School liturgy:
Fr. Seagrave:
Singles:
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Make school Mass ‘brilliant every time’
Archbishop Riordan High School creates Seagrave Fund
Single, celibate Catholics ‘totally forgotten’ by church
CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO Newspaper of the Archdiocese of San Francisco
Serving San Francisco, Marin & San Mateo Counties
Pope: Couples need help forming, following their consciences
www.catholic-sf.org
November 16, 2017
‘Death does not have the last word’ Street vigils for homicide victims reclaim peace from a place of violence Christina Gray Catholic San Francisco
Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY – Marriage and family life are blessings for individuals and for society, but both are filled with difficult choices that Catholic couples must be helped to face prayerfully and in the light of their consciences, Pope Francis said. Unfortunately, too many people today confuse a rightly formed conscience with personal preferences dominated by selfishness, the pope said in a video message to an Italian meeting on “Amoris Laetitia,” his exhortation on the family. “The contemporary world risks confusing the primacy of conscience, which is always to be respected, with the exclusive autonomy of the individual” even when the individual’s decisions impact his or her marriage and family life, the pope said. Repeating a remark he had made to the Pontifical Academy for Life, Pope Francis said, “There are those who even speak of ‘egolatry,’ that is, the true worship of the ego on whose altar everything, including the dearest affections, are sacrificed.” Confusing conscience with selfishness “is not harmless,” the pope said. “This is a ‘pollution’ that corrodes souls and confounds minds and hearts, producing false illusions.” The conference sponsored by the Italian bishops’ see marriage, page 8
$1.00 | VOL. 19 NO. 24
(Photo courtesy Julio Escobar)
Father Piers Lahey prays at a street memorial for Anthony Torres, killed in San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood. The pastor at St. Andrew Parish in Daly City regularly leads prayer vigils to reclaim peace at homicide scenes in San Francisco.
Film industry location scout Edward French was robbed of his camera and his life at dawn on July 16 while photographing the sunrise from popular Twin Peaks overlook in San Francisco. His obituary said he had a “keen eye for capturing the obvious and hidden beauty” of the city where he had been born and raised. “He was ‘San Francisco,’” it read. “When you look to the city skyline – he will be there smiling with his camera.” Ten days later, with visitors behind him posing for selfies against that storied vista, an unassuming priest in street clothes stood on the red dirt where French drew his last breath, and bowed his head. “We come together in this space, at this time of grief, acknowledging the violent act committed against our brother Ed French,” Father Piers Lahey said to the circle of some 30 people who joined him in prayer, including a group of visiting Catholic high school students and their adult chaperones. None knew the 71-year-old victim, but all came to bear witness. “When somebody’s life is taken away, especially by gun violence, all of us feel that outrage, all of us feel that pain,” Father Lahey said. “Any violent act on someone is a violent act on us all.” A tall votive candle draped with a rosary and labeled with French’s name flickered on the ground as hilltop winds lashed at the pages of Father Lahey’s prayer book. In a closing ritual he reclaimed the spot with a sprinkling of holy water. “Come, Holy Spirit, and redeem this space and see vigils, page 12
Pope puts John Paul I on path to sainthood, saying he lived the Christian virtues heroically Junno Arocho Esteves Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis recognized that Pope John Paul I, who served only 33 days as pope, lived the Christian virtues in a heroic way. The Vatican announced Pope Francis’ decision Nov. 9. It marks the first major step on the path to sainthood for the pope who died in 1978 at the age of 65, shocking the world and a church that had just mourned the death of Blessed Paul VI. Pope Francis would have to recognize a miracle
attributed to the late pope’s intercession in order for him to be beatified, the next step toward sainthood. A second miracle would be needed for canonization. Stefania Falasca, vice postulator of Pope John Paul’s sainthood cause, said one “presumed extraordinary healing” had already been investigated by a diocese and a second possibility is being studied, but the Vatican does not begin its investigations until a sainthood candidate is declared venerable. Although his was one of the shortest papacies in see jp1, page 18
(CNS photo/L’Osservatore Romano)
Pope John Paul I, known as the smiling pope, is pictured at the Vatican in 1978. Pope Francis has advanced the sainthood cause of Pope John Paul I with a decree recognizing his heroic virtues.
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