen, retired pastor of St. Raymond Parish in Duggan died March 19 at the family home in Sonoma County. Menlo Park, was ordained with Father Duggan in 1953. Father Duggan was 81 years old. He was born in Berkeley and attended St. Augustine’s “He was one of the most charitable priests I have ever School in Oakland staffed met,” Father Zohlen said by Sisters of the Holy from Serra Clergy House Names of Jesus and ‘Father Duggan was kind and humble in San Mateo. The two Mary. He began his studpriests served together ies for the priesthood at with great integrity and dignity. He at Star of the Sea Parish Saint Joseph’s College in San Francisco. “Bill in Mountain View, and always thought of others before himself. was quiet and bashful entered Saint Patrick’s and liked paper work,” Seminary in 1947. He He always looked to help others.’ Father Zohlen rememwas ordained for the bered with a laugh. “We Archdiocese of San an agreement that – Lou Giraudo made Francisco by Archbishop I would do the weddings John J. Mitty on Jan. 24, and he would do the 1953. Father Duggan’s first assignment was at St. Monica Parish paperwork. He was a wonderful fellow.” in San Francisco. Lou Giraudo, San Francisco businessman and civic leader, has Father Duggan is survived by his brother, Father Eugene known Father Duggan for half a century. “He has been ‘Uncle Duggan, retired pastor, St. Mary Star of the Sea Parish in Will’ for 50 years,” Giraudo told Catholic San Francisco. “He Sausalito. He was predeceased by his brothers, Father Paul has been friend, counselor, mentor and second father to me, my Duggan, Judge Robert J. Duggan, Philip Duggan, and Raymond wife and our children.” Duggan, and his sister, Holy Names Sister Claire Duggan. “Father Duggan was kind and humble with great integrity and Father Duggan and Father Francis Murray, now living in dignity. He always thought of others before himself. He always retirement at St. Catherine of Siena Parish in Burlingame, entered looked to help others,” Giraudo said. the seminary together as high school freshmen in 1941. Father Duggan also served as pastor of St. Michael Parish now “Everybody liked Bill,” Father Murray said. “He was a ter- St. Michael Korean Parish in San Francisco, and with the Canon Law rific priest and a very peaceful and gentle guy.” Father Murray Department of the Archdiocese of San Francisco. In an announcesaid he and Father Duggan remained friends through the years ment of Father Duggan’s death, Father Michael Padazinski,

current Judicial Vicar and Director of the Metropolitan Tribunal said that even in retirement Father Duggan “was always most generous with his time, humor and canonical expertise.” Father Duggan, at the request of then-Archbishop John R. Quinn, in 1985 undertook two years of canonical studies at Catholic University of Father William Duggan America in Washington, as a young priest D.C. He returned in 1987 with a Licentiate in Canon Law and served for many years in the Tribunal of the Archdiocese of San Francisco as a Judge and Adjutant Judicial Vicar. While working in the Chancery, he initially resided at Saint Veronica Church, and then with the Congregation of Christian Brothers at Sacred Heart High School (where he served as Chaplain), and at Saint Brendan Church. After he retired in 1997, he lived at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in Mill Valley for several years before accepting an invitation to reside at the Bishop’s Residence in the Diocese of Santa Rosa. During his years in Santa Rosa, he continued to provide assistance to the Metropolitan Tribunal of the Archdiocese. A memorial Mass was celebrated March 26 at Nazareth House in San Rafael where Father Duggan had maintained a residence in recent months. Interment was at St. Mary’s Cemetery in Oakland. Remembrances may be made to the Priests’ Retirement Fund of the Archdiocese of San Francisco, One Peter Yorke Way, San Francisco 94109.

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Physicians take legal, educational steps to defend conscience rights By Nancy Frazier O’Brien WASHINGTON (CNS) – To combat what they see as threats to the conscience rights of health care professionals who oppose abortion, the Catholic Medical Association and other organizations are taking both legal and educational steps. The Philadelphia-based Catholic Medical Association, which has some 1,100 members nationwide, has joined with the Christian Medical Association and the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists in an effort to intervene legally against lawsuits filed by the attorneys general of eight states, Planned Parenthood of America and the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association. The suits seek to overturn a Department of Health and Human Services regulation that codifies several existing federal statutes prohibiting discrimination against health professionals who decline to participate in abortions or other medical procedures

because of their religious or other moral objections. On Feb. 27, the Obama administration announced it was reviewing a proposal to rescind the regulation, which took effect two days before the inauguration of President Barack Obama. After the review by the Office of Management and Budget, the proposal is to be published in the Federal Register, opening a 30-day period for public comment. Without the regulation, members of the groups taking steps to keep it in place would be subject to “the imminent threat of being forced ... to perform abortions, assist in abortions, train for abortions and refer individuals for abortions despite their religious, moral and ethical objections to the practice of abortion,” said court papers filed with the U.S. District Court in Hartford, Conn. Attorneys from the Alliance Defense Fund and the Center for Law & Religious Freedom filed the motions on behalf of the three pro-life organizations.

“Physicians must defend their right to practice medicine in accordance with their conscience,” said John Brehany, executive director of the Catholic Medical Association. “It’s a very important principle that every physician should support.” Without conscience protections, for example, physicians or other health care professionals could be subject to government conscription to participate in the executions of death-row prisoners if the state could not find volunteers to do so, Brehany said. The current lawsuits support the “notion that a court can demand (health care professionals) perform actions they believe to be evil,” he added. “That’s getting lost in the heated rhetoric” surrounding the abortion issue, he said. The motions to intervene filed by Matthew S. Bowman of the Washington-based Alliance Defense Fund and M. Casey Mattox of the Center for Law & Religious Freedom in Springfield, Va., argue that pro-life medical professionals could be “forced to CONSCIENCE RIGHTS, page 10

Cardinal O’Malley: health-care agreement must preserve Catholic principles BRAINTREE, Mass. (CNS) – Boston directives for health care facilities forbidCardinal Sean P. O’Malley will seek the ding abortions and all other procedures that advice of the National Catholic Bioethics contradict church teaching. Center on a relationship between Catholic “To be perfectly clear, Caritas Christi hospitals in his archdiocese and a statewill never do anything to promote aborsubsidized health program for the poor. tions, to direct any patients to providers Caritas Christi Health Care, the secondof abortion or in any way to participate largest health care system in New England, in actions that are contrary to Catholic announced March 3 that it is considering an moral teaching, and anyone who suggests agreement that would allow it to be a health otherwise is doing a great disservice to the care provider for poor and low-income Catholic Church,” Cardinal O’Malley said Massachusetts residents enrolled in the in his blog. Commonwealth Care Program. Supporters of keeping abortion legal The proposal has come under fire also criticized the proposal, saying the because the state-run program covers aborCatholic health care network’s involvement tions and family planning services. But would hinder low-income women from getCardinal Sean P. O’Malley Caritas officials said their facilities at “all ting the reproductive services they need. times and in all cases” would abide by the U.S. bishops’ ethical On March 12, the day before Massachusetts authorities

approved the deal, Cardinal O’Malley issued a statement reaffirming that the agreement “can only be realized if the moral obligations for Catholic hospitals as articulated in the Ethical and Religious Directives of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops are fulfilled at all times and in all cases.” He said that in order to make certain that the agreement will provide for the integrity of the Catholic identity and practices of Caritas Christi Health Care System, he has asked the National Catholic Bioethics Center to review the agreement. The Catholic Action League of Boston called the contract “a significant defeat for the pro-life movement, inflicted not by secular society, but by the Catholic Church in Boston.” Catholic San Francisco contributed to this report.

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Catholic San Francisco

March 27, 2009

Seminar: medical professionals lack ethical training on end-of-life care By Michael Vick The debate over end-of-life care is “Medical professionals need to hampered by a lack of proper ethical education in the medical establishmore clearly let it be known they ment, participants at a Catholic medical seminar said last week. are not interested in becoming the “There is a real lack of good formation among health profesexecutioners of their patients.� sionals,� said Dr. George Maloof, a psychiatrist and head of the San – Tom Cavanaugh, USF professor Francisco Catholic Medical Guild. “They’re infected with this same secular mentality. This mindset has affected religious people as well. It Dr. George Maloof Tom Cavanaugh has to be countered and corrected by the Catholic Church.� In an attempt to educate both doctors and the general public, assisted suicide an unnecessary choice. “Medical professionals and have the responsibility to make good decisions during our Maloof has organized seminars and roundtable discussions for need to more clearly let it be known they are not interested in life and at the time of our death.� Gilbert said she maintained nutrition and hydration for her five years. Maloof, who has been active in the end-of-life debate becoming the executioners of their patients,� he said. He said Catholics have been on the forefront of bioethics mother until the very end, and once she needed morphine for her since the 1970s, said public attitudes about the dying process have shifted toward allowing for physician-assisted suicide. He and should continue to draw on Church teaching when opposing pain, she kept the treatments to a minimum to avoid hastening her mother’s death. sees the primary reason as the pervasive influence of materialistic efforts to legalize physician-assisted suicide in California. “I wanted to do this for my mother to let her know how much “California is in the vanguard, and people are always knockideas about life itself. “The underpinning of all these efforts to end life is the secular ing on the door to try to legalize physician assisted suicide here,� I cared about her and that she would die knowing that I loved view that ‘I’m in charge of my life and God has nothing to do with Cavanaugh said. “People just have to be very vigilant, keep their her,� Gilbert said. “As much as humanly possible, I wanted her to have a peaceful, pain-free death surrounded by her loving it,’� Maloof said. “We aren’t in control. God is in control and God heads up and eyes open.� Sharon Gilbert, a nurse, said end-of-life decisions are both family and friends.� has expectations of us. We have to pay close attention to how he End-of- life care may not get as much attention as beginningintensely spiritual and painfully personal when it comes to the wants us to live our lives, including at the end of our lives.� Among the attendees at Maloof’s latest seminar, held impending death of a loved one. Gilbert’s testimony about caring of-life issues like abortion but it is nonetheless of paramount March 18, was Tom Cavanaugh, a philosophy professor at the for her mother before her death in October 2008 was the focus importance, Maloof said. “Not everyone is subject to abortion,� he said. “Everyone is University of San Francisco. Cavanaugh teaches a course in of the recent roundtable. “God is the author of life and death and decides where we subject to death. We all have to end our life sometime. How we medical ethics. He said advances in pain management have made physician- will spend eternity,� Gilbert said. “But we do have a free will do it is a crucial question.�

