December 5, 2014

CONSECRATED LIFE SERIES:

ALL ARE WELCOME:

IMMACULATE CONCEPTION:

Holy Family Sisters help marginalized

Presentation Sisters serve sunrise breakfast

Feast’s key role in world, US church

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PAGES 12-13

PAGE 16

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO Newspaper of the Archdiocese of San Francisco

SERVING SAN FRANCISCO, MARIN & SAN MATEO COUNTIES

www.catholic-sf.org

DECEMBER 5, 2014

$1.00 | VOL. 16 NO. 32

Marin Knights, community aid Iraqis forced to flee ISIS CHRISTINA GRAY CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO

A Chaldean Catholic family who fled their home days after ISIS captured the city of Mosul in northern Iraq in June put a personal face to the suffering of Assyrian Christians at a Nov. 22 fundraising dinner hosted by the Marin Knights of Columbus Council #1292 in San Anselmo.

The family – a 51-year-old mother and her three teenage children – are living with relatives in the South Bay. The family patriarch remains in northern Iraq in an area not currently under ISIS control. Names are being withheld from this story for his protection.

Joe Tassone, a global studies teacher at Marin Catholic High School and a Marin Knight, organized the event with the goal of raising not just money but awareness of the scope of the Christian genocide in Iraq.

Tassone had the support of fellow Knight Joe Cresalia and Marin Catholic students who served the meal donated by Insalata Restaurant in San Anselmo. Six Dominican Sisters from Marin Catholic attended and sang for the crowd.

SEE REFUGEES, PAGE 8

(CNS PHOTO/PAUL HARING)

Pope, patriarch condemn violence against Christians Pope Francis joined Patriarch Bartholomew, considered first among equals by Orthodox bishops, in Istanbul, Turkey, Nov. 30 to sign a joint declaration that highlighted violence against Christians in the region. “We cannot resign ourselves to a Middle East without Christians,” the leaders wrote. The pope later met with young refugees from civil wars in Syria and Iraq, saying many are forced to live in degrading conditions and deserve the world’s efforts to end the situation.

Police officer leans on Catholic faith during Ferguson crisis DAVE LUECKING CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE

ST. LOUIS – Among the iconic images of the 9/11 tragedy, photographs of policemen and firefighters stand out: The first responders were entering the doomed World Trade Center as most everyone else was filing out.

They embraced the danger of the moment, most going ultimately to their death, because the job requires it. First-responders sign up for this risk; they accept it as part of their service.

Similarly, in the situation that has become known as simply “Ferguson,” Sgt. John Wall of the St. Louis County Police Department knew in the second week of August that the time had come to stand up and be counted. Peaceful protests after the Aug. 9

(CNS PHOTO/LISA JOHNSTON, ST. LOUIS REVIEW)

Sgt. John Wall poses outside of the St. Louis County Police Department in Clayton, Missouri, Nov. 21. Wall has relied on his Catholic faith during the ongoing crisis in nearby Ferguson.

shooting death of Michael Brown by a police officer during a confrontation had devolved into rioting and looting.

A QuikTrip near the shooting site had been looted and burned. Police had lobbed tear gas and shot rubber bullets to disperse crowds, presumably while real bullets flew in their direction. The situation was fraught with danger.

But did Wall think twice about going into it? Nope.

“I volunteered,” he said, on a recent morning at a coffee shop.

“I volunteered; it was kind of ‘all hands on deck,’ so everybody had to work it at some time,” he explained, matter-of-factly. He added, “I was fortunate enough to work it the entire time.”

SEE FERGUSON, PAGE 9

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INDEX On the Street . . . . . . . . .4 National . . . . . . . . . . . .10 World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Opinion. . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Faith. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Calendar. . . . . . . . . . . .22

2 ARCHDIOCESE

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | DECEMBER 5, 2014

Archdiocese celebrates Year of Consecrated Life SISTER ROSINA CONROTTO, PBVM

In a gracious and grateful gesture, Pope Francis has declared 2015 as the Year of Consecrated Life. With this issue of Catholic San Francisco we are introducing the many religious congregations that serve our Archdiocese. We are blessed by the presence and ministries of 48 congregations of women religious including four monasteries of enclosed religious; 19 congregations of men religious; three Consecrated Virgins; and one hermit.

On Monday, Oct. 20, the year opened with a solemn vespers at St. Mary’s Cathedral. More than 200 people

WAKE UP THE WORLD !

2015 Year of Consecrated Life

gathered to pray with and for the religious who live and serve among us. Presentation Sister Stephanie Still reflected on her life as a religious for

more than 30 years and Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone expressed words of gratitude and esteem and reflected on Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation “Joy of the Gospel” and the writings of St. John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI. Frequently Catholic San Francisco will feature one religious congregation in this column, “Wake Up the World!” This is the challenge Pope Francis has given to consecrated persons: to wake up the world by living, praying and ministering in a way that reflects how Jesus lived on this earth: with compassion, mercy, gentleness, forgiveness, justice and concern for

those who are poor or marginalized in any way.

We begin this series with the Sisters of the Holy Family, the only congregation actually founded in San Francisco.

We hope that you will be delighted and inspired by reading these weekly accounts and that you will join in many of the activities that have been planned for this next year. Activities will be announced in parish bulletins and in Catholic San Francisco.

PRESENTATION SISTER ROSINA CONROTTO is director of the archdiocesan Office of Consecrated Life.

City’s own Holy Family Sisters seek out the marginalized SISTER MICHAELA O’CONNOR, SHF

The worldwide movement that brought hundreds of thousands of people into California for gold in 1849 created, from a tiny village, the city we call San Francisco. It also brought into that new city four persons responsible for creating its only native religious order, the Sisters of the Holy Family.

Archbishop Joseph Sadoc Alemany, a Dominican priest, was from Spain. Lizzie Armer immigrated with her family from Australia, Ellen O’Connor’s family came by covered wagon from Boston, and Father John Joseph Prendergast volunteered for California from Ireland.

Archbishop Alemany brought in religious orders of men and women for his needy archdiocese. Father Prendergast was especially concerned about those who were too unknowledgeable, stressed or proud to come for assistance. He envisioned a group of women seeking out the marginalized to whom other religious could not go. Lizzie Armer, with the blessing of Alemany, began this experiment in a flat on Pine Street, Nov. 6, 1872.

Lizzie’s first two companions failed to persevere. Then Ellen O’Connor joined her. On fire with their own commitment to Christ and their love of the poor, especially poor families, the two were slowly joined by other women, several of whom had been born in the gold camps. They visited homes; found funds for paying rent, or burial expenses, buying food, cloth-

LIVING TRUSTS WILLS

Holy Family Sisters are pictured changing a tire. The sisters began driving cars in the early 1900s and became known to many as “the sisters who drove.”

Holy Family Sister Marianne Smith, is pictured with children at Holy Family Day Home. ing and other necessities for the poor; established day care for children of working parents (in 1878); taught catechism to public school children and prepared them for the sacraments; trained lay catechists; were sacristans at the cathedral; opened sewing and cooking classes; made altar breads for the parishes; and put together stage productions for entertainment and fundraising. Over the course of time the congregation grew and ministered throughout California, Nevada, Utah, Hawaii, and in Texas, Kentucky and South Dakota. Because of their

need for mobility, the sisters began driving cars in the early 1900s and became known to many as “the sisters who drove.”

Presently, the sisters still work in day care (Holy Family Day Home, at 16th and Dolores streets), catechetical programs and home visiting, ministering to immigrant populations and work in advocacy efforts for the poor. They are deeply committed to and involved in the practical aspects and education around the horror of trafficking – the modernday enslavement of human beings for profit.

Throughout their 142 years of service, the sisters have been pio-

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neers deeply involved in what they fondly call “gleaning” – seeking out marginalized persons and needs not serviced by other workers in God’s harvest. This homegrown order has been small, its work augmented by large numbers of laity associated with and often trained by the sisters for the works undertaken, friends and effective ministers with the religious beside whom they serve.

These Sisters of the Holy Family have the same wonderful name, but no historical or organizational connection to the Holy Family Sisters of other countries or regions (New Orleans comes to mind). They are truly San Francisco’s own.

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone Publisher Rick DelVecchio Editor/General Manager EDITORIAL Valerie Schmalz, assistant editor Tom Burke, On the Street/Calendar Christina Gray, reporter

schmalzv@sfarchdiocese.org burket@sfarchdiocese.org grayc@sfarchdiocese.org

ADVERTISING Joseph Peña, director Mary Podesta, account representative Chandra Kirtman, advertising & circulation coordinator PRODUCTION Karessa McCartney-Kavanaugh, manager Joel Carrico, assistant

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HOW TO REACH US One Peter Yorke Way San Francisco, CA 94109 Phone: (415) 614-5639 | Fax: (415) 614-5641 Editor: (415) 614-5647 editor.csf@sfarchdiocese.org Advertising: (415) 614-5642 advertising.csf@sfarchdiocese.org Circulation: (415) 614-5639 circulation.csf@sfarchdiocese.org Letters to the editor: letters.csf@sfarchdiocese.org

ARCHDIOCESE 3

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | DECEMBER 5, 2014

Young Gabriel’s journey to justice and compassion This is the first of three Advent stories focusing on clients served by Catholic Charities in the Archdiocese of San Francisco. The theme of this installment is justice. The client stories are actual but the names have been changed for publication.

JEFF BIALIK CATHOLIC CHARITIES

Gabriel began working in the fields in his native Honduras when he was just 5 years old. Not allowed to attend school, Gabriel and his siblings knew all too well the emotional sting of verbal abuse and the physical pain of the horsewhip at the hand of their father.

After years of abuse and being told he would never amount to anything, Gabriel left everything behind to make the three-week trek to the United States. When he was detained at the border, like thousands of other unaccompanied minor refugees, he carried with him only the clothes on his back, the hopes and dreams in his heart, and the name and address of a sister living in the San Francisco Bay Area.

(PHOTO COURTESY CATHOLIC CHARITIES)

Catholic Charities works to bring justice for the poor, the vulnerable and the persecuted seeking refuge.

Gabriel is one of hundreds of children and youth in the Bay Area who have escaped deplorable conditions in their countries of origin and sought refuge in the United States. Refugees and immigrants come to Catholic Charities Refugee and Immigrant Services because they know they will be welcomed without judgment, treated with respect and will receive honest legal advice. As we carefully assess the specific circumstance of each child’s situation, we are able to steer him or her, and their legal guardian, toward the most optimal path to a successful outcome.

No child, regardless of where he was born, should have to endure the pain and misery that Gabriel experienced. Catholic Charities works with hundreds of clients like Gabriel and his sister each year, guiding them through the complex legal processes and helping them to heal and start anew.

Fortunately for Gabriel, Catholic Charities’ track record of successful outcomes is impressive – of 920 cases

opened or in process this year, only 9 have been denied by the Department of Homeland Security; an impressive 99 percent success rate. And Catholic Charities does not turn anyone away for purely financial reasons.

Catholic Charities has been welcoming newcomers with dignity, respect and professionalism for more than 35 years. The children now at our doorstep seeking our help are victims of extreme, sometimes unspeakable trauma. They have experienced or witnessed violence in their home communities and on the journey to the U.S. The process of detention, applying for asylum, and the prospect of deportation adds to the stress and, for a child, may feel like a continuation of the trauma and distress from which they were fleeing. Family separation and “homesickness” can also compound feelings of depression and anxiety.

These children need the very best we can offer as a caring and giving community. They need financial assistance, legal advice and representation, food and clothing, medical care and mental health counseling.

Most of all, they need justice tempered with compassion and care that respects both their dignity and their status as children.

BIALIK is executive director of Catholic Charities in the Archdiocese of San Francisco.

6th Annual Holiday Boutique

St. Ignatius Church 6th Annual Holiday Boutique

Located amidst 216 acres of towering redwood forest and open meadow in historic western Sonoma County, the Catholic Charities CYO Retreat Centerr is just six miles from the Pacific Ocean and a walk away from the town of Occidental!

650 Parker Ave. in Fromm Hall St. Ignatius Church Sunday, 7 December 650 Parker Ave. in Fromm Hall 8:30 AM until :00 PM

Sunday, 7 December 8 :30 AM until :00 PM

Clothing and 8:30 Accessories AM until :00 PM

Clothing and Accessories

Gifts

Gifts

Ann Archer Jewelry Bath Sense Elizabeth Sayles Jewelry Judy’s Buckles and Baubles

Fair Trade Las Vecinas de El Salvador Treats St. Ignatius Bookstore

KEEP Collective Kim + Proper Paragraph/Story Boutiques Stella & Dot Ses Petites Mains Timeless Treasures UB Chic Handbags and Shawls

Treats CRUMB – a little something sweet Brehmer’s Candies Jade Chocolates

Santa’s Helpers Table

Take your photo house with kits, Santa!

Christmas goodies including gingerbread Ornaments, Cards by A M –and 12:30 PM Catherine10:30 St. Marie, more!

Wine Tasting Take your photo with Santa!

10:30 A M – 12:30 PM

Parking available in all USF lots including Koret Center at Wine Tasting Parker Ave. and Turk St. 2:00 – 4:00 PM

Parking available in all USF lots including Koret Center at Parker Ave. and Turk St.

Schedule a tour or book your retreat today!

2136 Bohemian Highway, Occidental, CA 95465 707 874 0210 | rcenter@cccyo.org CYOCamp.org/RetreatCenter

4 ON THE STREET WHERE YOU LIVE

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | DECEMBER 5, 2014

‘Truest ideals’ at heart of SVdP, Marin director says TOM BURKE CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO

St. Vincent de Paul Society members and volunteers “go beyond the extraordinary” to help people in crisis, Christine Paquette told Catholic San Francisco.

Christine, executive director of the Marin County council of SVdP, had been chief fundraiser for the society before accepting her current position about a year ago.

