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Contents © 2000
by Jim Holman.
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NEWS
FEBRUARY 2000

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STATE OF THE STATE: "Education, first and foremost, health care, transportation and public safety -- these are my priorities for the coming year.'' So said Governor Gray Davis in his second State of the State address to the legislature on January 5th. Davis said the budget proposal he will give lawmakers in mid January include plans for tax relief, new initiatives in higher education and environmental protection and a plan to let motorists register their vehicles online. But education was the centerpiece of his speech, as he promised to wage a "war on mediocrity in our public schools.''

Senate Minority Leader Ross Johnson, R-Irvine, said much of Davis' speech was made up of proposals made by Republicans over the last month, including scholarships for students, wiring more schools for computers and putting more police on the streets. "If our budget proposals had been a novel we could sue the governor for plagiarism,'' he said. But for the most part, Republicans felt the governor's plan falls short. Assembly Minority Leader Scott Baugh, R-Huntington Beach, said, "Any proposal that does not go down the path of de-bureaucratizing education is not going to solve the problem. We need to cut the education code to a single volume and let teachers teach. Surely there is room for a substantial tax cut, well over $1 billion.''

The most interesting moment of the speech for capitol insiders was when Davis described his new policy for nursing home reform, he presented a nearly identical model as was in Kevin Shelley's (D-San Francisco) bill, AB 1160, that Davis vetoed two months ago. The morning after Davis' comments, Shelley staffers were getting a bill re-jacketed for another run through the legislature.

Also in the capitol, a spokesman for governor Davis' department of general services explained the renaming of the state Christmas tree that stands every year in Capitol Park to "Holiday Tree" instead: "It more accurately symbolizes the diversity of what the holidays are in California, be that Hanukkah, Kwanza, Solstice, Christmas, whatever."


VATICAN ORDERS OVERHAUL OF TEXTS. The Vatican has called for a complete overhaul of the commission that translates liturgical texts into English. Questioning the quality of the International Commission on English in the Liturgy's work as well as the way it functions, the Vatican ordered the revision of the commission's statutes.

Cardinal Jorge Medina Estevez, prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments, said the new statutes must give his office a greater say in the work of the commission, known as ICEL, including Vatican clearance of ICEL personnel. Representatives of the 11 bishops' conferences that sponsor ICEL will meet Jan. 21 in London to discuss Cardinal Medina's letter and recommendations.


UN WORLD CONFERENCE ON WOMEN. Beijing+5 will soon take place in New York from March 6 through March 17. At the Bejing meeting five years, called the Fourth World Conference on Women, a radical anti-family agenda was put forward. The resulting Beijing Platform for Action is anti-family. But the debate leading into it was even worse. It was at Beijing that an attempt was made to make abortion an international human right. The UN would have used this document to force member governments to change their laws protecting the unborn. Though they were defeated on this point, pro-abortion forces will try again at the upcoming meeting in New York.

Also at the Beijing meeting anti-family forces attempted to have five genders recognized by the UN. This would have included not just homosexuals, but also those who have had sex-change operations. This was also defeated. Another issue up for consideration is to declare that any coupling under one roof can be recognized just like a man and woman joined by marriage. In the new meeting all these issues will come up once again.

The stakes are high heading into this final preparatory committee meeting in New York, March 6 through March 17. Volunteers are needed in New York, even for those who have never done this before. The Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute will accredit and train volunteers. They will give assignments in many different areas, like directly lobbying diplomats. Volunteers will work alongside Catholics, Evangelicals, Jews, Muslim, and Mormons. Austin Ruse, President of Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute would like 300 volunteers in New York. He can be contacted via email at (austinruse@c-fam.org).


JESUIT FATHER WORRIED CHURCH KILLS SHE-SPIRIT. According to the slate for the Santa Rosa Diocese's religious education conference, Congress 2000 (March 4), Jesuit Father Gregory Baumann will host a workshop titled "Finding God in All Things: It Means What It Says". The program is described thus: "Jesuits have traditionally expressed their spirituality by saying, 'We Are Finding God in All Things'. What does that mean to you? Do you believe that? In your spiritual journey to God, do you take that to heart? The Catholic Church rightfully says, 'God is a transcendent spirit, She breathes where She will.' But we Catholics structure how, when and the manner by which the Spirit comes to our church, others and ourselves to such an extent that we sometimes lose (or worse, kill) the Spirit. Could it be that we are missing the truly sacred amidst the petty pursuit of theological precision? In this workshop, Father Bauman will examine the spirituality of 'make belief' and survey the paradoxical world of wonder and surprise."