Conscience rights . . . ■Continued from page 9 relocate to jurisdictions that respect their rights or to leave the profession altogether� if there were no laws protecting their conscience rights. The motions also criticize the “plaintiffs’ baseless allegations that medical professionals exercising their conscience place women at risk of serious injury and even death by failing to render necessary services during medical emergencies.� The three pro-life groups “should be permitted to intervene to respond to these allegations and fully develop the factual record concerning the exercise of conscience by medical professionals,� the motions add. “I’m confident that the court will allow these doctors to intervene because they are the ones who will be forced� to

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Church panel: women deserve dignity as caregivers and those in need of care policies are either overlooked or developed without their input. She said men generally earn more than women, so that when one member of a couple has to stay home as a caregiver, it makes economic sense for it to be the woman. “The structures of society need to be better organized so that all can give and receive care in a dignified manner so that no one, especially women, is subsumed by this work,� she said. Linda M. Sama, a professor of management and associate dean for global initiatives at St. John’s, said policymakers should not find an intractable dichotomy between women as caregivers and women as wage earners. Many women in developed countries and in the developing world are both caregiver and primary wage earner. Family caregivers should be justly compensated and wage earners should be offered flexible working conditions, she said.

By Beth Griffin

UNITED NATIONS (CNS) – Caregiving is deeply embedded in the tenets of the world’s religions, but the world’s societies routinely devalue caregivers and the people who depend on them, said a panel of speakers March 11 in New York. The program, called “Caregiving Within the Family,� was the fourth discussion in a series called “The Human Dignity of Women in Contemporary Society,� sponsored by the Vatican’s U.N. mission, the Path to Peace Foundation, Franciscans International and the Vincentian Center for Church and Society at St. John’s University in Queens. Earlier sessions explored women in migration, violence against women and economic injustice. “The Catholic Church played a fundamental role in paving the way for the emancipation and empowerment Archbishop Celestino Migliore of women,� said Archbishop Celestino Migliore, apostolic nuncio to the United Nations. “Caregiving is the scourge of international issues,� said moderator Mary Ann Dantuono, a lawyer and the Vincentian center’s associate director. She defined caregiving as “everything we do to maintain, continue and repair our world so we can live in it as well as possible.� Marilyn A. Martone, a moral theologian and associate professor at St. John’s University, said, “The need for care is part of the QUALITY HOME CARE human condition. We need to emphasize that those who need care SERVING THE BAY AREA SINCE 1996 are as fully human as those who provide it.� * Attendants * Companions * Hospice * Respite Care “Because the market does not value this labor does not make it less important,� she added. Competitive Rates Martone said people who care for children, the elderly and All service providers carefully screened the disabled are vulnerable not because of their actual labor, but We are insured and bonded because societal structures work against them and government Full Payroll Service 2021 Taraval Street #2, SF www.irishhelpathome.com

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“Dignity is not a privilege; it is a fundamental human right that requires top-down intervention and bottom-up mediation,� she said. Grass-roots efforts to change attitudes are important, she said, but are “impotent� unless they are linked to national political efforts to empower caregivers. Sama said steps to empowerment include involving women in local and national decision-making; opening economic partnerships and opportunities to women, and providing education, access to health care and humane working conditions. She called violence against women “the least punished crime in the world� and said it must be eliminated. Sister Marie-Bernard Alima Mbalula, a Sister of St. Joseph of Kalemie and executive secretary of the Commission on Justice and Peace of the association of the Central African bishops’ conferences, said the HIV and AIDS epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa disproportionately affects women and young girls. She said feminization of the disease is caused by cultural factors such as polygamy, female circumcision, sexual violence, the weak role that women have in choosing whom to marry and inequality between men and women.

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Catholic San Francisco

March 27, 2009

Guest commentary: The medical and spiritual benefits of advanced directives on end-of-life care By Robert Issai, President and CEO, Daughters of Charity Health System On March 31, 2005, Theresa “Terri” Marie Schiavo, a Roman Catholic, was pronounced dead due to severe dehydration 13 days after her feeding tube was removed for the final time. The battle of wills between her husband, Michael, and her parents, Robert and Mary Schindler, played out on a public stage creating a legal and political firestorm that swept through the hearts and minds of people worldwide. This landmark case touched myriad agencies from the Pinellas County Circuit Court all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. The opposing parties involved in this litigation thought they knew best what Terri wanted. But what was sorely lacking in the 13-year legal battle was an advance directive from Schiavo herself expressing her own end-of-life wishes. Had she prepared an advance directive guiding her care, the cacophony of conflicts – medical, legal and personal– would likely have been avoided. The respect and dignity she deserved during her illness and subsequent death would have been preserved. The Daughters of Charity Health System (DCHS), along with national, state and community organizations, will observe National Healthcare Decisions Day (NHDD) on April 16. The initiative highlights the importance of advance healthcare decision-making. But more important than recording our final wishes, or assigning an “agent” to oversee our decisions should we be unable to do so, is the opportunity to state our end-of-life decisions in union with the traditions of the Catholic Church. Catholic teachings are based on beliefs we all embrace such as the sanctity of life, human dignity, and the redemptive power of suffering. We also accept that putting these ideals into practice doesn’t always come easy. Watching a loved one suffer through a life-threatening illness while retaining one’s faith and hope is one of life’s most difficult challenges. While it is understandable

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that many Catholics feel uneasy at the intersection of religion Chaplain Services department offers guidance and support. and medicine, to avoid preparing an advance directive due to The Theresa Marie Schiavo case is a useful example of what misconceptions and confusion as to the teachings can happen when our end-of-life decisions are not of the Church is untenable. recorded. Terri Schiavo was only 26 when she colEducation is the best way to avoid the pitfalls lapsed, leading us to encourage everyone 18 years that create end-of-life drama within families and, and older to complete an advance directive. Save ultimately, society as a whole. DCHS is mandated your family the pain of second-guessing and allow by federal law to offer advance directive informayourself the gift of peace. tion to all of our patients. A Catholic Guide to On April 16, I will lead the drive for DCHS Critical End of Life Decisions: Advance Directives leadership, physicians, and staff to complete is presented to each patient upon admittance. their advance directive form. I urge you to do The 19-page booklet, authored by Father Gerald the same. Robert Issai Coleman, S.S., vice president of corporate ethics For more information about National for DCHS, has been translated into several languages in order Healthcare Decisions Day 2009, please visit www.nationalheathto better serve our diverse community. If questions arise, our caredecisionsday.org.

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FIFTH SUNDAY OF LENT

Scripture reflection

Jeremiah 31:31-34; Psalm 51:3-+4, 12-13, 14-15; Hebrews 5:7-9; John 12:20-33 A READING FROM THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH JER 31:31-34 The days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their fathers the day I took them by the hand to lead them forth from the land of Egypt; for they broke my covenant, and I had to show myself their master, says the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord. I will place my law within them and write it upon their hearts; I will be their God, and they shall be my people. No longer will they have need to teach their friends and relatives how to know the Lord. All, from least to greatest, shall know me, says the Lord, for I will forgive their evildoing and remember their sin no more. RESPONSORIAL PSALM PS 51:3-4, 12-13, 14-15 R. Create a clean heart in me, O God. Have mercy on me, O God, in your goodness; in the greatness of your compassion wipe out my offense. Thoroughly wash me from my guilt and of my sin cleanse me. R. Create a clean heart in me, O God. A clean heart create for me, O God, and a steadfast spirit renew within me. Cast me not out from your presence, and your Holy Spirit take not from me. R. Create a clean heart in me, O God. Give me back the joy of your salvation, and a willing spirit sustain in me. I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners shall return to you. R. Create a clean heart in me, O God. A READING FROM THE LETTER TO THE HEBREWS HEB 5:7-9 In the days when Christ Jesus was in the flesh, he offered prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered; and when he was made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him.

