NEWS

ARTICLES

LETTERS

FOLLOW ME

ROAMIN' CATHOLIC






Contents © 1998
by Jim Holman.
All rights reserved.

NEWS
MARCH 1998

---

GENESIS IV, THE PUBLICATION FOR SAN FRANCISCO ST. IGNATIUS COLLEGE PREPATORY, reports that the Jesuit high school is seeking a new principal and that candidates may for the first time be lay: "'This will be the first time the school has ever done a national search,' noted [president] Fr. Sauer. 'In past years, the provincial has selected the Jesuit principals and presidents. Now the provincial [Fr. John Privett] has mandated that we form a board of trustees with laymen and use a search committee to find the new principal...." This inclusion of lay people is in the spirit of Vatican II, Fr. Sauer added. "Our lay colleagues must take ownership of the Jesuit vision in continued partnership with us...."

The principal's opening follows the resignation of Fr. Nejasmich, explains Genesis IV: "In a letter to the faculty, Fr. Nejasmich, who came to SI as principal three and a half years ago, wrote that 'for many years I have struggled with my inability to respond freely and generously to the plethora of feelings, desires and movements of the Spirit that I have felt tugging at my soul. Many of these movements seem to be calling me to a life outside of the priesthood and many to entirely new and different ministries outside the Society of Jesus.'"


CATHOLIC ON-LINE WILL PROVIDE FREE E-MAIL ACCOUNTS for any Catholic worldwide, even those without computers. Catholic On-Line Webmail is accessible by using your existing Internet provider or through Internet access provided by libraries, schools and other public institutions. It can be reached from any computer, with any browser, at any time, anywhere in the world, and will allow Catholics around the world to directly communicate on the Internet. This service is provided through the sponsorship of Catholic businesses and other organizations with services and products of interest to Catholics.

To sign up for a free e-mail account, go to http://webmail.catholic.org on the Internet. All addresses will end with "@catholic.org." Organizations interested in advertising to Catholics worldwide through this site should contact Catholic On-Line at 1-805-869-1000 or e-mail catholic@catholic.org.


LITURGICAL PUBLICATIONS OF ST. LOUIS, INC., which provides Sunday bulletins for parishes, has recently launched a comprehensive website for Catholics, The Catholic Community Forum, which is located at www.catholic-forum.com on the Internet. The website provides simplified access to information about the Church on the local and worldwide levels, and offers free website construction and hosting for parishes nationwide. It had 600-900 hits per day during the first few months of its existence as an independent site, and the company projects that this figure will grow proportionally as the website's scope expands and the number of its links increases.

The Catholic Community Forum also includes the sites of seminaries, Catholic organizations and the Vatican, along with many informational sites on Catholic teaching, doctrine, saints and miracles. Businesses can advertise on the Forum, and if an advertiser wants to establish a website, the company will design and host one for it on its associated shopping mall. Advertisers can select their own range of marketing audiences and ads can be be placed on particular interest pages within the site. For more information, contact Liturgical Publications of St. Louis at 1-314-394-7000 or 1-800-876-7000.


WHILE CHRISTIAN GROUPS BOYCOTT DISNEY in response to productions like Nothing Sacred and the movie Priest, Bellarmine College Prep, a Jesuit high school in San Jose, is touting its "partnership" with Disney Cruise Lines for its annual Golden Bell Auction fundraiser. The theme for this year's auction is "Disney Magic." Disney Cruise Lines is co-sponsoring the event, as well as providing a cruise to be auctioned. According to the secretary for Bellarmine's Development Office, "a few people" have complained about the Disney theme, but the March 21 event will go on as scheduled.


ACCORDING TO AN ATTENDEE, THE GOOD NEWS about this year's Monterey Diocesan Liturgy Gathering (January 23-24) is that it did not repeat the excesses of last year's event. But the bad news is that it still represented an attempt by religious educators and other lay ministers in the local Church to distort Catholic teachings. Last year's conference featured the distribution of the Catholic Women's Network newspaper (by and for goddess worshipers and other new-agers) at the registration table, a song at the liturgy proclaiming "Father, Son, Mother Spirit, You are One" and Monterey's Bishop Sylvester Ryan referring to God as "God Himself-God Herself" at his workshop and instructing participants that the parish community "enacts and celebrates the sacraments."

