May 26, 2006

On visit to Poland, pope will pray at Auschwitz

Catholic san Francisco Northern California’s Weekly Catholic Newspaper

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The prayers that Germanborn Pope Benedict XVI will recite May 28 at the Auschwitz death camp in Poland will evoke peace and reconciliation, but also the obligation to remember what the Nazis did, the Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, said this week.

Pope John Paul II made an important visit to Auschwitz in 1979 and paid homage to the 6 million Jews murdered by the Nazis. However, Pope Benedict’s visit will be “something more,” said the newspaper May 23.

“After 60 years the German language will resound again in the camp, not to give death orders, but to raise to God a prayer for peace, reconciliation, love and hope,” said the lead article in two pages devoted to the Auschwitz visit.

The newspaper said the papal visit is an affirmation that no one can ignore or forget “the terrible tragedy” that took place in Auschwitz and the other Nazi camps.

“To remember the millions of people who, without any fault, underwent inhuman suffering and were brutally exterminated with rifles and in gas chambers is an obligation so that similar aberrations will never take place again,” the newspaper said.

The article noted that plaques in 22 languages hang at Auschwitz to recall what happened there.

The newspaper said the plaque in Hebrew especially should make people pause because the attempt to exterminate “the people who had their origin in Abraham reached a frightening point. That attempt to destroy in a programmatic way an entire people reaches like a shadow over Europe and the whole world.”

“It is a crime that will stain the history of humanity forever,” L’Osservatore said.

(CNS PHOTO/KATARINA STOLTZ, REUTERS)

By Cindy Wooden

A worker puts Polish and Vatican flags in front of a large cross May 23 in Pilsudski Square in Warsaw, Poland. The cross will be part of an altar for Pope Benedict XVI’s Mass in Pilsudski Square during his May 25-28 visit to Poland.

As countries withhold money, ordinary Palestinians feel consequences

By Judith Sudilovsky JERUSALEM (CNS) — Wusam Salsaa is deliberating whether he can afford to marry his fiance this summer, and Naela Saheen stays up nights worrying how she will pay her utility bills.

Salsaa, a teacher at a public school in the West Bank town of Beit Jalla, has not received his salary for more than three months. He says he is lucky because he lives with his mother and has been able to save some money for his wedding, but he is worried about how he will provide for his new bride without a salary.

“I am worried because I need money,” said Salsaa, a 27-year-old Catholic living in Bethlehem. “Maybe I will spend all my savings for my wedding, and then after the wedding what will I do?”

Saheen, a 54-year-old Greek Orthodox from Bethlehem, worries about electric and phone bills. Her husband is sick and unemployed, and she has been borrowing money from her sister to give to her son, a college student. She convinced the power company not to cut off her electricity by explaining that she teaches at a government school in Beit Jalla.

But now the phone bill has arrived, and she does not know where she will get the money to pay it.

“This is no life. It is a very big problem,” she said.

“Only God will help us. I have faith only in God to solve our problems.”

The solution to her problems is simple: If she received the three months’ salary due her, she would be able to pay her debts and resume her life.

The Hamas-led Palestinian government says it cannot pay the thousands of state employees because the PALESTINIANS, page 3

INSIDE THIS WEEK’S EDITION USF president speaks . . . . . . 3 Sisters mark quake . . . . . . . . 6 Respect Life essays . . . . . . . . 8 Viewpoints, columnists. . 12-13 Scripture and reflection . . . . 14 Datebook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

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Catholic San Francisco

May 26, 2006

On The

Mater Dolorosa Elementary School bids a fond farewell to Ofelia Madriaga, who retires in June after 49 years as an educator and almost two years as principal at the South San Francisco school.

“Teaching has been a very beautiful ministry for me,” Ofelia said. “I don’t even call it a job. I’ll miss the children.”

Where You Live

by Tom Burke It’s 50 years later for St. Peter Parish in Pacifica and the coastal faith community begins a year-long commemoration of the birthday June 24th, said Brian Kelly, a parishioner and anniversary committee member. “We will begin our celebration with a Dinner Dance, Auction in the lobby of Terminal 2 or Old Gina Marconi Main Terminal at San Francisco International Airport,” Brian told me, quick to note that the SFO connection comes in the person of airport spokesperson himself, Mike McCarron. There will be no need for guests to remove their shoes or empty their pockets to gain entrance according to Mike. “No security is required because everything is pre-security,” he said. “It’s not very often that as a member of a parish you get to participate in something as special as a Golden Jubilee cel-

ebration.” Mike said he hopes that the location might make the evening more memorable for those who attend. Mike is seen regularly on TV discussing airport matters but eschews the spotlight kind of stuff. “I’ve never really considered myself a celebrity,” he said. “I’m just another City employee glad to work with some very talented and dedicated people.” Mike and his wife, Jean, have lived in St. Peter’s since 1991 the same year he started with SFO. They are the parents of Matthew, a senior at Cal State, San Marcos, Kelly, 19, Tim, a junior at Terra Nova High School, and Meghan, an 8th grader on her way to high school in the fall. “St. Peter’s has also had a commemorative coin struck and we will begin selling the coins that night at the dinner,” Mike said. Tickets can be purchased at $85 per person before to June 1st. Call (650) 359-6313. The price increases to $100 after June 1. “We are looking forward to a fun evening in a unique location to begin our celebration,” Brian said. The next day – June 25th – the parish community will gather for a special Mass in honor of the anniversary. Father Roberto Andrey, pastor, will concelebrate with former pastors including Father Len Calegari, Father Bill O’Connell, Father Art Davenport as well as “frequent visitor,” Sulpician Father Gene Konkel, Brian said…. Milking Safeway Markets for $22,000 are Archbishop Riordan High School, faculty member, Julie Burns, and senior Leslie Diep grand prizewinner of the grocer’s Art of Dairy Art Contest. The artist and his teacher each receive $1,000 with ARHS netting $20,000 thanks to the lad’s cow creation. Leslie, whose work was selected from a pool of moo-ore than 8,000 entries, will be a freshman at UC, Riverside in the fall. His proud folks are Carina At the helm of a 50th anniversary year for St. Peter’s Parish are Mike McCarron, Wong and Eric Diep. This was left, Lorraine Stimmel, Joanne Cacicedo, and Father Roberto Andrey, pastor. the first year for the competition

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established to ”promote artistic creativity, academic excellence and healthy lifestyles,” Safeway said by way of Riordan PR person Dion Sabalvaro. “Leslie’s teachers and classmates have always been impressed with his artistic work. We are extremely proud that Leslie was able to demonstrate his talents and compete with the best in the nation,” Dion asked me to be sure to say…. Gina Marconi, an alum of Notre Dame High School in Belmont and just a coupla’ days away from an undergraduate degree in business from the University of San Diego has been announced as winner of the school’s Ministry Servant Leader Award. “Gina has been a lead cantor with the Founders Chapel Choir for the past four years as well as a student director for one year,” said her mom, Teri Marconi, longtime music director at Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish in Belmont. “She was also a member of the Women’s Cantor Ensemble that performed for charity events in the area. Gina has been singing in church choirs since she was in the 2nd grade.” The honored vocalist’s dad is Jim Marconi. Gina’s brother, Michael is a sophomore at St. Francis High School in Mountain View and a teen leader with the IHM Youth Ministry Program. Many will remember Gina from Tri-School musicals staged with talent from Notre Dame, Mercy High School in Burlingame and Junipero Serra High School in San Mateo where she tread the boards in shows including Pippin and Grease….No CSF next week!!…Remember this is an empty space without ya’!!

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May 26, 2006

Catholic San Francisco

3

USF President addresses immigration at Public Policy Breakfast Jesuit Father Stephen Privett outlined “A Catholic Perspective on Immigration” at the annual Public Policy Breakfast May 16 at Saint Mary’s Cathedral. The University of San Francisco President said, “We will never resolve the issue of immigration if we do not address its underlying cause - poverty.”

Poverty is the main reason immigrants “leave behind family, friends, language, food, culture, neighborhoods” to come to the United States, he said. Catholics, he said in his speech, have a biblical imperative to both address poverty and welcome the stranger.

“No command is more frequently repeated in the Hebrew Bible than the reminder to care for the ‘stranger or resident alien in our midst’,” he said. In the Christian scriptures, the Holy Family’s flight into Egypt can be seen as “the ‘archetype’ of every refugee family,” and the parable of the Good Samaritan “is a story that further illustrates our responsibility to the stranger and alien among us.”

The Second Vatican Council’s identification of the Church as a “Pilgrim People” further reinforces the Catholic perspective of the “radical interconnectedness” of all human beings, he said. According to immigration scholar Fr. Daniel Groody, Fr. Privett said, “before God, we all live in the same country, we live on the same side of the fence,” with God himself as the “ultimate promised land.”

Fr. Privett said, “The challenge that rises out of the Catholic perspective on immigration is to work and vote to address the structural conditions that insure persons are able to secure their most basic rights.”

Catholic Worker founder Dorothy Day summed up Catholic responsibility on this and other issues of poverty “most succinctly,” Fr. Privett stated, when she said Christ “’made heaven hinge on the way we act toward Him in His disguise of commonplace, frail, ordinary humanity.’”

Fr. Privett noted that serious, and even

preferential efforts, to help poor immigrants does not amount to a suspension of “’justice as fairness’ for purely religious reasons.” Rather, he said, “’Equal justice’ requires preferential recognition for those whose most basic rights are systematically violated. In the balancing of rights, the ethically responsible position tips towards those whose most basic needs are denied.”

The Archdiocese of San Francisco Office of Public Policy and Social Concerns sponsor the annual Public Policy Breakfast. The breakfast is “intended as a way for Catholic leaders to be informed about the public policy issues of the day,” according to George Wesolek, director of the office. Recent Public Policy Breakfast topics have included human trafficking, abortion, and homeland security. Visit website www.sflifeandjustice.org for more information on the events and activities of the Office of Public Policy and Social Concerns.

Palestinians . . .

and hospital patients not receiving proper medical treatment because the hospital cannot afford to buy needed medicines.

Caritas Jerusalem has been inundated with hundreds of requests for help to secure medicine, social assistance and life-saving medical care, as well as requests for food assistance and desperate pleas for cash, said Claudette Habesch, secretary-general of Caritas Jerusalem. The agency has launched a special appeal to help with the heavy load of requests.

Catholic Relief Services representative Tom Garofalo said the U.S. bishops’ development agency has been working with the World Food Program to increase its food-for-work program by some 25 percent to help the increasing number of needy families. The program should be put in place in early June, he said.

“Obviously, it is a critical situation,” said Garofalo, adding that as workers are not collecting salaries “you have to wonder what the real impact is, if it is hurting Hamas or individual people who have nothing to do with it.”

He added that the boycott seems to “have PALESTINIANS, page 5

Archdiocesan Official Notice

■ Continued from cover international community has been withholding funding since the January elections that put Hamas in power. The boycott is aimed at forcing Hamas to formally accept the existence of Israel and renounce any use of violence against the Jewish state and its citizens.

Recently, there has been talk of possible ways of getting international humanitarian aid to the necessary Palestinian institutions while bypassing the government.

The average Palestinian citizen is feeling the brunt of the burden. Civil servants — including those in schools, hospitals, government offices and security services — have not been paid for almost four months. Most people’s savings have already been used by the financial strain of five and a half years of the intifada, or Palestinian uprising.

The lack of money has a domino effect on all aspects of Palestinian life — from young couples considering marriage, to parents not able to buy food and pay school tuition fees

Help Us Build a New Church to Honor Blessed Father Damien DeVeuster, Hero of Molokai — Hero of Humanity Aloha from the Hawaiian Island of Molokai!

In the 19th century a Belgian Sacred Heart priest, Father Damien DeVeuster, selflessly served the Hansen’s disease (leprosy) patients who had been exiled to Kalaupapa, a remote peninsula of Molokai, Hawaii. For 16 years, Father Damien lived with the patients, bandaging their wounds, building houses and coffins, burying the dead, and bringing the faith to the unchurched. Ultimately, Father Damien became one with the patients, succumbing to Hansen’s disease at age 49 and passing away during Holy Week 1889. Blessed Mother Teresa considered Father Damien her role model in her work with the sick and abandoned patients of Calcutta. In 1995, Pope John Paul II declared Father Damien, Blessed Damien.

We, the Molokai Catholic Community, are entrusted with telling the Blessed Damien story and legacy of love. On Sundays, at St. Sophia Church in Kaunakakai, the main town of Molokai, our parishioners and visitors stand outside the doors and sit on folding chairs in the church carport. Time, weather, and termite infestation have taken a toll on St. Sophia Church, a modest wooden structure built in 1946. Our dream is simple-to build a new church to replace St. Sophia in the name of Blessed Damien-Hero of Molokai, Hero of Humanity.

Join the Molokai Catholic Community in celebrating Blessed Damien Day on May 10.