A READING FROM THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO JOHN JN 12:20-33

Some Greeks who had come to worship at the Passover Feast came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, “Sir, we would like to see Jesus.” Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there also will my servant be. The Father will honor whoever serves me. “I am troubled now. Yet what should I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But it was for this purpose that I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it and will glorify it again.” The crowd there heard it and said it was thunder; but others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” Jesus answered and said, “This voice did not come for my sake but for yours. Now is the time of judgment on this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself.” He said this indicating the kind of death he would die.

FATHER CHARLES PUTHOTA

‘I will place my law within them and write it upon their hearts’ “The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched,” says Helen Keller. “They must be felt with the heart.” Obviously, these are spiritual gifts. Even the physical things that appeal to our senses cannot be appreciated – and celebrated – without the heart. In The Little Prince, Antoine Saint-Exupéry, too, is convinced: “It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.” God is most familiar with the human heart for He created it for us as the center of love and beauty. He knows that when we do not live from the heart, we cannot make good choices. We can lose sight of things that really matter, and go in pursuit of shadows and shallows. The outcome can be nothing short of heartbreak. In prophet Jeremiah, God is disappointed that people “broke” the covenant He made after liberation from Egypt. He wonders if His law might have seemed too external a requirement, written on the tablets. Is it possible that people misunderstood His mind and heart? Is it because they refused to take God’s message to heart? Probing the human heart, the ever-imaginative God now comes up with a new internalizing strategy: “I will place my law within them and write it upon their hearts; I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” As a result, the knowledge of God will now be innate. People will know intuitively that God is close to them. They will feel Him in their hearts and respond wholeheartedly. They will spontaneously experience Him as intimate and irresistible. No more will they have “to teach their friends and relatives how to know the Lord. All, from least to greatest, shall know me.” All they need to do now is simply to look into their hearts. The Psalmist, too, knowing that the human heart can be clouded by passions and burdened with anxieties, prays: “A clean heart create for me, O God, and a steadfast spirit renew within me.” Without a pure heart how can we know God and arrive at the heart of things? In Christianity, knowing God is incarnational. Jesus says, “If you know me, then you will also know my Father. From now on you do know him and have seen him…. Whoever

Our Lenten Journey

The courage to live By Rob Grnt “And Jesus wept.” These three words happen to be the shortest passage in all the Christian Scriptures. And it figures that it is John who would remember and record such a detail. Here he is, Jesus the Christ. The Word Incarnate. The omnipotent. The One who knows all. Sees all. And, as John would remind us, feels all. The One who weeps. As Synoptics, the other evangelists Matthew, Mark and Luke set out to tell us what Jesus did while he walked this planet. As the visionary, the poet John is concerned less with the facts and more with the overriding truth of the timeless God’s intimate presence in human history. There’s a wonderful Rabbinical saying about truth: “Truth is too important to be limited to the facts.” While the other writers tell us a lot about what Jesus said, John let’s us know more of why he said it, and what it means in the bigger picture. John celebrates Christ’s humanity, seeing it not as a contradiction, an inconvenience to the spirit,

but as the crucible into which God’s loving presence is poured and made most tangible. John’s reminders do more than point to Jesus’ successful blending of his divine and human natures– they challenge us to fully and joyfully embrace ours. In last week’s story of the man born blind, and, in the week before, the tale of the Samaritan woman, we see that Jesus’ response to need, to suffering and pain is not to ask us to rise above it, to sublimate it. Rather, Jesus challenges us to face it, be truly in it, knowing that only by openly embracing the darkness can we come to see its reflection, the brilliance of the loving compassion of God. Jesus does not end his conversation with the grieving Martha and Mary by blithely saying, “Don’t worry; everything will be all right. Lazarus will rise again.” Instead, Jesus acknowledges the real-life, present-day pain of those around him and allows himself to get close enough physically and emotionally to take in the pain and sorrow, pleasures and joys of life. Conventional theological understandings of Lent (and the notion of suffering in general) lead us to believe that our vocation OUR LENTEN JOURNEY, page 18

has seen me has seen the Father” (Jn 14: 7, 9). If God in Jeremiah’s time wrote the law upon people’s hearts, in the new covenantal relationship, in His beloved son Jesus, He has poured out His heart unreservedly to us. Jesus is not only the face of God turned toward the world, but also the heart of God opened as widely as possible. In Jesus, God speaks to us heart-to-heart. There is nothing greater or deeper or more beautiful. The Greeks in the gospel say to Philip, “Sir, we would like to see Jesus.” The philosophically gifted Greeks know that their search for truth and wisdom through rational categories is not adequate. There is something still missing. Their minds may probe reasons, but their hearts are still not nourished. Is there any wonder then they want to see Jesus? In John’s gospel, seeing is believing. The invitation early on to “come and see” transforms the two disciples (Jn 1:39). Through the heart, we, too, can see and understand the love of God revealed in Jesus Christ. Jesus uses the encounter with the Greeks to lead us to what lies ahead in his mission. Using the autobiographical parable of the grain of wheat dying before it can produce fruit, Jesus reveals that he is ready to embrace suffering and death because “it was for this purpose that I came to this hour.” When Jesus is lifted up on the cross, we will be drawn to him spontaneously from our hearts. His death will end our death, leading us to everlasting life. In Hebrews, the humanity of Jesus who “offered prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears” tugs at our heartstrings, prompting a heartfelt response. As Lent brings us closer to the paschal mysteries, we put our heart into the spiritual journey. Our hearts now begin to see. They are filled with Jesus, our life and resurrection. He will give us a new vision into the mysteries of life and death. Suffering then shall become redemptive. Our service of others shall become a privilege. Our love for the poor shall become part of the mission of Jesus. How else can it be when God has written Jesus upon our hearts? Father Charles Puthota, Ph.D. is pastor of St. Veronica Parish in So. San Francisco.

14

Catholic San Francisco

March 27, 2009

Catholic san Francisco Northern California’s Weekly Catholic Newspaper

Views in the news Conscience rights of health care providers By Catholic News Service WASHINGTON – Rather than working to rescind a regulation that gives federal protection to the conscience rights of health care providers and institutions, the Obama administration’s proper role is to enforce the will of Congress as already expressed in existing statutes, said attorneys for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Anthony R. Picarello Jr., USCCB general counsel, and Michael F. Moses, associate general counsel, filed public comments on behalf of the USCCB March 23 with the Department of Health and Human Services. HHS opened a 30-day comment period March 10 on whether it should rescind a regulation that took effect two days before President Barack Obama took office. The rule codifies three longtime federal statutes prohibiting discrimination against health professionals who decline to participate in abortions or other medical procedures because of their religious or other moral objections. “The question is not whether the policy to be pursued is the strong protection of conscience in health care – Congress has already decided that question repeatedly and decisively by a series of statutes – but how best to enforce the policy of conscience protection already expressed in those statutes,” Picarello and Moses said. The USCCB comments also said rescission of the regulation would conflict with the administration’s stated goals of promoting “choice” and reducing abortions. The U.S. Catholic Bishops Conference also said rescinding the conscience regulation would reduce health care options for the poor and other underserved populations; and perpetuate the “undisguised hostility to conscience rights” and widespread ignorance of existing law that are already rampant. “If the administration’s policy is one of ‘choice,’ it cannot, consistent with that policy, refuse to accommodate a health care provider’s choice not to participate in abortion,” the USCCB said. “Otherwise, the policy is simply one of unmasked coercion.” Similarly, it makes no sense to contend that one is working to reduce abortions by increasing access to abortion, the comments said. “Increasing abortion access increases abortion rates,” the USCCB lawyers said. “The administration cannot coherently – or in good faith – claim to stand for both policies at the same time.” In soliciting public comment on the proposed rescission, HHS asked whether the regulation “reduces access to information and health care services, particularly by lowincome women,” as some groups such as Planned Parenthood and NARAL Pro-Choice America have charged. The USCCB attorneys said rescinding the conscience regulation “would have uncertain effects on access” to abortion and sterilization, but “would certainly reduce access to life-affirming health care services, especially for poor and underserved populations.” Faced with a lack of conscience protections, health care providers and institutions opposed to abortion or sterilization could be forced out of business, thus reducing access to all health care, they added. “Indeed, the poorest and neediest patients will suffer the most from such reduction in access to life-affirming health care. “Those who allege a conflict between conscience and ‘access’ neglect to ask why rural and other underserved areas are so frequently served only by a Catholic or other faithbased provider,” the USCCB comments said. “This occurs because for-profit providers see no profit margin in serving poor or sparsely populated areas, while religiously affiliated providers ... see those patients as having inherent human dignity and human rights. “If these providers were barred from acting in accord with the moral and religious convictions that motivated them to provide life-affirming health care in the first place, the result will not be more comprehensive health care for these areas but, in some cases, none at all,” they added. As evidence of the need for the current regulation, the USCCB attorneys said negative public reaction even before the rule took effect “demonstrates, at best, a deplorable lack of understanding about the federal legislative rights of conscience on which the regulation is based, at worst outright hostility to those statutory rights.” They also cited actions by groups such as the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the American Civil Liberties Union, NARAL Pro-Choice America and various state and local governments to ignore or override conscience rights in violation of the current federal statutes. The USCCB called for outreach and educational efforts by HHS about the regulation “in addition to, rather than in lieu of, vigorous regulatory implementation of the existing conscience statutes.” “Public misperception about the conscience regulation and the statutes they enforce is, in and of itself, a testament to the need for regulatory enforcement and other guidance from HHS,” the comments said. “Congress has made its policy choice – a choice that respects and advances this nation’s founding principles of religious liberty and diversity, and that tends to increase patients’ ready access to basic health care, regardless of their location or socio-economic status,” the comments concluded. “The administration’s regulatory actions should faithfully enforce that existing policy choice.”

