May 19, 2016

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MAY 19, 2016

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Pope tells women religious Vatican will study women deacons

BY CINDY WOODEN CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE

(CNS PHOTO/PAUL HARING)

Priests walk across rose petals as they fall from the oculus of the Pantheon at the conclusion of Pentecost Mass May 15. The rose petals dropped by Rome firefighters symbolize the tongues of fire that came upon the apostles at Pentecost.

Mission must come before maintaining institutions, pope says CINDY WOODEN CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE

VATICAN CITY – In reviewing the administration of property and finances, the Italian bishops should “maintain only what is useful for the faith experience and the charity of the people of God,” Pope Francis said.

Opening the Italian bishops’ conference annual assembly in the Vatican May 16, the pope focused on the bishops’ main agenda item: “the renewal of clergy.”

The agenda item on the administration of material goods fits into the main theme, though, the pope insisted. “In an evangelical vision, avoid weighing yourselves down with a pastoral plan for preservation, which blocks openness to the perennial newness of the Holy Spirit.”

Quoting the late Brazilian Archbishop Helder Camara of Olinda and Recife, Pope Francis told the bishops, “’When your boat starts putting down roots in the stagnant water by the quay, put out to sea!’

Set off! And not because you ‘have’

‘When your boat starts putting down roots in the stagnant water by the quay, put out to sea!’ Set off!’

POPE FRANCIS a mission to complete, but because you are a missionary. In encountering Jesus you have experienced the fullness of life and, therefore, with all your being” you want others to encounter him as well.

Pope Francis suggested that the Italian bishops, before setting out a plan for the permanent formation of their priests, spend time in silence thinking about their priests and how they give of themselves and why they do it.

While bishops too often use “a bitter and accusatory tone” to speak about the modern age, he said, they are right to recognize that the current culture has left many people adrift and selfish.

“On this background, the life

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of our priests becomes eloquent because it is different, alternative,” the pope said. The men who have entered the priesthood have given up their “ambitions for a career and power.”

Aware of how God has healed and saved him, a priest is not scandalized by the fragility of others and is not coldly rigid, but reaches out to help others on the path to salvation, he said.

“Our priest is not a bureaucrat or an anonymous institutional functionary; he is not consecrated to a white-collar. role nor is he motivated by criteria of efficiency,” the pope said. “He knows that love is everything.”

In an age when true friendships are rare, he said, a priest knows how to build communion, involving and recognizing the gifts of the laity, and he commits himself in a true spirit of brotherhood to supporting and learning from his brother priests.

Pope Francis asked the Italian bishops to take great care to treasure their priests and to do so “with patience and the availability of your time, your hands and your heart.”

VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis told the heads of women’s religious orders from around the world that he would set up a commission to study the New Testament deaconesses and he also insisted more can and should be done to involve lay and consecrated women in church decision-making at every level.

Asked if he would establish “an official commission to study the question” of whether women could be admitted to the diaconate, Pope Francis responded: “I accept. It would be useful for the church to clarify this question. I agree.”

The pope spent more than an hour May 12 responding to questions posed by members of the International Union of Superiors General, repeatedly asking if they wanted further clarification and making funny asides or rephrasing his responses when it was clear they were not hitting the mark.

“I like hearing your questions because they make me think,” the pope told close to 900 superiors general, representing almost 500,000 sisters around the world. “I feel like a goalie, who is standing there waiting for the ball and not knowing where it’s going to come from.”

Asked about deaconesses in the New Testament and the possibility of the modern church admitting women to the permanent diaconate, Pope Francis had said his understanding was that the women described as deaconesses in the Bible were not ordained like permanent deacons are. Mainly, he said, it appeared that they assisted with the baptism by immersion of other women and with the anointing of women.

However, he said, “I will ask the (Congregation for the) Doctrine of the Faith to tell me if there are studies on this.”

Pope Francis also promised to have the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments send the UISG a full explanation of why women cannot give a homily at Mass. While women can preach at a Liturgy of the Word when there is not a celebration of the Eucharist, he said, at Mass the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist are parts of a whole and only one who is ordained can preside and preach.

The main part of the question was about the lack of influence women

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CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | MAY 19, 2016

Remains of Spanish explorer’s cross believed discovered at Arkansas dig APRILLE HANSON CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE

LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas – The first Catholic liturgy is believed to have been occurred in Arkansas 475 years ago, but archaeologists are working to authenticate physical proof of that celebration near the St. Francis River, about 40 miles from the Mississippi River.

The Parkin Archeological State Park in Cross County is home to what could be the physical evidence of a Catholic liturgy in the form of a cross, hidden in a mound until April 18. A team of archaeologists unearthed what is believed to be the base of the cross erected by Spanish explorers with Hernando de Soto’s expedition in 1541.

“The only thing we can really say is it’s the first recorded Christian ceremony held in the state of Arkansas. From the Catholic perspective especially, we know it was a Catholic Christian ceremony,” said Jeffrey Mitchem, Arkansas Archeological Survey’s research station archaeologist for Parkin.

The survey, part of the University of Arkansas system, studies and protects archaeological sites in the state.

Now that the wood has been excavated from the site about 30 miles northwest of Memphis, Tennessee, it’s a matter of authenticating it.

De Soto traveled around what eventually became Arkansas for a year before leading his men back to the Mississippi River in southeast Arkansas. In the three years after they landed in what is the southern United States, almost half of the crew had been killed. De Soto died from an unknown fever May 31, 1542, at Guachoya, what is believed to be Lake Village in Chicot County, according to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture.

Four historical narratives – three of which were written by de Soto’s crew – speak of a cross erected July 5, 1541, (per the modern Gregorian calendar) on the largest mound where the Native American chief’s home was located. Artifacts, including a bead and some bells, are evidence the Europeans visited Parkin.

In 1965, archaeologists began surveying the Parkin area to determine if deposits on the site were enough

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Archaeologist Jeffrey Mitchem, who has waited since 1992 to uncover the remains of what they believe could be a cross from Hernando de Soto’s expedition, points to the pattern of the post hole just below where it was removed from the mound April 20 in Cross County, Ark.

to turn it into a state park. In 1966, wood was found and samples of the suspected cross were collected.

Mitchem discovered the samples in 1992 and sent them to a lab to be radiocarbon-dated, a process that is 95 percent accurate but only provides a range of dates.

The lab dated the wood to the period from 1515 to 1663.

As other projects took priority, Mitchem waited, hoping one day he and others would be able to authenticate the cross and dig for more clues.

Last year, the Elfrieda Frank Foundation in New York awarded the team a grant of about $20,000 to excavate the mound. Mitchem and his specially selected crew “kept everything quiet” about starting the dig to ensure that outsiders would not disturb it.

About 3 feet down, the base of the cross was found burned, but the charred remains helped preserve it, while other pieces rotted away. Mitchem said it is unclear when the burn took place.

The team finished its work April 22, three days after reaching the cross. The excavators recovered “a little less than a foot in terms of height; the width, about a foot and a half; and maybe nine inches perpendicular,” Mitchem said.

The team planned to send several samples for radiocarbon dating, which can take a few weeks to a month, to see if the results match what was determined in the 1960s.

The encyclopedia recounts how de Soto, a Catholic, arrived with about 600 explorers in Florida in 1539, searching for gold and riches throughout the southeastern part of what is now the U.S., often acting ruthlessly toward Native Americans. When de Soto reached Arkansas June 28, 1541, he was not attacked by the local Casqui tribe, the narratives said.

“You think about this – why did he do this here – because he didn’t do this everywhere,” Mitchem said of erecting the cross.

One historical narrative that included several interviews from de Soto’s crew is attributed to historical chronicler Garcilaso de la Vega and was written about 40 years after the expedition. Often cited, it stated that 2,000 people attended the Mass, cheering the cross. However, Mitchem said the account in that narrative “differs pretty drastically” from the others.

While there was a drought during that time, Native Americans wanted the cross erected to pray to God for rain, according to the narrative. It states they knelt and kissed the cross like the Spaniards.

“We just don’t know what the actual conversations were ... We can say without a doubt the Casqui people were not converted to Christianity by this act,” Mitchem told the Arkansas Catholic, newspaper of the Diocese of Little Rock.

An Italian carpenter on the expedition ordered the men to chop down a tree that he could make into a cross. Once built, about 100 men helped stand the cross upright, though the exact height was unknown.

With a diameter of nearly 2 feet, Mitchem said, “it must have been quite a chore to do this to tell you the truth. It obviously was sturdy enough and did fine; there’s no evidence it fell over.”

The expedition had eight priests, including two Dominicans, a Franciscan and one member of the Order of the Most Holy Trinity, or Trinitarians.

Only three of the religious survived the expedition.

SEE DE SOTO, PAGE 13

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CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | MAY 19, 2016

San Diego bishop announces synod on marriage, family CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE

SAN DIEGO – Bishop Robert W. McElroy of San Diego, in a pastoral message to Catholics of the diocese, announced he would convoke a synod in October on marriage and family life.

“A diocesan synod is the most significant level of dialogue, discernment and decision in the life of a diocese. It brings together the bishop, the priestly leadership and lay and religious representatives from throughout the diocese to wrestle with the most important questions that a diocese faces,” Bishop McElroy said in the message, “Embracing the Joy of Love.”

In the message, published in the May issue of The Southern Cross, San Diego’s diocesan newspaper, Bishop McElroy said the synod would focus exclusively on “the topics of marriage and family life that Pope Francis has raised in ‘The Joy of Love,’” also known in Latin as “Amoris Laetitia.”

Each of the diocese’s 100 parishes would have a representative at the synod, he added. “The majority of the representatives will be lay men and women, which is particularly important on this topic of marriage and family,” he noted.

The synod will explore five themes – all of which Bishop McElroy described as challenges – from Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation, which was issued in April.

They are the challenge to witness to both the beauty and realism of the Catholic vision of marriage and family life; the challenge to form a

culture of invitation and hospitality to unmarried couples; the challenge to welcome, nurture and form children; the challenge to provide authentic pastoral support for those who are divorced; and the challenge to bring spiritual depth to family life. “’The Joy of Love’ is breathtaking in its portrait of the beauty of married love. Yet the apostolic exhortation also unceasingly points to the reality that the beauty of married love is not confined to an ideal world or exceptional relationships, but is realistic and attainable for most men and women,” Bishop McElroy said.

At the same time, he noted, “the declining number of Catholics who marry in the church is an enormous pastoral problem in the Diocese of San Diego and throughout the nation. Thus it is essential for our parishes to reflect a deep culture of invitation and hospitality toward all couples who have not yet celebrated Catholic marriage.”

Bishop McElroy said, “The chief obstacle to building such a culture effectively is that most Catholic young adults are not involved in the life of the church. Sometimes this results from active estrangement from the church because of disagreements with Catholic doctrine or past hurts, but more often the lack of involvement of young adults in Catholic life is merely a product of a gradual drift away from ecclesial life.

“The diminishing participation of young adults between 20 and 40 constitutes the most significant pastoral challenge to the church in the United States. Until we address it effectively,

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cated by the fact that “parents find it harder to share with their children the traditions of faith which enriched their own childhood because in their young adult and early married years these prayers and traditions have come to seem distant and foreign to them,” Bishop McElroy said. “Moreover, increasing numbers of young couples are unable to build and sustain a spiritual dimension in their marriage.”

we will not be able to build effectively a strong culture of Catholic marriage in our nation or our diocese.”

Bishop McElroy added that parenting “must take into account the serious challenges in our culture to the formation of children – consumerism, individualism, hypercompetitiveness, a distorted notion of sexuality, and secularism. …”

The challenge of bringing a spiritual depth to family life is often compli-

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CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | MAY 19, 2016

SUPREME COURT SENDS CONTRACEPTIVE MANDATE CASE BACK TO LOWER COURTS

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Supreme Court May 16 sent the Zubick v. Burwell case, which challenges the Affordable Care Act’s contraceptive requirement for employers, back to the lower courts.

The justices’ unanimous decision, explained in a nine-page order, was based on the information that both sides submitted a week after oral arguments were heard in the case about how and if contraceptive insurance coverage could be obtained by employees through their insurance companies without directly involving religious employers who object to this coverage.

The court made clear that it is not expressing an opinion on the merits of the cases that are challenging aspects of the federal government’s health legislation and it also was not ruling on the issue of a potential violation of religious freedom.

Because of the “gravity of the dispute and the substantial clarification and refinement in the positions of the parties,” the court stated that religious employers and the government should be “afforded an opportunity to arrive at an approach going forward that accommodates petitioners’ religious exercise while at the same time ensuring that women covered by petitioners’ health plans receive full and equal health coverage, including contraceptive coverage.”

