Abuse victim testifies to bishops’ delegates at international event
Catholic san Francisco
(PHOTO BY JOSE LUIS AGUIRRE/CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO)
San Francisco Giants third baseman Pablo Sandoval visited St. Peter School in San Francisco’s Mission District May 24 to help students with nutrition and heart exercise. “The Panda” has lost 40 pounds since the team won the World Series last year. Principal Victoria Butler said, “The support of the Giants has been great for our goal of quality Catholic education for our inner-city youth. Their fans at St. Peter keep (injured Giants catcher) Buster Posey and his healing in our prayers and we pray for our champions!” See more photos on catholic-sf.org.
ROME (CNS) — For the first time, an international meeting of bishops’ representatives heard testimony from a survivor of clergy sex abuse in an effort to help clerics be more aware of the impact of abuse and to show how the church can better help victims. The Anglophone Conference on the Safeguarding of Children, Young People and Vulnerable Adults has been meeting since 1996, and this year organizers invited Colm O’ Gorman, who was abused by a priest in the diocese of Ferns, Ireland, in the 1980s. Teresa Kettelkamp, head of the U.S. bishops’ Secretariat of Child and Youth Protection, told Catholic News Service it was critical for church representatives from countries where the abuse problem has not yet been fully addressed to hear directly from a victim so they can have a “fuller understanding of the seriousness of this issue.” “We can always learn more of how we can better help victims and survivors heal and find reconciliation, Teresa M. Kettelkamp but actually hearing directly from them and the impact the abuse had on them is always very powerful,” she said at the meeting, held May 30-June 3. Kettelkamp said the international conference provides an opportunity to share ideas, research and experiences about best policies and practices for safeguarding children from abuse. Kettelkamp told CNS that conference organizers made a concerted effort to invite representatives from more countries who could benefit from the experiences ABUSE SURVIVOR, page 19
(CNS PHOTO/PAUL HARING)
By Carol Glatz
Northern California’s Weekly Catholic Newspaper
New San Quentin chaplain sees Jesus in inmates St. Raymond Parish: his “dream job” by San Francisco Archbishop George Niederauer. “I thought I had died and gone to prison chapWhere others see murderers, rapists and gangsters, lain heaven,” said Father Williams, who arrived at Jesuit Father George Williams, the new Catholic California’s oldest penitentiary in January. chaplain of San Quentin State Prison in Marin County, Walking to death beholds Jesus. row for the first time, he He sees Christ in the looked up through the Hell’s Angel shouting a razor wire to the rafters greeting, “Hey, from one and spotted a dozen redangel to another, how’s it winged blackbirds. going?” He sees Christ “They sang all day in the shackled inmate long, a reminder that seeking freedom from even in all this oppressin through baptism, in sion and darkness, God the convict with devil’s is here,” Father Williams horns tattooed on his said. shaved head asking to be That’s the message he confirmed. spreads at the 159-yearAnd he sees Christ Jesuit Father George Williams is pictured with old facility that houses in the lifers who are San Quentin State Prison in the background. nearly 6,000 prisoners, studying theology. These including some 750 on inmates, on occasion, the nation’s largest death row. About a quarter of them stump him with their insightful questions and surprise are Catholic, and they keep him busy. him with their knowledge of church teaching, which, He’s in charge of a full sacramental calendar: he admits, at times surpasses his own. three baptisms at Easter; confirmations; confessions, “God jumps out at you when you least expect it,” which are significant for their healing and forgiving; said Father Williams, who served 15 years in prison ministries in Massachusetts before being appointed to SAN QUENTIN CHAPLAIN, page 3 (PHOTO COURTESY LT. SAM ROBINSON)
By Lidia Wasowicz
Archdiocese names interim administrator By Rick DelVecchio The Archdiocese of San Francisco named retired Msgr. Harry Schlitt as interim administrator of St. Raymond Parish as the Menlo Park congregation reacted to its pastor’s suspension over an apparent violation of church child-protection norms. Auxiliary Bishop William Justice announced after June 5 Masses at the parish that Msgr. Schlitt, who retired last year and long served as the archdiocese’s vicar for INTERIM ADMINISTRATOR, page 8
Audio reflections Visit catholic-sf.org for brief audio Scripture reflections by Archbishop George Niederauer, excerpted from the Archbishop’s Hour radio program produced by the archdiocese’s Office of Communications and Outreach. The program airs on Immaculate Heart Radio every Friday at 9 a.m. and is rebroadcast Fridays at 9 p.m. and Sundays at 11 a.m.
INSIDE THIS WEEK’S EDITION On the Street . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Father’s Day . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Letters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14-15 Scripture reflection . . . . . . . 16 End-of-life choices. . . . . . . . 17
New St. Hilary principal ~ Page 7 ~ June 10, 2011
Marin entrepreneur’s papal comic book ~ Page 9 ~
More than 2,100 seniors graduating ~ Pages 12-13 ~
ONE DOLLAR
Father Rolheiser . . . . . . . . . 18 Classified ads . . . . . . . . . . . 23
www.catholic-sf.org VOLUME 13
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No. 21