Help us honor Blessed Damien by making a gift in his memory or in the memory of a loved one to the Blessed Damien Church of Molokai Building Fund.

Any gift that you make to the Blessed Damien Building Fund will be humbly appreciated.

We look forward to the day when Blessed Damien will be added to the canon of saints. We dedicate this building effort to him, and we commit to continuing the mission that he began here over 150 years ago. Please join us.

Send your tax deductible donation to: Blessed Damien Building Fund Molokai Catholic Community, P O Box 1948, Kaunakakai, Hawaii 96748 Thank you for your generosity.

For more information see our website:www.blesseddamienchurch.org

St. Sophia-site of future Blessed Damien Church of Molokai

The following are appointments of new pastors and new administrators effective July 1, 2006. Additional clergy appointments for the Archdiocese of San Francisco will be published as they are announced. On behalf of Archbishop Niederauer, Auxiliary Bishop John C. Wester announced the appointments.

NEW PASTORS, NEW ADMINISTRATORS: Reverend Paul B. Arnoult, Administrator, St. Patrick Church, Larkspur Reverend John A. Balleza, Administrator, Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, Redwood City

Jesuit Father Stephen Privett

Reverend Eduardo Dura, Pastor, St. Patrick Church, San Francisco Reverend Cyril J. O’Sullivan, Administrator, St. Cecilia Church, Lagunitas Reverend Raymund Reyes, Administrator, St. Anne Church, San Francisco Reverend Charito E. Suan, Administrator, St. Elizabeth Church, San Francisco PASTOR REAPPOINTMENT TO ADDITIONAL ONE-YEAR TERM: Reverend Monsignor Michael D. Harriman, St. Cecilia Church, San Francisco

Catholic San Francisco

in brief

Pope says some religious order reforms threatened by culture VATICAN CITY — Reforms undertaken by religious orders aimed at ensuring deeper fidelity to the Gospel, to the church and to the poor are threatened by too many adaptations to a modern, materialistic culture, Pope Benedict XVI said. The pope met May 22 with some 1,500 superiors of women’s and men’s religious orders representing hundreds of thousands of priests, nuns, brothers and consecrated virgins around the world. “To belong to the Lord: This is the mission of the men and women who have chosen to follow the chaste, poor and obedient Christ so that the world would believe and be saved,” the pope told the superiors.

Consecrated men and women, he said, are called to be a “credible and shining sign of the Gospel and its paradoxes,” which encourage humility, self-giving and the renunciation of earthly goods for the sake of spiritual goods. “The Lord wants men and women who are free, not bound, able to abandon everything to follow him and who find everything only in him,” the pope said.

Jesuit honored for rights work NEW DELHI — The French government has awarded its highest honor to Jesuit Father Cedric Prakash, an outspoken advocate for human rights in western India’s Gujarat state. He was given the Legion of Honor for his commitment to the defense and promotion of human rights in India, the French government said. Father Prakash has been fighting for human rights in Gujarat state as the head of Prashant, a Jesuit social action group that organizes strategies for many nongovernmental organizations. He also organized the Concerned Citizens’ Tribunal and has testified before the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom in Washington about the state of religions freedom in Gujarat.

German church focuses on hospitality during World Cup COLOGNE, Germany — The German Catholic Church is harnessing the enthusiasm for the soccer World Cup in June and July by offering religious hospitality in all 12 cities in which

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Joseph McCabe cradles his brother Riley, now 18 months old, after Riley fell asleep at St. Cecilia Church in Philadelphia. Joseph will always remember July 20, 2005, as the day he saved the life of Riley, then 9 months old. The 13-year-old Boy Scout performed the Heimlich maneuver on the infant after he swallowed a piece of tape and began choking.

games will be played. The church is focusing its activities on the World Cup slogan, “A Time to Make Friends.” Cardinal Karl Lehmann of Mainz said, “When guests come, we give them the best we have. We open our churches and make space for encounters: with the members of our parishes, with the history of faith in our country, and above all, with Jesus Christ himself.” The only major national event is a service to be broadcast on national television, which will be held just before the first match between Germany and Costa Rica in Munich June 9. As with many of the regional activities, it will be carried out jointly by Catholics and the Protestant Church, a federation of Lutheran, Reformed and United churches.

Vatican says Legionaries’ founder cannot exercise ministry publicly VATICAN CITY — In a decision approved by Pope Benedict XVI, the Vatican has said the founder of the Legionaries of Christ, accused of sexually abusing minors, should not exercise his priestly ministry publicly. The Vatican also said May 19 it would not begin a canonical process against the founder, 86-year-old Father Marcial Maciel Degollado, because of his advanced age and poor health. The Vatican statement did not get into details about the allegations against Father Maciel, but Vatican sources said the wording of the statement and its call to penance signaled it had found there was substance to the accusations. In the statement, Vatican spokesman Joaquin

(CNS PHOTO/COURTESY OF DEACON RUBEN NATERA)

NEWS

May 26, 2006 (CNS PHOTO/SARAH WEBB, CATHOLIC STANDARD & TIMES)

4

Deacon Ruben Natera, right, a commander in the U.S. Naval Reserve deployed last July to Kuwait, presents a Seabees coin to Bishop Camillo Ballin, apostolic vicar of Kuwait. Deacon Natera, a member of the Seabees, met Bishop Ballin during his nine-month tour of duty in Kuwait, where, the deacon said, he was able to strengthen his own faith while learning more about Islam.

Navarro-Valls said the Vatican had investigated the claims made by former Legionary seminarians against Father Maciel, who founded the Legionaries in his native Mexico in 1941. “After having submitted the results of the investigation to attentive study, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, under the guidance of the new prefect, His Eminence Cardinal William Levada, has decided — taking into account both the advanced age of Rev. Maciel and his delicate health — to forgo a canonical process and to call the priest to a life reserved to prayer and penance, renouncing any public ministry,” the statement said.

Pope tells Italian bishops to make their voices heard for common good VATICAN CITY — The day after Italy swore in a centerleft government with some ministers promising to push policies opposed by the Catholic Church, Pope Benedict XVI told the country’s bishops they had a responsibility to make their voices heard. The church “not only recognizes and respects” the autonomy of church and state, he said May 18, but it is pleased when each segment of society is allowed to fulfill its role and responsibility. Part of the church’s duty in society is to help people see what public policies are helpful or harmful to the dignity of individuals and to the common good, he told the Italian bishops’ conference holding its annual meeting at the Vatican. By reminding politicians and citizens of the enduring value of basic ethical norms, “we do not commit any violation against the secularity of the state, but rather we contribute to guaranteeing and promoting the dignity of the person and the common good of society,” the pope said.

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May 26, 2006

obituary

Father Edwin Farrugia Father Edwin Farrugia, pastor of St. Elizabeth Parish in San Francisco’s Portola District, died May 19. He had been diagnosed with lung cancer in January.

Born in Malta and ordained in 1960, Father Farrugia was 70 years old.

Father Farrugia began his priesthood as a Dominican and officially became a priest of the Archdiocese of San Francisco in 1979. He served in churches including St. Dominic’s, San Francisco, St. Robert’s, San Bruno and St. Catherine of Siena in Burlingame. He is, however, probably best remembered at St. Elizabeth’s where he has been pastor since 1995 and Our Lady of Mercy Church in Daly City where he served as a parochial vicar for 13 years.

“Father Ed served the people of Our Lady of

Mercy so well for so many years,” said Jesuit Brother Douglas Draper, Dean of Students at St. Ignatius College Preparatory and who worked with Father Farrugia for 12 years in weekend ministry at Our Lady of Mercy.

“He was especially considerate of the older parishioners with his kindness and availability to them.”

Archbishop George H. Niederauer presided at a funeral Mass May 24 at St. Elizabeth Church.

Father Farrugia is survived by siblings in Malta as well as a cousin, Dominican Father David Farrugia, pastor, St. Mary Magdalen Church in Berkeley.

Remembrances, which will be forwarded to Father Farrugia’s family in Malta, may be sent to The Farrugia Family, c/o St. Elizabeth Church, 449 Holyoke St., San Francisco 94109.

Palestinians . . .

ficult to pay the salaries of parish schoolteachers, since students are unable to pay their tuition, said Father Majdi al-Siryani, director of schools for the patriarchate. Tuition typically covers about 25 percent of the cost of the patriarchate’s 15 schools in the West Bank and Gaza, he added.

“If 40-50 percent of our 6,000 students can’t pay, we are in deep water,” the priest said.

He noted that extracurricular activities have been suspended, and students do not have the money even to buy drinks or snacks at school.

Father al-Siryani described the boycott as “collective punishment” for the actions of 10 percent of the population.

■ Continued from page 3 the biggest impact against people who are least able to absorb it.”

In the Gaza Strip, people are coming to the office daily with their children in tow, asking for help, said Omar Shaban Ismail, project manager for CRS Gaza.

“No single economy in the world can bear what is going on here,” he said, noting that people are becoming more tense and there has been an increase in crimes.

The Latin Patriarchate is also finding it dif-

The Da Vinci Code: Facts and Faith The public is invited to a free, special program regarding the novel and movie, The Da Vinci Code, which will be held at St. Thomas More Church, Wed., May 31, at 8 p.m. The panel discussion includes Archbishop George H. Niederauer, Rabbi Michael Lerner, and Ms. Kelly Macatangay. St. Thomas More Church is located at 1300 Junipero Serra Boulevard at Brotherhood Way in San Francisco.

Catholic San Francisco

5

Young adults begin walk across country for life

Auxiliary Bishop John C. Wester with ‘Crossroads’ group.

Groups of college students from around the United States began cross-country treks May 18 in an effort to “convert hearts and minds” to favor a “culture of life.”

Students taking part in the annual Crossroads initiative departed on separate journeys from Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles. They will arrive, after having covered 10,000 miles by foot, in Washington, D.C. on August 12.

Again this year, San Francisco Auxiliary Bishop John C. Wester celebrated Mass for those students leaving from San Francisco and later joined them for breakfast.

“Jesus says ‘you are my friends,’” Bishop Wester said in his homily. “Each unrepeatable gift of life that God causes to come into being, Jesus calls friend.”

Bishop Wester prayed that the witness the

students give during their journey would help spread the perspective that life is precious.

Along their journey, the walkers will speak to parish groups and media “witnessing to the dignity and sanctity of all human life from the moment of conception to natural death.” They will also pray at local abortion sites and raise funds for the Michael Project Fund, which provides financial assistance to women in crisis pregnancies who wish to keep their children.

Crossroads was started by students at the Franciscan University in Steubenville, Ohio, in response to Pope John Paul II’s 1993 call at World Youth Day in Denver, Colorado, for youth to become involved in creating a culture of life.

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Catholic San Francisco

May 26, 2006

Sisters mark quake anniversary

Notre Dame High School building before the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake.

Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, alumnae and friends marked the 100-year anniversary of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake by returning to Notre Dame Plaza, a building that had housed Notre Dame High School for 115 years. The school, at 347 Dolores Street in San Francisco, had already been in existence for 40 years when it was heavily damaged by the earthquake. Rebuilding was completed

only one year later and the school was open for classes in May 1907.

Sister Louise O’Reilly said it was inspiring “that at a time when women still did not even have the right to vote, that such leadership, business acumen, faith and commitment to the educational needs of the people at the time ‘re-birthed’ Notre Dame in San Francisco through the labors of the Sisters and their friends.”

After the 1906 quake, Notre Dame de Namur Sisters rebuilt the school.

While the school closed in 1981, the transformation of the former school building to 66 affordable senior rental apartments was completed in 1997. The Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur collaborated with Mercy Housing in the pre-development stages before construction could begin.

Mercy Housing is a not for profit organization sponsored by the Sisters of Mercy of Omaha to provide affordable housing.

Alumnae of the former all girls’ school were delighted to return to their alma mater to remember their days in the hallways and classrooms of old and to see the remarkable transformation from a school to a residence for low-income seniors. Sister Aileen Bermingham, an alumna and a teacher at the school, exclaimed, “The Sisters could not be happier for the use of this great building.”

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May 26, 2006

San Francisco Archbishop George H. Niederauer blessed the newly renovated Moriarty Hall at St. Anne of the Sunset Parish May 13.

The facility is named for St. Anne’s third pastor, Msgr. Patrick G. Moriarty who served at the parish from 1936 to 1970. Among those joining the revelry and fellowship of the evening were Peter Bresler, standing left, Ruth Leadbetter, Philip Leadbetter, Preciosa Agaton and Father Edward Dura, pastor, with Faye Lee, seated left, Archbishop Niederauer, Tom Wong, Kim Wong.

Catholic San Francisco

The ninth annual Loaves & Fishes Dinner, held May 11, raised $1.3 million to help support the programs of San Francisco Catholic Charities CYO. The social service agency’s 30 programs serve 45,000 people, regardless of faith, in San Francisco, San Mateo and Marin Counties. At the event, Archbishop George H. Niederauer presented Loaves & Fishes Awards to Richard C. Blum, the Carl Gellert and Celia Berta Gellert Foundation, and the Alliance of Mission District Catholic Schools.