This year's Mass, held in the gymnasium of Notre Dame School in Salinas, was presided over by Bishop Ryan, appearing without miter or crozier, with Father Mike Miller, director of Renew for the diocese, concelebrating. Father Miller was exuberant throughout the Mass, dancing along to the music, mimicking the liturgical dancers and smiling throughout the "dramas." During the opening rite, after Bishop Ryan blessed water at the back of the room, the liturgical dancers and others (such as keynote speaker Elaine Rendler) spent about ten minutes going around the room, splashing the congregation, seated in a circular fashion around the altar, with water.

Before the readings, a female liturgical dancer bounced up to the altar, grabbed the Bible; then the dancers did a performance with the Bible, taking it around the room and ceremoniously showing it to observers close to the aisles. After the gender-neutralized readings, a homily was given by Rendler, with Dr. Dolores Martinez adding a Gospel reflection in Spanish. The Gospel reading had been accompanied by the band, with several of the musicians dancing to the beat, distracting the listeners and rendering the reading unintelligible. During the Eucharistic Prayer, Bishop Ryan changed "Father" to "God of Love" and, at the Consecration (while holding up a large glass bowl filled with hosts rather than a single host) replaced "disciples" with "those he loved." The congregation was instructed to remain standing until all people had received Communion.

One local Eucharistic minister was heard complaining that after Mass a large quantity of the Precious Blood was still visible in the clear glass chalices on a table to the right of the altar. The Mass's many Eucharistic ministers were attempting to finish this off, grimacing as they tried to force large quantities down. The concerned Eucharistic minister complained that they appeared to be having a "chug-a-lug" contest.

Bishop Ryan gave an ambiguous presentation on the Eucharist in his workshop, "The Second Year of Preparation." While consistently referring to the Eucharist as "the bread and the wine," Bishop Ryan told listeners that at Mass the assembly "becomes the very body and blood of Jesus."

Elaine Rendler offered a mixture of pop psychology and gentle exhortations to get rid of unnecessary "devotions" like the Rosary and the Stations of the Cross, so that only "essentials" are passed on to the next generation--liturgy and scripture. Rendler praised the diocese and Bishop Ryan, saying, "You're the best kept secret in the American Church."


AT A DECEMBER MEETING IN CARMEL, MICHAEL SASO, former Jesuit priest turned Taoist priest, now employed by the diocese of San Jose, told his audience that he was happy to have been able to concelebrate Mass while visiting China recently. Saso married after leaving the Jesuits in the '60s, but has since separated from his wife. According to Father Cilia, vicar of clergy for the diocese, Saso was laicized and is in the process of regaining his faculties as a priest for that diocese. (Fr. Cilia took over the office in January; Fr. Rich Garcia, the previous vicar, now auxiliary bishop of Sacramento, initiated Saso's request for reactivation.) Saso will be a teacher and researcher at the San Jose diocese's new Institute for Leadership in Ministry. Saso has written many books on Eastern religious practice, including The Gold Pavillion: Taoist Ways for Peace, Healing and Long Life, Homa Rites and Mandela Meditation in Tendai Buddhism, and A Taoist Cookbook: With Meditations Taken from the Laozi Daode Jing.


THE OBSERVER, MONTEREY'S DIOCESAN PAPER, published a series of letters and articles for and against artificial birth control in its last few issues. In response to an article on Natural Family Planning by Sheila St. John, director of the diocesan NFP program, local columnist John Farnsworth stated that artificial contraception is certainly not a sin and encouraged readers to dissent from Humanae Vitae, citing statements by Canadian, Dutch, and other bishops. In the November issue, St. John wrote a letter to the editor, offering readers free copies of Dr. Janet Smith's tape, "Contraception: Why Not?" and free admission to diocesan NFP programs. The same issue included a "point of clarification" from Bishop Sylvester Ryan, saying, "...Farnsworth erred in the manner of his criticism and was incomplete in his explanation of the 'well-formed conscience.'...I have requested that the Observer editor continue to represent diversity of opinions in future articles, but address more fully the teaching of the church." Farnsworth resigned in December.

The January issue ran an article by Father Mike Miller, director of Renew for the diocese of Monterey, complaining about Farnsworth's departure, saying, "Nuclear warheads got dropped when a slap on the wrist would have made the same point." Fr. Miller added, "By the way, I react the same way he did to the suggestion that well-formed Catholic consciences decide to abstain from communion when there is a question of artificial birth control." Asked by a Faith reporter at the January 24 diocesan liturgy conference whether his letter indicated that he did not believe contraception to be a mortal sin, Miller responded, "Oh, I believe it's sinful, but it's not an impediment to communion."

Bishop Ryan did not clarify Miller's letter in the February issue of the Observer.

TOP