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Contents © 2000
by Jim Holman.
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NEWS
JULY/AUGUST 2000

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STRANGE COMPANY The Diocese of Sacramento invited State Senator Deborah Ortiz (D-Sacramento) to serve on the honorary committee for a Catholic Social Services golf tournament on April 28th in Sacramento, according to the diocesan newspaper, The Catholic Herald. Ortiz was invited to the diocese-sponsored event despite years of unfailing pro-abortion votes in both the senate and the state assembly. Her most recent effort on the part of the abortion lobby was a bill which would have required local law enforcement to report crimes where the crime was motivated by "support for reproductive choice, or abortion rights." It would have required an annual report from the attorney general to the legislature analyzing results obtained from local law enforcement on this type of crime. In the senate public safety committee, the bill passed out easily on a 5-0 vote with senators Vasconcellos (D-San Jose) and Burton (D-San Francisco) voting 'aye'. But in the senate appropriations committee, Senator Richard Mountjoy (R-Arcadia) challenged Ortiz as to why the bill did not address violence against pro-lifers as well as abortionists and their supporters. After other committee members joined in the same line of questioning, Ortiz agreed to amend protections for pro-lifers into the bill before a vote took place in the full senate. Ortiz agreed, saying, "Sure. Violence is violence." Art Croney from the Committee on Moral Concerns testified against the bill and said of Ortiz, "She didn't have any choice [to accept the amendments]. All the Republicans and a couple of Democrats saw the logic." With promise in hand, pro-life Republicans Mountjoy, and Tim Leslie were on board. The bill sailed out of committee 15-0, but Democrat leadership killed the bill by holding it in committee beyond the deadline for sending bills over to the assembly. Instead, the bill was sent to the senate appropriations suspense file, where bills that are deemed expensive in relation to the committee's other priorities go, usually to die. But with the state swimming in a $12 billion surplus, even minority party Republicans got expensive pork projects for their districts off the appropriation suspense file, the same place where Ortiz's bill died. Is it because the freshman senator doesn't have enough moxie to get a very small item off the list? Or is it because she didn't want pro-lifers to have the same protection in statute that she wants abortionists to have?


BILL SEEKS TO REPEAL THERAPUETIC ABORTION ACT FELONY. Senator John Burton has a stealth bill moving through the legislature. Senate Bill 370 would repeal the provisions in the Therapeutic Abortion Act where it is a felony, except as provided in the act, for a person to commit a miscarriage, or solicit one from another. The bill was originally authored by Senator Hilda Solis as an elder care protection bill. It passed out of the senate 39-0 as such, but Burton hijacked the bill, stripped it, and put in his own abortion language. Hijacking is a long practiced way of sneaking laws to the governor's desk, but bills are also hijacked as a convenience when vehicles are needed for budget trailer bills and the like. The practice is within the rules of both houses. But in Senate Bill 370's case, three days before the assembly committee hearing on the bill in early June, the California Medical Association did not know the bill pertained to abortion. The only registered support or opposition on record before committee was from a group called California Women's Voters, in support. While pro-abortion legislators usually try to advance an agenda that maintains abortion as a safe and legal act. The desire to help the abortion industry be free from any regulatory oversight is new.

Jan Carroll with the National Right to Life Committee said, "The fewer tools a district attorney has, the harder it is to prosecute an illegal abortion." In Santa Ana this past December, Alicia Ruiz Hanna was convicted of killing Angela Sanchez, 27, in a botched abortion attempt. Sanchez was also convicted under penal code 274 of performing three abortions without a license to practice medicine. It is 274 that Senator Burton's bill proposes to repeal. Carroll said, "We shouldn't have a dead patient before prosecuting an illegal abortion." Deputy District Attorney Rick King said that Hanna performed up to 20 abortions without a license to practice medicine. Her clinic, Clinica Feminina de la Comunidad, which was billed as a family planning clinic, serviced Orange County Hispanic women. According to California Prolife, Hispanics have the most rapidly rising rate of abortion compared to other ethnicities or the general public. Clinics that cater to Hispanics can enjoy a lucrative business. Alicia Hanna was sentenced to 16 years-to-life in state prison. During the trial, witnesses testified that Hanna prevented coworkers at her clinic from calling 911 when Sanchez went into cardiac arrest after having a seizure from an unknown drug. The victim's 12-year old daughter, who was in the clinic during the abortion said, "We waited and waited and my mother didn't come out." During this time, Hanna was trying to stuff Sanchez's body into the trunk of her car, and calling friends to see if they would help dump the body in Mexico.