There are more than 200 members in 13 SVdP conferences in Marin Christine County. Volunteers number more Paquette than 2,500 in programs including the free dining room in San Rafael and a shelter. More than 15,000 people are assisted by the society in Marin each year. Ninety percent of all money raised “goes directly” to helping people in need, Christine said.

“To me, the society embodies the truest ideals of faith-based charity,” Christine said, noting the heart of the ministry is spiritual growth and “limitless compassion” of members. “Our dining room has been open every single day since 1981, without ever being closed.” Home visit volunteers are available 365 days a year to visit people facing eviction and help them maintain housing and avoid homelessness.

SVdP is “neighbors helping neighbors,” Christine said and times are never easy. The free dining room serves 700 people a day, more at holiday times. Diners include Marin seniors, the disabled, low income families, the homeless and others.

Vincentians come “from all walks of life” answering a call from SVdP founder Frederic Ozanam to “reach out and help neighbors in need without judgment and in very practical and immediate ways,” Christine said.

“The only thing worse than having to face a crisis– whether it is an eviction, or job loss or illness – is having to face that crisis alone.”

“Each day, people tell us that they were turned away for help at other places, but when they came to us, they were seen and heard and comforted,” Christine said.

Ways to help in the ministry can be found at www. vinnies.org. Contributions may be sent to SVdP Marin, P.O. Box 150527, San Rafael 94901.

Msgr. John Talesfore

HALLOWED SPOT: The Christmas remembrance liturgy with Msgr. John Talesfore presiding has become a valued time during these holiday hurries for many experiencing loss or just plain missing those dear. The date is Dec. 13, 11 a.m. in All Saints Mausoleum Chapel, Holy Cross Cemetery, Colma; (650) 756-2060; www.holycrosscemeteries.com.

West Coast Church Supplies 369 Grand Avenue South San Francisco

1-800-767-0660 Easy access: 3 blocks west of 101 Bibles, Books, Rosaries,Statues, Jewelry, Medals, Crucifixes, Baptism and Christening Gifts

Mon – Fri 9:30 to 5:30 Sat 9:30 – 5

HELPLINES FOR CLERGY/CHURCH SEXUAL ABUSE VICTIMS 415-614-5506

This number is answered by Renee Duffey, Victim Assistance Coordinator.

This is a secured line and is answered only

by Renee Duffey.

415-614-5503

If you wish to speak to a non-archdiocesan employee please call this number. This is also a secured line and is answered only by a victim survivor.

ALL SAINTS: More than 60 students and staff from Notre Dame de Namur University in Belmont kept Halloween safe and fun Oct. 31 for 250 children in San Francisco’s Tenderloin District. It’s an annual event for NDNU and the Tenderloin community. Pictured is NDNU senior Lindsay Handy getting a young reveler’s nose painted just right.

SEASON’S GREETINGS: St. Mary’s Church on Nicasio Square announces its Christmas concert, Dec. 14, 2 p.m., followed by a food and wine reception at Druids Hall. Program includes Christmas and secular pieces performed by artists including Nicasio Creek Singers, Antonia Van Becker and Greg Lee, $50 adults/$10 children under 12. Proceeds benefit operation and maintenance of historic church built in 1867, Kathy Drady (415) 662-2057. More holiday events are taking place all over the archdiocese. Watch Calendar!

ALL IN: A “No Hair/We Care” fundraiser for the Lymphoma Research Foundation recently raised more than $26,500 at Sacred Heart Preparatory in Atherton. More than 20 faculty and staff members had their locks shorn as part of the effort. Pictured are school principal James Everitt with barber of the day senior Moi Lee seeing to his getting clipped for the cause. “Moi was the catalyst for the event, battling non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma this past summer and recently going into remission,” the school said.

GOOD WORK: First graders at San Francisco’s St. Gabriel School sold regular and candied popcorn raising more than $650 for St. Martin de Porres House of Hospitality in November. Thanks to teachers Tina Bower and Marta Courtright for fillin’ us in.

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FEED THE ANIMALS: Another Christmas event on the way is the live Nativity sponsored by the Knights of St. Francis of Assisi in front of the National Shrine of St. Francis Dec. 23. Last year more than 1,500 people came by for a bit of the blessed event. Visit www.knightsofstfrancis. com.

ARE WE THERE YET? I see so many buses on the road with big “Not in Service” across their marquee. Where are they going?

Email items and electronic pictures – jpegs at no less than 300 dpi to burket@sfarchdiocese.org or mail to Street, One Peter Yorke Way, San Francisco 94109. Include a follow-up phone number. Street is toll-free. My phone number is (415) 614-5634.

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO Catholic San Francisco (ISSN 15255298) is published (three times per month) September through May, except in the following months: June, July, August (twice a month) and four times in October by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Francisco, 1500 Mission Rd., P.O. Box 1577, Colma, CA 94014. Periodical postage paid at South San Francisco, CA. Postmaster: Send address changes to Catholic San Francisco, 1500 Mission Rd., P.O. Box 1577, Colma, CA 94014

ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTIONS $24 within California $36 outside California ADDRESS CHANGE? Please clip old label and mail with new address to: Circulation Department One Peter Yorke Way, San Francisco, CA 94109 DELIVERY PROBLEMS? Please call us at (415) 614-5639 or email circulation.csf@sfarchdiocese.org

ARCHDIOCESE 5

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | DECEMBER 5, 2014

Record $214,000 net for priests’ retirement luncheon; enhanced event planned for 2015 Three weeks after the fourth annual St. John Vianney Luncheon to support the archdiocesan priests’ retirement fund, the luncheon advisory committee met to review the event, update the financial results and plan for further refinements next year.

The committee provides feedback and suggestions to Florian Romero in the Development Office of the archdiocesan Pastoral Center. She is the point person for the luncheon.

The meeting began with the announcement by Romero that the net amount collected via the luncheon rose again this year, even as checks continue to arrive at her office. “I’m grateful for so many donors and their diligence in making sure their promised contributions get included in the final sum for this year’s event,” Romero said.

The new and almost final net amount collected via the benefit luncheon is $214,000. “This is an increase of $58,000 over the previous year’s result,” Romero said.

Romero is confident that, with the changes suggested during the meeting, the amount raised for the retired

Left, Nick Andrade, Florian Romero and Linda Siemers discuss ways to enhance the Priests’ Retirement Luncheon. Father Antonio Petilla, Msgr. John Pernia, Father David Pettingill, and Archbishop George Niederauer are pictured at the fourth annual St. John Vianney Luncheon at St. Mary’s Cathedral Oct. 24. priests can be increased next year by another $60,000. “People have much love and enthusiasm for their priests,” she said.

Basilian Father Anthony Giampietro, archdiocesan interim director of development, commended Romero and her committee for securing such excellent presenters. Father Giampietro said, “Msgr. Harry Schlitt was great as the emcee, and the children’s choir from St. Brigid’s and the Jazz Group from Riordan High School

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were outstanding, and people loved them.”

The committee suggested several ways to enhance the next year’s luncheon, which will be on Oct. 30, 2015, again in the Patrons’ Hall of St. Mary’s Cathedral. Parishioners are very interested in supporting their priests, but many cannot easily attend the luncheon. One suggestion is to

allow parishes to take out pages in the commemorative booklet, in honor of the priests who have served them over the years.

Related to commemorative booklet, a committee member suggested informing parishes in April or May about the change. In this way, a parish can include funds for such a page in their budget for the coming year.

LOOKING EAST

Blessed John Paul II called for the Church to “breathe with both lungs,” incorporating the rich traditions of both the Christian East and West. But how?

Join Rev. Father Kevin Kennedy, Pastor of Our Lady of Fatima Russian Byzantine Catholic Church, for a catechetical lecture on the First Saturday of each month at 1 p.m. to learn more.

Our next First Saturday Lecture will be on Saturday, Dec. 6th, at 1:00 p.m., at 5920 Geary Blvd. (at 23rd Ave., the former St. Monica's convent), in San Francisco, CA 94121 10:00 a.m. Divine Liturgy 12:00 p.m.-1:00 p.m. Fellowship luncheon 1:00 p.m. Lecture All are welcome throughout the day . Parking is available in the St. Monica’s Parking Lot

For more information, visit www. ByzantineCatholic.org Call 415-752-2052 or email: OLFatimaSF@gmail.com

The Knights of Saint Francis Live Nativity!

December 23rd 5 – 9 pm Porziuncola Nuova Vallejo & Columbus

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11351 G Grantt AAvenue 415 983-0213 www.knightsofsaintfrancis.com

6 ARCHDIOCESE

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | DECEMBER 5, 2014

Retrouvaille: A lifeline for troubled marriages a lack of enthusiasm for going to Mass together for Christmas.

For couples in marriages experiencing a rough spot or headed for complete breakdown, the Archdiocese of San Francisco offers Retrouvaille, a ministry in 140 cities and 20 countries.

Although a couple does not have to be on the verge of divorce to go on a

VALERIE SCHMALZ CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO

When a marriage is in trouble, the holidays accentuate the negativity – whether it is disagreements that boil over into Thanksgiving preparations or a sinking feeling about what to do for Christmas gift giving. Never mind

Calling St. Anne’s of the Sunset Alumni You are invited to an

All Class Reunion Saturday January 24, 2015 School Open House from 3-5 Alumni Mass 5pm Alumni Dinner from 6-9 in Moriarty Hall

Golden Jubilee Class of 1965 Silver Jubilee Class 1990 Please register at:

‘We left with some hope and with some healing that started.’

CORTNE BUI

Retrouvaille member Retrouvaille weekend – for many this is the last-ditch effort before filing those papers, said Cortne Bui, a member of Retrouvaille in the Archdiocese of San Francisco who said Retrouvaille saved her marriage.

“I was ready to leave and I said, ‘this is it.’ This is our last chance, our last chance we can try. I think a lot of people go with that attitude,” said Bui. “We left with some hope and with some healing that started. I know that happens for the majority of the couples,” said Bui who went on a weekend in April 2011 with her husband. The couple now volunteer with Retrouvaille, answering inquiries and registering couples.

The holidays are tough, said Bui. “Our numbers increase right after the holidays. January, boom we get hit,” said Bui. “They barely made it through the holidays. Maybe they made it because of the kids. Now the holidays are over, and now they want to give up.”

Different than Marriage Encounter, Retrouvaille is for those who are “really struggling. Things are just bad,” said Bui. Infidelity, abuse, living as roommates, and too great a focus on the children are all common problems that couples bring to Retrouvaille.

“It’s not therapy; it’s not counsel-

ABOUT RETROUVAILLE Retrouvaille weekends for married couples are available each month. San Jose has a weekend in January, Oakland has a weekend in February, according to the Retrouvaille website. The Archdiocese of San Francisco offers its next weekend in April but Retrouvaille will connect a couple with whichever weekend works for them.

Visit http://retrouvaille.org/ or www.helpourmarriage.com, or call (415) 893-1005.

ing; it’s not a retreat,” said Bui. “It’s a program where you go somewhere for the weekend. You’ll be at a hotel.

What they will be doing through the weekend will be teaching a new way to communicate. They do that by telling their own stories intertwined teaching this new tool.”

Retrouvaille weekends are available each month. San Jose has a weekend in January, Oakland has a weekend in February, according to the Retrouvaille website. The Archdiocese of San Francisco offers its next weekend in April but Retrouvaille will connect a couple with whichever weekend works for them, she said.

The word Retrouvaille is French SEE RETROUVAILLE, PAGE 7

www.stanne.com Or call the school at (415)664-7977

ST T IG IG GNA NA ATIUS S

Our Lady of Guadalupe

OR ORM RMING R GA AR RTS

Pro Life Procession Sunday Dec.14, 2014 2:00pm We will meet at the statue of St. Matthew:

St.Matthew parish, San Mateo (at El Camino Real & 9th Ave) & while praying the rosary beneath the banner of Our Lady of Guadalupe we will proceed north up El Camino Real to:

Planned Parenthood 35 Baywood Ave, San Mateo & return in the same way. (about 1.5 mile round-trip)

Rain or Shine!

Our Lady of Guadalupe, Patroness of the Pre-born & the Pro-life Movement, pray for us.

For further information, call Jessica 650-572-1468

december stillness winter choral concert st. ignatius college preparatory tuesday, december 9, & thursday, december 11 // 7:00 p.m. st. ignatius church // 650 parker ave, san francisco, ca tickets $10

the concert in its entirety will be live-streamed thursday 12/12 at 7:00 p.m. http://www.siprep.org/concert

ARCHDIOCESE 7

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | DECEMBER 5, 2014

Advent activities in the archdiocese San Francisco

ST. PAUL OF THE SHIPWRECK PARISH, 1122 Jamestown Ave. at Third Street, (415) 468-3434.

Dec. 12, Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, 6:30 p.m. songs, 7:30 p.m. Mass followed by reception; Dec. 14, Advent healing service, gospel Mass, 10:45 a.m.; Dec. 21, Youth Mass, 10:45 a.m., Angel Tree Party, 1:30 p.m., a Christmas outreach project for children of incarcerated parents; Dec. 21, 22, 23, Simbang Gabi/Las Posadas, 6:30 p.m.; Dec. 30, Feast of the Holy Family/Kwanzaa celebration, 10:45 a.m. gospel Mass.

CHURCH OF THE VISITACION, 655 Sunnydale Ave. at Rutland Street, (415) 494-5517. Dec. 20, Hispanic posada, 7 p.m.

ST. ANTHONY-IMMACULATE CONCEPTION SCHOOL, 299 Precita Ave., (415) 648-2008. www. saicsf.org. Dec. 14, Family Mass, 9 a.m., followed by breakfast and boutique.

ST. PHILIP THE APOSTLE SCHOOL, 725 Diamond St. at Elizabeth Street, (415) 282-0141. Dec. 17, Christmas program, 7 p.m.

