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Contents © 2000
by Jim Holman.
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NEWS
SEPTEMBER 2000

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WHITHER ST. BRIGID'S? One of the most beautiful and most visible churches in San Francisco sits on traffic-clogged Van Ness Boulevard at Broadway, oblivious to the controversy that has swirled around it for the past six years. Founded in 1863, St. Brigid is one of nine churches closed by Archbishop John Quinn, who cited changing demographics and an aging congregation in that part of the city. St. Brigid closed on June 30th, 1994. "I am fully aware," Quinn announced, "that this decision will be a grave disappointment to you. At the same time it is basic to my office as archbishop to consider not only individual parishes but the overall good of the whole archdiocese. The San Francisco of the forties and fifties is gone. There are approximately 47,000 people going to Mass at 53 parishes in a city of 700,000 with the lowest youth census of any major city in the United States. Something has to change. It is obvious that there are too many parishes in the city, and several of them like St. Brigid need enormously expensive retrofitting. It's time to move on."

But not ready to move on are the embattled parishoners and supporters who have been laboring to reopen St. Brigid since its closing. They feel that the financially strapped archdiocese looked upon their church and several others as cash cows that could be milked for millions if converted to high-density residential or commercial properties. In 1993, it was estimated that the Van Ness land was worth at least $16.6 million, which figure in today's overheated real estate market would undoubtedly be much higher. Four of the original padlocked churches have been reopened by Quinn's successor, Archbishop William J. Levada. The Committee to Save Brigid has petitioned Levada and the Vatican to reconsider the closing but, to date, a favorable response has not been forthcoming. "In meetings and ongoing contacts with Archbishop Levada since he came to San Francisco," says Robert R. Bryan,Esq., chairman of the committee. "We have been impressed with his holiness and concern for people. St. Brigid's is badly needed, so I believe the archbishop will try to find a solution that will lead to its salvation. I have reassured the archbishop of the parishoners' resolve to help him in the work of opening the Church. "We of the committee have said, 'We are your soldiers, just tell us what we can for you." The current church was built in 1903 and withstood the 1906 and 1989 earthquakes. Its sudden closing brought a firestorm of protests from parishoners and friends who bombarded the archdiocese with l8,000 signatures asking that the church be spared. Its cash reserves of $700,000 were confiscated by a then troubled and cash-short archdiocese which requested the city of San Francisco to place the church building on its Unreinforced Masonry Building list. It believed that it would cost nearly $6 million to retrofit the church. Subsequent estimates fixed that figure at as little as $750,000. Other estimates were slightly higher.

"St. Brigid is not just any church," says Siu-Mei Wong, "it is part of my home. Just two blocks away from my apartment, it is to me a fortress maintaining my religious outlook in life and constantly reminding me of the need in practicing it in my daily life." Wong continued, "It is a very saddening thought when I feel that the church is no longer there to care for my generation, and gradually we will all unconsciously slip into an indifferent and atheistic bunch."

Asked where parishioners go to Mass now, Bryan said, "Some people now living in the boundaries of what was St. Brigid Parish go to other churches. Others, due to age and health limitations, have no place to attend services. They have been forgotten and abandoned by the archdiocese. Many of the large number of young people in the area do not attend a Catholic church. If they worship at all, they attend churches of other denominations, that is, Episcopal, Presbyterian, and the like. They have left the Catholic faith because of the closing of St. Brigid." Bryan continued, "If St. Brigid were reopened, it would be again instantly viable. There is no other Catholic church in the area which has such a high concentration of people. Many are young, affluent professionals. If the church opened tomorrow, it would be filled." But the parishioners of St. Brigid are not sitting on the church steps clutching their rosaries and whining about the good old days. Even without a church building the parish is still one of the most active congregations in the archdiocese with a strong commitment of service to the surrounding community and city. It has been particularly dedicated to aiding those without shelter under the banner 'Homeless Helping the Homeless'.

The parish school attracts a wide mix of elementary grade students from the neighborhood and across the city. The mens' soccer team, the Mariners, has compiled a successful record in the archdiocesan league, winning no less than four championships. Jan Robinson's impression of the church is similar to that of many others. "St. Brigid's is a church like no other. In it, I would feel as though I had approached God's heavenly throne. Without it I feel like I have lost the most sacred, holy ground that I have ever known. I miss my church terribly and can only pray that some day it will be restored to those who love it."

On July 7th, Father Thomas S. Merson, a spokesman for Archbishop Levada, wrote in response to a query, "The Congregation for the Clergy and the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura upheld the decison by Archbishop John R. Quinn to close St. Brigid's Parish. There are no plans to open or close any more churches. "The Archdiocese of San Francisco has no plans for the St. Brigid's Church property. St. Brigid's School will continue in operation as it has since the Church was closed on June 30, 1994." Father Merson continues, "At no time were any plans to develop high rise condominiums on that site ever considered." Eugene Sanders, an interested bystander in the controversy, echoes the feelings of many. "I am not a Roman Catholic. I am not even a Christian. But I support [the committee] to the best of my limited ability because I have loved St. Brigid's ever since I first saw it. I know your goal is to restore it as a fully functional house of worship and center of parochial activity. But please, also, keep up the fight on behalf of the rest of us who treasure it as a gem in the City's historic heritage of architectural beauty."