In attendance were board members and staff of the Gellert Foundation: from left, Executive Director Jack Fitzpatrick, Board Chairman Peter Brusati, Michael King, Robert Grassilli, Lorraine D’Elia, Archbishop Niederauer, Andrew Cresci, and John Scudder, president of Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory in San Francisco.

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Our Alumnae Say It Best! ❝ My experience at NDB reinforced the values taught by my parents: hard work, integrity, honesty, compassion, and a sense of confidence. My academic preparation for USF enabled me to pursue my first career in nursing. I returned to CND to get my Masters Degree in Public Administration. My chosen field of conflict resolution/community-building did not exist when I attended high school, but my commitment to peaceful approaches to resolving differences started in those early years and my path was set. ❞ ~ Patricia Crooks Brown ’62 Executive Director, Peninsula Conflict Resolution Center

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8

Catholic San Francisco

May 26, 2006

Respect Life essays ‘witness to life and faith’ The annual Respect Life Essay contest School of the Epiphany; Kristen Dames, Our sponsored by the Archdiocese of San Lady of Mt. Carmel School. In 5th-6th Grades: Francisco drew participants from Marin, San Grand Prize: Kelsey Murphy-Angeli, St. Francisco and San Mateo Counties.

Timothy School; First Awards: Michelle Geck, Vickie Evans, Archdiocesan Respect Life St. Isabella School; Mary Basile, Sts. Peter & Coordinator, said, “These essays are a beautiful Paul School; Desmond Dizon, St. Catherine of witness to life and faith.” She said essay topics Siena School. In 7th-8th Grades: Grand Prize: touched on questions concerning unborn life, Michael Holper, St. Cecilia School; First from simple questions in the primary grades to Awards: Catherine Confehr, St. Isabella School; a high school question that asked teens to write Matthew Estipona, Corpus Christi School; Ariel a letter to a pregnant friend.

Anderson, All Souls School; High School.

“Few issues create as much controversy in Grand Prize: Christopher Lorenz, Junipera Serra American society as abortion. It has clearly High School; First Awards: Joanna Sitzmann, polarized people’s opinions,” wrote Christopher Marin Catholic High School; Judit Maria Lorenz, a senior at Junipero Serra High School Abarca, Immaculate Conception Academy; and the Grand Prize winner in the high school Alisha Klebe, Notre Dame High School. category. Lorenz was awarded $500. “Nobody Honorable mention: 1st-2nd Grades: Julia really knows how someone feels about preg- Friedman, St. Rita School; Karinne Aguirre, St. nancy and the emotions associated with what is Hilary; Hannah Holscher, St. Hilary; Julianna happening in a woman’s body. One cannot Torres, Our Lady of Loretto; Odalis dance around the question. We must confront it Castellanos, Our Lady of Mt. Carmel; Faith head-on and hope that, in the end, the best Giron, Holy Name; Sean Chang, Holy Name; choice is made: the choice for life.”

Amy Lei, St. Monica; Emily Sellars, St. Philip; Judit Maria Abarca was awarded first place Ryan Doyle, St. Gabriel; Caroline Maguire, St. for San Francisco County, one of three high Gabriel; Emmanuel Fernandez, St. Veronica; school students who won in the county catego- Randall Williams, St. Gregory; Alejandro ry. Abarca, a junior at Immaculate Conception Perez, Immaculate Heart of Mary; Allyson Academy, took a personal approach, counsel- Abad, Our Lady of Mercy. In 3rd-4th Grades: ing an imaginary friend, “Remember that you Gina Welisch, St. Hilary; Sarah Danziger, Our are not alone. I will support your decision in Lady of Loretto; Patrick Carlin, St. Isabella; having this child. I will do everything I can so Gabriella Aparicio, St. Patrick; Julia Kallstrom, San Domenico; Luis Lopez Reichling, San you never feel alone in this situation.”

Eighty-eight children and teens were Domenico; Michaela Serafica, St. Stephen; awarded prizes or honorable mention recogni- Michelle Vuong, St. Monica; Sarah Mehrwein, tion. This year, the Awards Mass took place St. Elizabeth; Ada Chang, St. Mary’s Chinese May 7 at St. Gabriel Church in San Francisco, Day School; Jacob Granville, St. Catherine where Pastor Father John Ryan presided and Siena; Alexa Brand, St. Pius; Charlie Abiezzi, read a letter from Archbishop George H. St. Matthew; Rosario Macahilas, Epiphany; Niederauer, praising participants for taking Justin Yuen, St. Veronica. In 5th-6th Grades: “the time to express their belief and commit- Stephanie Chapman, St. Rita; Maddie Wilmot, St. Rita; Dashiell Stander, St. Anselm; Tres ment to the sanctity of life.”

More than 400 people filled the church and Oelze, St. Patrick; Tom Smylie, St. Isabella; then adjourned to the parish hall for a reception hosted by the Archdiocesan Council of If you’ve been looking for Catholic Women and St. someone who can finally Gabriel parish and school.

Students honored with solve your child’s reading awards or recognition came problem, this is the place. from 40 different schools in the archdiocese. Winners received Reading instructor is author of numerous cash awards and all received a books on reading instruction and is listed gift certificate for a DVD or in “Who’s Who of American Teachers.” videotape from Ignatius Press.

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Nine schools were awarded a Affordable fees. Call Mary at 415-391-8579 school-wide pizza lunch for www.OnlineReadingTeacher.com complete participation.

Awards included 1st-2nd Grades: Grand Prize: Emma Gleavy, Holy Name School; First Awards: Olivia Lewis, San Domenico Primary School; Christopher Ross, Megan Furth Academy; Angelica Martinez, St. Veronica School. In 3rd-4th Grades: Grand Prize: Lily Stander, St. Anselm School; First Awards: Katie Toepel, St. Hilary School; Kayla Acedez,

Janet Sanchez, Our Lady of Loretto; Mary Catherine Sowell, Our Lady of Loretto; Stephanie Pardi, St. Patrick; Megan Tsai, Sts. Peter & Paul; Jamie Bonifacia, St. Charles Borromeo; Ariella Fernandez, St. Thomas More; Peter Holper, St. Cecilia; Sophia Cannata-Bowman, St. Gabriel; Adriana Suarez, Corpus Christi; Luis Vidalon, Holy Name; Patrick Reidy, St. Gabriel; Theresa Mandapat, Holy Angels; Jesse Kvarna, Good Shepherd; Jordan Dakin, Our Lady of Mt. Carmel; Zoe Parker, Our Lady of Mt. Carmel; Shelby Miguel, St. Veronica. In 7th-8th Grades: Audriana Gregaru, St. Isabella; Alexandra

Masterson, St. Patrick; Nicholas Loberg, Our Lady of Loretto; Emmett Birmingham, Our Lady of Loretto; Rainer Tanega, Corpus Christi; Kenneth Savage, St. Thomas the Apostle; Mira Bollman, Star of the Sea School; Kenise Lee, St. Mary’s Chinese Day School; Margaret Ryan, Ecole Notre Dame des Victoires; Gabriela Moreno, St. Elizabeth; Seamus Jensen, St. Veronica; Andrew O’Melveney, Immaculate Heart of Mary; Emma Swayze, Our Lady of Mt. Carmel; Lauren Mendoza, St. Catherine of Siena; Samantha Dacanay, St. Matthew. High School: Alison Noda, Junior, Immaculate Conception Academy.

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Catholic San Francisco

9

Pope Benedict affirms value of family founded on marriage

By Carrol Glatz VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Medical and scientific progress becomes a threat to humanity when people think they can fill in for God and tamper with creation, specifically human life, Pope Benedict XVI said.

The human embryo “must always originate from an act of love” between a man and a woman and “already be treated as a person,” he said in a May 13 address to members of the Pontifical Council for the Family.

Scientific and technological advancement in the field of bioethics “becomes a threat when man loses sense of his limits

and, basically, claims to supersede God the creator,” Pope Benedict said.

Council members met May 11-13 at the Vatican to discuss the achievements, challenges, and current and future projects of the department founded 25 years ago by Pope John Paul II. Two major themes under discussion at the council’s plenary assembly were the sanctity of life and marriage.

Procreation outside the loving act between a man and woman bonded in marriage not only ignores God’s plan for creation, it degrades the human body and turns it into “merchandise, a plain thing,” Pope Benedict said.

He praised unmarried men and women,

Wedding Guide

especially young people who were “rediscovering the value of chastity, which appears more and more as a sure guarantee of authentic love.”

The pope then urged married Christian couples to be open to life and show “with courageous coherence that procreation is the fruit of love.” He said sometimes it seemed that families are afraid of “life, paternity and maternity.”

“It is necessary to give them back confidence so that they can continue to fulfill their noble mission of procreation in love,” he said.

More couples having more children would help “stimulate politicians and lawmakers to safeguard the rights of the family,” he said.

The family is under threat by laws trying to

give civil unions, which reject the obligations of marriage, the same rights as married couples, he said. Some governments are trying to come up with a new definition of marriage by legalizing homosexual unions and allowing gay couples to adopt children, he added.

He urged families to stay united and overcome the difficulties that often lead to separation and divorce, which can have negative effects on children.

Patience, sacrifice and understanding as well as prayer and receiving the Eucharist can help couples “remain faithful to their vocation,” he said.

Archbishop Elden F. Curtiss of Omaha, POPE ON MARRIAGE, page 11

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Catholic San Francisco

May 26, 2006

Marriage no romantic picnic, but worth the effort, therapist says

By Patricia Bartos PITTSBURGH (CNS) — “Our culture has really done a magnificent job of convincing people that good marriages ‘just happen,’” according to marriage and family therapist Larry Badaczewski.

Many experts caution against this romantic, magical view of marriage, “but somehow we have got it in our heads that it shouldn’t be that hard,” he said. “It’s almost as if we refuse to see how complex we are as individuals, and that when you take two imperfect people and have them live together, you still somehow expect them to have a perfect life.”

But the reality is much more complicated, said Badaczewski, who has worked with Catholic parishes for more than 20 years.

Married couples fight over issues that “will be with us till the end of time” — money, sex, parenting, social life, extended family relationships, division of labor in the household, and how they practice the faith, he said.

The best form of therapy is to “normalize” the conflict, to put things into perspective, Badaczewski added.

“If couples just know that what they’re experiencing is not unusual, they can calm down and begin to work through things.”

But when the romance “chemicals” in the brain begin to wear off a year or two into the marriage, the couple can begin to “see (their) differences become more glaring,” the therapist added.

“It’s not exactly what we expected, we get mad, things are not working out the way we thought they should,” he added.

One way that things go bad, he said, is when people begin to think, “This is too hard, and the reason is that it’s the other person.”

“We build this catalog of offenses against them, put

all of our energy into building a case,” Badaczewski said.

“I see it over and over again. At that point, the marriage is in deep trouble.”

This is where the differences between a civil marriage and a committed, sacramental one can be seen, he said. A sacramental marriage “withstands physical and emotional demands,” he added.

He recalled the homily at his own wedding, when the priest said, “It all starts at baptism.” The priest told the young couple, “You are marked, and called to follow Christ, and marriage is a moral occasion where you are really called to recognize Christ in another person, with that kind of love.”

In today’s society, “we’re not being reminded of God’s love,” Badaczewski said. “It’s a different kind of love than society promotes. We’re up against those images.”

Divorce, he said, “just kills me. If I lose sleep it’s usually when I’m working with people who are dismantling a relationship, especially when you can see any number of ways to make things better.

“They don’t understand the promises they made,” he added. “Just because they’re not ‘in love’ at the moment, they think if they’re in pain at the moment it’s a bad marriage.”

Look at the Gospels, he said. “It’s in pain that we see the face of God. Marriage is such an important and holy vocation because it can get to be so messy. That’s where Jesus reveals himself — in the mess, in those everyday things, that hidden life.

“My message is it doesn’t have to be this way, and to infuse hope,” Badaczewski said. “Marriage is our last and best chance to grow up. If we’re good at it, it makes us stop thinking of our own self, reach out to another and see how we can be Christ to anyone, and that it has to be to our spouse first.”

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Catholic San Francisco

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Four Secrets of Marriage For the first half of my young adult life I feared romantic relationships because I had no road map to follow. My parents’ screaming fests — before and after their hostile divorce — loomed inside my faded memory as I began to date boys in high school and college.

I had no intention of marrying. I envisioned living my adult years as a missionary in India, a Mother Teresa type. So when love entered my life, I told it to go away. He didn’t listen.

Eric was the only guy who stuck around longer than my goldfish. Going on seven years, I am amazed I have been able to share house, car, child and life with the same person without losing my sanity, health or bad habits.

For marriage operating instructions, my husband and I rely on experts, happily married folks who have been at the game awhile, since we both emerged from very broken families.