San Mateo County

ST. BRUNO PARISH, 555 San Bruno Ave. between Hensley and Green, San Bruno, (650) 588-2121. Dec. 13, religious education Nativity play, 9:30 a.m.; Dec. 19, “Search for an Inn” street play, 7 p.m.; Dec. 21, 22, 23, Misa de Gallo Mass, 5 a.m.; Dec. 24, children’s Christmas carols, 9 p.m.

ST. DUNSTAN PARISH, 1133 Broadway, Millbrae, (650) 697-4730. Dec. 24, Christmas Eve children’s Mass with pageant, 4:30 p.m.; midnight Mass, 11:30 pm.

MERCY CENTER, 2300 Adeline Drive, Burlingame.

Dec. 12, 10 a.m.-3 p.m., Advent day of prayer and celebration focused on Our Lady of Guadalupe, led

by Marilyn Granucci and Colette Lafia. Please bring a bag lunch. (650) 340-7474.

SAN MATEO PRO-LIFE. Dec. 14, pro-life procession, 2 p.m., 1.5 miles starting at St. Matthew Church, One Notre Dame Way, San Mateo. Jessica Munn, themunns@yahoo.com.

IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY SCHOOL, 1040 Alameda de las Pulgas at Ralston, Belmont, (650) 593-4265. Dec. 18, Christmas program in church, 7 p.m.

HOLY ANGELS PARISH AND SCHOOL, 107 San Pedro Road, Colma, (650) 756-0478. Dec. 11, com-

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- Simbang Gabi Novena Dec 16-23 6am ( in support of St. Charles School) - Posadas Dec. 16-23 6pm Christmas Eve Confessions 4pm-5:30pm - Christmas Eve Children’s Mass 6pm - Christmas Eve Midnight Mass (carols at 11:30pm) - Christmas Day 8am (sp) 9:30am (eng) 11 am (sp) 12:30pm (sp) 5:30pm(sp)

RETROUVAILLE: Program offers lifeline for troubled marriages FROM PAGE 6

St. Pius Preschool in Redwood City held a Thanksgiving feast Nov. 25. munal penance service, 7 p.m.; Dec. 12, school Christmas program, Archbishop Riordan High School auditorium, 7 p.m.; Dec. 15 through Dec. 23, rosary, 6:30 p.m.; Simbang Gabi, 7 p.m

Marin County

OUR LADY OF LORETTO PARISH, 1806 Novato Blvd., Novato, (415) 897-2171. Dec. 12, Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe procession, 5 p.m., Spanish Mass, 7 p.m.; Dec. 18, Christmas concert, 7 p.m. in church; Dec. 21, parish Christmas concert, 4 p.m., 7:30 p.m. in church ST. PATRICK SCHOOL AND PARISH, 114 King St. at Magnolia Avenue, Larkspur. Dec. 19, Christmas pageant and Mass, 11 a.m.

ST. RAPHAEL SCHOOL, 1100 Fifth Ave., San Rafael, (415) 454-4455. srsoffice@straphaelschool.com . Dec. 14, family Mass, 9 a.m., St. Raphael Church; Dec. 16, Christmas concert, 6:30 p.m. in church

meaning rediscovery. The program offers tools needed to rediscover a loving marriage relationship, the website states. Retrouvaille began in 1977 in Quebec, Canada, adapted to English in Toronto and brought to the United States in 1982.

“It’s Catholic in origin, but we welcome people of all faiths and if they don’t have a faith, we welcome them,” Bui said.

“The couples come, they look sad, they look depressed, they look angry,” Bui said. “You see a transformation from when they come Friday evening and they leave Sunday afternoon. You see they leave with some hope.”

With marriages within the Catholic Church failing at a rate that is close to that of the general American population, Retrouvaille offers hope, said Ed Hopfner, archdiocesan director of marriage and family life.

“Retrouvaille is a great gift to couples in the Catholic Church,” Hopfner said. “It offers real hope to struggling marriages at all stages; many couples who go through the weekend come away with a marriage that is truly transformed, and virtually all couples find help in the tools they learn to improve their relationships. I am a strong advocate of this wonderful ministry, and would love to see it promoted as widely as possible.”

8 FROM THE FRONT

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | DECEMBER 5, 2014

REFUGEES: Marin Knights, community aid Iraqi Christian family FROM PAGE 1

Marin Catholic’s director of mission and ministry offered an introductory prayer. “We want to stand with Assyrian Catholics who have held the faith longer than us,” said Msgr. Robert Sheeran in reference to the spread of Christianity outward from Mesopotamia.

More than 100 attendees pulled out their checkbooks to collect $7,000 to benefit the family and other Christian victims of ISIS who have been forced to leave their homes this summer with little more than the clothes on their backs.

Within days of the capture of Mosul, a city of over a million people 250 miles north of Baghdad, the region’s Christians, whose roots date back to the earliest days of Christianity, were given a choice by ISIS: Convert to Islam, pay a hefty “protection” tax, or stay and be beheaded.

According to the Assyrian International News Agency, there are no Christians remaining in or near Mosul. Tens of thousands of Christians and members of other persecuted groups are living in the mountains in makeshift tents, relying on whatever aid can be dropped by aircraft into the region or brought in through humanitarian organizations in border countries. People who chose to stay behind or had no other choice face slavery, rape, kidnap and death.

The agency also reported that all Christian institutions in Mosul, including ancient monasteries and venerated tombs and cemeteries have been destroyed, occupied or converted to mosques or shuttered.

Tassone located St. Mary’s, a Chaldean Catholic Church in Campbell, and drove south one Sunday to meet its pastor, Father Michael Barota. Many of

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Dominican Sisters Maria Jerome and Clare Marie of Marin Catholic High School are pictured at a Knights of Columbus dinner in San Anselmo Nov. 22 with members of a Chaldean Catholic family who fled their village outside Mosul, Iraq, when ISIS took over the area.

Father Barota’s parishioners have ties to the Assyrian region, which Tassone said is often confused by Americans with Syria.

The Assyrians are a distinct ethnic group whose origins lie in northern Mesopotamia, what was once called Assyria. Today that ancient territory is part of several nations: the north of Iraq, part of southeast Turkey, northwest Iran and northeast Syria.

Inhabitants are a mostly Christian indigenous people, with most following various Eastern-rite churches such as the Assyrian Church of the East and its Western equivalent, the Chaldean Catholic Church under Rome. They speak, read and write distinct dialects of Aramaic, the language of Jesus.

Father Barota told Tassone about a new family in the parish who had recently fled Iraq under the threat of ISIS. Fortuitously, they had previously arranged six-month travel visas in the hope of attending a family wedding this year. When ISIS captured Mosul on June 10 the mother and three children left immediately for California where they now live divided among relatives who reside here permanently.

The father, who was not permitted to leave with his family, is in a small town under the protection of the Kurdish government.

Margaret Petros, a parishioner at St. Mary’s, a native

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of the Assyrian region and a longtime victims’ advocate, asked Father Barota after Mass one day if she could help the family navigate the complicated legal process of seeking asylum.

“Their visas were due to expire Dec. 12. Father Barota took me to the three children standing a few feet away and told them that their prayers had been answered,” Petros told Catholic San Francisco.

In August, Petros and the family began the asylum application. On Nov. 11, family members were interviewed in San Francisco by an asylum officer.

At their table at the fundraiser the children smiled shyly when greeted by guests, the youngest mugging with adolescent charm for the camera. “But they are scared,” Petros said. “They are worried about their father and miss him terribly, but do not want to go back.” If they have to go back, she said, they fear childhood abductions by ISIS. “Young Christian women are sold on the open market and young boys are captured and brainwashed into extreme Islam or killed,” she said.

Tassone said $2,000 raised last week will be given to the family pay for legal costs and $5,000 will go to the Knights of Columbus Refugee Fund, which has already disbursed over $2 million for aid to displaced Christians.

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FROM THE FRONT 9

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | DECEMBER 5, 2014

FERGUSON: Police officer says ‘faith comes into every aspect of this job’ FROM PAGE 1

Wall, a 50-year-old married father of a teenager, not only volunteered for duty, willfully taking the risk, but counted himself as fortunate for being there.

This from a man who in 12-hour shifts on his two weeks of voluntary duty was spit on, was hit by rocks, bricks and bottles of urine, and was berated – with protesters calling him every name in the book.

“In those two weeks, I was called more things than in the 25 years I’ve been in this business,” said Wall, who became a police officer in 1989 and joined the county force in 1998. “I’ve worked narcotics, I’ve worked homicide and I’ve never been talked to like that. Ever.”

In those moments, his Catholic faith guided Wall, particularly the part about loving thy neighbor.

“Faith comes into every aspect of this job,” said Wall, who became a Catholic in 1991. “You have to forgive. I can’t personally hold a grudge against any of these people; they were not screaming at me as an individual. I understand, and most of us understand, they’re looking at a uniform and not a face. They don’t know me and everything that I stand for.

“You have to have forgiveness in your own heart,” he told the St. Louis Review, the archdiocesan newspaper, in an interview some days before the grand jury handed down its decision that there would be no indictment of the police officer who killed.

When Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson, who is white, fatally shot 18-year-old Brown, an African-American, racial unrest in the St. Louis suburb led to protests. Some demonstrators looted and burned local businesses.

When it was announced that after three months of looking at the evidence and hearing more than

A native of St. Louis, Wall describes the venom directed at him and other officers in Ferguson as ‘unbelievable,’ particularly since he knew, or at least recognized, some of the people hurling insults.

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Sgt. Matt Pleviak talks with Sgt. John Wall Nov. 21 at the St. Louis County Police Department in Clayton, Missouri.

70 hours of testimony, the grand jury declined to indict Wilson, violent protests followed. Protests have continued in Ferguson and across the country.

From the beginning, Wall and fellow officers have leaned on the pastoral care of county police chaplains. Chaplains started each shift with a prayer before the officers role call and briefing at the police command center. Catholic priests served among chaplains of many religions.

“No one went to church for two weeks either; you’re working the whole time. So, it was very helpful to have the chaplains there,” Wall said.

The prospect of having Mass or other religious services at the command post was out of the question. Work consumed the officers, for one, and it wasn’t safe anyway. Bomb threats prompted Gov. Jay Nixon to call out the National Guard to protect the command center and make it a safe haven for officers.

The scene of the unrest on the quarter-mile stretch of West Florissant in Ferguson was unsafe.

A native of St. Louis, Wall describes the venom directed at him and other officers in Ferguson as “unbelievable,” particularly since he knew, or at least recognized, some of the people hurling insults.

“The people we took it from were ... people I had good relations with,” he said, adding that he gave

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those people the benefit of the doubt. “There were people that just got caught up in the heat of the moment.”

The protesters “came from all walks of life – young, old, ministers,” Wall said, noting that one woman among the latter “really laid into me, saying things like how we mistreat people, how we beat people, how we should be ashamed of ourselves, and all the people that I’ve killed. I was just looking at her. I haven’t killed anybody. I haven’t fired my gun in 25 years as a police officer. Been shot at, though.”

It’s a tough time for the men and women in uniform and their families, but Wall’s attitude is to grin-and-bear it. “You just have to gut through it.”

For all of the bad Wall has experienced in Ferguson, he also has experienced much good, starting with people closest to him – “family members, friends and people of the parish.”

People also have come up to him while he’s in uniform and thanked him for being a police officer.

In the meantime, Wall’s wife and daughter worry about his safety in Ferguson.

“My family has worried way more than I’d like them to,” Wall said, adding, “I know how to take care of myself and take care of my people. They don’t need to worry about me.”

Thoughts of his wife and daughter are with Wall at all times; he has only to look at the two rings he wears on the little finger of his right hand. From his wife, he has a ring with crosses. From his daughter, he has a rosary ring. He also carries a rosary in his duty bag, hands out St. Michael the Archangel prayer cards and wears a St. Michael pendant that his wife gave him 24 years ago. St. Michael is the patron saint for policemen, and even non-Catholic officers wear the medals and carry the prayer cards in their pockets.

“Almost every policeman will have a religious trinket of some kind,” Wall said. “Faith is huge in the police department, and in the military, too. It’s a big presence.

“Like a minister, a policeman is there for good.”

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CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | DECEMBER 5, 2014

OBAMA, CUPICH TALK IMMIGRATION

CHICAGO – Chicago Archbishop Blase J. Cupich held a brief private meeting with President Barack Obama when the president visited the city to promote his executive actions on immigration.

In an interview aired on CBS’s “Face the Nation� Nov. 30, the archbishop said that he and the U.S. bishops support the president’s efforts.

He expressed gratitude for the plan to help immigrants who lack legal status, enabling them to “come out of the shadows� and live out aspirations for a better life that “were placed in their hearts by God. We have to attend to that. It’s not just something they want on their own. God has always called us to a better life.�

REPORT: SUPPORTING WOMEN CAN COMBAT POVERTY

WASHINGTON –In the ďŹ ght against worldwide hunger and poverty, a new report by the Bread for the World Institute found that when women are empowered, everyone wins. “We have made great strides in reducing hunger and poverty around the world, yet women continue to be treated like second-class citizens,â€? the Rev. David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World, a Christian citizens’ anti-hunger lobby, told a panel discussion Nov. 24. “Progress toward women’s empowerment has been slow due to discriminatory laws, unpaid work caring for the family and traditions that demean their capacity as decision-makers.â€?

Speaker: New evangelization needed to counter lukewarm faith JOANNE FOX CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE

SIOUX CITY, Iowa – Ralph Martin, a leader in the Catholic renewal ministries movement, told an audience at an evangelization summit in Sioux City that he sees a danger in lukewarm faith and a de-Christianized spirit in society today.

Cardinal Donald W. Wuerl of Washington warned at the last synod, he said, “that our society was being engulfed by a tsunami of secularism. We have to recover our conďŹ dence in the truth of our faith.â€?