FOUR HOME SCHOOLING FAMILIES who were facing prosecution by the Alameda County District Attorney's office are breathing easier now. Assistant district attorney John Adams declined to file truancy charges against the families after reviewing documents showing that the home schooled children where enrolled in private schools. The four home schooling families had been summoned before the Berkeley Unified School district's student attendance review board in May after the father of one of the students complained that the children were not in school.

According to one of the family members, the review board demanded student records such as attendance records, curricula, and lesson plans. The Home School Legal Defense Association believes that public school officials have no jurisdiction over private schools in California. Most home schoolers in California teach their children under the private school provision of the state's education code.

Cathy Cubert of the California Homeschool Network said that her group is "Very pleased that district attorney Adams quickly saw the merits ... of [the] case. This clearly shows that homescooling advocates have been correct all along--independent home schooling is legal in California."

Home School Legal Defense Association attorney Mike Smith said, "I was very pleased with the decision. I was encouraged that a neutral lawyer ... one trained in the law could look at the situation and make a determination that the families were all in compliance with the requirement to establish a private school and therefore there was no further jurisdiction to be exercised by the school district. The DA made a determination as well that no further information had to be supplied to the school district ... other than what had already been supplied in the private school affidavit".

District attorney John Adams was not available for comment.


CATHOLIC CHARITIES GIVES BIG HELP TO EXEC. A senior Catholic Charities executive's taste for the high life may have gone a bit too far, according to a scathing report in the San Francisco Chronicle. In a detailed article on the spending habits of Frank Hudson, chief executive officer of the City's Catholic Charities, the paper lists a few of the $73,000 expenses, Hudson, 57, has charged his employer over the past two years.

Records show, according to the Chronicle, that Hudson spent:

-- More than $500 a week on resturant tabs;

-- $6,393 for prescription drugs-

-- $1,050 for hair removal treatments;

-- $700 anti-wrinkle treaments;

-- $1,788 for five nights at a local hotel.

Over the past 24 months he allegedly billed Catholic Charities for more than $73,000 in expenses. This was over and above his annual salary of $172,000. Catholic Charities is not under the control of the archdiocese but Archbishop William Levada is chairman of the board of directors. It operates 37 programs, employing 400 persons, serving 70,000 persons. It has recently been considering cutbacks in some of its services.

On June 13th, Catholic Charities in the San Francisco Archdiocese appointed a committee to audit the CEO for the last five years. Under federal law, Catholic Charities must release an annual audit of its expenditures. The audit found that of a total budget of $19.2 million, $4.7 was spent on operating expenses, including executive salaries.


THE LEGISLATURE WENT INTO SUMMER RECESS leaving many hot issues hanging. The last two weeks in August will be gut check time for many legislators. Two measures stand out -- one would establish school based health clinics that will serve any person, young or old, who want to use it, and a mental health care bill that will require doctors to ask children questions about their home life. This first bill is in trouble. Speaker Robert Hertzberg (D-Van Nuys) deleted the term, 'health clinics ' in July, and substituted "medical homes," but the bill still includes medical, mental, and "any number of other" social services to be offered in schools. The bill passed the assembly on June 1st; among those voting 'aye' were San Francisco Assemblywoman Carol Migden (D-San Francisco), Assemblyman Kevin Shelley (D-San Francisco), and Assemblyman Darrel Steinberg (D-Sacramento). The bill is currently in the senate education committee for a vote in late August.

Another assembly bill will require all health providers of children on Medi-Cal to have their doctors ask the children if they have been spanked, if they are bonded to their parents, about their dating rules, and whether there are guns in the home. The author of the measure is Sacramento assemblyman Darrel Steinberg. The bill passed the assembly in May and is now in the senate health and human services committee. The bill was amended in the senate so if it passes that house the bill must return to the assembly where a close floor vote is expected. With November elections coming, majority Democrats will probably try to get a bare majority vote of 41, providing a life-boat to the six Democrat members judged to be in the tightest races against Republicans this fall.

Finally, among the many anti-Catholic bills that passed without mention, Senator Tom Hayden's (D-Los Angeles) senate bill, would label "homophobia" a form of bigotry that must be eliminated through school curriculum in grades K-12. It passed the senate on May 25 and is now headed for the assembly floor. Voting 'aye' in the senate were John Vasconcellos (D-Oakland) and Senator John Burton (D-San Francisco). Voting 'aye' in the assembly education committee was assemblyman Jim Cunneen (R-San Jose).


THE FOLLOWING CHURCHES have been designated by the bishops of Northern California and Central California as Jubilee 2000 pilgrimage sites, where the Catholic faithful can receive the special Jubilee 2000 plenary indulgence granted by Pope John Paul II in his bull of indiction for the Jubilee Year. The indulgence can be obtained through January 6, 2001.