Oppose death penalty

Concerns about Obama

It was good to see a full page article in which Catholic leaders opposed the Death Penalty (CSF March 20). If we are to respect life from beginning to end, then as Catholics we need to oppose the death penalty. New Mexico’s Governor recently signed a bill passed by the State legislature banning the death penalty. Life without any possibility of parole is cheaper and far more humane than the death penalty. Deacon George Salinger San Carlos

‘The Honeymoon is over’ (CSF March 20), a Guest Commentary by George Wesolek, archdiocesan director of public policy and social concerns, is welcome news. But it prompts some concerns about the “honeymoon.” On July 17, 2007 candidate Barack Obama declared to the Planned Parenthood Political Action Committee: “The first thing I’d do, as president, is sign the Freedom of Choice Act.” (FOCA) Fifty four percent of Catholics voted for Barack Obama and most continue to support this president who will unleash a 21st century holocaust when he signs FOCA. The “freedom“ to kill the unborn will also become freedom to kill oneself, then the handicapped, the suffering and terminally ill, and the aged. Catholics also should be concerned about Obama’s health care plan. It will promote assisted suicide and rationed care for the aged. Denver Archbishop Charles J. Chaput expressed these concerns in an address at the University of Toronto on February 23, 2009, an excerpt includes: “When it comes to the current administration a spirit of adulation bordering on servility exists among Catholic writers, scholars, editors and activists.” …”Hope” is not an emotional crutch or a political slogan, it is a virtue… The Latin root “Virtus” means courage.”... “Real hope demands a spine when the answer to hard choices must be: No, we can’t, not Yes, we can. Mike DeNunzio San Francisco Ed. Note: Mr. DeNunzio is a California State Commissioner on Aging, appointed by Governor Schwarzenegger.

Thanks and praise I want to thank Catholic San Francisco for putting our championship photo in the March 13 issue. It was indeed a great day on Feb. 28 when we won our first CCS Soccer Championship. It took 36 years to achieve this goal. I want to thank you also for the large packet of copies of Catholic San Francisco. We gave all familiar with the team a copy of the newspaper at our March 18 Soccer Banquet. It will be a great moment to remember. I have included a copy of our Inside SI which took a hint from Catholic San Francisco by giving our team a school-wide coverage which really gave soccer a proud moment. P.S. Many people keep commenting on your coverage of my brother, Father Mario, and me a month ago in ‘On the Street Where You Live.’ It is good to see the wide coverage that Catholic San Francisco has throughout the Bay Area. Many thanks again for that coverage. God bless you all. Father Paul Capitolo, SJ St. Ignatius College Preparatory San Francisco

Dismayed parishioner

L E T T E R S

I was dismayed to attend Mass in San Francisco March 23 and hear the priest use part of his homily to speak disparagingly of the new bishop of Oakland, Bishop Salvatore Cordileone. The priest recounted how he called a friend in San Diego who said they would be shedding no tears, and then he called a priest friend in Oakland who said this would be a good time to consider retirement. This priest then went on to unfairly say that Bishop Cordileone wants to return the Church to pre-Vatican II liturgy, which drew a round of chuckles from his captive daily Mass-going audience. Bishop Cordileone is a man of tremendous worth whose devotion to the Church is without question. But beyond that, even if he were not someone of such a “lion-hearted” character, the comments were uncharitable and unprofessional. As a Catholic, we are taught to respect the office of the priest and of the bishops because they are consecrated to represent Christ to his Church. What kind of an example is a gossipy, uncharitable public disparagement of a man chosen by Pope Benedict XVI to lead our brothers and sisters across the Bay? We try to teach our children to respect priests and we are urging our young men to consider vocations to the priesthood. This is not an example that is worthy of emulation. Valerie M. Schmalz San Francisco

Letters welcome Catholic San Francisco welcomes letters from its readers. Please: ➣ Include your name, address and daytime phone number. ➣ Sign your letter. ➣ Limit submissions to 250 words. ➣ Note that the newspaper reserves the right to edit for clarity and length. Send your letters to: Catholic San Francisco One Peter Yorke Way San Francisco, CA 94109 Fax: (415) 614-5641 E-mail: healym@sfarchdiocese.org or visit our website at www.catholic-sf.org, Contact Us

Applauds Obama

I applaud President Obama’s reversal of the Bush ban on federal funding of embryonic stem-cell research. Unlike the erroneous statements published in recent weeks, Obama’s actions merely allow for true science to occur. Real science is based on thorough and complete research. Scientific research should never be controlled by personal convictions or based on even one group’s religious beliefs. That’s fine for church policy; but that’s not science. Granted, there have been breakthroughs in using alternatives to embryonic stem-cell research, but nothing Obama has done will affect that research. It’s far too early to close the door on any potential for breakthroughs, even using frozen embryos that have historically been destroyed after a certain date. Bush did fund stem cell research, but legitimate authorities admit that the very narrow restrictions made most research unacceptably limited. Not surprisingly, much research stopped, and all were forced to look elsewhere; but that’s not real science. Considering the millions in need of a cure, anything less that complete scientific research examining all forms of stem cell research is indefensible. After the pope made his recent inaccurate and scientifically unsupportable statements regarding the use of condoms in fighting AIDS, we see all too clearly the role of true science in church policy. All are free to make their personal decisions based on our own religious beliefs, but understand that intelligent thinking people know good “science” when they see it, and all too often, it’s missing in church policy. Peter Mandell San Francisco Ed. Note: Cardinal Justin Rigali, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities, commented March 9: “President Obama’s new executive order on embryonic stem cell research is a sad victory of politics over science and ethics. This action is morally wrong because it encourages the destruction of innocent human life, treating vulnerable human beings as mere products to be harvested. It also disregards the values of millions of American taxpayers who oppose research that requires taking human life. Finally, it ignores the fact that ethically sound means for advancing stem cell science and medical treatments are readily available and in need of increased support. See CSF March 10 online at www.catholic-sf.org.

March 27, 2009

Catholic San Francisco

15

The Catholic Difference

Food, sex, and us George F. Will calls Mary Eberstadt “intimidatingly intelligent.” George must be easily intimidated these days, because Mary is one of the nicest (and funniest) people I know. She’s also our premier analyst of American cultural foibles and follies, with a keen eye for oddities that illuminate just how strange the country’s moral culture has become. In mid-2008, Mary penned the “The Vindication of Humanae Vitae,” the best defense of the encyclical written on its 40th anniversary. (If you missed it, you can retrieve it at www.firstthings.com). Now, in Policy Review, she’s written “Is Food the New Sex?” – a brilliant dissection of culinary puritanism and bedroom libertinism that includes the greatest subhead in recent magazine history: “Broccoli, Pornography, and Kant.” But don’t let the invocation of the Sage of Koenigsberg put you off your feed, so to speak; the article is quite accessible to those who last encountered The Critique of Pure Reason via CliffsNotes. Mary Eberstadt’s argument is neatly conveyed by her fictitious, but telling, tale of two women. Betty is 30-year-old Jennifer’s grandmother. Imagine Betty when she was 30 – in, say, 1958. Betty didn’t think about food a lot. She cooked and served her family lots of red meat, baked cookies and pies using refined sugar, gave the kids whole milk, got many of her vegetables out of tin cans, snuck in the occasional Swanson’s TV Dinner, and imagined that the only critical judgment involved in eating centered on the question, “Does it taste good?” By contrast, her granddaughter Jennifer has settled

opinions about food – lots of settled opinions, which she thinks of as moral judgments engaging serious questions of good and evil. She wouldn’t ingest a bacon cheeseburger if she were starving. Swordfish steaks are forbidden, because swordfish are an endangered species. Frozen foods are for cannibals and Republicans; “organic” is in, refined sugar is out; tinned anything is yuck, because of both the food and the tin can. On the other hand, if Betty imagined judgments about food to involve relatively trivial questions of taste, she knew that there was an area of domestic life in which grave questions of right and wrong really were involved – and they had to do with sex: sex outside marriage was bad, period. Jennifer, despite her moralizing about food and her censoriousness about lardbellies watching the Super Bowl while scarfing down potato chips and California dip, is unprepared to make moral judgments about sex the way Betty was. In fact, Jennifer believes that there are no serious moral judgments involved in sex (of whatever declination) “so long as no one else gets hurt.” Sex once involved taboos, transmitted by culture and powerfully enforced by society. Food is now taboo-ridden among upscale young people, while life for many American 30-somethings is a sexual free-fire zone. In that zone, moral judgments are not only eliminated but actively proscribed by strong taboos: “Why are you so judgmental?” “Why are you imposing your values on others?” Violate those taboos, and you risk the kind of ostracism once visited upon Hester Prynne.