One such marriage I hold in high esteem is that of my writing partner, Mike Leach, with whom I edited “I Like Being Married,” published by Doubleday. Long before we collaborated on our first book project, I eavesdropped on Mike’s phone conversations with Vickie because I was curious to know what a good, healthy relationship sounded like.

I blushed one day in his office when I heard him tell Vickie, “I love you, Sweetheart,” sentiments with which he closes every conversation of theirs. I had heard those words before, but they were spoken by the gorgeous blond on

“General Hospital” right before she decided to cheat on her husband.

Considering our country is inching its way out of a 43 percent divorce rate, young adults are in desperate need of Mikes and Vickies to show how it’s done. Here are four secrets — the Four Fs — Mike shared with me: Friendship: “Chains do not hold a marriage together,” says Simone Signoret. “It’s threads, hundreds of tiny threads, which sew people together through the years.” A good marriage, Mike contends, is “a blanket of friendship that gives comfort, assurance and impulse to say three of the most powerful sentences possible: ‘I love you,’ ‘Thank you’ and ‘I do.’”

Familiarity: “Some say familiarity breeds contempt,” writes Mike in our book on marriage. “I have learned that it breeds content. Familiarity is knowing someone so well that you both say the same surprising things at the same time and feel the love in the laughter that follows.... It is pizza together every Friday night.”

Forgiveness: “People ask me what advice I have for a married couple struggling in their relationship,” Mother Teresa once said. “I always answer: Pray and forgive.”

“Without forgiveness,” Marianne Williamson writes in “Illuminata” (Random House, 1994), “love has no meaning. It has no fullness or maturity. Only when two people have shown each other the worst side of our natures are we

Pope on marriage . . .

Another assembly participant, Supreme Knight Carl Anderson of the Knights of Columbus, noted that, as some states start to limit a woman’s access to abortion, social programs and services that support women and their pregnancies need to be set up or bolstered.

He told CNS that this is reflected in the pope’s encyclical, “God Is Love” (“Deus Caritas Est”), in that even if the United States is able to restrict or overturn Roe v. Wade “you still need room for charity.”

“How does one look at the whole question of pregnancy in a post-Roe culture” and help women with unplanned pregnancies? he asked.

■ Continued from page 9 Neb., who attended the council’s plenary assembly, said the family based on marriage between a man and a woman is “fundamental to society,” not just the church.

He told Catholic News Service May 12 that the “secular culture tends to look at everything from the point of view of personal rights and personal disposition, and somebody has to say ‘Well, what about the common good ... what happens when you undermine marriage?’”

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Friendship, familiarity, forgiveness and fidelity are the four points that a mentor and friend, happily married for more than three decades, generously passed on to guide my husband and me on our journey together.

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Catholic San Francisco

May 26, 2006

With new Holy Land governments, will conflict abate?

Contrasting views of the current state of events in the Holy Land under the new Palestinian and Israeli faith-based governments are presented here by Rateb Y. Rabie, a Knight of the Holy Sepulcher who is president and co-founder of the Holy Land Christian Ecumenical Foundation, an American ecumenical group founded in 1999 to inform Americans about the plight of Palestinian Christians, and Atonement Father James Loughran, who is director of the Graymoor Ecumenical and Interreligious Institute in New York. Rabie writes, for example, that “Arab Christians, while engaged in the lives of the two societies, appear to be in a bind” and that the situation is “exacerbated” by what he calls “a separation wall” that Israel is constructing to restrict Palestinian mobility. But Father Loughran says there seems to be a lack of criticism toward the Palestinians themselves for their predicament. Furthermore, he holds that what he calls Israel’s “security barrier” is saving lives.

(CNS PHOTOS/REUTERS)

Catholic News Service

Bethlehem Barrier – Palestinian schoolgirls walk along the controversial Israeli barrier near their home in the West Bank city of Bethlehem May 9.

The Palestinians remain under occupation

By Rateb Y. Rabie With the elections of new faith-based Palestinian and Israeli governments, Christians and other Holy Land inhabitants are asking how real the prospects are for the advancement of the peace process.

While Israel’s new government is intent on unilateral processes to disengage and separate its population from the Palestinians, the new Palestinian government is asked to recognize Israel, to stop all forms of violence and acknowledge all relevant international agreements and accords between the Palestinians and Israel.

The continued presence of Palestinian Christians in the Holy Land is witness to the new beginning in Christ started some 2,000 years ago.

But it must be said at the outset that the Palestinian Territories are under Israeli military occupation. Palestinian Christians, in their homeland, are not yet in control of their identity or destiny. They have been living for decades in the shadow of a most difficult political situation of conflict with economic and social repercussions.

This occupation has led to the emigration of Palestinian Christians, who today make up less than 2 percent of the Palestinian population, with 50,000 living in the West Bank and Gaza, and a similar percentage in Israel, where 120,000 Christians live.

Arab Christians, while engaged in the lives of the two societies, appear to be in a bind. On the one hand, the new political reality in the Palestinian Territories has led to major funding cuts by the United States and other donor governments. In addition, Israel has stopped remitting to the Palestinian Authority the taxes and custom duties usually collected on its behalf.

As the economic, institutional and social repercussions of these cuts become apparent, the Christians in the Palestinian Territories will suffer similarly to other Palestinians.

What exacerbates the situation is that Israel is in the final stages of building a separation wall, and Israel’s government is undertaking measures that restrict the Palestinians’ mobility, not simply across borders but also between towns within the Palestinian Territories themselves. As Pope John Paul II said: “The wall is an obstacle on the road to peace. The Holy Land does not need walls, but bridges.”

Holy Land Christians hope and pray that the politicians in Israel and the Palestinian Territories will find the means

of working together to negotiate an honorable and acceptable peace for the two peoples. Hope could be restored for a peaceful way out of this seemingly endless conflict if the new governments would accept each other’s rights, reject violence and the use of military means, and mutually respect international agreements, resolutions and accords.

There is much learning to be done about the current situation. Raising awareness of the predicament of Holy Land Christians is an area where work needs to be done in U.S. churches.

Then American Christians can empower Palestinian Christians to become a bridge for peace between Palestinians and Israelis, utilizing their unique position as Christians who share with their Arab Muslim compatriots the same language, culture, traditions and aspirations, and who also share the same biblical foundations with their Jewish neighbors.

This empowerment cannot take place without spiritual, moral and financial support to Christians in the Holy Land. The involvement of American Christians in this worthy enterprise would help us to continue in our mission to replace despair with hope, fear with security and humiliation with human dignity.

Israel must continue its own defense

By Father James Loughran, SA The Palestinian predicament is simply not all Israel’s fault.

It seems more and more politically incorrect to empathize with the state of Israel and the perennial and very real need for Jewish security worldwide.

Peace activists in the Catholic Church and many in mainline Protestant churches pounce upon one who does so, armed with lists of supposed Israeli atrocities against innocent Palestinians, compounded by the charge that American tax money supports these terrible things and that American industries profit from them.

This has led to the push among some in the mainline churches and even among some Catholic activist groups to boycott or divest from companies that sell equipment used in Israel to demolish homes or build its security barrier. Israel says it needs this barrier to defend itself from terrorists. It saves lives.

In the midst of all this screeching, there seems a great lack of criticism toward the Palestinians themselves for their predicament, or even any regular or occasional condemnation of the terrorism that has forced Israel to become so defensive in the

The Israeli-constructed security wall in the West Bank cuts off a main road between Bethany and Jerusalem, making it difficult for some Palestinians to journey to Jerusalem. The wall, seen in this March 3 photo, has greatly increased the travel time for some Palestinians to visit relatives and friends or attend church services. Israel says the wall is necessary to stop terrorists.

first place. This is not a case of blaming the victim or a denial of Israel’s military superiority. It is a call to fairness.

Christians native to the area are a minority within a minority, not even 10 percent of the Arab population. Historic centers of Christian life — Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Nazareth — now are overwhelmingly Muslim.

Most Muslims are good neighbors to Christians, but newer, militant groups of Muslims are gaining power. This is the case with the election of Hamas to the government of the Palestinian Authority.

Hamas does not recognize the state of Israel’s right to exist and has sponsored terrorist attacks in Israel, killing many innocent people. Its tolerance toward Christianity is far less than that exhibited by the Palestinian Authority’s previous administration. Despite the Arab patriotism of the Christian population, the new power among the Palestinians will view them with suspicion.

Certainly, being a minority has its disadvantages. Israel was founded as a homeland and refuge for the Jews. Yet because Israel is a democratic state, ruled by law, Christians are guaranteed religious freedom. Problems they face with discrimination can be appealed through the legal system and through petition and protest.

Preoccupied with security issues, Israel does listen; its judiciary is historically sympathetic to minority rights.

Criticism of Israeli policy is not in itself anti-Semitic. All nations are fair game for criticism. The anti-Semitism lies deeper.

When the Jewish state itself is questioned as legitimate and judged not to enjoy the same rights as any other nation state to defend its citizens, and when the conflict sometimes is seasoned with conspiracy theories about Jews being “too powerful,” anti-Semitism is at play. I think attempts to isolate Israel for criticism, without much concern about more outrageous regimes, can also be anti-Semitic.

Israel has said its security barrier reduces terrorist attacks, saving human lives, by more than 80 percent. The theory behind the barrier also saves lives: Israel need not make incursions into Palestinian settlements seeking militants. Human life seems more important than border disputes that can be worked out in time and even more important than the suffering of long lines at checkpoints.

The barrier would be unnecessary if the terrorism stopped. The decision for that lies with the Palestinian leadership.

May 26, 2006

Catholic San Francisco

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Spirituality

Eucharist as God’s physical embrace There’s a story told of a young Jewish boy named Mortakai who refused to go to school. When he was six years old, his mother took him to school, but he cried and protested all the way and, immediately after she left, ran back home. She brought him back to school and this scenario played itself out for several days. He refused to stay in school. His parents tried to reason with him, arguing that he, like all children, must now go to school. To no avail. His parents then tried the age-old trick of applying an appropriate combination of bribes and threats. This too had no effect.

Finally, in desperation they went to their Rabbi and explained the situation to him. For his part, the Rabbi simply said: “If the boy won’t listen to words, bring him to me.” They brought him into the Rabbi’s study. The Rabbi said not a word. He simply picked up the boy and held him to his heart for a long time. Then, still without a word, he set him down. What words couldn’t accomplish, a silent embrace did. Mortakai not only began willingly to go to school, he went on to become a great scholar and a Rabbi.

What that parable wonderfully expresses is how the Eucharist works. In it, God physically embraces us. Indeed that is what all sacraments are, God’s physical embrace.

Words, as we know, have a relative power. In critical situations they often fail us. When this happens, we have still another language, the language of ritual. The most ancient and primal ritual of all is the ritual of physical embrace. It can say and do what words cannot.

Jesus acted on this. For most of his ministry, he used words. Through words, he tried to bring us God’s consolation, challenge, and strength. His words, like all words, had a certain power. Indeed, his words stirred hearts, healed

people, and affected conversions. But at a time, powerful though they were, they too became inadequate. Something more was needed. So on the night before he death, having exhausted what he could do with words, Jesus went beyond them. He gave us the Eucharist, his physical embrace, his kiss, a ritual within which he holds us to his heart.

To my mind, that is the best understanding there is of Eucharist. Within both my undergraduate and graduate theological training, I took long courses on the Eucharist. In the end, these didn’t explain the Eucharist to me, not because they weren’t good, but because the Eucharist, like a kiss, needs no explanation and has no explanation. If anyone were to write a four hundred page book entitled, The Metaphysics of a Kiss, it would be not deserve a readership. Kisses just work, their inner dynamics need no metaphysical elaboration.

The Eucharist is God’s kiss. Andre Dubos, the Cajun novelist, used to say: “Without the Eucharist, God becomes a monologue.” He’s right. A couple of years ago, Brenda Peterson, in a remarkable little essay entitled, In Praise of Skin, describes how she once was inflicted by a skin-rash that no medicine could effectively soothe. She tried every kind of doctor and medicine. To no avail. Finally she turned to her grandmother, remembering how, as a little girl, her grandmother used to massage her skin whenever she had rashes, bruises, or was otherwise ill. The ancient remedy worked again. Her grandmother massaged her skin, over and over again, and the rash that seemingly couldn’t be eradicated disappeared. Skin needs to be touched. This is what happens in the Eucharist and that is why the Eucharist, and every other Christian sacrament, always has some very tangible physical element to it - a laying on of hands, a consuming of bread and

wine, an immersion into water, an anointing with oil. An embrace needs to be physical, not only something imagined.

G.K. Chesterton once wrote: “There comes a time, usually late in the afternoon, when Father the little child tires of Ron Rolheiser playing policeman and robbers. It’s then that he begins to torment the cat!” Mothers, with young children, are only too familiar with this late afternoon hour and its particular dynamic. There comes an hour, usually just before supper, when a child’s energy is low, when it is tired and whining, and when the mother has exhausted both her patience and her repertoire of warnings: “Leave that alone! Don’t do that!” The child, tense and miserable, is clinging to her leg. At that point, she knows what to do.

