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Teacher honored for inspiring gifted students
Start forgiving, making amends, pope says
Priest remembered for passion for social justice
CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO Newspaper of the Archdiocese of San Francisco
www.catholic-sf.org
SERVING SAN FRANCISCO, MARIN & SAN MATEO COUNTIES
JUNE 9, 2016
$1.00 | VOL. 18 NO. 13
Novato’s Andrew Ginter ordained to priesthood VALERIE SCHMALZ CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO
“Relying on the help of the Lord God and our savior Jesus Christ, we choose Andrew, our brother, for the order of the priesthood.” With those words, San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone began the sacrament of ordination to the priesthood of Deacon Andrew Ginter, 29, at St. Mary’s Cathedral June 4. Within the hour, Father Ginter celebrated Mass on the altar with the archbishop, and then walked out of the cathedral to rousing applause from a congregation that bubbled with good will and joy for the newly ordained priest. “How is it that a young man discerns a call to the priesthood?” Archbishop Cordileone asked in his homily and went on to cite mentors, including recently deceased St. Anthony of Padua pastor Father Kevin Gaffey who had a large influence on Father Ginter, other priests, St. Patrick Seminary & University professors, and most of all Father Ginter’s parents and family. “A young person’s response to a religious vocation is a sign that something has gone SEE SOLITARY, PAGE 18
(PHOTO BY DENNIS CALLAHAN/CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO)
Deacon Andrew Ginter processes in St. Mary’s Cathedral on June 4 to begin his Mass of priestly ordination. In his homily following the sacrament, Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone said Father Ginter’s parents and family played a key role in his decision to become a priest.
Faith leaders push to reform ‘dehumanizing’ prison isolation DENNIS SADOWSKI CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE
(CNS PHOTO/ERIN SCHAFF, COURTESY PERISPHERE MEDIA)
The Rev. Laura Markle Downton, director of the U.S. Prisons Policy and Program at the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, is pictured in a replica solitary confinement cell during the Ecumenical Advocacy Days event in 2015.
WASHINGTON – The “SHU” is not much larger than a good-size bathroom. The SHU, or special housing unit, was where Johnny Perez spent a total of three years – the longest period being 10 months – in solitary confinement during the 13 years he was in New York prisons for armed robbery. The tiny cells where inmates are sent for breaking prison rules or misbehavior are also known by nicknames such as the box, the bing, punk city, the hole, the pound and lockdown. Perez was sent to solitary for fighting, testing positive for marijuana and having a frying pan in his cell. In solitary he was alone with his thoughts 23 hours a day, with an hour outdoors in a small caged area for exercise. Corrections officers who brought meals and conducted security checks offered his only human contact. “If they’re not sociable then you won’t be having a conversation with them,” Perez said of the guards.
Max McLean as C.S. Lewis
“One didn’t even look me in the face. It’s hard that the only person you come in contact with doesn’t validate you as a human being. “It was dehumanizing.” Perez, 37, made it through isolation with no debilitating psychological effects, unlike some others. He received “tons of magazine subscriptions” and two books a week – the maximum allowed – from his family and their church. He had writing materials so he could journal and also thought a lot about being elsewhere, far from the around-the-clock fluorescent-lit cell. He kept reminding himself, “I have to leave here the same as I came, that I don’t succumb to my environment.” Advocates like Perez have joined their voices in a growing campaign to call attention to the wide use of solitary confinement nationwide. An estimated 80,000 to 100,000 people were held in isolation in 2014, said a report from the Arthur Liman Public Interest Program at Yale Law School and the Association of State Correctional Administrators. SEE SOLITARY, PAGE 19
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THE MOST RELUCTANT CONVERT JUNE 24-26 • Lesher Center for the Arts • Walnut Creek • CSLewisOnStage.com
INDEX On the Street . . . . . . . . 4 National . . . . . . . . . . . . .8 World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Faith . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Opinion . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Calendar . . . . . . . . . . . 23