What’s going on here? Mary Eberstadt suggests that a weird inversion is underway, driven by unfocused but slightly guilty consciences: “The rules being drawn around food receive some force George Weigel from the fact that people are uncomfortable with how far the sexual revolution has gone – and not knowing what to do about it, they turn for increasing consolation to mining morality out of what they eat.” When I was a teenager, one of the reasons Americans went to Europe was to eat, it being assumed that American cuisine was inferior. Which it was, in the main. Today, there are very, very few wonderfully edible things that you can’t find in American stores and restaurants. Indeed, one of the signal improvements in American culture over the past two generations is its new respect for food. But better cooking and a deepened respect for the culinary arts are one thing; misplaced moral judgments are another. If Whole Foods is a culture’s answer to the demise of the Sixth Commandment, that culture is suffering from moral indigestion. George Weigel is Distinguished Senior Fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C.

Potpourri

You can do it, Flea! “How ya’ doin’, Flea?” The familiar voice hummed over long distance wires, and I was a child again, back home with my big brother. ‘Hoot’– my nickname for him – had taught me how to swim and dive. “You can do it, Flea!” he insisted as my toes curled in terror into the creek’s muddy bank. And the day we found old Teddy dead beneath the lilac bush, my big brother taught me to giggle through my tears with the joyous nonsense of picturing our pet in paradise, lifting his leg against an angel’s harp! Talking to Hoot brought back little girl memories of lessons well learned, of life’s bitter blows sweetened somewhat by a delicate dollop of whimsy. On this July evening, I told Hoot my agent had placed my latest book. Hoot reported that his oldest daughter was expecting her second baby. I hoped my brother was calling to tell me he was making a business trip to San Francisco. Instead, his next words, though quietly spoken, hit me like a fist. “I’ve got a tumor on my colon.” The surgery was scheduled for Thursday … no, there was no need for me to fly back … he would rather see me when he was feeling good again. Finally, with reluctance, “It’s malignant.”

Cancer! Dear God, no! The stunned child within me cried. Aloud, I managed to say, “Courage. We’ll all be praying.” In the leaden weeks that followed, I vividly I recalled the long-legged hockey player showing me how to twirl on the frozen pond, the geometry whiz helping me with eighth-grade math, the lanky college kid teaching me how to dance. And deep within my heart the anguished little sister of long ago kept moaning, No, not Hoot! Lourdes! He would be cured there. I knew it. “I’m not sure I’m up to it, Flea.” His voice was weak. Despite the surgery, the cancer had metastasized. “You’ll make it,” I said. He had to make it. I pictured him bathing in the holy waters while the power of healing flowed into him – while a miracle happened. “Hang in there, Hoot.” “Will do, Flea.” The call came a week before we were to leave for France. I thought it might be the airline confirming the complicated network of ambulance and wheel chair I had ordered for my brother. Instead, it was Hoot’s wife. She told me my brother had peacefully died twenty minutes ago. Why, God! Why? I could not accept his death. In the leaden days after the funeral a letter arrived from Hoot’s widow. In it was the cloth of the Padre Pio relic I had sent him. He wanted me to have it. Wiping my tears, I looked at the tattered relic.

Instead of the miraculous cure I had wanted, there had been a graceful, painless death. Was not that a wondrous thing? Could I not accept such a tender marvel with deepest gratitude? Kissing the relic, I declared at last the Jane L. Sears difficult words Hoot must have prayed at the last: “Father, not my will but thine be done.” I felt soothed by an inner peace. My brother had taught me many things, but by his death he taught me the greatest thing of all: how to pray. Outside, the sky was ruddy with sunset. Two bright stars twinkled prematurely. I pictured a gay little dog wagging a welcome – and a carefree young man stepping onto a shore and finding heaven. In my heart I heard him say, “You can do it, Flea.” And I smiled. “Sure, Hoot. I can do it.” A little sister’s mournful cry was still at last. Jane L. Sears is a freelance writer and a member of Our Lady of Angels Parish, Burlingame

Spirituality for Life

Congenital jealousy and a higher invitation All of you are loving each other and I may be left out! That feeling, that particular fear, according to Robert Moore, lies at the base of jealousy. That was the fear of Cain, the archetypal biblical character who was the first person to murder his brother out of jealousy. What prompted his jealousy? Whatever it is that lies inside this metaphor: God looked with favor upon Abel and his offering, but God did not look with favor upon Cain and his offering. For whatever reason, it seemed to Cain that everyone else was loving each other and he was left out! And so, scripture says, jealousy turned him into a killer and, I suspect, the identical dynamic is present every time we see a mass murder like the ones that occurred at Virginia Tech, Columbine, and more recently in Germany and Alabama. The killers are always lonely, dangerously isolated individuals who, no doubt, share with Cain the experience of seeing others’ offering as acceptable and their own as not. Everyone else, it seems, is loving each other and they are being left out. Moreover, what we see acted out so horrifically in these mass murders often acts itself out inside of us on a smaller stage. Because of jealousy we too are all killers, except when we kill we do not do it with guns. We do it with thoughts and words. Henri Nouwen once coined this mantra: Anyone shot by a gun is first shot by a word and anyone shot by a word is first shot by

a thought. He is right. We murder in our thoughts every time we say inside ourselves: “Who does he think he is! She thinks she’s so clever! He thinks he’s God’s gift to creation! She’s so full of herself!” Who of us has not walked into a meeting, a boardroom, a church assembly, a family dinner, a social situation, or a gathering of some kind and, not unlike the mass murderers at Columbine or Virginia Tech, subtly sprayed bullets of jealous anger around the gathering? When we are wounded like Cain, when it seems like our offering is not being accepted while that of others is, when it seems like everyone is loving each other and we are being left out, the spontaneous impulse is to kill in word, thought, and attitude. What’s to be done? How do we live beyond jealousy and the sense of being left out? The first thing is to admit our jealousy. It is never a question of whether we suffer from jealousy or not, but only of what we do with our jealousy. We all suffer from jealousy and the bitter and murderous thoughts that it can trigger. Once we have admitted that we are jealous, we are invited to move on and see our response to jealousy as precisely the greatest moral and spiritual challenge of our lives. That is not over-stated. When we look at the drama of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, the drama in which he struggles to give his death over to us as he had been giving his life over, we see that this

drama is precisely a drama of love, not a physical one. Unlike Mel Gibson’s film, “The Passion of the Christ,” the gospel accounts of Jesus’ passion and death do not emphasize his physical sufferings, in fact they almost Father write them out. What they Ron Rolheiser do emphasize rather is his moral and emotional loneliness, his distance from others, his being cut out of the circle of human understanding, and his exclusion from human intimacy. The gospels tell us that he “was a stone’s throw from everyone”, a condition Gil Bailie characterizes as unanimity-minus-one. As Jesus approached his death, his earthly experience paralleled that of Cain. His offering, it seemed, was not being accepted, either by God or everyone around him. He felt the radical isolation that comes precisely from exclusion, from misunderstanding, from being the object of hatred. The human temptation, surely, must have been toward bitterness, ROLHEISER, page 18

16

Catholic San Francisco

March 27, 2009

Music TV

Books RADIO Film Stage

‘Duplicity’ comes through as a timely and sophisticated romantic caper By John Mulderig NEW YORK (CNS) – There could hardly be a timelier topic than the underhanded shenanigans that result from corporate greed or a more sophisticated vehicle for exploring them than “Duplicity� (Universal/Relativity), writer-director Tony Gilroy’s tartly clever follow-up to his impressive feature debut, “Michael Clayton.� This romantic caper chronicles the fraught relationship between CIA agent Claire Stenwick (Julia Roberts, returning to a lead role after five years spent concentrating on family life) and British intelligence officer Ray Koval (Clive Owen). Their history begins inauspiciously with Claire seducing and drugging Ray in order to make off with classified documents, an incident he has yet to forgive by the time circumstances reunite them some years later. Unable to relate to ordinary, straightforward people, however, the devious pair quickly establishes a bond based on fascinated mutual mistrust. Mingling the professional with the personal, they quit their government jobs and move into the lucrative world of industrial espionage, where they position themselves to exploit the noholds-barred feud between two rival pharmaceutical companies, one led by Howard Tully (Tom Wilkinson), the other by Richard Garsik (Paul Giamatti).

Julia Roberts and Clive Owen

The ruthless nature of the struggle between these boardroom titans is memorably conveyed in the film’s opening scene as, decked out in formal business suits, they awkwardly and incongruously grapple on an airport runway used by their private jets. Gilroy employs slow motion to highlight the absurdity of their chaotic encounter. As a long monologue of Wilkinson’s later makes clear, goals

like creating quality products or providing a valuable service have been entirely forgotten in the mindless race for competitive advantage and one-upmanship. A series of revelatory flashbacks and genuinely surprising twists provide this globe-trotting thriller with all the complexity of a master chess match, and the prodigiously gifted cast creates and sustains an atmosphere of urgency. Gilroy’s script takes it for granted that Claire and Ray express their affection in an intense unwedded affair, and makes a joke of Ray’s history of promiscuity. But it also presents their love as a potential source of redemption from the cynicism and paranoia they share with everyone around them, while moving toward an aesthetically satisfying and mostly moral wrap-up. The film contains brief, nongraphic, premarital sexual activity; some sexual humor and references; occasional crude and crass language; and at least a dozen profanities. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is A-III – adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 – parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13. Mulderig is on the staff of the Office for Film & Broadcasting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. More reviews are available online at www.usccb.org/movies.