She picks up the child. Touch, not word, is what’s needed. In her arms, the child grows calm and tension leaves its body.

That’s an image for the Eucharist. We are that tense, over-wrought child, perennially tormenting the cat. There comes a point, even with God, when words aren’t enough.

God has to pick us up, like a mother her child. Physical embrace is what’s needed. Skin needs to be touched. God knows that. It’s why Jesus gave us the Eucharist.

Oblate Father Ron Rolheiser is a theologian, teacher and award-winning author.

Guest Commentary

The Holy Grail – A spiritual quest What do the Knights of the Round Table, Indiana Jones, and the characters of “The Da Vinci Code” have in common – aside from movie adaptations? They all participate in a quest for the legendary Holy Grail, but what they find is something beyond the Grail itself.

The many legends and diverse interpretations have added detail and assorted richness to the mythology of the Holy Grail throughout history. In addition to the cultural phenomenon over its anti-Catholicism, the popularity of “The Da Vinci Code” has led to renewed interest in the nature and history of the Grail. What was it? What became of it? Where might it be found if it exists?

Since, according to Scriptures, Christ’s disciples did not fully understand the significance of his ministry until they received the Holy Spirit at Pentecost – fifty-three days after the Last Supper – one can imagine that (after such time) the actual cup may well have disappeared into history. The resulting speculation is a rich tradition of mythology and folklore in which the Holy Grail not only has come to represent the Eucharistic cup, but also reflects a number of traditions of faith and history. One speculation is that the Grail symbolizes the Church itself, born from the blood and water that flowed from the side of Christ on the Cross.

Another is that it symbolizes a particular level of spiritual purity, mysticism, and connection with God. Of the historical legends, the most widely known is that of Joseph of Arimathea, who used the Grail to catch the blood of the crucified Christ, after which his son, Josephus, took the Grail to England. Another legend is that the Grail is a bloodline connected to the family and offspring of Jesus and Mary Magdalene, in which is included an ancient monarchy of France (do I detect a hint of nationalism “encoded” in these legends?). The later is featured in “The Da Vinci Code” and in such works as “Holy Blood, Holy Grail”.

The most celebrated grail stories are found in the legends of King Arthur and his Knights. Aside from its description as a “cup” or “chalice,” the Holy Grail of Arthurian legend is never described in great detail. Rather, more is said to illustrate the effect its presence has and the sustenance it provides. Further, it elusively appears and disappears at various locations as if it has a will of its own – very similar to the movement of the Holy Spirit. In Sir Thomas Mallory’s Le Morte D’Artur Lancelot, Bors, Perceval and Galahad participate in the Grail quest. At the end of each story it is told why the particular knight will or will not find the Grail. The reasons are essentially spiritual: Lancelot is too promiscuous, Bors is too violent and Perceval is too easily led astray. In the end, Galahad proves worthy to find the Grail, whereupon he retires from knighthood, reigns as king of the Grail city and eventually dies. Other traditions tell of different knights finding the Grail – Sir Perceval being the most common after Galahad. In all of these stories, the quest becomes a search for spiritual purity in the midst of the violent Middle Ages.

In the movie “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade”, the

sequel to “Raiders of the Lost Ark”, the adventurer-archeologist takes up the Grail quest that his father, Henry Jones, began when Indiana was a boy. In the film, the Grail is an actual cup and the quest includes father and son discovering and decoding clues found in medieval history. The journey taken by Indiana and Henry, however, goes beyond the quest for an historical relic (which in the end is again lost). It becomes a quest in which father and son overcome their previous alienation and rediscover each other. In the film’s finale, it is not the quest for the Grail that drives Indiana, but the desire to save his mortally wounded father. During the final steps before the Grail is found, Indiana must dig deep within himself to test his knowledge as an historian and the caliber of his own faith.

Even “The Da Vinci Code” cannot escape this pattern – despite the obvious anti-Catholic slant. In Dan Brown’s disparaging bestseller the Holy Grail is not a cup, but the secret royal bloodline of Jesus and Mary Magdalene. The Priory of Sion, a mysterious secret society, protects the documented proof of this lineage. Leonardo Da Vinci allegedly belonged to the Priory, encoding clues to this secret in artworks like the “Virgin of the Rocks” and “The Last Supper.” As the story goes: there is a centuries old conspiracy by the Catholic Church to (in a nutshell) cover up this lineage so as to maintain a Vatican, male dominated Christianity and suppress the worship of the goddess (or sacred feminine) manifested in ceremonies of liturgical orgies and ritual gang-rape reminiscent of ancient pagan fertility rites designed for men to achieve an authentic experience of the divine. (One can but wonder why women’s-lib has been conspicuously quiet about this particular lurid detail of the book).

But I digress! In the book’s final resolution, what is found by characters Robert Langdon and Sophie Neveu, like the Arthurian knights and Indiana Jones, goes beyond the actual search for the Holy Grail. For Langdon, the book ends with him pausing to pray after finding (maybe) the fabled resting place of Mary Magdalene. Sophie comes to a greater knowledge of her identity as she rediscovers her long lost family – and that she is supposedly a descendant of Jesus and Mary Magdalene(?!). Here again, the quest leads the characters to greater personal and spiritual illumination – albeit somewhat manufactured. (It is, after all, a book of fiction.)

As contrived as “The Da Vinci Code” may be, what was sensationalized in order to malign the integrity of the Catholic Church has resulted in a renewed search for a Holy Grail. This quest is taken not by fictional or legendary characters, but by many of the very readers of “The Da Vinci Code” itself. Like all grail quests, this search leads not to a cup (or for that matter a secret bloodline), but to something larger: a better knowledge and appreciation of art and history, and a greater renewal in matters of faith.

In matters of art, “The Da Vinci Code” has caused many, including myself, to study Leonardo da Vinci and learn more about his personal artistic style and the common artistic motifs of his time. Among these is the typical characteriza-

tion of John the Apostle and other young men portrayed in artworks of that period, including da Vinci’s “The Last Supper”. Another motif is the thin reed-like staff topped with a cross, a symbol of John the Father Bill Baptist included in such Nicholas artworks as da Vinci’s “Virgin of the Rocks”.

In matters of history, the popularity of “The Da Vinci Code” has led to a rise in tourism at the many sites featured in the novel. This will no doubt result in docents and tour guides telling the authentic history of these sites to tourists who ask questions provoked by the novel. It has lead many to learn more about our Church’s history of ecumenical councils, from Nicea to Vatican II. It has directed some to learn about the tradition of Mary Magdalene, whereupon they find that the Church was so determined to suppress and slander her (as the novel claims) that it declared her a saint, gave her a feast day and still celebrates her as the first witness of the resurrection. (No slanderous cover-up there!)

Finally, in matters of faith and spirituality, many readers are exploring the traditions and history of Catholicism and rediscovering the Holy Grail of their faith. They are learning about the history and development of our teachings. They are appreciating the particulars of our tradition. They are even discovering that the Church has not suppressed the idea of “sacred feminine” – although our version and celebration of it is somewhat less vulgar – but that the “sacred feminine” is affirmed and recognized in Holy Mother Church, the Bride of Christ, symbolized in perhaps the most sacred female of all: the Blessed Mother, image and mother of the Church. Even Mary Magdalene (the other Mary) affirms the hope of rising from sinfulness to sanctity by the grace of Christ’s redemption.

When all is said and done, those of a weaker faith, who lack spiritual maturity and possess the naiveté of Sir Perceval, may be well advised to avoid “The Da Vinci Code” lest it lead them astray. For such people novels like “The Da Vinci Code” are not reasons, but excuses to doubt their faith and the traditions of the Church. For the rest of us, “The Da Vinci Code” has provoked a new quest for the Holy Grail, but not as a sacred cup. Like the Arthurian Knights, Indiana Jones and other Grail seekers we find something very different, and far more enriching. As Catholics we discovered a growing interest in art, Church history, spirituality, and renewal in the many elements of our faith. All this, sparked by the controversy over a modern anti-Catholic mystery novel. (Imagine that!)

Father Bill Nicholas is parochial vicar at St. Cecelia Parish in San Francisco.

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Catholic San Francisco

May 26, 2006

SOLEMNITY OF THE ASCENSION OF THE LORD

Scripture

Acts 1:1-11; Psalm 47:2-3. 6-7, 8-9; Ephesians 1:17-23 or Ephesians 4:1-13; Mark 16:15-20 A READING FROM THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES (ACTS 1:1-11) In the first book, Theophilus, I dealt with all that Jesus did and taught until the day he was taken up, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. He presented himself alive to them by many proofs after he had suffered, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. While meeting with them, he enjoined them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for “the promise of the Father about which you have heard me speak; for John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”

When they had gathered together they asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”

He answered them, “It is not for you to know the times or seasons that the Father has established by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” When he had said this, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight. While they were looking intently at the sky as he was going, suddenly two men dressed in white garments stood beside them. They said, “Men of Galilee, why are you standing there looking at the sky? This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will return in the same way as you have seen him going into heaven.”

RESPONSORIAL PSALM (PS 47:2-3, 6-7, 8-9) R. God mounts his throne to shouts of joy: a blare of trumpets for the Lord. or: R. Alleluia.

All you peoples, clap your hands, shout to God with cries of gladness, For the Lord, the Most High, the awesome, is the great king over all the earth.

R. God mounts his throne to shouts of joy: a blare of trumpets for the Lord. or: R. Alleluia.

God mounts his throne amid shouts of joy; the Lord, amid trumpet blasts.

Sing praise to God, sing praise; sing praise to our king, sing praise.

R. God mounts his throne to shouts of joy: a blare of trumpets for the Lord. or: R. Alleluia.

For king of all the earth is God; sing hymns of praise.

God reigns over the nations, God sits upon his holy throne.

R. God mounts his throne to shouts of joy: a blare of trumpets for the Lord. or: R. Alleluia.

A READING FROM THE LETTER OF SAINT PAUL TO THE EPHESIANS (EPH 1:17-23) Brothers and sisters: May the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, give you a Spirit of wisdom and revelation resulting in knowledge of him.

May the eyes of your hearts be enlightened, that you may know what is the hope that belongs to his call, what are the riches of glory in his inheritance among the holy ones, and what is the surpassing greatness of his power for us who believe, in accord with the exercise of his great might, which he worked in Christ, raising him from the dead and seating

him at his right hand in the heavens, far above every principality, authority, power, and dominion, and every name that is named not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things beneath his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of the one who fills all things in every way.

OR (EPH 4:1-13) Brothers and sisters, I, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to live in a manner worthy of the call you have received, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another through love, striving to preserve the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace: one body and one Spirit, as you were also called to the one hope of your call; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

But grace was given to each of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift.

Therefore, it says: He ascended on high and took prisoners captive; he gave gifts to men. What does “he ascended” mean except that he also descended into the lower regions of the earth?

The one who descended is also the one who ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.

FATHER GERARD O’ROURKE

Witnesses, wherever, whenever The feast of the Ascension of the Lord is truly one of the most uplifting festivals of the liturgical year. It literally calls on us to look heavenwards! It is indeed providential that we now celebrate the feast day on a Sunday so that we can get away from the rushed, hurried pace of the celebration when it took place on a Thursday.

The account of the Ascension story is predominately told to us in the Reading from the Acts of the Apostles. It is perhaps the only time in the liturgical readings when the first reading of the Mass is so dominant. This account of the Ascension along with the lead-in introductory piece is truly an awe-inspiring piece of language. It allows us to really get into the spirit and experience of Jesus returning home to the profound joy of being with his Heavenly Father.

It was originally written for Theophilus, the lover of God. However, it was also really written for all of us, the followers of Jesus down through the centuries and the ages who have been and continue to be the lovers of God in our world today.

In this wonderful passage from the Acts of the Apostles there is a great sense of having to stretch, to stretch o u r

Acension of Christ – Luca della Robia, 1460.

And he gave some as apostles, others as prophets, others as evangelists, others as pastors and teachers, to equip the holy ones for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of faith and knowledge of the Son of God, to mature to manhood, to the extent of the full stature of Christ.

A READING FROM THE HOLY GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK (MK 16:15-20) Jesus said to his disciples: “Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned. These signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will drive out demons, they will speak new languages. They will pick up serpents with their hands, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not harm them. They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

So then the Lord Jesus, after he spoke to them, was taken up into heaven and took his seat at the right hand of God. But they went forth and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the word through accompanying signs.

minds, to stretch our hearts, to stretch our imaginations and to stretch our souls so that we can let in the power of the great first Reading.

The Reading brilliantly summarizes the life, death and the resurrection of Jesus. It challenges our faith to accept the reality of the appearances of Jesus over the forty-day period. It encourages us to be open to the promise of the Holy Spirit. It also shows the persistent human side of some of the disciples. They once again expressed their craving for a political messiah, a craving that continues to exist in our time today. Once again they receive a patient rejection of their aspirations from Jesus. He reminded them and us that it was none of their business to engage in such speculations or to try to know the times or the seasons that “the Father has established.”

