Rite of Election Archbishop invites nearly 200 catechumens to be fully initiated at Easter Vigil San Francisco Archbishop George H. Niederauer presided at the Rite of Election March 1 at St. Mary’s Cathedral with more than 1,200 people in attendance. “We are expecting 198 catechumens, 66 candidates for reception into full Communion of the Catholic Church and 165 Catholic candidates seeking to complete their initiation through Eucharist and-or Confirmation,” Patrick Vallez-Kelly, director of worship for the Archdiocese of San Francisco, told Catholic San Francisco in anticipation of the day. “They are coming from 55 parishes of the Archdiocese.” Through the Rite, the catechumens become Elect – those chosen by Archbishop Niederauer to be fully initiated – baptized, confirmed and brought into Holy Communion – at this year’s Easter Vigil. The candidates to be received into the Catholic Church are those who are already baptized through another Christian community and who will soon make a profession of faith, be confirmed and join the Catholic Church in Eucharist. “In Sunday’s Rite they, RITE OF ELECTION, page 3
Accompanied by her sponsor, a catechumen signs the Book of the Elect in the Rite of Election March 1 at St. Mary’s Cathedral in San Francisco. As catechumens signed the book, following an invitation by Archbishop George H. Niederauer, the assembly of more than 1,200 joined them in prayer and song.
Catholic san Francisco
Catholic governor named for post of HHS secretary By Nancy Frazier O’Brien WASHINGTON (CNS) – A Catholic governor whose archbishop has told her not to receive Communion until she changes her stand on abortion is President Barack Obama’s latest choice for secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. HHS SECRETARY, page 9
Northern California’s Weekly Catholic Newspaper
Mexican priest and social justice leader says Christ’s love for poor is key to Church renewal
(CNS PHOTO/JIM YOUNG, REUTERS)
By Rick DelVecchio
Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius is introduced by President Barack Obama as his nominee to head U.S. Health and Human Services March 2 in the East Room of the White House in Washington.
Christ’s love for the poor is key to renewing a Church mired in drab pragmatism, says Father Camilo Perez, a social justice leader for the Church in Mexico. A vital Church in the Americas will be less about administration and doctrine and more about bearing witness to those who lack human dignity—especially to the migrants whose search for dignity forces them to move to the centers of wealth despite the rising risks of relocating, said Father Perez. He spoke at a Feb. 27 breakfast meeting hosted by Auxiliary Bishop William Justice at St. Mary’s Cathedral. “Our Church unfortunately is living a pragmatic crisis of daily life—the grayness of the pragmatic life,” said Father Perez, a diocesan vicar under Bishop Juan Guillermo Soto in CuauhtémocMadera, Mexico, and former secretary general of the Conference of Mexican Bishops for Justice and Peace. The prophetic vision of the Church is degenerating, he said. “We need to start again—go to the deep roots in the Bible,” he said. “We need to revitalize our way of being Catholic.”
Several Archdiocese of San Francisco offices, the Spanish-speaking choirs of the Archdiocese and Trabajo Cultural Caminante, a non-profit organization concerned with the experience of migrant people sponsored the meeting. Speaking to an audience that included visitors from Latin America and Catholic social justice ministry workers in the Archdiocese and neighboring dioceses, Father Perez addressed the political crisis in Mexico and its effects on immigration in the United States. The meeting came amid growing concerns about the well being of migrants on both sides of the border. Advocates for migrant rights are alarmed about the threat to mobility caused by rising drug-related violence in Mexico and arms trafficking across the border. In the United States, they want an end to workplace raids targeting undocumented workers and are seeking comprehensive immigration reform from the Obama Administration and Congress. Janet Napolitano, President Obama’s Homeland Security Secretary, has ordered reviews of many of the department’s programs, including worksite enforcement, immigration detention and combating border violence and drug smuggling. She has said she is particularly concerned about drug-related MEXICAN PRIEST, page 6
INSIDE THIS WEEK’S EDITION Chaplains on Hill . . . . . . . . . 3 News in brief. . . . . . . . . . . 4-5 Archbishop’s journal . . . . . . 11 Letters and columns . . . 14-15 Volunteer summit . . . . . . . . 18
Immigration forum in San Francisco ~ Page 7 ~ March 6, 2009
Ash Wednesday at SF State ~ Page 8 ~
Year of St. Paul ‘Ecclesia Romana’ ~ Page 17 ~
SEVENTY-FIVE CENTS
Media and Datebook. . . 20-21 Classified ads . . . . . . . . 22-23
www.catholic-sf.org VOLUME 11
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No. 9