Catholic san Francisco
By John Thavis
Northern California’s Weekly Catholic Newspaper
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Pope Benedict XVI approved a miracle attributed to Pope John Paul II’s intercession, clearing the way for the late pope’s beatification on May 1, Divine Mercy Sunday. Pope Benedict’s action Jan. 14 followed more than five years of investigation into the life and writings of the Polish pontiff, who died in April 2005 after more than 26 years as pope. The Vatican said it took special care with verification of the miracle, the spontaneous cure of a French nun Pope John Paul II holds from Parkinson’s disease – the same illness that afflicta koala during his ed Pope John Paul in his 1986 visit to Australia. final years. Three separate Vatican panels approved the miracle, including medical and theological experts, before Pope Benedict signed the official decree. “There were no concessions given here in procedural severity and thoroughness,” said Cardinal Angelo Amato, head of the Congregation for Saints’ Causes. On the contrary, he said, Pope John Paul’s cause was subject to “particularly careful scrutiny, to remove any doubt.” The Vatican said it would begin looking at logistical arrangements for the massive crowds expected for the beatification liturgy, which will be celebrated by Pope Benedict at the Vatican. Divine Mercy Sunday had special significance for Pope John Paul, who made it a church-wide feast day to be celebrated a week after Easter. POPE JOHN PAUL II, page 11
(CNS PHOTO/ERIC THAYER, REUTERS)
May 1 beatification set for John Paul II as miracle approved
People with the Angel Project line the street leading to St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church, where the funeral of U.S. District Judge John M. Roll was taking place, in Tucson, Ariz., Jan. 14. Roll was killed in the Jan. 8 shooting that left six people dead and wounded Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.
Forner Planned Parenthood director to convert to Catholicism By Valerie Schmalz The woman who walked away from her job as a Planned Parenthood clinic director after helping with an ultrasound-guided abortion is on the verge of entering the Catholic Church. Abby Johnson, 30, who will speak at the 11 a.m. Walk for Life West Coast rally in San Francisco Jan. 22, is preparing with her husband Doug to enter the Catholic Church in her native Texas within the next few months. The couple has a 4-year-old daughter. “When we went to the Catholic Church for the first time we knew that was where we were supposed to be and we have been there ever since,” said Johnson, who said she particularly loves the church’s reverence for Mary as the mother of God. “The more we started learning about the beliefs of the church and the Eucharist and everything, it seemed like this was what had been missing our whole lives.” After eight years as a Planned Parenthood volunteer and employee, Johnson walked away from her job as director of a Planned Parenthood clinic in Bryan/College Station, Texas, Oct. 6, 2009 during a prayer vigil by 40 Days for Life. Johnson, who had two abortions at 20 and at 23, first began working as a clinic escort while a student at Texas A&M University. Assisting with an ultrasound during an abortion in September 2009 turned her into a pro-life advocate. Johnson’s embrace of Catholicism was a natural development after she became pro-life but was pre-
Abby Johnson pictured at the 2010 West Coast Walk for Life. cipitated by her pro-choice Episcopalian community’s vocal rejection of her change of heart, she said. Even before the dramatic experience of assisting in an ultrasound abortion, Johnson said God had been calling to her for several months through the penitential rite of the Episcopal service, which is similar to the Catholic prayer. With the Episcopalian Church one of the largest donors to the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, Johnson said she and her husband were not going to remain at the church anyway. Johnson describes the experience of assisting with the ultrasound abortion in her book “Unplanned: the Dramatic True Story of the Planned Parenthood Leader
Who Crossed the Life Line to Fight for Women in Crisis,” written with Cindy Lambert (Ignatius Press, 2011). In the book’s first chapter, Johnson describes holding the ultrasound probe on the woman’s abdomen and watching the screen as the abortion doctor worked and the mother cried. The fetus was at 13 weeks gestation based on the abortion doctor’s estimate, Johnson wrote. “At first, the baby didn’t seem aware of the cannula,” she writes. “It gently probed the baby’s side, and for a quick second I felt relief. Of course, I thought. The fetus doesn’t feel pain. I had reassured countless women of this as I’d been taught by Planned Parenthood. The fetal tissue feels nothing as it is removed. Get a grip, Abby. This is a simple, quick medical procedure. My head was working hard to control my responses, but I couldn’t shake an inner disquiet that was quickly mounting to horror as I watched the screen. “The next movement was the sudden jerk of a tiny foot as the baby started kicking, as if it were trying to move away from the probing invader,” she continues. “As the cannula pressed its side, the baby began struggling to turn and twist away. It seemed clear to me that it could feel the cannula, and it did not like what it was feeling. And then the doctor’s voice broke through, startling me. ‘“Beam me up, Scotty,”’ he said lightheartedly to the nurse. He was telling her to turn on the suction – in an abortion the suction isn’t turned on until the doctor feels he has the cannula in exactly the right place. CATHOLIC CONVERSATION, page 3
INSIDE THIS WEEK’S EDITION Cathedral memories . . . . . . . 3 Washington pro-life outlook. .7 San Quentin song . . . . . . . . 12 Lay trusteeship’s challenge . 13 Purgatory’s ‘interior fire’ . . . 14
Mexico migrant killings: How many? ~ Page 4 ~ January 21, 2011
Catholics help Congolese children ~ Page 10 ~
Book looks behind ‘Holy Face’ mystery ~ Page 16 ~
ONE DOLLAR
Classified ads . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Datebook of events . . . . . . . 17
www.catholic-sf.org VOLUME 13
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