October 26, 2012

NOBEL PRIZE: Catholic scientist at Stanford shares Nobel Prize in Chemistry

PAGE 11

CONSCIENCE & THE COMMON GOOD:

DOMINICAN SISTERS:

Special section on the Catholic voter and the 2012 election

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Menlo Park monastic community elects new leadership

PAGE 31

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO Newspaper of the Archdiocese of San Francisco

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OCTOBER 26, 2012

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Aleppo Christians just hanging on CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE

LONDON – The Chaldean Catholic bishop of Aleppo said Syria’s second-largest city, which he “loves so much,” has been left in ruins by months of fighting, and Christians there are struggling to survive.

“People have fled their homes,” said Chaldean Bishop Antoine Audo.

Speaking at a reception in Parliament Oct. 18, the bishop said that, even with the violence of “bombing and snipers,” Aleppo’s bishops have decided to stay with their people to try to prevent the loss of a Christian presence in the area.

“We don’t want to leave them alone. If I go out of the city for a time, the people will feel alone,” he said.

“We did not go to Lebanon to meet the pope to tell him that we are in a dangerous situation,” he said, referring to Pope Benedict XVI’s Sept.

14-16 visit to Lebanon. “Instead, we wrote the pope a letter to ask for his support.”

SEE ALEPPO, PAGE 28

ANA RODRIGUEZ-SOTO CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE

and the government came down extremely hard. Now it is way past the point of no return.”

CRS is partnering with the international humanitarian organization, Caritas, in Lebanon and Jordan in particular, including at the Jordanian tent city (it houses 35,000 and a second is being built) dispensing mattresses, hygiene kits, soap and laundry detergent, kitchen utensils, clothing and other basics, because the refugees came with nothing.

Educational programs are launching too, “now that it is apparent that these kids are not going back (home and to school) any time soon,” said Schnellbaecher. CRS is also offering psychosocial programs, “basically

MIAMI – The Obama administration “has not shown any inclination to rescind” its requirement that most religious employers cover contraceptives for their workers, so “we need to get this mandate overturned” by the courts, said Miami Archbishop Thomas G. Wenski.

He made the comments at an afternoon news conference Oct. 19 to announce the Miami archdiocese has joined the 50 or so other Catholic dioceses, universities and entities throughout the U.S. that have filed a lawsuit against the Department of Health and Human Services contraceptive mandate.

Under the mandate, all employers, including most Catholic and other religious employers, must provide coverage in their health care plans for contraceptives, including some that can cause abortions, and for sterilizations, over any moral objections they have.

“We feel it is a violation” of the First Amendment, the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act and HHS’s rulemaking authority, the archbishop said.

The lawsuit was filed in federal court on behalf of the Archdiocese of Miami, Catholic Health Services and Catholic Hospice. It was filed by the archdiocese’s legal representatives, J. Patrick Fitzgerald and Associates, along with the Jones Day law firm, which is providing its services pro bono. Jones Day is representing many other Catholic entities in similar lawsuits.

Archbishop Wenski pointed out that Vice President Joe Biden spoke “untruthfully” during the vice presidential debate Oct. 11 when he said there is no problem between the Catholic Church and the Obama administration on the health care issue.

Biden stated that “no religious institution, Catholic or otherwise, ... has to pay for contraception, none has to be a vehicle to get contraception in any insurance policy they provide.”

SEE SYRIA, PAGE 28

SEE HHS, PAGE 28

(CNS PHOTO/SANA HANDOUT VIA REUTERS)

In a photo released Oct. 3 by Syria’s national news agency SANA, men walk on a road amid destroyed buildings in Aleppo’s main Saadallah al-Jabari Square.

Syrian crisis ‘way past point of no return’ GEORGE RAINE CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO

Some 340,000 Syrians have fled their country amid civil war and many are refugees in Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey, but another two million are believed to be displaced inside their own country and out of the reach of humanitarian hands, their needs no doubt great, according to a Catholic Relief Services official in the region.

Access to Syria is virtually impossible as the government is not issuing visas, nor is it possible to wire money into the country of 22 million people that President Bashar al-Assad has sealed off. The needs of the displaced Syrians inside their country can’t be responded to, lamented Mark Schnellbaecher, the

Archbishop says lawsuit needed to reverse HHS

regional director for Catholic Relief Services in the Middle East based in Beirut.

Consequently, efforts are aimed at the refugees outside Syria, many in Lebanon and in tent cities in Jordan and Turkey. Their numbers are expected to reach three-quarters of a million, mostly women and children, by year’s end, said Schnellbaecher, with no end in sight for the escalating war.

“This started in my view as just another Arab uprising, the next one on the list,” said Schnellbaecher, while visiting the Archdiocese of San Francisco on Oct. 18. “Demonstrations for greater political openness, end of one-party state, etc., and it stayed like that for a long time. It moved from nonviolent protest to scattered violent actions

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INDEX On the Street . . . . . . . . .4 National . . . . . . . . . . . . .6 World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9 Opinion. . . . . . . . . . . . .23 Faith. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25 Arts & Life. . . . . . . . . . .29

2 ARCHDIOCESE

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | OCTOBER 26, 2012

NEED TO KNOW CURBSIDE DONATIONS: St. Anthony’s will again be out to receive your holiday curbside donations but it’ll be a new curb in 2012. “We are operating out of our temporary dining room at 150 Golden Gate Ave.,” said Karl Robilard, St. Anthony’s communications head. “Year after year at St. Anthony’s, the abundance of gifts from people in the Bay Area is truly awe-inspiring.” St. Anthony’s is asking for a specific list of essential items for its guests during this their 25th curbside donation drive: food, hygiene items, new socks, hand-knit scarves and hats. Items may be donated Nov. 17-22, from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. weekends, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. weekdays. All other donations are accepted throughout the year, Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.-4:15 p.m., at St. Anthony’s free clothing program at Eighth and Mission streets. Visit www.stanthonysf.org or call (415) 592-2899.

PHONE BANKING FOR PROPOSITION 34: Oct. 28 and Nov. 4, 4-7 p.m., Alemany Library, Room 211, Dominican University, San Rafael. Contact Dominican Sister Marion Irvine, (415) 459-7188; Oct. 25 and Nov. 1, University of San Francisco, 6-9 p.m., Romero Room (Campus Ministry), basement of Phelan Hall. Contact Jerry, (650) 793-6064; Oct. 24 and Nov. 2, 6-9 p.m., and Nov. 5, 9 a.m.-5 p.m., Notre Dame de Namur University, Sister Dorothy Stang Center, 1500 Ralston Ave., Belmont. Contact Jim McGarry, (650) 508-4120, or Rebecca Flores, (650) 508-3514. Supported by the Catholic bishops of California, Prop. 34 is an initiative on the Nov. 6 California ballot to repeal the death penalty and replace it with life in prison without possibility of parole.

CORRECTIONS “COPPER THIEVES HIT AREA CATHOLIC CHURCHES – AGAIN,” OCT. 19, PAGE 5. Because of an error in the editing process, San Francisco Police Officer Gordon Shyy’s last name was misspelled.

“ROSARY RALLY DRAWS 1,700 TO PRAY,” OCT.19, PAGE 23. Because of an error in the editing process, the archdiocesan Hispanic Pastoral Council was misidentified.

Local architect finds rosary of Mexico’s Emperor Maximilian, executed in 1867 THERESA BRUNNER

I was invited to a family dinner and had the pleasure of meeting Tom Pflueger, the grandnephew of Timothy Pflueger, a prominent San Francisco Bay Area architect in the early 20th century whose work included consulting on the Bay Bridge, designing the Fairmont Hotel, Top of the Mark and Abraham Lincoln High School.

In my conversation with Tom, he told me of a unique and very precious artifact that had been in his family for over 80 years. A rosary that is very unique with origins that are a mystery. The rosary is believed to have belonged to the Emperor of Mexico, Maximilian von Habsburg, and he may have held it as he was executed in 1867.

I contacted an expert, Dr. Lee Davis, who told me that the beautiful silver filigreed rosary is “distinctively Bavarian in origin.” During the 18th century, there were about 250 filigree producers as filigree making was a craft passed from generation to generation in Bavaria, Germany.

The rosary came into the possession of the Pflueger family most likely due to the very close relationship Timothy Pflueger had with Mexican artist Diego Rivera and George Pope, a shipping magnate, and one or the other gave the rosary to him.

Tim Pflueger found the rosary during the process of moving the family architectural offices from the sixth floor of 580 Market St., where the offices had been for 75 years, to another building on 10th Street near Mission Street in 1979.

As we were cleaning a huge old safe, “My father came across a little brown box, way in the back of the safe, that he had never seen before in the over 55 years he had been in the office,” son John Pflueger wrote in a letter. It was the rosary. It came with a card and on it was written, “Owned by Emperor Maximilian and carried by him on the day of his execution.”

Maximilian was born in Vienna on July 6, 1832,in the Schonbrunn Palace, the capital of the Austrian

Sacramental, Baptisms, First Communion, Confirmations and RCIA Gifts

This filigreed rosary, found in a safe by a local architect, came with a card that stated: “Owned by Emperor Maximilian and carried by him on the day of his execution.”

Empire. He was baptized the following day, named Ferdinand Maximilian Joseph, after his uncle, the future Emperor Ferdinand I and grandfather, King Maximilian I of Bavaria.

In 1855, he was named rear admiral of the Austrian navy. Two years later he was appointed viceroy of the Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia.

It could be possible that Maximilian obtained the rosary in his travels through this area. Around 1860, a group of rich Mexican emigrants met in Europe looking for support from Europe to establish a monarchy in Mexico. He was invited to Mexico as it was believed that the establishment of a European monarch could bring stability to war-torn Mexico.

He arrived in 1864 and was accepted by the people as emperor of Mexico.

Maximilian and his wife Char-

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lotte set up their official residence at Chapultepe Castle. There they tried to unite the two factions between conservatives and liberals to no avail. France withdrew its forces back to Europe and Maximilian was on his own. In 1866, Charlotte returned to Europe and to no avail asked for aid from Napoleon III, in France, Austrian officials, and Pope Pius IX. She never returned to Mexico and was driven mad at the loss of her husband and spent the rest of her life in seclusion, dying in 1927. Maximilian’s reign lasted from April 10, 1864, to June 19, 1867, when he was captured by Benito Juarez and was executed. It is believed that he had this rosary on the day of his execution.

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ARCHDIOCESE 3

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | OCTOBER 26, 2012

(PHOTOS COURTESY ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI PARISH)

Above, the St. Francis of Assisi Parish first Communion class marches in a parade during a festival at the East Palo Alto parish Oct. 5. Top right, Tongan musicians entertain during the festival.

Bottom right, Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone is pictured with pastor Father Larry Goode.

Archbishop celebrates St. Francis feast with East Palo Alto parish VALERIE SCHMALZ CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO

Close to 700 people crammed into St. Francis of Assisi Church to greet Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone, who visited the East Palo Alto parish to celebrate the feast of St. Francis on Sunday, Oct. 7.

The visit was the first to a parish by the archbishop, who was installed on Oct. 4, St. Francis’ feast day.

A mariachi band played and the Tongan community bestowed a lei on Archbishop Cordileone as part of an afternoon of entertainment, food and general celebration on the last day of the three-day festival.

A bilingual Mass in Spanish and English was celebrated to start the afternoon with the archbishop.

The parish includes active ethnic communities of African-Americans, Latinos and Tongans as well as many Catholics of European descent, including Lil Kavanaugh, whose family donated the land where

the church now stands and who was among those greeting the archbishop, pastor Father Larry Goode said.

Festivities included a parade, a dinner, entertainment and a movie about St. Francis, Father Goode said.

“We’re celebrating St. Francis, and he picked St. Francis’ feast day as the day of his installation,” Father Goode said of Archbishop Cordileone. “When I saw this, I thought this would be a great day for him to come to St. Francis since we do go all out. And of course, his coming was much more.”

The parish is the only one dedicated to the saint in the archdiocese, Father Goode said, and the parish takes its responsibility seriously. “If you hear of anyone doing bigger than ours let me know so we can surpass them,” the pastor said. “If we could get a band to come we could go onto University Avenue.”

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YOUTH CLUB FILM, FUNDRAISER NOV. 8

A short film about St. Francis Youth Club of East Palo Alto will premier Nov. 8 in Atherton.

The film is intended to raise awareness of all the club does to help youth in the crime-plagued and economically distressed East Palo Alto area, and therefore help raise more funds to support the club, said pastor Father Larry Goode. The “2012 Friend Raiser” will be held from 6-8 p.m. at Menlo Circus Club, 190 Park Lane, Atherton. In addition to the film, the evening will feature keynote speaker Kimberly Oden, who won the bronze medal in volleyball in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics and led a volleyball clinic for 60 youngsters at the club this summer.

The club offers a refuge for area youth with after-school academics, arts and sports. For more information contact Mar Y Sol Alvarado at (650) 319-5211.

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4 ON THE STREET WHERE YOU LIVE

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | OCTOBER 26, 2012

Catholic education: A family tradition TOM BURKE CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO

Elizabeth Pino, a 2002 graduate of St. Robert School, is now teaching sixth grade at the San Bruno school. Elizabeth is also an alumna of Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory and St. Mary’s College, Moraga. “We are extremely proud of Liz’s work ethic and commitment of service to others, and thankful we have been able to give her and her younger sisters the benefit of a Catholic education in the San Francisco archdiocese,” Elizabeth Pino said her folks Joanne and Dave Pino in a note to this column. Joanne is a graduate of San Francisco’s St. Elizabeth School and Presentation High School. Dave is an alum of St. Paul School and Sacred Heart High School. Liz’ sisters are Bonnie, St. Rob’s, SHC and St. Mary’s; Gracie, St. Rob’s, SHC and now at Sonoma State; and Casey, St. Rob’s and now member of the class of 2013 at Parkside Intermediate school.

REUNION: St. Gabriel School’s class of 1952, the first graduating class of the San Francisco school, joined for a 60th reunion Oct. 6 at Val’s Restaurant in Daly City. Lots of chatter about the old days and reviewing copies of the mimeographed school paper Trumpet were part of the goodtime. Classmates Carol Phelan Quigley and Jim Clifford organized the get-together.

Also among the 14 classmates Sister Janet attending was Mercy Sister Janet Rozzano, RSM Rozzano now spiritual coordinator at the Mercy Sisters’ Marian Oaks retirement facility in Burlingame.

KUDOS: Congrats to Angela Bottarini and Katherine Killmond, seniors at Notre Dame High School, Belmont on being named Commended Students in the 2013 National Merit Scholarship Program. The trials are tough in this ageless competition. More than 1.5 million students enter the contest. Angela and Katherine placed in the top 3 percent of that group.

POPCORN: The new film “Restless Heart” which depicts the life of St. Augustine errant ways and all is very popular out there. An Oct. 17 showing at the Metreon in San Francisco sold out, said Cathleen Gillies, who organized the viewing.

“AMC can’t remember the last time they sold out a show like this for a pre-release,” Cathleen told

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REUNION: St. Catherine of Siena School, class of 1952, recently joined together for a 60th reunion. “The nuns did a great job with all 52 of us,” said classmate Nancy Parina Miller in a note to this column. One of the gang flew in from Georgia, Nancy noted. “The noise level was horrendous as everyone renewed friendships.” at St. Mary’s Cathedral. San Francisco Auxiliary Bishop William J. Justice is principal celebrant and homilist. Nadine Calliguri, founder of Handicapables so many decades ago, will be in charge – though Nadine would be the first to say, “It’s God’s hands that will guide us through.”

Mass is at noon and a meal follows. The bread that fed thousands from just a few loaves and the faith of those who dined there are never better modeled than here. Handicapables is a year-round ministry. Volunteers are welcome for this outing as well as other events. Contributions are always welcome. Call (415) 751-8531.

ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT: First Honor certificates were presented to almost 30 percent of the senior class Sept. 21, 2012, at Immaculate Conception Academy, San Francisco. Pictured, from left, accolades in hand, are students Angelina Brand, Loretta Bonifacio, Feven Berhane, Kathleen Aladin and Clara Gibson.

Catholic San Francisco. “Even though St. Augustine lived a long time ago, during the decline of the Roman Empire, the lessons he learned the hard way are very relevant today.” On Oct. 29, the film will be shown in Redwood City at the Cinemark Theater. Tickets are available from Pauline Books & Media Center, 935 Brewster Ave., Redwood City. Call (650) 369-4230. snancy@ paulinemedia.com.

BLEST ARE THEY: On Nov. 17, Handicapables will gather for a Thanksgiving Mass and lunch

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HEAR YE: It’s the time of the year we can hear the engines revving up on events of the seasons.

Oktoberfest hops into town Oct. 29 at St. Matthias Parish, www.stmatthiasparish.org; and Oct. 30 courtesy of the Good Shepherd Sisters, (415) 7532081. The saints will be honored Oct. 27 at Holy Cross Cemetery at an 11 a.m. Mass, (650) 756-2060.

Down the road on Nov. 28, it’s time for “Christmas at Kohl,” www.mercyhsb.com. Much more is in Calendar, the pages to stay in touch with for what’s out there fun-wise and faith-wise. Remember, too, to send information our way about your events. csf@sfarchdiocese.org.

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ARCHDIOCESE 5

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | OCTOBER 26, 2012

San Francisco rally protests HHS contraceptive mandate WHAT’S HAPPENING WITH THE CONTRACEPTIVE MANDATE IN CALIFORNIA NOW?

VALERIE SCHMALZ CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO

The federal contraceptive mandate cannot stand because it attempts to confine religion inside church walls – and that’s not what faith is about, speakers told the San Francisco Stand Up for Religious Freedom rally Oct. 20 at the Federal Building at Seventh and Mission streets.

“Keep reaching out to others. If you don’t do that, you’re not practicing your faith,” George Wesolek, Archdiocese of San Francisco director of public policy and social concerns, told the crowd.

“Wherever there is faith, by nature it reaches out to others,” said Wesolek. He described how early Christians defied the Roman practice of infanticide and rescued unwanted newborns left to die of exposure, how American Christians worked to emancipate slaves and later powered the 1960s civil rights movement, and today walk in the Walk for Life West Coast.

“Down through the centuries, that is what faith has always done,” said Wesolek.

Former Planned Parenthood clinic director Abby Johnson was among the rally’s dozen-plus speakers. Johnson’s change of heart came after she observed an abortion via ultrasound.

“We are going to see real change no matter who gets into office because the people of God have finally said, ‘enough’!” she said. “This will never be over until our freedom is intact as God says it should be.”

The rally, sponsored by the Cali-

(PHOTOS BY VALERIE SCHMALZ/CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO)

Mildred Rivera of San Mateo, a member of Our Lady of Peace Parish, Santa Clara, carried a sign at the rally. Right, Paul Palencia, first Communion teacher at Most Holy Redeemer Parish, San Francisco, attended the rally with members of his class. fornia Civil Rights Foundation, was one of 135 held nationally. The first two rallies, held March 23 and June 8, drew more than 125,000 at 300 individual rallies, organizers said. The event in San Francisco drew several hundred while organizers reported that 1,700 attended the Chicago rally.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services mandate took effect for most organizations in August, but

the Obama administration has given religious organizations until August 2013 to comply.

“I’m here because I believe in this cause with all my heart and soul and I want to be able to practice my religion without government interference,” said Maddie Lopez of Napa, 17, a senior at Carondelet High School in Concord, who came with two friends.

“We’re here to fight for our freedom

The U.S. Health and Human Services contraceptive mandate took effect for most California employers in August 2012, so that sterilization and all forms of artificial contraception are now free through most California employer-provided health insurance.

Religious organizations have until August 2013 to implement the mandate, said Lori Dangberg, vice president, Alliance of Catholic Health Care, which represents Catholic hospitals and health care organizations. Final regulations on options for nonexempt, nonprofit religious organizations have not yet been published, Dangberg said.

Before the federal mandate, under the 1999 Women’s Contraceptive Equity Act, California religious employers could decide not to offer prescription drug coverage and avoid the state’s contraceptive mandate. That loophole is no longer available, Dangberg said.

In addition, previously under California law no employer was required to offer sterilization or long-term artificial contraceptives such as intrauterine devices or hormonal implants such as Depo-Provera. Under the federal mandate employers must offer those as well.

VALERIE SCHMALZ/CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO

and to witness to Jesus Christ,” said John Tran, who attended with his confirmation students from St. Felicitas Parish in San Leandro.

6 NATIONAL

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | OCTOBER 26, 2012

Obama, Romney jokingly jab each other at Al Smith dinner BETH GRIFFIN CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE

NEW YORK – As headliners for a glittering event that raised $5 million for Catholic health care programs in the Archdiocese of New York, President Barack Obama and former Gov. Mitt Romney briefly suspended their vociferous campaign rhetoric to exchange humorous jibes Oct. 18 at the 67th annual dinner of the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation.

The host of the event, Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York, was seated on the four-tiered dais between the Democratic and Republican presidential nominees. They faced more than 1,640 formally attired donors who filled the Grand Ballroom of the WaldorfAstoria Hotel and its two balconies.

By tradition, speakers poke fun at themselves, one another and various prominent guests, without inflicting wounds. This does not preclude delivering a serious message with a smile.

Cardinal Dolan was criticized for inviting Obama because of his administration’s mandate requiring most Catholic employers, like other employers, to provide free contraceptive coverage for employees over the church’s moral objections. The church considers the mandate, currently being challenged in federal court, a threat to religious freedom.

But the cardinal managed to land a few direct punches that were met with appreciative applause.

He said the annual dinner shows the United States and the Catholic Church at their best.

“Here we are in an atmosphere of

(CNS PHOTO/JASON REED, REUTERS)

Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York laughs alongside U.S. President Barack Obama and Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney and his wife, Ann, at the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner in New York Oct. 18. civility and humor hosted, fittingly, by a church that claims that joy is the infallible sign of God’s presence,” he said.

“We are grateful to be people of faith and loyal Americans, loving a country which considers religious liberty our first and most cherished freedom, convinced that faith is not just limited to an hour of Sabbath worship, but affects everything we do or dare and dream.”

The Al Smith dinner honors the memory of the former governor of

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New York, who was raised in poverty and was the first Catholic nominated by a major political party to run for president of the United States in 1928.

Cardinal Dolan said Al Smith was “a man of deep Catholic faith and ringing patriotism, who had a tear in his Irish eye for what we would call ‘uns,’” whom the cardinal described as including the unemployed, uninsured, unwanted, unwed mothers, unborn, undocumented, unhoused, unhealthy, unfed and undereducated.

Cardinal Dolan said Romney and Obama are “two honorable men called to the vocation of public service whose love for God and country is surpassed only by their love for their wives and children.”

Romney joked that he prepared for the debates by refraining from drinking alcohol for 65 years and finding “the biggest available straw man to attack.” He deadpanned, “Big Bird didn’t even see it coming. In the spirit of Sesame Street, President Obama’s remarks are brought to you by the letter ‘O’ and number 16 trillion.”

Romney said Obama put his own stamp on relations with the Catholic Church by advising Pope Benedict XVI: “Look Holy Father, whatever the problem is, just blame it on Pope John Paul II.” He suggested the media favored Obama in its coverage, and imagined the headlines from the Al Smith dinner as “Obama embraced

by Catholics; Romney dines with rich people.”

To sustained applause, Romney said the Al Smith foundation and the Archdiocese of New York “answer with calm and willing hearts and service to the poor, care for the sick, in defense of the rights of conscience and in solidarity with the innocent children waiting to be born. You can be certain in the great causes of compassion that you come to embrace, that I stand proudly with you as an ally and friend.”