BLESSED SISTER FAUSTINA KOWALSKI to be canonized. On December 20, in a special meeting of the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints, Pope John Paul II announced he would canonize Blessed Faustina, the Polish religious who inspired and popularized the Divine Mercy devotion. The Divine Mercy Center in El Cerrito is planning a mission to Rome to be part of the ceremonies of the canonization, which will occur on the feast of Divine Mercy, the Sunday following Easter.


JUBILEE OF JESUS CHRIST 2000 convened at Sacramento's Arco Arena on January 2nd. It was billed as an ecumenical event for Northern California. During the ceremonies, Sacramento Bishop Wiegand, and past Bishop Quinn shared center stage with various Protestant leaders from around the state. It's purpose, according to program literature, was "to express and celebrate our shared faith in Jesus Christ by coming together in worship, proclaiming the need of all Christians to renew our faith and to demonstrate our unity in Christ as we begin the year 2000." As Pastor A. Dwight Burchett said, "We have come to focus on what we have in common, not our differences." But when Pastor Aphraim Williams got up soon after to comment on a reading from John 17, he said that the scripture plainly shows that "Christ is not a victim, he's a victor." Pastor Aphraim went on later to say one of the most Catholic sounding comments of the night, "Truth without love is brutality, but love without truth is heresy."

In between speakers, groups representing various Protestant denominations, often separated among ethnic lines, performed music that ranged from classical to numbers where people were encouraged to wave their arms and shout "Amen."

When Bishop Quinn's turn came, he talked about participating the last thirty years in the "inter-Christian dialogue" and he showed he still has a knack for getting a good laugh: "For the Protestants, try to be patient with the Roman Catholic Church, her statues of the saints, the seeming over-emphasis on Mary the mother of Jesus, the confessional boxes, the beads, the pope. These are all intended to lead us to Christ."

Bishop Quinn continued, "We ask patience for the turbulence the Catholic Church has gone through since the 1960's. Please be understanding: In one sense Catholics are going through a long growth in adolescence. Like oversized giants, we are stumbling around in our over large feet. We are breaking out in ecclesiastical acne."


RECENT PRO-LIFE ACTIVITY. Three important pro-life initiatives took place in the Bay Area recently, each unlike any previous turnouts for the unborn.

In late November, Operation Rescue West came to Menlo Park to make known the Geron Company's use of human embryo cells for research. They claimed that the company's technology could be used to clone human beings, something the firm denies. Operation Rescue contends that Geron uses both frozen embryos from fertility clinics and baby parts from aborted fetuses purchased from clinics.

On the 12th of December, the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, pro-lifers from coast to coast prayed in front of abortion mills for the unborn.

The nationwide event was started by Deanna Aikman, a 41-year-old Michigan woman with Lou Gehrig's disease. She is the recipient of the 1999 Catholic Campaign for America's award for promoting devotion to the Eucharist. In the Bay Area, there were prayer vigils from Marin to Santa Clara County, including two in San Francisco on December 14. Men, women, and children said the rosary and prayers in front of abortion mills. It was one of the largest turnouts of local right to lifers in recent years and will probably be an annual event.


BILL GATES AND POPULATION CONTROL. In San Jose on December 7th, Bill Gates encountered pro-lifers distributing literature to Convention-goers about his plan to donate billions to world population control. It was part of the American Life League's nationwide effort to educate the public about the money being given to reduce the number of people on the planet. Gates was speaking at a "streaming media" (continuous audio and video distributed on the web) conference at the San Jose Convention Center. The Life League's handouts were 31-page comic book-like publications which trace Gates' rise to prominence in American industry and his expanding role in world affairs. ALL has been following the Microsoft CEO all over the country, distributing the literature wherever he has appeared.

The Bill Gates Saga invites the reader "to watch Bill try to save the world in his secret identity of 'Micro Guy.'" Cartoons depict him as a bright child wondering how everything works and how his competitive nature drove him to excel in childhood games. It describes how, at a young age, he read the World Book Encyclopedia from cover to cover. After dropping out of Harvard, he started a company in Albuquerque with a high school friend Paul Allen and developed the basic language for use by the Altair computer, the first personal computer. Microsoft grew rapidly, introducing the Windows operating system and by age thirty Gates was a billionaire.

