ARTICLES

Pro-Abortion Mayor Church's Favorite Son

BISHOPS, CLERGY, AND LAWMAKERS EULOGIZE JOE SERNA

By Eric Reslock

A block away from Sacramento's Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, in a city-owned building across the street from the state capitol, is a downtown Planned Parenthood clinic. Signs on the window advertise that the clinic will provide, without an examination, injections of the long lasting contraceptive-abortifacient drug, Depo-Provera. Feminist authors not long ago condemned this drug as an exploitation of Third World women due to the serious side effects of Depro-Provera injections. The Planned Parenthood clinic was placed in the Sacramento city-owned building, along with a city taxpayer subsidy of $22,000 for building modifications to suit Planned Parenthood, with the assistance of Mayor Joe Serna. During the controversy surrounding that decision, California ProLife wrote in a March 26, 1993 letter to Serna, "We strongly object, on behalf of the pro-life citizens of the City of Sacramento, to becoming landlords to Planned Parenthood of Sacramento Valley, which is an affiliate of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the largest abortion provider in the western world." At the Sacramento city council meeting on July 27th, 1993 Serna joined his colleagues in the unanimous passing of the lease of the city-owned building to Planned Parenthood.

Before becoming mayor in 1992, Serna was a city councilman. In a Sacramento Bee article published January 15th, 1992, Serna said, "I do support what Planned Parenthood does, period." He continued to show consistent support for the abortion industry while in office. In October of 1994, Mayor Serna was an honorary co-chair of harvest Celebration 1994, a major fundraiser for Planned Parenthood. Several years ago, a group of pro-life rescue demonstrators, some of whom were small children, were sprayed with mace by three rogue Sacramento city police officers outside the Feminist Women's health Center abortion mill near Sacramento's Mercy Hospital. The officers were disciplined for their actions, but when the victims filed suit and lost in court, Serna's administration forced the victims to pay $30,000 for the city's attorney fees. When the city threatened to take the entire amount from one of the plaintiff's house escrow account, the other plaintiffs chipped in and paid the amount to the city.

Early on Sunday morning, November 8th of this year, Joe Serna died of diabetes and a recurrence of kidney cancer, a cancer he thought he had beaten in 1990. Serna received huge and immediate praise for his years as a leader of liberal and ethnic politics coming from his parents' farm-labor roots and his long-time association with Cesar Chavez, founder of the United Farm Workers union. That same morning, Sacramento Bishop William Weigand was doing his parish visitation at St. Rose of Lima parish in Sacramento that has 10 weekend Masses for a large multi-ethnic population. He spoke glowingly of Serna and told parishioners that he had been counseling the mayor for the last three weeks of his life. An obituary in Outword Newsmagazine on November 11th described the late mayor: "Serna was a regular at many lesbian and gay events following his election in 1992. He was always reserved a spot at California Capital Political Action Committee dinners, a gay rights political fund-raising group, and the now-defunct River City Democratic Club's events, among others." The Monday Bee carried a story about Joe Serna having gone to a cancer-patient retreat several months before his death, at which he wrote a poem. Serna titled it, "Souls Don't Get Cancer". In the poem, Serna explained, "In other words, I don't know if there is an afterlife. Maybe there is, maybe there's not." The faith of the Apostles' or Nicene Creed was not publicly evident while Serna faced terminal cancer. Despite his rejection of the Church's moral teachings, Serna did attend Mass and received communion in the Cathedral on occasion at public celebrations.