Obama made light of his lackluster performance at the first presidential debate, where he said he had “a nice, long nap” that left him well-rested. “Although it turns out millions of Americans focused in on the second debate who didn’t focus in on the first debate – and I happen to be one of them.”

The president said the dinner was an occasion to focus on what he and Romney have in common, “beginning with our unusual names. Actually, Mitt is his middle name.” He paused and added, “I wish I could use my middle name.”

Describing the upcoming third debate, Obama said he and Romney would discuss foreign policy. “Spoiler alert: We got bin Laden,” he said to both laughter and applause. Obama called attention to his opponent’s gaffes at the Olympic Games in England. “After my foreign trip in 2008, I was attacked as a celebrity because I was so popular with our allies overseas. And I have to say, I’m impressed with how well Gov. Romney has avoided that problem.”

Obama acknowledged the “extraordinary work that is done by the Catholic Church” and said the perseverance and character of ordinary Americans have brought the country through some very tough years.

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NATIONAL 7

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | OCTOBER 26, 2012

DOMA ruling unjust, says archbishop CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE

WASHINGTON – The chairman of the U.S. Catholic bishops’ subcommittee on marriage described as “unjust and a great disappointment” the decision by a federal appeals court striking down part of the Defense of Marriage Act, which says marriage is a legal union of a man and a woman.

“Redefining marriage never upholds the equal dignity of individuals because it contradicts basic human rights,” said San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Subcommittee for the Promotion and Defense of Marriage.

He issued a statement Oct. 19 about a 2-1 ruling handed down a day earlier by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan, which said the federal marriage law was unconstitutional because it failed to give equal protection to New York spouses in same-sex marriages.

It was the second appeals court ruling to find a key provision of the 1996 federal law unconstitutional. In May, the Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of same-sex couples in Massachusetts, challenging what they argued was the discriminatory nature of the legislation.

The Defense of Marriage Act, known as DOMA, passed with bipartisan support and was signed into law

by President Bill Clinton. It defines marriage as “a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife.”

The U.S. Supreme Court is

expected this term to take up an appeal to rulings on the Defense of Marriage Act. There also is an appeal pending on California’s Proposition 8, a 2008 voterapproved ban on same-sex marriage.

In February of this year, a three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit affirmed a U.S. District Court judge’s Archbishop ruling that Prop Salvatore J. 8 was unconstituCordileone tional. The panel and later the full court stayed the ruling pending appeal. On July 31, it was appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

In his statement, Archbishop Cordileone reiterated the church’s teaching that marriage “is and can only be the union of one man and one woman,” and said this recognition “is grounded in our nature” and “obliges our consciences and laws.”

“It is a matter of basic rights – the right of every child to be welcomed and raised, as far as possible, by his or her mother and father together in a stable home,” he said. “Marriage is the only institution whereby a man and a woman unite for life and are united to any child born from their union.

“The public good demands that the unique meaning and purpose of marriage be respected in law and society, not rejected as beyond the constitutional pale.”

Brian Brown, president of the

National Organization for Marriage, which filed arguments with the appeals court before the Oct. 18 ruling, described the decision as “another example of judicial activism and elite judges imposing their views on the American people.”

He also said the ruling “further demonstrates why it is imperative” for the U.S. Supreme Court to review pending cases against the Defense of Marriage Act. “The American people are entitled to a definitive ruling in support of marriage as the union of one man and one woman,” he said in a statement.

The 2nd Circuit ruling, written by Judge Dennis Jacobs, said it found no reason that the Defense of Marriage Act could be used to deny benefits to married gay couples.

It supported a lower court ruling in a case brought by Edith Windsor, who sued the government in 2010, because

she was required to pay $363,053 in federal estate tax after her partner of 44 years died.

The court ruled that the Defense of Marriage Act prevented Windsor, who is 83, from being treated as a spouse even though she and Thea Spyer were married in Canada in 2007. Although their marriage was recognized under New York state law, Windsor was denied the spousal waiver from the federal estate tax after Spyer died in 2009.

Jacobs said courts should examine discrimination against homosexuals in the same way they viewed discrimination of women decades ago.

“The question is not whether homosexuals have achieved political successes over the years; they clearly have. The question is whether they have the strength to politically protect themselves from wrongful discrimination,” he wrote.

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8 NATIONAL

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | OCTOBER 26, 2012

Essayists say church has given them ‘true freedom’ as women MAUREEN BOYLE CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE

WASHINGTON – Helen Alvare, former U.S. bishops’ pro-life spokeswoman, is the co-author and editor of a new book, “Breaking Through, Catholic Women Speak for Themselves,” the idea for which came about, she said, from pages of notes she’s been jotting down for the past 15 years.

However, the concept officially took off when the recently coined and politically charged phrase, “war on women” entered into the American lexicon, used by some to characterize opposition to a federal mandate requiring most religious employers to provide free coverage of contraceptives for employees.

“It forced me to make a response,” said Alvare, who with several of her co-contributors recently talked about the book at the Catholic Information

Center in downtown Washington.

“This is a book that tries to be the intersection of faith and reason.”

The recent claims about “war on women” fail to acknowledge Catholic women who value religious liberty, said Alvare, who is a law professor at George Mason University Law School.

Helen Alvare Along with her co-authors and 36,000 women, Alvare signed an open letter she and fellow book contributor Kim Daniels wrote to the Obama administration, saying religious freedom must be preserved not only for private worship, but also for public expression.

In her remarks Oct. 5 and in a similar presentation at the National Press Club Oct. 16, Alvare said the book,

“Breaking Through, Catholic Women Speak for Themselves,” grew out of a women’s movement, Women Speak for Themselves, established to defend religious freedom and to put forth a more thoughtful and complete vision of women’s freedom.

Published by Our Sunday Visitor, the book is a collection of essays on a range of topics, including dating, marriage, children, religious life, women as the family breadwinner and single motherhood. The authors are Catholic women, writing about how their faith has shaped their lives, guided them through the secularism of today’s society, and how they embraced the true freedom found by living according to the rich teachings of the Catholic Church.

“Nine Catholic women tell their stories of living out their faith joyfully, authentically and without fear,” said Alvare.

In her talk at the Catholic Information Center, she addressed religious liberty as it relates to the contraceptive mandate issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

It requires all employers, including most religious employers, to cover the costs of contraceptives, including some that can cause abortions, and of sterilizations in employee health plans.

The mandate does not include a conscience clause for employers who object to such coverage on moral grounds. A narrow exemption applies only to those religious institutions that seek to inculcate their religious values and primarily employ and serve people of their own faith.

“Our government is now saying the freedoms we were founded upon have to go,” Alvare said. “It is a frightening shift.”

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CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | OCTOBER 26, 2012

Trial set for second Vatican employee

(CNS PHOTO/ALESSANDRO BIANCHI, REUTERS)

A journalist highlights the sentence “Paolo Gabriele guilty” as the Vatican spokesman, Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, talks to reporters about the sentence of Pope Benedict XVI’s former butler, Paolo Gabriele, at the Vatican Oct. 23.

CINDY WOODEN AND CAROL GLATZ CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE

VATICAN CITY – Claudio Sciarpelletti, the Vatican Secretariat of State computer technician accused of aiding and abetting the pope’s butler in stealing confidential Vatican correspondence, will go on trial at the Vatican Nov. 5.

The Vatican announced the trial Jesuit Father date Oct. 23. Jesuit Federico Father Federico Lombardi Lombardi, Vatican spokesman, told reporters that Sciarpelletti’s trial on the “minor charges” of aiding and abetting was expected to be brief.

Also Oct. 23, the Vatican released a 15-page document from the threejudge panel that found the butler, Paolo Gabriele, guilty Oct. 6 and sentenced him to 18 months in jail.

After criminal trials in Italy and at the Vatican, the judges publish a detailed explanation of how they arrived at their verdict and how they determined the sentence. Father Lombardi said a Vatican prosecutor will study the document and has 40 days to decide whether he will file an appeal, something usually done to request a harsher sentence.

Gabriele, who also had a chance to appeal his conviction, declined to do so; he remains under house arrest until the prosecution decides about its appeal, Father Lombardi said. Pope Benedict XVI also could pardon his former butler.

Father Lombardi said that if the pope does not pardon the 46-year-old Gabriele, Vatican judicial officials plan to have him serve his sentence in a 12-foot-by-12-foot cell in the Vatican police barracks and not in an Italian prison.

The report included the fact that the judges denied a request by Gabriele’s lawyer to have retired Cardinals Ivan Dias, former prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, and Georges Cottier, former theologian of the papal household, testify before a papally appointed commission of cardinals

conducting a separate investigation of the leaking of Vatican documents.

The judges said it was beyond their powers to do so; there was no explanation of what kind of information the defense thought the two cardinals could provide.

In the judges’ report, they said that while Gabriele consistently maintained he acted out of love for the pope and the church, the judges felt an obligation “to observe how the action undertaken by Gabriele in reality was harmful” to “the pontiff, the laws of the Holy See, the whole Catholic Church and Vatican City State.”

First, the judges said evidence proved to them that a few originals were among the photocopies.

Second, they said, Gabriele removed the originals without permission in order to photocopy them, but even more, they said, while he might not have stolen many original documents, by photocopying them he took the information written on them without consent.

The judges cited several statements made by Gabriele, both during the investigation and at the trial, to the effect that he knew what he was doing was wrong, he took extra precautions to avoid being caught and he went to confession when it became clear he was about to be arrested.

While recognizing that Gabriele was not paid for leaking the documents to an Italian journalist (who, in turn, published them in an instantly best-selling book), the judges said he still committed the crime with the intent to profit from it “intellectually and morally.”

The judges quoted him as telling investigators, “Even if the possession of those documents was illicit, I felt I had to do it for various reasons, including my own personal interests.” Gabriele, they said, felt that having the documents would help him better understand the inner workings of the Vatican, and leaking them to a journalist would help him provide the “shock” that could lead to change in the Vatican, which he felt was becoming filled with corruption and careerism.

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10 WORLD

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | OCTOBER 26, 2012

Pope proclaims 7 new saints, including St. Kateri, St. Marianne CINDY WOODEN CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE

VATICAN CITY – Proclaiming seven new saints – including St. Kateri Tekakwitha and St. Marianne Cope from North America – Pope Benedict XVI said they are examples to the world of total dedication to Christ and tireless service to others.

In a revised canonization rite Oct. 21, the pope prayed for guidance that the church would not “err in a matter of such importance” as he used his authority to state that the seven are with God in heaven and can intercede for people on earth.

An estimated 80,000 pilgrims from the United States, Canada, the Philippines, Italy, Spain, Germany and Madagascar filled St. Peter’s Square for the canonization of the holy women and men who ministered among their people.

The pilgrims applauded the proclamation of the new saints, who included: Kateri, an American Indian who was born in the United States and died in Canada in 1680; Mother Marianne, a Sister of St. Joseph who traveled from Syracuse, N.Y., to Hawaii to care for people with Hansen’s disease and died in Molokai in 1918; and Pedro Calungsod, a teenaged Philippine catechist who was martyred in Guam in 1672.

The other new saints are: French Jesuit Father Jacques Berthieu, martyred in Madagascar in 1896; Italian Father Giovanni Battista Piamarta, founder of religious orders, who died in 1913; Sister Carmen Salles Barangueras, founder of a Spanish religious order, who died in 1911; and Anna Schaffer, a lay German woman, who died in 1925.

In his homily at Mass following the canonization, Pope Benedict prayed that the example of the new saints would “speak today to the whole church” and that their intercession would strengthen the church in its mission to proclaim the Gospel to the world.

The pope also spoke about each new saint individually, giving a short biographical outline and highlighting a special characteristic of each for Catholics today.

Pope Benedict called St. Kateri the “protectress of Canada and the first Native American saint,” and he

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(CNS PHOTO/JASON GREENE, REUTERS)

A woman prays during a Mass of thanksgiving celebrated Oct. 21 in honor of St. Kateri Tekakwitha at the Shrine of Our Lady of Martyrs in Auriesville, N.Y. Pope Benedict XVI created seven new saints the same day, including St. Kateri, a 16th-century Mohawk-Algonquin woman known as the “Lily of the Mohawks.” She is regarded as the first Native American saint. entrusted to her “the renewal of the faith in the First Nations and in all of North America.”

The daughter of a Mohawk father and Algonquin Christian mother, St. Kateri was “faithful to the traditions of her people,” but also faithful to the ChristianitybaySoundPediatrics0311.eps she embraced at1age 20. “May her example 2/21/11 11:47 AM help us to live where we are, loving Jesus without denying who we are,” the pope said.

Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of Philadelphia, who is of American Indian descent, told Catholic News Service, “I think many young people today are embarrassed about embracing the Catholic faith because they live in a secular culture that’s hostile toward religious experience.”

St. Kateri also “grew up in a place where there was great hostility toward Christianity,” Archbishop Chaput said, but she resisted all efforts to turn her baySoundPediatrics0311.eps 1 2/21/11 11:47 AM away from her faith, “so in some she would baySoundPediatrics0311.eps 1 2/21/11 11:47ways AM baySoundPediatrics0311.eps 1 2/21/11 11:47 AM baySoundPediatrics0311.eps baySoundPediatrics0311.eps

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Speaking about St. Marianne of Molokai in his homily, Pope Benedict said that a time when very little could be done to treat people with Hansen’s disease, commonly called leprosy, “Marianne Cope showed the highest love, courage and enthusiasm.”

“She is a shining example of the tradition of Catholic nursing sisters and of the spirit of her beloved St. Francis,” the pope said.

Leading a group of Hawaiian pilgrims, including nine patient-residents from Kalaupapa, where St. Marianne ministered, Honolulu Bishop Larry Silva said St. Marianne is “an inspiration for those who care for those most in need, which is what all Christians are called to do. Now, with universal veneration, she can inspire people around the world.”

With thousands of Philippine pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square, Pope Benedict praised St. Pedro, a catechist who accompanied Jesuit priests to the Mariana Islands in 1668. Despite hostility from some of the natives, he “displayed deep faith and charity and continued to catechize his many converts, giving witness to Christ by a life of purity and dedication to the Gospel.”

Pope Benedict also cited St. Anna Schaffer as a model for a very modern concern. St. Anna was working as a maid to earn the money for the dowry needed to enter a convent when an accident occurred and she “received incurable burns” which kept her bedridden the rest of her life, the pope said. In time, she came to see her pain and suffering as a way to unite herself with Christ through prayer, he said.

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WORLD 11

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | OCTOBER 26, 2012

Catholic scientist at Stanford shares Nobel NIKKI RAJALA CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE

ST. CLOUD, Minn. – Who could have predicted that a student from St. Mary’s Grade School in Little Falls would one day win a Nobel Prize? But that’s what Dr. Brian Kobilka accomplished.

He’s one of two scientists awarded a Nobel Prize in Chemistry Oct. 10 for their work on cell receptors.

“It’s a great honor for me,” Kobilka told The Visitor, newspaper of the Diocese of St. Cloud. He made the comments in a telephone interview from his lab in the department of molecular and cellular physiology and medicine at Stanford University.

Kobilka, 57, physician and professor at Stanford University School of Medicine, shares the prize with his onetime mentor Robert Lefkowitz, professor at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C. Since 1984, the pair has worked to identify and isolate a particular family of cell receptors, called G-protein-coupled receptors, or GPCRs, which carry signals from outside stimuli to cells of the human body.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences website includes an essay on the winners’ work, “Cells and sensibility,” as general background for the science.

In their introduction: “In our eyes, noses and mouths, we have sensors for light, odors and flavors.

Within the body, cells have similar sensors for hormones and signaling substances, such as adrenalin, serotonin, histamine and dopamine. As life evolved, cells have repeatedly used the same basic mechanism for reading their environment: G-proteincoupled receptors. But they remained hidden from researchers for a long time.”

Their essay further described the two scientists’ persistence in trying to capture an image of the receptor, a goal believed unattainable by most of the scientific community, and their groundbreak-

ing discoveries in mapping how the GPCR family of receptors works.

Though often Nobel Prizes are given for work done much earlier, Kobilka said in his case the work that had the greatest impact was published only last year in Nature, an international journal for science and medicine.

In 2011, Kobilka’s lab captured through X-ray crystallography the Dr. Brian Kobilka first image of a living G-protein receptor on a cell membrane precisely when it transferred the signal from the hormone adrenalin on the outside of the cell to its interior.

The image revealed new details about the GPCRs. Because of the insights of Lefkowitz and Kobilka, pharmaceutical companies are able to develop more effective and safer medicines for a wide range of diseases.

“About half the drugs a physician would administer,” Kobilka said, “particularly to patients in an intensive care setting, work on cell receptors.”

Those drugs include beta blockers for heart disease, antihistamines for inflammatory disease, various psychiatric medications, drugs for ulcers and those which help the immune system combat cancers.

“We’re still doing similar research,” he said, “focusing on trying to develop methods of making what we’ve learned more applicable for more effective drugs.”

Kobilka talked about growing up in Minnesota, recalling: “The entire time I lived in Little Falls I attended Mass at St. Mary’s. Msgr. (T. Leo) Keaveny was our priest.”

Currently, Kobilka and his wife, Tong Sun Kobilka, are members of the Catholic Community at Stanford, which is in the Diocese of San Jose.

“My introduction to science came through a friend

several years older who was interested in all things science you can do at a young age,” he told The Visitor. “He did experiments in electronics and had a chemistry set, which he shared with me. I caught my interest from him.”

Kobilka further credits excellent math and science teachers at Little Falls High School, where he graduated in 1973, and at University of Minnesota-Duluth, who helped him pursue his zeal.

He likewise encouraged young scientists, possible future Nobel laureates, to follow their passions.

“Work on what you’re interested in,” he said, “on what you want to understand, like how some aspect of how life works. It could be humans or how the universe was created, physics, planetary science, light, the complex relationships between matter and space, medicine, chemistry. If you try to do something because someone wants you to, you’re less likely to succeed.”

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12 WORLD

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | OCTOBER 26, 2012

Vienna to cut 75 percent of parishes over 10 years JONATHAN LUXMOORE CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE

WARSAW, Poland – Austria’s Vienna archdiocese will press ahead with a major reorganization that will include liquidating most of its parishes over 10 years, despite objections from some local Catholics.

The archdiocese’s 660 parishes will be merged over the next decade into around 150 larger parishes, each served by three to five priests and offering regular Masses. “Our emphasis isn’t just on reorganizing the church, but on reinvigorating the missionary impulses of the entire Christian community,� said Michael Pruller, archdiocesan spokesman. “Although we can debate how best to achieve it, the plan’s main aim isn’t open to discussion.�

Pruller told Catholic News Service that falling numbers of clergy and laity had necessitated the changes. He said smaller affiliated communities within the parishes will be run by lay volunteers authorized to conduct the Liturgy of the Word.

Pruller said archdiocesan bishops would draft the new parish boundaries and steps for implementing the reorganization by Jan. 1.

He added experiences from Latin America, Africa and Asia suggested ordained priests were not needed “in every small town and village� and

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that larger parishes could be introduced “without losing the nearness of people to their church.� “As society changes, the church has to change its old-fashioned practices and structures, too,� he said. “The church’s mission of apostolate and evangelization isn’t just the responsibility of parish priests, but of the whole community of baptized and confirmed. If this reorganization creates more vibrant Christian communities, praying, celebrating Mass, conducting mission and helping the needy together, then it could offer a model for church reforms throughout Europe.�

Speaking in mid-September, after the reorganization was announced, Vienna Cardinal Christoph Schonborn said the reform would be the archdiocese’s biggest for two centuries and would mean “saying goodbye to much that has become dear to us.�

However, he added that the reorganization would help pool resources, reduce administration and “leave more time for evangelization.� “This is about a new cooperation between priests and laity from their common Christian vocation,� the cardinal told the news conference, which was reported by Austria’s Kathpress news agency. “We have to free ourselves of the traditional image that the church is present only where there’s a priest and stress the common priesthood of all baptized,� he said.

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Pruller said the reorganization had been preceded by a “long consultation phase,� but could not be “discussed endlessly.�

He added that it would not alter the ratio of priests to lay Catholics and said other dioceses in France and Germany had also made “groundbreaking structural changes� and retrained their parish teams. “It will be much more efficient and robust to have several priests working together, rather than priests left totally by themselves,� the spokesman said. “The local Christian communities will be counted on to take care of those needing help, such as the elderly, so that everyone can get to Mass.�

The reform was supported by several Austrian newspapers, including the mass-circulation Die Presse daily, which said in a Sept. 24 editorial it was “not only understandable but imperative� to centralize parish work.

However, a leading pastoral theologian and sociologist, Father Paul Zulehner, said the reform had been opposed by most Catholic respondents in an online survey to be published Oct. 31. “Although there were consultations, they weren’t held with the priests and laity who’ll be most affected – this isn’t a good way to restructure an archdiocese,� Father Zulehner told Catholic News Service.

The Austrian Priests’ Initiative, which currently claims 508 clergy members, pledged to resist the reorganization. A statement from the head of Austria’s lay Catholic “We Are Church� group, which has campaigned for changes since 1995, said it doubted downsizing would facilitate greater lay participation.

Austria’s 12,800-member Lay Initiative association also dismissed the reorganization as “an evasive maneuver to avoid necessary reforms� and “maintain the power of clergy.�

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WORLD 13

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | OCTOBER 26, 2012

POPE GIVES RATZINGER THEOLOGY PRIZE TO AMERICAN, FRENCH SCHOLARS

VATICAN CITY – Pope Benedict XVI bestowed the 2012 Ratzinger Prize for Theology on an American expert on the early church fathers and a French scholar of religious philosophy. U.S. Jesuit Father Brian E. Daley and Remi Brague received Jesuit Father the award from the Brian Daley pope at a ceremony in the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace Oct. 20. Pope Benedict noted that the two men have studied in fields “decisive for the church in our times”: ecumenism and relations with other religions. The scholars are “exemplary for the transmission of knowledge that unites science and wisdom, scientific rigor and passion for man, so that man might discover the ‘art of living,’” the pope said. Father Daley, a professor of theology at the University of Notre Dame, has written extensively about the development of Christian doctrine in late antiquity and the early Middle Ages.

“It’s a great recognition for what all of us are really trying to do -- serve the Catholic Church by helping people become more aware of our tradition of reflective faith,” Father Daley told Catholic News Service in an Oct. 22 email.

Brague, an authority on medieval Islamic and Jewish philosophy, is

a professor of Arabic and religious philosophy at Ludwig-Maximilian University in Munich.

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CONGOLESE ASSUMPTIONISTS KIDNAPPED

ROME – Three priests kidnapped Oct. 19 in eastern Congo have not been heard from, said a member of their Assumptionist order. Assumptionist Father Bernard LeLeannec, the congregation’s secretary-general, said the three were at taken at gunpoint from their home at Our Lady of the Poor Parish in the village of Mbau, in embattled North Kivu province. Father LeLeannec received his information from a fourth Assumptionist, who avoided being taken by refusing to leave his room when someone knocked at the door.

The escaped priest, identified only as Joseph, said two of his confreres were relaxing in the living room and one was on the balcony doing wash around 9 p.m., when the kidnapping occurred. The statement from the Assumptionists said that, shortly after the kidnapping, witnesses saw members of the rebel Ugandan Allied Democratic Forces traveling in the direction of where their base is known to be. For months, government soldiers have been stationed in Goma, capital of North Kivu province, where Mbau is located.