LABOR OF LOVE AT VALLEJO'S FIDE CHRISTO COMMUNITY. "I forget who said it, which saint: 'The sin is not in trying and failing in any good effort. The sin is in not trying.'" So says Brother Paul McCarthy of Fide Christo's apostolates in Vallejo. Fide Christo has been promoting the Catholic faith through the electronic media -- radio and the internet -- since 1997. The non-profit community formed two charitable arms at its inception, one of which is called Tony's Pantry, to help needy people and assists older religious directly or through existing Catholic charitable groups. Brother Paul McCarthy is the founder of the developing Christor Community, also called the Confraternity of Christ's Trust. He drew on the reservoir of inspiration to start the community -- that was inspired by the life and work of his uncle.

"My late uncle, Father Alfred Boeddeker, was the major influence in my life. I saw his love for God in action to the less fortunate and how his inspiration and efforts yielded hope for the poor, the outcast and the disenfranchised. I have little doubt that he will be canonized one day. His secular baptismal name was Tony. Since he is the example and the motivation, I felt it fitting, and likewise our board, to title our efforts in honor of him," said Brother Paul. Asked what Father Alfred would think of his community today, Brother Paul said, "It is because of discussions we had before his death in 1994 that these efforts have come into being -- both for the Christor Community and the work of Fide Christo Apostolates. He had hoped both of these things would come into being. We try to respond to Christ's command by offering assistance, at first through existing Catholic agencies for those in need and, God willing, one day directly through our own pantries and help centers, all under the name of Tony's Pantry."

Fide Christo's main effort thus far is in communications. In 1997, they started producing short radio spots on KXLB. They then moved to KUSF 90.3 FM, and more recently to Catholic Family Radio KDIA 1640 AM. Fide Christo looks to expand to television next year or early 2002. Their programming can be heard on KUSF every Saturday mornings, 8:30 to 9:00 am. On KDIA, Saturday evenings, 7:00 to 8:00 pm. "Just as in magazines, not all segments are every issue, so too with our broadcasts," said Brother Paul. "Four or five segments are usually heard. They change, but the one constant is the music and the interviews. Here, like regular publications, we rotate. Our main focus, of course, is Catholic dogma and doctrine. It is essential for us Catholics to know what we believe."

To take care of his personal obligations as well as help fund Fide Christo, Brother Paul is an active religious in the San Francisco and Santa Rosa Diocese and works for the county welfare board.

Besides radio, internet outreach, and Tony's Pantry, Fide Christo has set up a fund to help older religious and congregations that are experiencing hardships or financial difficulties. It helps older priests, nuns, and other religious, who are forced to continue to work even in their 80s to support themselves; who, after years of service, cannot relax, cannot slow down because of a changing world and lack of a successor. Brother Paul said, "These dedicated people deserve a little help and, whether good people contribute directly to them, through other agencies or through us, is immaterial."

The community also started an annual prayer apostolate for bishops, priests and religious. This is done through their Fortnight of Prayer, which includes two weeks of prayer, last year from October 31st through November 13th, culminating in one larger prayer service. "It started as a little effort in late 1997 and is slowly growing," said Brother Paul. "We want to see it become a national event one day. It's an affirmation, a prayerful event for their benefit. To say to them through spiritual action we love you, we honor you; we prayerfully support you and your holy calling. Fortnight of Prayer is not a condemnation. It is an affirmation and it is an effort specifically designed where all Catholics in this country can join together in one grand chorus to God in Petition for these holy people." Last year's event closed at St. Mary's Cathedral in San Francisco with processions, concelebrated Mass, Benediction, talks and a papal blessing.

The Christor community pays no salaries to its members. Brother Paul said, "This is a commitment of love. We have had lots of people coming to us expecting thousands of dollars for efforts they want to make. We send them on their way. This is not a business. It is an apostolate." When asked how he hopes to thrive without a sure stream of income, Brother Paul replied, "The help will come. You have to trust in Christ. All good emanates from Him. What we must do is trust in His love. If an effort is put forth, a good effort, I know our Lord, if He wishes, will cause this effort to grow. If He does not so wish, it will not."

To contact the community, write Fide Christo at P. O. Box 872, Vallejo, CA 94590. Or call 707-649-8467. Or email Brother Paul at paul@fidechristo.org.