Martin, who is president of Renewal Ministries in Ann Arbor, Michigan, was in the Sioux City diocese recently to address a convocation of priests, a retreat for diocesan staff and a summit on the new evangelization.

For each audience he asked and answered the question, “What’s new with the new evangelization?�

Addressing the “newâ€? part of evangelization necessitated an explanation of evangelization ďŹ rst, he told the crowd at St. Michael Church in Sioux City, where one day of the summit was held. “St. John Paul II provided us with a deďŹ nition,â€? he

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said. “That is: ‘The proclamation of the word of God has Christian conversion as its aim; a complete and sincere adherence to Christ and his Gospel through faith.’�

St. John Paul sensed the moment had come to embrace a new evangelization and had speciďŹ c ideas on what would make it “new,â€? explained Martin, the author of “The Urgency of the New Evangelization: Answering the Call.â€? “(The pope) ďŹ rst asked who it would be directed to,â€? he said. “Traditionally ‘primary evangelization’ is directed to those who have never heard the Gospel message. However, this new evangelization needed to be directed to those who have a Christian background, but are not living as disciples of Jesus Christ.â€?

Martin was an official expert at the October 2012 world Synod of Bishops on the new evangelization.

He is director of graduate programs in the new evangelization at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit and has been a leader in charismatic renewal since the 1970s.

In his presentation at St. Michael, he asked, “Who implements this new evangelization?� “Previously, we thought priests and nuns and people who work full time for the Catholic Church,� he said. “But Pope John Paul said, in referencing Vatican II documents, every single person is called to evangelize and they are empowered to do so when they are baptized.�

Martin believes most Catholics have a foggy idea of what their Catholic mission should be. “There are three ďŹ elds of lay participation in the mission of the church,â€? he said, referring to the Second Vatican Council’s Decree on the Apostolate of Laity People. “1) the mission of evangelization and sanctiďŹ cation; 2) the mission of renewing the temporal order; 3) the mission of mercy and charity.â€?

Martin added a fourth: A willingness to talk about Jesus. “If you don’t have the fourth element,� he paused. “It’s core to the others, but it makes us squirm.�

Martin praised Pope Francis who has kicked evangelization up a notch. “We don’t all have to be preachers, but we have to be able to be informal preachers,� he said. “Bring Jesus, bring prayer, bring your faith into conversations.�

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WORLD 11

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | DECEMBER 5, 2014

‘THE PLANET IS SAD’: MARCHERS PRAY FOR SUCCESS OF UN CLIMATE SUMMIT

LIMA, Peru – Dwarfed by the grownups holding banners and signs around her, Ruby Arizabal clutched a doll in one hand and a candle in the other.

“I’ve come here,” she told Catholic News Service, “because the planet is sad.”

The 6-year-old was one of the youngest participants in an interfaith candlelight march and prayer vigil on the eve of the U.N. climate summit, which will run from Dec. 1 to 12 in this city of 9 million people that sprawls across Peru’s coastal desert.

The summit is seen as a crucial last step on the road to a new international treaty to curb emission of greenhouse gases, which a new U.N. study says could push global temperatures to dangerous levels by the end of this century.

“We don’t just want promises – we want them to be put into action,” Elias Szczytnicki, general secretary of the Latin American and Caribbean Council of Religious Leaders of the World Conference of Religions for Peace, told the marchers.

Development that ignores environmental impacts “will have very significant consequences for future generations,” he said.

(CNS PHOTO/BARBARA FRASER)

Ruby Arazabel, 6, takes part in a Nov. 30 vigil for climate change on the eve of the U.N. climate summit in Lima, Peru.

POPE, RELIGIOUS LEADERS PLEDGE TO WORK TOGETHER TO END SLAVERY

VATICAN CITY – As Pope Francis and leaders of other churches and religions signed a declaration pledging to work together to help end modern slavery in the world by 2020, he urged governments, businesses and all people of good will to join forces against this “crime against humanity.”

Tens of millions of people are “in chains” because of human trafficking and forced labor, and it is leading to their “dehumanization and humiliation,” the pope said at the ceremony

Dec. 2, the U.N. Day for the Abolition of Slavery.

Every human person is born with the same dignity and freedom, and any form of discrimination that does not respect this truth “is a crime and very often an abhorrent crime,” the pope said.

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2014 HOLIDAY SEASON Working for you to keep you safe, working with you to protect our city

Martin Halloran President

of Al-Azhar University – a leading Sunni Muslim institution in Cairo – and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople.

The declaration recognized that any action that fails to respect every person’s freedom and dignity “is a crime against humanity.”

POPE: GOD REVEALS HIMSELF TO HUMBLE

VATICAN CITY – God reveals himself to humble and meek hearts, said Pope Francis at morning Mass.

“Many can know science, theology as well. But if they do not do this theology on their knees, that is, humbly, like the little ones, they will not understand anything. They will tell us many things, but they will not understand anything,” he said Dec. 2 in his homily during the Mass in the Domus Sanctae Marthae where he lives.

In the day’s Gospel reading, Luke 10:21-24, Jesus praises God the father for having “hidden these things from the wise and the learned ... and revealed them to the childlike.”

12

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | DECEMBER 5, 2014

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | DECEMBER 5, 2014

Presentation Sisters serve hot coffee, warm hospitality at weekly predawn breakfast for homeless, day workers

Presentation Sisters Máire Sullivan, Sylvia Llerena and Virginia Espinal serve breakfast Nov. 26 in the basement of the rectory at St. Anthony Church in San Francisco’s Mission District, with a recently restored Marian wall mural behind them.

ALL ARE WELCOME

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STORY AND PHOTOS BY RICK DELVECCHIO | CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO

ell before dawn Tuesday morning of Thanksgiving week, the lights go on in the rectory basement at St. Anthony Church in San Francisco’s Mission District: The Presentation Sisters of the Blessed Virgin Mary, providing breakfast to day workers and the homeless in the neighborhood weekly for the past 15 years, are again ready to serve.

By 5:30 a.m. Sister Máire Sullivan, Sister Virginia Espinal and Sister Sylvia Llerena are on station behind a serving table on one side of the room, with aproned Presentation associate Pat Hageman helping with the preparations of sweets, pastries and fruit. They work in front of a Marian wall mural that was recently restored by students from St. Francis High School in Sacramento. Behind a serving table on the other side of the room are Sister Denise Bourdet and Sister Anita Torres (Sister Rosina Conrotto usually attends but had another appointment on this day). At the back working the coffee urn is Sister Stephanie Still, president of the community of women religious that has been active in San Francisco since 1854 and seeks to promote a society that respects the dignity of all persons with emphasis on compassion and justice for the poor and oppressed.

Frank Arana, a volunteer from the parish, drops in to chat with Sister Stephanie. Behind the scenes is another parish volunteer, Juan Sanchez, who starts his day in the rectory kitchen at 4 and proudly shows off his domain as he poses for pictures with Sister Máire.

Feeding 75 to 100 people weekly, the breakfast program started out as a service for day workers but now helps “anybody who needs it,” says Sister Máire, who founded it and enjoys how peaceably everybody gets along.

“I love it,” she says. “Everybody who comes loves it.”

The mood of the room is notably convivial among guests, sisters and volunteers and grows more so toward the end of the 90-minute breakfast. Sitting next to Sister Denise and wearing a muffed hat in the predawn

Timothy Puckett, left, and Gregory T. Brown enjoy an early breakfast.

Presentation Sister Anita Torres serves guests at the sisters’ weekly breakfast at St. Anthony Church in the Mission District. chill, guest Dudley Smith is a center of interest as he plays favorite tunes on his laptop – James Brown first (there is a brief jocular discussion contrasting the styles of Brown and Barry White) and then Neil Diamond, with ‘60s pop hits “Holly Holy” and “I’m a Believer” filling the room and helping bring the Presentation Sisters’ breakfast time on this Tuesday of Thanksgiving week to a close in warmth and style.

Six Presentation Sisters and Presentation associate Pat Hageman take their stations at the weekly breakfast.

Parish volunteer Juan Sanchez opens the kitchen at 4 a.m.

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14 OPINION

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | DECEMBER 5, 2014

Valiant in battle This week’s column of “Miter and Voice” is based on a talk Archbishop Cordileone gave in October to young seminarians at St. Patrick’s Seminary & University in Menlo Park. At the end of the column, Archbishop Cordileone applies his reflections to how Catholics ought to prepare for Christmas.

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know we are not supposed to brag, but please indulge me. I want to brag about my cousin. It was a year ago at this time that my cousin Joe was awarded the Silver Star for heroism in battle – 46 years after the fact. I was 11 years old at the time when he went off to fight in Vietnam with the Marines. And I remember that he was wounded and received a Purple Heart. It wasn’t a disabling wound, though, and he shows no sign of it today.

But I didn’t know the full ARCHBISHOP story until last year. Like a SALVATORE J. real man, he never talked CORDILEONE about it.

My cousin’s unit walked into an ambush. Bullets were flying and men were falling all around him. Those who were lucky enough, including Joe, were able to take shelter in a ditch behind some trees. But there were men on the ground in an open area, wounded and dying; they were sitting ducks. With no regard for his own life, my cousin went out there and pulled them back to safety.

I’m sharing this with you mainly because of what he said in the award ceremony that I was privileged to attend. What he said is relevant to those who serve Christ in the ordained priesthood.

His remarks, though set in a military framework, speak to the work of priests. This is what he said: “What an honor to receive this award. Once again, the Marine Corps gives me far more than anything I ever gave to the corps. It has been almost 45 years since I wore the uniform. But I’m still a Marine. I will always be a Marine.

“And I will always be grateful to the corps. Why? For starters, very early on, the corps taught me to accept discipline imposed upon me from the outside. More importantly it taught me self-discipline.

The corps taught me how to face adversity. The Marine Corps instilled in me the will to give the

D

(CNS PHOTO/NANCY PHELAN WIECHEC)

A medal bearing the name and image of the Archangel Michael, patron saint of paratroopers, is pictured in 2012 among the items cataloged and preserved in the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Collection at a National Park Service museum storehouse in Landover, Maryland. mission my best effort no matter what the odds.

It taught me to keep on going after I felt like I had given it everything I had. We kept on going when we were tired, hungry, sick and disillusioned. The corps taught me to keep going no matter what.

“The Marine Corps showed me that there are things greater than myself. And it made me part of a family that I could rely upon no matter what the hardship – no matter what the cost.

“I certainly know I did no more than any other Marine or corpsman who climbed Hill 881 with me.

That Marines who were with me would recommend me for this honor is humbling. As far as I’m concerned, I accept this on behalf of every Marine who went up Hill 881. If one of us earned it, all of us did.

Not a single one of us believes he was any braver or did anything more than the man next to him….

“I’m not ashamed to tell you, I was a scared

19-year-old kid. I wanted to run away because I was positive that if I stayed there I would die. And I was afraid to die.

“But I feared one thing worse than death. Before I ever set foot on Hill 881, I made up my mind that I would rather die than let down the Marine next to me. I would rather die than leave an injured Marine unattended.

“But you see, to a Marine, that’s not heroism. I know for a fact that every other Marine on that hill felt the same way I did. That is what Marines do.”

Submitting to discipline imposed from without; self-discipline; living, and risking one’s life for the corporate good. That’s what men in combat do.

Make no mistake about it. Priests and all Catholics are in combat. It has now become unfashionable to speak of the “culture war,” or at least, there are some who would like to make it so. They want us to believe that this is a passé concept, or that this war has been fought and won by the … well, however you want to label them – the secularists, the postmodernists, the social anarchists, the deconstructionists. Of course, they try to force us into believing that, because they want us to back off from our position.

Some say the language of “culture war” is not helpful to us, and they have a point. After all, the church is all about peace and reconciliation. But in another sense, we Catholic priests are, and always have been, at war. The church has always understood the reality of spiritual warfare.

The worst soldier is the one who does not realize he is in a war. He fulfills his normal duties on the army base, while the enemy kills, takes prisoners, and occupies territory. While he guards the base, the enemy has occupied vast territory surrounding the base.

In the church, both priests and laypeople are soldiers. Advent is a time when soldiers of Christ prepare to welcome the Child who by lowering himself to be among human beings raised us up to participate in his divinity. Following him in Advent moves us away from the lure of sin and from giving primacy to mundane pursuits which, even if not illegitimate in and of themselves (such as sports, shopping, or partying with friends and coworkers), would result in us dethroning Christ in our hearts.

Embracing the true spirit of Advent instead moves us toward purity and wholeness. It’s a time for prayer, confession, fasting, penance and works of charity.

Lessons from Dietrich von Hildebrand

ietrich von Hildebrand (1889-1977) was a German Catholic philosopher, part of a circle of thinkers that first formed around Edmund Husserl, founder of the philosophical method known as “phenomenology.”

Others in that circle included Max Scheler, on whom Karol Wojtyla (St. John Paul II) wrote his second doctoral thesis, and Edith Stein, now St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. The phenomenologists thought philosophy had gotten detached from reality, drifting into the quicksand of thinking-about-thinkingGEORGE WEIGEL about-thinking. Their motto was “to the things themselves,” and their project was to reconnect thought to reality by a precise observation and analysis of things as they are.

Phenomenology, alas, also rates a special shrine in the philosophy wing of the Opacity Hall of Fame.

The phenomenological method lends itself to a certain circularity, and a lot of patience is required to work through a typically dense phenomenological text – especially when the author is German. In my brief experience of him as a philosopher, Dietrich von Hildebrand was no exception to this rule.

Imagine my happy surprise, then, in discovering a collection of Hildebrand’s diaries and pre-World War II lectures, edited by John Henry Crosby and John F. Crosby and recently published as “My Battle Against Hitler: Faith, Truth, and Defiance in the Shadow of the Third Reich” (Image). Here was a Hildebrand I’d never met before: A crisp, feisty

writer, who wore his emotions on his literary sleeve as he fought against the emerging Hitler regime and the Catholic intellectuals who were seduced by it, some for brief periods, others for longer.