In 1999 he established the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation with over $17 billion dollars, a substantial portion of which has been earmarked for world population control. In the pamphlet's conclusion, American Life League asks, "Bill, if you're successful and your fortune aborts millions and millions of babies, who's going to be around to buy your products?"


SPEAKERS AT COMING OUT OF HOMOSEXUALITY DAY HARASSED. The NARTH newsletter reports that the fifth annual "Coming Out of Homosexuality Day" conference, held in San Francisco's golden Gate Park auditorium in October, resulted in assault and battery charges after two assailants hit ex-gay speaker Michael Johnston with pies, and other audience members hissed and booed Johnston and ex lesbian speaker Yvette Cantu. Family Research Council reporters noticed an interesting irony: gay protesters marching outside the event called for tolerance and an end to the "hate and violence," while inside, speakers were taunted and booed by Act-Up and heckled by a group of black-clad, shaved headed lesbian protesters.


MAINTAINING ONE'S FAITH CAN BE HARD IN THE BAY AREA, without having to fret over the search of a church that is grounded on the truths of the faith. St. Cecilia's Roman Catholic Church, in the Sunset District of San Francisco, is such a place. St. Cecilia's blends truths of the Catholic faith for parishioners in the middle of San Francisco. The truths of the Magisterium are taught faithfully in the classroom and from the pulpit. The religious and lay staff at St. Cecilia's work over-time to provide the sacraments and the devotions. Michelle Ambuul, a new parishioner at St. Cecilia's, said, "I've looked around the Bay Area for a strong Catholic Church. When I go to church here, at St. Cecilia's, I feel comfortable that I'm getting an authentic Catholic experience." The church was established on January 7, 1917, in an undeveloped area of San Francisco, known then as the Parkside District. A converted house served the fifty-nine families as rectory and chapel. The parish organized societies such as the League of the Sacred Heart and the Holy Name Society. The history of the church that can be found on their website (www.stcecilia.com) states, "Such was the beginning of the Parish of Saint Cecilia, destined to change within a few years to a densely populated district. The little chapel in an ordinary home was the answer to the prayers of those few who had pioneered the land 'beyond the Peaks'." With a bank loan and a building donated by the mayor of the city, the church moved into a more substantial edifice. New property and another temporary chapel would precede the magnificent church that now stands at the corner of Vicente and 17th Avenue. The present church was completed in 1956. The website describes the structure. "It has been designed to serve all the functional liturgies of the Church and also to permit the convenient devotional attendance of the faithful at all divine services. In its graceful soaring lines, and yet with intimate contact between the liturgy and the congregation, it gives today's freshness and freedom of design to what is nevertheless recognized instinctively as the atmosphere of the House of God. Special consideration has been given to the comfort of the worshipers." The Church's interior remains in the old architecture. There remains a canopy over the altar, a centralized tabernacle and altar rails. There is a side altar, called Our Lady's Chapel that is used for benediction and Eucharistic Adoration, as well as a daily rosary. Father Michael Harriman presides as the church's sixth pastor. At every mass, all the priests are seen distributing Holy Communion. There are four daily Masses and five Sunday masses. Confession is available before every Sunday Mass and prior to three of the four daily masses, as well as for an hour on Saturday afternoons. There is twenty four-hour Eucharistic Adoration on the First Friday of each month, as well as Benediction every Saturday afternoon. Throughout the week and on Saturdays, there is a rosary. Father Joseph Landi, one of the parochial vicars, who has been with this parish since 1996, stated, "I assure you that there are more rosaries prayed at St. Cecilia's then in all of the Bay Area." He stated that there are two groups that pray the rosary, one group precedes the morning Mass and another starts as Mass is finishing.

St. Cecilia parish school has a staff of 53 that provides a Catholic education for approximately 600 students from kindergarten to 8th grade. The parish offers clubs and organizations for parishioners. Included in these are the League of the Sacred Heart, the Legion of Mary and the Knights of St. Cecilia's. The Knights were organized in October of 1976. They are a group of retired men who watch after the church. A knight is present for an hour of prayer every weekday and Saturday from 10:00 am till 5:00pm. As the website states, "The purpose of this group is to stand watch in the church throughout the day so that it can stay open and afford the parishioners an opportunity to make a visit." The Knights also fill in for Eucharistic adoration along with a men's group and a women's group. There are always people present at the 24 hour Eucharistic Adoration. Fr. Landi said, "It always amazes me. I will stop into the (Lady) Chapel real quick during the day and the chapel will have 15 to 20 people praying before the Blessed Sacrament. I am told that it is that way all night also. It's real nice to see."

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