The soldiers are battling the rebel group M23, which defected from the Congolese military. The violence has led more than 100,000 people to flee their homes since April.

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14 WORLD

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | OCTOBER 26, 2012

(CNS PHOTOS/PAUL HARING)

Pictured are four papal conveyances that are part of a permanent exhibit on papal vehicles at the Vatican Museums. Far left, the “Graham Paige 837” was donated by the Graham brothers of the United States in 1929 to Pope Pius XI to mark the occasion of the Lateran agreement between Italy and the Vatican. Center left, Pope John Paul II was shot in this Fiat popemobile May 13, 1981, in St. Peter’s Square. Center right, this Mercedes-Benz sedan was used beginning in the 1960s and continuing through the early part of the pontificate of Pope John Paul II. Right, a “Gala Berlin” carriage, made around 1825 during the pontificate of Pope Leo XII.

Historic papal vehicles on display at Vatican Museums CAROL GLATZ CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE

VATICAN CITY – The white open-air jeep Blessed John Paul II was riding in when he was shot May 13, 1981, was taken out of storage and put on display in the Vatican Museums’ newly revamped Popemobile Pavilion.

The move wasn’t meant to sensationalize the tragic event or turn it into a sideshow, but to highlight the car that has become “highly symbolic” of that fateful day and help people “reflect on the value of life and everything John Paul did,” said Sandro Barbagallo.

Barbagallo, an art critic at the Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, was the driving force behind restoring and reopening the Museums’ permanent exhibit of historic modes of papal transport. The grand opening took place Oct. 16 – the 34th anniversary of Blessed John Paul’s election as pope.

The underground exhibit, which houses more than a dozen ornate papal carriages and nine papal cars, had been open only sporadically over the years. Deciding to put the 1980 white Fiat Campagnola on display was the impetus to relaunch the space and keep it open to the public to showcase its other transport treasures of the popes.

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John Paul in 2004 to thank him for visiting the country in 2002.

– The steering wheel of a Ferrari Formula One racing car donated to Blessed John Paul in 2005 by the carmaker’s president, Luca Cordero di Montezemolo. An accompanying plaque honors the pope for his “26 years in the pole position on the roads of humanity.”

– An immense six-horse-drawn Gran Gala gilded carriage whose wooden wheels are more than five feet high. It was built around 1826 for Pope Leo XII. But when horse-drawn carriages started giving way to automobiles, the Vatican was slow to follow.

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Archbishop John M. Farley of New York gave an Itala to Pope Pius X in 1909.

The pope refused to accept the newfangled contraption, saying he preferred the “clippity-clop” of horses pulling his Landau carriage to the “chugga chugga” of a gasoline engine, Barbagallo told Catholic News Service.

A car would have been useless at the time anyway since a dispute with the Italian government over the sovereignty of the Holy See kept popes confined inside the tiny Vatican City from 1870 to 1929.

When the 1929 Lateran Pacts finally allowed popes to go freely outside Vatican City walls, Pope Pius XI became the first pope to put the rubber to the road in a Detroit-made Graham Paige.

The auto-producing Graham brothers donated the vehicle to the pope, who used it for the very first time he or any pope was able to leave the Vatican in nearly 60 years.

It was also used by Pope Pius XII when he went to visit Rome’s San Lorenzo neighborhood to comfort residents in the wake of a deadly U.S. bombing raid of the area in 1943.

The exhibit also includes the first official white “popemobiles.” The first white off-road open-air vehicle used by a pope was a 1976 Toyota Land Cruiser used periodically by Pope Paul VI. That was followed by the 1980 Fiat Campagnola, a 1983 Land Rover Santana and a 1990 Mercedes-Benz 230.

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ELECTION 15

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | OCTOBER 26, 2012

The Catholic voter: Conscience and the common good

(PHOTO BY RICK DELVECCHIO/CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO)

Can American Catholics be both citizens and believers at the present moment? With the presidential election and other important choices just weeks away, Catholics from several parishes in the archdiocese met at St. Dunstan Church in Millbrae Oct. 13 to explore that question. The event included discussions preceded by a talk by Auxiliary Bishop Robert W. McElroy that outlined Catholics’ freedoms and responsibilities as they make political choices with an informed conscience.

Parishioners discuss freedoms, responsibilities of Catholic citizenship DANA PERRIGAN CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO

How should Catholics vote?

With the presidential election looming closer with each passing day, the question grows increasingly urgent. In an effort to answer it, a group of 60 or so Catholics from parishes throughout the Archdiocese of San Francisco – led by Auxiliary Bishop Robert W. McElroy – gathered Oct. 13 at St. Dunstan Church in Millbrae for a parish forum called “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship.”

Organized by the St. Dunstan Social Awareness Committee, the forum was named after a document prepared by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to help Catholics make political decisions based upon their faith.

“As Catholics, we’re faced with the central question: What does our faith tell us about our approach to very difficult questions as we prepare to vote?” Bishop McElroy asked those seated in the auditorium.

Throughout his presentation, the bishop outlined the principles Catholics should consider when deciding how to cast their votes.

It is necessary, he said, to put aside self-interest in favor of the common good. It is important to know and apply Catholic social justice principles to the issues and candidates: the right to life and the dignity of the human person; the enhancement of family life; human rights – especially the sustaining rights of food, clothing, shelter and health care; the option for the poor and vulnerable; the dignity of work and the rights of workers; solidarity; and caring for God’s creation.

“The church wants you to work it out.

The store-bought conscience doesn’t work.”

PHIL BEGIN

St. Dunstan Parish Social Awareness Committee Contrary to what some believe, said the bishop, the church does not teach that Catholics must cast their votes based solely on a candidate’s stand on abortion. While that issue should be considered pre-eminent, the other issues can also be taken into consideration.

“This is really the hard call for us as Christians,” Bishop McElroy told the group.

Catholics should also consider if a candidate can or will do what they promise, he said.

While the church may take a stand on an issue, he said, it is not affiliated with any particular party and it does not endorse candidates. Because Catholic issues split both parties, it is of the utmost importance for Catholics to listen to and obey their consciences.

“It is God speaking to us at the core of our being,” he said. “It is the sacred space within the heart that is in conversation with God.” It is therefore the task of every Christian, he said, to undertake the lifelong task of forming his or her conscience. The church esteems conscience so highly, that a person with an informed conscience is called upon to obey it – even if it conflicts with church teaching.

The bishop warned, however, to be on guard against rationalization and the “illusion of conscience.”

In a follow-up interview, Bishop McElroy stressed that a properly informed Catholic conscience must

not only avoid rationalizing a predetermined choice but also must give a presumption to the teaching of the church.

Bishop McElroy said politics in the United States had become so divisive that it was now “tribal.”

“I believe we really look at politics now like sports,” said Bishop McElroy, who has a doctorate in political science. “That’s corrosive.

It’s very alluring, but it’s not how the church calls us to look upon citizenship.”

A lot of people, he said, are so turned off by politics that they have given up voting.

“The moral call is to participate,” he said. “The life of a disciple of Christ is to make things better, and that’s true for us as voters.”

Following the bishop’s presentation, those in attendance broke up into discussion groups.

“Honestly, I’m not as knowledgeable as I would like to be on the issues,” said Pearce Ekel, a 25-yearold parishioner at All Souls Parish in South San Francisco. “I came here

to learn how to approach it from the Catholic perspective.”

“You have the candidates and what they’re saying,” said Barbara Penner, a parishioner at St. Dunstan. “But what’s the most important thing to consider? I thought he (Bishop McElroy) gave clarification on how to consider the candidates and issues.”

“It did give me some insight on how to look at the issues,” agreed Jack Cardon, who also belongs to St. Dunstan. “But you roll the dice with some of these guys.”

“A lot of Catholics have assumed positions they don’t really understand,” said Phil Begin, a facilitator of the St. Dunstan Social Awareness Committee that sponsored the forum.

“The church wants you to work it out. The store-bought conscience doesn’t work. You have to make it from scratch.”

“It all comes down to listening to the Holy Spirit,” said Stephanie Capodanno, also from St. Dunstan. “I thought he (the bishop) was showing us how to really evaluate and see what is best for our country and for the world.”

“I thought it was interesting what he said about how our two parties have become tribal,” said Theresa Wills, a teacher at St. Charles Borremeo School in San Carlos. “And I think he was able to make really large issues clear and succinct.”

INSIDE THIS SPECIAL SECTION Conscience guides young Catholic voters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Many Latino voters disillusioned . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Comparing the presidential campaigns on key issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 California bishops support Props. 34 and 35 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22

16 ELECTION

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | OCTOBER 26, 2012

Conscience guides young Catholic voters LIDIA WASOWICZ CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO

On the right, on the left, in the center and swerving among candidates, young Catholic voters converge on one driving principle in the upcoming presidential contest: they look to their conscience – even if it counters a church creed – to direct them at the ballot box.

That they wind up on such divergent paths indicates common faith is no political unifier, at least among Catholics, who comprise nearly a quarter of the nation’s electorate but traditionally refuse to vote as a bloc.

Interviews with 30-something and younger California parishioners reveal an independent streak that, aligned with national trends, has some poring over and others passing over the U.S. bishops’ teaching on civic responsibility.

“The ‘Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship’” document “motivates me to take seriously my obligation as a person of faith and to spend the necessary time forming my conscience in order to vote responsibly,” said Laura Martin-Spencer, 36, of St. Pius Parish in Redwood City.

“It also reminds me there is no easy answer.”

Not so for a parishioner at St. Hilary in Tiburon, who has a simple solution: Vote for President Barack Obama and leave religion out of politics.

“In general, I am not aware of the church’s official stance on many (issues) and, as such, it does not play a part in my decision,” said Katrina, 23, who asked that her last name be withheld to maintain privacy.

She is among the 84 percent of Catholic adults and 90 percent of those under 30 who are unfamiliar with their bishops’ nonpartisan call to “vote according to a well-formed conscience that perceives the proper relationship among moral goods.”

Of those aware of the document, 74 percent paid it no heed during the 2008 race, according to a 2011 Georgetown University survey of 1,239 self-identified Catholics.

Only 1 percent of those under 30 familiar with the document, issued in presidential elections since 1976, deemed it a “major influence” on their political choices.

“I believe this reinforces the need for the work of the Young Adult Council that I’m chairing for the Archdiocese

Laura Martin-Spencer

Maura Lafferty

Jeremy Kahle

“They do not fully represent my values, and I feel that at least part of each of their platforms will negatively impact society – Obama’s stance and voting record on abortion and (former Gov. Mitt) Romney’s track record with budget priorities.”

LAURA MARTIN-SPENCER

Donna Castro

A.J. Ferreira

of San Francisco and the task force writing a pastoral plan for young adult ministry,” said Maura Lafferty, 26, of St. Ignatius in San Francisco, swayed to Obama by the first lady’s speech at the Democratic National Convention that “framed the policies of the current administration in the light of the importance of human dignity.”

Since neither major party nominee adheres to the church-sanctioned line on all four critical matters of human life, family, social justice and global solidarity, Martin-Spencer has found it difficult to make up her mind.

“They do not fully represent my values, and I feel that at least part of each of their platforms will negatively impact society – Obama’s stance and voting record on abortion and (former Gov. Mitt) Romney’s track record with budget priorities,” she said.

Her options: “Choose the lesser of two evils or choose a write-in candidate that is more in line with my conscience but sure to lose in November.”

Struggling with similar misgivings, a member of the Young Adult Council and RCIA program at St. Dominic in San Francisco who read the bishops’ counsel several years ago carefully crafted his Catholic conscience before locking in his vote.

“The Democratic Party’s view on abortion combined with the current

Jonathan Lewis administration’s open hostility toward organized religion and the Catholic Church in particular make it hard as a faithful Catholic to vote for Obama and Democratic candidates, especially because I view the right to life as fundamental to a society,” said Matthew, 37, who asked that his last name not be used to avoid having his comments “come back to haunt” him.

His loyalty lies with the church, which, unlike any political party, maintains consistent teachings and principles, Matthew said.

Seeped in those teachings since birth, Jeremy Kahle, 32, of St. Peter Parish in Fallbrook (San Diego County) is so turned off by the president’s stance on abortion, gay marriage and other “tradition-threatening family issues,” he’s turning to Romney.

Turning aside the same qualms because the president has no legal authority over such matters, lifelong Catholic Donna Castro, 29, of Sacred Heart Parish in Palm Springs is turning in a vote for Obama.

“I’m hoping he’ll do better on the economic front in the next four years,” she said. “(Former President George W.) Bush got us into this hole over eight years so I think we should give Obama equal time to get us out.”

So does Joe Cussen, 28, of St. Agnes Parish in San Francisco, who, al-

though disappointed with Obama’s first term, has graver concerns about Republican austerity measures he fears will deprive the poor of fundamental needs and the middle class of economic growth.

His civic decisions emanate from “a position of faith in a God of love and a God who judges how we treat our sisters and brothers,” Cussen said.

“My faith is at the core of who I am and guides the way that I act.”

Bound to his Catholic roots “about 70 percent of the time,” A.J. Ferreira, 28, of Old St. Mary’s Cathedral in San Francisco, admitted, “Sad as it sounds, the deciding factor likely will not deal with high-brow ideology but with down-to-earth money matters, and on the economic front, Romney wins by a hair.”

Kristina Woodcock, 22, of St. Sebastian in Greenbrae, is also considering economic factors as she votes in her second presidential contest.

The product of Catholic education who graduated from Santa Clara University said she will keep her religious beliefs in check in the polling booth.

“While my Catholic faith has been a major influence in my life, it does not play a major role in my voting,” she said.

Viewing the political scene through a Catholic lens, Jonathan Lewis, 26, of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Mill Valley prays for clarity on which nominee looks best in light of the Gospel and the church’s social and moral teaching.

“As a Catholic, I think every one of us should be a political orphan,” he said, “taking a stance in the name not of a party or of a candidate but of our faith.”

Catholic women and the vote for president VALERIE SCHMALZ CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO

Abortion survivor Melissa Ohden and President Barack Obama are the stars of a 60-second spot that the Susan B. Anthony List is broadcasting as part of a more than $1 million buy in five battleground states in an effort to convince women to vote against the president.

The pro-life PAC ad contrasts Ohden’s story as an aborted infant born alive with Obama’s statements while in the Illinois state legislature where he voted against the Born Alive Infants Protection Act which would protect babies such as Ohden.

“It’s going to be a horse race,” predicted Marjorie Dannenfelser, SBA List president, saying every vote will count, particularly in the five battle-

Women’s vote will be influenced by their views of fairness, and that may depend on which candidate makes the better case.

Public Religion Research Institute’s polling found “six in 10 women say one of the biggest problems in this country is we don’t give everyone an equal chance in life.”

ROBERT P. JONES

Public Religion Research Institute ground states of Florida, Iowa, Ohio, Virginia and Wisconsin where SBA List is devoting the bulk of its $8 million advertising war chest.

Dannenfelser said Gallup’s polling over the past 10 years shows a largely unreported change in views of abortion so that “pro-life is the

new normal.” A May 23, 2012, Gallup Poll found Americans tilt pro-life by a margin of 50 percent to 41 percent.

The SBA List is targeting Catholics, women and Hispanics who probably voted for Obama in 2008, Dannenfelser said. Fifty percent of women voted for Obama versus 43 percent for

Republican Sen. John McCain in the 2008 presidential election, according to Gallup.

Pro-life votes will count in the 2012 presidential election, but pollsters say the stagnant economy, high jobless rate, and concern about the $16 trillion federal debt, are the biggest factors for most Americans who plan to vote. Polls generally have shown Republican Mitt Romney and Obama in a dead heat, with various polls showing one, then the other pulling ahead.

“Catholic women are viewing this election in much the same way as other women: The economy and jobs rank at the forefront,” said Catholic University of America political science professor John White. “I see very SEE CATHOLIC WOMEN, PAGE 17

ELECTION 17

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | OCTOBER 26, 2012

Many Latino voters disillusioned, demoralized ARACELI MARTÍNEZ CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO

Though many Latinos in California are demoralized by the presidential candidates, an increase of Latino voters in the presidential election is foreseen this November.

The National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials is predicting that 12.2 million Latinos will cast their votes in the November election, up by 26 percent in relation to 2008.

“The 12.2 million figure is tallied based on the growth of the Hispanic vote in the past 20 years.

Among the causes for this rise is the expansion of the Latino population, our civic participation and the investment by the parties to get the vote out,” says NALEO director of election policy Astrid García.

In California the Latino community represents 24 percent of all registered voters. This means there are 3.025 million Latinos registered to go to the polls.

“Though it feels like a boring election, there will be a good turnout of voters and I am under the impression that Latinos will vote for Obama,” says Matt González, former San Francisco mayoral and Green Party vice presidential candidate.

In the latest NBC/Wall Street Journal/Telemundo poll, Obama leads Romney 70 percent to 25 percent among likely Latino voters (and 69 percent to 23 percent among registered voters), a slight increase for Romney from the 70 percent to 25 percent lead the president held a month ago. An Oct. 11 Pew Hispanic Center Latino poll found Latino registered voters prefer Obama over Romney by 69 percent to 21 percent.

Nonetheless, González – who became an independent and works as a public defender in San Francisco – considers that Latinos are not happy with the Obama administration because he has been more aggressive with the deportation of Latinos than President George Bush. “I don’t think this will translate into votes for Romney, the Republican candidate, because he has not been effective in reaching out to the middle class,” he says.

“To understand why Latinos will vote for someone like Obama who has not been good for them, one has to understand mass psychology. And I think that they have two devils and will vote for the less harmful one,” he says.

Latinos like Miguel Araujo, a Mexican immigrant

Matt González

María Ortiz

Francisco Silva

“To understand why Latinos will vote for someone like Obama who has not been good for them, one has to understand mass psychology. And I think that they have two devils and will vote for the less harmful one.”

MATT GONZÁLEZ

Former San Francisco mayoral and Green Party vice presidential candidate and small business owner in San Bruno, feel that Hispanics are so demoralized it may affect the turnout. “In my dealings with people, I have found great disappointment especially due to the intransigence of a candidate like Romney in regards to immigration issues and the lack of leadership of a president that does not want to help us at all and blames Republicans for not granting us immigration reform,” he says. “People ask me what the option is and for the first time I remain silent and I don’t know what to tell them,” says Araujo who also conducts a weekly radio show in San Francisco.

A CNN poll from this month found that the most important issue for 44 percent of Latinos is the economy and for 14 percent it is immigration.

And maybe that is why small business owners like Araujo say that they “have Jesus in their mouths” and fret over plans to help big corporations and businesses. “This will cause people to lose their jobs.”

In 2008 Barack Obama was favored over John McCain by Latinos 69 percent to 29 percent according to the William C. Velasquez Institute.

“This time around the Latino voter is choosing which party is less offensive to them, which will present fewer problems. I have been analyzing the vote since 1976, and for the first time I can see that Latino voters are saying, “Let’s vote for Obama because Romney is really bad for us,” says political analyst Arnoldo Torres.

But he does not expect a large number of Latinos to vote in the presidential election this November.

“In comparison with 2008 it will not be the same,” he says.

And he explains why: “President Obama did not fulfill his immigration promise, he gave us the impression that he would have a relationship with the Hispanic community unlike anything we had seen before and he did not; and the economic problems have had a greater impact on Hispanics than on any other community, we lost more homes – above all other groups. The damage seems to be permanent.”

Facing little Latino support in the polls, Mitt Romney earlier in the campaign said that he would not get rid of Deferred Action, a program announced by the Obama administration intended to halt for two years the deportations of students that were brought here by their parents when they were children. However, he wants to put an end to the program while Congress debates a long-term solution before the two-year visas expire. The former Massachusetts governor says he wants a full immigration reform plan.

Obama, in the second presidential debate, reiterated his support for a comprehensive immigration reform that includes a pathway to citizenship.

“The vote is a weapon that the Hispanic community has,” says María Ortiz, a community activist from the San Francisco Bay Area.

“We are a sleeping giant and we have the opportunity to participate and choose national and state representatives in this election,” she says.

Many would like to go to the polls but are still unable to, among them Francisco Silva, a retired worker who is in the process of becoming a citizen after having been in this country for 45 years.

“What would I gain with my vote? I’d participate with my community and with the decisions of Congress,” he says without hesitation.

Matt González is certain that voting for candidates that care about the things he cares about is important for him. “It’s the best way of voting,” he says.

CATHOLIC WOMEN: Economy, jobs at forefront for many voters FROM PAGE 16

little difference between how Catholics prioritize issues as compared with how other voters prioritize issues.”

“The candidates are really going to have to make their case for the economy – who has the better case,” said Robert P. Jones, chief executive officer of Public Religion Research Institute. The nonpartisan nonprofit conducted a poll in mid-August which was published Sept. 20.

Jones disagrees with Gallup’s numbers on pro-life voters, saying slightly more Americans favor legalized abortion in his polling. However, he says just 3 percent of voters say the issue will determine their vote.

In the Public Religion Research Institute poll, 74 percent of Americans polled blame corporations for moving jobs overseas, with 59 percent saying Obama is at least partly responsible for the nation’s economic woes and 65 percent continuing to blame former President George W. Bush, Jones said.

“They’re basically blaming everyone who’s been in charge,” Jones said.

Women now appear evenly divided between the two candidates, 47 percent to 47 percent, based on a Pew Research Center poll released Oct. 8. Gallup showed Obama’s lead among women shrinking to one percentage point.

This is a dramatic change from before the first debate when a Pew poll had

Obama with an 18 point lead among women. Early polling after the second town hall style debate on Oct. 16 showed a slight majority believed that Obama won the debate.

The women’s vote will be influenced by their views of fairness and that may depend on which candidate makes the better case, Jones said. Public Religion Research Institute’s polling found “six in 10 women say one of the biggest problems in this country is we don’t give everyone an equal chance in life.”

Our Lady of Guadalupe Mission parishioner Nancy Lacsamana plans to vote for Obama as she did in 2008.

“I am Democrat, pro-life, anti-death penalty but still feel that I am more in sync with Obama moving us forward than Romney will ever,” said the Brisbane parishioner.

“I don’t want a president who generalizes the poor and those who get assistance because they are out of jobs or have health issues.”

Coming from the other direction, St. Stephen parishioner Connie D’Aura sees Obama’s efforts to require Catholic institutions to provide free contraceptives to their employees, as well as his support for unrestricted access to abortion as unsupportable.

“I do not see the Democratic Party as liberators, but obstructionists,” said D’Aura. “Circumventing my parenting, hiring quality educators, limiting school choice and creating a false glass

ceiling is a problem for me. Romney is my pro-woman candidate.”

Many women’s support for Obama is pragmatic, said Stephen Schneck, director of the Institute for Policy Research & Catholic Studies at The Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C., and an Obama supporter.

“I would argue that it is the sense that women have that a Democratic administration is going to have programs in place that are going to better safeguard their families from the vulnerabilities of life,” he said.

On the other side, the Obama administration’s contraceptive mandate has energized a group of women, mostly Catholic, who oppose the president and support the church in its religious freedom battle. Schneck said he supports Catholic University in its lawsuit against the mandate.

The Republicans and Romney joined all the U.S. bishops in opposing the mandate requiring Catholic and other religious hospitals, charities and universities to provide free contraceptives, including abortion inducing drugs, to employees and their dependents. The Obama administration calls opposition to its contraceptive mandate a “war on women.”