But then he gave them a statement that still rings with love, trust and incredible strength as we listen to it almost two thousand years after it was first declared!

“You will receive power, when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

These were the last recorded words of

Jesus spoken on this earth. Here he trusts the people who heard these words to be his witnesses, his representatives, his P.R. people, his stand-ins, his alter egos.

When people see them, they see him. The people who heard these words were his apostles, his disciples, the women who supported him including his mother, Mary. They also included their families, their children and probably a few infants!

They comprised all of the original members of the infant Church. They were the people that Jesus addressed on that first Ascension Day. In the world that we live in today, we are the people that Jesus addresses. We are the people called to be witnesses of Jesus today. All we have to do is to change the place names that Jesus used to the place names of wherever we live.

And so it would go something like this, “You will be my witnesses in San Francisco, in Marin County, in San Mateo County, in California, in the USA and even to the ends of the earth.” The invitation of Jesus remains the same; the declaration of Jesus remains the same no matter where we live or in what moment of time. Jesus places his trust in us without any reservations. And he gives us the same promise that we too will be empowered by the Holy Spirit. We will be reminded again of this great gift of the Holy Spirit as we celebrate Pentecost next Sunday.

Let us take a look at today’s gospel reading from Mark. We are invited to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ to every creature. It acknowledges our baptism and our faith. It says that “signs” will accompany us because of our faith.

These are magnificent declarations, declared to us in the gospel reading. But we don’t really think they apply to us today? They only applied to the people long ago.

However, we who hear and listen to the words of the Ascension today, we are the witnesses that Jesus is addressing today. When we accept this invitation and acknowledgment, then “signs” will happen around us. “Signs” is a gospel code word for good things, even miracles. We become a blessing for people; we bring healing consolation and comfort to people who are ailing, forgotten, ignored or disenfranchised by the events of life in any way.

The demons spoken about by Mark are not the stupid looking, fake demons of the movies that even children see through. Rather they are the things that drive us crazy, like worries, isolation, doubts, aloneness. These kind of demons vanish in the face of our true faith and the enlightened way that we speak. These ways of speaking are not the babbling in foreign, arcane tongues! Our language of faith is healing, nourishing and full of tangible blessings.

So Jesus has ascended and has taken his place with his heavenly Father. He has gone from us but has surely kept his word. His Spirit is alive and well within us! Our job is to accept and acknowledge it and to joyfully continue to witness for him in the way we live our lives in faith and in love.

Father Gerard O’Rourke is Director Emeritus of the Office of Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs for the Archdiocese of San Francisco.

May 26, 2006

St. Mary’s Cathedral The following events are taking place at or are coordinated by the cathedral of the Archdiocese located at Gough and Geary St. in San Francisco. Call (415) 567-2020 for more information about any event listed here.

June 2: Exposition of the Most Blessed Sacrament every First Friday after the 8:00 a.m.

Mass Friday and continuing throughout the day and night until 7:45 a.m. Saturday with Morning Prayer and Benediction. (Exposition is suspended during scheduled Masses at 12:10 noon, 7:00 p.m. and 6:45 a.m. according to liturgical norms.) Join us as we pray for world peace, a culture of life, priests and the special intentions commended to our prayers.

For more information or to volunteer please call (415) 567-2020 x224.

June 4: Pentecost Sunday at 11 a.m.: Sacrament of Confirmation with Archbishop George Niederauer presiding.

June 25: 12th Sunday in Ordinary Time at 3:30 p.m.: Diaconate Ordination Sundays: Concerts at 3:30 p.m. Call (415) 5672020 ext. 213. Open to the public. Admission free.

Cathedral Autumn Group: All people 55 and over are cordially invited. Call (415) 567-2020, ext.

218.

Datebook

TV/Radio Sunday 6 a.m., WB Channel 20/Cable 13 and KTSF Channel 26/Cable 8: TV Mass with Msgr.

Harry Schlitt presiding.

1st Sun, 5 a.m., CBS Channel 5: Mosaic, featuring conversations on current Catholic issues.

3rd Sun, 5:30 a.m., KRON Channel 4: For Heaven’s Sake, featuring conversations about Catholic spirituality.

Reunions June 10: Presentation High School, class of ’51 at Basque Cultiral Center in South San Francisco at 11:30 a.m. Contact Yvonne Irick at (650) 941-1294 or Audrey Trees at (650) 592-0273.

June 15: St. Paul High School, Sf, class of ’56 at Irish Cultural Center, SF at 12:15 p.m. Contact Maureen Collins at (415) 585-5603 or June Maffei at (415) 584-7239.

June 3: The Fort Bend Boys Choir of Texas in concert at the National Shrine of Saint Francis of Assisi at 7:00 p.m. Founded in 1982 with 45 members it has grown into five performing ensembles with 200 choristers. “They have thrilled audiences at the Vatican, the presidential inauguration, and regularly perform with the Houston Symphony and Houston Ballet,” the Shrine said. For additional information call the Shrine office at (415) 983-0405.

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Single, Divorced, Separated June 2 – 4: Retrouvaille, a program for healing marriages, starts its next series. The weekend sessions are presented by a priest and three married couples followed by 6 Saturday sessions over the next 90 days. Call Pat and Tont Fernandez at (415) 893-1005 or www.retrouvaille.org.

Consolation Ministry Grief Groups meet at the following parishes.

Please call numbers shown for more information.

San Mateo County: St. Catherine of Sienna, Burlingame. Call Debbie Simmons at 650-5581015; St. Dunstan, Millbrae. Call Barbara Cappel at 650-692-7543;. Good Shepherd, Pacifica. Call Sr. Carol Fleitz at 650-355-2593; Our Lady of Mercy, Daly City. Call Barbara Cantwell at 650-755-0478; Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, Redwood City. Call Parish at 650-366-3802; St. Robert, San Bruno. Call Sr. Patricia at 650-589-2800.

Marin County: St. Anselm, San Anselmo. Call Brenda MacLean at 415-454-7650; St. Isabella, San Rafael. Call Pat Sack at 415-472-5732; Our Lady of Loretto, Novato. Call Sr. Jeanette at 415-897-2171.

San Francisco: St. Dominic. Call Sr. Anne at 415567-7824; St. Finn Barr(Bilingual). Call Carmen Solis at 415-584-0823; St. Gabriel. Call Elaine Khalaf at 415-564-7882.

Young Widow/Widower Group: St. Gregory, San Mateo. Call Barbara Elordi at 415-614-5506.

Ministry to Parents: Our Lady of Angels, Burlingame. Call Ina Potter at (650) 347-6971 or Barbara Arena at (650) 344-3579.

Children’s Grief Group: St. Catherine, Burlingame. Call Debbie Simmons at 650-558-1015.

Information regarding grief ministry in general call Barbara Elordi at 415-614-5506.

Food & Fun June 2: Catholic Marin Breakfast Club gathers for Mass at 7 a.m. in St. Sebastian Church, Bon Air Rd. and Sir Francis Drake Blvd., Kentfield. Breakfast and presentation follow in parish hall. Today’s speaker is Jesuit Father Tom Allender, a San Francisco native and a priest for 35 years. He holds degrees in theology and philosophy and has taught at both the high school & college level. His recent book, God Loves an Unmade Bed, is a down-toearth meeting with a Divinity that loves us unconditionally, precisely in our troubles. You can visit his website at www.lifesjourney.org to find out more!

Members Breakfast: $7. Visitors Breakfast: $10 .

Call 461-0704 between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. or contact Sugaremy@aol.com.

June, 3,4, 24,25: USF School of Law needs your help! Be a volunteer juror for the student’s Intensive Advocacy Program on Sat. June 3 or Sun. June 4 from 11:15am-5pm or for NITA on Sat. June 24 or Sun. June 25 from 8:15am-5pm. Each day will have a trial from start to finish. Complimentary lunch and lots of snacks provided. Please call Wendy at 4225924 or email Heneghan@usfca.edu to sign-up. Will pay $50 cash to jurors for NITA dates only .

June 9, 10, 11: Church of the Nativity’s 26th Annual Carnival with thrilling rides, live entertainment, Kiddie Land, auctions, dinners and more. Fri.: 5 – 11 p.m.; Sat.: noon – 11 p.m.; Sun.: noon – 7 p.m.

Free admission and parking. Call (650) 323-7914.

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June 2, 3, 4: St. Pius Parish Annual Festival on church campus, 1100 Woodside Rd., Redwood City. Fri.: 6 – 10 p.m.; Sat.: 1 – 10 p.m.; Sun.: 1 – 9 p.m. “There will be many booths and activities for all ages to enjoy,” said Elizabeth Krebs of the event committee. “The festival always starts off with the fabulous BBQ Rib Dinner on Friday evening followed by the Pasta Dinner on Saturday and BBQ Chicken on Sunday.” Also, silent and live auctions, entertainment and more. Overseeing the festival chores are Elizabeth Krebs, front left, and Danielle Ghiozzi with Anthony Bertolacci, back left, Brian McSweeney and Father Jim MacDonald, pastor.

June 24: Immaculate Conception Academy, class of ’46 at Joe’s of Westlake in Daly City at 11 a.m.

Call Pat Wenster at (650) 341-0820 or Pat Becketti at (650) 366-8517.

July 8: Class of ’56 from Notre Dame des Victoires High School. Call Marilyn Donnelly at (650) 365-5192.

Aug. 26: The Class of ‘ 60 Turns 60, a reunion of said grads from St. Cecilia Elementary School at El Rancho Inn in Millbrae. Contact Joanne Hicks McGlothlin at (650) 952-3673.

Sept. 23: Presentation High School, SF, class of ’56 at Sinbad’s Restaurant on the Wharf at 11:30 a.m. Contact Judi Guidi Crosetti at (650) 589-8377 or nonihugs@aol.com; Aggie Roensch Malanca at (925) 283-4477 or tomagco@yahoo.com.

Oct. 15: Star of the Sea Academy, class of ’56 at El Rancho Inn in Millbrae. Contact Natalie Nalducci Sandell at (415) 453-3687 or Diane Donohoe Mulligan at (415) 664-7977.

San Mateo’s St. Matthew Elementary School will soon mark its 75th year. Graduates and former students should contact Nancy Desler Carroll ’83 at (650) 372-9536 or nancy.carroll@rcn.com. More too at school Web site, www.stmatthewcath.org/alumni.

Prayer/Lectures/Trainings June 3: 1st Saturday Mass at Holy Cross Cemetery, Colma in All Saints Mausoleum at 11 a.m. Call (650) 756-2060.

June 3: A Day of Discernment sponsored by the Catholic Charismatic Renewal Board at St. Anne of the Sunset Church, 850 Judah St. at Funston, SF beginning at 9 a.m. with Mass at 2 p.m. Fathers Jim tarantino, Daniel Nascimento and Reymund Reyes will facilitate and lead prayer. Call (650) 875-5237.

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Church, a talk by Richard Sonnenshein in the Serra Room of St. Cecilia Church, 17th Ave. and Vicente, SF at 7 p.m. Call (415) 664-3570.

June 25: Franciscan Father James E. Goode will preside at a Gospel Mass at St. Paul of the Shipwreck Catholic Church, 3rd Street and Jamestown Ave. in San Francisco at 10:30 a.m. “All are invited to come and join in welcoming back our beloved former pastor,” the church said. “Father Jim has since founded and serves as Pastoral Director of Solid Ground, a Franciscan Ministry serving African American Families, and the poor, sick, and homeless in New York City.” To read more about him, visit www.solidgroundministry.com. Call (415) 468-3434 for more information.

June 30, July 1,2: Mary at the Foot of the Cross, the 14th Annual SF International Marian Conference at Crowne Plaza Hotel Conference Center in Foster City.

EWTN’s Father Mitch Pacwa is among the speakers.

Call (800) 456-4197 or contact www.sraphael.com.

Young Adults Office of Young Adult Ministry and Campus Ministry: Connecting late teens, 20s and 30s, single and married to the Catholic Church. Contact Mary Jansen, 415-614-5596, jansenm@sfarchdiocese.org.

Check out our Web site for a list of events around the Bay Area and download our Newsletter at www.sfyam.org.We publish a quarterly newsletter to connect college students and young adults to the Catholic Church.

August 4-6: National Young Adult Conference at the University of San Francisco. Sponsored by the National Catholic Young Adult Ministry Association (NCYAMA) and the Archdiocesan Office of Young Adult Ministry and Campus Ministry in association with the United States Bishops’ Subcommittee for Youth and Young Adults. Contact Mary Jansen, jansenm@sfarchdiocese.org, (415) 614-5596, www.sfyam.org.

