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Contents © 2002
by Jim Holman.
All rights reserved.

NEWS
APRIL 2002

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CARDINAL VISIT YIELDS NEW CATHOLIC COLLEGE. Bay Area Catholics were able to attend a Mass by the Archbishop of Vienna, Christoph Cardinal Schönborn in February during his visit to California. Schönborn was in the area to receive an honorary degree from the Dominican school of philosophy and theology in Berkeley. As one of the youngest cardinals in the Church and a man often cited as a leading contender to be the next pope, Schönborn is the editor of the new catechism of the Catholic Church and a member of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. He is a close friend of Father Joseph Fessio, editor of Ignatius Press, whom he met when they both studied under Cardinal Ratzinger as young priests.

On Sunday, February 10th, Schönborn offered Mass at the Carmelite monastery of Cristo Rey in San Francisco to a standing-room-only crowd. Former students of the Saint Ignatius Institute and former directors John Galten and John Hamlon attended, but current director Paul Murphy did not attend, saying afterward that he was unaware of the Mass. Murphy added "[Schönborn] didn't contact the institute nor am I under any impression that he contacted anyone at the university." The University of San Francisco is located directly across the street from where the cardinal said Mass and is home to Saint Ignatius Church, the largest church on a Catholic campus in the United States and historical jewel of San Francisco. It is not known why Schönborn chose the much smaller Carmelite chapel for his Sunday Mass.

One of the things hoped for by attendees was news of the state of things in Rome regarding the St. Ignatius Institute at the University of San Francisco. An appeal to the Congregation of Catholic Education for the return of the program to its original state and the reinstatement of its former directors was publicly decided against the day after Schönborn's visit. However, on February 28 it was reported that a new program, in the tradition of the institute, is to be up and running in time for the fall 2002 semester. The new school, Campion College, will be a two-year program where students will emerge with an associate degree in humanities. The program has already been lent support for credit transfer by Ave Maria College in Michigan and the Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio. Most of the former administrators and professors of the former institute will participate (including Fessio and Galten).

The emergence of Campion College gives a concrete meaning for Schönborn's reply to one Mass attendee who asked what could be done to restore the institute. Instead of offering an explanation, he smiled and said, "You must remember: when the Lord closes a door, he always opens a window."


ANOTHER CALIFORNIA PRIEST ARRESTED. According to a February 19, Associated Press story, Father Oscar Pelaez, 35, faces 100 counts each of oral copulation and sodomy of a person under 16 and 50 counts each of oral copulation and sodomy of a person 18 or over. Pelaez served at Sacred Heart Church in Turlock and also at the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament in Sacramento. The incidents allegedly occurred between 1995 and 1997. Stockton Bishop Blaire said he was informed about the alleged activity from a confidential source in late November.


POPULAR PARENTING AUTHORITY IN SACRAMENTO. James Stenson, author of Upbringing and Lifeline: The Religious Upbringing of Your Children, spoke at the Arden Hills Country Club in Sacramento on February 16. Stenson started off by noting that as a numerary for the Opus Dei prelature -- which involves a life of celibacy -- he has never parented a child himself. But he says he approached the subject in much the same way as Dr. Edward Jenner, the inventor of the small pox vaccine. Dr. Jenner studied those who didn't get the small pox vaccine to determine why. In much the same way, Stenson says he "made it my business" to study families who had successfully raised Catholic Christian children to see what each had in common.

One thing successful parents have in common, Jenner believes, is that they start off with the end in mind. Too many people, said Stenson, make the mistake of trying to parent for the moment instead of parenting for how they want their children to be at age 20. "If you parent with the goal of having competent, responsible, considerate, and generous men and women who are committed to live by principles of integrity, you will have adults who bring honor to their parents all their lives through their conduct, conscience, and character. After all, raising children to become adults like this is what parenthood is all about."

Stenson had some helpful tips on helping children look for a future spouse. "'If you want to see how a husband is going to treat you,'" he suggests telling daughters (but by extension, all children), "'see how he treats his sisters and his other siblings.' Because those are the first relations that person forms. We learn socialization skills by relating to our siblings. And if that potential spouse treats those with whom he is most intimate with care and respect, the odds are that he will treat your child in the same way."

When praising children, he recommended praising them only for what is "repeatable. Praising is not for the beauty of their eyes or their singing voice or their clothes. Those things they can't help because they come from God, ultimately." But when they do or choose things that are good, especially when the choice is a difficult one that is worthy of praise.

Discipline, on the other hand, "is not necessarily punishment, though that's part," he said. "It's direction." He then suggested that fathers should dispense justice in the family. "The mother emphasizes charity and relationships. The father enforces. Whereas the moral tone is set by the mother, the father is the one who dispenses justice. Kids need both, charity and justice." If a child shows disrespect for you personally, then "that child needs a just answer." Furthermore, the child needs consistency and follow-through by the parents, because otherwise the child loses any respect for the parent's authority. "If children don't respect a parent's rightful authority, it is hard for them to respect any authority."

When disciplining teenagers, whom he calls "adults without experience," Stenson recommended asking teenagers what they think is "reasonable." "I've found 'reasonable' works well with teenagers," and that the punishments teens come up with are the ones he normally would have thought of himself.

Speaking to an all-Catholic audience, he emphasized the importance of parents teaching children the faith rather than relying on others to do it, but that means parents have to learn and know the faith themselves. "Just keep two chapters ahead of them in their catechism books; they'll never know the difference," he said. Stenson strongly encouraged such practices as regular visits to the Blessed Sacrament and regular confession, which in his experience "is always a guarantee of nearly perfect children." Through confession, Stenson said, children learn to say -- and more importantly, see their parents saying -- "I'm sorry," which he believes is an integral part of family life. He also encouraged parents to ask their children to pray for them. Finally, he emphasized the importance of each parent making an annual retreat because of the perspective it would give to each.