The court stressed that this approach is “more suitable” than addressing the refined positions submitted by both sides and added that “although there may still be areas of disagreement between the parties on issues of implementation, the importance of those areas of potential concern is uncertain, as is the necessity of this court’s involvement at this point to resolve them.”

“This is a game-changer,” said Mark Rienzi, lead attorney for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which represents the Little Sisters of the Poor, one of the group’s challenging the federal contraceptive mandate. He said the order reflects that the court has “accepted the government’s concession” that it can provide contraceptives to women “without using the Little Sisters.”

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RELY ON FAITH TO CHANGE WORLD, CARDINAL TELLS NOTRE DAME GRADS

WASHINGTON – At the University of Notre Dame’s May 14 baccalaureate Mass, Washington Cardinal Donald W. Wuerl encouraged graduates to rely on their faith as they work to build a better world.

“Your generation faces great challenges to the whole idea we are all part of God’s plan ... and called to make this world a better place,” Cardinal Wuerl said. “ReCardinal Wuerl member, you do have the power in the Spirit to change the world,” he said, recalling Jesus’ words, “Behold, I make all things new.”

“You can make all things new, walking with the Lord and each other,” said the cardinal, who was the main celebrant and homilist at the Mass, which was celebrated at the Indiana university’s basketball arena, the Joyce Center.

In his homily, Cardinal Wuerl told Notre Dame’s graduates that in an age of instant communications marked by texting and other advances, “it is also important that we stay connected to the deeper reality of our existence – our relationship with the Lord, who is truth, life and love.”

Cardinal Wuerl urged the graduates to remember three important elements of life: their relationship to God, their obligation to each other, and their shared responsibility to help build a better world.

BISHOPS: OBAMA DIRECTIVE ON BATHROOM ACCESS ‘DEEPLY DISTURBING’

WASHINGTON – The Obama administration’s May 13 directive on transgender access to bathrooms “that treats ‘a student’s gender identity as the student’s sex’ is deeply disturbing,” said the chairmen of two U.S. Catholic bishops’ committees.

“The guidance fails to address a number of important concerns and contradicts a basic understanding of human formation so well expressed

by Pope Francis: that ‘the young need to be helped to accept their own body as it was created,’” the two bishops said in a statement May 16.

The statement was issued by Bishop Richard J. Malone of Buffalo, New York, who is chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth, and Archbishop George J. Lucas of Omaha, Nebraska, who chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on Catholic Education.

The directive, or guidance, was issued by the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Education. The departments said it applies to all public schools and colleges and universities that received federal funding. It “summarizes a school’s Title IX obligations regarding transgender students,” they said, and also explains how the Education and Justice departments will “evaluate a school’s compliance with these obligations.”

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CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | MAY 19, 2016

Marchers in Canada plead lawmakers to drop assisted-suicide bill CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE

OTTAWA, Ontario – As the Canadian Parliament considered a bill legalizing euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide, thousands gathered May 12 for the annual National March for Life.

The march’s focal point always has been “the threat to life at its earliest stages through abortion,” Cardinal Thomas Collins of Toronto said in his homily at the annual pro-life Mass at Notre-Dame Cathedral Basilica.

“These days, we have witnessed a growing threat to life at the other end of the earthly journey, through the misguided decision of the Supreme Court and the preparation of legislation to implement that decision throughout our land,” the cardinal told the congregation.

“The scourge of euthanasia and assisted suicide is upon us, and we need only to look to countries of Western Europe that have gone before us down this dark path to see what is in store,” he added.

Cardinal Thomas carried his message to Parliament Hill where he encouraged marchers to act, to join the Coalition for HealthCARE and Conscience and to promote both palliative care and pregnancy care centers.

Archbishop Christian Lepine of Montreal told the crowd life is a “gift from God,” no matter how fragile or weak it is.

Archbishop Luigi Bonazzi, papal nuncio to Canada, brought a blessing and a greeting from Pope Francis to the crowd.

He quoted St. Clare of Assisi who once said, “I thank God for having cre-

POPE RECEIVES GIFT OF TABLE TENNIS EQUIPMENT

VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis received a special white table tennis table with personalized paddles in an effort to promote UnPlugNPlay Day, which encourages family and friends to put away their computers, mobile phones and other devices in order to have fun and connect with those they love.

The table tennis equipment was given May 13 Franco Sciannimanico, the president of the Italian Table Tennis

Archbishop Christian Lepine of Montreal told the crowd life is a ‘gift from God,’ no matter how fragile or weak it is.

(CNS PHOTO/ART BABYCH)

Pro-life supporters rally during the annual National March for Life on Parliament Hill May 12 in Ottawa, Ontario. ated me.” He said it was his wish people would “be thanking God for the life he has given us.”

“In our country, the sanctity of life is being challenged on both ends of the spectrum, both in the womb and at the end of life,” said Member of Parliament Ted Falk, vice co-chairman of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights, which had sent the euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide bill back to Federation, and Robert Blackwell Jr., managing director of the American company Killerspin, which manufactures table tennis equipment.

The two men said during the encounter, which took place shortly before the general audience, that Pope Francis recalled the role of table tennis in the 1970’s détente between China and the United States.

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the full House. “We have to stand up to it,” Falk said, encouraging the crowd to continue their support. “Science is on your side.”

In the end, the committee rejected the proposed amendments to strengthen safeguards for vulnerable mentally ill and disabled Canadians.

Falk was one of a dozen pro-life members of Parliament who spoke to the marchers.

Others joined the event, including

Obianuju Ekeocha, Culture of Life Africa founder and president. “Laws come and go, but universal truths remain,” she said. “It is a universal truth that life begins at conception, without exceptions.”

Ekeocha decried Canada’s decision to send money to fund abortion in developing countries around the world.

“I beg you to not use the blood of the innocent to pave the path to development,” she said.

Security was extremely tight on Parliament Hill to prevent opposition protestors from storming the steps while the program continued as they have done the previous two years.

When a counter demonstration of about 100 people tried to confront the marchers at one point, police changed the route, shortening it by two blocks to prevent any confrontations, said Jim Hughes, president of the Campaign Life Coalition.

On the eve of the march, however, protestors interrupted the annual vigil at Ottawa’s Human Rights Monument, Hughes said. About 30 protestors stood in front of the pro-life speakers, blew whistles and shouted obscenities. “There was a lot of cursing and profanity in front of the children and the nuns,” he said.

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6 WORLD

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | MAY 19, 2016

‘No one can take our dignity – not even the devil,’ Pope Francis says ELISE HARRIS CNA/EWTN NEWS

VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis said the father’s embrace in the parable of the prodigal son is a reminder that we never ought to despair, because nothing and no one can take away our dignity as children of God. Pointing to how the father in the parable had watched and waited for his younger son’s return, Francis noted how “tenderly he saw him from afar, meaning that he waited for him constantly, from above.”

“The mercy of the father is overflowing, unconditional and manifests itself even before the son speaks,” he said. Even though the son recognizes his sin and voices remorse, “these words dissolve in front of the forgiveness of the father.”

Our state as sons of God “is a fruit of love from the heart of the father,” the Pope said, adding that “it doesn’t depend on our merits or our actions, and therefore no one can take it away. No one can take this dignity away from us, not even the devil! No one can take this dignity!”

Pope Francis spoke May 11 to the thousands of pilgrims present in St. Peter’s Square for his weekly general audience.

Before beginning his address, he noted how due to the rain, the sick and disabled were watching from a screen in the Vatican’s Paul VI Hall, and encouraged those present in the square to send them a greeting. The invitation was met a hardy round of applause as Francis spoke.

He continued his catechesis on mercy as understood in Scripture, focusing his speech on the final scene in the parable when the younger son returns and is embraced by the father, while the older son is resentful.

When the younger son finally returns home, his declaration that “I am no longer worthy to be called your son” is “unbearable for the heart of the father,” who interrupts him and rushes to restore to him the signs of his dignity as a son, such as a fine robe, a ring and sandals on his feet.

(CNS PHOTO/PAUL HARING)

Pope Francis greets a young boy during his general audience in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican May 11.

Jesus, the pope observed, doesn’t describe a father that is “offended and resentful who says ‘I will make you pay!’” but on the contrary, illustrates that the only thing the father is concerned about is that “this son in front of him is healthy and safe.”

This parable teaches us “to never despair,” he said, and pointed specifically to parents who, like the father, see their children becoming distant and taking “dangerous paths.”

He also noted that the same can be said of pastors and catechists “who at times ask themselves if their work is in vain,” as well as prisoners, “those who have made poor choices and aren’t able to look to the future (and) those who hunger for mercy and forgiveness but believe they aren’t worthy.”

No matter what situation life brings, “I must never forget that I’ll never cease being a child of God, of a father who loves me and waits for my return. Even in the worst situations in life God waits, wanting to embrace me,” he said.

Pope Francis then pointed to the figure of the

older brother, who although he was always at home with his father, “is so different” from him.

When he speaks to his father, the older son “speaks with contempt,” never once using the words “father” or “brother,” but instead boasts of how he had always been near the father and served him, the Pope observed.

Neither has this son ever lived the joy of being close to his father, but accuses him of not ever giving him a young goat to celebrate, Francis said, adding “Poor father! One son went away, and the other was never truly close!”

The father’s suffering in this passage “is like the suffering of God and of Jesus when we distance ourselves or when we think we are close and instead we are not,” he said.

Francis noted that the older son “also needs mercy,” explaining that that he “represents us when we ask ourselves whether it’s worth it to struggle so much if we don’t get anything in return.”

However, when the father responds telling his older son telling him that “everything I have is yours,” his logic “is that of mercy!”

In their conversations with the father, both sons miss the point, Francis said: “the two brothers don’t speak to each other, they live different stories, but both reason in a logic foreign to Jesus: if you do good you get a reward, if you do bad you get punished.”

By responding with the logic of mercy, the father not only recovers his lost son but can now restore the relationship between the brothers, the Pope said, adding that “the greatest joy for the father is to see his sons recognizing each other as brothers.”

Each of the sons can decide to either unite themselves to the joy of the father, or to refuse, he said, and noted how parable ends leaving us in suspense, because we don’t know what the older son decided.

Pope Francis closed by saying that this cliffhanger is “is a motivation for us. This Gospel teaches us that we all need to enter the house of the father and participate in his joy, in the feast of mercy and brotherhood.”

Pope visits home for disabled persons for Jubilee of Mercy CNA/EWTN NEWS

ROME – Pope Francis made a surprise visit to a community in Italy that houses and cares for persons who have severe mental disabilities, where he visited both the caregivers and the beneficiaries.

The May 13 visit was part of his “Mercy Friday” initiative, in which he carries out one act of mercy a month on a Friday throughout the Jubilee of Mercy.

Pope Francis sat at table and ate with the volunteers and the disabled and listened to their testimonies.

“He also visited the most severely disabled, showing signs of deep affection and tenderness; in particular to Armando and Fabio, who were the first to be accepted,” Vatican spokesman Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi said.

Il Chicco is located in Ciampino, a town just outside

of Rome. It was founded in 1981 by L’Arche, a federation dedicated to making known the gifts of persons with intellectual disabilities. It houses 18 persons with disabilities.

L’Arche was founded in 1964 by Jean Vanier, when he welcomed two disabled men to leave the institutions where they were living and come live with him instead. His desire attracted others, and L’Arche now has more than 100 communities in 29 countries around the world.

The movement focuses on recognizing the gifts of the disabled, and so each house includes a workshop where they are able to work.

Pope Francis visited the workship at Il Chicco, and afterwards went to the chapel to pray with the community. He spent an hour and a half with the community, and before he left he gifted them with a monetary

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contribution and a basket of seasonal fruits, including cherries and peaches.

The pope “has expressed with this visit one of the most salient points expressing his pontificate: attention to the simplest and weakest,” Father Lombardi said. “Bringing them tenderness and affection, he wished to give a concrete sign of how to live the Year of Mercy.”

Today’s visit to Il Chicco is the fifth ‘sign of mercy’ done by Pope Francis to mark the months of the Jubilee of Mercy: in January he visited a nursing home, in February a community for addicts; in March, a refugee center, and in April, refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos.

The Jubilee of Mercy is an Extraordinary Holy Year that began Dec. 8, 2015, and will close Nov. 20, with the feast of Christ the King.