“Thanks to President Barack Obama’s contraceptive mandate and Catholic concerns about its impact on religious liberty, Catholic women have emerged as this year’s most coveted

and scrutinized swing voters,” columnist Colleen Carroll Campbell wrote in the St. Louis Post Dispatch Sept. 13.

Among those challenging the Obama “war on women” narrative is the website Women Speak for Themselves, (womenspeakforthemselves. com), co-founded by Helen Alvare, law professor at George Mason University.

“No one speaks for all women on these issues. Those who purport to do so are simply attempting to deflect attention from the serious religious liberty issues currently at stake,” the website letter says. “Each of us, Catholic or not, is proud to stand with the Catholic Church and its rich, life-affirming teachings on sex, marriage and family life. “ Women cannot be categorized as “one size fits all” voters, said Vicki Evans, respect life coordinator for the Archdiocese of San Francisco and a certified public accountant in private practice.

“I don’t believe there is a generic ‘women’s vote’ any more than there is a ‘Catholic vote.’ Women vote based on issues that matter most to them at any given time in their lives,” said Evans.

“It will be economic issues if they can’t put food on the table. It will be social issues like abortion, marriage and family if they are religious or have an activist bent. It will be health care issues if they are elderly or have disabled family members.”

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CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | OCTOBER 26, 2012

CITIZENSHIP STRESSES FUNDAMENTAL ETHICAL DEMANDS

In 2002 Pope John Paul II approved a Vatican doctrinal note on “The Participation of Catholics in Political Life.” Here is an excerpt.

When political activity comes up against moral principles that do not admit of exception, compromise or derogation, the Catholic commitment becomes more evident and laden with responsibility. In the face of fundamental and inalienable ethical demands, Christians must recognize that what is at stake is the essence of the moral law, which concerns the integral good of the human person. This is the case with laws concerning abortion and euthanasia (not to be confused with the decision to forgo extraordinary treatments, which is morally legitimate). Such laws must defend the basic right to life from conception to natural death. In the same way, it is necessary to recall the duty to respect and protect the rights of the human embryo.

Analogously, the family needs to be safeguarded and promoted, based on monogamous marriage between a man and a woman, and protected in its unity and stability in the face of modern laws on divorce: in no way can other forms of cohabitation be placed on the same level as marriage, nor can they receive legal recognition as such. The same is true for the freedom of parents regarding the education of their children; it is an inalienable right recognized also by the Universal Declaration on Human Rights.

In the same way, one must consider society’s protection of minors and freedom from modern forms of slavery (drug abuse and prostitution, for example). In addition, there is the right to religious freedom and the development of an economy that is at the service of the human person and of the common good … Finally, the question of peace must be mentioned. … Peace is always the work of justice and the effect of charity. It demands the absolute and radical rejection of violence and terrorism … .

7 KEY THEMES ABOUT CATHOLIC SOCIAL TEACHING IN THE PUBLIC SQUARE THE RIGHT TO LIFE AND DIGNITY OF THE HUMAN PERSON: Direct attacks on innocent life are never morally acceptable; other direct threats include euthanasia, human cloning, destruction of human embryos for research; oppose torture, unjust war, genocide, racism; overcome poverty and suffering; promote peace CALL TO FAMILY, COMMUNITY AND PARTICIPATION: Protect marriage; respect the family in all its aspects; defend parents’ right to care for children, including choice of education RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES: Right to life; right to access things required for human decency OPTION FOR THE POOR AND VULNERABLE DIGNITY OF WORK AND RIGHTS OF WORKERS: Right to productive work, to decent and just wages, to adequate benefits and security in old age SOLIDARITY: Promoting global peace and justice; addressing extreme poverty and disease CARING FOR GOD’S CREATION: Moral obligation to protect the planet “FORMING CONSCIENCES FOR FAITHFUL CITIZENSHIP,” U.S. CONFERENCE OF CATHOLIC BISHOPS

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | OCTOBER 26, 2012

19

COMPARING THE PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGNS ON KEY MORAL ISSUES Here are excerpts from background articles by Catholic News Service reporters on the presidential election in light of key areas of Catholic social teaching.

The economy Both presidential campaigns put a lot of emphasis on the economy and claim their respective plans will better help the middle class and create more jobs.

Obama’s job creation plan puts emphasis on short-term efforts to stimulate hiring as well as promote jobs in “green technologies.” His plan also emphasizes increased spending in education to better prepare the nation’s future workforce.

Romney’s job creation plan is centered on making the environment better for businesses through changing current government regulations on businesses and reworking government taxation and spending policies.

Both candidates acknowledge the sluggish economy has a long way to go to improve.

In their quadrennial statement “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship,” offering Catholics guidance for election decisions, the bishops say: “The economy must serve people, not the other way around.”

At their spring meeting in June, the bishops voted to move ahead with a draft of a message on work and the economy that is expected to be ready in time for a final vote at the bishops’ fall meeting in mid-November.

Titled “Catholic Reflections on Work, Poverty and a Broken Economy,” the message is aimed at raising the profile of growing poverty and the struggles that unemployed people are

(CNS PHOTO/REUTERS)

A pro-life activist demonstrates in front of the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington in this June 25 file photo.

Life At the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., the differences on abortion between President Barack Obama and his Republican presidential opponent, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, were clear.

Speeches in prime time on successive nights touted the president’s support for keeping abortion legal, and videos praised his stands on “reproductive choice” and “women’s rights.”

The speakers included Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America; Cecile Richards, president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America; and Sandra Fluke, a Georgetown Law School graduate who has spoken out against religious exemptions to the Department of Health and Human Services’ contraceptive mandate.

At the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla., there were few speeches that touched on abortion, but candidate Romney pledged in his acceptance speech to “protect the sanctity of life” and the GOP platform states that “the unborn child has a fundamental individual right to life which cannot be infringed.”

“We support a human life amendment to the Constitution and endorse legislation to make clear that the 14th Amendment’s protections apply to unborn children,” the platform adds. “We oppose

using public revenues to promote or perform abortion or fund organizations which perform or advocate it and will not fund or subsidize health care which includes abortion coverage.”

The Democratic Party’s platform approved in Charlotte says the party “strongly and unequivocally supports Roe v. Wade and a woman’s right to make decisions regarding her pregnancy, including a safe and legal abortion, regardless of ability to pay. We oppose any and all efforts to weaken or undermine that right.”

In recent years, there has been much debate about whether Catholics can legitimately support a candidate who does not oppose abortion, if the candidate’s positions on other issues are in line with church teaching.

In a document prepared for the 2012 elections, the Catholic bishops of Kansas answered that question with a decisive no.

“The Catholic faith requires Catholics to oppose abortion, embryonic stem cell research, euthanasia, assisted suicide and the redefinition of marriage,” said Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann of Kansas City and Bishops Michael O. Jackels of Wichita; John B. Brungardt of Dodge City; and Edward J. Weisenburger of Salina.

“These matters are not negotiable, for they contradict the natural law, available to everyone through human reasoning, and they violate unchanging and un-

changeable Catholic moral principles,” they added.

As a matter of fact, the Kansas bishops said, those issues should not be seen, strictly speaking, as political issues.

“Instead, they are fundamentally moral questions involving core Catholic teachings on what is right and what is wrong,” they said. “Catholics who depart from church teaching on these issues separate themselves from full communion with the church.”

On the issue of assisted suicide, neither candidate has taken a clear stand, although the Republican platform states: “We oppose the nonconsensual withholding or withdrawal of care or treatment, including food and water, from people with disabilities, including newborns, as well as the elderly and infirm, just as we oppose active and passive euthanasia and assisted suicide.”

The Democratic Party’s platform makes no mention of the issue.

In response to a question about assisted suicide in 2008, Obama said he was “mindful of the legitimate interests of states to prevent a slide from palliative treatments into euthanasia” but thought that “the people of Oregon did a service for the country in recognizing that as the population gets older we’ve got to think about issues of end-of-life care.”

Assisted suicide has been legal in Oregon since voters approved it in 1994.

It also is legal in Washington state and in Montana.

As president, Obama revoked President George W. Bush’s policy on embryonic stem cell research, which limited such research to cell lines derived from embryos before August 2001. He allowed the National Institutes of Health to expand the acceptable lines to any embryos created for in vitro fertilization purposes and later discarded, if the couple agreed to such research.

Romney’s campaign site calls stem cell research “a great scientific frontier,” but says it “must be pursued with respect and care.”

As Massachusetts governor, Romney vetoed a bill to allow cloning of human embryos.

On the issue of the death penalty, the Democratic platform says it “must not be arbitrary.”

“DNA testing should be used in all appropriate circumstances, defendants should have effective assistance of counsel, and the administration of justice should be fair and impartial,” it adds.

The Republican Party’s platform says, “Courts should have the option of imposing the death penalty in capital murder cases.”

The U.S. Catholic bishops, in their document “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship,” say “our nation’s continued reliance on the death penalty cannot be justified.”

The Catholic bishops of California support Proposition 34 on the Nov. 6 ballot to ban the death penalty.

(CNS PHOTO/BRENDAN MCDERMID, REUTERS)

People wait in line to meet with job counselors during a job fair in New York Sept. 6. experiencing. It also would advance the bishops’ priority of human life and dignity.

The message would be a follow-up to a Sept. 15, 2011, letter by Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York, president of the U.S. bishops’ conference, in which he urged bishops and priests across the country to preach about “the terrible toll the current economic turmoil is taking on families and communities.”

In a July reflection titled “The Economy and the Election,” the bishops of Kansas pointed out that even though the Catholic Church doesn’t endorse “specific solutions to our economic challenges,” it can point to the relationship between the economy and morality.

“Unlike issues involving intrinsic evils such as abortion, same-sex marriage and threats to religious liberty

and conscience rights, Catholics of good will may have legitimate disagreements about how to apply church teaching in the economic sphere,” they said.

The bishops urged voters to look to candidates who will practice stewardship and provide a safety net for the poor and vulnerable, and to judge “economic choices and institutions by how they protect or undermine the life and dignity of the human person.”

They also noted that just as individual households should live within their means, the government should also “live within its means as an indispensable part of our nation’s economic recovery.”

“It is irresponsible for those elected to positions of political leadership to fail to address realistically and effectively government debt and unfunded obligations,” the bishops said.

War and foreign policy Despite the contingent of U.S. troops remaining in Afghanistan, observers told Catholic News Service that Obama and Romney rarely mention the war as talk focuses on rebuilding the American economy.

Afghanistan gets scant attention even on the candidates’ websites.

Obama’s reference to Afghanistan is two lines long, promising to withdraw U.S. troops by the end of 2014.

The site, however, credits Obama for the decision to raid Osama bin Laden’s compound in Pakistan and “eliminating” the mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks.

Romney’s website offers a longer narrative on the war. But his criticism of the president’s surge and the 2014 deadline to withdraw forces is longer than his plan for addressing Afghan security. “Withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan under a Romney administration will be based on conditions on the ground as assessed by our military commanders,” the site concludes.

“The truth is that both candidates have avoided talking about Afghanistan because neither has really good answers,” said Michael. J. Boyle, assistant professor of political science at La Salle University in Philadelphia.

Paul Pillar, nonresident senior fellow at Georgetown University’s

(CNS PHOTO/OMAR SOBHANI, REUTERS)

U.S. troops pray during a Sept. 11 ceremony in Kabul, Afghanistan, marking the 11th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks in the United States.

Center for Security Studies, said he found that the stances of Obama and Romney on Afghanistan diverge only by matter of degree.

“This is one very sign in the national security area that the basic course of American policy will not be appreciably affected by this election,” he said. “We’re on the glide path to have the troops out in 2014,” Pillar said. “The (Obama) administration has left it kind of vague.”

The lack of specificity on Afghanistan by both candidates has implications for broader U.S. foreign policy, Pillar added.

“I think the way we need to approach this election is not in trying to predict this or that initiative, but rather what sort of way the Obama administration versus the Romney administration will react to particular challenges like a 9/11 or who

knows what,” Pillar said. “What will the emphasis be? Will it be one of a more assertive use of military offense in starting wars and more intent on unilateralism or a more restrained use of military force and more emphasis on cooperative endeavors and the use of diplomacy?”

Beyond the military action, the U.S. has an obligation to provide humanitarian assistance and rebuild both Afghanistan and Iraq, explained Stephen Colecchi, director of the U.S. bishops’ Office of International Justice and Peace.

Throughout the eight-year war in Iraq, the bishops called for a “responsible transition” under which the U.S. would gradually return control of the country to Iraqis. The last U.S. troops pulled out Dec. 18, leaving behind massive destruction and a country ravaged by violence.

20 ELECTION

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | OCTOBER 26, 2012

MORAL ISSUES: The presidential campaigns

(CNS PHOTO/JIM WEST)

Electric transmission lines are seen in 2009 leading away from a coal-fired power plant in China Township, Mich.

Environment

(CNS PHOTO/REUTERS)

Veronica Castro stands with her daughter, Jennifer, in the entrance of their home in Phoenix in May.

Immigration

(CNS PHOTO/LORI WOOD HABIGER, THE LEAVEN)

Catholic parishioners hold up First Amendment placards during a rally for religious freedom June 29 in Topeka, Kan.

Freedom

Given their knowledge of Catholic social teaching on the environment, those who make it their stock in trade to promote stewardship of the earth using Catholic principles say the two major presidential candidates’ positions on environmental issues leave something to be desired.

“Like many issues of concern to the Catholic community, neither President (Barack) Obama nor Governor (Mitt) Romney seem to give climate change or environmental justice the serious attention these issues deserve,” said Dan Misleh, executive director of the Catholic Coalition on Climate Change. “But the same could be said of reducing poverty, ending abortion and the death penalty and so on.”

Holy Cross Brother David Andrews, a senior representative for the Washington-based think tank Food and Water Watch, noted that both candidates are supporters of hydraulic fracturing, a process by which water is injected into rock to release natural gas.

“The organization I work for, Food and Water Watch, opposes hydraulic fracking, wants to ban hydraulic fracking, is opposed to both candidates’ positions,” Brother Andrews said.

“Fracking” is the colloquial term for the process.

Opponents say it has the potential to contaminate ground water and affect air quality.

“So far in the election, the quality of the environment is really not on the map,” said Walt Grazer, a consultant for the National Religious Partnership on the Environment and a former director of the U.S. bishops’ environmental justice program.

“Whether that changes between now and the election, or in the debates, remains to be seen.”

Grazer, though, gave credit to the Catholic bishops for keeping the environment on their national agenda. “They’re right on the mark,” he said.

“They call it a moral issue, protecting the earth and the environment, and then they attach it right away, I think, to issues of vulnerability.”

Obama has called for an “all of the above” energy strategy, which includes fracking, offshore oil exploration and drilling and nuclear power.

The offshore oil exploration segment was delayed, but not dropped, after the Deepwater Horizon explosion and massive oil spill in Louisiana’s Gulf Coast in 2010. While nuclear power is on the table, no new plants are being built, and existing plants still have no place to send their radioactive waste.

Romney has touted a “North American energy independence” platform which would include energy from Canada and Mexico in a bid to keep energy costs down. He would eliminate tax breaks for solar and wind power, and has said that, if elected, he would approve the Keystone XL pipeline that would send crude oil extracted from Canadian oil sands through the Plains states and on to the Gulf Coast for refining.

The vastly different approaches of Democratic President Barack Obama and Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney on immigration share a common denominator: Both men agree that Obama didn’t accomplish what he intended to when he was elected in 2008, when he promised that comprehensive immigration reform was high on his agenda.

As Obama put it in a Sept. 20 forum on the Spanishlanguage network Univision, his priority after taking office had to be getting an economic slide under control, and that when he could turn to immigration, support he counted on in Congress had evaporated.

Cardinal Roger M. Mahony, retired archbishop of Los Angeles, who has made immigration reform the focus of his work in retirement, described both Romney and Obama as “totally vague” in explaining how they will tackle immigration.

“The presidential candidates need to give leadership on this issue,” Cardinal Mahony told Catholic News Service, “and they need to explain more fully to the American people how they value our immigrant history, the presence of immigrants in our midst today, and how to bring millions of people out of the shadows of our society,” the cardinal said.

Both candidates’ websites emphasize a range of issues on their Spanish-language pages: the economy, jobs, education and immigration. Romney’s Englishlanguage pages include immigration among the topics covered. Obama’s site includes immigration as a key individual theme only on the Spanish section.

It takes searching through the English page to come up with a lengthy list of links to various articles that define his immigration positions and actions.

In Romney’s appearance on Univision, his talking points on immigration primarily criticized Obama for not doing more, without saying what he’d do differently. Romney promises “a national immigration strategy that bolsters the U.S. economy, ensures our security, keeps nuclear families together, addresses the problem of illegal immigration in a civil and resolute manner, and carries on America’s tradition as a nation of legal immigrants.”

On the campaign trail, Romney has said he opposes the DREAM Act, which would give a path to legal status for undocumented young people who arrived in the U.S. as children. He also has praised Arizona’s SB 1070 immigration law – much of which was overturned by the Supreme Court in June – describing it as a model for the nation, in part because it encourages “self-deportation” for undocumented immigrants.

Obama’s campaign site emphasizes his support for the DREAM Act; his creation of a Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, known as DACA; stepped-up deportations of immigrants with criminal records; and efforts to get a bipartisan comprehensive immigration reform law.

Over the past several months, the U.S. Catholic bishops and other religious leaders have urged Americans to defend religious liberty in the United States in the face of threats to that freedom, particularly the federal contraceptive mandate.

The mandate has been at the forefront for the American Catholic Church since the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced in January that it would require most religious employers to provide free contraceptive and sterilization coverage, in violation of church teaching.

The mandate took effect for most employers in August 2012 and is scheduled to be implemented for most religious organizations in August 2013.

Religious freedom is a core right, Pope Benedict XVI reiterated during a September visit to Lebanon, saying “religious freedom is the basic right on which many rights depend.”

The U.S. Catholic bishops’ document “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship” states: “U.S. policy should promote religious liberty and other basic human rights.”

New York Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, called for respect for religious liberty in his closing prayers at both national conventions.

He prayed for a renewed “respect for religious freedom” at the Republican National Convention.

At the Democratic National Convention, Cardinal Dolan prayed that God would “renew in all our people a profound respect for religious liberty: the first, most cherished freedom bequeathed upon us at our founding.”

In April, the U.S. bishops’ Ad Hoc Committee on Religious Freedom issued a 12-page statement on threats to religious liberty, including the HHS mandate but highlighting other examples.

The document listed: laws in Alabama and other states that forbid “harboring” of undocumented immigrants; government actions in Boston, San Francisco, the District of Columbia and the state of Illinois that have driven local Catholic Charities out of adoption and foster care services because the agencies would not place children with same sex or unmarried heterosexual couples; and changes in federal contracts for human trafficking grants that require the U.S. bishops’ Migration and Refugee Services to refer clients “for contraceptive and abortion services in violation of Catholic teaching.”

Both political parties mention religious liberty in their platforms. The Democratic Party platform states the Affordable Care Act “ensures that women have access to contraception in their health insurance plans,” adding that President Barack Obama “has respected the principle of religious liberty.”

©CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE

©CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE

©CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE

ELECTION 21

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | OCTOBER 26, 2012

Presidential campaigns battle for Catholic support in close contest GEORGE RAINE CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO

Washington Post columnist E. J. Dionne may have had the best line about the Catholic vote. He said, “It does not exist and it is very important.”

It doesn’t exist in the sense there is no longer a reliable Catholic bloc of, say, European immigrants and their children voting almost solid Democrat, but they’re very important because of their numbers, a truth being played out this political season.

“We are a quarter of the electorate and if Catholics consult their faith beliefs as the bishops want them to, then a candidate has every incentive to appeal to Catholic language,” said Jesuit Father Thomas Massaro, the newly installed dean and professor of moral theology at the Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University in Berkeley. “We are up for grabs.”

Indeed, the Catholicism of Vice President Joe Biden and Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin was a major piece of their debate, and the U.S. Catholic bishops are speaking forcefully about religious freedom threatened by a mandate from the Department of Health and Human Services in the Obama administration requiring religious institutions to provide contraceptive services to employees. It was no surprise, then, when former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, joining the chorus of critics, said, “We’re all Catholics now.”

Campaign workers for both President Barack Obama and Gov. Romney are working their Catholic sources in a get-out-the-vote effort leading up to the Nov. 6 election, and surrogates are finding their voices in the dogged campaign.

A Pew Research Center for the People & the Press poll taken Oct. 4-7 showed Romney leading Obama among likely Catholic voters by a margin of 50 to 44 percent, a dramatic change from a Pew poll taken Sept. 12-16 when Obama was preferred by Catholic voters by a margin of 54 percent to 39 percent. On the other hand, Romney’s lead was much less among Catholics, 47 to 45 percent, in a recent Politico/ George Washington University poll. Overall, the October Pew poll showed Romney with a lead of 49 percent to 45 percent, but there is considerable fluctuation in major polls in this very close contest.

“Neither party deserves 100 percent support from Catholics … The ultimate center of gravity is on the conscience of the individual.”

JESUIT FATHER THOMAS MASSARO

Dean and professor of moral theology at the Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University in Berkeley Meantime, “Neither party deserves 100 percent support from Catholics,” said Father Massaro, because neither party literally reflects Catholic social teaching, particularly on abortion. Ryan, a devout Catholic, parted with strict Catholic teaching when he said the Republican ticket’s position allowed certain exceptions for abortion, when the church says there can be none. For his part, Biden said he personally opposes abortion but doesn’t believe government should dictate its will.

Said Father Massaro, “It is going to have to be up to individual Catholics to look at the full range of issues. If that (abortion) is a sticking point, it is not the only possible issue. There are plenty of other issues” Catholic voters should consider when preparing to cast a vote. “The bishops say this time and time again,” he said, “that they have a special respect for life issues, the beginning of life and the end of life, abortion and euthanasia issues, but they are not the only things. And there are plenty of other life issues – like torture and unjust warfare – that a good Catholic has to look at. The ultimate center of gravity is on the conscience of the individual.”

In 2007, the U.S. bishops wrote “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship,” a call to political responsibility, in which they said they did not intend to tell Catholics for whom or against whom to vote. They added, “Our purpose is to help Catholics form their consciences in accordance with God’s truth. We recognize that the responsibility to make

choices in political life rests with each individual in light of a properly formed conscience, and that participation goes well beyond casting a vote in a particular election.” They said participation in political life “is a moral obligation.”

Indeed, Catholic surrogates for Romney and Ryan are invoking moral outrage at the president.

A group called The Catholic Association, which on its website says is “responding to the call of the Catholic Church for members of the lay faithful to apply Catholic teaching, wisdom and principles to the issues of the day,” is targeting about 6 million Catholic voters in battleground states who regularly attend Mass, according to Politico.

When Romney selected Ryan as his running mate, Maureen Ferguson, senior policy advisor, and Ashley McGuire, senior fellow, at The Catholic Association, found no fault with the Republican position on abortion. “We believe Gov. Romney has made an excellent choice,” they said. “As a smart, serious Catholic, Congressman Ryan has been steadfast on issues of fundamental principle – defending religious liberty, life, and traditional marriage. In addition, he has been thoughtful and articulate in applying Catholic principles to the other challenges facing America,” they said.

Stephen Schneck, director of the Institute for Policy Research & Catholic Studies at The Catholic University of America, is national co-chair of Catholics for Obama and governing board member of Democrats for Life of America. He said, “Faithful Catholics know that neither of the presidential candidates nor either of the political parties fully support their church’s moral teachings. So, voting this fall requires us to employ oodles of the virtue of prudence.”

