DEACONS:
CONSECRATED LIFE:
Steps to priesthood, deacons ordained
ST. CECILIA: Loving God at 102 years
Mass at St. Mary’s Cathedral
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CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO Newspaper of the Archdiocese of San Francisco
www.catholic-sf.org
SERVING SAN FRANCISCO, MARIN & SAN MATEO COUNTIES
APRIL 21, 2016
$1.00 | VOL. 18 NO. 9
I
(PHOTOS BY VALERIE SCHMALZ/CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO)
Kids go green
St. Peter middle schoolers clean up the schoolyard as they build a school garden. Kindergarteners at Our Lady of Angels work on their school garden. Catholic San Francisco’s Eco-guide (pages 6-10) coincides with Earth Day April 22.
Caring for our common home Reflections on Pope Francis’ encyclical, Laudato Sí
FATHER GEORGE SCHULTZE, SJ
No one can possibly provide the fullness and depth of Pope Francis’ encyclical “Laudato Sí’” (On Care for Our Common Home) in a column of a few paragraphs. Every papal encyclical is multifaceted and, in the truth of our faith, its author recognizes the “both/and” nature of our reality. Fundamentally, the Kingdom of God is both here and now and still not yet. For the best overview of Catholic social teaching, Catholics and others of good will should start with the “Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church”; it provides a thematic overview of Catholic social teaching using the primary sources. “Laudato Sí,’” while focused on the environment, is organized like many social encyclicals with citations from Scripture, references to
earlier papal documents, and testimonies from the exemplary lives of saints. So, Pope Francis writes that Genesis teaches us “God saw everything that he had made, and behold it was very good” (Genesis 1:31). However, “the harmony between Creator, humanity, and creation as a whole was disrupted by our presuming to take the place of God and refusing to acknowledge our creaturely limitations.” We are not God. “The earth is the Lord’s” (Psalm 24:1). Yes, humanity is to “have dominion” over the earth as Genesis notes but we are to “till and keep it” (Genesis 2:15). “Laudato Sí’” explains that tilling is putting natural resources to good use, and keeping it “means caring, protecting, overseeing, and preserving.” SEE COMMON HOME, PAGE 6
Archbishop: ‘Pope Francis articulates a pastoral vision’
n his Apostolic Exhortation “Amoris Laetitia,” Pope Francis articulates a pastoral vision for ministry to married couples and families in the contemporary context, incorporating the thoughts and deliberations of the bishop participants in the two Synods on the family, the Extraordinary Synod of 2014 and the Ordinary Synod of 2015. Recognizing the new and often daunting challenges that couples and families face today, Pope Francis reminds us that mere words and symbolic gestures are insufficient. Rather, in ARCHBISHOP keeping with his consistent SALVATORE J. teaching, Pope Francis urges the Church’s ministers to CORDILEONE encounter and accompany families experiencing separation, conflict, poverty, and any number of other social ills that are so prevalent in our time. True pastoral care will always demand time, attention and presence on the part of the Church’s ministers. True to his Jesuit tradition, Pope Francis calls for discernment on the part of the Church’s ministers with couples and families in concrete situations in a way that helps them know they are supported, loved and welcomed by the Christian community in keeping with the timeless truth the Church has received from her Lord on the sanctity of family life and the life-long commitment of mutual fidelity that is the marriage covenant. As the Holy Father himself says, this lengthy document will require much reading and rereading, pondering and probing, so that the depth of its teachings on the spirituality of marriage and family life may truly be appropriated by the Christian faithful. I encourage all of the people of our Archdiocese to enter into this reflection and discussion, so that the culture of marriage and family life may be built up and may thrive in our local church. More on ‘Amoris Laetitia’: Pages 20-23. Resources on the web, including the complete text of ‘Amoris Laetitia’: www.sfarch.org/joyoflove.
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INDEX On the Street . . . . . . . . 4 World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Opinion . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Faith . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Community . . . . . . . . . 28 Calendar . . . . . . . . . . . 31