March 17, 2016

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ST. JOSEPH:

Q & A:

BISHOP LOPES:

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Messiah’s cherished foster father remembered

Archbishop, parishioners chat in Sausalito

Native son honored at cathedral prayer service

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO Newspaper of the Archdiocese of San Francisco

www.catholic-sf.org

SERVING SAN FRANCISCO, MARIN & SAN MATEO COUNTIES

MARCH 17, 2016

Archbishop celebrates Mass for martyred Missionaries of Charity

$1.00  |  VOL. 18 NO. 6

“Laudato Si’” initiative: How to ‘green’ your parish

VALERIE SCHMALZ

CHRISTINA GRAY

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO

The four Missionaries of Charity who were slain in Yemen “gave their lives out of love for Christ,” Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone said at a Mass celebrated March 10 at St. Paul Church in San Francisco. “Words fail at a time like this,” Archbishop Cordileone said in his homily. “Such unspeakable acts are indicative of the rebellion within the human heart.” Pope Francis called the sisters “martyrs of today” who “gave their blood for the church” speaking at St. Peter’s Square March 6. The pontiff prayed that Blessed Teresa of Kolkata would “accompany to paradise these daughters of hers, martyrs of charity, and that she would intercede for peace and a sacred respect for human life.” At the Mass in San Francisco about 50 Missionaries of Charity were joined by religious sisters from other orders and Presentation Sister Rosina Conrotto, director of the archdiocesan Office of Consecrated Life, as well as others. Ten priests and Deacon Rory Desmond assisted at the 7 a.m. Mass. Sister Anselm, Sister Reginette, Sister Judith, and Sister Marguerite, natives of India and Africa, were serving as caregivers at the Missionaries of Charity’s convent and nursing home for elderly and disabled people in Aden, Yemen, when two armed gunmen attacked, killing the sisters and 12 others. There was no information on the fate of Salesian Father Tom Uzhunnanil who had been staying with the sisters after his parish in Aden was burned down, Catholic News Agency reported. The mother superior, Sister Sally, escaped. Photographs show the sisters were wearing aprons over their habits at the time of their deaths, Fides News Agency reported.

In the final chapter of his 2015 encyclical letter “Laudato Si’: On Care for Our Common Home,” Pope Francis said that it will be “individual conversion” and “community networks” that will ultimately motivate Christians to develop the new convictions, choices and habits necessary to authentically care for God’s creation. On April 23, the Archdiocese of San Francisco launches an initiative designed to help bring those lofty ideals down to earth with a workshop for members of parish and school communities who may want to respond to the pope’s call but may not know how or where to start. “Parishes shouldn’t have to figure this out on their own,” said Stephen Miller, a parishioner of St. Teresa of Avila Parish in San Francisco and a member of the planning committee for “Laudato Si’: A Parish Response,” a half-day, bilingual (Spanish and English) workshop at St. Anne parish hall in San Francisco from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The workshop is designed to engage members of parish and school communities around the messages of the encyclical and give them the inspiration and tools to evaluate the environmental sustainability of parish activities and practices through the lens of Catholic values. “Living our vocation to be protectors of God’s handiwork is essential to a life of virtue; it is not an optional or a secondary aspect of our Christian experience,” wrote Pope Francis on paragraph 217 of his 190-page encyclical. Auxiliary Bishop William J. Justice, who with St. Cecilia pastor Msgr. Michael Harriman is driving the initiative

SEE ARCHBISHOP, PAGE 8

(PHOTO BY DEBRA GREENBLAT/CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO)

A Missionary of Charity prays before photos of four sisters slain in Yemen following Mass for the late religious March 10 at St. Paul Church.

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SEE “LAUDATO SI’”, PAGE 10

INDEX On the Street . . . . . . . . 4 National . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Opinion . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Faith . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Calendar . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Easter Liturgies . . 10-19


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March 17, 2016 by Catholic San Francisco - Issuu