STEIR GETS ONE YEAR FOR ABORTION DEATH After beating a second-degree murder rap, San Franciscan Dr. Bruce Steir was sentenced by a Riverside County superior court judge on May 26 to one year in jail for the involuntary manslaughter of Sharon Hamptlon, on whom Steir performed a botched abortion that killed her. Steir had been on probation with the medical board when he performed the procedure and did not call for emergency help for Hamptlon when she began to fade. The judge shocked the courtroom when the 68-year-old Steir was taken into custody immediately after sentencing. In addition, Steir was put on formal probation for 60 months and ordered to perform 1,000 hours of community service. Judge Sherman suspended six months of the term in return for Steir's community service.

Hamptlon died from internal bleeding while driving home with her mother and three-year-old son after the abortion in December 1996. Her death was the result of a punctured uterus. The San Bernardino County coroner's office initially called the death accidental but after the California Medical Board looked into it, the coroner changed his report. During the trial, prosecutors first charged Steir with second-degree murder and argued the abortionist knew he had made a life-threatening mistake during Hamptlon's abortion but failed to call emergency personnel. Having been on probation with the medical board since 1988, Steir surrendered his license to practice medicine four months after Hamptlon's death.


ECCLESIA DEI TRIES TO BRIDGE CHASM with the Society of Pius X. On April 4th and 5th in Rome, Ecclesia Dei Commission officials announced a new initiative on the part of the Vatican to reach out to members of the Society of Pius X, who split from Rome in 1988. According to members of the schismatic group, the total number of Pius X parishioners attending Mass in Los Gatos and Sacramento is about 800 on typical Sundays.

Archbishop Camille Perl, secretary of the pontifical commission, spoke of the Church's ecumenical needs in the context of the Society of St. Pius X. In recent years, Vatican initiatives to expand relations among Jewish and Islamic communities have been extensive, but the Church has made little progress convincing schismatic groups such as the Society of St. Pius X to return to the fold. Archbishop Perl said that the Vatican longs to resolve its differences with the Lefebvrists. According to Inside the Vatican magazine, Perl described the break as a tragedy and said, "The year of the Great Jubilee may be the right moment, the acceptable time, to end the exclusion of these faithful, who have themselves heard the pope's pledge that there must never again be seclusions."

Furthering expectations, on April 13, Rome appointed Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos, as the new president of the Ecclesia Dei Commission. Hoyos, at 70, is ten years younger than his predecessor and is seen as being more capable of decisive action to bridge the gap with the Society of St. Pius X.


CATHOLIC CRISIS PREGNANCY CENTER CLOSES The Silicon Valley lost one of its two non-profit Catholic crisis pregnancy centers when the Fremont Society of Sunnyvale closed its doors for good on May 31. Still going strong in East San Jose is the Juan Diego Society at 12 North White Road. A number of factors were considered in the decision to shut down the Fremont Society, which had been in operating since l985. Foremost was a sharp drop in clients over the past several years caused by rising housing costs which caused younger people and families to move elsewhere; aggressive 'safe sex' education programs in the schools; and improved contraceptives and abortifacients. Consequently, it became increasingly harder to recruit volunteer counselors with so few clients.

Medical Mission Sister Marie Lischewe who managed the center for over 10 years and refused any compensation for her work, was honored in May by San Jose Bishop Patrick McGrath, who said, "Let me congratulate you for your years of dedicated service to women in crisis pregnancies. Unselfishness has a way of gaining entrance to even the most hardened of hearts. By your obvious concern and devotedness to those in need, you have touched many hearts."


FRANK GERATY RIP A pro-life champion, Franklin R. Geraty, died suddenly of a heart attack on May 6th in San Francisco. He was 77. He sought the Democratic Party nomination in 1990 for governor as a pro-life candidate. The San Francisco Chronicle noted that his supporters prevented Dianne Feinstein from receiving the nomination. He devoted thousands of hours to the pro-life cause and had taken part in a prayer vigil at an abortion mill shortly before he died.


BISHOP WEIGAND ATTENDED TRADITIONAL CONFIRMATION on June 5th at Immaculate Conception Church in Sacramento. Father Terra of the Fraternity of St. Peter celebrated a high Latin Mass according to the Missal of 1962, while Bishop Weigand observed from a side pew until rising to address the confirmation candidates for nearly 45 minutes in sweltering heat. He then conferred the sacrament of confirmation on 22 young people.

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