Gay rights money funds archbishop’s critics Faithful America part of national progressive advocacy network
CSF Special Report PART 1 OF 3
VALERIE SCHMALZ CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO
Many Catholics in the San Francisco Bay Area were surprised by the strong negative reaction to Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone’s decision to give a talk about traditional marriage at a June 19 Washington, D.C., rally organized to support marriage. A national online petition from Faithful America and a nationally publicized June 10 letter from 78 politicians and others urged the archbishop to withdraw from the March for Marriage in Washington, D.C. The letter and petition citing “hate” speech by the National Organization for Marriage and the labeling participant Family Research Council as a “hate group” created a media storm
and disturbed many local Catholics and pastors. Most are used to attacks on the archbishop for his strong advocacy of the Catholic Church’s teaching on marriage and family, but the reaction seemed disproportionate to the event – which was a talk at a rally by a Catholic Church leader who has given many talks in support of marriage and family across the country and in the media. The cause for surprise among Catholics may be they assumed the powerful reaction was spontaneous. Now there is abundant evidence the reaction was both well planned and financed by Faithful America, an organization that is supported directly and indirectly by politically powerful and wealthy men and by grantmaking foundations who have devoted
millions of dollars to promoting acceptance of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) behavior. In this three-part series, Catholic San Francisco will analyze Faithful America, the funding of groups that call themselves Catholic or faithbased and attack Catholic leaders and teaching, and the concept of “hate groups” and “hate speech.” The first part of the series, published here, focuses on Faithful America. The second will focus specifically on the tactic of funding organizations which use the language of faith to attack Catholic teaching. The third part of the series will address the “hate” tactic by opponents of Catholic teaching on human sexuality. SEE FAITHFUL AMERICA, PAGE 14
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SEPTEMBER 12, 2014
Anger, tears, hope shared at USF prayer service for Michael Brown CHRISTINA GRAY
$1.00 | VOL. 16 NO. 22
Latin American families challenged by poverty, violence EZRA FIESER
CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO
CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE
Almost a month after the Aug. 9 death of Michael Brown, an unarmed teenager shot by a white patrolman in Ferguson, Missouri, University of San Francisco students, faculty and staff gathered at the school’s Privett Plaza on Sept. 3 to pray together for what incoming USF president and Jesuit Father Paul Fitzgerald called the “radical equality” of every human person. “Michael Brown’s death is a death in the family,” he said. “It evokes suffering in us as it does in his more immediate family. We can only ask God to help us make the suffering meaningful instead of meaningless.” Moments after the St. Ignatius Church bell rang in the noon hour, the subdued crowd bowed their heads to listen to a prayer written and read by alumnus Michael Tadesse-Bell, director of student persistence and mentorship programs and a former USF basketball player. “We come to you today Lord, with sorrow, regret and questions. Sorrow, because as a world we continue to struggle to see each other’s worth; regret, because our actions do not truly reflect who we are and what you’ve placed in us,” he said. Tadesse-Bell said the prayer service SEE PRAYER, PAGE 18
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic – Poverty, violence and changing social norms are causing the disintegration of the family structure across Latin America, church workers in the region said in advance of the October gathering of bishops in the Vatican to discuss pressures families face. From liberalizing marriage laws and persistent domestic violence to migration trends sending a record number of unaccompanied minors to the U.S. border, the threats to families vary across the region. “It is abundantly clear that the issues of contemporary family life and marriage deserve special attention from the Catholic Church and from society as a whole,” said Archbishop Jose Ulloa Mendieta of Panama. SEE LATIN AMERICA, PAGE 18
LEADERSHIP: New principals begin service at Catholic schools (PHOTO BY CHRISTINA GRAY/CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO)
Participants at a USF prayer service for Michael Brown observe a minute of silence Sept. 3.
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INDEX On the Street . . . . . . . . .4 National . . . . . . . . . . . . .8 World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Opinion. . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Faith. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Calendar. . . . . . . . . . . .26