Returning Catholics Programs for Catholics interested in returning to the Church, have been established at the following parishes: Marin County: St. Hilary, Tiburon, Mary Musalo, (415) 435-2775; St. Anselm, Ross, call (415) 4532342; St. Sebastian, Greenbrae, Jean Mariani at (415) 461-7060; Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, Mill Valley, Rick Dullea at (415) 388-4190; St. Mary Star of the Sea, Sausalito, Lloyd Dulbecco at (415) 331-7949.

San Francisco: Old St. Mary’s Cathedral, SF, Michael Adams at (415) 695-2707; St. Philip the Apostle, 725 Diamond St. at Elizabeth/24th, SF. Call (415) 282-0141; St. Dominic, SF, Lee Gallery at (415) 221-1288; Holy Name of Jesus, SF, (415) 664-8590.

San Mateo County: St. Bartholomew, San Mateo, Dan Stensen at (650) 344-5665; St. Catherine of Siena, Burlingame, Silvia Chiesa at (650) 685-8336; Our Lady of Angels, Burlingame, Holy Names Sister Pat Hunter at (650) 375-8023; St. Dunstan, Millbrae, Dianne Johnston at (650) 697-0952; Our Lady of the Pillar, Half Moon Bay, Meghan at (650) 726-4337; St. Peter, Pacifica, Sylvia Miles at (650) 355-6650, Jerry Trecroci at (650) 355-1799, Frank Erbacher at (650) 355-4355; St. Matthew, San Mateo. Jim Shea at (650) 344-7622.

Meetings Courage is a Catholic support group for persons with same-sex attraction. They meet in San Francisco Thursdays at 7:45 PM. Call Father Emmerich Vogt at (415) 567-7824 or Father Lawrence Goode at (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.

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16

Catholic San Francisco

May 26, 2006

‘The Da Vinci Code’ ‘Boring’ reviews miss the bigger offense Reviewed by Steven D. Greydanus National Catholic Register movie reviewer, Steven Greydanus, compares the book to the movie and finds Ron Howard’s screen rendition more deliberate and calculating in its anti-Catholicism.

“As long as there has been one true God,” Sir Leigh Teabing (Ian McKellen) tells Sophie Neveu (Audrey Tautou), “there has been killing in his name.”

You may have heard that the polytheist Romans were quite capable of killing monotheist Christians in the name of their own gods centuries before Christians were in any position to be killing anyone. According to Teabing, however, it was Christian atrocities against pagan Romans — not vice versa — that prompted the Emperor Constantine to decriminalize Christianity.

That’s right: Constantine’s 313 edict of toleration was intended to defuse intolerance by Christians against pagan Romans — not to end three centuries of pagan persecution of Christians.

Luckily, renowned Harvard “symbologist” Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) is on hand to offer an opposing viewpoint. “We can’t be sure who began the atrocities,” he cautions. Now, that’s fair and balanced: We can’t be sure who started it. Nero, Diocletian, Galerius, all those early martyrs — it’s all such a muddle, who’s to say who was really persecuting whom?

In terms of early Christian history, this is not uncomparable to Holocaust denial, to claiming that it was really the Jews who were oppressing the Nazis (or, at least, “we can’t be sure” who was persecuting whom). Yet the thoughtlessly repeated claim that “it’s only a movie” or “it’s just fiction” has largely obscured the fact that the conspiracy-theory conceits

of The Da Vinci Code are by and large not novelist Dan Brown’s own flights of fancy, but are based on a lunaticfringe view of history set forth in “non-fiction” books like “Holy Blood, Holy Grail” and “The Templar Revelation.”

While these books have about as much credibility as the likes of “Did Six Million Really Die?” or “The Hoax of the Twentieth Century,” which is to say zero, many people who would find the raving anti-Semitism of the latter an insuperable obstacle in a thriller seem willing to overlook the raving anti-Catholicism of the former in The Da Vinci Code.

Imagine a popular thriller based on the version of history set forth in “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion,” with a secret cabal of Jewish leaders conspiring to destroy Christianity and establish a global government to rule the world.

Imagine, further, that the story suggested that for thousands of years ruthless Jewish conspirators had been systematically murdering the true heirs of Abraham in order to preserve the lie that Judaism is based on, covering up the “truth” (e.g., that Abraham had no special covenant with God and was actually an adherent to a Canaanite fertility cult, and the Hebrews are not God’s chosen people).

Finally, suppose that the filmmakers tried to suggest that all this was just harmless fiction, despite the fact that for years the author of the book had been alluding to the underlying facticity of the story. Would the claim that “It’s only a story” distract any thinking person from the inherent anti-Semitism of such a project?

A few years ago, the release of The Passion of the Christ generated much discussion and concern regarding the question of possible anti-Semitism in the film. Yet, perhaps strangely, while critical reception of The Da Vinci Code has so far not

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been kind, most reviews seem to be sticking to safe, uncontroversial charges that the film is “boring” and “talky,” while avoiding the more pressing question of anti-Catholicism.

Is The Da Vinci Code anti-Catholic? Well, if it isn’t, then we must simply conclude that no such thing as antiCatholicism exists, or at least that no anti-Catholic movie has ever been made. I can think of religiously themed films more profoundly oppressive to Catholic sensibilities (The Last Temptation of Christ), and more searing indictments of corruption and abuse within the Church (The Magdalene Sisters).

But The Da Vinci Code may be the most systematic and sustained cinematic debunking on the institutions of Catholic Christianity and the Catholic Church that I’ve ever seen. That it is risible and dim-witted doesn’t make it less disgusting.

What’s so inflammatory about it? Not just the suggestion that Jesus was merely human and not divine — as radically repugnant to Christian belief as that obviously is — or that he was married and had children. Not just the appropriation of heretical Gnostic texts like the Gospel of Mary Magdalene in the name of a postmodern gnostic–neopagan rejection of Christian orthodoxy and the canonical Gospels. Not even just the suggestion that fanatical zealots within the clergy have carried out murderous campaigns in the name of their religion.

No, The Da Vinci Code not only indicts monotheism itself as synonymous with religious oppression and persecution, it casts Catholicism and the Catholic Church — not just hypocritical or abusive Catholics, but the actual institution itself — as inherently perverse and oppressive, maintaining its power solely by centuries of systematically murdering those who could expose the lies on which it is based.

‘THE DA VINCI CODE’, page 17

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‘The Da Vinci Code’ . . .

How does the movie compare to the book? Have screenwriter Akiva Goldsman and director Ron Howard taken concerns or objections regarding the book into account? Well, yes, in a manner of speaking — but not in a good way.

Ever since the book came out, members of the Catholic prelature Opus Dei — dismayed by Brown’s portrayal of the group as a fanatical, shadowy “sect” or “congregation” characterized by brainwashing, coercion, and self-mutilation — have been trying to get the word out that the book’s lurid fantasies have no basis in reality.

Insidiously, the film absorbs this message into the Da Vinci Worldview. In an early scene, when we meet Opus Dei Bishop Aringarosa (Alfred Molina, Spider-Man 2), he’s on a plane rehearsing talking points intended to defend Opus Dei against critics. Opus Dei simply rejects “cafeteria Catholicism,” he says benignly, while his aide recommends he avoid sounding defensive. It sounds precisely like the message the real Opus Dei has been trying to put across — or for that matter what any serious Catholic would say about his faith. You see, that’s what they want you to think.

In a similar vein, protagonist Langdon has been subtly reworked from an outspoken proponent of Da Vinci esoterica into a more skeptical, ostensibly neutral scholar who mouths many of the objections Brown’s critics have been making, putting the burden of the Da Vinci worldview onto Teabing.

Now we have Langdon arguing that the Priory of Sion is “a myth” and “a hoax,” while Teabing retorts, “That’s what they want you to think.”

A few critics have interpreted this as a concession to Christian concerns, but the actual effect is precisely the reverse: It essentially undermines critical objections by incorporating them into the film’s overall picture and then seeming to rebut them as Langdon is gradually converted to Teabing’s point of view.

Some Christians have optimistically hoped that The Da Vinci Code might provide a potential opportunity for dialogue and discussion about Jesus with people who might not otherwise be open to such discussions. Yet if anything the film seems calibrated precisely to inoculate viewers against any such discussion — to leave viewers with a skeptical agnosticism about efforts to set the record straight is all part of the conspiracy, “what they want you to think” (or “we can’t be sure”).

The Da Vinci Code throws so much mud around that at

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■ Continued from page 16

South Korean Christians picket in front of a theater advertising “The Da Vinci Code” movie in Seoul May 18. The slogans on the signs read “The content of ‘The Da Vinci Code’ is not a fact,” and “‘The Da Vinci Code’ is no more than fiction.”

Largely Protestant South Korea is Asia’s second most Christian country behind the Philippines.

least some of it is likely to stick in viewers’ minds. Was Constantine really a lifelong pagan who invented the doctrine of the deity of Christ and compiled the Bible as we know it?

Did the Church really declare Mary Magdalene to be a prostitute in 591? Was Sir Isaac Newton really persecuted over his

Catholic San Francisco

17

theories of gravitation, the way we all “know” Galileo was for his heliocentrism (or not)?

How many viewers will have any idea about all these questions? There are so many specifics, so much information, surely some of it has to be true, or is likely be true, or could be true. Or at least, “we can’t be sure.”

Most viewers will probably assume that Opus Dei doesn’t really have monk assassins (or for that matter any monks at all). Yet the general impression of something shadowy and unsettling about the group is likely to remain in their minds.

Beyond that, on an imaginative level, there is a sense in which the film’s relentless association of Catholic imagery — crucifixes, clergy, churches — with pervasive creepiness and depravity amounts to a kind of aesthetic slur that is hard to counter with mere arguments or talking points.

Astonishingly, after a 2_-hour seminar on the evils of monotheism, Christianity, and the Catholic Church, The Da Vinci Code tries to have its cake and eat it too, as Langdon suggests to Sophie that “What really matters is what you believe,” even questioning whether exploding the “greatest cover-up in history” would really be such a good thing after all: Does Sophie want to “destroy faith or renew it?”

It almost sounds as if Langdon is saying, “So Christianity is a lie — let the Christians have their lie, if that’s what makes them happy.” Whatever happened to “For 2000 years the Church has rained oppression and suffering on mankind?”

Is it possible to put all this aside and just enjoy the story as a thriller, an enjoyable yarn? I honestly have no idea how people can take that approach.

Catholic writer Mark Shea tells an anecdote about a college bull session among students at Central Washington University over The Da Vinci Code. “Even if it’s just fiction,” a student opined, “it’s still interesting to think about.”

To which another student replied: “Your mother’s a whore.” And then, to the first student’s stunned incredulity, he added, “And even if that’s just fiction, it’s still interesting to think about.”

18

Catholic San Francisco

May 26, 2006

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ART AND FRAMING Custom Framing ✧ Needlework & Oriental Picture Framing ✧ Competitive Prices Many 3D Religious Pictures

(415) 252-8312

beginning July 1, 2006

650-638-9500

23 years in Westlake Center

CAROL FERRANDO. Conservatory training, masters degree, all levels of students.

CALL (415) 921-8337.

SF native seeking caregiver work for elderly woman. Excellent refs, over 15 yrs. experience, part- or full-time, with car.

Help Wanted

Expert Plumbing Repairs ●

General Repairs Clean Drains & Sewers Water Heaters ●

●

SANTI PLUMBING & HEATING

FAMILY OWNED

415-661-3707

Lic. # 663641

24 HR

HOLLAND Plumbing Works San Francisco ALL PLUMBING WORK PAT HOLLAND CA LIC #817607

BONDED & INSURED

415-205-1235 Plumbing • Fire Protection • Certified Backflow

John Bianchi Phone: 415.468.1877 Fax: 415.468.1875 100 North Hill Drive, Unit 18 • Brisbane, CA 94005 Lic. No. 390254

BEST PLUMBING, INC. Your Payless Plumbing

Lic. # 872560

➤ Drain-Sewer Cleaning Service ➤ Water Heaters ➤ Gas Pipes ➤ Toilets ➤ Faucets ➤ Garbage Disposals ➤ Copper Repiping ➤ Sewer Replacement ➤ Video Camera & Line locate PROMPT AND UNPARALLELED SERVICE

Carpentry, Cabinetry, Painting,Refinishing Floors and Furniture, Door & Window Instal.,Cement Work.

Se habla Español & Tagalog.

Serving also the East Bay, Contra Costa,&Marin Counties

415-239-8491 not a licensed contractor

NOTICE TO READERS Licensed contractors are required by law to list their license numbers in advertisments.

The law also state that contractors performing work totaling $500 or more must be statelicensed. Advertisments appearing in this newspaper without a license number indicate that the contractor is not licensed.

For more information, contact:

Contractors State License Board 800-321-2752

(650) 557-1263 CELL (415) 205-2801 PAGER (415) 313-0195 EMAIL: bestplumbinginc@sbcglobal.net

FLOORS

May 26, 2006

Employment Opportunites First Resort, pregnancy consulting clinic

RN Job Position For Our Oakland Clinic ●

●

● ●

●

Full or part time paid options – W/benefits for full time Training provided to perform limited ultrasounds Lots of autonomy! Great staff! No weekends!