Diocese of Sacramento: Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, Sacramento; Our Lady of Guadalupe, Sacramento; St. Patrick, Grass Valley; St. Joseph Marysville; St. John the Baptist, Chico; Sacred Heart, Red Bluff; St. Joseph, Redding; St. Joseph, Yreka, Sacred Heart, Susanville; St. Theresa, South Lake Tahoe; St. Patrick, Jackson; St. Vincent Ferrer, Vallejo.

Diocese of Stockton: Cathedral of the Annunciation, Stockton; St. Mary of the Assumption, Stockton; St. Stanislaus, Modesto; St. Patrick, Sonora; St. Patrick, Murphys; St. Joseph, Mammoth Lakes.

Diocese of Santa Rosa: St. Eugene Cathedral, Santa Rosa; Our Lady of Mount Carmel Mission, Asti; St. Bernard Church, Eureka.

Diocese of Oakland: Mission San Jose, Fremont; St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception, Oakland; St. Elizabeth Seton, Pleasanton; St. Paul, San Pablo; Our Lady, Queen of the World, Bay Point.

Archdiocese of San Francisco: St. Mary's Cathedral, San Francisco; Mission Dolores Basilica, San Francisco; National Shrine of St. Francis of Assisi, San Francisco; St. Raphael, San Rafael; St. Patrick's Seminary Chapel, Menlo Park.

Diocese of San Jose: The Cathedral Basilica of St. Joseph in San Jose is designated as a Jubilee pilgrimage site throughout the Jubilee Year. Additionally, each parish in the diocese will be a pilgrimage site on its parish feast day. Consult your parish, the Diocese of San Jose or the diocesan directory regarding parish feast days.

Diocese of Monterey: Carmel Mission Basilica, Carmel; Old Mission San Juan Bautista, San Juan Bautista; Old Mission San Luis Obispo, San Luis Obispo.

Diocese of Fresno: St. John's Cathedral, Fresno; St. Mary, Visalia; Shrine of St. Therese, Fresno; St. Patrick, Merced; Santa Rosa, Lone Pine; Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima, Laton; St. Francis, Bakersfield.

For more information on the Great Jubilee of 2000 and the Jubilee 2000 plenary indulgence, contact your local parish or diocese, or the National Conference of Catholic Bishops' Jubilee 2000 office (202-541-3244, www.nccbuscc.org/jubilee) or check the Vatican's Jubilee 2000 web site (www.jubil2000.org) or other reputable Catholic web sites such as the Eternal Word Television Network's web site (www.ewtn.com/jubilee).


A SELF-STYLED "PRO-ABORTION" CATHOLIC is reportedly daring bishops to excommunicate her. LifeSite Daily News reports that Frances Kissling, head of the pro-abortion group "Catholics for a Free Choice," has written a column daring bishops or the pope to excommunicate her. In her article she says that "since no bishop or pope -- and I am reasonably sure that these authorities know who I am and what I believe -- has chosen either to pronounce me excommunicated or declare that I have automatically excommunicated myself, I am confident that I remain in good standing with the church."

LifeSite finishes, "Despite her claim that bishops and the pope probably know who she is, it is not likely that they share her view of her own importance. Furthermore, many Catholics do not consider her or her anti-Catholic group to be Catholic in the first place."


ON JULY 11TH, THE SECRETARY OF STATE'S OFFICE announced that Tim Draper's School Vouchers 2000 group succeeded in getting their initiative on the ballot as Proposition 38. The Catholic Conference is analyzing the initiative. Details of the initiative can be found at www.SchoolVouchers2000.com.


THE ELLIOT INSTITUTE REPORTS that a study has found that abortion is nearly four times deadlier than childbirth. A recent government funded study in Finland shows that women who abort are approximately four times more likely to die in the following year than women who carry their pregnancies to term. In addition, women who carry to term are only half as likely to die as women who were not pregnant.

"This is an impeccable, record-based study," said David C. Reardon, Ph.D., who authored a review of the Finland study and other related studies in the latest issue of The Post-Abortion Review. "It proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that abortion is not safer than childbirth." Researchers from the statistical analysis unit of Finland's National Research and Development Center for Welfare and Health examined death certificate records for all women of reproductive age (15-49) who died between 1987 and 1994, a total of 9,129 women. They then examined the national health care database to identify any pregnancy-related events for the women in the 12 months prior to their deaths.

The researchers found that compared to women who carried to term, women who aborted in the year prior to their deaths were 60 percent more likely to die of natural causes, seven times more likely to die of suicide, four times more likely to die of injuries related to accidents, and 14 times more likely to die from homicide. Researchers believe the higher rate of deaths related to accidents and homicide may be linked to higher rates of suicidal or risk-taking behavior.

"Even though this important study was published in the top Scandinavian obstetrics journal, it has been completely ignored by the American press," Reardon said. "Even worse, abortion counselors continue to lie to American women. They are telling women that abortion is safer than childbirth, when this and other irrefutable studies prove exactly the opposite. The entire body of medical literature clearly shows that abortion contributes to a decline in women's physical and mental health. Women aren't hearing this. Nor are they being told that giving birth actually contributes to women's overall health, not only in comparison to those who abort but also in comparison to women who have not been pregnant." A link to a full text copy of The Post-Abortion Review article can be found at http://www.afterabortion.org/PAR/V8/n2/finland.html

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