That seduction was, in a word, appalling. In May 1933, for example, the Catholic Academic Association met at the Benedictine Abbey of Maria Laach (one of the Dietrich von Hildebrand in centers of the pre-Vati1939 can II liturgical movement). To what Hildebrand described as his “great distress,” Hitler’s vice chancellor, Franz von Papen, a Catholic, was invited to lecture; even worse, “a priest from Maria Laach praised the Third Reich as the realization of the body of christ in the secular world.” Hildebrand resigned from the association to protest this “ignominious affair.”

Dietrich von Hildebrand believed that Nazism breathed the ancient spirit of the Antichrist, with whom the church could have no truck. Thus he wrote friends in Munich at Pentecost 1933, explaining that “it is completely immaterial if the Antichrist refrains from attacking the church for political reasons, or if he concludes a concordat with the Vatican. What is decisive is the spirit that animates him, the heresy he represents, the crimes committed at his behest. God is offended regardless of whether the victim of murder is a Jew, a socialist

or a bishop. Blood that has been innocently spilled cries out to heaven.”

Why did intelligent Catholics in Germany and elsewhere fall prey to the siren-songs of German national Socialism? A close reading of Hildebrand’s diaries suggests that it was in part because they despised liberal democracy, which they regarded as “bourgeois” and decadent. And there certainly were elements of decadence, and aggressive secularism, in Germany’s interwar Weimar Republic.

But a Catholic answer to the quandaries of political modernity was not going to be found in Hitler’s Third Reich (which some foolishly imagined the forerunner of a new Holy Roman Empire) or in Mussolini’s Fascism (which some Catholics thought an expression of the “corporatism” espoused by Pius XI’s 1931 social encyclical “Quadragesimo Anno”).

The answer was a democracy (even under a constitutional monarch) tethered to moral truth through a religiously informed public philosophy drawn from Europe’s heritage of reason and revelation – from the legacies left to Europe by Athens and Jerusalem.

As I read the Hildebrand diaries, that option was not on the table when European Catholic intellectuals discussed the crisis of their continent during the Great Depression. That failure of imagination helped foster the catastrophes of the Holocaust and the second world war, and helped pave the way toward Europe’s current moral-cultural sclerosis.

There are lessons here for all, but especially for those “radical Catholics” tempted to turn legitimate critiques of democratic practice into contempt for the democratic experiment.

WEIGEL is Distinguished Senior Fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, Washington, D.C.

OPINION 15

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | DECEMBER 5, 2014

LETTERS Inspired by Immaculate Heart Sisters I was just reading your Nov. 14 issue and your story on Page 12 “Treasures of the Archives” struck me with the picture of Sister Corita Kent, IHM. I had the Immaculate Heart Sisters for nine years as my teachers at St. VibiSister Corita ana’s Cathedral in Los Kent, IHM Angeles and Sister Corita’s picture brought back many fond memories. Those IHM Sisters were excellent teachers and wonderful ladies, as I so well remember from back in the 1930s and 1940s. Their departure was a terrible loss to the world of education and to the world of religious life in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and in other places where they taught in California.

After seeing Sister Corita’s picture in the old IHM habit, I just had to write to publicly thank those great ladies for the education they gave me and so many other kids at that time. It is just too bad that a mutual understanding could not have been reached between the sisters and the church leadership that would have made it possible for them to remain active in their schools.

Thanks again, IHM Sisters, for your wonderful work and also for laying the groundwork for me to become a De La Salle Christian Brother in my later life.

May God bless each of you wherever you are.

Brother Arnold Stewart, FSC Napa

Giving thanks all year Archbishop Cordileone’s editorial message on the establishment of our national Thanksgiving holiday including Abraham Lincoln’s eloquent appeal to the public to give thanks to God for all we have in our nation, prompted me to consider the giving of thanks in general.

It might be just as gracious and as Christian to give thanks throughout the year to all our people of God who faithfully continue to fund our parishes and our missions and labor in the vineyard of the world on a daily basis to keep the nation going despite the long recession and limitations of age and individual circumstances.

If all the pastors here would begin their Christmas homilies with “Thank you for coming,” it would be a fine example to welcome the new year and encourage us also to welcome strangers.

Pope Francis, I’m sure, would agree.

Rosemary K. Ring Kentfield The writer is a member of St. Sebastian Parish, Kentfield.

Remembering Father Eugene Duggan On behalf of the parishioners of St. Mary Star of the Sea, Sausalito, we would like to thank Archbishop Cordileone for presiding over the funeral for Father Eugene Duggan. He was such a well-loved and respected priest Father Eugene and will be greatly Duggan missed. Father Duggan was humble, kind, compassionate, inspirational and so much more.

We were blessed to have you with us

to honor such a beloved priest and console a grieving parish.

St. Mary Star of the Sea held a special place in Father Duggan’s heart.

We were proud he chose to have his funeral at our parish and we were honored that you could be with us for the funeral Mass celebrating this good priest’s life.

Evie LaHaie, chair, Finance Committee Don Miller, chair, Parish Council St. Mary Star of the Sea, Sausalito

Thanks, Archbishop Cordileone I’m sure I speak for the many parishioners at St. Mary Star of The Sea who so appreciated Archbishop Cordileone officiating at our dear Father Eugene Duggan’s funeral Mass Nov. 14. Thank you very much, archbishop – your presence warmed the hearts of those who knew and loved Father Duggan.

We also feel very blessed to have welcomed you on two other occasions to Star of the Sea. We truly love seeing you.

Your Thanksgiving reflection in the Nov. 21 issue of Catholic San Francisco was inspirational and so in keeping with our nation at this time, sadly still torn apart.

We hope you come see us soon.

Noreen Barrington St. Mary Star of the Sea parishioner

Respecting works of the wealthy Re “Rich and Poor,” Virginia Hayes, letter to the editor, Nov. 21: I wholeheartedly agree. I wish to add that many who are amassing wealth also play their part in the social welfare activities and always want to improve conditions of living. People have a right to succeed and accumulate wealth.

Wealth creates jobs and alleviates poverty and gives people a better way of life.

Lenny Barretto Daly City

Choosing love at the end of life Re “Physician-assisted suicide and confronting our fears,” Father Tadeusz Pacholczyk, Nov. 21: Thank you to Father Pacholczyk for his convincing reasons to not end our lives when suffering prolonged illness. Undoubtedly, we must not give up on this wondrously complex human body God has created, and we are bound by our honorable duty to love our family by not letting them down while they try all they can do for our comfort and well-being.

Robert Jimenez Burlingame

The least among us Re “Rich and Poor”: A person in our Catholic community asks the question, in response to a great article by Tony Magliano about the newly beatified Paul VI who promoted the church’s social justice teachings, “Who are all these people he is crying for ... trying to lay a guilt trip on everybody ... where are these people coming from?”

The honest answer is that the vast majority is already here, and has been for a long time. In addition, to imply that the nonprofits “aren’t getting the job done because they’d be out of their tax-free jobs” is ludicrous. A nonprofit does not mean that the people who work there don’t pay taxes. Last, the writer states that “the rich get richer because they take chances that the ‘poor’ are hesitant to take.” I see, the poor wouldn’t be poor if they just invested their largesse

(because they really aren’t poor because there is rent control and they just got a raise in their minimum wage) in the stock market and hedge funds.

I just have one question for Catholics who see life as this contributor does: What do you think Jesus meant when he said, “Whatsoever you do to these, the least of my brothers and sisters, you do to me”? I guess, like Tony Magliano, Jesus was trying to “lay a guilt trip” on those who do not recognize the church’s preferential option for the poor and reject our Papa Francesco’s love for the least among us.

Sue Malone Hayes San Francisco

Church and immigration This is hard letter to pen but here goes. I am in complete disagreement with the (conference of U.S. bishops’) stance on immigration and have been for years. In the kindest words I can muster, they are not experts in law or the economy. In short, they are misled and are doing considerable damage to the country.

I understand their reasons of compassion. However, I find it out of their purview to ask others to pay for aiding millions upon millions of illegals, and more to come by the president’s open-door policy. They have asked us to look the other way while others break our laws, and then ask us to support them? They tie the hands of police officers trying to protect us. I do not define this as charity, nor social justice, but as a way employed by communistic countries where all are considered equal, and which have fallen because of that form of government.

It was once said: This idea is neither Catholic, nor charity. We have laws to control immigration for good reasons.

These invaders do not respect that, nor do the bishops who accept this invasion of both law and land. Shame on them.

They have lost their way and have let the secular view guide them. They need prayers and grace to uphold truth.

Justine Nunan San Bruno Editor’s note: According to the U.S. bishops’ website presenting the bishops’ position on immigration reform, “The Catholic Catechism instructs the faithful that good government has two duties, both of which must be carried out and neither of which can be ignored. The first duty is to welcome the foreigner out of charity and respect for the human person. … The second duty is to secure one’s border and enforce the law for the sake of the common good. … According to a bishops’ press release Nov. 20, Bishop Eusebio Elizondo, auxiliary bishop of Seattle and chairman of the bishops’ committee on migration, welcomed the news that the Obama administration will defer deportations for many undocumented immigrants and their families, saying, “We have a long history of welcoming and aiding the poor, the outcast, the immigrant, and the disadvantaged. Each day, the Catholic Church in the United States, in her social service agencies, hospitals, schools, and parishes, witnesses the human consequences of the separation of families, when parents are deported from their children or spouses from each other. We’ve been on record asking the administration to do everything within its legitimate authority to bring relief and justice to our immigrant brothers and sisters. As pastors, we welcome any efforts within these limits that protect individuals and protect and reunite families and vulnerable children.”

LETTERS POLICY EMAIL letters.csf@sfarchdiocese.org WRITE Letters to the Editor, Catholic San Francisco, One Peter Yorke Way, San Francisco, CA 94109

NAME, address and daytime phone number for verification required SHORT letters preferred: 250 words or fewer

Paying attention ahead of the Christmas season

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or some, the Christmas season is a time of joy, while for others it’s a time of sadness or stress.

For most of us, it never quite measures up to the white Christmas of our dreams or the one we think we should be having.

Could it be that we don’t know where to capture its FATHER EUGENE real spirit?

An excelHEMRICK lent means for changing this can be found in Father John Dunne’s book “Dark Light of Love.” In it, he quotes Nicolas Malebranche, who writes, “Attention is the natural prayer of the soul.”

Father Dunne explains that “attention can be a relation with God and with others and with all living beings. It is by way of attention that we walk the road of union and reunion. Attention is how we find our way through the dark night of faith, attention to things happening, to signs, to the heart speaking, to the way opening up before us.”

One of the undesirable side effects of our times is that we live in a world full of distractions.

These distractions leave us with little time to pay attention. These distractions have created less introspectiveness on our part, heightened inattentiveness and dulled our sensitivities. Spouses, children and friends often become a blur as we rush through the day, especially during the Christmas season.

Problems may plague us, yet we never seem to take time to listen to what the heart tells us to do to fix our problems. We need to ask, Is life merely a series of passing events? Do we fail to enter into life more deeply because of inattentiveness? Do we ever think of how much we miss out on because we’re rushing? When last have we truly stopped to smell the roses?

Have we found time for our loved ones and imbibed the wonders of God’s creation?

Father Dunne speaks of union and reunion as outcomes of paying attention. Implied here is the forming of relationships in which we put aside our self-interests and give full attention to others, to those who mean most in life.

We need to unite with them. This attention forms the heart of real friendship, of true love or cherished comradeship.

Most important, forming a relationship with God is at the very heart of the heavenly Christmas that we dream about and deserve because it forces us to focus our attention on our heavenly Father, its creator.

16 OPINION

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | DECEMBER 5, 2014

Welcome home!

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hose who serve in young adult ministry (serving adults 18-40, married, single, with and without children), have many opportunities to listen to the joys, gifts, needs and concerns in our Catholic Church.

One primary concern that is often voiced is concerns how so many people do not feel welcome in church, especially at ANGELA POLLOCK Sunday Mass.

In preparation for the Christmas holidays it is helpful to reflect on ways individuals and communities of faith can help welcome one another home and create even more ways to celebrate this joyous season.

Of the many displays of hospitality we encounter in the Bible, two hospitality scenes are especially beautiful. The first involves Abraham and the other occurs in Jesus’ parable of the prodigal son.

The first story focuses on Abraham, whom God has already showered with many gifts. The only thing lacking to Abraham and Sarah, both of whom are now advanced in years, is the gift of a son, a necessary component of God’s promise to make Abraham’s descendants as numerous as the stars in the heavens. From chapter 18 of Genesis we learn that Abraham one day ran out to meet three strangers he sees on the road, saying: “My Lord, if I find favor with you, do not pass by your servant. Let a little water be brought and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree.

Let me bring a little bread that you may refresh yourselves …” (Genesis 18:5).

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Perspectives from Archbishop Cordileone and guest writers The second scene is the return of the prodigal son, who, after securing his inheritance money from his father, left home to go off to a foreign country to have a good time. After running out of money and wallowing in poverty, he decides to return to his father and simply ask for a position as one of his father’s hired hands. While the son is still far away down the road, the father, who has been constantly watching and hoping for his son’s return, sees him in the distance. The father runs out to his son on the road and consoles him. He then turns to one of the servants: “’Quickly, bring out a robe, the best one, and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. And get the fatted calf and kill it. And let us eat and celebrate; for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!’ And they began to celebrate” (Luke 15:22-24).

In the first scene Abraham runs out to greet strangers, and in the second, the father runs out to welcome the son who just wasted his entire inheritance.

Both rush to greet, and both shower the people they greet with excellent food and other comforts.

