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our lady’s ministry:
pilgrims: 150 prepare for trip to Serra canonization PAGE 11
PAGE 8
annulment: Simplified process puts ‘the poor at the center’ PAGE 18
Helping the poor around the world
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CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO Newspaper of the Archdiocese of San Francisco
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September 11, 2015
$1.00 | VOL. 17 NO. 22
2 California bishops meet with lawmakers on papal encyclical Valerie Schmalz Catholic San Francisco
(CNS photo/Marko Djurica, Reuters)
Pope calls on Europe’s parishes to take in refugees
A migrant from Syria cries as she stands with her children on a field after crossing into Hungary from the border with Serbia near the village of Roszke Sept. 5. Given the ongoing crisis of people fleeing from war and poverty, Pope Francis asked every parish and religious community in Europe to take in a family of refugees as a concrete sign of hope and God’s mercy. “The Gospel calls us, asks us to be near the least and the abandoned. To give them concrete hope, not just say ‘Hang in there, have patience!’” he said in an appeal after praying the Angelus with those gathered in St. Peter’s Square Sept. 6.
Who could imagine this a year ago? The president of the California Catholic Conference, Bishop Jaime Soto of Sacramento, and Bishop Stephen Blaire of Stockton met with state Sen. President Pro-Tem Kevin de Leon and other lawmakers to reflect upon Pope Francis’ encyclical “Laudato Si’” in a closed door meeting Aug. 31. The afternoon included a press conference where de Leon presented framed documents of an approved Senate resolution, SB 37, stating the Senate would take into account the papal encyclical in its deliberations on climate change. “The pope recognizes what is undeniable: a growing body of scientific evidence that our planet is warming,” said Sen. de Leon, D-Los Angeles, who called the encyclical “a very powerful document.” In the press conference, Bishops Soto and Blaire tied respect for human life to stewardship of the environment, and reiterated their opposition to assisted suicide legislation that has been see teachers, page 7
Jesuit, scholar offer simple advice for approaching ‘Laudato Si’’ Christina Gray Catholic San Francisco
The associate pastor of St. Ignatius Parish offered advice both practical and prayerful to Catholics approaching Pope Francis’ six-chapter, 184-page encyclical during a public lecture on the document’s invitations on Sept. 3. The subtitle of “Laudato Si’” is “Our Care for our Common Home.” “First, read it in its entirety –very few Catholics have,” Jesuit Father John Coleman told the audience of over 300 that packed Xavier Hall to hear
‘I tell people to pray the encyclical, because it can create a profound ecological conversion.’ Jesuit Father John Coleman scholar Mary Evelyn Tucker speak on what the pope calls “integral ecology.” “This encyclical is like rain for parched land, for desert souls,” said Tucker, a leading voice in the developing field of religion and ecology. For the pope, integral ecology concerns a
spiritual revision of the relationship between the human being and the natural world. He points to St. Francis as a model. Father Coleman, a former professor of social values at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles and the author or editor of more than 17 books, said that those who read only portions or summaries of the pope’s letter will deny themselves the beauty of the pope’s full vision, intellectual authority and language. “Everything he writes is poetic, but in very accessible language, he said. “It all hangs together.” A full digest of the document will help readers respond to misinterpretations, including see “laudito si”, page 19
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Index On the Street . . . . . . . . 4 National . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Opinion . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Faith . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Calendar . . . . . . . . . . . 23