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WORLD 7

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | MAY 19, 2016

Drought ravages Ethiopian communities, driving rise in hunger BRONWEN DACHS CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE

CAPE TOWN, South Africa – Watching hungry schoolchildren in Ethiopia carefully put away one of the two biscuits they received at a food program, Msgr. John Kozar, president of Catholic Near East Welfare Association, found the act touching.

He realized they were taking the second biscuit home to share with younger siblings or their mothers.

Alarming levels of hunger, caused by the worst drought in about half a century, has left about 10 percent of all Ethiopians – some 10 million in all – in need of food aid, Msgr. Kozar said in a May 11 telephone interview from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital.

When the rains have come, as they did in April as part of the El Nino weather phenomenon that drove the drought, flash flooding has resulted.

The most recent floods left at least 50 people dead and nearly 120,000 displaced.

“People in this mountainous, very rural country face enormous challenges,” said Msgr. Kozar, who was on a six-day visit to the country in the Horn of Africa.

Cattle, sheep and other animals essential to people’s livelihoods have been lost in the landslides from the torrential rains, he said.

“It will be many months before there is any yield from newly planted crops,” Msgr. Kozar said. “Three weeks of rain is not going to end this drought or stop its far-reaching and devastating consequences.”

More than 83 percent of Ethiopians

(CNS PHOTO/TIKSA NEGERI, REUTERS)

Children wash their heads with rain water in Kobo village, in a drought- stricken area of Ethiopia. Hunger is worsening because of the worst drought in the country in about 50 years, and some children are saving any food they get to take home and share with younger siblings or their mothers, Msgr. John Kozar, president of Catholic Near East Welfare Association, said in a May 11 telephone interview from Addis Ababa. live in rural areas, where most rely on rain-fed agriculture.

“The food needs here are critical,” particularly for infants and pregnant and breast-feeding women, he said.

On a visit to a “humble parish school with no lighting” in Aiga, where CNEWA runs one of its school food programs, Msgr. Kozar heard from teachers who told him that children often faint from hunger when they arrive for the day’s lessons.

“It’s common for children to walk a one- to three-hour journey on very steep mountainous terrain to get to school and then make the same journey home again,” he said.

About 500 people attended a May

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9 funeral in a village church that required a four- to seven-hour walk from remote areas for most of mourners, Msgr. Kozar said.

“And that was just one-way,” he said, recalling that he saw the corpse being carried on the shoulders of men who were walking a long distance along “paths with a terrifying drop.”

The “devotion of the people I have met here, young and old, is incredible,” Msgr. Kozar said.

“The mountainous trails are very dangerous, but still, people come regularly to Mass,” he added. “The Chris-

tian tradition is very significant to the lives of the people of Ethiopia.”

About 1 percent of Ethiopia’s population is Catholic, yet the church is the second-largest provider of health and education services, after the government.

CNEWA provides humanitarian aid through the local church, Msgr. Kozar said.

With very few level areas on which to grow crops, Ethiopians plant “potatoes, corn, barley, whatever they can” in terraces on the slopes of mountains.

“I am amazed at what people here do with the little they have,” he said, noting that he visited a Catholic agricultural college where subsistence farmers were taught how to improve farming methods and advised on which crops provide good nutrition.

Catholic Relief Services complements the work of CNEWA. Kim Pozniak, CRS communications officer, described the landscape as “apocalyptic, with very little vegetation except dried-out scrub and bushes with thorns the length of my forearm” after an April visit to parts of Ethiopia hardest hit by the drought.

“I saw donkeys that had fallen down dead while their owners were taking them to get water” to carry back home, Pozniak said in a May 13 telephone interview.

Animals are Ethiopians’ “most valuable asset,” Pozniak said, and the drought has forced many families to sell any livestock they have out of desperation to feed their families.

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8

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | MAY 19, 2016

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OPINION 9

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | MAY 19, 2016

I

Biblical preaching and healing the culture

f Catholics in the United States are going to be healers of our wounded culture, we’re going to have to learn to see the world through lenses ground by biblical faith. That form of depth perception only comes from an immersion in the Bible itself. So spending 10 or 15 minutes a day with the word of God is a must for the evangelical Catholic of the 21st century.

Biblical preaching that breaks open the text so that we can see the world, and ourselves, aright is another 21stcentury Catholic imperative.

GEORGE WEIGEL There is far too little biblically-based catechetical preaching, at which the Fathers of the Church in the first millennium excelled, today.

The church still learns from their ancient homilies in the Liturgy of the Hours, but the kind of expository preaching the Fathers did is rarely heard at either Sunday or weekday Masses. It must be, though, if the church’s people are to be equipped to convert and heal contemporary culture. For the first step in that healing process is to penetrate the fog, see ourselves for who we are, and understand our situation for what it is.

How might biblical preaching help us do that?

Take the recent Solemnity of the Ascension as an example. The essential truth of the Ascension is that

it marked the moment in salvation history at which humanity – glorified humanity, to be sure, but humanity nonetheless – was incorporated into the thrice-holy God. The God of the Bible is God-with-us, Emmanuel.

But, with the Ascension and Christ’s glorification “at the right hand of the Majesty on high” (Hebrews 1:3), humanity is “with God.” If the Incarnation, Christ’s coming in the flesh, teaches us that God is not distant from us, and if the Passion teaches us that God is “with us” even in suffering and death, then the Ascension teaches us that one like us is now “with God,” and indeed in God. Which means that humanity is capable of being sanctified, even divinized.

Eastern Christian theology calls this theosis, “divinization,” and it’s a hard concept for many Western Christians to grasp. Yet here is what St. Basil the Great, one of the Cappadocian Fathers of the church, teaches about the sending of the Holy Spirit, promised in Acts 1:8 at the Ascension: “Through the Spirit we acquire a likeness to God; indeed we attain what is beyond our most sublime aspirations – we become God.” What can that possibly mean?

It means that, through the gift of salvation, we are being sanctified: we are being drawn into the very life of God, who is the source of all holiness. And it means that our final destiny is not oblivion, but communion within the light and love of the Trinity. Why? Because the glorified Christ, present in his transfigured humanity to the first disciples in the Upper Room, on the Emmaus Road, and by the Sea of Galilee, has gone

before us and is now “within” the Godhead, where he wishes his own to be, too.

Wonderful, you say. But what does that have to do with healing 21st-century culture?

Everything.

At the root of today’s culture of happy-go-lucky hedonism, which inevitably leads to debonair nihilism, is a profound deprecation of the human: a colossal putdown that tells us that we’re just congealed star dust, a cosmic accident – so why not enjoy what you can, as soon as you can, however you like, before oblivion?

Why take your humanity seriously – including that part of your humanity by which you are constituted as male or female? You can change whatever you like; it’s all plastic and it’s all meaningless, because the only meaning of our humanity is the meaning we choose for it.

Christian faith offers a far nobler vision of the human condition than this dumbed-down self-absorption.

Where do we find that nobler humanity exemplified?

In the Ascension, and the incorporation of Christ’s human nature into the mutual love of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And where the master has gone, the disciples are empowered by grace to follow.

That’s what should have been preached on the Solemnity of the Ascension. That’s the kind of preaching we need, day after day and Sunday after Sunday.

WEIGEL is a senior fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, Washington, D.C.

Call yourself a saint-in-training TONY ROSSI THE CHRISTOPHERS

Never call yourself a bad person, but rather “a saint-in-training.” That’s the advice of former director of The Christophers Father John Catoir, and it’s a truth he learned from his years counseling people as part of his priestly ministry.

Father Catoir led The Christophers from the late-1970s to the mid-1990s, and the job was a dream come true for him. I recently interviewed him on “Christopher Closeup,” and we took a short stroll down memory lane. He recalled being a fan of the Christopher message since he watched early Christopher films in grammar school.

On his 18th birthday, his father gave him a copy of the book “You Can Change the World,” by The Christophers’ founder Maryknoll Father James Keller, and that sealed the deal. Father Catoir described Father Keller’s ideas as “empowering” and “supernatural” because they gave you “a sense that God put you on earth for a reason. You have a purpose.”

When Father Catoir initially heard that the job of leading The Christophers was available, he talked himself out of applying because he thought he’d never get it. Three weeks later, he felt an impulse,

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which he attributes to God’s grace, to apply anyway. The rest is history.

It’s ironic that someone as devoted to spreading a message of joy and positive thinking as Father Catoir was almost derailed by negative thinking. But he learned from his mistake, and has been sharing his wisdom with the rest of the world through TV, radio appearances and newspaper columns ever since.

Father Catoir notes that “doctors have lots of evidence to show that negative thinking will destroy your mental health.” Many hours of counseling ordinary people about their problems, as well as several years leading a ministry for recovering addicts called Eva’s Village, allowed him to see that evidence first hand.

He said, “If you have a belief that you’re not a good person, even though you’re trying to be good, that undermines your mental health – and it has to be rooted out. If you can’t say you’re a saint, you can say, ‘I’m a saint-in-training. I’m a good person, and I’m trying to get better.’ But there’s no way that you should say you’re a bad person because God made you, and everything God made is good.”

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chooses to approach life that way despite the problems that have come with aging.

Father Catoir concludes, “In the past, when I would get into a dark mood, I would pray to the Lord to lift me out of it. And as a priest, I’d often go to the hospital and visit patients. Helping others is a big way to get rid of the blues. To tell you the truth, I don’t hit any real dark moments in life (anymore) because I live in the spirit of joy, so help me God. I’m an old man, I’m 84. I’ve had three knee replacements, I don’t walk too well. And from the neck up, I’m fantastic every other day! (laughs) But I’m at a point where I could die at any time. I have a heart condition, but I’m happy as a clam! I can’t tell you I’m ready to go, but I’m gonna do as much good as I can until I am taken.”

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© 2016 Tri-C-A Publications www.tri-c-a-publications.com

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10 OPINION

A

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | MAY 19, 2016

Embryos and the ‘14-Day Rule’

rguments in favor of research on human embryos typically play off our unfamiliarity with the way that we ourselves once appeared and existed as embryos. Humans in their tiniest stages are indeed unfamiliar to us, and they hardly look anything like “one of us.” Yet the undeniable conclusion, that every one of us was once an embryo, remains an indisputable scientific dogma, causing a “fingernails on the chalkboard” phenomenon for researchers every time they choose to experiment on embryos or destroy them for research.

To enable scientists to get beyond the knowledge that they’re experimenting on or destroying fellow humans, clever stratagems and justifications have had to FATHER TADEUSZ be devised. Among the more PACHOLCZYK successful of these approaches has been the well-known “14-day rule.” This rule, as noted in a recent article in the journal Nature, represents “a legal and regulatory line in the sand that has for decades limited in vitro human-embryo research to the period before the ‘primitive streak’ appears. This is a faint band of cells marking the beginning of an embryo’s head-to-tail axis… The formation of the primitive streak is significant because it represents the earliest point at which an embryo’s biological individuation is assured.

Before this point, embryos can split in two or fuse together. So some people reason that at this stage a morally significant individual comes into being.”

Most people have an instinctive moral awareness when they reflect on the reality that adults come from embryos. A particular conclusion organically follows, namely, that any decision to interrupt an embryo’s growth and development involves a

MAKING SENSE OUT OF BIOETHICS

L

Historically speaking, the 14-day rule arose largely as a mechanism for justifying what had previously been considered immoral, even unthinkable, research. willingness to destroy a prospective infant, child, teenager, and adult. Even the natural potential for the splitting and fusing of embryos does not substantively alter the fact that adults arise from embryonic origins when traced back far enough along their particular developmental trajectories.

If anything, the possibility that an early embryo might divide and make twins means that a decision to destroy such an embryo might involve “double” the evil, since two future adults are being exploited and exterminated rather than just one.

It is also worth emphasizing that the 14-day rule, despite protestations to the contrary, has not actually restricted real-world human embryo research to any appreciable degree, because scientists have lacked the ability, until quite recently, to culture human embryos in the lab for any length of time beyond about a week. In fact, it was only in 2016 that several new studies figured out how to grow human embryos beyond what the 14-day rule might forbid. The rule, thus, was an agreedupon convention of no practical significance for any researchers who may have been carrying out experiments on embryonic humans in recent decades. Considering the fact that the rule may now actually begin to hamper what some of them are interested in doing, they are pushing, unsurprisingly, to “revisit” and “recalibrate” the rule.