He added, “We must fully weigh many factors in making our choices – not equally, since life issues are most important – but still fully.” He said that means asking which candidate’s policies “are more affirming of the dignity of life, strengthen families, prioritize the needs of the poor and vulnerable and cherish God’s creation” among other considerations. Those are the questions “to resolve in good conscience before entering the voting booth,” said Schneck.

Catholic voters, general public place health care among top five issues NANCY FRAZIER O’BRIEN CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE

WASHINGTON – There are few issues in the 2012 presidential campaign on which the major candidates have more clearly differentiated opinions than health care.

Much of President Barack Obama’s stand on health care is built on provisions of the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, the Republican candidate, has said should be repealed.

“President Obama believes that quality, affordable health insurance you can rely on is a key part of middle-class security,” says the Democratic candidate’s campaign website. “By putting a stop to insurance company abuses, Obamacare is giving millions of Americans peace of mind.”

Romney, on the other hand, says on his campaign website that the Affordable Care Act “relies on a dense web of regulations, fees, subsidies, excise taxes, exchanges and rule-setting boards to give the federal government extraordinary control over every corner of the health care system.”

The Republican candidate told The Associated Press in mid-September he would replace the health care law with his own plan that would still allow young adults and those with pre-existing conditions to get coverage.

Both Catholic voters and the general public place health care among the top five issues that affect their voting decisions.

In a survey earlier this year by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, 74 percent of registered voters and 72 percent of Catholic voters named health care as an issue that was very important to their voting decision. Both groups placed a higher priority, however, on the economy, jobs and the federal budget deficit as issues influencing their vote.

Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and the Republicans’ vice presidential candidate, has become the point man

(CNS PHOTO/BOB ROLLER)

People for and against the administration’s health care reform law demonstrate in late June outside the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington. The major candidates in the presidential election have clearly differentiated opinions on the issue, giving voters distinct choices on how the country should address the controversial issue. for his party on the issues surrounding Medicare, Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act. In a Sept. 21 address to the AARP convention in New Orleans, Ryan said he and Romney “respect all the people of this country enough to talk about the clear choices we face on Medicare, Social Security, the economy, and the kind of country our children will inherit.”

He called repeal of the Affordable Care Act “the first step to a stronger Medicare” and said the law “weakens Medicare for today’s seniors and puts it at risk for the next generation.”

Obama, addressing the same gathering by satellite on the same day, said that despite what the Republicans might say, health reform “actually strengthened Medicare.” He said repeal of the law

would mean billions of new profits for insurance companies.

“No American should ever spend their golden years at the mercy of insurance companies,” he added.

Obama and the Department of Health and Human Services also have touted the benefits already achieved by the law, including nearly $4.5 billion saved on prescription drugs by closing the “doughnut hole” for 5.5 million seniors and people with disabilities and the free preventive services received by more than 19 million people on original Medicare in the first eight months of 2012.

Another success was heralded when the U.S. Census Bureau announced a drop in the number of uninsured young adults – a decline attributed by the Democrats to the fact that the Affordable Care Act allows those ages 19 to 25 to the remain on their parents’ health insurance policies.

The law mandates preventive services for women, which include well-woman visits, breast-feeding support and counseling, and domestic violence screening and counseling. In addition to these services, the mandate also requires employers to provide contraceptives, including some abortion-inducing drugs, and sterilizations free of charge to their employees, even if they have objections based on their religious beliefs.

Catholic and other religious leaders as well as secular employers who morally oppose artificial contraception say the religious exemption is too narrow, because it mainly protects those religious institutions that seek to inculcate their values and that primarily employ and serve people of their own faith.

Bruce Berg, an associate professor of political science at Fordham University in New York, predicted that each party will continue to make health care an issue – but without changing very many minds.

“There’s a lot we won’t know until three, four, five years down the road,” as other parts of the law are implemented, he said. After all the changes mandated in the law have taken effect, he said, “then we can have the real debate.”

22 ELECTION

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | OCTOBER 26, 2012

CALIFORNIA BALLOT

OPINION

Bishops support Props. 34 and 35 The Catholic bishops of California support Proposition 34, which would replace the death penalty with a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole, and Proposition 35, which would increase penalties for human trafficking convictions and direct fines

to enhanced victim services and law enforcement. Both are on the Nov. 6 ballot.

Bishop Gerald Wilkerson, auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and president of the California Catholic Conference of Bishops, commented on both propositions.

Of Proposition 34, he said, “As teachers of the Catholic faith, we consistently proclaim the intrinsic worth of the God-given dignity of all human life, whether innocent or guilty. We are all created in God’s image.” He added, “We appeal to Californians to end a failed system of justice and choose life. Violence does not end violence. Killing in the name of the state will not end killing. The death penalty will not give us justice worthy of a good society.”

In 2005, the U.S. Catholic bishops, in their statement “A Culture of Life and the Penalty of Death, outlined their public policy objections to the use of capital punishment.

The statement noted that the original intent of the death penalty was the protection of society from those who had killed a fellow human being but that in modern times “the state can incarcerate those convicted of a capital crime for the rest of their lives—with no chance they will ever rejoin society.” It also cautioned that “the application of the penalty of death can be irreversibly wrong – as has been demonstrated by many condemned individuals who were later exonerated with DNA testing.”

The California Catholic bishops advocate for Proposition 34 for more than public policy reasons, according to information on the bishops’ website: “As teachers of the Catholic faith, we consistently proclaim the intrinsic worth and the God-given dignity of all human life, whether innocent or guilty. We are all created in God’s image. As ministers to the victims of crime, we recognize the profound anguish of those who have lost a loved one to violence.

We offer them our prayers and the hope of a fuller sense of justice.

Nothing can undo the terrifying memories of violence that have been inflicted, not even taking the life of the convicted killer. Justice demands that those who have committed these worst crimes against us should be punished and society should be protected. A restorative justice should also provide the opportunity for repentance and reconciliation.”

Of Proposition 35, Bishop Wilkerson said, “Human trafficking, which involves the enslaving of individuals in order to use them for financial gain, is an intolerable affront to human dignity.” He said he was calling upon all people of good will to support those who are working to eradicate “this violent and oppressive practice – especially our Catholic women religious, who besides their advocacy for the elimination of trafficking, have provided health care and social services for those rescued from their enslavers.

“Human trafficking, which involves the enslaving of individuals in order to use them for financial gain, is an intolerable affront to human dignity.”

Bishop Wilkerson said Catholics are called to listen to the wisdom of Pope Paul VI in the Vatican II document “Gaudium et Spes.”

The document states that ‘ … (W) hatever is opposed to life itself … whatever violates the integrity of the human person … whatever insults humanity –such as subhuman living conditions, arbitrary imprisonment, deportation, slavery, prostitution … all these things … poison human society … Moreover, they are a supreme dishonor to the Creator.”

PROPOSITION 30: Sales and income tax Increase initiative. Increases personal income tax on annual earnings over $250,000 for seven years and increases sales tax by a quarter-cent for four years; allocates revenues 89 percent to K-12 schools and 11 percent to community colleges. Fiscal Impact: Estimated increased revenue from $6.8 billion to $8 billion for FY 2012-13 and from $5.4 billion to $7.6 billion in the following five fiscal years. The California Catholic Conference takes no position on the measure but provides comment in its 2011 statement on the state budget crisis, “In Search of the Common Good: A Moral Framework for Addressing California’s Budget Crisis.” The document is online at www. cacatholic.org/index.php/issues2/human-dignity/economic-justice/128in-search-of-the-common-good.

PROPOSITION 31: Two-year state budget cycle. Establishes a two-year state budget cycle, demands offsetting revenues or spending cuts for expenditures over $25 million, gives the governor unilateral power during fiscal emergencies, gives counties power to alter state statutes or regulations related to spending unless the Legislature vetoes changes within 60 days and requires performance goals. Fiscal Impact: Decreased state revenues and commensurate increased local revenues, probably in the range of about $200 million annually, beginning in 2013-14; over time these costs would moderate and be offset by savings from improved program efficiencies. The California Catholic Conference takes no position on the measure.

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Election 2012: Mission impossible?

s the November general election approaches, America’s Catholic bishops have been walking a fine line as they strive to avoid appearances of partisanship while at the same time wage a highprofile battle for religious freedom and conscience protections.

Recently one archbishFATHER GERALD op insisted D. COLEMAN, SS he certainly could not vote in good faith for any candidate who is pro-choice or pro-abortion or who supports any intrinsic evil. He added that he has deep personal concerns about any party that supports changing the definition of marriage, supports abortion in all circumstances, or wants to restrict the traditional understanding of religious freedom.

The archbishop concluded that while he is not endorsing Romney for president, he absolutely could not vote for Obama.

In 2011, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops reissued its 2007 voters guide “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship: A Call to Political Responsibility.” The bishops point out that responsible citizenship is a virtue and participation in political life is a moral obligation. They cite the Catechism of the Catholic Church: “It is necessary that all participate, each according to his position and role, in promoting the common good. This obligation is inherent in the dignity of the human person ... As far as possible citizens should take an active part in public life” (CCC 1913-1915).

In terms of our political participation, “Forming Consciences” insists that we should be guided more by our moral convictions than by our attachment to a political party or interest group. When necessary, we should be involved in helping transform the party to which we belong rather than permitting the party to transform us in such a way that we neglect or deny fundamental moral truths.

The document indicates that there are certain things that are always incompatible with love of God and neighbor. We must never do or uphold them either as individuals or as a society. There are certain actions that are so deeply flawed that they always oppose the authentic good of persons. These actions are called “intrinsically evil.” They must always be opposed and never condoned.

“Forming Consciences” gives as a “prime example” the intentional taking of innocent human life, as in abortion or euthanasia. These acts have become pre-eminent threats to human dignity because they directly attack life itself which is the most fundamental human good and the condition for all others. The bishops conclude, “A legal system that violates the basic right to life on the grounds of choice is fundamentally flawed.”

Intrinsically evil acts undercut human dignity and solidarity.

Intrinsically evil acts undercut human dignity and solidarity. The protection of human life in the womb is absolute since this right to life is fundamental to all others.

It is first in a series that initiates the human endeavor. Other actions that are also flawed and oppose the flourishing of human life include genocide (the killing of innocent people in a war situation), trafficking in women and children, rape, incest, adultery, torture, mutilation, slavery, the sexual abuse of a child, racism. No intention or set of circumstances can ever justify or make tolerable the commission of these acts.

A 2006 doctrinal note from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith teaches that the Christian faith is an “integral unity.”

Consequently, “a political commitment to a single isolated aspect of the church’s social doctrine does not exhaust one’s responsibility toward the common good.” The exercise of our conscience demands that we oppose all laws and policies that violate the dignity of human life or weaken its protection. In other words, a pro-life platform must protect nascent human life, but must also oppose every other activity that demeans or destroys human life. A pro-life stance certainly condemns abortion and euthanasia, but likewise must condemn torture and the sexual abuse of children.

Catholics often face difficult choices about how to vote. We cannot vote for a candidate who takes a position in favor of an intrinsic evil if the voter’s intent is to support that position. In such cases, a Catholic would be guilty of formal cooperation in evil. At the same time, “Forming Consciences” teaches that a “voter should not use a candidate’s opposition to an intrinsic evil to justify indifference to other important moral issues involving human life and dignity.”

If every candidate holds a position in favor of an intrinsic evil, e.g., favoring all elective abortions, or abortion in the case of rape, incest, or to save the life of the mother, a voter may decide to take the extraordinary step of not voting for any candidate or – after careful deliberation – “may decide to vote for the candidate less likely to advance such a morally flawed position and more likely to pursue other authentic human goods.”

“Forming Consciences” concludes that “the church is involved in the political process but it is not partisan. The church cannot champion any candidate or party.

Our cause is the defense of human life and dignity and the protection of the weak and vulnerable.”

This moral commitment should principally guide our choices when we exercise our right to vote.

SULPICIAN FATHER COLEMAN is vice president, corporate ethics, for the Daughters of Charity Health System.

OPINION 23

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | OCTOBER 26, 2012

Working toward the unity called for in Scripture

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ith all the division in the world, we have to wonder if the hoped-for dream of Psalm 133 is just a dream and won’t ever happen in our lifetime.

“How good and how pleasant it is, when brothers dwell together as one!”

It seems most improbable we will see the day in which we are one with the countries that hate us. How can we ever come to any agreement with cultures so diverse from ours?

During a board meeting at St. Vincent College in Latrobe, Pa., my skepticism about achieving unity was FATHER EUGENE suddenly dispelled. How? It HEMRICK was during a discussion of its Chinese program. As we reflected on it, my thoughts went back to other programs St. Vincent’s has in which students are not only introduced to other cultures, but work in them.

For example, several students went to Guatemala to work among the “dump people.” Dump people literally live next to and live off of whatever they find in a garbage dump. Programs such as these fire up the imagination and generate ways of turning the seemingly impossible into the possible.

Today there are many student exchange programs in which students from other countries

come to the United States to learn and American students study and work abroad. The results of these programs are one wonderful way to make the hoped-for dream of Psalm 133 come true.

Pope Paul VI wrote a profound encyclical on church renewal in which he called for dialogue based on the Trinity in which the Father, Son and Holy Spirit engage in dialogue.

Dialogue is our best means of renewing our faith in one another and achieving unity. Dialogue doesn’t mean solely talking to one another but also entering into one another’s culture: to experience firsthand its traditions, customs and way of life. More often than not, this leads to appreciating another person’s culture. With appreciation comes respect and awe.

A Moorish proverb would add to the above, “He who does not travel does not know the value of men.”

One of the values of student exchange programs is the lesson they teach. When we think of ways of uniting with another country, we usually think of our diplomatic corps. It is true our diplomats do a wonderful job in creating unity between countries. It is also true that our institutions of higher learning are fulfilling this role through their exchange programs.

When your university or college asks for a donation, be generous. They possess one of our greatest means for unity in the world. ©CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE

LETTERS More than 2 sides to any story Memo to the staff of Catholic San Francisco: Don’t let the letter in the Oct. 12 issue from a member of Catholic Lawyers Against the Death Penalty scare you. A journalism teacher long ago told me that “there aren’t two sides to every story – there are more than two sides. Find them.” I think letter writer Jerry Hurtubise is right that Catholic publications don’t have to treat all sides equally. After all, it is a Catholic publication and labels itself as such, as opposed to for-profit media that do not have to do so. However, any fair publication has an obligation to report that opposition exists.

An example was the coverage of the recent installation of Archbishop Cordileone. I had to wait for the Oct. 12 issue of CSF to find out what the archbishop told the 2,000 worshippers at St. Mary’s Cathedral on Oct. 4. From reading the Chronicle and Examiner the day after the installation, I had expected a rant against same-sex marriage. After all, the Chronicle’ story carried a subhead reading “Protesters object to his role in the campaign for Prop.8.” The Examiner did a better job, but still had photos in which the gay flag was displayed along with a sign that read “Cordileone Denies Gay Families!” The TV stations used the same slant.

Catholic San Francisco ran photos of the protesters, including one showing a Sister of Perpetual Indulgence, the drag queens who dress as nuns.

The paper also had a story on the demonstration against the archbishop.

Any lessons to be learned? Mainly that the Chronicle dictates the agenda for most of the area’s news media outlets. Think not? Can you spell Ross Mirkarimi?

James O. Clifford, Sr. Redwood City

Immigration law is federal concern I was quite surprised that the California Conference of Catholic Bishops so strongly supported Assemblyman Tom Ammiano’s Trust Act Assembly bill (“Brown vetoes deportations bill,” Oct.5). I received three separate mails from the San Francisco archdiocese, and even one from (retired) Los Angeles archbishop Cardinal Mahony’s office, requesting us to call Gov. Jerry Brown’s office to encourage him to sign the bill. The bill would’ve

prohibited California law-enforcement officers from detaining, or arresting, illegal immigrants to accommodate possible deportation, unless they had been convicted or charged with a serious or violent crime. This was essentially an amnesty program.

(I’ve never seen such an active lobbying campaign against abortion!) Notwithstanding the dubious wisdom of the bill, I believe that if the church feels so strongly about the subject, it should lobby to change the federal law rather than lobbying to violate it.

G.P. Heckert San Mateo

Praising letter writers Kudos to Don Farbstein of San Mateo (“Consider all aspects of being pro-life,” and David DeSantis of San Carlos “Party affiliation and the Catholic vote,” Letters, Oct. 5). I could not have said it better myself. Thank you.

Mary Ann Bravo Foster City

Addressing the problem of bullying Again, the serious consequences of bullying have hit the headlines. Bullies always have been and always will be with us, but Facebook has made it much easier to terrorize those who are unable to defend themselves.

Though parents can, to a degree, control the home environment, the schools appear to be dismissing this behavior as of little consequence. This is certainly not true. Many adults can recall the pain and damage done in their childhoods because they were not accepted were not included in the “in crowd,” etc. Exclusion hurts, especially when one is a child and defenseless.

Are Catholic schools taking this behavior seriously and are they doing anything to correct it? I would imagine that religious classes are scheduled in Catholic schools on a regular basis. To put aside one hour a month to have a conversation on this subject might redirect some of this hateful speech.

An assignment of a written composition of one or two pages on the subject from each student might also be helpful.

Mary Mendoza Millbrae

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

A dream on 25 cents a day

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n a recent trip to Madagascar, I visited a rather extensive vocational training center, Ankohonana Sahirana Arenina, run by the Franciscans. The center offers workshops in embroidery, basket-making, sewing, formal tailoring, textile weaving, plumbing, woodcarving and other subjects. Such skill development offers participants a chance to make a good living. For many, that means starting their own businesses.

Sixty participants of all ages who had CAROLYN WOO completed their training gathered to greet us when we arrived. They brought their handiwork and irrepressible enthusiasm to showcase what success looked like.

One woman, Germaine, brought a boy’s longsleeve shirt and a common household plastic bucket to illustrate her transformation. She began with a dream and a plan that was built on 25 cents per day. Her dream was to have a home for her family of four daughters rather than living with others and relying on their charity.

Her plan, after attending the workshop, was to make school uniform shirts for boys.

Germaine needed capital so she set aside 25 cents a day from her food budget of about $1.50 until she saved up $25. One hundred days of sacrifice gave her the investment to buy 25 buckets at a “wholesale rate” of $1 each.

She resold them in her neighborhood for $1.50.

The fledging bucket trade eventually generated enough capital to buy a sewing machine and materials that busy fingers, tireless efforts, and skills learned at the training center transformed into shirts for little boys. Germaine happily told us that her daughters are now also in the business and thinks she is on her way to owning a home.

I heard many similar stories of ingenuity, persistence and sacrifice. They reminded me that mothers and fathers everywhere want a better life for their families.

There was another workshop participant: a widow who is disabled and has three children.

She had lost everything after a bad harvest. If she had not joined the program, her only option was to send her oldest child, a girl of 14, into prostitution.

I grew up in Hong Kong where entrepreneurial spirits flourished. Many started small, but did not stay that way: the taxi driver who eventually bought his own taxi, the repairman who started his own supplies store, the vendors who sold newspapers, fruits, cheap toys, batteries and watches in retail spaces of 50 square feet in some apartment building stair landings, but saved until they could open a proper store.

Such ambition is not limited to Hong Kong or the United States. Throughout the poorest countries in Africa, I have met countless individuals who were assisted by training workshops like the one in Madagascar. They saved from meager earnings, maybe $1 to $3 a day, and invested in livestock, better seeds, more effective fertilizers to turn their farms into agribusinesses. Others bought water purifiers so they could open a roadside cafe or ovens so they could start a cookie business, materials and tools so they could create vegetable gardens.

These are the paths taken by so many smallholder farmers, by widows, by the poor and the vulnerable, so they can have more than just subsistence, so they can have something to call their own.

They can have independence and a sense of worth. They can experience achievement and know the excitement of an idea as it becomes reality. They can feel the anticipation for what is possible in the future. They can know that there is something to live for.

WOO is the president and CEO of Catholic Relief Services. ©CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE

24 OPINION

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | OCTOBER 26, 2012

Faith that withstands the elements

T

he men had just left morning Mass when they spotted the flames. It was the second Monday of November, and they’d been without electricity since Saturday. Torrential winds had toppled trees and power lines, so they’d been keeping warm with a big fire in their lounge.

St. Malo Retreat Center was a three-story lodge owned by the Archdiocese of Denver and operated by five men from Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, a Vatican-recognized society of apostolic life made up mostly of consecrated laymen and some clergy. The CHRISTINA retreat center was tucked CAPPECCHI behind the storybook Chapel on the Rock blessed by Pope John Paul II during his 1993 World Youth Day trip. It sat at the base of Mount Meeker, the second highest peak in Rocky Mountain National Park.

St. Malo had served as a secular conference center up until 2003, when Sodalitium members moved in and responded to a charge by Archbishop Charles Chaput to restore its Catholic identity. Among them was José Ambrozic, 56, a Lima, Peru, native with

I

brown eyes, a warm smile and a white beard who became director of the retreat center.

Living at an elevation of 8,500 feet was a high point for his soul. José’s room was small, with basic furniture and a twin bed, but his view was expansive.

The Liturgy of the Hours and eucharistic adoration anchored his days.

He lived among Rocky Mountain wildlife: elk and black bears, hawks and hummingbirds. He rarely had to leave, driving the community’s green Nissan Pathfinder just four or five days a month. The long winters brought adventure: pick-up hockey on a nearby pond, moonlit snowshoeing with kids on retreat, early morning jogs along Highway 7 when he’d see one or two cars in the span of an hour, the stars sparkling on crusty snow banks.

It also brought the winter gales that knocked out power last November. Despite their vigilance, the fireplace the men had used to keep warm appeared to have ignited a section of the roof near the chimney. They called 911 and expected firefighters to promptly extinguish it, but crews were hampered by the height of the flames, the lack of water and the ferocity of the wind.

The day pressed on, snow fell and eventually 15 fire companies showed up to battle the surging flames.

José and his housemates could do nothing but watch and wait, shivering as they prayed rosaries. The

south wing, including their rooms, was completely engulfed. The damage was irreparable, and the building has been shut down indefinitely.

José lost all his possessions in the fire: passports, letters, clothes, religious art, pictures of his parents’ wedding and his library of 4,000-some books – paperbacks and hardbacks with highlighted texts and notes scrawled in the margins, bread crumbs from decades of spiritual and intellectual growth.

“I think sometimes God wants us to travel lighter, to recognize that all we need we’ve got,” he told me.

“Nothing happens outside of God’s plan for me, so my reaction was, ‘OK, what does this mean? What does God expect from us now?’”

The five men from St. Malo have dispersed. Some are back in Peru. José is helping at Holy Name Catholic Church in Denver and devoting more time to a doctorate in the philosophy of culture.

One year later he can still close his eyes and conjure life at St. Malo, gazing up at Mount Meeker. “It was very, very quiet,” he said.

Now José waits for the next chapter to unfold.

“I’m realizing that we’re always in God’s hands, and God sometimes presents a challenge for the greater good.”

CHRISTINA CAPECCHI is a freelance writer from Inver Grove Heights, Minn.

Affirmative action and Catholic schools

n October, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Fisher v. University of Texas. The issue was affirmative action at public colleges and universities.

Nine years ago, in a case from the University of Michigan, the court held that public universities can consider race as one factor among many in admissions.

The University of Texas does that for some of its undergraduate applicants.

