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Contents © 2001
by Jim Holman.
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NEWS
SEPTEMBER 2001

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ROBERT WENDLAND PASSED AWAY in a Lodi nursing home on July 17th. Wendland, 49, was disabled in 1993 by an automobile accident and since then has been dependent on others for care. That care is the central issue in a case still pending before the California Supreme Court, which heard oral arguments on May 30. Wendland's mother and sister wished to see him cared for; his wife desired to stop all assistance, including food and water. Although the case has no impact on Wendland's life, a decision is expected by September 1. Brian Johnson, head of the state office of National Right to Life, said that should the high court rule that such unrequested, lethal neglect is permissible; "there are literally tens of thousands of dependent adults in California whose lives will be in immediate jeopardy."


OVERRULED. The San Francisco school board, which had approved the Edison Charter Academy in 1998, reversed itself and in 1999 refused to renew the Edison charter. On July 10, by a unanimous vote, the state school board overruled the S.F. board and approved Edison. (The Edison Academy is run by Edison Schools, Inc., a New York company that runs 113 public schools under contracts, including nine schools in California.

The bad news from the state board is that on July 10 it released its revised list of recommended reading for kindergarten through 12th grade. The list contains classics such as Shakespeare's King Lear and Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre. Along with these, for the first time in state history, it also recommends books like; Shared Heart: Portraits and Stories Celebrating Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Young People, Am I Blue? Coming out from the Silence and Damned Strong Love, a story of a Polish boy who has a homosexual relationship with a German soldier during WWII.


THE SAN FRANCISCO GAY PRIDE PARADE took place on June 24th with attendance in the thousands. Billed as a family event, over two hundred groups marched, including the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, who mock the Catholic faith through organizing itself as a group of nuns "dedicated to homosexuality, human rights, freedom of expression, AIDS and the politics of drag." In 1999, the board of supervisors voted to allow the group to march on Easter Sunday despite the protest of Catholics and other Christians, including San Francisco Archbishop William Levada, who called the sisters disrespectful and blasphemous. The same year the sisters also staged a homosexual 'kiss-in' on the steps of Saint Mary's Cathedral. The group maintains that they do not mock nuns, but rather that they are nuns.


BERKELEY PRIEST FACES PROTEST ON EAST COAST TOUR AFTER HE BLASPHEMES BVM IN LOS ANGELES. After the announcement that the Wadhams Hall Seminary College in Ogdensburg, New York invited Father Richard Sparks of Holy Spirit parish in Berkeley to deliver a series of lectures during the week of August 6-10, some Ogdensburg Catholics petitioned Bishop Gerald Barbarito to disavow the invitation after reading accounts of Spark's February Los Angeles appearance in the July 15 and July 22 issues of The Wanderer, which excerpted some of Spark's remarks: "He (Christ) had to go through puberty. He had to decide should I get married. He might have even had a prom date with Mary Magdalene. They might have even necked a little in the back seat of a car. He's like us in all things but sin -- necking isn't necessarily a sin. He might have even petted her once or twice -- it's like -- oh -- wait, wait, wait, yes -- now. Touch, including sex, in the right setting, is holy, sacramental, a wonderful gift. If you can't fantasize Mary and Joseph having sex -- even if you wanted to say -- okay, the Church says, 'ever-virgin' -- okay, I leave that in place.... But if somebody says, Do you think Joseph ever wanted to jump on Mary's bones? Do you think Joseph ever thought, God, why can't we consummate this thing? Now all I'm saying is -- even if they didn't have sex, did they ever neck, or did they maybe cuddle and snuggle. Did he ever sorta fondle his wife? Did she ever kinda fondle him? By the way, in terms of canon law we could annul this marriage just like this.


AUSTRALIAN ORIGINS WRITER GERALD KEANE GAVE A SPEECH at St. Mel's Church in Citrus Heights on June 29 that was attended by over 200 people. Keane is the author of Creation Rediscovered: Evolution and the Importance of the Origins Debate. He spoke on the unique dignity of Adam and Eve and how evolutionary hypotheses about both the origin of the world and its long age are untenable and a threat to traditional Catholic theology. Keane addressed the secular view of origins and asserted that what most people believe about evolution relies on a uniformitarian view of nature. This view holds that gradual change over millions of years occurred throughout the earth. But Keane believes an honest assessment of the geological record indicates that catastrophism better explains the world's natural history -- overwhelming evidence of the biblical flood being the most obvious sign.

Keane said that he does not push fundamentalism, but rather looks to Catholic teachings to better understand to the meaning of Genesis. He said that the meaning of 24 hours for the creation days has not been overturned by the Church. Keane said, "So it can fairly be stated that the Catholic Church has declared in favor of the literal-as-given creation days." Because of this, and the near unanimous teaching of the fathers, he said, "If anyone wants to depart from 24 hours natural creation days in favor of some other meaning, say, millions of years, that person has the onus of responsibility of proving their case -- in science, in theology, in exegesis. It's never going to happen, in my view." Keane believes that Genesis is a divinely revealed historical account of things that actually occurred. "Pius XII stated this in the 1950 encyclical Humani Generis." "However," Keane said, "the sacred writer clearly did not intend to address empirical science per se in the Genesis account of origins." Keane also pointed to Leo XIII's encyclical Arcanum Divinæ Sapientiæ (1880), which states that Adam and Eve were specially created by God, and that Eve's body was directly created from a portion of Adam's body. "Thus," Keane said, "the Catholic Church has officially declared, in tradition, that the creation account of Adam and Eve is literally true."


