CHA president affirms bishops’ decisive authority on Catholic health care
Catholic san Francisco Northern California’s Weekly Catholic Newspaper
By Nancy Frazier O’Brien
By Valerie Schmalz California’s bishops have sent letters to the state Legislature opposing budget cuts to three programs that help the working poor – particularly single mothers, disabled people and children of poor families. “A basic moral test of our society is how we treat the most vulnerable in our midst,” Edward E. Dolejsi, executive director of the California Catholic Conference, said in a Jan. 24 letter to the chair of the state Senate budget committee. The California Catholic Conference is the public policy arm of the state’s bishops. California faces a $25.4 billion budget shortfall in the current and upcoming fiscal year ending June 2012. The Catholic Conference has said it generally supports Gov. Jerry Brown’s efforts to close that gap by $12 billion in tax extensions and $12.5 billion in spending cuts to health care, higher education and other areas. The proposed $127.4 billion budget leaves spending for K-12 public schools and prisons untouched. On Jan. 31 Brown devoted his State of the State address to urging the state Legislature to place the $12 billion five-year income and sales tax extension on the June ballot. The Legislature must act by March for the proposed taxes to be included in the June ballot. Brown has said without the tax extension another $12 billion in government spending must be slashed as California law requires a BUDGET CUTS, page 15 balanced budget.
A demonstrator calling for Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s resignation shouts slogans during a protest outside the White House in Washington Jan. 29. The Vatican expressed concern about the unrest in Egypt as Catholic Relief Services temporarily evacuated staff members from the country. Page 6.
‘Steel butterfly’: Formidable Sister Mary Jane By Liz Dossa Presentation Sister Mary Jane Floyd stands on the porch of a wood frame house in Redwood City, supervising a flock of chattering students and holding Blossom, her grey terrier. The children have just emerged from the Catholic Worker tutoring program, which she has held in this house for 17 years. Going down the front steps and through the white picket fence, one child says jubilantly: “I’m done!” Sister Mary is pleased. “There’s been a big improvement in that little girl!” This winter day Sister Mary Jane, bundled up in a lavender hat, fleece jacket, and blue and green scarf, looks like a bright, small bird. Earlier that afternoon, she set out name cards on tables, considering which student should sit with which tutor today. She knows who is struggling with reading and who has improved in math. A teacher to her core, she’s organized and careful, making sure there are resources like dictionaries, tissues and extra pens. Her main resource is insight into what the children need to succeed in school. Many parents in this largely Hispanic neighborhood despair over helping their young students with school work because of their lack of English, but they care deeply about their children’s school success. When the doorbell rings, Blossom barks insistently, to alert Sister Mary Jane, whose hearing she confesses is not what it used to be. At 4 p.m. sharp, the students file in, going to their assigned spots. The 28 students who come these days range from second graders who need help with spelling to ninth graders who work on geometry problems.
(PHOTO BY JOSE LUIS AGUIRRE/CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO)
Bishops say budget cuts target single mothers, working poor, disabled
CNS PHOTO/JOSE LUIS MAGANA, REUTERS)
WASHINGTON (CNS) – In an exchange of letters with the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the head of the Catholic Health Association has affirmed that the local bishop is the “authoritative interpreter” of the ethical and religious directives that guide Catholic health care. Sister Carol Keehan, a Daughter of Charity who is CHA president and CEO, said her organization “has a sincere desire to work with the church and individual bishops to understand as clearly as possible clinical issues and bring the majesty of the church’s teaching to that.” In response to the letter, Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan of New York, USCCB president, said the church must “speak with one voice” against the “increasing political and social pressures that are trying to force the church to compromise her principles,” including “the problem of illegitimate government intrusion in our health care ministries.” The letters followed telephone conversations among Sister Carol, Archbishop Dolan and Bishop Robert N. Lynch of St. Petersburg, Fla., who serves on the CHA board. Bishop Kevin W. Vann of Fort Worth, Texas, the bishops’ liaison to CHA, “was also part of the consultation,” according to a USCCB news release. CHA and the USCCB took opposing stands on whether CATHOLIC HEALTH CARE, page 7
Sister Mary Jane Floyd with Blossom Sister Mary Jane talks to each one of them each day, checking their work, asking, “How are you?” and then, bending down, listening to the answer. This Catholic Worker-sponsored tutoring program which began in 1994 is the latest in the series of ministries that Sister Mary Jane has carried out since she entered the Sisters of the Presentation May 27, 1948. Following the Presentations’ primary mission, she was assigned to schools in Los Angeles, San Francisco, San STEEL BUTTERFLY, page 11
INSIDE THIS WEEK’S EDITION On the Street . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 St. Thomas and the angels . . 4 U.S. religion survey . . . . . . . 5 National Marriage Week . . 8-9 Congo violence decried . . . 11
Jesuit priest’s ministry to divorced Catholics ~ Page 3 ~ February 4, 2011
Clearing land mines in the Holy Land ~ Page 10 ~
‘The Rite’ honors faith, priesthood ~ Page 16 ~
ONE DOLLAR
Archbishop’s Journal. . . . . . 12 Father Rolheiser . . . . . . . . . 13
www.catholic-sf.org VOLUME 13
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