Historically speaking, the 14-day rule arose largely as a mechanism for justifying what had previously been considered immoral, even unthinkable, research. The rule enabled serious human rights violations to proceed apace under the pretext of providing restrictions and regulatory limitations. By feigning that the 14 day-rule was

somehow an ethical tenet grounded in biological facts, promoters of the rule devised a clever way of offering lip service to the moral status of the human embryo. They implied that one could show respect for the human embryo through the establishment of such a rule, even though the rule objectively demonstrated no more respect for vulnerable humanity than German researchers during the war would have, had they declared a “14-year rule”, namely, that only concentration camp inmates below the age of fourteen would be experimented upon. Whether 14-days or 14-years, such rules at root constitute mere contrivances to justify unethical science. As bioethicist Daniel Callahan observed back in 1995: “I have always felt a nagging uneasiness at trying to rationalize the killing of something for which I claim to have a ‘profound respect.’ What in the world can that kind of respect mean? An odd form of esteem – at once high-minded and altogether lethal.”

Hence, the broader strategic goal of conventions like the 14-day rule has been not to identify or set in place any objective moral lines, nor to acknowledge authentic moral concerns, but to circumnavigate those very concerns by means of the convention, and achieve particular pragmatic outcomes, most notably: the continued expansion of the research, the minimization of “public outcry and backlash,” the continued availability of research funding, and the avoidance of legally restrictive embryo-protective measures that might be debated by justly-concerned legislatures. The ultimate goal of a convention like the 14-day rule has been to establish the idea, erroneous at its core, that prior to a certain arbitrarily determined time point, developing human beings can be deemed sufficiently different from us that an “us and them” chasm can be used to justify their violent exploitation.

FATHER PACHOLCZYK is a priest of the diocese of Fall River, Massachusetts, and serves as the Director of Education at The National Catholic Bioethics Center, Philadelphia. See www.ncbcenter.org

Daniel Berrigan and non-violence

ast week Father Daniel Berrigan, SJ, passed away at the age of 94. Though many younger Catholics might not remember him, Father Berrigan was one of the most provocative and controversial religious figures of his time. Standing in the tradition of principled nonviolence proposed by Mahatma Gandhi, Thomas Merton, Dorothy Day and others, Berrigan led the charge against America’s involvement in the Vietnam conflict and its on-going participation in the Cold War and the nuclear arms race. He was most faBISHOP ROBERT mous, of course, for his leadBARRON ership of the “Catonsville Nine,” a group of protesters who, in the spring of 1968, broke into a building and burned draft records with homemade napalm. To say that he was, during that tumultuous time in American history, a polarizing figure would be an understatement.

I had the opportunity to meet and speak with Father Berrigan when he came to Mundelein Seminary in the mid-1990s. By that time, he was in his seventies, and much of the fire-brand quality that so marked him in his prime had evanesced. I found him very quiet and ruminative. I asked him about the film “The Mission,” in which he played a small role. As you might recall, that great movie ends ambiguously. When the peaceful and religiously vibrant mission was being forcibly closed by corrupt powers, Robert De Niro’s character, a Jesuit priest, resisted violently, while Jeremy Irons’ character, also a Jesuit priest, resisted non-violently, holding up the Blessed Sacrament in the midst of his people. Since both men were killed, and the mission destroyed, the film doesn’t really decide which of them was “correct;” rather it shows two paths, and invites the viewers to make up their own minds.

Is it appropriate to honor the radical and prophetic non-violence advocated by Father Berrigan? Absolutely – as long as we affirm, at the same time, that we don’t want everyone to be Father Berrigan.

Well, I asked Daniel Berrigan what he thought of the ending, and he said, with a bit of a weary smile, that it reflected the director’s views not his own.

I took him to mean that he didn’t fully approve of the unresolved tension between the two paths of resistance to evil, preferring a clear endorsement of non-violence.

Not many years after I met Father Berrigan, I heard Cardinal Francis George speak at the University of Notre Dame. In the course of a question and answer period, he was asked about the theory and practice of non-violent resistance. The cardinal gave an answer that I had never heard before and frankly have never heard since, namely, that the church needs pacifists the same way it needs celibates, in order to witness to the eschaton even now in the midst of a fallen world. At the consummation of all things, we will neither marry nor be given in marriage, for marriage will have been transfigured into a mode of love intimate beyond our imagination. The celibacy of clergy and religious here below witnesses to this strange and beguiling state of affairs, which is why it always seems to the citizens of the fallen world a little “off.” In a very similar manner, the cardinal was implying, those who live in radical non-violence even now bear witness to that time beyond time when “the lion will lie down with the lamb” and when “men will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks.” “Now,” Cardinal George went on, “just as I don’t want everyone to be celibate, I don’t want

everyone to be a pacifist!” He meant that it would be irresponsible for police departments, standing armies, and rightly constituted political authorities utterly to eschew violence, since this would be tantamount to a renunciation of their responsibility to protect the innocent. He was, of course, speaking out of the venerable Catholic tradition of just war, which teaches that, under certain stringent conditions, war is permitted so as to secure justice and security.

What I particularly appreciated about Cardinal George’s intervention was the deft manner in which he exhibited the Catholic both/and in regard to this famously controverted issue. Even as we hold to the legitimacy of violence under prescribed circumstances, so we hold to the legitimacy of non-violent forms of resistance, again, under the right circumstances. And to give the advocates of pacifism their due, non-violence is not tantamount to passivity or dreamy resignation in the face of evil. What becomes eminently clear in the social action of Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Dorothy Day, and John Paul II is that pacifism can constitute a massively efficacious means of battling evil and bringing about real change. Precisely by living now as we will all live in the eschaton, advocates of nonviolence plant the seeds of eternal life in the soil of the fallen world.

In point of fact, Cardinal George’s clarification is in rather striking accord with the ending of “The Mission.” The Catholic tradition sides unambiguously with neither Jesuit, and it stands ready to affirm both Jesuits – again according to circumstances. And therefore is it appropriate to honor the radical and prophetic non-violence advocated

by Father Berrigan? Absolutely – as long as we affirm, at the same time, that we don’t want everyone to be Father Berrigan.

BISHOP ROBERT BARRON is the founder of Word on Fire Catholic Ministries and an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.

FAITH 11

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | MAY 19, 2016

SUNDAY READINGS

The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity PROVERBS 8:22-31 Thus says the wisdom of God: “The Lord possessed me, the beginning of his ways, the forerunner of his prodigies of long ago; from of old I was poured forth, at the first, before the earth.

When there were no depths I was brought forth, when there were no fountains or springs of water; before the mountains were settled into place, before the hills, I was brought forth; while as yet the earth and fields were not made, nor the first clods of the world. “When the Lord established the heavens I was there, when he marked out the vault over the face of the deep; when he made firm the skies above, when he fixed fast the foundations of the earth; when he set for the sea its limit, so that the waters

should not transgress his command; then was I beside him as his craftsman, and I was his delight day by day, playing before him all the while, playing on the surface of his earth; and I found delight in the human race.”

PSALM 8:4-5, 6-7, 8-9 O Lord, our God, how wonderful your name in all the earth!

When I behold your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you set in place — What is man that you should be mindful of him, or the son of man that you should care for him?

O Lord, our God, how wonderful your name in all the earth!

You have made him little less than the angels, and crowned him with glory and honor. You have given him

rule over the works of your hands, putting all things under his feet: O Lord, our God, how wonderful your name in all the earth!

All sheep and oxen, yes, and the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, the fishes of the sea, and whatever swims the paths of the seas.

O Lord, our God, how wonderful your name in all the earth!

ROMANS 5:1-5 Brothers and sisters: Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith to this grace in which we stand, and we boast in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we even boast of our afflictions, knowing that affliction produces

endurance, and endurance, proven character, and proven character, hope, and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.

JOHN 16:12-15 Jesus said to his disciples: “I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now. But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth. He will not speak on his own, but he will speak what he hears, and will declare to you the things that are coming. He will glorify me, because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you. Everything that the Father has is mine; for this reason I told you that he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.”

Youth today: Who are they really?

A

seminarian I know recently went to a party on a Friday evening at a local university campus. The group was a crowd of young, college students and when he was introduced as a seminarian, as someone who was trying to become a priest and who had taken a vow of celibacy, the mention of celibacy evoked some giggles in FATHER RON the room, some ROLHEISER banter, and a number of jokes about how much he must be missing out on in life.

Poor, naïve fellow! Initially, within this group of millenniums, his religious beliefs and what this had led to in his life was regarded as something between amusing and pitiful. But, before the evening was out, several young women had come, cried on his shoulder, and shared about their frustration with their boyfriends’ inability to commit fully to their relationship.

This incident might serve as a parable describing today’s young people in our secularized world. They exhibit what might aptly be called a bi-polar character about faith, church, family, sexual ethos, and many other things that are important to them.

They present an inconsistent picture: On the one hand, by and large, they are not going to church, at least with any regularity; they are not following the Christian ethos on sexuality; they seem indifferent to and even sometimes hostile to many cherished religious traditions; and they can appear unbelievably shallow in their addiction and enslavement to what’s trending in the world of entertainment, fashion and information technology. Looked at from one perspective, our kids today can appear irreligious, morally blasé, and on a heavy diet of the kind of superficiality that characterizes reality television and video games. More seriously still, they can also appear myopic, greedy, pampered, and excessively self-interested. Not a pretty picture.

But this isn’t exactly the picture.

Beneath that surface, in most cases, you will find someone who is very likeable, sincere, soft, good-hearted, gracious, moral, warm, generous, and searching for all the right things (without much help from a culture that lacks clear moral guidance and is fraught with over-choice). The good news is that most young people, at the level of their real desires, are not at odds at all with God, faith, church, and family. For the most part, youth today are still very good people and want all the right things.

But, that isn’t always so evident.

Sometimes their surface seems to

trump their depth so that who they really are and what they really want is not so evident. We see the surface and, seen there, our youth can appear more self-interested than generous, more shallow than deep, more blasé than morally sensitive, and more religiously indifferent than faith-filled.

They can also manifest a smugness and self-sufficiency that suggests little vulnerability and no need for guidance from anyone beyond themselves.

Hence their bi-polarity: Mostly they want all the right things, but, too often, because of a lack of genuine guidance and their addiction to the culture, they aren’t making the kinds of choices that will bring them what they more deeply desire. Sexuality is a prime example here: Studies done on millenniums indicate that most of them want, at the end of the day, to be inside a monogamous, faithful marriage. The problem is that they also believe that they can first allow themselves 10 to 15 years of sexual promiscuity, without having to accept that practicing 10 to 15 years of infidelity is not a good preparation for the kind of fidelity needed to a sustain marriage and family. In this, as in many other things, they are caught between their cultural ethos and their own fragile securities. The culture trumpets a certain ethos, liberation from the timidities of the past, complete with a smugness that belittles whatever questions it. But much of that

smugness is actually whistling in the dark. Deep down, our youth are pretty insecure and, happily, this keeps them vulnerable and likeable.

Maybe Louis Dupre, the retired philosopher who taught for some many years at Yale, captures it best when he says that today’s young people are not bad, they’re just not finished. That’s a simple insight that captures a lot.

Someone can be wonderful and very likeable, but still immature. Moreover, if you’re young enough, that can even be attractive, the very definition of cool. The reverse is also, often times, true: More than a few of us, adults, suffer from our own bi-polarity: we are mature, but far from wonderful and likeable. This makes for some strange, paradoxical binaries.

So who is the actual young person of today? Is it the person who is wrapped up in his or her own world, obsessive about physical appearance, addicted to social media, living outside marriage with his or her partner, smug in his or her own non-traditional moral and religious views? That, I believe, is the surface appearance. The actual young person of today is warm, good-hearted, generous, and waiting, waiting consciously for love and affirmation, and waiting unconsciously for God’s embrace.

OBLATE FATHER ROLHEISER is president of the Oblate School of Theology in San Antonio, Texas.

Election fatigue and the Year of Mercy JUDY BARRETT

It’s only May, and many of us are weary of the never-ending news cycles about the 2016 Presidential election. I’d like to suggest an antidote for election fatigue but first, allow me to take this opportunity to gently nudge those news-weary voters: In addition to presidential hopefuls, other candidates are on the California primary ballot, including those running for U.S. House and Senate seats and state Senate and Assembly seats.

To vote in the June 7 primary in California, those who aren’t registered or who have changed their name or address, or wish to select a new party affiliation, must register

by May 23; for the November general election the cutoff date for registration is Oct. 24.

Now for an antidote for election fatigue: Practice mercy. As important as voting is to affect our civil society, much of the hard work of being good citizens and shaping our culture for the better takes place beyond the voting booth in the ordinary experiences of our daily lives. Practicing mercy is so essential to our faith that last year Pope Francis declared an Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy: “It is my burning desire that, during this Jubilee, the Christian people may reflect on the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. It will be a way to reawaken our conscience, too often grown dull in the face of poverty …

Jesus introduces us to these works of mercy in his preaching … and they will serve as the criteria upon which we will be judged …” (Pope Francis, “Misericordiae Vultus,” 15).