The Monday and Tuesday editions of the Sacramento Bee and the TV were filled with stories of plans for staging a spectacular funeral and celebration of Joe Serna's political life. The plan called for a traditional rosary on Tuesday and a memorial Mass, both at Sacramento's Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, the site in recent years of other public funeral memorials, including non-Catholic restaurateur, Frank Fat, whose elegant Chinese restaurant close to the capitol was the favorite of politicians and lobbyists; and for B.T. Collins, a pro-abortion state legislator. The plans also included a march through downtown Sacramento. Chuck Dalldorf, a Serna aide, in a television interview said, "Joe left specific instructions and by God we're gonna carry those instructions out." TV commentator Dave Walker said about Serna, "When he wanted something done he sort of dictated it, and got it done, and even in his death he is dictating the terms of his own funeral and funeral procession. This is what he wanted." On Tuesday evening Serna's casket was brought to the Cathedral for a rosary event that lasted for several hours. Governor Gray Davis was there, as was Assemblywoman Deborah Ortiz. Ortiz was a protégé of Serna and was elected to her city council post with the help of Monsignor Kavanaugh of St. Rose, who withdrew his support when he learned that Ortiz is strongly pro-abortion. Father Dan Madigan led the rosary -- a local priest known for social activism, who the media claim was Serna's parish priest, although Serna did not live in Father Madigan's parish. His remarks were among the first to canonize Serna on that evening's news, "Joe Serna is very much alive," said Father Madigan. "He's alive in a place where we cannot see him now. He's alive with God."

Wednesday morning -- the day of the funeral -- was dark and overcast, but the rain held off. Downtown streets were blocked off for the procession. Several hundred people gathered in Cesar Chavez Plaza Park, across from City Hall. A banner hung above the main doors of City Hall read, "Our Mayor Forever". More people lined the length of the procession, much of which was lined with mounted policemen and deputy Sheriffs. Fire trucks, ambulances, and stretch limos stood by. Large numbers of media live-broadcast vans were strategically parked near Cesar Chavez park and helicopters covered the situation from the air while delivering up to the minute weather reports during continuous coverage of the procession. The memorial march began across the street from the City Hall. United Farm Workers were prevalent. Arturo Rodriguez, Cesar Chavez's son-in-law, the current president of the UFW, spoke to the marchers. He praised Serna for all his years of helping the UFW and told how a picture of Cesar Chavez was placed on the wall at the foot of Joe Serna's death-bed and that Serna revered this picture when dying. He also reminded people that, "Joe Serna didn't want your donations used for charity. He wanted them to by used to help fulfill Joe and Cesar's dream, our dream, to help farmworkers organize to win dignity and respect." UFW collection envelopes were available at both the rosary and the funeral Mass.

Most of the TV commentators and newspaper stories emphasized that the farmworkers were allowed into the cathedral first. This is true in the sense that the farmworkers were allowed into the front doors first. Out of the glare of most of the media, entering a side door were the Democrat elites, who were guided along by officers and Serna officials as they went to reserved, front row pews. Prominent among these was pro-abortion Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamante who had an elaborate Mass arranged in the cathedral before his inauguration, from which he walked out when a pro-lifer offered an intercessory prayer for the conversion of pro-abortion officials. Also in attendance was California Attorney General Bill Lockyer, another pro-abortion politico who was honored at the 2000 Red Mass at the cathedral.

A swarm of media and police helicopters and small planes kept a noisy vigil in the air above the cathedral. With the events being broadcast over three network-affiliated TV stations, the air views could be broadcast if the action inside the cathedral became too slow. During the Mass, Auxiliary Bishop Richard Garcia gave the homily and praised Serna's career and said towards the end, "In many cities and at different times, he entered into our lives, and we're all the better for it." To finish off the homily, Bishop Garcia shouted, "Que viva Joe Serna junior!" (Long Live Joe Serna, Jr.), "Que viva!" The cathedral then echoed with the farmworkers and others responding, "Que viva!" Towards the end of the Mass, Bishop Weigand prayed, "May our brother, Joe Serna, Jr., who shared in the Eucharist, come to the banquet of life which Christ has prepared for us. We ask this through Christ Our Lord." After Mass Bishop Weigand spoke again at the casket, "We will not have the final commendation here in the cathedral around the casket. It's a tender moment, a holy moment, a poignant moment which will also underline the great loss, the great vacuum in one sense, but which in faith will also remind all of us of something Joe Serna now understands, better than all of us, that ultimately our hearts are restless here, that our hearts will never rest until they rest in God and the fullness of life, eternal life."

Father Bonfiglio, who was on hand to explain the rubrics and meaning of the funeral Mass to the live TV audience said afterward, "It's the time when we recognize the pain and loss that we all feel, but also the reality -- the truth that one day we will all be reunited with God in Heaven, where we will see Mayor Serna once again."

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