Reflections and menus offer satisfying glimpse into saints’ lives “SAINTS AT THE DINNER TABLE� by Amy Heyd. St. Anthony Messenger Press (Cincinnati, 2008). 158 pp., $19.95.

Reviewed by Rachelle Linner “Saints at the Dinner Table� is simple and satisfying in its idea and execution: to create and present menus inspired by reflections on the lives of 12 saints. The book is informed by author Amy Heyd’s gratitude for her family, her faith and her vocation as a wife, mother of three children and gifted cook. Heyd’s inspiration for the book was the realization that her prayers were more confident when she felt a connection with a saint’s life. She writes about praying to St. Joseph in the dark hours when her father was hospitalized with a serious stroke. “In that quiet and heart-wrenching moment, I felt that Joseph himself had stepped off the pedestal, took my hand and walked into my dad’s room with me.� In St. Joseph’s strength and presence she found a “wonderful listener� and “friend I could talk to in my time of need.� “In my quest to ‘relate’ to the saints, I started an intentioned journey to find a collection of saints on whom I could call,� Heyd writes. She began with those who, like her,

ADSAD

were interested in “food and caretaking.� The fruit of this journey is this lovely book of meditations and recipes that celebrate three biblical saints (Joseph, Andrew the Apostle and Martha); eight historical European saints (Brigid of Ireland, Isidore the farmer, Margaret of Scotland, Hildegard of Bingen, Clare of Assisi, Elizabeth of Hungary, Notburga and Didacus of Spain); and the recently canonized Sudanese St. Josephine Bakhita. Each chapter begins with several pages of text (an explanation of the saint’s historical or scriptural context, a reflection and a description of the meal) followed by the recipes (usually a main course, salad, vegetable and dessert) and concluding with thoughtful questions for dinner conversations and a prayer. The meals are well-balanced, though heavy on meat and dairy products and sometimes an unfortunate use of processed commercial foods. Many of the menu plans include traditional foods from a saint’s country or region, such as the chicken saltimbocca for St. Clare, colcannon for St. Brigid, and Sudanese beef and potatoes for St. Josephine. Other menu choices, like those honoring St. Joseph, are metaphorical. “The lamb chops remind me of how Joseph helped raise Jesus,

“The Downsizing Impact on Couples, Faith in Practice�

Connie and Joewill D’Aura Stephen’s Parish, Francisco, recently celebrated This presentation provideofanSt. overview of Dr. John San Gottman’s 35 years of ground breaking their 25th wedding anniversary. research with over 3500 couples on what works in relationships. We will cover what the “Masters of Marriage� are doing right to increase intimacy, romance, and emotional connection. Careera changes are part of their and now arerelationships. Adding few easy steps can make a bigjourney difference over timethey in our facing the reality of seeking work at the same time! Their

strong Catholic taught that change is & a great Presented by Robert faith Navarra, Robertthem is a Licensed Marriage Family Therapist private practice the Bay Areathose for over 27 years. is a time toinexamine valuesin and apply values to He their Certified Gottman Therapist and Couples Workshop Leader trained career goals. Connie & Joe facilitate a marriage preparationby Drs. John & Julie Gottman. Additionally, Robert has worked as an adjunct faculty to the Archdiocese of SandeFrancisco based engaged atprogram Santa Clara University, Notre Dame Namur University, and St. Patrick’s couples where calledhe “Marriage ForCounseling Life�. Respectful is one key Seminary taught Pastoral for 8 years.communication For more info: sacramental marriage life. They’ll share how it applies to their own marriage. www.robertnavarra.net

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April 8, 2009: 5:30-7:30pm Caesar’s Italian Restaurant, 2299 Powell Street at Bay Street Format: Registration begins at 5:30pm followed by networking. Program begins at 6pm, ending by 7:30pm. Includes Caesar’s antipasti appetizers served throughout the evening. No host beverages. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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the lamb of God. The breadcrumbs on top of the Carpenter Tomatoes resemble the sawdust that must have scattered the floors in Joseph’s workshop. The mashed potatoes are a traditional comfort food and signify the comfort that St. Joseph has always given me. The Rocky Road Cake is symbolic of the difficult roads, both literally and symbolically, that Mary and Joseph had to travel during Mary’s pregnancy and throughout Jesus’ childhood.� The best part of this book are Heyd’s simple, well-crafted reflections on how the saints speak to her life. She writes about St. Josephine’s remarkable imitation of Christ in the ability to forgive those who abused her when she was a slave and the acceptance of God’s will in illness and infirmity. “As she neared the end of her life, she couldn’t walk and required a wheelchair to get around. The bishop approached Bakhita and asked her what she did while sitting in her wheelchair. Bakhita replied, ‘What do I do? Exactly what you are doing – the will of God.’�

St. Josephine is an appropriate woman with whom to conclude a book that is ostensibly about cooking and saints, but is really about a joyful obedience to God’s will. The saints illustrate how a person can accept God’s will in any (and all) circumstances, and Heyd’s gentle book reminds us that charity, creativity and fruitful living flow from fidelity, whether one is a queen, a farmer, a cloistered contemplative, a fisherman or a contemporary homemaker.

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March 27, 2009

Lenten Opportunities Following in the Footsteps of St. Paul, A Tuesdays of Lent series at St. Rita Church, 100 Marinda Dr. in Fairfax. Soup supper at 6:15 p.m. precedes 7 p.m. talk Contact Noelle Kostelic at (415) 456-4815 or e-mail nkostelic@sbcglobal.net. The talks commenced Feb. 24. March 31: Pauline Christology in New Testament hymns with Vincent Pizzuto, Ph. D. April 3, 7 a.m.: Catholic Marin Breakfast Club meets at St. Sebastian Church, Sir Francis Drake Blvd. and Bon Air Rd. in Greenbrae for Mass with breakfast and talk following. Guest speaker is St. Joseph Sister Judy Donovan. Members breakfast $7/visitors $10. Call (415) 461-0704 weekdays or email sugaremy@aol.com Through April 30: Adult Scripture Study focusing on St. Paul at Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish, St. Michael’s Hall, Alameda de las Pulgas at Ralston in Belmont. $25 fee includes materials. Sessions held Wednesday evenings at 7:30 p.m. and Thursday mornings at 9:30 a.m. Contact Marie Felix at (650) 593-6157, ext. 27 or e-mail mfelix@ihmbelmont.org March 27, 28, April 2, 3, 4 at 7:30p.m., and April 5 at 2 p.m.: A stage adaptation of “The Grapes of Wrath” at Notre Dame de Namur University Theater, 1500 Ralston Ave. in Belmont. The tale, known by many as a book by John Steinbeck and later a film, holds a compelling mirror to today’s economic times. Its principal players are victims of foreclosure forced to make a new home in a new state. Tickets are $10 each. Contact box office at (650) 508-3456. March 28, 9 a.m.: Serra Club of San Francisco, Mass at St. Gabriel Church, 40th at Ulloa in San Francisco, followed by continental breakfast. Non-members welcome. Contact: Paul Crudo (415) 566-8224 or pecrudodds@aol.com March 28, 11 a.m. – 1 p.m.: Sister Armanda Santos, a Sister of St. Paul, will be signing her book “Facing the Apostle Paul’s Image in Art” at McCoy Church Goods, 1010 Howard Ave. in San Mateo. Call (650) 342-0924. March 29, 2 p.m.: “St. Paul the Apostle: Picturing a Life in Conversion,” the presentation depicts the life of the saint through works of art with Karen Kelly. Call (415) 648-7538. April 3, 8 p.m.: Composers Marty Haugen and Bob Hurd perform at Santa Clara University’s Mission Church. Well known for liturgical music including Taste and See, Gather Us In, as well as familiar Mass parts, the event promises to be “an evening of vibrant prayer, song and story” celebrating hope, sponsors said. Also in attendance will be Barbara LaPorte, whose son was one of 33 people killed in the Virginia Tech shootings of 2007. Admission is free. April 4, 6 p.m.: Annual Right to Life Dinner at Irish Cultural Center, 45th Ave. at Sloat Blvd. in San Francisco. Guest speaker is Vicki Evans, coordinator of Respect Life programs for the Archdiocese of San Francisco with remarks from Raymond Dennehy, Ph. D. Tickets Raymond Dennehy are $40 per person with tables of 10 at $350. Call (415) 664-3750. Through April 5, 7 a.m. – 7 p.m.: Members of San Mateo Pro-life will be praying for an end to abortion during this “40 Days for Life.” The “peaceful prayer vigil” will take place in front of Planned Parenthood, 2211 Palm Ave. in San Mateo all days during the assigned hours. “All are welcome,” said Jessica Munn, an officer of the pro-life group. Visit www.40daysforlife.com/sanmateo or e-mail fortydaysforlife@yahoo.com or call (650) 572-1468. A “prayerful presence” will also take place at Planned Parenthood, 815 Eddy Street (between Van Ness and Franklin) in San Francisco from 8 a.m. – 8 p.m. Interested persons may register and volunteer at www.40daysforlife.com/sanfrancisco Through April 17, 7:30 p.m.: Lectio Divina Scripture Faith Sharing: The Wednesday evenings of Lent, at Dominican Sisters of Mission San Jose Motherhouse - Main Parlor 43326 Mission Blvd. Fremont. For more information, please contact Dominican Sister Beth Quire at (510) 449-7554 or beth@msjdominicans.org Taize Prayer: 1st Friday at 8 p.m.: Mercy Center, 2300 Adeline Dr., Burlingame with Mercy Sister Suzanne Toolan. Call (650) 340-7452; young adults are invited each first Friday of the month to attend a social at 6 p.m. prior to Taize prayer at 8 p.m. The social provides light refreshments and networking with other young adults. Convenient parking is available. For information contact mercyyoungadults@ sbcglobal.net. Tuesdays at 6 p.m.: Notre Dame Des Victoires Church, 566 Bush at Stockton, San Francisco with Rob Grant. Call (415) 397-0113. 3rd Friday, 8 p.m.: Dominican Sisters of Mission San Jose, Motherhouse Chapel, 43326 Mission Blvd in Fremont. Contact Maria Shao at (408) 839-2068 or maria49830@aol.com or Dominican Sister Beth Quire at (510) 449-7554 or beth@msjdominicans; Fridays during Lent, 7:30 p.m. at Our Lady of Angels Church, 1721 Hillside Rd. near El Camino Real in Burlingame. Call Liz Hannan at (650) 342-1759. Employment Support Group meets Mondays 9 a.m. – 11 a.m. at St. Matthias Church, 1685 Cordilleras Rd. in Redwood City “to share emotional, spiritual, and networking support and hear job search advice from guest speakers.” There is no cost to attend. Call (650) 366-9544 for more information.