To celebrate the Year of Mercy, the National Council of Catholic Women recently launched an initiative called “A Million Works of Mercy” which began on Divine Mercy Sunday (April 3) and runs until the Year of Mercy ends on Nov. 20, the Solemnity of Christ the King. During this time NCCW members will submit tallies of their works and share ideas. The goal is to record at least a million examples of living our Christian faith.

The NCCW Works of Mercy form is an excellent resource for anyone who wants to review the corporal and

spiritual works of mercy to which Pope Francis has called us, www. nccw.org/Public/Public/A_Million_ Works_of_Mercy.aspx. The form can be printed out in English and Spanish and contains many simple suggestions for practicing mercy.

We have a powerful impact on our culture by the way we live day by day, by simple acts of human kindness – counsel the doubtful, feed the hungry, speak up for the marginalized, spread a little sunshine wherever we go. This year we have the great privilege of voting on two days. But every day is an opportunity to practice mercy in order to build a better world.

This article was posted on the California Catholic Conference blog May 11.

12 FROM THE FRONT

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | MAY 19, 2016

What did Pope Francis actually say about the female diaconate?

ELISE HARRIS CNA/EWTN NEWS

VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis raised eyebrows around the world May 12 after declaring his openness to establishing a commission to study the female diaconate, but a careful look at his full response is less of a shocker and points to nothing new.

In fact, in addition to giving a brief summary of a deaconess’s duties in the ancient church, the pope suggested that in modern times, nuns perhaps already fill the role. “(The question) touches the problem of the permanent diaconate. One could say that the ‘permanent deaconesses’ in the life of the church are the sisters,” he said May 12, with a laugh.

“What were these deaconesses? Were they ordained or no?” he asked, and noted that the Council of Chalcedon in 451 spoke about the topic, but was “a bit obscure.” It is because of this obscurity the pope said he wanted to form a commission to study the topic.

Pope Francis’ comments came in response to a question posed by a sister and member of the International Union of Superiors General, who met with the Pope May 12 as part of their May 9-13 Plenary Assembly, which focuses largely on the role of women in the church, and obstacles hindering it.

Pope Francis’ lengthy discussion with the sisters consisted of four questions that touched on the lack of consecrated and lay women in decision-making roles in the church, how to better insert women into the life of the church, as well as the temptations of both feminism and clericalism.

In the question on deaconesses, the sister asked why the church doesn’t include women in the permanent diaconate, since they already work with the poor and sick, and, in some cases where there is no priest, distribute Communion, lead prayer services and even give the equivalent of a small homily.

“What stops the church from including women from being permanent deacons, like in the ancient church? Why not form an official commission to study the question?” the sister asked.

Part of the church’s sacrament of Holy Orders, the diaconate is currently only open to men.

Pope Francis said the topic of the female diaconate was something that interested him a lot when he came to Rome for meetings. He usually stayed at the Domus Paolo VI residence on this trips, and there met a Syrian theologian who was an expert on the topic of the permanent diaconate.

After asking the man, whom he described as “a good professor, wise, a scholar,” about the role of female deacons, the pope said the answer he got was that their role in the early church was “to help in the baptism of women, in the immersion … for decency,” and to anoint women’s bodies.

In addition to assisting with the full-immersion baptisms of women, deaconesses would also serve as an aide to the bishop in determining the authenticity of domestic abuse, he said.

SPOKESMAN: POPE DID NOT SAY HE WOULD ORDAIN WOMEN

(CNS PHOTO/PAUL HARING)

Nuns sing as they wait for Pope Francis’ arrival at an audience with the heads of women’s religious orders in Paul VI hall at the Vatican May 12. During a question-and-answer session with members of the International Union of Superiors General, the pope indicated his willingness to establish a commission to study whether women could serve as deacons.

The pope recalled how the Syrian professor told him that “when there was a matrimonial judge because the husband beat the wife and she went to the bishop to complain, the deaconesses were in charge of looking at the bruises on the woman’s body from her husband’s beatings and informed the bishop.”

“This, I remember,” he said, noting that while the church has already published documents on the topic of the permanent diaconate which touch on the topic of deaconesses, including a 2002 document from the International Theological Commission, the conclusion for modern times was still “unclear.”

The document, which gave a thorough historical context of the role of the deaconess in the ancient church, overwhelmingly concluded that female deacons in the early church had not been equivalent to male deacons, and had “no liturgical function,” nor a sacramental one.

It also maintained that even in the fourth century “the way of life of deaconesses was very similar to that of nuns.”

However, given the lack of clarity on the issue today and due to the fact he was only speaking on the basis on his conversation with the Syrian professor, the pope said that “I think that I’ll ask the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to refer me to the studies on the issue.”

He also voiced his desire “to establish an official commission to clarify this point. I am in agreement, and I will speak to do something of this kind.”

“To me it seems useful to have a commission that clarifies this well, above all regarding the ancient times of the church.”

In her question, the sister also asked the pope to give an example of where he sees “the possibility of a better insertion of women and women consecrated in the life of the church.”

While concrete areas of insertion didn’t immediately come to his mind, the pope said that “consecrated women must participate” in consultations and assemblies with religious, “this is clear.”

VATICAN CITY – After some news outlets reported the pope was considering ordaining women deacons and comments were made about women deacons leading to women priests, Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi issued a clarification May 13.

The spokesman insisted “it is wrong to reduce all the important things the pope said to the religious women to just this question.”

Women and the diaconate “is a question that has been discussed much, including in the past, and that comes from the fact that in the early church there were women who were called deaconesses, who carried out certain services within the community,” Father Lombardi said.

Pope Francis told the sisters that he thought it would be a good idea to form a commission “to take up this question again in order to view it with greater clarity,” Father Lombardi said. “But one must be honest: The pope did not say he intends to introduce a diaconal ordination for women and even less did he speak of the priestly ordination of women. In fact, talking about preaching during the eucharistic celebration, he let them know that he was not considering this possibility at all.”

In a video statement May 13, Sister Carmen Sammut, superior of the Sisters of Our Lady of Africa and president of the UISG, said the sisters “were quite excited by the fact that Pope Francis did not leave any question out; he really wanted to answer each of our questions.

“He was very strong about the fact that women should be in the decision-making processes and the decision-making positions of the church,” she said.

“About the diaconate,” she said, the sisters “had proposed that there would be a commission. He accepted that proposal and has said that he would bring that forward so that it could be studied even more than it has already. And I hope that one day there will be a real decision about this.”

CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE

Women, he said, see things “with a different originality than that of men, and this enriches: both in consultations and in decisions, and in concreteness.”

The work consecrated women carry out with the poor and marginalized, in teaching catechesis and accompanying the sick and the dying, “are very maternal works, where the maternity of the church can be expressed more,” he said.

DEACONS: Pope tells sisters Vatican will study topic FROM PAGE 1

religious are given in church decision-making processes. Pope Francis said the obligation to listen to women in the parish, diocese and at the Vatican “is not a matter of feminism, but of right.”

All the baptized – women and men, lay or consecrated – have been given gifts by the Holy Spirit for the good of the entire church, he insisted. The entire church suffers when some voices are excluded from the conversation, he said.

“Our desire is that the church talk with us – like is happening now – and not about us,” one of the sisters told him.

“To talk about someone when they are absent is not evangelical,” the pope said. In the meetings of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, “you must be present and I will tell the prefect this,” he said.

“I never imagined there was such a disconnect, truly. Thank you for telling me so courageously and for doing so with that smile,” he said.

However, Pope Francis warned the sisters about the danger of clericalism, which he described as “a sinful attitude,” but one which is “like the tango, it

(CNS PHOTO/PAUL HARING)

Pope Francis embraces Sister Carmen Sammut, a Missionary Sister of Our Lady of Africa and president of the International Union of Superiors General, during an audience with the heads of women’s religious orders in Paul VI hall at the Vatican May 12. takes two.” There are priests who see themselves as lords of the church, he said, but there also are women and laymen “who ask to be clericalized.”

On the other hand, the pope expressed concern about the number of consecrated women working

as housekeepers for priests. Their work is that of “a servant, not of service,” he said, and that “undervalues their dignity.”

The sisters applauded when the pope suggested such priests pay local women in need of a job and let the sisters teach, care for the poor, heal the sick.

“And when you superiors are asked (to assign a sister) for something that is more servanthood than service, be courageous and say ‘no.’”

While warning that “the devil enters through one’s pocket,” Pope Francis also urged the superiors to choose their treasurers well, be suspicious of “friends” who promise to invest and increase their money and to ensure that their evangelical poverty is a life of simplicity, not misery.

But many of the women burst out laughing when the pope told them that if their congregations are in serious financial need, they should turn to their local bishop. When they laughed, he jokingly suggested that they were saying their only hope is prayer, “give us this day our daily bread.”

Turning serious, Pope Francis insisted the vow of poverty is a matter of detachment from material goods and commitment to God and to the poor, “but it’s not suicide.”

FROM THE FRONT 13

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | MAY 19, 2016

Piety and pity are active expressions of mercy, pope says CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE

VATICAN CITY – True piety and evangelical pity are found together in those who are moved by the pain of others, take action to help them and, therefore, share God’s mercy, Pope Francis said.

“We are called to cultivate attitudes of pity in the BE CELEBRATED DAILY heart, leaving it “on fire with a great love of God.” After face of many situations inwhen life,hershaking off theshe indifher death, body was examined, was found to have a perforation of the heart.

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True piety and true pity are not superficial feelings, he said, but are expressions of compassion and mercy.

Pity must not be confused “with the compassion we feel for the animals that live with us,” he said. “In fact, it sometimes happens that one feels pity toward animals, but remains indifferent to the suffering of our brothers and sisters. How many times do we see ed by a statue depicting the saint with a leg bandaged, The rosary and Candlelight Procession occur people so attached to the cats and and yet theyprayer. leave a book in one hand and other handdogs outstretched, every evening for those who wish to participate again. the face iswithout turned heavenward.

From there,need.” we Dinner and overnight in Lourdes. [B,D] theirwhile neighbor the help they continue to Pamplona to check in at our hotel for dinner Also the jubilee year, as an example ofDay the 9: Monday 10/17, LOURDES / train to Paris / andduring an overnight.

[B,D] MASS WILL BE CELEBRATED DAILY heart, leaving it “on fire with a great love of God.” After corporal and spiritual works of mercy, the popeLISIEUX isjourney from Lourdes to Paris will be traveled byherraildeath, when her body was examined, she was found Our Day 7: Saturday 10/15, PAMPLONA / SANGUESA / have had a perforation of the heart. It was in this way Day 1: Sunday, 2016, USAtrain / LISBON LOURDES onOctober the TGV 9, high speed (non-stop, first class).toWe making a private visit each month to people with that science confirmed one of her greatest mystical exTour membersdepart are welcomed this evening at an We depart Pamplona this morning and travel to Javier at 10:30AM and arrive in internaParis at 4:30PM. Upon periences.

Our journey continues as we travel through special needs.

He has visited a home for the elderly, tional airport for departing to Lisbon, arriving in the region of Navarra to visit the family castle and ourour arrival in Paris,flight we board our motor coach for Lisieux, the picturesque countryside to the lovely 12th century the next day. where we check in at our hotel for dinner and overnight. birthplace of for St Francis Xavier. Asaddicts a close persona community recovering and a refugee walled city of Avila. Upon our arrival in Avila, we proal friend of St Ignatius and one of the original seven [B,D] ceed to the hotel to check in for dinner and an overnight.

Day 2: Monday 10/10, LISBON / SANTAREM / FATIMA campmembers in Greece.