These are fine examples of good practices, to be followed by Catholics in their

own parishes. In our society, running out from the church to greet someone coming near the parish church may feel awkward. Nonetheless, parishioners can make a true fuss over people once they enter the vestibule of the church.

This particularly applies to Catholics or would-be Catholics whom people have not seen in church for some time.

The desire to meet and greet a new person imitates Christ’s dealing with people. Thinking negatively to oneself, “What is she or he doing here?” is pharisaical conduct that Jesus often criticized. The Pharisee who observed the woman bathing Jesus’ feet with oil and her own tears said to himself: “If this man (Jesus) were truly a prophet, he would have known who and what kind of woman this is who is touching him – that she is a sinner” (Luke 7:40).

Every Catholic likely acts sometimes like Abraham, other times like the father of the prodigal son, and, unfortunately, at times a little like the Pharisee who assumed that Jesus would not want himself touched by a sinner.

The challenge for Christians is both individual and collective. Praying for the grace to respond to strangers as Abraham did, to relatives as the father

of the prodigal son did, and to people who expressed their repentance for past sins in a dramatic way should be both a personal prayer for each Catholic and a collective prayer of each parish.

Personal and collective prayer should yield a joyous homecoming for anyone who has been away from Mass for some time. And prayer should lead to particular, effective practices. At Mass, a Catholic family focused on hospitality greets people warmly in the vestibule, lingers to make sure they have exchanged greetings with everyone present in the vestibule at that time. Also, as they walk to their favorite pew, they nod to people and smile at others before they sit or kneel down.

In the Abraham story as well as in the parable of the prodigal son there is a meal. A great gift this Christmas would be to help your parish sponsor a big potluck lunch or dinner at some convenient time after Christmas. The announcement at Christmas of this event might sound like the following: “Welcome, we are so happy to see everyone here today! We would love to invite you to a holiday gathering this coming weekend, at which there will be food, songs and games! We are so happy you are here and we want you all to feel at home!” People who have been away from the sacraments for some time take a risk when they show up at church on Christmas. They should know that the parish wants to celebrate both because Christ was born to us and because some spiritual relatives have come home.

ANGELA POLLOCK is the Director of Young Adult Ministry for the Archdiocese of San Francisco, helping to build community within our parishes among adults 18-40, married, single, with or without children.

Understanding Mary’s Immaculate Conception

t the beginning of the liturgical year we honor the immaculately conceived Virgin Mary. The solemnity of Mary’s Immaculate Conception is celebrated Dec. 8, and honors the conception of Mary in the womb of her mother, St. Anne, without original sin.

In 2008 we celebrated the 150th anniversary of the BROTHER JOHN Blessed Virgin’s M. SAMAHA, SM apparitions at Lourdes, where she identified herself to St. Bernadette as the Immaculate Conception. In 2004 we observed the 150th anniversary of Blessed Pope Pius IX’s solemn definition of this dogma on Dec. 8, 1854. Blessed Pius IX explained that Mary was preserved from original sin by a “singular grace and privilege” given her by God “in view of the merits of Jesus Christ,” redeemer of the human race. Mary, like every other human being, needed the redemptive benefits of Christ. But in anticipation of what God did for all through Christ, she alone was preserved from original sin “from the first moment of her conception.” As one writer asserted, hers was “redemption by exemption.” By her Immaculate Conception she was conceived in the fullness of grace, in the state of closest possible union with God in view of her future role as the mother of the redeemer.

The feast of the Immaculate Conception of Mary was celebrated already in

the seventh century in Palestine as the Conception by St. Anne of the Theotokos (Mother of God) on Dec. 9. The doctrine is understood differently by some Eastern Christian churches because of a variance in their theological understanding of original sin. The observance spread west from Constantinople. Still called the Conception of St. Anne and observed on Dec. 8, it was prominent in Naples in the ninth century; in English monasteries in the 11th century, when it was called the feast of the conception of Our Lady; and in France in the 12th century.

When the feast was introduced in France, St. Bernard of Clairvaux opposed it, igniting a controversy that endured for three centuries. Most scholastic theologians, including St. Anselm of Canterbury, St. Albert the Great, St. Thomas Aquinas, and St. Bonaventure opposed the doctrine on the grounds that it detracted from the universality of the redemption by Christ. But it was defended and explained with theological clarity in the 13th century by Blessed John Duns Scotus, a Franciscan. In 1263 the Franciscans adopted the feast.

The opponents of this feast and doctrine had argued that Mary had to be touched by original sin for at least an instant, even though she was sanctified in her mother’s womb. John Duns Scotus resolved these objections by explaining that Christ can save and redeem in two ways: He can rescue from sin those already fallen; or he can preserve one from being touched by sin even for an instant. Mary was granted “redemption by exemption.”

The Council of Basel in 1439 affirmed this belief. Ten years later the Sorbonne in Paris required all its degree candi-

The feast of the Immaculate Conception is celebrated Dec. 8. dates to pledge an oath to defend the Immaculate Conception of Mary. Pope Sixtus IV in 1476 approved the feast with its proper Mass and office, and in 1708 Pope Clement IX extended the feast to the universal church and made it a holy day of obligation.

Later the Council of Trent (15451563) explicitly declared that Mary was exempt from the taint of original sin.

From then on the belief was embraced generally and defended by all schools of theology. Many Catholic thinkers and founders of the 18th and 19th centuries promoted and expounded Mary’s Immaculate Conception with special interest and verve, and this doctrine became an important part of many Marian spiritualities. One such exponent was Blessed William Joseph Chaminade (1761-1850), founder of the Marianist family.

At the First Council of Baltimore in 1846 the Catholic bishops of the United States of America chose Mary under the title of her Immaculate Conception as the patron saint of the nation.

This deepened interest in the vast new country.

The apparition of Mary Immaculate to St. Catherine Laboure in 1830 at Paris had also advanced this devotion. At that time Mary asked the young nun to produce the miraculous medal, which honored the Immaculate Conception.

And the solemn definition in 1854 was the culmination of this development.

Like an additional seal of approval on the definition four years later Mary appeared to the uneducated and sickly youngster, St. Bernadette Soubirous, at Lourdes. When Bernadette asked the Virgin Mary on March 25, 1858, to identify herself, Mary replied, “I am the Immaculate Conception.”

In 1863 a new Mass and office were composed for the feast of the Immaculate Conception of Mary. This feast is also celebrated as the Conception of Mary by the Church of England.

Among the Eastern Christian Churches the feast of the Conception by St. Anne of the Most Holy Theotokos continues to be observed on Dec. 9. The date set for this feast is nine months before the birth of Mary on Sept. 8.

To celebrate the centenary of the definition of Mary’s Immaculate Conception, Pope Pius XII, a devout apostle of Mary, declared 1954 a Marian Year – the first.

Now, 160 years later, we are privileged to continue to honor that solemn definition of Mary’s “redemption by exemption” and its recognition by Mary Immaculate at Lourdes.

“O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to you.”

MARIANIST BROTHER JOHN SAMAHA lives in Cupertino.

FAITH 17

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | DECEMBER 5, 2014

SUNDAY READINGS

Second Sunday of Advent

‘One mightier than I is coming after me. I am not worthy to stoop and loosen the thongs of his sandals.

I have baptized you with water; he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.’

MARK 1:1-8 ISAIAH 40:1-5, 9-11 Comfort, give comfort to my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her service is at an end, her guilt is expiated; indeed, she has received from the hand of the Lord double for all her sins. A voice cries out: In the desert prepare the way of the Lord! Make straight in the wasteland a highway for our God! Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill shall be made low; the rugged land shall be made a plain, the rough country, a broad valley. Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

Go up on to a high mountain, Zion, herald of glad tidings; cry out at the top of your voice, Jerusalem, herald of good news! Fear not to cry out and say to the cities of Judah: Here is your God! Here comes with power the Lord God, who rules by his strong arm; here is his reward with him, his recompense before him. Like a shepherd he feeds his flock; in his arms he gathers the lambs, carrying them in his bosom, and leading the ewes with care.

PSALM 85:9-10, 11-12, 13-14 Lord, let us see your kindness, and grant us your salvation.

I will hear what God proclaims; the Lord—for he proclaims peace to his people. Near indeed is his

salvation to those who fear him, glory dwelling in our land.

Lord, let us see your kindness, and grant us your salvation.

Kindness and truth shall meet; justice and peace shall kiss. Truth shall spring out of the earth, and justice shall look down from heaven.

Lord, let us see your kindness, and grant us your salvation.

The Lord himself will give his benefits; our land shall yield its increase. Justice shall walk before him, and prepare the way of his steps.

Lord, let us see your kindness, and grant us your salvation.

2 PETER 3:8-14 Do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like one day. The Lord does not delay his promise, as some regard “delay,” but he is patient with you, not wishing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a mighty roar and the elements will be dissolved by fire, and the earth and everything done on it will be found out. Since everything is to be dissolved in this way, what sort of persons ought you to be, conducting yourselves

in holiness and devotion, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved in flames and the elements melted by fire. But according to his promise we await new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Therefore, beloved, since you await these things, be eager to be found without spot or blemish before him, at peace.

MARK 1:1-8 The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God. As it is written in Isaiah the prophet: Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you; he will prepare your way. A voice of one crying out in the desert: “Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.” John the Baptist appeared in the desert proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. People of the whole Judean countryside and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the Jordan River as they acknowledged their sins.

John was clothed in camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist. He fed on locusts and wild honey.

And this is what he proclaimed: “One mightier than I is coming after me. I am not worthy to stoop and loosen the thongs of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

Comfort, with a catch

I

n the play “Inherit the Wind,” Bertram Cates, confronting the ire of his town’s religious fervor, stands up in court and declares in utter aggravation: “Religion is supposed to comfort people, not scare them to death!” This is only partially true in its assertion; after all, “the beginning of wisdom is fear of the Lord.”

When asked what they look for most from religion in general and Christianity in particular, many people, if not most, give the same answer: Comfort. It is the first thing people seek from faith and the church and in many ways is what they receive.

This comfort, however, is more than simple moralistic emotional therapy. Ours is FATHER WILLIAM comfort with a catch.

NICHOLAS C.S. Lewis once wrote, “The Christian religion is, in the long run, a thing of unspeakable comfort. But it does not begin in comfort; it begins in the dismay … and it is no use at all trying to go on to that comfort without first going

SCRIPTURE REFLECTION

POPE FRANCIS GOD REVEALS HIMSELF TO HUMBLE HEARTS

God reveals himself to humble and meek hearts, Pope Francis said at morning Mass Dec. 2 at his residence in the Domus Sanctae Marthae in Vatican City.

“Many can know science, theology as well. But if they do not do this theology on their knees, that is, humbly, like the little ones, they will not understand anything. They will tell us many things, but they will not understand anything,” he said.

through that dismay.” He goes on to warn, “Comfort is the one thing you cannot get by looking for it.” Look, instead, he says, for truth. “If you look for truth, you may find comfort in the end: If you look for comfort you will not get either comfort or truth – only soft soap and wishful thinking … and, in the end, despair.”

Through Isaiah the prophet, God declares for his people: “Comfort, give comfort to my people … Speak tenderly to Jerusalem.” Reading further, however, Isaiah proclaims God’s motivation: “Her guilt is expiated … she has received from the hand of the Lord double for all her sins.” God declares “comfort” at the conclusion of a long period of penance, and it is in this context that God, through Isaiah, calls on his people to “prepare the way of the Lord.”

John the Baptist declares the same message. We read this declaration every year on the Second Sunday of Advent as John calls us now as then to “make straight his paths” (Mark 1:3). Like Isaiah, John’s declaration to prepare for the immanent coming of the Lord, includes a call to repentance.

The people who heard John’s message responded with eagerness, and “prepare[d] the way of the Lord” by “being baptized by him in the Jordan River as they acknowledged their sins” (Mark 1:5-6).

The Advent-Christmas cycle of our liturgical

year is always a joyful one as we engage in the hustle and bustle of preparing for the celebration of the Nativity of Our Lord. During the first couple of weeks of Advent, however, our focus is on our true Advent as followers of Christ; not on the birth of Jesus, as that has already happened 2,000 years ago, in a manger, just outside Bethlehem. Rather, our Christian Advent is in awaiting Christ’s return in glory, an event for which we wait in joyful hope, and in unspeakable comfort, but with the constant reminder that we must always “prepare the way of the Lord” through repentance and the acknowledgement of our sins.

True comfort comes only after experiencing dismay. For Israel, it was the dismay of the Exile, after which came the comfort of God’s restoration of his people. For John’s disciples, it was the dismay of acknowledging their sins, followed by the comfort of their sins washed away in the waters of baptism.

For us, already baptized, let us progress through our Advent, repenting our sins, undergoing an ongoing conversion, as we prepare the way for the great return in glory of our Lord.

FATHER NICHOLAS, a priest of the Archdiocese of San Francisco, is on temporary assignment as parochial vicar at St. Rose of Lima Parish, Simi Valley. His website is frwcnicholas.com.

LITURGICAL CALENDAR, DAILY MASS READINGS MONDAY, DECEMBER 8: Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Patronal feast of the United States of America. GN 3:9-15, 20.

PS 98:1, 2-3ab, 3cd-4. EPH 1:3-6, 11-12. SEE LK 1:28. LK 1:26-38.

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 9: Tuesday of the Second Week of Advent. Optional Memorial of St. Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin. IS 40:1-11. PS 96:1-2, 3 and 10ac, 11-12, 13. MT 18:12-14.

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 10: Wednesday of the Second Week of Advent. IS 40:25-31. PS 103:1-2, 3-4, 8 and 10. MT 11:28-30.

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 11: Thursday of the Second Week of Advent. Optional Memorial of St. Damasus I, pope. IS 41:13-20. PS 145:1 and 9, 1011, 12-13ab. SEE IS 45:8. MT 11:11-15.