St. Mary’s Cathedral Gough and Geary Blvd. in San Francisco in (415) 567-2020. Ample parking is available free of charge in the Cathedral lot for most events. Fridays during Lent: Stations of the Cross in the

Datebook

The Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur have announced their new California Leadership Team, Sister Louise O’Reilly, SNDdeN, left, Sister Dolores Quigg, SNDdeN; and Sister Maureen Hilliard, SNDdeN. “Sisters Dolores, Maureen and Louise bring spiritual and administrative experience to the direction setting and decision making facing the Sisters of Notre Dame in the 21st century,” the congregation said in a release. The three will serve five-year terms. Sister Dolores is a graduate of the Sisters’ now-closed Notre Dame High School in San Francisco. Sister Maureen is an alumna of their Notre Dame High School in Belmont. Sister Louise graduated from Notre Dame High School in San Jose. Sister Dolores served as principal of Notre Dame Elementary School in Belmont for 32 years. Sister Maureen has served for more than 25 years as a teacher at several Bay Area Catholic schools. Sister Louse, also a teacher, is beginning her second term on the congregation’s California leadership team. The Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur were founded in France in 1804 and today number more than 1,600 members ministering across the globe. Cathedral, at 12:40 p.m. in English following the Noon Mass, and in English and Spanish at 6:30 p.m. For more information, call the Cathedral Office at (415) 567-2020 ext. 200 April 7, 5:30 p.m.: The Chrism Mass where sacred Chrism Oil is blessed for all the parishes of the Archdiocese of San Francisco. Archbishop George Niederauer presides. All are welcome and encouraged to attend. Limited parking in the Cathedral lot is free, additional paid parking available at Japantown garages. For information, contact Patrick Vallez-Kelly (415) 614-5586. Sundays, 3:30 p.m.: Concerts featuring local and musical artists from around the world. Open to the public. Free will offering helps support Cathedral’s music ministry. Call (415) 567-2020, ext. 231.

TV/Radio Sunday, 6 a.m., KOFY Channel 20/Cable 13 and KTSF Channel 26/Cable 8: TV Mass with Msgr. Harry Schlitt presiding. Saturday, 4 p.m.: Religious programming in Cantonese over KVTO 1400 AM, co-sponsored by the Chinese Ministry and Chinese Young Adults of the Archdiocese. 1st Sunday, 5 a.m., CBS Channel 5: “Mosaic,” featuring conversations on current Catholic issues. 3rd Sunday, 5:30 a.m., KRON Channel 4: “For Heaven’s Sake,” featuring conversations about Catholic spirituality. KSFB Catholic Radio 1260 AM offers daily Mass, rosary and talk on the faith – visit www.ihradio.org. Mondays, 7 p.m.: Comcast channel 26 in Marin will broadcast a series of 56 half-hour videos filmed in Medjugorje. Also, NPAT channel 26 in Novato carries the same series each Thursday at 9:30 p.m. Call (707) 480-7000 for more information. EWTN Catholic Television: Comcast Channel 229; Astound Channel 80; San Bruno Cable Channel 143; DISH Satellite Channel 261; Direct TV Channel 370. For programming details, visit www.ewtn.com.

Vallombrosa Retreat Center 250 Oak Grove Ave. in Menlo Park. Call (650) 325-5614 or visit www.vallombrosa.org April 4: Finding Your Calling: Your Personal Renaissance with Diane Dreher, Ph. D. The retreat offers insights from Renaissance lives, developmental psychology, and Ignatian spirituality to help discover gifts and discern new possibilities in the different seasons of life. May 1 – 3: Widowed, Divorced, Separated Weekend. Contact LaVerne at (650) 355-3978 or Helen at (415) 388-9651 or e-mail SJBeginExp@ aol.com Weekend is designed as time of closure on past and hope for the future. Those attending should be beyond initial feelings of anger and despair and want a new beginning.

Arts & Entertainment March 29, 7:30 p.m.: San Domenico Schools’ Orchestra da Camera, named 2008 Grand Champions at the National Orchestra Festival, will present Mahler, Mendelssohn and Brahms with players of the San Francisco Symphony in Kanbar Hall at the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco.

Tickets are $25 - $40. Please call (415) 258-1921 or visit sandomenico.org/jcc.

Trainings/Lectures/Respect Life April 2, 16, 23,30, 3 – 4:30 p.m.: Catholic Charities CYO San Carlos Adult Day Services is offering a Family Caregiver Mini-Sabbatical. This four part series is for family members helping an older spouse, parent or sibling, especially someone with increasing memory loss or confusion. It is an opportunity to get some respite and relaxation while refreshing care-giving skills. Topics include creating/preserving a support system for the caregiver; stress reduction techniques; communicating more effectively; improving care-giving skills and handling more challenging behaviors. $25 registration fee covers four sessions. A sliding scale and free respite care can be arranged in advance on a space available basis. For more information or to obtain a registration brochure please contact Michael Vargas by calling 650.592.9325 or email mvargas@cccyo.org. April 18, 1- 4 p.m.: “Our Family: Healthy! Peaceful! Solid!,” a workshop specifically for members of the Filipino community about the issue of domestic violence. The afternoon will feature speakers and information about available resources from the Church as well as non-Catholic and civic providers. Presentations will include the Catholic Church perspective on domestic violence as well as its effects on children. “While the focus of the event will be to serve the Filipino community, if you would like to learn more about the issue of domestic violence, please join us,” said a letter about the conference from Christopher Martinez, a senior program director with Catholic Charities CYO, a sponsor of the day. Coordinators request registration as soon as possible by calling (415) 972-1308. The workshop takes place at St. Matthew Church, One Notre Dame Ave. at 9th Ave. in San Mateo.

Food & Fun “Hooray for Hollywood,” Convent and Stuart Hall Schools of the Sacred Heart, invite you to Celebrate Spring 2009, a major annual fundraiser. Garden Luncheon and Boutique is March 27, 10 a.m. –3 p.m. at 2222 Broadway. Reservations required for Luncheon; tickets $65. Family Fest is March 28, 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. at 2222 Broadway. Bring the kids – it’s free! Evening Gala is March 28, 6 p.m. at Regency Theatre Grand Ballroom, 1290 Sutter Street. Reservations required; tickets $175. Visit www.celebratespring.org or call (415) 345-5825 April 4, 9:30 a.m.: The Madonna del Lume Society of Sts. Peter and Paul Church is sponsoring a Pedro tournament to benefit the Blessing of the Fishing Fleet events in October. It will be held at the San Rafael Rod and Gun Club, with registration at 9:30 a.m. The $45.00 admission fee includes lunch and prizes. Contact Marie Lavin at 4l5-459-9021 for more details.” April 4, 5:30 p.m.: “The Platinum Ball - Annual Auction Dinner Dance and Grand Drawing” benefiting Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish and School at San Mateo Marriott Hotel. Tickets at $100 per person include wine with dinner. Auction includes more than 500 items for bidding. Dancing to 1 a.m. to music of Jack Aces. Call (650) 593-6157 and ask for Gail. April 4, 10 a.m. – noon: “Eggstravaganza” for children 2 – 12 sponsored by Alumnae Council of

Catholic San Francisco

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Mercy High School, San Francisco at the school 3250 19th Ave. Morning includes Easter egg hunt, art and crafts, games. Tickets are $5/adults free. Visit www.mercyhs.org or e-mail alumnae@mercyhs.org or call (415) 334-0525, ext. 228. April 5, 10 a.m. – 1 p.m.: Old St. Mary’s Church “on the square” in Nicasio will hosts its annual Palm Sunday Brunch at the Druid’s Hall in Nicasio. A country breakfast of farm fresh eggs, hash browns, ham, muffins and pastries, fresh fruit, coffee and tea will be served. No host bar. There will be a raffle and silent auction of fabulous prizes and gifts. All are welcome! Tickets are available at the door - $15.00 for adults, $5.00 for children (5 through 12) and children under 5 are free. Spend a day in the country and join our rural community for this wonderful event. April 17, 5:30 p.m.: Discarded to Divine Free Sneak Preview Night unites fashion with compassion at the de Young Museum. Donated clothing transformed into original couture creations will be showcased. Auction and fashion show follow May 7 with proceeds benefiting the St. Vincent de Paul Society of San Francisco. For more information visit www.discardedtodivine.org April 17, 9 a.m. with 5 p.m. return: Depart for a day in Wine Country with St. Peter’s Pacifica 55 Plus Club. Includes round-trip deluxe motor coach, lunch at Negri’s Restaurant - chicken, soup, pasta, salad, bread, dessert and non-alcohol beverage - and then to Korbel Champagne Cellars and Rose Garden for escorted tour and tasting. Contact Carol Dion @ 650-504-0804. May. 7, 6:30 p.m.: Discarded to Divine fashion show and auction unites fashion with compassion at Live!@888 Brannan (formerly the San Francisco Gift Center Pavilion) in San Francisco The event unites Bay Area fashion students and professional designers by transforming discarded clothing and fabric into fashionable couture items. All items will be auctioned at Discarded to Divine to raise money for the St. Vincent de Paul Society of San Francisco. Visit www.discardedtodivine.org for sponsorship and ticketing information.