He went L’Arche Community of the Society of Jesus,to St a Francis performed [B,D] Upon our morning arrival in Lisbon, we visit the birthmany miracles,near was granted the gift of tongues, foretold in Ciampino, Rome, May 13 and spent place ofthe St. Anthony of Padua, the Lisbon Cathedral, the future, healed countless people, and baptized over Day 5: Thursday 10/13, AVILA / SEGOVIA / BURGOS St Jeronimo’s Monastery, and Belem Tower. From 10,000 people month’swho time. St Francisdevelopmental Xavier afternoon within just 18 one people have This morning we visit the Monastery of the Incarnathere, we stop in Santarem to visit the Church of St. is regarded as one of the most zealous missionaries of tion and the convent of St. Teresa, where the saint Stephen, in the 13th century a Eucharistic Mirdisabilities andthere, thewevolunteers whoPyrenees have builtwhere a home all times. From cross the spectacular experienced her remarkable vision of the angel. This afacle took place. When a woman attempted to steal a ternoon we travel to Segovia, where the sacred relic of St with Mountains them. and continue to Lourdes, where the Blessed consecrated host from Mass, the host turned into flesh

PORTUGAL SPAIN FRANCE

with Fr. Christopher Coleman

October 9-20, 2016

ed ab wh con and

Da LO We in bir al me ma the 10, is r all Mo Vir ou ner ros in L

Virgin Mary appeared to St Bernadette in 1858. Upon John of the Cross is enshrined. St John was the confessor and began to bleed. To this day the precious relic reour arrival, we check in at the hotel for dinner. After dinof St Teresa and often conferred with her on their expemains incorrupt for all to see. The church has since been riences in the spiritual life; he is one of Christianity’s forener, we participate in the Candlelight Procession and renamed the Church the Holy We events continuein Normandy Scenesof from the Miracle. historical most authorities on spiritual and mystical theology. We rosary with pilgrims from all over the world. Overnight our journey into Fatima to check in at our hotel for a visit the convent near the Vera Cruz church, constructed in Lourdes. [B,D] welcome dinner and overnight.

[D] Day 10: Tuesday 10/18, LISIEUX / NORMANDY / Templars, where the mortal remains of Saint John by the LISIEUX of the Cross are buried. Inside the city walls we also see We take a day trip to the Normandy area to spend Fatima the best-conserved aqueduct of the Imperial Roman time at the Military Cemetery, Omaha Beach, Omaha Empire. In addition to viewing this 2000-year-old engiMuseum and other sites associated with World War II. marvel, we visit Alcazar castle, the last in the neering Our journey today concludes as we return to our hotel in gothic style to be constructed. Time permitting; Spanish possible, Mitchem said, it’s a notable find for not FROM PAGE 2 Lisieux for dinner and overnight. [B,D] we enter the famous castle, which was an inspiration for Basilica in Walt Disney when he created his Cinderella castle. We only Arkansas but the archaeology world.

Day 11: Wednesday 10/19, LISIEUX / PARIS Loyola continue to Burgos for dinner and overnight. [B,D] “It’s significant for local, state and national Most his-of today “The Indians often would raise a post atop the 11, FATIMA will be spent tima. One of the greatest events of Basilica in tory really,” he said.

“We really can say this is the chief’s mound that they would perform ceremonies in Lisieux, e in the village of Fatima, Portugal, Loyola home of St. first Christian ceremony in ArkansasDay and (those around,” Mitchem said. “We can assume or infer f God appeared to three shepherd 3: Tuesday 10/11, Therese of FATIMA the hem to bring the message of the We spendEuropetoday in Fatima.

One of the greatest events of from) the de Soto expedition were the first anyway” that the cross was kept there after the Child Jesus. ld that was slipping away from it. this century took the village of Fatima, Portugal, Sheplace is theinone “I desire that a service chapel be built here Massabielle the first who ans to set Grotto foot inofArkansas, met native for use in other traditional ceremonies. in 1917.

The Mother appeared to three shepherd whomof God Pope e Lady of the Rosary. I have come children, instructing them to bring the message of the Pius X called Arkansans.”

If the testing authenticates the cross as much as amend their lives and to ask parGospel back to a world that “the greatest was slipping away from it. ple must pray the rosary every day Day 8: Sunday 10/16, LOURDES She told the children, desire that a chapel be built here saint of“I moderings that God sends them.” We Between February 11, 1858 and July 16, 1858, Our Lady in my honor. Iern amtimes. the Lady Weof the Rosary. I have come a Iria, where we visit the Chapel to warn the faithful to amend their lives and to ask parappeared 18 times to a 14-year-old girl named BernavisitPeople Les Buihe Basilica that houses the tombs don for their sins. must pray the rosary every day dette Soubirous.

The young saint described Our Lady as Da Day 6: Friday 10/14, BURGOS / LOYOLA / PAMPLONA in Lisieux sonnets, thethat God sends them.”Basilica nta, and the Perpetual Adoration and bear all the sufferings We a “girl in white, the same height as myself, who greeted Bet Our first stop today is the Cathedral in Burgos, one familyda home e to Aljustrel, where we visit the begin in the Cova Iria, where we visit the Chapel me with a nod of her head. This girl was beautiful beyond app of the finest examples of Gothic architecture in Europe. where Therese spent the early years of her life before of the Apparitions, the Basilica that houses the tombs family (the birthplace of Jacinta det description. She had a blue sash around her white dress Day 6: Friday 10/14, BURGOS / LOYOLA / PAMPLONA Then, we travel to Loyola, where we visit the birthplace entering Carmelite Convent at the age of fifteen. We of Francisco and Jacinta,the and the Perpetual Adoration en the home of Lucia. In Aljustrel a“ and yellow roses on her shoes. A long rosary hung from Ouroffirst stop today is the Cathedral in Burgos, one of St Ignatius, founder of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits). next visit the convent which houses the sacred relic Chapel. We continue to Aljustrel, where we visit the of the apparitions of St Michael me her arm, and she seemed to invite me to pray with her.” of the finest examples of Gothic architecture in Europe.

There, we will see the magnificent 17th century basilica body.

From there, we spend time at the beautiful home of theher Marto family (the birthplace of Jacinta iew Valinhos, the site of Our Lady’s des Then, we travel to Loyola, where we visit the birthplace Our Lady gave Bernadette secret messages for herself dedicated to the saint. Behind the sanctuary is the Santa basilica and the giftofshop.

Next, we make our way to and Francisco) and then the home Lucia.

In Aljustrel and s evening we take part in the Canof St Ignatius, founder of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits). and other messages for the world to hear.

She described Casa, the three story 14th century family home of St IgParis enjoy a bus of the sites that make we also see the sitewhere of thewe apparitions oftour St Michael her Dinner and overnight at our hotel There, we will see the magnificent 17th century basilica herself as the “Immaculate Conception”, revealed a minatius. Pilgrims are invited to tour the rooms and visit the Paris so famous, including: The Eiffel Tour, Arc d’Trito the children.

We view Valinhos, the site of Our Lady’s Ou dedicated to the saint.

Behind the sanctuary is the Santa raculous spring, and asked that a chapel be built as a chamber where the saint was born. The most venerated omphe, and thewe Champs-Elysées.

We check in atCasa, our the three story 14th century family home of St Igfourth apparition.

This evening take part in the Canand site for pilgrimage. During our stay in Lourdes, we celplace in this building is the room where Ignatius, at the hotel forDinner dinnerand andovernight overnight.

[B,D] dlelight Procession. at our hotel her 10/12, FATIMA / ALBA DE natius.

Pilgrims are invited to tour the rooms and visit the ebrate Mass at the Grotto of Massabielle. We visit age of 30, was brought following his serious wounding in Fatima. [B,D] rac chamber where the saint was born.

The most venerated the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, the Boly at the Battle of Pamplona. To pass the time as his leg Day 12: Thursday, October 20, 2016, PARIS / USA site place in this building is the room where Ignatius, at the ma for Alba de Tormes and the $heavenly WILLand BE CELEBRATED DAILY Mill where St BernadetteMASS was born, the “Cachot,” of aFATIMA The Blessed Mother, St Joseph, St healed, he read the lives of the saints and a book on the Day 4: Wednesday 10/12, /apparition.

ALBA DE Today, we transfer to the airport to$begin our journey ebr age of 30, was brought following his serious wounding o see the preserved body of St Tean abandoned prison where Bernadette’s family lived in John States. the Evangelist, and anus altar with a Lamb upon it were life of Christ. At this time a great conversion took place TORMES / AVILA back to the United We take with new friendMASS WILL BE CELEBRATED DAILY thesilent; Battleno of mesPamplona. To pass the time as his leg ofUSA a heavenly apparition. The Blessed Mother, St Joseph, St The saints at Day 9:theW the Church’s greatest mystics. We poverty. We haveDay an opportunity bathe in18, the miracseen by 15 townspeople. were 1: Tuesday,to October 2016, / DUBLIN in Ignatius; approximately 13 years later he founded the Today we depart Fatima Alba de Tormes and thethe love forhealed, ships and afor firm resolution to emulate ourand OUGHMi /D John the Evangelist, and an altar with a Lamb upon it were he read the lives of the saints and a book on the t heart. In her autobiography, St * Estimated airline taxes final surcharges subject ulous waters at Pilgrims the Grotto, spend at time in personal sage was given to the people, only an[B] example of prayer are and welcomed an international airport forGod our shown Society of Jesus. The place of his conversion is indicat- Day 1: Tuesday, Carmelite convent to see the body St Teuspreserved through the holiness of the saints.

Glendalou an seen by 15 townspeople.

Theto saints were silent; noofmesOctober 18, 2016, USA / DUBLIN life of Christ.

At this ngel who thrust an arrow into her andan agreatest rich symbolism in We visit thetime a great conversion took place flight to the Isle aboard a wide-bodresawas of Avila, ofpeople, the Church’s mystics.

Wetheir appearances. mile drive po sage given one to the only example ofto prayer Pilgrims are welcomed at andeparting international airport for Emerald our in Ignatius; approximately 13 years later he founded the increase/decrease at 30 days prior location of We the visit apparition, of Our Lady, and ied Isle jet, aboard arrivingathe next morning. Meals on in their also seeserved her incorrupt heart.

In her autobiography, tlement and a are rich symbolism appearances. the St the Basilica uloe departing flight to the Emerald wide-bodSociety of Jesus. The place of his conversion is indicathave theofan opportunity toher explore the grounds.

From there, board the aircraft.

Teresa of spoke of the angelthe who thrust arrow into was born location the apparition, Basilica Our Lady, and ied jet, arriving the next morning.

Meals are served on westFrom intothere, Westport to check in at our hotel for privilege t have the opportunity to explore we the head grounds. board the aircraft.

Day 2: Wednesday 10/19, DUBLIN /we DOWNPATRICK and [B,D] the mona head west into /Westport to dinner check in at overnight. our hotel for BELFAST Gad learning Day 2: Wednesday 10/19, DUBLIN / DOWNPATRICK / dinner and overnight. [B,D] Upon our arrival in Dublin, we BELFAST Day 5: Saturday 10/22, WESTPORT / CROAGH PATing and ill Gallarus Oratory Downpatrick RICK //KYLEMORE / CONNEMARA / WESTPORT Upon our arrival in Dublin, we meet our full-time tour escort, Day 5: Saturday 10/22, WESTPORT CROAGH PATcan feel th Downpatrick Day 7: Monday 10/24, LIMERICK G RICK / KYLEMORE WESTPORT meet our full-time tour escort, After /breakfast we drive to Croagh Patrick, Ireland’s Holy return/to board our private coach, and/ CONNEMARA Day 7:forty Monday 10/24, LIMERICK /RY GALLARUS ORATO/ SLEA HEAD / DINGLE /es LIMERIC After we drive to Croagh Patrick, Ireland’s board our private coach, and combin Mountain.

Here St.Holy Patrick spent the days of Lent in proceed north tobreakfast Downpatrick.

RY / SLEA HEAD / DINGLE / LIMERICK Our day begins with the journey sous Mountain. theyear forty441 days ofin Lent in and fasting. proceed north to Downpatrick.

Elegant AD prayer journey We stop in for a visit atHere the St. St.Patrick spentthe Our day Our begins with conthe journey southwest to the which Din- thrusts stunning gle Peninsula out intov the year where 441 AD in We stop in for a visit at the St. tinues toOur thejourney shoresconof Kylemoregle Lough to visit which Kylemore, Patrick's Centre, Dr.prayer and fasting.

Peninsula thrusts out into the Atlantic Ocean to claim Ireland’s most westerly point. tinues to the shores of Kylemore Lough to visit Kylemore, Patrick's Centre, where Dr. every stree a gothic castle, now a Benedictine We enjoy Tim Campbell will speak on to Abbey. claim Ireland’s mosttime westerly point. majestic hills and purple gothic castle, Abbey. the We Abbey, enjoy time soarHere, in hues of green Tim Campbell will speak on whereove we exploring gardens, and theinwalk the lake St. Patrick's aexploring vision.

Then,now wea Benedictine soar huesalong of green and purple over vast valleys. bowls of Mountain unthe Abbey, gardens, and the along thechapel. lake St. Patrick's vision. Then, we spoiled streams tum Squares, P to walk the beautiful We spoiled enjoy sites of the Conne-streams tumble visit the Down thechapel. We up valleys.