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 12: Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. ZEC 2:14-17 or RV 11:19a; 12:1-6a, 10ab. JDT 13:18bcde, 19. LK 1:26-38 or LK 1:3947.

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 13: Memorial of St. Lucy, virgin and martyr. SIR 48:1-4, 9-11. PS 80:2ac and 3b, 15-16, 18-19. LK 3:4, 6. MT 17:9a, 10-13.

18 FAITH

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | DECEMBER 5, 2014

Self-sacrifice and the Eucharist

I

n 1996, Muslim extremists martyred nearly an entire community of Trappist monks in Atlas, Algeria.

Many of us, thanks to the movie “Of Gods and Men,” are familiar with their story and are familiar too with the extraordinary faith and courage with which these monks, particularly their abbott, FATHER RON Christian de ROLHEISER Cherge, met their deaths.

Indeed the last letters of Christian de Cherge reveal a faith and love that is truly extraordinary.

For example, in the months leading up to his death, when he already sensed what was to befall him, he wrote a letter to his family within which he already forgave his killers and hoped that they would later be with him in heaven, with both them and him playing in the sun before God. As well, after his first face-toface meeting with a terrorist leader, who has just beheaded nine people, he prayed: “Disarm me, disarm them.”

In his journals, which are published today, he shares this story: On the morning of his first Communion, he told his mother that he really didn’t understand what he was doing in receiving the Eucharist. His mother replied, simply: “You will understand later on.” His journals then trace how his understanding of the Eucharist deepened during his lifetime, especially in the light of his interrelation with Islam and one extraordinary incident in his life. This was the extraordinary incident: From July 1959 until January 1961, Christian was an officer serving with

(CNS PHOTO/L’OSSERVATORE ROMANO)

Pope Francis consecrates the Eucharist during Mass in the Domus Sanctae Marthae at the Vatican June 3. the French army in Algeria. While there, he befriended a man named Mohammed, a family man, a simple man, and a devout Muslim. They soon forged a very deep bond. One day, during a military skirmish, Christian was taken captive by the Algerian army. His friend, Mohammed, intervened and convinced his captors that Christian was sympathetic to their cause. Christian was released but, the next day, Mohammed was found murdered, in retaliation for his role in freeing Christian.

This act of selflessness by his Muslim friend, who in effect gave his life for Christian, permanently seared Christian’s soul. It was never far from his mind and his decision, as a monk, to return to Algeria and live in solidarity with the Muslim community at Atlas and remain there until he died, was largely a result of that foundational event. But it also deepened his understanding of the Eucharist.

His mother had told him: “You will understand later,” and now he did un-

derstand: The Eucharist doesn’t just make Jesus present; it also makes present his sacrificial death for us.

Jesus died for us “and for the many”; but so too did his friend, Mohammed.

He also gave his death for another and in that sacrifice both imitated Jesus’ death and participated in it.

Thus, for Christian, every time he celebrated the Eucharist, he celebrated too the gift of Mohammed’s sacrifice for him. His friend, Mohammed, had also shed his blood “for the many.”

Mohammed’s sacrifice helped Christian to recognize and more deeply appropriate Jesus’ sacrifice because he believed that, in the Eucharist, Jesus’ sacrifice and his friend’s sacrifice were both made real and both rendered present. Christian believed that Christ’s sacrifice includes the sacrifice shown in every act of sacrificial love and consequently his friend’s sacrifice was part of Christ’s sacrifice.

He’s right. At every Eucharist we memorialize the gift that Jesus made of his death, but that memo-

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rial includes too the sacrificial gift of everyone who has imitated Jesus’ selfless love and sacrifice. In the Eucharist, the sacrifice of Christ that we memorialize includes the sacrifice of all who have died, however unconsciously, “for the many.”

The Eucharist is a far-reaching mystery with multiple depths and levels of meaning. We don’t ever fully grasp it. But we’re in good company: When Jesus instituted the Eucharist at the Last Supper the Apostles also didn’t really understand what he was doing, as is witnessed by Peter’s protests when Jesus tries to wash their feet. Peter’s protests show clearly that he did not comprehend what Jesus meant in this eucharistic gesture.

And so, Jesus’ words to Peter and the Apostles are almost identical to those Christian de Cherge’s mother spoke to him when he told her that he didn’t understand the Eucharist: “Later, you will understand.”

When I made my first Communion, I had a childlike understanding of the Eucharist. In my 7-year-old, catechized mind, I believed that I was receiving the real body of Jesus and that, at the Mass where the eucharistic hosts were consecrated, we celebrated the sacrifice of Jesus that opened the gates of heaven for us. Numerous theology degrees and 60 years later, I know now that what I understood about the Eucharist as a child was correct; but I also know that when those two things, Christ’s real presence and Christ’s sacrifice for us, are unpackaged, we find ourselves immersed in an ineffable mystery within which, among other things, all who sacrifice in love for us are also part of the real presence.

And so we keep going to Eucharist, knowing that later, we will understand.

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CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | DECEMBER 5, 2014

Around the archdiocese UNIVERSITY OF SAN FRANCISCO ATHLETICS: Head coach Nino Giarattano and members of the USF baseball team recognized National Hunger & Homelessness Awareness Week Nov. 20 by serving meals to the guests at St. Vincent de Paul’s Multi Service Center homeless shelter. USF student-athletes, coaches and staff make regular visits to the shelter as part of the department’s community engagement and education program. To date, USF student-athletes have served more than 1,000 meals to the homeless and marginally housed citizens of San Francisco. St. Vincent de Paul’s is the largest homeless shelter in Northern California, feeding, clothing and sheltering more than 150,000 people annually.

1

OBITUARY

Sister Barbara Larner, OP

1

MICHELE JURICH

Sister Barbara Larner, OP, died Nov. 14. She was 82 years old and a Dominican Sister of Mission San Jose for 60 years. A funeral Mass was celebrated Nov. 24 at St. Elizabeth Church, Oakland with interSister Barbara ment in the sisters’ Larner, OP cemetery on the grounds of their Mission San Jose motherhouse.

Born in Berekeley, Sister Barbara attended Presentation High School there and later UC Berkeley where she served as an editor on the school newspaper.

2

THANKSGIVING AT COUNTY JAIL: Staff and volunteers of the archdiocesan restorative justice ministry served an early Thanksgiving dinner Nov. 20 to inmates at the San Francisco County jail at 425 7th St. From left, José Betancourt and Julio Escobar of the restor-

2

Sister Barbara is especially remembered for her service at St. Elizabeth High School in Oakland for a combined 23 years. One of her works there was to establish the school’s development program.

As chief fundraiser Sister Barbara opened doors with foundation after foundation for St. Elizabeth’s as well as gaining help from individual donors including alumni raising $3.5 million over 18 years at the school. Eight years later she returned to St. Elizabeth’s as a volunteer.

Remembrances may be made to the Dominican Sisters of Mission San Jose Development Office, 43326 Mission Blvd., Fremont 94539-5829 or online at www.msjdominicans. org.

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20 COMMUNITY

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | DECEMBER 5, 2014

Benefit for military archdiocese to be held Dec. 9 in San Francisco Facing a chronic shortage of Catholic priests serving on active duty as chaplains in the U.S. military, the Archdiocese for the Military Services, based in Washington, D.C., is asking for prayers and support from the faithful.

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Broglio The ranks of Catholic chaplains have been thinning out in recent years because of a nationwide priest shortage combined with the military’s mandatory retirement age of 62. Aging military priests are reaching retirement faster than they can be replaced. Since 9/11, as the nation waged its longest war in history, the number of priests on active duty has declined by more than 40 percent, the military archdiocese said.

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Archbishop Broglio said it would take nearly an additional 500 priests to meet the military’s current demand for active-duty Catholic chaplains.

The military services archdiocese is asking the faithful to support its Co-Sponsored Seminarian Program, a 25-year-old partnership between the military services archdiocese and local dioceses and religious communities to support vocations, drawing heavily from men already in the military. The program’s projected cost for the next five years is $2.7 million.

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The assistant will support the Director of Religious Ed & Youth Ministry. The position is 10-15 hours per week and includes some nights and weekends. Responsibilities are mostly administrative, some ministry experience preferred; this position could grow in hours and into ministry coordinator role in the future.

Resumes should be sent to the Pastor AND Director of Religious Ed & Youth Ministry: joseshaji.62@gmail.com AND lwest@stdenisparish.org.

St. Denis Parish, 2250 Avy Ave, Menlo Park, CA 94025.

We will accept applications through December 5th.

ARCHDIOCESE OF SAN FRANCISCO ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT - FINANCE Looking to make a difference? We, the Catholic Church of San Francisco, pledge ourselves to be a dynamic and collaborative community of faith known for its quality of leadership; richness of diversity of culture and peoples; and united in faith, hope and love.

The Archdiocese of San Francisco is seeking a qualified Administrative Assistant.

This is a regular, full-time non-exempt position based on a workweek of 37.5 hours.

Compensation is competitive in the Religious Non-profit market with a very substantial benefits package including employer-funded Pension Plan, 403B and Flexible Spending Account, generous holiday schedule and free, gated parking. The Administrative Assistant reports to the Chief Financial Officer.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES INCLUDE: Assists the Chief Financial Officer by acting as a major participant in various activities with outside business and financial institutions such as, but not limited to, stock brokerage transactions and insurance and banking arrangements.

FATIMA PRAYERS

ROOM WANTED

St. Denis Parish’s Religious Education & Youth Ministry Office is seeking a part-time assistant.

❑ St. Jude Novena to SH ❑ Prayer to the Blessed Virgin ❑ Prayer to St. Jude ❑ Prayer to the Holy Spirit ❑ Personal Prayer, 50 words or less Please return form with check or money order for $26 Payable to: Catholic San Francisco Advertising Dept., Catholic San Francisco 1 Peter Yorke Way, San Francisco, CA 94109

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS: • Ability to interact professionally, especially in dealing with committees, financial vendors.

• Excellent communication and PC skills with experience in Word, Excel, PowerPoint & Access.

• Good working knowledge of finance and accounting concepts.

• Ability to multitask while working fairly independently with a minimum of detailed supervision or guidance.

• Excellent time management and organizational skills.

DESIRED EDUCATION: • BS/BA or relevant work experience PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS: • Experience and working knowledge of finance and accounting concepts – experience working in an accounting office and/or financial institution.

• A general understanding of the Catholic Church and the workings of parishes and schools.

Equal Opportunity Employer. Qualified applicants with criminal histories considered.

Please submit resume and cover letter to: Archdiocese of San Francisco Attn: Patrick Schmidt, Office of Human Resources Archdiocese of San Francisco One Peter Yorke Way , San Francisco, CA 94109-6602 Fax: (415) 614-5536 E-mail: schmidtp@sfarchdiocese.org

22 CALENDAR

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | DECEMBER 5, 2014

FRIDAY, DEC. 5 FIRST FRIDAY: Contemplatives of St. Joseph offer Mass at Mater Dolorosa Church, 307 Willow Ave., South San Francisco, 7 p.m. followed by healing service and personal blessing with St. Joseph oil from Oratory of St. Joseph, Montreal.

TAIZE: All are welcome to Taizé prayer around the cross, Mercy Center, 2300 Adeline Drive, Burlingame, 8 p.m. Taizé prayer has been sung on first Fridays at Mercy Center with Mercy Sister Suzanne Toolan since 1983; (650) 340-7452.

GRIEF SUPPORT: Holiday Grief and Self-Care, St. Peter Parish, 700 Oddstad Blvd, Pacifica; 10 a.m.-noon, tonilyng@ aol.com; www.sfarchdiocese.org/grief.

SATURDAY, DEC. 6

SATURDAY, DEC. 6

PILGRIMAGE: Our Lady of Guadalupe pilgrimage and Mass from All Souls Church, South San Francisco to St. Mary’s Cathedral, San Francisco and Mass with Archbishop Salvatore Archbishop Cordileone at 2 Salvatore J. p.m. at the catheCordileone dral. www.cruzadaguadalupana. org; (415) 333-4868

CEMETERY MASS: Holy Cross Cemetery, 1500 Mission Road, Colma, All Souls Mausoleum Chapel, 11 a.m., Father Daniel Carter, pastor, Our Lady of Lourdes Parish, San Francisco, principal Father Dan celebrant and Carter homilist. (650) 756-2060; www.holycrosscemeteries.com.

SATURDAY, DEC. 6

principal celebrant and homilist; (650) 580-7123; zoniafasquelle@gmail.com.

CABARET NIGHT: St. Stephen Women’s Guild presents a fun night of dinner, dancing and auction at Olympic Club Lakeside; $135; www.cougarcabaret.com; SSauction2014@gmail.com; Mary Kerford, (415) 624-6180.

SPIRITUAL REFLECTION: About Benedictine monk Bede with Paulist Father Terry Ryan, 9 a.m., Old St. Mary’s Paulist Center, 614 Grant Ave., San Francisco, (415) 288-3845, coffee and refreshments at start. Freewill donations welcome.

‘LOOKING EAST’: Our Lady of Fatima Russian Byzantine Catholic Church, 5920 Geary Blvd. at 23rd Avenue, San Francisco, Divine Liturgy 10 a.m.; luncheon noon, talk by Father Kevin Kennedy, pastor 1 p.m. All are welcome throughout the day.

Series continues first Saturdays of the month. Parking is in St. Monica Church lot; www.byzantinecatholic.org; (415) 7522052; OLFatimaSF@gmail.com.

FOOD FESTIVAL: Immaculate Conception Academy, 24th Street at Guerrero, San Francisco, 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Las Latinas, Fil-Am and the Black Student Union will offer a variety of ethnic treats plus entertainment and raffles. Dora Gomez-Loeza, mxloeza@gmail.com.