During the question and answer period, Dr. Stenson was asked what to tell a child who always asks why. He repeated the nostrum of an Irish woman he knew in Chicago: "Because by the coincidence of history and genetics and the providence of God, I am your mother, and I say so."


BISHOP MCGRATH LEAD A PRO-LIFE DEMONSTRATION on January 22 at St. Nicholas Church in Los Altos to commemorate the 29th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision. Following Mass, a procession walked down Main Street holding right to life signs. On the opposite side of the street was a large contingent of supporters of the Roe decision. About 200 people attended the Mass.


FATHER MARX WILL ATTEND CONFERENCE IN APRIL. Population Research Institute founded by Father Paul Marx, will be organizing a family life conference at the Santa Clara Mariott and Our Lady of Peace Church April 3-7. The president of the group, Steve Mosher, was the first American social scientist permitted to study in China in the 1980s and it is believed his report on forced abortions in China will lead Bush to permanently cut approximately $25 million in U.S. annual aid to the United Nations Population fund.

Also at the Santa Clara conference, the group will feature domestic human rights violations committed by abortion providers. Sacramento resident Sandra Duffy will attend. She is a plaintiff in a lawsuit filed last August 15 against Planned Parenthood of San Diego and Riverside counties. The suit argues that Planned Parenthood ignores abortion-related complications including breast cancer and in some cases death while it touts the safety of abortion.

The group's founder, Father Marx, who Pope Paul VI described as the "Apostle of Life," will also attend. Topics covered in the five-day event include: a seminar on pro-life lobbying, Catholic education, Humanæ Vitæ, the liturgy, teen chastity, feminism and population control, and home schooling. The conference will feature a medical professionals' seminar and a two-day youth event

(To attend PRI's global Family Life Conference(child care is provided), visit PRI's website at www.pop.org; call 540-622-5240 or 510-276-0352; or email ginnyhitchcock@hotmail.com.)


FRATERNITY OF ST. PETER TO TAKE OVER FORMER LUTHERAN CHURCH. The Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter in Sacramento, which celebrates the Mass according to the 1962 Missal, has announced it will likely purchase a former Lutheran church near the intersection of 44th and Fruitridge. Since coming to Sacramento several years ago, the Latin Mass Community has operated jointly out of St. Rose and Immaculate Conception parishes.

The community -- also known as Ecclesia Dei Community -- had been in the market for its own church for some time. When this property came on the market, the diocese of Sacramento contacted the community's leaders and informed them. Barring any problems that will arise during due diligence inspections, the community hopes to start using the church on Palm Sunday. When the community takes possession of the facilities, it will represent the first time that the Fraternity of St. Peter will have its own dedicated church in California. The Fraternity operates several other churches and parishes throughout the country.

The church was most recently used by a Four Square Gospel Church and will accommodate roughly 150 families.

Though the community will have its own church, it will still not be considered a parish. The community will need several years, most likely, to show that it can remain viable on its own before the diocese accords it parish status. The community is seeking donations to help pay the $1.2 million cost for purchasing the property.


STATE TO HELP COMBAT DRAMATIC RISE IN CHLAMYDIA. The Medi-Cal program is proposing to pay for drugs to treat the sexual partners of beneficiaries infected with chlamydia, a common sexually transmitted diseases. Data for 2001 suggest that reported infections topped 100,000 for the first time, up by nearly two-thirds in five years. Some of the recent increase may result from more screening, although one expert said the estimates are too low. The San Francisco Department of Public Health began providing medication for sexual partners in December 1998. By declaring a local health emergency, officials were allowed to provide drugs for a range of sexually transmitted diseases without a patient exam. Because Medi-Cal is jointly funded by the state and federal governments, its decision is subject to approval by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.


BERKELEY SEX ED CLASS. A male sexuality class at the University of California, Berkeley was suspended on February 15 after the student newspaper, the Daily Californian, reported that students in the course had taken part in an orgy at a class party and that another group of students chose to go to a strip club for their final project. During the field trip to the strip club, the students watched one of the student instructors have sex on stage, student Jessica McMahon told the student newspaper. At a party held to introduce the students, some took Polaroid pictures of their genitals to show that their bodies were not disgusting, UC Berkeley freshman Christy Kovacs told the Sacramento Bee. The university's web-site describes the male sexuality class as one "intended to provide a safe environment in which men may learn about their own bodies and male sexuality." The "democratic education," or "de-cal" course, which is sponsored but not funded by the university. The male sexuality course was worth two units, whereas a regular course typically is worth four or five units. On March 1, the administration announced it would reinstate the class, on a probationary basis.


SF SCHOOLS GOT BUDGET ASSIST. According to a San Francisco Chronicle article on February 6, San Francisco Unified School District's finances are less stable than district officials have let on, and would not have gotten a good budget rating from the legislature without the intervention of Carole Migden (D-San Francisco), and Senators John Burton (D-San Francisco), and Jack O'Connell (D-San Luis Obispo). Letter obtained by the Chronicle show the California Department of Education determined last year that the district might not be able to pay its bills for the current school year and two subsequent years. But after meeting with lawmakers, the state's department of education upgraded San Francisco Unified's budget rating.

The department of education certifies districts' budgets as positive, qualified or negative. A qualified or negative certification reflects financial instability that requires state intervention. Without help from Bay Area lawmakers, San Francisco Unified would have received a 'qualified' rating.

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