Mountain down to lakes, up toCathedral, the beautiful enjoy sites of the Connevisit the Down Cathedral, the Dublin' hedgerows blaze with fuchiasof and gold mara, characterized by peat bogs, rugged, mountainous historical burial place of Saint hedgerows blaze with fuchias and golden beaches stretch mara, characterized by peat bogs, rugged, mountainous historical burial place of Saint will beplac ou for miles.

The Dingle Peninsula is a countryside thatfor is home a great miles. to The Dinglevariety Peninsula is a place of intense, shifting Patrick and terrain visit his grave.

We and lush countryside thatterrain is homeand to alush great variety Patrick and visit his grave. We ing that ais Wedry visit Gallarus Oratory, beauty.

Gallarus Oratory,beauty. an ancient stone of wildlife.

Weremainder return to Westport whereWe thevisit remainder continue to Belfast andWe proceed of wildlife. return to Westport where the continue to Belfast and proceed natural ba whose to construction whose longevity testifiesconstruction to the skill of its build-longevity testifies of the day isThis free to explore independently.

This evening, to Mass atofSaint Malachy's the day is free to explore independently. evening, to Mass at Saint Malachy's Heldoftogether completelytemporary by the w ers. sample Held together completely weight stones (no wander theauthentic streets ofIrish Westport and authentic Irish by theers.

Church (subject wandertotheconfirmastreets of Westport and sample Church (subject to confirmachandise p mortar) the building has withstood win the building has withstood wind and rain for more the restaurant your choice as dinner is tion), the 3rd Catholic or pub of fare fare oldest at the restaurant youratchoice as dinner or is pub ofmortar) tion), the 3rd oldest Catholic i thanof1000 years.

It is typical ofevening, the type than from 1000 the years.

It is typical church in which on your Afteropdinner, choose endless op- of the type oncity your own. After from own. the endless Church in the of Belfast.

It's dinner, choose Church in the city of Belfast. It's pub or res St. Patrick himselfand worshipped.

Then,St.we wind around Patrick himselfthe worshipped.own.

Then, tions of pubs occupying every other and enjoy every other tionsstorefront of pubs occupying storefront enjoy ecclesiastical style was inspired by the Tudor period but ecclesiastical style was inspired by the Tudor period but Ovew coast Slea Head and Dingle, returning to Limpicturesque coast Slea Head and Ding a glass ofadaptation Guinness or a mug ofaIrish ale.of The city boasts its fan vaulted ceilings are its an fan architectural adaptation glass Guinness or a mug ofpicturesque Irish ale. The city boasts vaulted ceilings are an architectural for dinner and overnight. [B,D]erick for dinner and overnight.Day [B,D] one of the most well-known and one visited around, Matt 10: T from the Henry VII Chapel in Westminster The in Westminster of pubs the most well-known anderick visited pubs around, Matt from the HenryAbbey.

VII Chapel Abbey.

The Malloy's. of at the pubs, including MattMany Malloy's, have Dublin is church boasts the largest bell in Belfast which Malloy's. of the pubs, including Malloy's, have church boasts thesounds largestatbell in Belfast which Many sounds Day 8:Matt Tuesday 10/25, LIMERICK /Day ROCK CASHEL / 8: OF Tuesday 10/25, LIMERICK as well.

Trinity/ R least three times daily. After Mass, we times check daily. in at our traditional IrishOvernight music and/or dancing as well.

Overnight least three After Mass, traditional we check Irish in atmusic our and/or dancing KILKENNY / DUBLIN KILKENNY / DUBLIN in Westport.

[B] which ho hotel for a welcome dinner and overnight.

[D] in Westport. [B] hotel for a welcome dinner and overnight. [D] The Rock of Cashel is an impressive Themedieval Rock ofcomplex Cashel is an impressive 9th-centu called “The Acropolis of called “The Acropolis of Day 3: Thursday 10/20, BELFAST / GIANT'S CAUSEof Kells”.

Ancient Ireland" and is one Day 3: Thursday 10/20, BELFAST / GIANT'S CAUSEWAY / BELFAST Ancient Ireland" and is one it there a WAY / BELFAST of the most spectacular Our morning begins as we travel 60 miles north to see to see St of the most spectacular archeological sites in the morning begins as we travel 60 miles north to see the see Giant’s Causeway,Our a unique geological landC archeological sites in the Pro country. Dating from the theplace see else Giant’s Causeway, scape that is truly unlike any on earth.

The a unique geological landThe re country.

Dating from the 4th century, it was originally scape that is trulyresulting unlike any place else on earth. The causeway’s interlocking hexagonal columns, 4th century, it was originally of the da used as a fortress.

Mighty causeway’s interlocking hexagonal columns, resulting from the basaltic lava of an ancient volcanic eruption used as a fortress. Mighty to explo stone walls encircle a comthe basaltic of an ancient volcanic eruption 6 million years ago, foreverfrom changed County lava Antrim’s stone walls encircle a com- pendently plete round tower, a roofmillion years forever changed County Antrim’s northern coast, earning it 6the prestige of ago, a “Unesco less abbey, a 12th century plete round tower, a roof- interested World Heritage Site” title. northern Reading and hearing aboutit the prestige of a “Unesco coast, earning s Romanesque chapel, and less abbey, a 12th century venir the causeway does not begin offer any realistic WorldtoHeritage Site” title. Reading and hearing about should ch numerous other buildings Romanesque chapel, and Carroll's glimpse into this natural phenomenon.

Only seeing the causeway does notis begin to offer any realistic Kylemore Abbey and high crosses. Northnumerous other buildings stores off believing! Therefore, we shall “see”. into Then,this we natural return tophenomenon. Only seeing is glimpse east ofKylemore the Rock ofAbbey Cashel is and high crosses. North- selection Belfast for a city tour and time at the Titanic Museum. believing!

Therefore, we shall “see”. Then, we return to Kilkenny, a charming inland east of the Rock of Cashel is chandise The museum was master-planned over 185 acres of the 6: Sunday 10/23, WESTPORT / CLIFFS OF MOHER / Belfast for a city tour and time at theDay Titanic Museum. city. Overlooking the River heritage site where the Titanic designed built.

Kilkenny, ADARE / BUNRATTY Rock of Cashel a charming inland reasonabl Thewas museum wasand master-planned over 185 acres of the / LIMERICK Nore is a famous fortress, Dayfor6:the Sunday 10/23, WESTPORT / CLIFFS OF MOHER / Our day concludes as we return to the hotel for dinner This morning we depart Westport incredible and city. Overlooking the River This even heritage site where the Titanic was designed and built.

BUNRATTY Kilkenny Castle, which was and overnight. [B,D] dramatic Cliffs of Moher, whereADARE nearly 5/miles of layered/ LIMERICK Nore a famous fortress, Rock meet of in Our day concludes as we return to the hotel dinner occupied upincredible until 1935 and when the exorbitantiscost of upkeep Thisdefiantly morning we almost depart Westport for the black shalefor and sandstone cliff rock soars Kilkenny Castle, resulted in the 1967 donation of the castlewhich to was tel lobby and overnight. dramatic ofOcean.

Moher, whereeventually nearly 5 miles of layered Day 4: Friday 10/21, BELFAST / SLIGO /[B,D] KNOCK / 700 feet above the aggressive might of theCliffs Atlantic transporta occupied up until 1935 when the exorb the country Ireland.

We visit the castle and also one of WESTPORT black shalephenomenon and sandstone cliff rock defiantlyofsoars almost The grandeur of this natural Thedonat Merr resulted in the 1967 Day 4: Friday 10/21, BELFAST / SLIGO / KNOCK / breathtaking the country's medieval treasures, St.eventually Canice’s Cathedral, We bid farewell to and Belfastair andincluded) drive southwest to Sli700 country feet above the aggressive might of the Atlantic Ocean. makes it a "must see" for locals and guests.

The nerthe to the (Airline taxes/fuel surcharges includedland countrywe of spend Ireland. We visit ca that natural dominates the city skyline. Timethe permitting, go, birthplace of WB Yeats,WESTPORT Ireland’s best known poet.

The grandeur this breathtaking phenomenon best vantage point (weather permitting) is fromofO’Briens in Dublin. the country's treasures, St. C time at guests. the Kilkenny which has medieval boastWe bid farewell to Belfast southwest Sligo is best known for its spectacular countryside and and drive it atravel "must see" for locals some and country TheDesign Center Tower locatedto on Slithe highest cliff.makes Next, we to Adare, that dominates the city skyline.

Time ing rights to some of the most magnificent retail goods, go, birthplace ofSligo WB Yeats, knownmanicured poet. the town’s only surviving medieval structure, Ab- Ireland’sa best vantage point (weather permitting) is from O’Briens beautifully village best of thatch-roof cottages.

Day 11:pF china, crystal, knitwear, Irish jewelry, timepottery at theand Kilkenny Design Cent bey. We visit there before continue to Knock, a humble Sligo is best known for its spectacular and Church and Wecountryside visit Holy Trinity thenlocated continue BunThis morn Tower ontothe highest cliff.including Next, wemore. travelContinuing to Adare, through some so much the midland counties, ing rights to some of the most magn village whose shrine attracts pilgrims over themedieval structure, the town’sfrom onlyall surviving Sligo Abratty to explore the grounds and Bunratty CasStates.

W a beautifully manicured village our of journey thatch-roof $attend $ todaycottages. ends in Dublin, Ireland’s capital city.crystal, We knitwear, including china, Irish world, including John Paul IIbey.

(1979) Teresa continue tle's Weand visitMother there before to Knock, a humble festive Medieval Banquet,We a traditional-Irish dinner saints and visit Holy Trinity Church and then tofor Buncheck in continue at our hotel dinner and overnight.

[B,D] Continuing through (1993). On August 21, 1879,village the evewhose of the Octave the pilgrims so much more. shrine of attracts from all over the experience with story-telling and song.

Afterwards, we majesticthla ratty to explore the grounds and attend Bunratty CasAssumption, the parish church of Knock was John the scene our journey today ends in Dublin, Irelan to Limerick.

Limerick.

[B,D] world, including Paul II (1979) proceed and Mother Teresa Overnight in tle's festive Medieval airline Banquet, taxes a traditional-Irish dinner * Estimated and final surcharges checksubject in at our hotel for dinner and ove (1993). On August 21, 1879, the eve of the Octave of the experience with story-telling and song. Afterwards, we Assumption, the parish church of Knock was the scene proceed to Limerick.

Overnight in Limerick. [B,D] to increase/decrease at 30 days prior

overnight. [D]

visit the convent near the Vera Cruz church, constructed by the Templars, where the mortal remains of Saint John of the Cross are buried. Inside the city walls we also see the best-conserved aqueduct of the Imperial Roman Empire. In addition to viewing this 2000-year-old engineering marvel, we visit Alcazar castle, the last in the Spanish gothic style to be constructed. Time permitting; we enter the famous castle, which was an inspiration for Walt Disney when he created his Cinderella castle. We continue to Burgos for dinner and overnight. [B,D]

DE SOTO: Remains of Spanish explorer’s 1541 cross

Come and join St. Augustine Church for the

Canonization of Mother Teresa 9 DAY PILGRIMAGE TO ITALY During the Jubilee Year of Mercy

VISIT: Lisbon, Santarem, Fatima, Alba de Torres, Avila, Segovia, Burgos, Loyol, Pamplona, San guesa, Lourdes, Listeux, Normandy, Paris

$

3,399

+ $699 per person* from San Francisco if paid by 7-1-16

3,499 + 669 per person* after July 1, 2016

IRELAND

with Fr. Christopher Coleman

October 18-28, 2016

VISIT: Dublin, Downpatrick, Belfast, Giant's Causeway, Sligo, Knock, Westport, Kylemore, Connemara, Croagh Patrick, Cliffs of Moher, Bunratty, Limerick, Rock of Cashel, Glendalough

DEPARTURE FROM SAN FRANCISCO August 28 – September 5, 2016 - $3,199.00 August 30 – September 7, 2016 - $3,199.00 Space is limited, book early

For more information please call:

St. Augustine Church

3700 Callan Blvd.

South San Francisco, CA94080 Phone: (650) 873-2282 & (650) 255-9464

$

2,799

+ $549 per person* from San Francisco if paid by 7-10-16

2,899 + 549 per person* after July 10, 2016

For a FREE brochure on this pilgrimage contact: Catholic San Francisco

415.614.5640

Please leave your name, mailing address and your phone number

California Registered Seller of Travel Registration Number CST-2037190-40

(Registration as a Seller of Travel does not constitute approval by the State of California)

14 CALENDAR

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | MAY 19, 2016

THURSDAY, MAY 19 GRIEF SUPPORT: Drop-in grief support group, Most Holy Redeemer Church, Parish Library, 100 Diamond St., San Francisco, meets third Thursdays, 7:308:45p.m.; inclusive, nondenominational, and not restricted to type of loss; email gcm@mhr.org with any questions.