PEACE MASS: Mission Dolores, 16th Street at Dolores, San Francisco, 9 a.m. Father Arturo Albano, pastor,

SUNDAY, DEC. 7 CONCERT: Choirs and musicians of St Bartholomew Parish, Alameda and Crystal Springs Road, San Mateo, annual Christmas Concert, 3 p.m. Christmas favorites old and new sung by four choirs accompanied by a 13-piece orchestra conducted by Tim Cooney.

Freewill donations appreciated.

CONCERT: Schola Seraphic will be performing a festival of carols, 2:30 p.m., St. Patrick’s Seminary & University, 320 Middlefield Road, Menlo Park, $20/$15 students and seniors, Church of the Nativity; (650) 323-7914.

CONCERT: St. Mary’s Cathedral, Gough Street at Geary Boulevard, San

Francisco, 4 p.m., featuring various artists; freewill offerings accepted at door; (415) 567-2020, ext. 213; www. stmarycathedralsf.org.

PHOTO EXHIBIT: “Therefore I Have Hope” through December 31, St. Mary’s Cathedral, Gough Street at Geary Boulevard, San Francisco, weekdays 8:30-5 p.m.; Saturday, Sunday 10 a.m.-3 p.m. in Cathedral Event Center, Charlene Dorman’s black-and-white photographs, johnmdmd@gmail.com.

TV MASSES: EWTN airs Mass daily at 5 a.m., 9 a.m., 9 p.m. and at 4 p.m.

Monday through Friday. EWTN is carried on Comcast 229, AT&T 562, Astound 80, San Bruno Cable 143, DISH Satellite 261 and Direct TV 370. In Half Moon Bay EWTN airs on Comcast 70 and on Comcast 74 in southern San Mateo County.

CATHOLIC TV MASS: A TV Mass is broadcast Sundays at 6 a.m. on the Bay Area’s KTSF Channel 26 and KOFY Channel 20, and in the Sacramento area at 5:30 a.m. on KXTL Channel 40. It is produced for viewing by the homebound and others unable to go to Mass by God Squad Productions with Msgr. Harry Schlitt, celebrant. Catholic TV Mass, One Peter

Retirement planning College savings plans Comprehensive financial planning Kevin Tarrant Financial Advisor 750 Lindaro Street, Suite 300 San Rafael, CA 94901 415-482-2737 © 2013 Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC. Member SIPC. NY CS 7181378 BC008 07/12

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SATURDAY, DEC. 13 CHRISTMAS REMEMBRANCE: Holy Cross Cemetery, 1500 Mission Road, Colma, 11 a.m., All Saints Mausoleum Chapel, Msgr. John Talesfore will preside; (650) 756-2060; www.holycrosscemeteries.com.

SUNDAY, DEC. 14 CONCERT: St. Mary’s Cathedral, Gough Street at Geary Boulevard, San Francisco, 7 p.m., Cookies and Carols with the Cathedral Choir, the Archdiocesan Children’s Choir, St. Brigid School Honor Choir plus dessert service; $20/$10 students/seniors.

Takes place in St. Francis Hall, lower level of the cathedral; (415) 567-2020, ext. 213; www.stmarycathedralsf.org.

CONCERT: St. Patrick Church, 114 King St. at Magnolia, Larkspur, 4:30 p.m., celebration of carols with music of the season by church choirs from throughout Marin County; (415) 924-0600.

CONCERT: Mission Dolores Basilica Choir, candlelight Christmas concert conducted by Jerome Lenk. Program features work of women composers throughout the ages, 16th Street and Dolores, San Francisco, 5 p.m., free parking, $25 reserved, $18 general; (415) 621-8203, www.missiondolores.org.

CONCERT: St. Mary’s Church on Nicasio Square Christmas concert, 2 p.m. followed by a food and wine reception at Druids Hall. Program includes Christmas and secular pieces performed by artists including Nicasio Creek Singers, Antonia Van Becker and Greg Lee, $50 adults/$10 children under 12. Proceeds benefit operation and maintenance of historic church built in 1867; Kathy Drady, (415) 662-2057.

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

THE PROFESSIONALS

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CALENDAR 23

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | DECEMBER 5, 2014

WEDNESDAY, DEC. 17

WEDNESDAY, DEC. 24

DIVORCE SUPPORT: Meeting takes place first and third Wednesdays, 7:30 p.m., St. Stephen Parish O’Reilly Center, 23rd Avenue at Eucalyptus, San Francisco. Groups are part of the Separated and Divorced Catholic Ministry in the archdiocese and include prayer, introductions, sharing. It is a drop-in support group. Jesuit Father Al Grosskopf, (415) 422-6698, grosskopf@usfca. edu.

CATHEDRAL CHRISTMAS EVE: Mass at 5:30 p.m. with carol prelude at 5 p.m. by Archdiocesan Children’s Choir and St. Brigid School Honor Choir; Mass at midnight with carol prelude at 11:30 p.m. by the Cathedral Choir and Golden Gate Brass Quintet; St. Mary’s Cathedral, Gough Street at Geary Boulevard, San Francisco; (415) 567-2020, ext. 213; www.stmarycathedralsf.org.

GRIEF SUPPORT: Free monthly grief support, St. Mary’s Cathedral, Gough Street at Geary Boulevard, San Francisco, third Wednesday of each month, 10:30- noon, Msgr. Bowe Room, on west side of parking lot level of the cathedral. Sessions provide information on grief process, and tips on coping with loss of a loved one.

Deacon Christoph Sandoval leads the group. Mercy Sister Esther, (415) 5672020, ext. 218.

THURSDAY, DEC. 25

SATURDAY, DEC. 20 HANDICAPABLES MASS: Father Kirk Ullery, retired pastor, Our Lady of Lourdes Parish, San Francisco is principal celebrant and homilist, Handicapables Mass and lunch, noon, in lower halls of St. Mary’s Cathedral, Gough Street at Geary Boulevard, San Francisco, Gough Street entrance. All disabled people and their caregivers are invited. Volunteers are always welcome to assist in this cherished tradition. Joanne Borodin, (415) 239-4865.

CATHEDRAL CHRISTMAS: Mass at 9 a.m. with Gregorian Chant and cathedral singers, St. Mary’s Cathedral, Gough Street at Geary Boulevard, San Francisco; Mass at 11 a.m. with the Cathedral Choir; (415) 567-2020, ext.

213; www.stmarycathedralsf.org.

SUNDAY, JAN. 4 LESSONS AND CAROLS: Epiphany Lessons and Carols, Golden Gate Boys Choir and Bellringers, Archdiocesan Children’s Choir, St. Brigid School Honor Choir, St. Mary’s Cathedral, Gough Street at Geary Boulevard, San Francisco, 4 p.m. (415) 567-2020, ext.

213; www.stmarycathedralsf.org.

TUESDAY, JAN. 13

Sister Toni Lynn Gallagher, Tuesday 9 a.m. through Feb. 17, Marian Room inside St. Stephen Church, 451 Eucalyptus Drive at 23rd Avenue San Francisco. Veronica Wong at (415) 681-2444, ext. 27; Peggy Teshara, (415) 334-0653.

SATURDAY, JAN. 17 DISCERNMENT DAY: During the Year of Consecrated Life, the Dominican Nuns of Corpus Christi Monastery, 215 Oak Grove Ave., Menlo Park host a discernment day for young women; RSVP by Jan. 12 or for more information contact Sister Joseph Marie, vocations@nunsmenlo.org; visit www. nunsmenlo.org/vocation-discernmentday-january-2015. Day begins with Mass at 8 a.m. followed by Divine Office, rosary, conferences and talks by Dominican nuns and friars.

HANDICAPABLES 50THANNIVERSARY: Father Kirk Ullery, retired pastor, Our Lady of Lourdes Parish, San Francisco is principal celebrant and homilist at a Handicapables Mass and lunch commemorating the group’s 50th anniversary, noon, in lower halls of St. Mary’s Cathedral, Gough Street at Geary Boulevard, San Francisco, Gough Street entrance. All disabled people and their caregivers are invited.

Volunteers are always welcome to assist in this cherished tradition. Joanne Borodin, (415) 239-4865.

SATURDAY, JAN. 24

WEEKLY BIBLE STUDY: Understanding the journey of Jesus with Mercy

2-DAY ENGAGED RETREAT: San

WALK FOR LIFE WEST COAST: 11th year for this pro-life effort that has been attracting crowds of as many as 50,000 people. Visit www.walkforlifewc.com.

WEDNESDAY, JAN. 28 PRIORY TALKS: “Water: A Sacred Trust,” explore both the beauty of God’s sacred gift of water and the senseless degradation of this precious resource in today’s world with Dr. Mary E. McGann, RSCJ, 7-9 p.m., Woodside Priory School, 302 Portola Road, Portola Valley, Founders Hall, admission is free, refreshments provided. Carrie Rehak, crehak@prioryca.org, (650) 851-8221.

WEDNESDAY, FEB. 25 PRIORY TALKS: “God, Grace of the World,” with Camaldolese Benedictine Brother Ivan Nicoletto. In a world in which humanity can create and destroy life, what grace may God have for our lives and our communities? 7-9 p.m., Woodside Priory School, 302 Portola Road, Portola Valley, Founders Hall, admission is free, refreshments provided. Carrie Rehak, crehak@prioryca. org, (650) 851-8221.

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

HOME SERVICES

PAINTING

Francisco Catholic Engaged Encounter weekend, Vallombrosa Retreat Center, Menlo Park. Take time to prepare for your marriage; scholarships available; www.sfcee.org, catholicsfee@gmail. com. Dave and Lorraine Hayes, (650) 619-0689.

FENCES & DECKS

CONSTRUCTION

IRISH Eoin PAINTING Lehane Discount to CSF Readers

415.368.8589 Lic.#942181

eoin_lehane@yahoo.com

M.K. Painting Interior-Exterior Residential – Commercial Insured/Bonded – Free Estimates License# 974682

Tel: (650) 630-1835

S.O.S. PAINTING CO. Interior-Exterior • wallpaper • hanging & removal Lic # 526818 • Senior Discount

415-269-0446 • 650-738-9295 www.sospainting.net F REE E STIMATES

Bill Hefferon Painting

Bonded & Insured

CA License 819191

Cell 415-710-0584 BHEFFPAINTING@sbcglobal.net Office 415-731-8065

10% Discount to Seniors & Parishioners Serving the Residential Bay Area for Commercial over 30 Years

PLUMBING

HOLLAND Plumbing Works San Francisco ALL PLUMBING WORK PAT HOLLAND

CA LIC #817607

BONDED & INSURED

415-205-1235

John Spillane

• Retaining Walls • Stairs • Gates • Dry Rot • Senior & Parishioner Discounts

Lic. #742961

CAHALAN CONSTRUCTION

650.291.4303

ELECTRICAL

ALL ELECTRIC SERVICE 650.322.9288 Service Changes Solar Installation Lighting/Power Fire Alarm/Data Green Energy Fully licensed • State Certified • Locally Trained • Experienced • On Call 24/7

Painting & Waterproofing Remodels & Repairs Window & Siding Lic#582766

415.279.1266

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O’DONOGHUE CONSTRUCTION Kitchen/Bath Remodel Dry Rot Repair • Decks /Stairs Plumbing Repair/Replacement

Call: 650.580.2769 Lic. # 505353B-C36

Support CSF

If you would like to add your tax-deductible contribution, please mail a check, payable to Catholic San Francisco, to: Catholic San Francisco, Dept. W, One Peter Yorke Way, San Francisco CA 94109

ROOFING

COMMERCIAL CONSTRUCTION CA License #965268

• • • • •

Design - Build Retail - Fixtures Industrial Service/Maintenance Casework Installation

Serving Marin, San Francisco & San Mateo Counties John V. Rissanen Cell: (916) 517-7952 Office: (916) 408-2102 Fax: (916) 408-2086 john@newmarketsinc.com 2190 Mt. Errigal Lane Lincoln, CA 95648

HANDYMAN Quality interior and exterior painting, demolition , fence (repairs), roof repairs, cutter (cleaning and repairs), landscaping, gardening, hauling, moving, welding

All Purpose Cell (415) 517-5977 Grant (650) 757-1946 NOT A LICENSED CONTRACTOR

DINING

(415) 786-0121 • (650) 871-9227

Italian American Social Club of San Francisco Lunch & Dinner, Wednesday, Thursday & Friday

Weddings, Banquets, Special Occasions 25 RUSSIA AVENUE, SAN FRANCISCO

www.iasf.com

415-585-8059

24

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | DECEMBER 5, 2014

We Light a Candle in Memory ...

We invite you to gather with us on Saturday, December 13th at 11:00 a.m. in All Saints Mausoleum Chapel at Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery, Colma Rev. John Talesfore will facilitate our Christmas Remembrance Service as you join with others to remember and share griefhs journey and be comforted.

During this holiday service, the names of those you wish to remember and your message of love may be written on ornaments decorated by Our Lady of Mercy School students and Scouts(Pack 347). You will be invited to place your ornament on our Memory Trees during the service. These Chistmas Trees represent the ongoing hope of life and will remain in All Saints Mausoleum Chapel from December 13th until January 7th.

If you are unable to attend the service, please stop by the Cemetery Office to pick up an ornament and write your greetings.

We will be happy to hang the ornament for you.

There is always a staff member available in All Saints Mausoleum on weekends and holidays to assist you. They will also have memory tree ornaments available for your messages through December 31st.

Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery Santa Cruz Ave. @ Avy Ave., Menlo Park, CA 650-323-6375

Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery 1500 Mission Road, Colma, CA 650-756-2060

Mt. Olivet Catholic Cemetery 270 Los Ranchitos Road, San Rafael, CA 415-479-9020

Tomales Catholic Cemetery 1400 Dillon Beach Road, Tomales, CA 415-479-9021

St. Anthony Cemetery Stage Road, Pescadero, CA 650-712-1675

Our Lady of the Pillar Cemetery Miramontes St., Half Moon Bay, CA 650-712-1679