But Texas also admits all applicants from the top 10 percent of each high school’s JOHN GARVEY graduating class – a colorblind program that produces a fairly diverse mix of students.

Abigail Fisher is a white student who did not finish in the top 10 percent of her high school class.

Thrown into the color-sensitive segment of the school’s admissions program, she was rejected.

Her case may prompt the court to re-examine the Michigan decision.

Affirmative action has done a lot of good in higher education. It has given many young people opportunities their parents and grandparents never had. And it has contributed to interracial understanding and acceptance. America is a better place for these changes than it was 50 years ago.

There is, to be sure, some tension between affirmative action and other principles we hold

Affirmative action has done a lot of good in higher education. dear – like the moral irrelevance of race. The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream that his children would not be judged by the color of their skin.

The Supreme Court has suggested that we resolve this tension by thinking of affirmative action as a temporary expedient. The Fisher case will decide whether the time has come to end that expedient.

The University of Texas is a state school whose behavior is governed by the equal protection clause. The Catholic University of America, where I am president, is a private school. The equal protection clause does not apply to us.

But Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act does apply to us, and the Supreme Court has held that it imposes the same rule on us that the Constitution imposes on public schools. Right now, Title VI allows us to consider race as a factor in admitting students. It would be unfortunate if a change in the constitutional rule meant there must be a similar change in the statutory rule.

There are many situations where we allow private institutions to behave differently from public ones. The First Amendment forbids public schools to profess or favor a particular faith. But it lets Catholic schools prefer Catholics in hiring and admissions. Sex is another example. The equal protection clause frowns on sex-segregated state universities. Private schools are different. Smith

College has admitted only women since 1871.

The distinction between public and private institutions presupposes that private ones can pursue ends beyond the government’s competence.

The Holy Spirit guides the Catholic Church – but perhaps not the state of California – in her efforts to know, love and serve God. Sometimes we may think this way about race, too. Whatever the Supreme Court may decide is appropriate for the University of Texas, we would never dream of forcing the United Negro College Fund to ignore race in awarding scholarships.

So, too, with admissions at private schools like ours. As the national university of the Catholic Church, we aim to educate the church’s future religious and lay leaders. Given that 54 percent of Catholics born here in the past 30 years are Hispanic, we would not be doing our job if we failed to serve what will soon be the majority of American Catholics.

If we are to serve the faithful well, and all of them equally, then it is Catholic University’s business to concern itself with race, ethnicity, language, culture, customs, devotions, movements and other characteristics that enrich and distinguish groups within the church.

If this entails some consideration of race or ethnicity in admissions and hiring, that is a good and necessary thing.

GARVEY is president of The Catholic University of America in Washington. ©CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE

The process of aging is part of the journey

I

t was a brief scene in a movie where the husband and wife were having a conversation. He was in the foreground; she was in the background, brushing her hair as they talked.

“I hope you will always look that way,” he said admiringly.

“I won’t,” she said, her correction politely spoken with a slight smile.

There is a billion-dollar industry trying to prove her wrong. Those who wish to be forever young will push the U.S. market for anti-aging products from about $80 bilSTEPHEN KENT lion today to more than $114 billion by 2015, according to the market research firm Global Industry Analysts.

These youth-seekers are expected to spend billions

on wrinkle creams, plastic surgery, supplements, hormone replacement therapy, workout regimes, and other remedies and procedures.

Television commercials feature products for sanding, painting and glossing the skin much like the home improvement programs show products for sanding, stripping and waxing to restore old furniture. In the advertisers’ world, no one would have gray hair.

Portraying aging as bad, as something not natural seems to be peculiar to Anglo-Saxons. Native Americans, Asians and other cultures respect, if not revere, elders believing that they have, among many attributes, wisdom to offer the next generation.

Aging is inevitable, consistent with the Christian concept of death. We are, after all, members of the pilgrim church on earth, a temporary condition.

Pilgrims didn’t look all that good as their journey ended, whether arriving on the Mayflower or on

wagon trains at the end of the Oregon Trail. Aging is part of the pilgrimage. Trying to look good when the journey can be tiring and wearing is an act of self-deception.

Perhaps the distaste for aging has to do with a fear of the inevitability of death. As the comedian Woody Allen once said, “I’m not afraid of death; I just don’t want to be there when it happens.” Aging is a process to be accepted, not denied. It is part of the wear and tear undergone on the journey to that ultimate destination we seek.

This Christian understanding of the role of death in life is something to reflect on during All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day. KENT, now retired, was editor of archdiocesan newspapers in Omaha and Seattle. He can be contacted at Considersk@gmail.com. © ACATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE

FAITH 25

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | OCTOBER 26, 2012

SUNDAY READINGS

Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time The blind man replied to him, “Master, I want to see.” Jesus told him, “Go your way; your faith has saved you.”

MARK 10:46-52 JEREMIAH 31:7-9 Thus says the Lord: Shout with joy for Jacob, exult at the head of the nations; proclaim your praise and say: The Lord has delivered his people, the remnant of Israel. Behold, I will bring them back from the land of the north; I will gather them from the ends of the world, with the blind and the lame in their midst, the mothers and those with child; they shall return as an immense throng. They departed in tears, but I will console them and guide them; I will lead them to brooks of water, on a level road, so that none shall stumble.

For I am a father to Israel, Ephraim is my firstborn.

done great things for them.” The Lord has done great things for us; we are glad indeed.

The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy.

Restore our fortunes, O Lord, like the torrents in the southern desert. Those that sow in tears shall reap rejoicing.

The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy.

Although they go forth weeping, carrying the seed to be sown, They shall come back rejoicing, carrying their sheaves.

The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy.

PSALM 126:1-2, 2-3, 4-5, 6 The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy.

When the Lord brought back the captives of Zion, we were like men dreaming. Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with rejoicing.

The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy.

Then they said among the nations, “The Lord has

HEBREWS 5:1-6 Brothers and sisters: Every high priest is taken from among men and made their representative before God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. He is able to deal patiently with the ignorant and erring, for he himself is beset by weakness and so, for this reason, must make sin offerings for himself as well as for the people. No one takes this honor upon himself but only when called by God, just as Aaron

was. In the same way, it was not Christ who glorified himself in becoming high priest, but rather the one who said to him: You are my son: this day I have begotten you; just as he says in another place: You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.

MARK 10:46-52 As Jesus was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a sizable crowd, Bartimaeus, a blind man, the son of Timaeus, sat by the roadside begging. On hearing that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, son of David, have pity on me.” And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent. But he kept calling out all the more, “Son of David, have pity on me.” Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” So they called the blind man, saying to him, “Take courage; get up, Jesus is calling you.”

He threw aside his cloak, sprang up, and came to Jesus. Jesus said to him in reply, “What do you want me to do for you?” The blind man replied to him, “Master, I want to see.” Jesus told him, “Go your way; your faith has saved you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed him on the way.

Blind Bartimaeus gives the right answer

I

n the Gospel, Jesus restores sight to blind Bartimaeus. The disciples and the crowd think it is inappropriate for a lowly, nobody beggar who is also blind to be bothering Jesus. However, they also think that children should not be allowed to come to Jesus, and, they were wrong again.

The psalm in today’s readings brings together the first reading and the Gospel: God brings Israel out of captivity in Babylon; Jesus delivers Bartimaeus from blindness.

The context of where we are at this point in our faith journey, however, generates an even deeper connection. Bartimaeus’ cure and then his following of Jesus down the road become the metaphor for our own healing from whatDEACON ever it is that blocks us from FAIVA PO’OI seeing our calling clearly and from whatever object prevents us from moving forward in discipleship.

SCRIPTURE REFLECTION

POPE BENEDICT XVI IGNORANCE OF FAITH RISKS CREATING CAFETERIA CATHOLICS

Ignorance of the faith puts Christians at risk of following a “do-it-yourself ” religion, Pope Benedict XVI told an estimated 20,000 people gathered in St. Peter’s Square Oct. 17 as he began a new series of audience talks to accompany the Year of Faith.

People need to become more familiar with the creed because it is there that the “Christian moral life is planted and ... one finds its foundation and justification,” the pope said.

Pope Benedict said widespread secularism means that even Christians are not completely “immune from these dangers.” Some of the negative effects include faith being lived “passively or in private, a refusal to learn about the faith, and the rift between faith and life,” he said.

“Often Christians don’t even know the central core of their own Catholic faith.”

Jesus asks Bartimaeus a question: “What do you want me to do for you?” Bartimaeus gives the right answer. “Master, I want to see.” In Mark 10:36, 37, James and John are asked the same question.

“What do you want me to do for you?” The two apostles, however, gave the wrong answer. They want power. They want a place at the side of Jesus. When Jesus asks us, “What do you want me to do for you?” what answer do we give Jesus? Do we answer like Bartimaeus, the blind beggar, or like James and John? Perhaps we might ask for a more secure and certain future, with a great job and privileges.

Remember, God answers our prayers, but often he answers in ways that we never dreamed possible.

An unknown Confederate soldier prayed: “I asked for health that I might do greater things, I was given infirmity that I might do better things. I asked for riches that I might be happy; I was given poverty that I might be wise. I asked for power that I might have the praise of people; I was given weakness that I might feel the need of God. I asked for all things that I might enjoy life, I was given life that I might enjoy all things.

I got nothing I asked for, but everything I hoped for.

Almost despite myself, my unspoken prayers were answered. I am among all men most richly blessed.”

Bartimaeus ignored all obstacles and called out to Jesus persistently. For us, this can be a reminder that without persistence in prayer, it will be impossible for us to follow Jesus faithfully. Encounters with Jesus in prayer keep our relationship with Jesus healthy and strong. The prayer of petition reminds us that disciples can do nothing on their own without Jesus’ help.

Only with Jesus will we, his disciples, not stumble.

In today’s Gospel, our teacher is an ancient blind man. And his message to us is: “Hold on to your dream. However, deep the darkness, do not yield to despair. And do not allow anyone or anything to talk you out of your hope.” Bartimaeus responds to Jesus’ call.

He springs up and throws aside his cloak. This is a symbolic action representing Bartimaeus casting off his old life in order to take up a new life in the Lord.

Through baptism, we become one with Christ and he with us in a bond that can never be broken. Let us hold onto the words of the disciples in today’s Gospel calling us. “Take courage; get up, Jesus is calling you.” In this Year of Faith, let us, like Bartimaeus, follow Jesus along the way with the Eucharist as our nourishment for our journey.

DEACON PO’OI serves at St. Timothy Church, San Mateo.

LITURGICAL CALENDAR, DAILY MASS READINGS MONDAY, OCTOBER 29: Monday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time. Eph 4:32-5:8. Ps 1:1-2, 3, 4 and 6. Lk 13:10-17.

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 30: Tuesday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time. Eph 5:21-33 or Eph 5:2a, 2532. Ps 128:1-2, 3, 4-5. Lk 13:18-21.

WEDNESDAY, OCT. 31: Wednesday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time. All Hallows’ Eve. Eph 6:1-9.

Ps 145:10-11, 12-13ab, 13cd-14. Lk 13:22-30.

THURSDAY, NOV. 1: Solemnity of All Saints. Rv 7:2-4, 9-14. Ps 24:1bc-2, 3-4ab, 5-6. 1 Jn 3:1-3. Mt 5:1-12a.

FRIDAY, NOV. 2: The Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed (All Souls). Wis 3:1-9. Ps 23:1-3a, 3b-4, 5, 6. Rom 5:5-11 or Rom 6:3-9. Jn 6:37-40.

SATURDAY, NOV. 3: Saturday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time. Optional Memorial of St. Martin de Porres, religious. Phil 1:18b-26. Ps 42:2, 3, 5cdef. Lk 14:1, 7-11.

THE COMMEMORATION OF ALL THE FAITHFUL DEPARTED (ALL SOULS) November 2 Prayers for the dead were an ancient tradition, even in some pagan cultures. In Jewish Scriptures, Judas Maccabeus “made atonement for the dead” (2 Maccabees 12:46), and early Christians inscribed prayers for their dead in Rome’s catacombs. Local Catholic churches started remembering all the faithful departed in the early Middle Ages, with a Spanish feast from the time of St. Isidore of Seville, who died in 636. The fixed November date is generally attributed to St. Odilio of Cluny, who decreed in 998 that all monasteries under the Cluny rule should sing the office of the dead the day after the feast of All Saints. This custom gradually spread throughout Europe and was adopted by Rome in the 13th century.

26 FAITH

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | OCTOBER 26, 2012

Adult pride comes in subtle forms

O

ne of the wonderful features of young children is their emotional honesty. They don’t hide their feelings or wants. They have no subtlety. When they want something they simply demand it. They holler. They cry. They snatch things from each other. And they aren’t ashamed of any of this. They offer no apologies for selfishness, no disguises.

As we grow up we become emotionally more disciplined and leave most of this behind. But we also become much less emotionally honest. Our selfishness and our faults become less crass, but, FATHER RON this side of eternity, they ROLHEISER never really disappear. They just become subtler.

The church has, classically, named something it calls the “seven deadly sins”: pride, envy, wrath, sloth, greed, gluttony and lust.

How these manifest themselves in their crassest forms is evident. But how do these manifest themselves in their subtler forms? How do they manifest themselves among the supposedly mature? Great spiritual writers have always had various treatises, some more astute than others, on what they call the religious faults of those who are beyond initial conversion? And it’s valuable sometimes to look at ourselves with naked honesty and ask ourselves how we have morphed the crasser faults of children into the subtler faults of adults. How, for instance, does pride manifest itself in our lives in more subtle ways?

How pride lives in us during our more mature years is probably best described by Jesus in the famous parable of the Pharisee and publican. The Pharisee, vilified in this story, is proud precisely of

Catechisms and catechists This is the second of three articles on the Year of Faith, which began Oct. 11 and ends Nov. 24, 2013.

A

s we begin to observe the Year of Faith marking the 20th anniversary of the publication if the Catechism of the Catholic Church, it is helpful to examine the various meanings attached to the term “catechism” and “catechist” throughout history.

Long before the invention of the printing press in 1450, learning was passed on primarily by word of mouth.

Learning was an oral and aural experience. “Catechism” comes from an ancient Greek verb that means “to echo.” A teaching would be explained or recited and the BROTHER JOHN listener would be asked to “echo” it, or repeat it until M. SAMAHA, SM it was learned. This method of learning reached back to ancient times. Even before the establishment of the church, Jewish teachers in the Old Testament era had taught the Scriptures by asking the learner to repeat verses again and again. This was a common method of teaching and learning.

With the development of the printing press the speak-and-echo method of catechesis was adapted to a question-and-answer approach that could be set in print. The church adopted this system, and it was successful. This is evident in the influence of the catechisms authored by St. Peter Canisius (d.

1597) and St. Robert Bellarmine (d. 1621).

On a deeper and more personal level, both catechist and catechized were expected to interiorize the truth being studied and “echo” it in their personal lives by the faithful living of the lesson. It is with this intent that the late Cardinal John Wright chose as his episcopal motto “Resonare Jesum.” Echo Jesus!

MARIANIST BROTHER SAMAHA lives in Cupertino.

During our adult years pride often disguises itself as a humility that is a strategy for further enhancement. his spiritual and human maturity. That’s a subtle pride of which it is almost impossible to rid ourselves. As we mature morally and religiously it becomes almost impossible not to compare ourselves with others who are struggling and to not feel both a certain smugness, that we are not like them, and a certain disdain for their condition. Spiritual writers often describe the fault in this way: Pride in the mature person takes the form of refusing to be small before God and refusing to recognize properly our interconnection with others. It is a refusal to accept our own poverty, namely, to recognize that we are standing before God and others with empty hands and that all we have and have achieved has come our way by grace more so than by our own efforts.

During our adult years pride often disguises itself as a humility that is a strategy for further enhancement. It takes Jesus’ invitation to heart: Whoever wants to be first must be last and be the servant of all! Then, as we are taking the last place and being of service, we cannot help but feel very good about ourselves and nurse the secret knowledge that our humility is in fact a superiority and something for which we will later be recognized and admired.

As well, as we mature, pride will take on this noble face: We will begin to do the right things for seemingly the right reasons, though often deceiving ourselves because, in the end, we will still be doing them in service to our own pride. Our motivation for generosity is often more inspired by the

desire to feel good about ourselves than by real love of others. For example, a number of times during my years of ministry, I have been tempted to move to the inner city to live among the poor as a sign of my commitment to social justice. It took a good spiritual director to point out to me that, at least in my case, such a move there would, no doubt, do a lot more for me than for the poor. My moving there would make me feel good, enhance my status among my colleagues, and be a wonderful inscription inside my curriculum vitae, but would not, unless I would more radically change my life and ministry, do much for the poor. Ultimately, it would serve my pride more than it would serve the poor.

Ruth Burrows cautions that this same dynamic holds in terms of our motivation for prayer and generosity. Thus, she writes: “The way we worry about spiritual failure, the inability to pray, distractions, ugly thoughts and temptations we can’t get rid of ... it’s not because God is defrauded, for he isn’t, it’s because we are not so beautiful as we would like to be.”

And subtle pride, invariably, brings with it a condescending judgment about others. We see this most strongly perhaps in the period shortly after first conversion; when young lovers, recent religious converts, and neophytes in service and justice, still caught up in the emotional fervor of the honeymoon, think they alone know how to relate to each other, to Jesus, and to the poor.

The fervor is admirable, but the pride invariably spawns a couple of nasty children, arrogance and elitism.

Pride is inextricably linked to our nature and partly it’s healthy, but it’s a lifelong moral struggle to keep it healthy.

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

Holy days and sacramental sponsors

Q.

While visiting family in Maryland on the weekend before the feast of the Ascension, I attended a local Catholic parish and heard the priest announce that the feast would be observed on the following Sunday.

When I got back to Pittsburgh, I went to work that Thursday unaware that it was a feast day; I was very upset to learn later that in the Pittsburgh diocese, the Ascension is still observed on Thursday, making it a holy day of obligation. My question is this: How could I have sinned in one diocese when I would not have sinned in another? I find this inconsistency quite FATHER confusing. (Pittsburgh) KENNETH DOYLE First, forget about having “sinned.” You didn’t sin at all; you acted in good faith, on what you believed to be true.

And yes, it is confusing. In most of the dioceses of the United States, the feast of the Ascension has been transferred to the following Sunday, which means that you get “two for one,” since every Sunday is a holy day of obligation. The state of Pennsylvania is one of the exceptions, and there the feast continues to be celebrated on Thursday.

My daughter has been agonizing over a problem, and I am hoping that you can help.

Twelve years ago, her twin daughters were baptized. They have since made their first Communion and are now preparing for confirmation.

In reading over the confirmation material that was sent home, my daughter started thinking back to the baptism and suddenly realized, to her great dismay, that one of the girls had baptismal sponsors who were both non-Catholics.

Now she is afraid that this baptism was never valid, and she has herself sick worrying over it.

Was the baptism valid, and does she have to do anything about it now? (Runnemede, N.J.)

QUESTION CORNER

A.

Q.

In not securing a Catholic sponsor, your daughter made an honest mistake and there is no need now to re-create or to “convalidate” the baptism.

A.

Please tell your daughter that she can relax. The baptism “counted,” and the girl is fine. The Code of Canon Law provides in No. 872 that, “insofar as possible, a person to be baptized is to be given a sponsor who ... helps the baptized person to lead a Christian life.”

Canon No. 874 further specifies that the sponsor be a Catholic who has been confirmed and “who leads a life of faith in keeping with the function to be taken on.” But the law does not absolutely require a sponsor, and one can easily envision situations where there would be no time to find one, such as a dying newborn.

So, the absence of a sponsor has no effect on the validity of baptism. In not securing a Catholic sponsor, your daughter made an honest mistake and there is no need now to recreate or to “convalidate” the baptism.

It would be wise, however, for your daughter to give added attention to the choice of a confirmation sponsor. Since the role of a sponsor is to help to assure that a child is raised and educated in the Catholic faith, and since the two non-Catholic baptismal sponsors may not be in a position to do that, all the more reason to see to it that the girl’s sponsor for confirmation be someone who can act as a spiritual companion, listener and mentor as the young person matures in Catholic faith and practice.

Send questions to Father Kenneth Doyle at askfatherdoyle@gmail.com and 40 Hopewell St., Albany, NY, 12208. ©CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE

FAITH 27

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | OCTOBER 26, 2012

The ecumenical movement: A school for virtue FATHER JOHN W. CROSSIN, OSFS

DECREE ON ECUMENISM

CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE

“The restoration of unity among all Christians is one of the principal concerns of the Second Vatican Council.” This first sentence of “Unitatis Redintegratio,” the council’s Decree on Ecumenism, is still surprising to many Catholics.

How did the church come to embrace the ecumenical movement? Most authorities date the beginning of the modern ecumenical movement to the Edinburgh (Scotland) World Missionary Conference of 1910. The conference was a gathering of Protestants and Anglicans. The conference was concerned with collaboration in Christian missions. Then, as now, divisions among Christians were hindering the acceptance of the Gospel.

The sole Catholic participation was through a letter sent by Bishop Geremia Bonomelli of Cremona, Italy, wishing the participants well. The letter was read aloud at the beginning of the conference. Bishop Bonomelli mentioned at the time to some priests he knew (including one by the name of Angelo Roncalli), that an ecumenical council could come from the emergence of these church relationships.

The following 50 years witnessed occasional Catholic participation in ecumenical conversations.

A softening of Catholic concerns about ecumenism developed over decades. There was interest among some theologians such as Dominican Father Yves Congar, who wrote a groundbreaking book on Christian disunity in 1937.

These decades saw the founding of the World Council of Churches after World War II and the increased activity of the National Council of Churches in the United States.

Early in his pontificate Pope John XXIII (the former Father Angelo Roncalli) called the Second Vatican Council. The Holy Spirit, who is the principal of church unity, had been gently at work during Pope John’s days as papal ambassador first in Bulgaria (an Eastern Orthodox country), then in Turkey (a Muslim country) and then in France (a secularizing country).

Vatican II’s Decree on Ecumenism set the stage for the last 50 years of Catholic dialogue and conversation with Orthodox, Protestant and Anglican brothers and sisters. The decree gives “Catholic Principles on Ecumenism.”

In its Decree on Ecumenism, the Second Vatican Council encouraged efforts “to eliminate words, judgments and actions which do not respond to the condition of separated brethren with truth and fairness and so make mutual relations between them more difficult.” By the time the council was over, there was a declaration that specifically promoted improved relations and dialogue with Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists and people of all faith and that rejected all forms of discrimination and religious bigotry.

(CNS PHOTO/KAREN CALLAWAY, CATHOLIC NEW WORLD)

“It is the Holy Spirit who brings about the wonderful communion of the faithful,’” writes Father John W. Crossin.

It is the Holy Spirit who brings about “the wonderful communion of the faithful,” the decree says.

Ultimately, Christian unity is God’s will and God’s work and not solely our own.

The decree exhorts that all Catholics participate in the work of Christian unity. This work – our conversation, dialogue and service with others – calls for complete honesty. We must represent the position of others with truth and fairness.

We are called to a gentle mutual respect and trust in one another. In the past, we have sometimes engaged in comparing “our best to their worst.” But now honesty and mutual respect call us to search the past and the present together to come to the truth. Our conversation is based on the truth, as well as we can determine it.

This search leads us to acknowledge our faults.

“Christ summons the church, as she goes her pilgrim way, to that continual reformation of which she always has need, insofar as she is an institution of men here on earth,” the decree says.

