DAY OF PRAYER:
CHALLENGE:
ADVENT BOOKS:
Call for Advent atonement for Philippines victims
40 days of readings deepen Advent for St. Anselm families
A selection of recent releases suitable for spiritual reading
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CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO Newspaper of the Archdiocese of San Francisco
SERVING SAN FRANCISCO, MARIN & SAN MATEO COUNTIES
www.catholic-sf.org
$1.00 | VOL. 15 NO. 34
DECEMBER 6, 2013
8th graders’ tech fast reclaims meaning of ‘present’ VALERIE SCHMALZ CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO
Twenty-eight eighth graders at St. Matthew School voluntarily gave up the use of their cellphones, video games and X-boxes for two weeks in response to a “tech free challenge” from the school counselor. They stepped back in time, coordinating pickup and meet-up times with their parents without the backup of cellphones, using home phones to talk with friends, playing Clue and Monopoly board games with their families, and reading more. The idea was to help the eighth graders’ at the San Mateo parish school recognize how technology had permeated their lives by helping them experience what life could be like without constantly checking for social media updates and text messages, said Denise Uhl and principal Nancy Arnett. “We found kids were relying on it too heavily in all their relationships,” said Uhl. Parents asked, “What can I do with my child who is always on their cellphone, looking down at their cellphone everywhere?” Eighth grader Cassie Fell created a scarf on a loom and discovered she got her homework done much quicker without the distraction of
FRANCIS X. ROCCA CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE
“SNAP is such an important anti-poverty support,” said Colleen Rivecca, advocacy coordinator for St. Anthony Foundation, adding that a strong food aid program helps everyone in the local community. A Congressional Budget Office analysis of poverty-reduction measures shows that for every SNAP dollar spent, roughly $1.80 in local economic activity is generated. Rivecca is working with national anti-poverty and anti-hunger groups to influence Congress to support a U.S. farm bill that boosts SNAP funding. However, in addition to the recent
VATICAN CITY – In his first extensive piece of writing as pope, Pope Francis lays out a vision of the Catholic Church dedicated to evangelization in a positive key, with a focus on society’s poorest and most vulnerable, including the Pope Francis aged and unborn. “Evangelii Gaudium” (“The Joy of the Gospel”), released by the Vatican Nov. 26, is an apostolic exhortation, one of the most authoritative categories of papal document. (Pope Francis’ first encyclical, “Lumen Fidei,” published in July, was mostly the work of his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI.) The pope wrote the new document in response to the October 2012 Synod of Bishops on the new evangelization, but declined to work from a draft provided by synod officials. Pope Francis’ voice is unmistakable in the 50,000-word document’s relatively relaxed style – he writes that an “evangelizer must never look like someone who has just come back from a funeral!” – and its emphasis on some of his signature themes, including the dangers of economic globalization and “spiritual worldliness.” The church’s message “has to concentrate on the essentials, on what is most beautiful, most
SEE FOOD, PAGE 20
SEE POPE, PAGE 20
(PHOTO BY VALERIE SCHMALZ/CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO)
St. Matthew School principal Nancy Arnett is pictured with, back from left, eighth graders Riley Scanlan, Joe Bevilacqua, Lucas Fayet-Faber; counselor Denise Uhl. Front from left: Eighth graders Cassie Fell, Maddie Hughes (holding artwork she made during the challenge), Maddy Scully. without video games or cellphones. They could still use computers for homework and watch movies or television with family and friends. The students are going to share their stories with the seventh graders; they spoke to the faculty and are scheduled to do a presentation to the school
checking her phone or playing video games. “I decided to do the tech challenge because I was noticing how everybody including myself was always on their cellphones,” she said. The challenge lasted from Nov. 11 to Nov. 22, and included five days of the class Caritas retreat when all the eighth graders in the school were
SEE TECH FAST, PAGE 20
Free dining halls meeting need but bracing for federal cuts EDISON TAPALLA CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO
Free dining halls and food pantries in the San Francisco archdiocese are meeting the needs of the hungry but recent federal cuts have them bracing for increased demand. On Nov. 1, the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as food stamps, cut average assistance from $1.60 per person per meal to less than $1.40 – nearly $400 less a year for a typical family of four. Deadlocked over its budget, Congress did not extend the temporary boost to food aid enacted in the American Recovery and Rein-
Pope defines vision for evangelical church
vestment Act of 2009 as part of the federal stimulus package. Karl Robillard, spokesman for the St. Anthony Foundation in San Francisco, linked an increase in meals served in November to the cuts. “We’ve roughly seen an increase of about 100 served meals per day… We have to be ready to provide more meals. We have to be ready to step in and fill that gap,” Robillard said. Nearly 47 million Americans are affected by the cuts nationwide. In California the number of SNAP recipients has doubled since 2008 from approximately 2 million to more than 4.1 million program participants in September of 2013.
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INDEX On the Street . . . . . . . . .4 National . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Opinion. . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Faith. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Calendar. . . . . . . . . . . .26