Special Liturgies April 4, 11 a.m.: First Saturday Mass at Holy Cross Cemetery, Colma, All Saints Mausoleum Chapel. Call (650) 756-2060 or visit www.holycrosscemeteries.com.

Reunions Class of 1959, Presentation High School, San Francisco is planning its 50th reunion. Contact Joanne Camozzi Alkazin at (415) 4547550 or jalkazin@aol.com. Class of ’59 from San Francisco’s Star of the Sea Academy is planning its 50th reunion. Contact Maria Elena Keizer at (415) 924-9756 or Keizerm@sutterhealth.org April 26, 11:30 a.m.: The St. Gabriel Alumni Association is hosting a Golden Diploma Reunion for the Class of 1959 beginning with Mass followed by a reception. Alumni from the class of ‘59 should contact Sue Phelps at (415) 566-0314 or sphelps@stgabrielsf.com. Sept. 20 with Mass at noon: Our Lady of Mercy Elementary School, class of ’68. Contact Jean Anderson at (650) 756-3395 or jeananders@ aol.com. Sept. 26, 27: St. Elizabeth School in San Francisco marks its 60th anniversary. Graduates, former students, staff and friends of St. Elizabeth Elementary School please mark their calendars for a weekend celebration and e-mail your contact information to stelizabethalumni@yahoo.com to receive detailed information regarding the weekend’s events. San Francisco’s Holy Name of Jesus Elementary School is ramping up to an allschool reunion in 2011. Alumni, former students, friends should visit www.holyname-sf.org or www. holynamesf.com. Holy Name’s class of ’83 will hold a reunion in December. Classmates should contact Julie at Julie_popovic@yahoo.com or Anne at annecarew@yahoo.com. The class of ’72 is also planning an event. Contact Donna at smardypants@comcast.net.

Tridentine Mass The traditional Latin Mass according to texts and rubrics from before Vatican II is celebrated at locations and times below. Sundays at 12:15 p.m.: Holy Rosary Chapel at St. Vincent School for Boys. For more information, call St. Isabella Parish at (415) 479-1560. First Friday: Latin High Mass of the Sacred Heart of Jesus at St. Francis of Assisi Church, 1425 Bay Road at Glen Way, East Palo Alto. Mass is followed by the Litany of the Sacred Heart and Exposition of the Most Blessed Sacrament until midnight. Confessions are heard before Mass. Low Mass in Latin is also offered every Friday evening at 6 p.m. For further information, call (650) 322-2152.

Datebook is a free listing for parishes, schools and non-profit groups. Please include event name, time, date, place, address and an information phone number. Listing must reach Catholic San Francisco at least two weeks before the Friday publication date desired. Mail your notice to: Datebook, Catholic San Francisco, One Peter Yorke Way, S.F. 94109, or fax it to (415) 614-5633, e-mail burket@sfarchdiocese.org, or visit www.catholic-sf.org, Contact Us.

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Catholic San Francisco

March 27, 2009

Our Lenten Journey . . . n Continued from page 13

is to “rise above” suffering, to “offer it up.” In fact, a big focus of Lent has always been on giving things up, whipping the body into submission through denial and even chastisement so that we could be less consumed with our physicality and more focused on our spirituality. Maybe Jesus is trying to tell us something here with his intense immersion in the physical reality of the suffering of Martha and Mary. Maybe the lesson is that we aren’t called so much to rise above the slings and arrows of life, as much as we are challenged to embrace them, our own and the world’s, so that we (like Jesus) might not merely transcend them, but indeed transform them. John’s eloquently human portrayal of Jesus suggests that perhaps it is not the resuscitation of Lazarus that is the miracle of this account, but rather the remarkable capacity of humans to knowingly enter into the mystery, vulnerability and pain-guaranteed danger of deep relationship and commitment. Perhaps the miracle isn’t that we rise, but, rather, that we have the courage to connect to each other, to commit to ideals, fullknowing that death, loss and un-control are the only guarantees we have on the journey we take returning to the place and to the One from whom we come.

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anger, self-pity, and hatred. But his actions are the antithesis of Cain’s and his response to the bitter feelings that surely must have arisen inside of him constitute precisely his real sacrifice and are the great moral challenge he left us. Surrounded by jealousy, hatred, and misunderstanding, he gives his life over in trust. When everything tempts him toward bitterness, he moves toward graciousness. When everything tempts him toward hatred, he moves toward love. When everything tempts him toward shutting others out, he makes himself still more vulnerable so that others can come in. When all around him there is coldness, paranoia, and curses, he affirms others, blesses them, and affirms warmth and trust. What a person does when love turns sour is the real drama of love. Cain gives us one answer. Jesus gives us another. What’s our answer in those moments of our lives when we sense that “all of you are loving each other and I may be left out”?

Rob Grant, a 30-year veteran of parish ministry in the Archdiocese of San Francisco, holds a Master’s Degree in Pastoral Ministry from Holy Names University.

Oblate Father Ron Rolheiser, theologian, teacher, and award-winning author, is President of the Oblate School of Theology in San Antonio, TX.

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n Continued from page 15

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St. Jude Novena May the Sacred Heart of Jesus be adored, glorified, loved & preserved throughout the world now & forever. Sacred Heart of Jesus pray for us. St. Jude helper of the hopeless pray for us. Say prayer 9 times a day for 9 days. Thank You St. Jude. Never known to fail. You may publish.

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We are looking for full or part time

RNs, LVNs, CNAs, Caregivers

For The Largest Publisher of Catholic Church Bulletins This is a Career Opportunity!

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

• Generous Commissions • Excellent Benefit Package • Minimal Travel

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

• Stong Office Support • Work in Your Community

Call 1-800-675-5051 Fax resume: 707-258-1195

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

PLEASE RECYCLE THIS PAPER!

Elementary Teacher Job Faire

heaven can’t wait Serra for Priestly Vocations

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

Saturday, March 28, 2009

CUSTODIAN

Mercy High School 3250 19th Avenue San Francisco, 94132 10:00am - 1:00pm

Mercy High School – San Francisco, is an allgirls college preparatory school looking for an exceptional custodian to join our team. Individual will perform routine custodial duties and other maintenance tasks as assigned.

*Bring Résumés* For more information:

Please Call Mrs. Ofa Po’oi (415) 614-5668 or email:

pooio@sfarchdiocese.org

Chimney Cleaning

Job Requirements: • Ability to work late afternoons through evening • Knowledge of general repair and maintenance handy work • General understanding of commonly acceptable janitorial quality standards and safe work practices • Ability to speak and write English (bi-lingual a plus) Please send resume or letter of interest and a list of references to: Lorelei Zermani Director of Administrative Services Mercy High School 3250 19th Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94132 lzermani@mercyhs.org

Art Restoration IZABELLA KURKIEWICZ Art restoration

Full range of framing restoration services, specializing in the precise reproduction of antique picture frames from all periods from all periods, styles, techniques and materials. (650) 921-1452

www.izagoldleaf.com

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Catholic San Francisco

March 27, 2009

A Life Remembered C r e m at i on Op t i on s

If you are thinking about cremation, it is important to know and understand all of the choices available to you. Cremation is not the end. Just as the full body is placed in a grave or crypt, the cremated body should be treated with respect as well. Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery oers many options to celebrate and remember a life. Each person can make a decision about what is appropriate for his/her needs and those of their family.

Placement & Memorial Options Legac y - Select a family columbarium to house multiple urns or inter an urn in an existing family plot; an opportunity to share the family stories and unite loved ones in memory Garden - Interment of an urn in a resting place along a garden path, marked by a shamrock or heart-shaped stone Elegance - Beautiful glass niches display urns personalized to reect a life story Tribute - A marble niche in a Garden Court or Mausoleum features engraved names, dates and photo medallions Tr aditional - In-ground burial, marked by a headstone designed to commemorate a life well-lived Memorial - Memorial options include: inscribing a name on a Memory Tree, designing a memorial bench, lighting a memorial candle, donating one of the Stations of the Cross or placing a name on a family monument

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