Budget crisis
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Charities leader sees 'disaster fo r p oof in Califo rnia
By Sharon Abercrombie Gov. Gray Davis's proposed budget for 2003-2004, is approved as is this comIfingjune by the state legislature "it will be a disaster for the poor," predicts Rick Mocklei; executive director of California Catholic Charities in Sacramento, an association of 12 Catholic diocesan social services agencies in the state. Released January 10, the budget attempts to make up for a $34 billion deficit by a combination of tax increases and deep cuts in health, social services, housing, education and other programs. Children-at risk, the working poor, ¦ the ill, blind, and disabled, the elderly and . r V c mia L ^ailjo IS immigrants - will suffer unprecedented hardships and deprivation , by the pro"losing, its sense of posed cuts, said Mockler, who stressed that community ...What social service agencies are already
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"During much^ of the 1990's, while 'the common g ood. '" the state enjoyed a growing economy and increasm S wealth, we at Catholic T?' lr M lrl<> Charities experienced a different reality. Every year over the last decade, we saw an increase in the number of clients coming to us for emergency food and shelter. Our emergency assistance programs have exploded sometimes at the expense of other services." Mockler said the situation reflects the state 's "new hourglass economy: growing wealth at the top, a shrinking middle and a growing number of people in poverty." The official observed that the state of California is "losing its sense of community.. .what Catholics refer to as 'the common good.' We believe that how we care for the weakest among us is a barometer for the health of the entire society." The worst-case scenario: reduction in health care access for one-half million Californians, reduction in welfare payments to families with dependent children; and the outright elimination of naturalization services. The situation is exacerbated by President Bush's cuts at the federal level, Mockler pointed out. Mockler isn't the only official who is worried. So are two San Francisco social service officials. Tony Michelini is contracts and budget manager of Catholic Charities/CYO of San Francisco, and Franciscan Father John Hardin serves as executive director of the Saint Anthony Foundation, which serves over 2000 meals daily to the poor, and operates services providing clothing, housing, alcohol rehabilitation and a free medical clinic. Michelini's agency serves over 40,000 poor each year with the assistance of city, state and federal funds. St. Anthony, however, exists entirely by donations, averaging about $13 million a year. But everything is interconnected, and all social service agencies, not only Catholic Charities but the St. Anthony Foundation, will feel the impact of budget cuts. Michelini and Father Hardin shared their respective scenarios. The bad news is: Whatever cuts are imposed upon Catholic Charities, its disenfranchised clients will turn to other agencies -such as St. Anthony. BUDGET CRISIS , page 5 A
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Pop e John Paul II blesses pil grims from his apartment window Feb. 23
Ash Wednesday plea
Day of prayer, fasting for p eace
By John Thavis Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Warning that the world was drifting toward the "logic of war,'-' Pope John Paul II called for a day of prayer and fasting for peace on Ash Wednesday. Archbishop Levada: Jubilee Year Lent «iiiiiwmir«fliHrMw wiuwWMii)w««»«^
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A peaceful future for the world cannot be won by terrorism or by war, the pontiff said from his apartment window above St. Peter's Square Feb. 23. "Believers, whatever their religion, should proclaim that we will never be able to be happy opposing each other, and that the future of humanity can never be assured by terrorism and the logic of war," the pope said. The pope announced the move as he appealed once again against war in Iraq. He said armed conflict in the Persian Gulf state could throw the entire Middle East into turmoil and raise tensions across the globe. "For months the international community has lived in great anxiety over the danger of a war that could upset the entire region of the Middle East and aggravate tensions which unfortunately are already present at the start of tire third millennium," he said. Therefore, the pope said, he was asking Catholics in every country to fast and pray for peace—especially in the MiddleEast— on AshWednesday,March 5, the start of the Lenten season. Hie pope said fasting on Ash Wednesday this year should be an "expression of penitencefor the hatred and violence that pollute human relations."
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