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Contents © 1998
by Jim Holman.
All rights reserved.

NEWS
JANUARY 1998

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IN SAN FRANCISCO, THE CHEMICAL ABORTION DRUG RU-482 isn't a pipe-dream, but a reality. Dr. B. Gore, a gynecologist who practices in the Laurel Village district, is prescribing the drug, but not without protest from San Francisco United for Life. Carrying signs that read, among other things, "Dr. B Gore: Let the Unborn Live," members of the pro-life group protested in front of Gore's office on September 27. According to member Brian Kavanaugh, the group intends to protest Gore's practice regularly, "The idea is to let these guys know that we haven't forgotten them...I would like to do [the protest] twice a month."

To join the protest, call San Francisco United for Life at, (415) 567-2293.


PRESIDENT CLINTON HAS NAMED JAMES HORMEL, the San Francisco heir to the Hormel food empire, to be his ambassador to Luxembourg, the population of which is 97 percent Catholic. Hormel, who gave more than $125,000 to Clinton's reelection campaign, is a long-time homosexual activist. In 1976, he co-founded the Human Rights Campaign Fund, now a powerful homosexual lobby in Washington, D.C. He has also subsidized homosexual educational efforts, giving, for example, $500,000 to the San Francisco Main Public Library for the James C. Hormel gay/lesbian research center. If confirmed, Hormel would be the first openly homosexual ambassador in American history.


IN A MEMO TO STUDENTS at the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley, Fr. John Privett, the Provincial of the California Province, reports "that the Holy See has communicated to Father Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, our Superior General, that it cannot grant the nihil obstat to Father William Rewak for his appointment as President of JSTB."

Disclosing the reason for the Vatican's rejection of Rewak, Privett writes, "It has concerns about certain writings that appeared in Santa Clara University publications in the late seventies and mid-eighties that touch upon 'such themes as dissent from Church teaching, the possibility of ordination of women as priests and the possibility of married priests, as well as the role of theologians teaching Catholic dogma in Catholic institutions of higher learning.'"


HOLY NAMES, A CATHOLIC COLLEGE IN THE HILLS OF OAKLAND, is attempting to woo prospective students with the slogan, "Progressive, Independent, Diverse and Alive." In its promotional Internet literature, Holy Names bashfully acknowledges its Catholic status, but assures the public that the school is "ecumenical in the composition of its faculty, staff and students" and "loves to foster a global outlook and a true appreciation of the diversity of our community at large."


THE OCTOBER 10 NATIONAL CATHOLIC REPORTER ran a front-page article about the October "Critical Mass," a feminist "liturgy" held in Oakland's Bishop Begin Plaza [see November Faith], describing the pseudo-ritual, which included divesting a mock male priest, as an authentic Catholic Mass.

"I understand the body of Christ in a way I had not before..." wrote contributor Jane Redmont, who also participated in the event as a member of its planning committee. "This is my body, I say, touching a woman's arm and shoulder. This is my blood, I say, touching another woman, of a different age and race from my own. You are my flesh and blood, we are saying, and Christ's flesh and blood. We know this in the breaking of the bread and the sharing of the cup; we know this in touching each other's bodies."

Redmont continued, "We have disagreed over terminology and theology, we have varying relationships to Jesus and to the local church. Some of us are more attached than others to biblical and historical sources and authorities....Some choose to stay but not to have their names listed anywhere: fear of losing church-related or Catholic academic jobs."

A week after Redmond's story, the National Catholic Reporter editorialized that the Oakland event is "too critical to shrug off" because "women are not going to disappear." "One doesn't have to endorse the liturgy--and certainly there are liturgists and Catholic feminists who would take issue with the event in Oakland--to recognize the importance of taking it seriously," read the editorial.

But the October 16 Wanderer saw no need to take the event seriously, likening it to "an exercise class at a senior center" and concluding that the sparse attendance by "aging rich housewives, young, angry lesbians, and Church bureaucrats" showed that the movement is "over the hill." The Wanderer added, "Perhaps the primary question should be: 'What's wrong with these women that they think it appropriate to demand that every parish around the world immediately stop celebrating the Roman Catholic Mass and replace it with a ritual of dancing and scarf-waving, with no relation to the beliefs and traditions held by Christians for two millennia? And why do bishops leave these women in positions of power in parishes, chanceries, and universities across the country?'"


CLOSE ON THE HEELS OF THE RECENT SALE OF ST. ALOYSIUS CHURCH to the Ananda Church of Self Realization, the Diocese of San Jose is now planning to dispose of St. Ann Chapel and the adjoining Norris House.

The Palo Alto chapel at Tasso and Melville was established in 1951 by writer and diplomat Clare Booth Luce as a memorial to her daughter, Ann Brokaw, who was killed in an auto accident while attending Stanford in 1944. Norris House was originally owned by the novelist Kathleen Norris. It is currently the residence of several priests and the meeting place for a number of Church-related activities, including the Gregorian choir which sings each Sunday at the 11:30 a.m. mass.

June 1998 has been tentatively set as the deadline date for the sale of the buildings. The asking price is in the neighborhood of $4 million dollars and there are reports of at least two interested parties, including a local Jewish group.

In 1986, the five parishes in Palo Alto were consolidated into one parish, St. Thomas Aquinas. St. Thomas assumed responsibility for the Stanford student ministry through St. Ann's and during the past ten years has spent approximately $l million dollars to support the campus program.

In July 1997, the diocese took over financial responsibility for the Stanford ministry and agreed to the establishment of a new parish on campus, St. Dominic. It is staffed by members of the Dominican Order, with Fr.Patrick LaBelle as pastor.

To meet its obligation to support the new parish, the diocese has established as an option the sale of St. Ann and the Norris House, and, in order to make the sale more attractive, has agreed to allow the Chapel to be demolished by the new buyer. Proceeds of the sale would establish an endowment, the earnings of which would go to the new St. Dominic parish.

Hoping to block the sale, the St. Ann Development Committee, a group of long-time parishoners, met in the middle of November to consider ways to put in a bid and preserve the property. Co-chairs of this group are Richard C. Placone and William P. Mahrt. They say that "there was no consultation with the users of St. Ann's, nor have provisions been made for groups that use the campus, other than to direct them to other churches within the St. Thomas Aquinas parish."

"The diocese alleges," they continue, "that the Luce Foundation does not care if this plan is carried out, as long as the windows and stations of the cross are located in some other suitable place.

"This scheme was developed by diocesan officials and Fr. LaBelle. The parish has acquiesed to the plan. All claim to be supportive of any alternative plan that would provide the endowment for St. Dominic parish without selling the St. Ann [chapel]."

The committee is urging "non-controntational, and non-accusatory" letters to Bishop DuMaine, St. Thomas's past pastor Fr. Barry Freyne, and Fr. LaBelle.

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