SATURDAY, MAY 21 HANDICAPABLES MASS: Mass at noon then lunch in lower halls, St. Mary’s Cathedral, Gough Street at Geary Boulevard, San Francisco, Gough Street entrance. All disabled people, caregivers invited. Volunteers welcome, Joanne Borodin, (415) 2394865; www.Handicapables.com.

REUNION: Class of 1956, St. Cecilia School, San Francisco, Mass 4 p.m., Our Lady’s Chapel, followed by cocktails and dinner, Gold Mirror Restaurant, 800 Taraval at 17th Avenue, $75, Bernadette Lang Webb (415) 924-5196; Peggy Niland Cooney (650) 878-8260, RSVP by May 10.

‘DAY AT RACES’: Golden Gate Fields, Berkeley, racing starts 11:45 a.m. benefiting Dominican Sisters Vision of Hope and inner-city Catholic elementary schools. Event includes admission to Turf Club, valet parking, breakfast and prime rib buffets, raffles, silent and live auctions. Purchase tickets online at www.visionofhope.org or by calling Vision of Hope in Oakland, (510) 533-5768.

SUNDAY, MAY 22

P

CONCERT: St. Mary’s Cathedral, Geary Boulevard at Gough, San Francisco, 4 p.m., featuring local and international artists, free parking, freewill donation requested at door, (415) 567-2020, ext.

213, U www.stmarycathedralsf.org.

B L I C A T DIVINE MERCY: Star of the Sea Parish Center, 345 Eighth Ave, San Francisco, Divine Mercy film screening, 5 p.m., director’s talk, 7 p.m., free admission, (415) 751-0450, www.starparish.com.

EXTRAORDINARY FORM: Mass in extraordinary form with Gregorian Chant, St. Catherine of Siena Church, 1310 Bayswater at El Camino Real, Burlingame, choir practice 4 p.m., rosary in Latin 5 p.m., Mass 5:30 p.m., Divine Mercy Chaplet follows Mass.

San Francisco, 9 a.m. Father Arnold E. Zamora, pastor, principal celebrant and homilist; (650) 580-7123; zoniafasquelle@gmail.com.

SATURDAY, MAY 28

REUNION: Mercy High School, San Francisco class of 1966, Lake Merced Golf Club, 2300 Junipero Serra Blvd., Daly City, 11 a.m.-3 p.m., Nancy Dito, jannancy5@aol.com.

ROSARY: Prayers to Our Lady of Fatima, noon, Civic Center Plaza by Carlton Goodlet Place, San Francisco, Juanita (415) 647-7229.

SUNDAY, MAY 29 CONCERT: St. Mary’s Cathedral, Geary Boulevard at Gough, San Francisco, 4 p.m., featuring local and international artists, free parking, freewill donation requested at door, (415) 567-2020, ext.

213, www.stmarycathedralsf.org.

THURSDAY, JUNE 2 PRO-LIFE: San Mateo Pro Life meets second Thursday of the month except in December; 7:30 p.m.; St. Gregory’s Worner Center, 28th Ave. at Hacienda, San Mateo, new members welcome; Jessica, (650) 572-1468; themunns@ yahoo.com.

FRIDAY, JUNE 3 BREAKFAST TALK: Catholic Marin Breakfast Club, St. Sebastian Church, Sir Francis Drake and Bon Air Road, Greenbrae, Mass, 7 a.m. followed by breakfast and talk about annual “Get on the Bus” campaign, breakfast $10 members, $15 others, (415) 461-0704, 9- 3p.m. or Sugaremy@aol. com.

I

O

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S

SATURDAY, JUNE 4 PEACE MASS: Holy Name of Jesus Church, 1555 39th Ave. at Lawton,

SUNDAY, JUNE 5

CONCERT: St. Mary’s Cathedral, Geary Boulevard at Gough, San Francisco, 4 p.m., featuring local and international artists, free parking, freewill donation requested at door, (415) 567-2020, ext. 213, www.stmarycathedralsf.org.

SUNDAY, JUNE 12 CONCERT: St. Mary’s Cathedral, Geary Boulevard at Gough, San Francisco, 4 p.m., featuring local and international artists, free parking, freewill donation requested at door, (415) 567-2020, ext. 213, www.stmarycathedralsf.org.

TUESDAY, JUNE 14 DON BOSCO: “Don Bosco Study Group,” 7 p.m. to watch and to discuss some of the work of Matthew Kelley.

“The Fours Signs of a Dynamic Catholic” are available in the church bookstore. All are welcome, refreshments, approximately 90 minutes. Frank Lavin (415.310.8551, franklavin@comcast.net.

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CSF CONTENT IN YOUR INBOX: Visit catholic-sf.org to sign up for our e-newsletter.

MERCY SERIES: “To clothe the naked, shelter the homeless,” Kelley Cutler, Coalition on Homelessness, Mercy Sister Lillian Murphy, Mercy Housing: The archdiocesan Office for Consecrated Life hosts a series of Sunday afternoon talks commemorating the Year of Mercy, Presentation Sisters’ convent, 2340 Turk Blvd., San Francisco, 2-4:15 p.m. with talk, refreshments, and exposition of the Blessed Sacrament in the final hour. Registration required, conrottor@sfarch. org, (415) 614-5535, no fee for these events but a freewill offering is accepted and later will be donated to St. Anthony’s Dining Room, Catherine’s Place, Mercy Housing and St. Vincent de Paul Society of San Mateo County.

CONCERT: St. Mary’s Cathedral, Geary Boulevard at Gough, San Francisco, 4 p.m., featuring local and international artists, free parking, freewill donation requested at door, (415) 567-2020, ext.

213, www.stmarycathedralsf.org.

SATURDAY, JUNE 25 RUMMAGE SALE: San Mateo Pro Life rummage sale, St. Matthew Church auditorium at El Camino Real and Ninth Ave, San Mateo, 9 a.m., Janet (650) 931-5467.

SUNDAY, JUNE 26 CONCERT: St. Mary’s Cathedral, Geary Boulevard at Gough, San Francisco, 4 p.m., featuring local and international artists, free parking, freewill donation requested at door, (415) 567-2020, ext.

213, www.stmarycathedralsf.org.

THURSDAY, JUNE 16 GRIEF SUPPORT: Drop-in grief support group, Most Holy Redeemer Church, Parish Library, 100 Diamond St., San Francisco, meets third Thursdays, 7:30-8:45p.m.; inclusive, nondenominational, and not restricted to type of loss; email gcm@mhr.org with any questions.

THE PROFESSIONALS home health care

SUNDAY, JUNE 19

SUNDAY, JULY 3 CONCERT: St. Mary’s Cathedral, Geary Boulevard at Gough, San Francisco, 4 p.m., featuring local and international artists, free parking, freewill donation requested at door, (415) 567-2020, ext.

213, www.stmarycathedralsf.org.

TO ADVERTISE IN CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO VISIT www.catholic-sf.org | CALL (415) 614-5642 EMAIL advertising.csf@sfarchdiocese.org

counseling

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When Life Hurts It Helps To Talk • Family • Work • Depression • Anxiety

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Inner Child Healing Offers a deep spiritual and psychological approach to counseling: ❖ 30 years experience with individuals, couples and groups ❖ Directed, effective and results-oriented ❖ Compassionate and Intuitive ❖ Supports 12-step ❖ Enneagram Personality Transformation ❖ Free Counseling for Iraqi/ Afghanistani Vets

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CALENDAR 15

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | MAY 19, 2016

SUNDAY, JULY 10

SUNDAY, JULY 24

CONCERT: St. Mary’s Cathedral, Geary Boulevard at Gough, San Francisco, 4 p.m., featuring local and international artists, free parking, freewill donation requested at door, (415) 567-2020, ext. 213, www. stmarycathedralsf.org.

CONCERT: St. Mary’s Cathedral, Geary Boulevard at Gough, San Francisco, 4 p.m., featuring local and international artists, free parking, freewill donation requested at door, (415) 567-2020, ext. 213, www.stmarycathedralsf.org.

SUNDAY, JULY 17

SUNDAY, JULY 31

MERCY SERIES: “To instruct the ignorant and counsel the doubtful,” Presentation Sister Stephanie Still: The archdiocesan Office for Consecrated Life hosts a series of Sunday afternoon talks commemorating the Year of Mercy, Presentation Sisters’ convent, 2340 Turk Blvd., San Francisco, 2-4:15 p.m. with talk, refreshments, and exposition of the Blessed Sacrament in the final hour.

Registration required, conrottor@ sfarch.org, (415) 614-5535, no fee for these events but a freewill offering is accepted and later will be donated to St. Anthony’s Dining Room, Catherine’s Place, Mercy Housing and St. Vincent de Paul Society of San Mateo County.

CONCERT: St. Mary’s Cathedral, Geary Boulevard at Gough, San Francisco, 4 p.m., featuring local and international artists, free parking, freewill donation requested at door, (415) 567-2020, ext. 213, www.stmarycathedralsf.org.

CONCERT: St. Mary’s Cathedral, Geary Boulevard at Gough, San Francisco, 4 p.m., featuring local and international artists, free parking, freewill donation requested at door, (415) 567-2020, ext. 213, www.stmarycathedralsf.org.

WEDNESDAY, AUG. 3 STORYTELLING: St. Anselm, Centennial Hall, 97 Shady Lane, Ross, 7 p.m., Cathryn Fairlee, world traveler and storyteller, (415) 453-2342; www. saintanselm.org.

SATURDAY, AUG. 27 SPIRITUAL LIFE: “Conversions in the Spiritual Life,” with Paulist Father Terry Ryan, 9-11:30 a.m., Old St. Mary’s Paulist Center, 614 Grant Ave., San Francisco, coffee will be avail-

able, freewill offerings welcome, (415) 288-3845.

SATURDAY, SEPT. 17 REUNION: Mercy High School, San Francisco class of 1956, the first graduating class of Mercy High School, El Rancho Inn, 1100 El Camino Real, Millbrae, Ann Marra Doran, adoran712@ comcast.net.

SATURDAY. SEPT. 24 ANNIVERSARY REUNION: Holy Name of Jesus School, San Francisco is celebrating its 75th anniversary and looking for alumni. This is a new date than previously made known. Forward contact information to hnparishsecretary@gmail. com or visit alumni page at http://holynamesf.org/holy-name-school-alumni/.

SUNDAY, SEPT. 25 MERCY SERIES: “To admonish sinners, to bear wrongs patiently, to forgive offenses willingly,” Vivian Clausing, program director, Catherine’s Place: The archdiocesan Office for Consecrated Life hosts a series of Sunday afternoon talks commemorating the Year of Mercy, Presentation Sisters’ convent, 2340 Turk Blvd., San Francisco, 2-4:15 p.m. with talk,

HOME SERVICES

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SATURDAY, OCT. 29 REUNION: Class of 1966, Presentation High School, San Francisco with location still being decided; Martha Kunz Wills (650) 763-1202, mwwmtw@ comcast.net.

WEDNESDAY NOV. 30 STORYTELLING: St. Anselm, Centennial Hall, 97 Shady Lane, Ross, 7 p.m., Mirza Inayat Khan, master storyteller shares stories and perennial wisdom from the spiritual traditions of the world, (415) 453-2342; www.saintanselm.org.

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REUNION: Class of 1951, 65th class reunion, San Francisco College for Women, Lone Mountain, contact class secretaries Anstell Daini Ricossa (415) 921-8846; Toni Hines Buckley (415) 681-5789.

construction

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SUNDAY, OCT. 16

TO ADVERTISE IN CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO VISIT www.catholic-sf.org | CALL (415) 614-5642 EMAIL advertising.csf@sfarchdiocese.org

roofing

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refreshments, and exposition of the Blessed Sacrament in the final hour.

Registration required, conrottor@ sfarch.org, (415) 614-5535, no fee for these events but a freewill offering is accepted and later will be donated to St. Anthony’s Dining Room, Catherine’s Place, Mercy Housing and St. Vincent de Paul Society of San Mateo County.

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ALL ELECTRIC SERVICE 650.322.9288 Service Changes Solar Installation Lighting/Power Fire Alarm/Data Green Energy

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O’Donoghue Construction Kitchen/Bath Remodel Dry Rot Repair • Decks /Stairs Plumbing Repair/Replacement

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16

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | MAY 19, 2016

A Ministry of the Archdiocese of San Francisco

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