It also tells us that humility is a key virtue for ecumenists. We need to repent of our past faults to embrace the current guidance of the Holy Spirit.

The search also leads us to value the virtues of our ecumenical colleagues.

After Vatican II, one of the senior priest-theologians of my religious order engaged in regular conversation with an Anglican colleague. At lunch

one day, he said that while they had theological differences, the Anglican priest was outstanding in living the Gospel.

Our conversation with our fellow Christians leads us to look deeper into the roots of our own faith.

We clarify our deepest beliefs and sometimes need to acknowledge our own misunderstandings of Catholic belief.

Ecumenical dialogue, rather than making us less Catholic, makes us more so.

A deep search into our faith can make us aware of commonalities that we share with our fellow Christians. It is the Holy Spirit who will help us work our way through the divergences we discover.

Ecumenical conversation leads us back to prayer, as the decree points out: “This change of heart and holiness of life, along with public and private prayer for the unity of Christians, should be regarded as the soul of the whole ecumenical movement, and merits the name ‘spiritual ecumenism.’”

Ecumenical relationships are a school of virtue. To engage others we need humility, honesty, patience and gentleness. Sometimes we see these in our ecumenical partners. I hope they see them in us. I believe that we need saints to lead us on the road to unity.

FATHER CROSSIN, a member of the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales, is executive director of the U.S. bishops’ Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs.

A gradual opening toward interreligious relations JOHN BORELLI CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE

Before the Second Vatican Council, both the laity and the hierarchy of the Catholic Church saw everyone who was not Catholic as an outsider.

Consider that as the 20th century approached, notices arrived from the Vatican, warning Catholics that they should hold discussions of faith and morals apart from all dissenters to the Catholic religion, Christian and non-Christian.

These began in 1895 after Catholic leaders had participated in the Parliament of Religions in Chicago.

In 1927, Pope Pius XI issued an encyclical warning of “man-made efforts at unity” after the first Faith and Order assembly in Switzerland.

But as Vatican II convened over four autumn sessions (from 1962-65), church-sponsored ecumenical and interreligious events were given a second look.

When Pope John XXIII announced in 1959 that he was going to call a council, he included a reference to improving relations among Christians. He established a Secretariat for Christian Unity and appointed the senior biblical scholar Cardinal Augustin Bea, a Jesuit, as its president.

Cardinal Bea picked then-Msgr. Johannes Willebrands of Holland to be the secretary. Holland’s bishops were the first to appoint a national ecumenical representative, and that person was Msgr.

Willebrands. He helped form the Catholic Conference on Ecumenical Questions with other interested Catholics. Several would become officials or experts (“periti”) for Vatican II. The secretariat produced for the council documents on ecumenism, interreligious dialogue and religious liberty, and co-produced the constitution on revelation, one quarter of the council’s documents.

The Declaration on the Relation of the Church to

(CNS PHOTO/L’OSSERVATORE ROMANO VIA REUTERS)

Pope Benedict XVI signs the apostolic exhortation on the church’s concerns in the Middle East during his visit to the Melkite Catholic Basilica of St. Paul in Harissa, Lebanon, Sept. 14.

Non-Christian Religions urged Catholics to enter into dialogue and collaboration with members of other religions in prudence and witness to the Christian faith so as “to recognize, preserve and foster the good things, spiritual and moral, as well as the sociocultural values” found among them.

This also included fostering better relations between Catholics and Jews. In June 1960, Jules Isaac, a prewar French government official and Holocaust survivor, met with Pope John XXIII. Isaac proposed that the pope form a commission to look at the problem of Christian anti-Jewish teachings.

Pope John said he had a similar thought and just the right secretariat to do it. Perhaps Cardinal Bea’s greatest of many achievements was guiding such a controversial statement to completion.

This wave of interest in interreligious dialogue was a change from 1928, when at the National Conference of Christians and Jews, then the world’s flagship interfaith organization, Catholic priests had to justify any involvement. But the conference was a path toward the gradual opening to future gatherings and working with members of other faiths.

Paulist Father John Elliot Ross, the first to join a Protestant minister and a rabbi in cross-country speaking tours, distinguished interfaith activities dedicated to eliminating prejudice and promoting the common good from banned interfaith discussions on Christian unity.

Later, in 1949, the Vatican recognized that the spiritual dimension of ecumenism, prayers for unity and appeals to the Holy Spirit’s guidance, were signs of a truly Christian attitude.

When Pope John died of stomach cancer in 1963, Pope Paul VI took his place, and efforts Pope John had set in place continued. First, Pope Paul agreed with bishops from Asia and Africa to create a second secretariat, one for other religions.

Second, a longtime supporter of Catholic scholars sympathetic with Muslims, Pope Paul encouraged a wider religious horizon for the council’s work while keeping a special place for Jewish relations. Above all, he introduced the concept of dialogue into the council, using the term 70 times in his 1964 encyclical on the church.

By the time the council was over, there was a secretariat for interreligious dialogue and a declaration that specifically promoted improved relations and dialogue with Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists and people of all faiths and that rejected all forms of discrimination and religious bigotry.

BORELLI is special assistant to the president for interreligious initiatives at Georgetown University in Washington.

28 FROM THE FRONT

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | OCTOBER 26, 2012

SYRIA: CRS official says crisis ‘way past point of no return’ LEARN MORE

FROM PAGE 1

trauma counseling activities, especially for kids and young people to help them process and deal with the trauma they may have seen either in Syria or during their flight.”

He added, “There is a lot of scar tissue when you are caught in a civil war like this. There are activities to try to help kids deal with the situation so the trauma does not become post-traumatic stress syndrome and a lifelong problem.”

The longer the crisis lasts, he said, other activities will have to be developed in the tent cities, like incomegenerating activities.

The Syrians are not the only refugees in the region – indeed, the refugee population is quite like a “layered cake,” he said. There are Palestinians from 1948, when Israel was declared a state, and others from the 1967 war.

There are Iraqis from the first Gulf War and from 2003 and now the Syr-

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Mark Schnellbaecher ians, said Schnellbaecher. Jordan and Lebanon are “very leery about yet another population of refugees that may stay for a long, long time,” he said.

In fact, countries in the region have not signed United Nations’ treaties that set the framework for the protection of rights of refugees. “These people are called guests,” he said. “Which is nice to be a guest. But the problem is your host is going to ask you to leave.”

Schnellbaecher said there is a

similarity between the crisis in Syria and that in Darfur, in that the government, the regime, is causing the humanitarian crisis and yet the regime is also the one that controls the leaders of the humanitarian process, “so they sort of hold both sides of it, and thus far, for their own reasons, are not allowing as robust a humanitarian response as is needed.”

The crisis in Syria, as well as famine in Africa, are now the two

fundraising priorities at Catholic Relief Services.

Schnellbaecher is a veteran at CRS, having begun work there as an intern when a student at Georgetown University. He has been in the Middle East since 2003 and has also served in Thailand, Pakistan, Cambodia, Macedonia, Kosovo and Serbia, as well as at CRS headquarters in Baltimore.

“We were in Bosnia the day after the war started in 1992 and we are one of the few organizations that are still there,” said Schnellbaecher. “But there are still 100,000 people displaced (in the region) and we made the commitment we are going to continue to work to either help those people return to their prewar home villages or at least get out of refugee centers and live a normal life.”

He added, “An organization like CRS is able to do that, basically have fidelity to its mission and to people it works with, largely because of people who donate.”

ALEPPO: Wealthy flee as remaining Christians struggle to survive FROM PAGE 1

Bishop Audo was willing to visit Britain briefly, however, to raise the awareness of the plight of Syrian Christians in the West and to appeal for material assistance to help improve their situation.

“In some areas ... they have fled their homes because of the threat of bombs, they have lost their livelihoods; schools, hospitals and other public services do not function. There is chaos,” he said.

“Eighty percent of people have no job and have no option but to stay at home,” the bishop said. “Poverty is getting very serious, especially with rising prices and no salaries. The face of the city has changed. There is no security, everything is dirty, there are difficulties in basic travel, no taxis, no buses.”

He said that although many Syrian people had suffered as a result of the violence that has convulsed the region Christians were confronted by problems that were “uniquely serious.”

(CNS PHOTO/ZAIN KARAM, REUTERS)

A boy wounded by shrapnel from an airstrike receives treatment in late September in Aleppo, Syria.

“In the city of Homs, home to what was the country’s second-largest Christian community, all but a few of the faithful were forced to leave after a wave of persecution – all the churches desecrated,” Bishop Audo said.

“The desire to emigrate is always

on people’s minds, especially Christians,” he said. “The majority of wealthy people have already left Aleppo for Lebanon to seek schools for their children.

“Those who remain in Aleppo are only the poor families. We are fearful that Christianity will decline and will lose (its) influence as it has done over the past decade in neighboring Iraq,” he said.

“If Christians in my country were reduced to a token few, it would be disastrous because, until now, ours has been one of the last remaining strong Christian centers in the whole of the Middle East.

“And so I ask what is the future of Christianity in the Middle East now?” Bishop Audo said.

The civil war in Syria erupted in March 2011 when rebels attempted to overthrow the ruling President Bashar al-Assad.

The United Nations estimates that 340,000 people have fled Syria to neighboring countries, and that an additional 1.5 to 2 million are dis-

placed within the country. The United Nations says more than 18,000 people have been killed in the conflict, but activists put the death toll at more than 30,000.

In Geneva, officials from the World Food Program said that, in September, 1.4 million people in Syria required food assistance, and that aid workers cannot reach all those in need because of the war.

A high-level delegation of bishops, including New York Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York, is scheduled to travel to Damascus in late October to show solidarity with victims and encourage peace negotiations.

Bishop Audo spoke alongside Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama of Jos, Nigeria, at a reception organized by Aid to the Church in Need and sponsored by the All Party Parliamentary Group on International Religious Freedom.

Both men were due to speak in London’s Westminster Cathedral Oct. 20, a day of prayer for the persecuted church.

HHS: Fight mandate in courts to defend religious freedom, says archbishop FROM PAGE 1

The mandate, however, has a narrow religious exemption that would protect only those Catholic institutions that seek to inculcate Catholic values and primarily employ and serve Catholics.

“There is a problem. That’s why we’re suing,” Archbishop Wenski said.

The Catholic Church is not opposed to universal health care itself, he said, and in fact proposed a number of options when the Affordable Care Act was being debated in Congress. But the church’s position is that universal health care “should kill no one and it should cover everyone,” he said.

The current law fails on both counts, the archbishop said, because it requires employers to provide drugs and services that result in the killing of unborn children, and it also excludes “millions of immigrants.”

The Catholic Church teaches hu-

man life is sacred from the moment of conception to natural death, and it has consistently opposed artificial methods of birth control and sterilization, teaching that they violate the total giving of self and openness to life which are intrinsic to God’s plan for marriage. The HHS mandate defines contraception and sterilization as preventive health care for women.

“They’re trying to make us provide these services to our employees and also to provide them in our institutions,” Archbishop Wenski said. “The state is trying to dictate to the church how we should practice our faith. And this should not be allowed to stand. ... I believe that the archdiocese is defending religious freedom not only for the Catholic Church and its many ministries but for all faiths.”

The archdiocese’s health plan covers about 6,000 employees in MiamiDade, Broward and Monroe counties.

Catholic Health Services serves about

5,000 people a year in its nursing homes, assisted living facilities and rehabilitation hospitals. About half of those who receive services from the Catholic Church are not Catholic.

“We do it not because they’re Catholic,” Archbishop Wenski said. “We do it because we are Catholic.”

In February, President Barack Obama announced what his administration called an “accommodation,” saying religious employers could provide the mandated services without having to pay for them directly – such as having the insurance companies, rather than the religious entities – pay for the objectionable services or have a third party cover the cost, like the administrator of the health care plan’s prescription coverage.

But the Archdiocese of Miami, like many large employers, is self-insured.

“We are our own insurance company, so therefore we still are behind the eight ball,” Archbishop Wenski said.

Some argue the Catholic Church should cease taking money from the government so it would no longer be subject to its rules and regulations.

Joe Catania, president and chief executive officer of Catholic Health Services in the archdiocese, pointed out that “any monies that we receive from the federal government or state government are received on behalf of the people that we care for” in the form of Medicaid and Medicare reimbursements.

“The people that we care for are entitled to those benefits. The people that we serve have made a conscious choice that they want to come to our facilities,” he said.

His agency provided $10 million in community benefits and indigent care last year, he said. “It would be such a shame if we had to close our doors because we don’t want to provide these (contraceptive) services.”

ARTS & LIFE 29

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | OCTOBER 26, 2012

Compelling Becket book will make you forget Burton film ELIZABETH RACKOVER CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE

“THOMAS BECKET: WARRIOR, PRIEST, REBEL”

by John Guy. Random House (New York, 2012). 448 pp., $35.

Cambridge history scholar John Guy’s early chapters provide colorful detail to every aspect of his subject’s life that led up to the “warrior, priest, rebel” of the biography’s subtitle. Thomas Becket’s mother “is said to have habitually weighed her young son on the scales using bread, meat, clothes and anything else useful for the poor ... after which she would distribute these goods as alms.” His middle-class childhood in London, his years as a student in Paris, his steady, ambitious rise in business and at court and his passion for the finer things in life are examined thoroughly.

If the most one knows about Becket comes from the 1964 film (based on the play by Jean Anouilh), by the middle of this book you will have dismissed all

images of Richard Burton and embraced the taller, aquiline-nosed portrait of Becket as Guy presents him. Eager, intelligent, ambitious, the young Becket was soon employed by Theobald, archbishop of Canterbury, whose own political and ecclesiastical prominence created every conceivable opportunity for Becket’s swift rise to power.

Readers will get real insight into the breakdown of Becket’s relationship with Henry II, and how that breakdown heightened and sharpened the brittle, tenuous social, cultural and personal frailties of their “friendship.”

Guy believes that Henry II “found Becket useful, amusing, and companionable, indulging him and treating him as a favorite,” but all the while knowing “such privileges could always be withdrawn.”

As chancellor, Becket’s authority had stemmed “not ‘from his own name’ but ‘from the hazard’ of Henry’s will, on which Thomas had been utterly reliant.” (For all of Becket’s finery, for all of his theatrical showmanship and high living, there lurked a “son of one of (King Henry’s) villeins” who had a chip on

his shoulder that Henry knocked off very publicly when he wanted to.)

Becket’s view of that imbalance of power changed, of course, when Henry made him archbishop of Canterbury. Though Becket and Henry had butted heads before then, as Guy shows us, once he was consecrated archbishop, Becket no longer saw himself as Henry’s servant. His abrupt resignation as chancellor, a decision made without consulting or even warning the king, drew an even sharper line between the two men.

Henry’s struggle to enlarge his secular authority and Becket’s parry on behalf of the Catholic Church pack strong punches thanks to Guy’s sure-footed writing. He fully explains the political problems Pope Alexander faced: dizzying, slippery slopes filled with antipopes, powerful emperors, the alternating threat and promise of support of mercurial state alliances. Each time an alliance shifted, the pope’s problems, focus and priorities changed accordingly. Sometimes this worked in the archbishop of Canterbury’s favor, sometimes not.

RACKOVER is a freelance writer in southeast Michigan.

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30 ARTS & LIFE

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | OCTOBER 26, 2012

Book explores vocabulary of American contentiousness REVIEWED BY RACHELLE LINNER CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE

“THE AMERICAN BIBLE: HOW OUR WORDS UNITE, DIVIDE AND DEFINE A NATION” by Stephen Prothero. HarperCollins (San Francisco, 2012).

531 pp., $29.99.

Stephen Prothero, a professor of religion at Boston University, has compiled diverse texts and genres – song lyrics, letters, legal documents, essays, proverbs and fiction – into an American bible, a canon to illustrate our short but contentious history.

Prothero’s bible is an abbreviated version of the Christian one: Genesis, Law, Chronicles, Psalms, Proverbs, Prophets, Lamentations, Gospels, Acts and Epistles. The documents he has chosen cluster logically in these books: early documents in Genesis, fiction in Chronicles, song lyrics in Psalms and letters in Epistles. Within each book he mixes documents from different times and different authors.

Law, for example, includes the Constitution (1787) and two Supreme Court decisions: Brown v. Board of Education (1954) and Roe v. Wade (1973). Psalms includes the lyrics of “The Star Spangled Banner” (1814); “God Bless America” (1938) and “This Land is Your Land” (1940.) Proverbs, the most diverse section, ranges from Chief Joseph’s “I will fight no more for-

ever” (1877) to Calvin Coolidge’s 1925 declaration that “The business of America is business” and Ronald Reagan’s “evil empire” in 1983.

Prothero’s criteria for inclusion is that a text must have “served as a catalyst for later controversy.” Each of these documents had, and have, an afterlife, and illustrate how “the American people talk back, agreeing, disagreeing, or in some cases creatively misreading what their forebears have said.”

Prothero introduces each text with a concise explanation of its author, context and influence on our national conversation. We are able to read the original document (in full or as illustrative excerpts) and so gain a better sense of how honestly and accurately it has been interpreted. Finally, there are pages of commentary that illustrate how the text has been used – or misused.

The format of the book makes it a wonderful resource for a history class, debate team or book club. The cacophony of the American voice would overwhelm anyone who attempted to read it straight through. It is better to read it slowly, one biblical book at a time, carefully listening to the commentaries elicited by the text. Reading slowly allows us to participate in this “heritage of voices as deep and high and different as the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and the Boys Choir of Harlem.”

The melding of text and commentary is the book’s

most distinctive focus: it shows, rather than tells us, what the American conversation has been. But it is also the area where we have to trust the editor – who, like all of us, has his own political and religious biases, whether they are made explicit or not. This is not a reason not to read this valuable book, but simply to be aware that this is an edited book.

The range of authors is remarkable; any book that includes Sen. John Kerry, Rep. Henry Hyde, Wendell Wilkie, William Faulkner, W.E.B. DuBois, Sarah Palin and Daniel Webster (to name just a few participants in this national conversation) deserves to be called catholic, in the sense of universal. It is surprising, though, to find so few Catholic voices (why Father Charles Coughlin and Mary Daly and not Cardinal Joseph Bernardin and Dorothy Day?) The inclusion of voices of reason, instead of polemics, could have shown a way to ameliorate the partisanship that “The American Bible” rightly rejects.

“What ails us is not just a matter of the words we choose or the tone we adopt. There is also the matter of our collective amnesia. The chain of memory linking us to the great voices of our collective past ... has been broken.”

LINNER, a freelance writer and reviewer, has a master’s in theological studies from Weston Jesuit School of Theology.

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COMMUNITY 31

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | OCTOBER 26, 2012

Dominican sisters’ monastic community elects new leadership The Dominican Sisters of the Monastery of Corpus Christi in Menlo Park have elected a new leadership team that will serve for the next three years.

Prioress is Sister Maria Christine of the Cross.

Sister has served as treasurer and extern contact person for the monastery and now steps into the role of leading the community into the future. Subprioress is Sister Mary of the Sacred Heart who has been the Novice Director for the new sisters coming into Dominican monastic life. Novice director is Sister Joseph Marie, who will continue her work in the altar bread department. Treasurer is Sister Mary of the Holy Family, first councillor.

Infirmarian is Sister Maura, second councillor.

Shortly after the monastery elections, three representatives of the Menlo Park community, Sister Maria Christine, Sister Mary of the Sacred Heart and Sister Joseph Marie, attended the General Assembly of the Association of Monasteries of Nuns of the Order of Preachers in the U.S. At this assembly, which is held every four years, Sister Maria Christine was also elected as president of the association for a term of four years. In this capacity she will be planning and facilitating meetings of the nuns and assisting in whatever way possible with any reconfiguration of the monasteries in the U.S. There are 11 sisters in the community. “We look forward to receiving a new postulant, Tara Clemens, as soon as she can finish raising the amount needed for her student loan, which we hope will be early next year,” the sisters said in an email.

The monastery was founded from the Bronx, N.Y., in 1921, but the sisters lived in a temporary home

SCRIPTURE SEARCH Gospel for October 28, 2012 Mark 10:46-52 Following is a word search based on the Gospel reading for the 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B: the faith story of blind Bartimaeus. The words can be found in all directions in the puzzle.

JERICHO ROADSIDE DAVID MORE WANT FAITH FOLLOWED

BARTIMAEUS JESUS REBUKED HIM CALL HIM DO FOR YOU RECEIVED

BLIND CRY OUT SILENT CALLING YOU MASTER SIGHT ON THE WAY

CALLING YOU

Pictured is the new leadership team of the Dominican Sisters of the Monastery of Corpus Christi in Menlo Park. Back from left, Sister Joseph Marie, novice director; Sister Mary of the Holy Family, treasurer; Sister Mary of the Sacred Heart, sub-prioress. Front from left, Sister Maura, infirmarian; Sister Maria Christine of the Cross, prioress. in San Francisco for the first few years. In 1927 they moved to Menlo Park when the new building was built here.

To contact the sisters for prayers or donations, write Corpus Christi Monastery, 215 Oak Grove Ave. Menlo Park, CA, 94025. Email nunsmenlo@ gmail.com. Phone (650) 322-1801 – extension 38 is a special prayer line. The sisters are on the Web at nunsmenlo.org, blog at http://heartprints.blogspot. com, and can be found on Facebook.

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© 2012 Tri-C-A Publications www.tri-c-a-publications.com

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Advent Offerings: December 4, 2012 – 7-8:30 p.m. ~ “Through the Ear to the Heart” Sing the Music of Hildegard of Bingen as contemplative practice.This gentle, contemplative practice of listening and singing the music of Hildegard is led

by Devi Mathieu and requires no previous experience with the music of Hildegard or with medieval music. Donation: $10-20

December 5, 2012 – 9:30 a.m.-2:00 p.m., Day of Prayer Fr. Joe Nassal, C.P.P.S. will facilitate the day which includes a conference, periods of reflection and Eucharist. Opportunity to purchase a deli lunch or bring your own. Donation $20

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weekend with Michael Fish, OSB, who will invite participants to spend days of quiet waiting with Mary who said yes to the unknown, trusted in the not yet, believed in the new, set out in service (to Elizabeth), and sang to Mystery. Perhaps we need Mary more than ever as we prepare to meet the challenges of our time. Friday evening through Sunday lunch—Fee: $375

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Visit catholic-sf.org to sign up for our e-newsletter.

32 COMMUNITY

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | OCTOBER 26, 2012

Pacific Mission Tours

Thanksgiving Weekend Saturday November 24th to Sunday November 25th at Mission San Antonio de Padua

$250 per person (double occupancy; $300 for single room) -Includes all Meals, Accommodations, Transportation, Taxes, & Gratuities (PHOTO BY KRISTINE COON)

Prayer intention Students at Notre Dame School, Belmont, prayed Oct. 12 for all affected by cancer, including patients, their families, doctors and nurses. Pictured, from left, with Notre Dame Sister Kathryn Keenan, vice principal, are eighth graders Michael Batshon, Ryan Archer, Joseph D’Eredita, Samantha Raposo, Clarissa Murad, Ellie Duebner, Sabrina Nunn. The baskets hold names of those prayed for.

Itinerary -Saturday AM Departure

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Spend the night in the Cloister of the Mission, surrounded by gardens, in rooms from the old Franciscan Seminary.

We'll have access to the Church and grounds throughout our stay for various activities.

