FBI does not support ‘hate group’ charge by Faithful America
CSF Special Report
Pro marriage advocates say ‘hate’ charge a tactic to marginalize
PART 3 OF 3
VALERIE SCHMALZ CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO
Many Catholics and other San Francisco Bay Area residents were taken aback when Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone was accused of allying with a “hate group” and others who use “hate speech” by speaking at the March for Marriage in Washington, D.C. on June 19. “Hate group” and “hate speech” are
phrases that conjure images of skinhead attacks, Ku Klux Klan lynchings or beating up people because they are gay – all actions that would certainly be serious sins to Christians who believe in Christ’s command to “love one another.” Because that charge was so incendiary, Catholic San Francisco took a closer look at the charges leveled by Faithful America against the Family Research Council and the National
Organization for Marriage, organizers of the June 19 March for Marriage. Catholic San Francisco also examined the groups which leveled those charges. This story looks at the “hate” claims in a Faithful America online petition and letter from politicians and representatives of various gay rights organizations to pressure SEE FAITHFUL AMERICA, PAGE 14
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SEPTEMBER 26, 2014
$1.00 | VOL. 16 NO. 24
‘War on Poverty’: 50 years later, struggle persists
Francis: The man and the myth Biographer finds ‘the real man is far more complex and personally conflicted than the legend’ CHRISTINA GRAY
MARK PATTISON
CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO
CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE
In the process of writing “Francis of Assisi: The Life,” a new biography published by Cornell University Press, Dominican Father Augustine Thompson discovered a man he calls “his Francis.” “Everyone has their own Francis,” Father Thompson, a longtime professor of history and religious studies now teaching at the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology in Berkeley told Catholic San Francisco before a St. Dominic Parish-sponsored discussion of the book last month. “If any two people are talking about Francis, unless they are completely like-minded, they attach to different things.” There is Francis the animal-loving pacifist and nature lover; Francis the self-denying poverty-seeker, Francis the idealistic hermit exploited by the medieval church. And Francis the obsessed “sacristy rat,” as Thompson called him – a man given to explosions of anger when the Eucharist or anything having to do with it was not treated with the utmost respect. This included dirty vestments, unpolished chalices or hasty prayers of consecration. Francis, who was born in 1181 and died in 1226, is all yet no one of these images, Thompson’s book shows. “The real man was far more complex and personally conflicted than the saint of legend,” Thompson said. “I can honestly say that he was very different from what I expected to find.” His image has been tailored throughout history, according to the author, to “meet the needs of the times, including our own.” It’s not unusual today to hear Francis, who loved all of creation, described as the “patron saint of ecology.” But, Thompson said, “Ecology is a modern concept unknown in Francis’ time.” “Francis is, even for non-Christians and nonbelievers, a mirror of what many people find attractive in their search for authentic spirituality,” writes Thompson in the book’s introduction. He had no preconceived notions about the “Little Poor Man of Assisi” as he started, and as a Dominican, no
WASHINGTON – Poverty persists across all demographic groups, 50 years after then-President Lyndon Johnson declared a “War on Poverty.” The actual number of people living in poverty in 2013 is unchanged at 4.53 million, but because of continued population growth in the United States, the percentage of Americans living in poverty is down 0.5 percentage points, SEE POVERTY, PAGE 20
Spokane’s Cupich named to Chicago ‘Francis’ imperfections tell us you can be a holy person without being perfect.’ DOMINICAN FATHER AUGUSTINE THOMPSON St. Francis biographer
SEE FRANCIS, PAGE 21
CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE
CHICAGO – Pope Francis has named Bishop J. Blase Cupich of the Spokane, Washington, diocese as archbishop of Chicago, succeeding Cardinal Francis E. George, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, apostolic nuncio to the United States, announced Sept. 20. Archbishop Archbishop Cupich, Cupich 65, will be installed in Chicago Nov. 18 during a Mass at Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago. SEE CHICAGO, PAGE 20
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INDEX Archdiocese. . . . . . . . . .2 National . . . . . . . . . . . . .7 Wedding guide. . . . . . .8 Opinion. . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Faith. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Calendar. . . . . . . . . . . .26