Make an impact in women’s lives at point of decision making First Resort is a non profit licensed Medical Clinic

If interested, call or email: Laura Hornberger RN, MS Directr of Women’s Health Services 415-409-8255 ● laurieh@firstresort.net

ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST CHURCH IN SAN LORENZO is seeking a faith-filled and enthusiastic individual to coordinate and expand its parish liturgical music program as Music Director.

Qualified individuals must have a solid understanding of Catholic liturgy, be capable of working with a variety of musical styles and groups, and be fluent in the keyboard as a primary accompaniment instrument. We are a multi-cultural community seeking a creative and skilled person to guide our musical worship.

Catholic San Francisco

ADVERTISING SALES

AlmaVia of San Francisco, a newly opened retirement and assisted living community, provides high quality assisted living and dementia care programs within an environment that encourages wellness and independence. We currently have the following opportunities available for individuals who enjoy working with older adults:

For The Largest Publisher of Catholic Church Bulletins

This is a Career Opportunity!

• Generous Commissions • Minimal Travel • Excellent Benefit Package • Stong Office Support • Work in Your Community. E.O.E.

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

Help Wanted

RNs and LVNs: we want you.

CAREGIVERS

Provide nursing care for children in San Francisco schools.

FT & PT, Nights We seek compassionate, experienced caregivers.

Full or part time.

RECEPETIONIST

Generous benefit package.

Weekends Qualified candidates must have excellent communication skills. PC knowledge preferred.

Send your resume to: Email: Fax: Mail:

DINING ROOM SERVERS PT, Eves & Weekends Our fast-paced environment requires excellent multi-tasking skills. Restaurant experience a plus. Will train.

MAINTENANCE ASSISTANT

Jeannie McCullough Stiles, RN, PHN RNTiburon@msn.com 415-435-0421 Special Needs Nursing, Inc. 98 Main Street #427 Tiburon, CA 94920

Special Needs Nursing, Inc.

FT You will be responsible for building maintenance under the supervision of the Maintenance Director. Must have knowledge of mechanical systems, and electrical, plumbing, building and floor maintenance, including janitorial.

Special Needs Companion Services We are looking for you.

• Honest • Generous • Compassionate • Make a Difference • Respectful

For immediate consideration, email your resume to avsfjobs0036@eldercarealliance.org, or fax it to (415) 337-5114 or mail to HR, One Thomas More Way, SF, CA 94132. EOE.

Work Full or Part-time in San Francisco – Marin County • Provide non medical elder care in the home • Generous benefit package Fax your resume to: Jeannie McCullough Stiles, RN 415-435-0421

Elder Care Alliance Communities

For details and further information, please contact Catherine Brozena at 510-681-8741 or email your resume to her at colorthisworld@yahoo.com.

19

Send your resume: Jeannie McCullough Stiles, RN Special Needs Nursing, Inc. 98 Main Street, #427 Tiburon, Ca 94920

For Advertising Information Please Call 415-614-5642

INTRODUCING A BETTER WA Y TO BUY 5

Reasons to Buy from

HCar e Sales rtz ‘04 Chevy Malibu LS $

11,995

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Complete maintenance records available for review Late model, pre-owned vehicles Factory warranty still in effect on most vehicles Customer Satisfaction Policy* 12-month/12,000 mile limited powertrain warranty

‘05 Ford Focus SE $

10,995

‘05 Ford Taurus SE $

10,995

‘05 Ford Escape XLT $

15,995

6 Cyl, A/C, Automatic, P/B, PDL, P/S, P/W, AM/FM, Tilt Wheel, CD Player, ABS, Alloy Wheels, Cruise, Previous Daily Rental VIN # 4E178416

A/C, Automatic, P/B, PDL, P/S, P/W, AM/FM, Tilt Wheel, CD Player, Alloy Wheels, Cruise, Previous Daily Rental VIN # 5W275344

6 Cyl, A/C, Automatic, P/B, PDL, P/S, P/W, AM/FM, Tilt Wheel, CD Player, ABS, Alloy Wheels, Cruise, Previous Daily Rental VIN # 5A232562

6 Cyl, A/C, 4 WD, Automatic, P/B, PDL, P/S, P/W, AM/FM, Tilt Wheel, CD Player, ABS, Alloy Wheels, Cruise, Previous Daily Rental VIN # 5KD11426

‘05 Ford Explorer XLT

‘05 Honda Accord LX

‘05 Mazda 3 I

‘05 Nissan Altima 2.5 S

$

17,995

$

16,995

$

13,995

$

15,995

6 Cyl, A/C, 4 WD, Automatic, P/B, PDL, P/S, P/W, AM/FM, Tilt Wheel, CD Player, ABS, Alloy Wheels, Cruise, Previous Daily Rental VIN # 5UB85951

A/C, Automatic, P/B, PDL, P/S, P/W, AM/FM, Tilt Wheel, CD Player, ABS, Cruise, Previous Daily Rental VIN # 5A127583

A/C, Automatic, P/B, PDL, P/S, P/W, AM/FM, Tilt Wheel, CD Player, Alloy Wheels, Cruise, Previous Daily Rental VIN # 51280469

A/C, Automatic, P/B, PDL, P/S, P/W, AM/FM, Tilt Wheel, CD Player, Alloy Wheels, Cruise, Previous Daily Rental VIN # 5C325985

‘05 Toyota 4 Runner

‘05 Toyota Camry LE

‘05 Toyota Corolla CE

‘05 Toyota Solara SE

$

23,995

6 Cyl, A/C, 4 WD, Automatic, P/B, PDL, P/S, P/W, AM/FM, Tilt Wheel, CD Player, ABS, Alloy Wheels, Cruise, Previous Daily Rental VIN # 50067368

‘05 Buick La Crosse CXL $

18,995

6 Cyl, A/C, Automatic, P/B, PDL, P/S, P/W, AM/FM, Tilt Wheel, CD Player, ABS, Alloy Wheels, Cruise, Previous Daily Rental VIN # 51316208

$

15,995

A/C, Automatic, P/B, PDL, P/S, P/W, AM/FM, Tilt Wheel, CD Player, ABS, Cruise, Previous Daily Rental VIN # 5U041224

$

12,995

A/C, Automatic, P/B, PDL, P/S, P/W, AM/FM, Tilt Wheel, CD Player, Cruise, Previous Daily Rental VIN # 57521791

$

16,995

6 Cyl, A/C, Automatic, P/B, PDL, P/S, P/W, AM/FM, Tilt Wheel, CD Player, ABS, Alloy Wheels, Cruise, Previous Daily Rental VIN # 5U058017

SO. SAN FRANCISCO 177 S. AIRPORT BLVD.

(650) 952-4720

MON-FRI: 8 a.m. – 8 p.m.

SAT: 9 a.m. – 8 p.m.

SUN: 10 a.m. – 7 p.m.

VIEW OUR ENTIRE INVENTORY @ HERTZCARSALES.COM All vehicles subject to prior sale & supply on hand. All vehicles are previous rental units. *If you are not satisfied, Hertz Car Sales, at its election will repurchase, exchange or repair the car, as long as it is returned in good condition within 5 days or 500 miles, whichever comes first. **Limited Powertrain Warranty covers both parts and labor on the engine, transmission, drive shaft & differential for 1 year or 12,000 miles, which comes first, with no deductible. Call for details. ® Reg. U.S. Pat. Off. © 2006 The Hertz Corporation. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

20

Catholic San Francisco

May 26, 2006

In Remembrance of the Faithful Departed Interred In Our Catholic Cemeteries During the Month of April HOLY CROSS COLMA

John D. Casey, Sr. Stanley Y. Chin Barbara Burke Chudzinski Dennis Chung Jean C. Aguerre Cleofe M. Cominoli Romao Andrade Maria Angelina Cruz Aileen M. Armstrong Dominic P. D’Augusta James E. Armstrong Thelma E. (Kitty) Davis Mary Bacilo Felix E. Dayrit Benjamin F. Bactol Alphonse F. Demee, Jr. T. Edward Bailly, Jr., MD Barry DeVincenzi Maria Del Carmen Carmen M. Domagas Barberena Alan J. Dowell Geraldine C. Barron Gabriela Duclaud Florence Heffernan Barsotti Serafina Dueball Emile J. Battezzato Msgr. Charles J. Durkin Philip M. Beglin, MD Joseph Falzon Cecelia A. Bisso Julia Farrah Priscilla Mary Black Maria A. Ferretti Vincent M. Bonaduce Patrick K. Figari Marijean Bradreau Rita Forassiepi Irene Helen Brahy George W. Frohlich George B. Bringas Richard Ga Sheila J. Burke Evelyn G. Gallagher Patricia Franks Carpenter Josephine M. Galvin Lorenza S. Carrillo William T. Ganey Marina Casals Beatrice Garrett Carolina F. Casanova Ana Dolores Gerstenecker Alexander A. Gholikely

Lucy Mogannam Theresa Gimondo Mary P. Moriarty Rosalina V. Gongora Patrick B. Moriarty R. Daniel Gorman, MD Daniel Joseph Morrison Judith M. Grafelman Alexander A. Narruhn Vincent H. Greco, MD Patrick V. Naughton Paula F. Groshong Valentine T. Normile Joaquin N. Guardado Edna Norton Paul A. Harrell Sylvia E. O’Hara Elizabeth Heider Beverly A. O’Leary Johanna Hensley Margaret M. Hirschboeck Thomas O’Malley Nancy Sullivan Oeschger Kevin M. Hourigan Eleanor D. Paige Francis Shao-Ling Hsu Luigi Gino Paletta Raymond Hum George Pariani Margaret C. Irving Maria Perhargou Dominique J. Jambon John R. Petersen Ivanka Juretic Josefina T. Piamonte Sr. Mary Consolata Kerr, Irene F. Poimiroo PBVM Edmund R. Power Isabel Labuda Bruno M. Pozza Gabriela Lanzarin Clara L. Quadt Terence F. Le Tourneau Paciencia M. Quintero Daniel P. Leary Rufina L. Ramos Mary J. Leary Leonarda D. Rapada Edward David Lee Carlos Raygoza Isabelle Lee Elvira L. Resulta Estella M. Loney Maria Mercedes Revelo Choon Sin Loo John L. Rhodes Donald Loyola Geronimo D. Roybal Anna M. Lydon Hiram M. Russell Luciano Manuntag Eleanor R. Santori Isabel Martinez Beatrice M. Shanahan Luciano Martini Marion R. Shannon Kathleen F. McCallum Joseph T. Sigillo Raymond J. McCann Sr. Mary Charles McCarthy, Paul Silvester Lonnie Smith SHF Robert H. Sonneman Muriel N. McGough Joseph A. Stradcutter Marian M. Mendribil Regina Tobelman Olivia A. Tonnochy Elena A. Torres Patricia R. Vattuone

Isabelo A. Villa Esperanza Villa Armando S. Villamil Cesar Villanueva Rosa M. Villarreal Jesus Aguilar Villasenor Cecile M. Walsh Lucille L. Warren Walter H. Werner Horace E. Wilbert Ruby C. Yee Charry L. S. Yee Paula A. Zelaya Italo N. Zolezzi Rina V. Zucconi

HOLY CROSS MENLO PARK Rita Bejines Humberto Calderon, Jr. Thomas F. Fitzpatrick Yelena Katruk Fokololo-oe-hau Mafileo, Jr. Hingano Songoimoli Henry “Hank” Trujillo Michael Tsan Ty June White

MT. OLIVET SAN RAFAEL Patricia A. Bartley Mabel Brazil Catherine (Rena) Dotto Lois Bain Eischen Roselyn Kircher Maisie Martin Otilia G. Moran Philip Peers Rosita E. Vallee Jeanne R. Zunino

Memorial Day – Monday, May 29, 2006 – 11:00 a.m.

Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery, Colma Most Rev. George H. Niederauer, Celebrant Archbishop of San Francisco Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery, Menlo Park Rev. Patrick Michael, Celebrant

Mt. Olivet Catholic Cemetery, San Rafael Rev. Louis Robello, Celebrant

HOLY CROSS CATHOLIC CEMETERY – COLMA First Saturday Mass – Saturday, June 3, 2006 – 11:00 a.m.

Rev. Daniel E. McCotter, CSP – Pastor, St. Mary’s Chinese Mission All Saints Mausoleum Chapel

The Catholic Cemeteries Archdiocese of San Francisco www.holycrosscemeteries.com Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery 1500 Mission Road, Colma, CA 94014 650-756-2060

Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery Intersection of Santa Cruz Avenue, Menlo Park, CA 94025 650-323-6375

Mt. Olivet Catholic Cemetery 270 Los Ranchitos Road, San Rafael, CA 94903 415-479-9020

A Tradition of Faith Throughout Our Lives.