Catholic san Francisco Northern California’s Weekly Catholic Newspaper
By Tom Burke and Dan Morris-Young The “pastoral experience, generous heart and wise judgment” of Bishopelect William J. Justice were underscored by San Francisco Archbishop George H. Niederauer as announcement of the appointment of the Archdiocese’s next auxiliary bishop was made last week in Rome and San Francisco. Pope Benedict XVI appointed Father Justice as auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of San Francisco and titular bishop of Matara di Proconsolare early April 10. The priest’s episcopal ordination has been scheduled for Wednesday, May 28, at 2 p.m. at St. Mary’s Cathedral, San Francisco. In an English and Spanish statement released April 10 and read by the bishopelect to employees of the Archdiocese’s Pastoral Center that morning, Father Justice expressed his “genuine humility and profound respect” as well as “sincere gratitude to His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI.” “I am overwhelmed at the enormous challenge he has entrusted to me to be of service to Archbishop George Niederauer in his pastorship of the Archdiocese of San Francisco,” he said. In his April 10 statement, Archbishop Niederauer said, “While every bishop serves in a local Church, he also serves the universal Church as a member of the Apostolic College of Bishops. Bishop-
New website for Archdiocese to premier A completely redesigned website for the Archdiocese of San Francisco will be unveiled Saturday, April 19, at 9 a.m. Visit www.sfarchdiocese. org and see the many leading-edge changes that put the archdiocesan website in a class of its own. “Our goal was to create a website that was simple to navigate, rich in content, and extremely interactive,” said John Brust, architect of the new website. “We think we’ve achieved this.”
elect Justice will also take his place as a member of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.” The bishop-elect succeeded thenAuxiliary Bishop John Wester as vicar for clergy on March 1, 2007, and will continue in that post and to reside at St. Mary’s Cathedral. Now bishop of the Salt Lake City Diocese, Bishop Wester will be a coconsecrator at the May 28 rite along with Bishop Randolph Calvo of Reno. Archbishop Niederauer will be principal consecrator. “The news of Father Bill Justice’s appointment as auxiliary bishop of San Francisco is absolutely wonderful,” Bishop Wester said in a communication from Salt Lake. Lauding the bishop-elect’s “unfailing concern for others, his effective outreach to a multicultural Church and his deep spirituality and fidelity to Christ the Priest,” Bishop Wester said his successor would “bring his considerable abilities to the service of unity, which underscores the bishop’s ministry as envisioned in the Second Vatican Council.” Archbishop Niederauer’s and Bishop Wester’s commendations of Bishop-elect Justice were echoed by other priests who also praised his leadership skills, forthrightness and spiritual depth. “Bill is a very committed priest and a wonderful choice,” said Father Mario Farana, pastor of St. Paul Parish, San NEW AUXILIARY BISHOP, page 14
(PHOTO BY DAN MORRIS-YOUNG/CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO)
New auxiliary bishop’s heart, wisdom, experience praised
Bishop-elect William J. Justice will be ordained auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of San Francisco by Archbishop George H. Niederauer at St. Mary’s Cathedral on Wednesday, May 28, at 2 p.m.
Pope hopes to heal U.S. sex abuse wounds By John Thavis ABOARD THE PAPAL FLIGHT TO THE U.S. (CNS) – Pope Benedict XVI said he hoped to help heal the wounds of priestly sex abuse during his visit to the United States and promised steps to ensure that such acts do not happen again. The pope made his remarks to reporters aboard his chartered Alitalia jet April 15, about an hour after taking off from Rome for his April 15-20 visit to Washington and New York City. The pope stood at the front of the coach class of the plane and answered four questions chosen in advance, touching on topics of immigration, churchstate relations and the United Nations. Asked what he would have to say about the clerical sex-abuse scandal in the U.S., the pope said the Church
should work for justice and help the victims as much as possible. “Really, it is a great suffering for the Church in the United States and for the Church in general and for me personally that this could happen,” he said. “If I read the histories of these victims, it’s difficult for me to understand how it was possible that priests betrayed in this way their mission to give healing, to give the love of God to these children,” he said. “We are deeply ashamed and will do all possible that this cannot happen in the future,” he said. The pope cited new norms approved by U.S. Church leaders for dealing with sexual abuse, and he noted a recent visitation of all U.S. seminaries. Seminaries today are being much more careful about making sure that “only really sound persons” are admitted
to the priesthood, because the Church recognizes that “it’s more important to have good priests than to have many priests,” he said. He drew a distinction between homosexual priests and those who commit sexual abuse. “I will not speak in this moment about homosexuality but about pedophilia, which is another thing. We will absolutely exclude pedophiles from the sacred ministry. This is absolutely incompatible,” he said. The pope said the entire Church should be involved in the process of healing, assistance and reconciliation. “This is a big pastoral engagement, and I know all the bishops and priests and all the Catholic people of the United States will do what is necessary to help, to assist and to heal and to see that in the POPE HOPES TO HEAL, page 14
INSIDE THIS WEEK’S EDITION Senior Living Section inside Scripture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Earth Day is April 22 Vatican going ‘green’ ~ Pages 6-9 ~ April 18, 2008
Human dignity must form bioethics debate ~ Page 11 ~
Canossian Letters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Sisters marking Datebook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 200 years Resurrection DVDs . . . . . . . 17 ~ Page S6 ~
SEVENTY-FIVE CENTS
Classified ads . . . . . . . . 18-19
www.catholic-sf.org VOLUME 10
•
No. 13