-Lunch includes assorted quiches, soup and salad

-Saturday Lunch -Guided Tour of Mission

FATHER JOHN BITTERMAN, SS – SERVED ON SEMINARY FACULTY

Sulpician Father John Bitterman, died Oct. 5 at St. Charles Villa, Catonsville, Md. Ordained April 16, 1969, for the Diocese of Stockton, he was 70 years old. Father Bitterman was admitted to the Society of St. Sulpice in 1982. A funeral Mass was celebrated Oct. 9 in the chapel of St. Father John Martin’s Home for Bitterman, SS the Aged in Catonsville with interment in the Sulpician Cemetery there.

Father Bitterman held an undergraduate degree in philosophy and advanced degrees in sacred theology and intellec-

tual history from The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. He served on the faculty of Emmaus Spirituality Centre, Zambia, Africa, 1992-2003 and on the faculty of St. Patrick’s Seminary & University in Menlo Park from 2003-2006. Father Bitterman served as director of St. Charles Villa from 2007 until February 2012 when he retired and continued in residence there.

Other assignments included rector, Cardinal Muench Seminary, Fargo, N.D., in 1990-199; faculty at St. Francis High School, Mountain View from 19731980 and faculty at Archbishop Mitty High School, San Jose, from 1989-1990.

Remembrances may be made to Society of St. Sulpice, Province of the United States, 5408 Roland Ave., Baltimore, MD, 21210.

-Classic American Thanksgiving Dinner Includes Roasted Turkey, Virginia Ham, Cornbread Stuffing, Mashed Potatoes, Candied Yams, Creamed -Candlelight Serra Novena Corn, Almond Beans, Brussel Sprouts, Fresh Pies, & -Sunday Morning Mass Pumpkin Ice Cream -Sunday Brunch -Brunch of Monte Cristos, French Toast, Bacon and Eggs, Roasted Potatoes, Biscuits and Gravy -Return Sunday Evening -Saturday Dinner

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33

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | OCTOBER 26, 2012

SERVICES

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Please call (415) 386-8764 leave message if no answer

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HELP WANTED YOUTH MINISTER JOB Open: September 12, 2012 St. Boniface Parish in the Tenderloin is seeking a part-time (20 hours) Youth Minister.

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• Compensation: $15 - $20 per hour based on experience and benefits

Please send cover letter and resume to: St. Boniface Church Attention: Administrative Assistant 133 Golden Gate Avenue San Francisco, CA 94102

E.S.

High School President Sought Mercy High School Burlingame, CA The Board of Trustees of Mercy High School, Burlingame, is seeking an individual to serve as President and accept the challenge of continuing the educational legacy set forth by the Sisters of Mercy.

Committed to educating the whole person, Mercy High School offers its students not only outstanding college preparatory and assisted learning programs but also rich opportunities for spiritual growth, a wide range of athletic sports, and service learning possibilities.

Our President is the steward of this mission and legacy. The desired candidate is a collaborative, relational Catholic leader with the following attributes: ƫ đ +))%0)!*0ƫ * ƫ, //%+*ƫ"+.ƫ0$!ƫ !. 5ƫ $ .%/)ƫ * ƫ/%*#(!ƫƫƫƫƫ gender education ƫ đ .+2!*ƫ %(%05ƫ0+ƫ *%) 0!ƫ * ƫ%*/,%.!ƫ+0$!./ƫ"+.ƫ)%//%+* ƫ đĆƫ5! ./ƫ!4! 10%2!ƫ(! !./$%,ƫ!4,!.%!* ! ƫ đ !)+*/0. 0! ƫ/1 !//ƫ3%0$ƫ/0. 0!#% ƫ,( **%*#ƫ * ƫ institutional advancement efforts ƫ đ .+2!*ƫ %(%05ƫ0+ƫ) * #!ƫ ƫ +),(!4ƫ#.+1,ƫ+"ƫ/0 '!$+( !./ ƫ đ 1,!.%+.ƫ +))1*% 0%+*ƫ * ƫ%*0!.,!./+* (ƫ/'%((/ ƫ đ *+3(! #!ƫ+"ƫ * ƫ +))%0)!*0ƫ0+ƫ0$!ƫ0$!+(+#5ƫ * ƫ philosophy of Catholic education.

Candidates should have a graduate degree in a relevant field and be an active member of the Catholic Church. Applications should contain a full vita, at least three references with contact information, and a personal statement of strengths and interests.

Interested individuals may access additional information at www.mercyhsb.com.

Mercy High School ƫĂĈĆĀƫ !(%*!ƫ .ċƫ 1.(%*# )!Čƫ ƫƫĊąĀāĀ

34 CALENDAR SATURDAY, OCT. 27 PARISH MISSION: Jesuit Fathers Tom Allender and Kevin Ballard offer a time for reflection at Mission Dolores Basilica, 16th Street at Dolores, San FranFather Tom cisco Oct. Allender, SJ 27-31. Talks at weekend Masses Oct 27, 28, and after morning Masses Oct. 29, 30, 31 and evenings Oct. 28, 29, 30. Evening talks are offered in English and Spanish. (415) 621-8203. www.lifesministry. com. www.jrclosaltos.org/ archive/people/fr-kevin-ballard-s-j.

SATURDAY, OCT. 27 CONFIRMATION RETREAT: “Catch the Spirit” Archdiocesan confirmation retreat, 10-4 p.m. with Brother Scott Slattern at St. Dunstan Parish, 1133 Broadway, Millbrae. This retreat is for junior high and high school students preparing for the sacrament of confirmation. For more information or to register, contact Vivian Clausing at clausingv@sfarchdiocese.org.

ALL SAINTS MASS: Todos Los Santos, 11 a.m. Holy Cross Mausoleum Chapel, 1500 Old Mission Road, Colma, Bishop William J. Justice, celebrant. (650) 756-2060.

REUNION: Class of ’62, St. Matthew School, San Mateo, noon, Poplar Creek Golf Course, San Mateo.

Angela Harrington Norton, angeliz49cal@gmail.com. www.stmatthewcath.org.

ST. JUDE PILGRIMAGE: Begins at Church of the Visitacion, 655 Sunnydale Ave., San Francisco, 9 a.m.,

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | OCTOBER 26, 2012

ending at St. Dominic Church, Bush and Steiner streets about 1:30 p.m. with closing bilingual Mass with San Francisco Auxiliary Bishop William J. Justice, Dominican Father Mark Padrez, provincial, Western Dominican Province celebrating. (415) 931-5919. www.stjude-shrine.org. info@stjudeshrine.org.

SUNDAY, OCT. 28 OKTOBERFEST: St. Matthias Parish, Redwood City, 11:30 a.m.-2 p.m., $10 adults in advance, $15 at the door/$5 children. Menu includes grilled brat or dog, sauerkraut, potato salad, cole slaw, salad. Kids get what kids like: hotdog, chips. Beverages will be available for purchase. Tickets for kids’ activities are 15 for $10. www.stmatthiasparish.org.

MONDAY, OCT. 29 AUGUSTINE MOVIE: “Restless Heart,” a film based on St. Augustine’s confessions. 6:30 p.m., Cinemark Theater, 825 Middlefield Road, Redwood City. $12. Buy tickets at Pauline Books & Media Center, 935 Brewster Ave., Redwood City; (650) 369-4230. snancy@ paulinemedia.com.

TUESDAY, OCT. 30 OKTOBERFEST LUNCH: The Good Shepherd Guild’s Oktoberfest luncheon and bingo at the Basque Cultural Center, South San Francisco, 11:30 a.m. Tickets at $40 include a three-course lunch and bingo cards.

Judy Terracina, (415) 753-2081.

Proceeds benefit Good Shepherd Gracenter.

THURSDAY, NOV. 1 ICA GALA: Cocktails 5:30 p.m., dinner 7, Grand Hyatt Union Square. Kate Kelly, KPIX news anchor, is emcee.

Benefits Immaculate Conception

Academy. $150. www.icacademy.org.

(415) 824-2052 ext. 40.

FRIDAY, NOV. 2 RETROUVAILLE WEEKEND: A Program for marriages in difficult times.

(415) 893-1005. SF@RetroCA.com. www.HelpOurMarriage.com.

ALL SOULS MASS: Holy Cross Cemetery, 1500 Old Mission Road, Colma, 11 a.m., All Saints Mausoleum Chapel, Father Dan Carter, pastor, Our Lady of Lourdes/All Hallows Parish, San Francisco, celebrant.

(650) 756-2060.

FIRST FRIDAY: The 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.

FILM NIGHT: “The Mighty Macs” and Year of Faith, 6:30 p.m., Pauline Books & Media Center, 935 Brewster Ave., Redwood City, (650) 369-4230. redwood@paulinemedia.com.

“The most compassionate care in town” 1655 Old Mission Road #3 Colma, SSF, CA 94080

415-573-5141 or 650-993-8036

DOCTORS MASS: St. Luke’s Mass and Banquet, St. Thomas More Church, 1300 Junipero Serra Blvd., San Francisco, 5 p.m. Dinner at nearby Alma Via residence, 6 p.m. gemaloof2003@yahoo.com. (415) 3052408.

REUNION: St. Paul High School homecoming Mass and luncheon, 11:30 a.m. St. Paul Church, San Francisco.

Lunch follows in parish hall. Golden Belle Class of 1963 will be honored.

(415) 648-7538.

*Irish owned & operated

*Serving from San Francisco to North San Mateo

BETTER HEALTH CARE FOR SENIORS WITH SPECIAL NEED OF CARE

We Provide reliable & experienced caregivers to help seniors in their own home. *Companionship, Bathing, Alzheimer, Dementia & more.

Long hrs. - $10, Short hrs. - $18, Live-in - $170

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When Life Hurts It Helps To Talk

Confidential • Compassionate • Practical

(415) 921-1619 • Insurance Accepted 1537 Franklin Street • San Francisco, CA 94109

Marin 415.721.7380

www.irishhelpathome.com

NOTARY

NOTICE TO READERS Licensed contractors are required by law to list their license

Breen’s Mobile Notary Services

numbers in advertisments. The law also states that contractors performing work totaling $500 or more must be state-licensed.

Advertisments appearing in this newspaper without a license number indicate that the contractor is not licensed.

For more information, contact: Contractors State License Board 800-321-2752

PUBLICIZE YOUR EVENT: Submit event listings by noon Friday. Email calendar.csf@ sfarchdiocese.org, write Calendar, One Peter Yorke Way, SF 94109, or call Tom Burke at (415) 614-5634.

COUNSELING

Dr. Daniel J. Kugler

San Francisco 415.759.0520

‘HOPE UNCORKED’: Evening of wine, music and celebration, 6:30 p.m.

Catholic Charities CYO event benefiting Bay Area kids in need at Yoshi’s. California’s premier wines, Japanese cuisine, live jazz from the Lorca Hart Trio and Grupo Falso Baiano, as well as auctions featuring affordable cases of wine and rare wines. Visit www.cccyo.org/hopeuncorked.

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

Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist Over 25 years experience

San Mateo 650.347.6903

VETERANS HONORED: St. Cecilia Parish, 17th Avenue and Vicente, San Francisco rededicates its veteran’s plaque at 9:30 a.m. Mass. Names of living and deceased parishioners who have served in the Armed Forces during wartime will be permanently inscribed. All current and former St. Cecilia veterans and persons who know of a St. Cecilia veteran who would like to be considered for this special honor should contact Terry Howard at (415) 336-4746 or email tall76@aol.com.

REUNION: St. Vincent High School,

• Family • Work • Relationships • Depression • Anxiety • Addictions

High Quality Home Care Since 1996 Home Care Attendants • Companions • CNA’s Hospice • Respite Care • Insured and Bonded

ST. PETER’S MASS: Memorial Mass and reception for all connected through the years with St. Peter School, San Francisco at St. Peter Church, 1200 Florida St. at 24th Street, San Francisco, 2 p.m. The classes of 1962 and 1987 and all graduates 2000-2011 will be honored.

(415) 647-8662.

MONDAY, NOV. 5

MASS: Holy Cross Cemetery, 1500 Old Mission Road, Colma, 11 a.m., All Saints Mausoleum Chapel. Celebrant, homilist is Father Marvin Felipe, parochial vicar, St. Mary’s Cathedral.

HOME HEALTH CARE

Irish Help at Home

SUNDAY, NOV. 4

SATURDAY, NOV. 3

THE PROFESSIONALS

HEALTH CARE AGENCY SUPPLE SENIOR CARE

San Francisco, class of 1954, no-host cocktails 11:30 a.m. and lunch 12:30 p.m. Joe’s of Westlake. Respond by Oct. 26 to Lori Clyne, (650) 571-5747. loriscooking@gmail.com.

Timothy P. Breen

Certified Signing Agent

Notary Public

PHONE: 415-846-1922 FAX: 415-702-9272 * Member National Notary Association *

Do you want to be more fulfilled in love and work – but find things keep getting in the way?

Unhealed wounds can hold you back - even if they are not the “logical” cause of your problems today. You can be the person God intended.

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

Lila Caffery, MA, CCHT San Francisco: 415.337.9474 Complimentary phone consultation

www.InnerChildHealing.com

CALENDAR 35

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | OCTOBER 26, 2012

3-DAY BOUTIQUE: St. Mary’s Hospital, main lobby, 750 Stanyan St., San Francisco, Nov. 6, 7, 8. Nov. 6 is preview, 4-7 p.m. with $10 fee including refreshments and free parking.

Free admission Wednesday 10 a.m.-4 p.m.; Thursday 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Days include silent auction and raffle. Proceeds benefit Women’s Health Center.

(415) 750-5646.

WOMEN’S BOOK CLUB: Discussion and sharing based on Richard Rohr’s book “Falling Upward,” 4:30-6 p.m., Pauline Books & Media Center, 935 Brewster Ave., Redwood City, (650) 369-4230. redwood@paulinemedia. com.

WEDNESDAY, NOV. 7 BOOK CLUB: Study of Vatican Council II: 50 Years, implications of the council for continuing renewal of the church in the 21st century. New members welcome, Pauline Books & Media Center, 935 Brewster Ave., Redwood City, 7-8:30 p.m., (650) 369-4230. redwood@paulinemedia. com.

ADHD CONFERENCE: Nov. 8-10 at Hyatt Regency, SFO, for parents, caregivers, educators, physicians and others helping people with ADHD. Topics include stigma, mental illness and families; ADHD and autism; controversies and current trends. www.chadd.org/conference2012. (800) 233-4050.

FRIDAY, NOV. 9

WEEKLY 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

(415) 786-0121 • (650) 871-9227

Interior-Exterior Residential – Commercial Insured/Bonded – Free Estimates License# 974682

Residential Commercial

GARAGE DOOR

Cell 415-710-0584 Office 415-731-8065

HK Discount

10% Discount Seniors & Parishioners

Garage Door Repair Serving the Bay Area for over 30 Years

Bill Hefferon

Same price 7 days Lic. # 376353

(415) 931-1540 24 hrs.

IRISH Eoin PAINTING Lehane Discount to CSF Readers

415.368.8589 Lic.#942181

Broken Spring/Cable?

Operator Problems?

Lifetime Warranty on All Doors + Motors

John Holtz Ca. Lic 391053 General Contractor Since 1980

(650) 355-4926

Painting & Remodeling • Interiors • Exteriors • Kitchens • Baths Contractor inspection reports and pre-purchase consulting

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

ELECTRICAL

FENCES & DECKS John Spillane

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

Service Changes Solar Installation Lighting/Power Fire Alarm/Data Green Energy

DEWITT ELECTRIC

YOUR # 1 CHOICE FOR Recessed Lights – Outdoor Lighting Outlets – Dimmers – Service Upgrades • Trouble Shooting!

Ph. 415.515.2043 Ph. 650.508.1348 Lic. 631209

HANDYMAN Expert interior and exterior painting, carpentry, demolition, fence (repair, build), decks, remodeling, roof repair, gutter (clean/repair), landscaping, gardening, hauling, moving, welding.

All Purpose

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PAINTING & REMODELING

4-NIGHT REVIVAL: St. Francis of Assisi Church, 1425 Bay Road, East Palo Alto, 7 p.m., Nov, 12, 13, 14, 15, with Catholic evangelist, Richard Lane, seen on EWTN and heard Richard Lane on Catholic radio. Open to all. (650) 3222152. www.EvangelistRichardLane.com.

650.291.4303

CONSTRUCTION ➤ ➤ ➤ ➤ ➤ ➤

Fully licensed • State Certified • Locally Trained • Experienced • On Call 24/7

Tel: (650) 630-1835

CA License 819191

MONDAY, NOV. 12

650.322.9288

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

Bonded & Insured

VETERANS DAY PRAYER SERVICE: Star of the Sea Section, Holy Cross Cemetery, 1500 Old Mission Road, Colma, 11 a.m. (650) 756-2060.

ALL ELECTRIC SERVICE

Lic # 526818 • Senior Discount

Bill Hefferon Painting

MONDAY, NOV. 12

SUNDAY, NOV. 11

WEEKEND RETREAT: Are you called to religious life? Religious life discernment retreat, Dominican Sisters of Mission San Jose. Begins Friday 6 p.m., ends Sunday 2 p.m. Free will offering, 43326 Mission Blvd. entrance on Mission Tierra Place, Fremont. Register deadline is Nov. 5. vocations@msjdominicans.org. (510) 933-6335.

S.O.S. PAINTING CO. Interior-Exterior • wallpaper • hanging & removal

M.K. Painting

IRISH NIGHT: St. Paul Parish evening on the Emerald Isle beginning at 6 p.m. at 2580 Alemany Blvd., San Francisco. $65.

Evening includes cocktails, dinner, auction and dancing until midnight. Reserve tickets by Nov. 1 Call (415) 648-7538.

REUNION: St. Charles School, San Carlos, Class of ’62, 5:30 dinner, Poplar Creek Grill, San Mateo. Connie Trewin, (650) 343-6889. LMadison25@aol.com.

ROOFING

Yorke Way, San Francisco 94109, (415) 614-5643, janschachern@aol.com.

SERRA AUCTION: “This Magic Moment,” 5:30-11 p.m. at Junipero Serra High School, 451 W. 20th Ave., San Mateo. $100. No-host bar. www.serrahs.com/auction.

ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY: Conversation group on ancient philosophical texts, St. Mary’s Cathedral, Gough Street at Geary Boulevard, San Francisco, Msgr. Bowe Room, 7:30-10 p.m. reynaldo.miranda@gmail.com.

(415) 584 8794.

HOME SERVICES

PAINTING

SATURDAY, NOV. 10

HOUSECLEANING Reasonable rates

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

Free Estimates Licensed, Bonded & Insured

Christopher’s House Cleaning

415.370.4341 www.christophershousecleaning.com

Visit catholic-sf.org for the latest Vatican headlines.

PLUMBING

HOLLAND Plumbing Works San Francisco ALL PLUMBING WORK PAT HOLLAND CA LIC #817607

BONDED & INSURED

415-205-1235

Lic. #742961

THURSDAY, NOV. 8

Hauling Job Site Clean-Up Demolition Yard Service Garbage Runs Saturday & Sunday

FREE ESTIMATES! • Fast & Affordable

TERRY (415)282-2023

LAST-MINUTE SERVICE AVAILABLE

YOELSHAULING@YAHOO.COM

DALY CONSTRUCTION Lic.# 593788

TUESDAY, NOV. 6

Affordable

Decks • Carports • Stairs • Concrete • Kitchen • Bathrooms

415.383.6122

thomas@tadalyremodeling.com

McGuire & Sons c o n s t r u c t i o n

State License # 346397, Est. 1978 415-454-2719 FINE WORK AT REASONABLE PRICES mcguireandsonsconstruction.com

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

Call: 650.580.2769 Lic. # 505353B-C36

Cahalan Construction Remodels, Additions, Paint, Windows, Dryrot, Stucco

415.279.1266 Lic. #582766 415.566.8646

mikecahalan@gmail.com

36

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | OCTOBER 26, 2012

In Remembrance of the Faithful Departed Interred In Our Catholic Cemeteries During the Month of September

HOLY CROSS COLMA Joyce Ahearn Paula Altamirano Reynaldo J. Amador Alma V. Bagnani Dennis P. Bagnani Margaret P. Bagnani David B. Barber Kazimiera Bartosik Andrew S.L. Bau Suzanne Spieker Beaver Timothy A. Brennan Mario Brondello Clarisa A. Bunac Ignacia A. Cabuloy Nita A. Calagui Lucy Ceccarelli Wallace E. Choy Ronnie Cinti Nellie Cortopassi Rosalie G. Coyne Donald Cummings Manuela Marques da Silva Barbara J. Davis Norma De Paoli Ralph Del Sarto Marie Devincenzi Geraldine Donlan Albert Donnici Layla K. Eid Blanca Estela Enriquez

Mildred Fanucchi Lorraine Edith Ferone Raphael Marcellino Ferraz Inocencia C. Garcia Lawrence G. Garven Teresa Bersamina Garza Leo D. Gerardo Liz Giovannetti Richard John Giuliani Sr. Kathleen Helen Rose Griffin, PBVM Zosimo Guiang Lucille A. Hanson Mark Angelo HernandezGarcia Maria S. Holland Ella M. Jewett Andrew P. Kutches John C. Llamas Antonio Luna, Jr. Mary Ann D. Mana Sherwin D. Manalo Tillie Manick Eva M. Marini Jack J. Martin Deanna Mathis Dorothy Jeanne Memering Cronan Lena Michelotti Peter A. Mingoa Marian Laber Misrack Evelyn A. Moore Carmen Morello

Arleen M. Navarret Margaret Jean Navas Elsie Olga Noceti Father Hugh O’Donnell Constance Oller John David Paraventi Cynthia Parker Bussiere Norma Pellicciarini Henry J. Phelan Bonifacio Picazo Maria Guadalupe Ponce Mary G. Popielak Anne Quilter Visitacion S. Ramirez Lyrics Ahdream Reed Gloria Reyes Florence Mary Rial Margaret Mary Moran Richardson Edward F. Rocks Eileen C. Rocks Charles “Bud” Rodoni Miguel Rodriguez Elena D. Rojas Gary Thomas Secretro Richard J. Siggins Robert Anthony Simoncini Manfred Speier Nora P. Spiers Marian D. Sullivan Sitaniselao “Stunna”Tau Paula L. Thomas Lucille M. Torres

Charles A. Tortorice Josephine D. Trovato Felipa Villadarez Frank J. Waldvogel Vincent Walsh Ben Wilkinson

MT. OLIVET, SAN RAFAEL Margaret A. Abbey June Don Batalla Giorgi-Diaz William Thomas Hopkins, Jr. Alla G. Lucchesi Thomas F. McCarthy, Jr. Albert M. Pariani Henry Rabbitt Joseph Sa Rocha Marcello Sarnacchiaro

HOLY CROSS MENLO PARK Willa M. Coats Ane Tupou Foliaki-Cook Catalina “Catita” Guerra

ST. ANTHONY’S PESCADERO John Anson O’Brien

HOLY CROSS CATHOLIC CEMETERY, COLMA Todos Los Santos – All Saints Day Mass

All Souls Day Mass

Saturday, October 27, 2012 Holy Cross Mausoleum Chapel – 11:00 a.m.

Bishop William Justice, Celebrant Refreshments after Mass

Friday, November 2, 2012 Holy Cross Mausoleum Chapel – 11:00 a.m.

Rev. Daniel E. Carter, Celebrant

First Saturday Mass Saturday, November 3, 2012 Holy Cross Mausoleum Chapel – 11:00 a.m.

Rev. Marvin Felipe, Celebrant

A Tradition of Faith Throughout Our Lives.