USF LOOKING TO SUPPORT DOMESTIC PARTNERS? In an email circulated among subscribers in May, an organization calling itself 'USFPride' revealed strategies for establishing a benefit for domestic partners for employees of the University of San Francisco. Quoting Jesuit Superior General Father Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, the group insisted that domestic partner benefits for homosexuals at USF reflect Kolvenbach's admonition to "live[s] in a social reality and live[s] for that social reality." The letter, dated May 25, included the signatures of 16 faculty and staff members of the university.


WOOD ROSE ACADEMY ANNOUNCES HIGH SCHOOL CLASSES will begin on September 4. Applications are available at the elementary school office, or download from www.woodroseacademy.org. There are spaces open for 9th and 10th graders. The classroom will be at 3037 Bonifacio St., in Concord. To apply for a tuition scholarship or to make a donation to the high school scholarship fund please contact Dr. Kelleher at (415) 386-0406 ext. 226.


THREE SANTA CLARA VALLEY RESIDENTS WERE KNIGHTED in early July in Fatima, Portugal in a private ceremony held at the house of the Royal Brotherhood of the Wing of Saint Michael. The Brotherhood of Saint Michael is a Catholic association if the form of a dynastic order of the royal house of Portugal. The order was created in 1165 and was officially recognized by the Church in 1171. Inactive for almost a century, the order was restored in the form of a royal brotherhood by the current Duke of Braganca, who is a direct descendant of the first king of Portugal. Philip Kronzer of Los Gatos, Richard Salbato of San Jose, and Father Gilbert Mariani, formerly of Cupertino now of Fatima, were knighted for their work promoting the messages of Our Lady of Fatima and their defense of the Catholic faith.


PRIVETT HAILS UNITED RELIGION INITIATIVE. California Episcopal Bishop William Swing, founder of the United Religions Initiative, promoted his interfaith movement to members of the prestigious Commonwealth Club of San Francisco on April 25 -- with the support of Father Stephen Privett, president of the University of San Francisco. Privett introduced Swing to the audience, praising him as a "bishop for all peoples and all seasons." Privett said, "Bishop Swing's vision and spirit are the driving force behind the United Religions Initiative. His realization that dogma divides and action unites is the foundation of this worldwide, loosely-knit union of religious persons of all persuasions who work together on the local level for peace, justice, and healing." With this endorsement of the six-year-old organization, Father Privett follows the lead of Father John LoSchiavo, chancellor of USF and a member of the United Religions Initiative's interim global council. These Catholics support the United Religions Initiative despite a 1996 warning from Cardinal Arinze, head of the Vatican's Council for Inter-Religious Dialogue, that "a United Religions would give the appearance of syncretism and ... would water down our need to evangelize. It would force authentic religions to be on equal footing with spurious religions."

In his speech to 40 members of the Commonwealth Club, Swing put the United Religions Initiative forward as the solution for violence and persecution motivated by religion. He cited the burning of synagogues and discrimination against Muslims as examples of "how much religious persecution goes on in the United States of America." Throughout his speech, Swing gave examples of persecution of Muslims, violence committed by Christians in India, and outrages in historically Christian countries. Swing never alluded to the persecution of Christians by Muslims, Hindus, or Communists.

The Vatican reiterated its opposition to the United Religions Initiative in 1999. Denis Isizoh, a member of Cardinal Arinze's staff, wrote to the Homiletic & Pastoral Review, a magazine for Catholic priests, that "Religious syncretism is a theological error. That is why the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue does not approve of the United Religions Initiative and does not work with it.... As the [URI] develops, the reasons for not collaborating with it become more evident.


MILLION MOM MARCH SUPPORTERS CLASHED WITH INTRUDING NRA MEMBERS at St. Sebastian parish in Greenbrae on April 10. Several second amendment supporters "crashed" a talk given there by Million Mom March executive director Andrew McGuire. The talk was one in a series of lenten lectures sponsored by the Social Justice Alliance of St. Patrick parish in Larkspur, a joint ministry partner. Local activist Jim March of Pittsburg alleged afterward that McGuire's appearance caused the parishes to violate their charitable tax-exempt status because of irregularities in the Million Mom March's own not-for-profit status. He also accused the organization of "co-opting" the Social Justice Alliance to provide a ready-made base of gun control supporters. The head of the Social Justice Alliance, who requested anonymity for this article, denies the accusations.

Prior to the meeting at St. Sebastian, March had uncovered possible evidence of fraud while investigating Million Mom March's status under 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) non-profit corporation regulations. A 501(c)(3) corporation cannot engage in political advocacy but donations to it are tax-deductible. A 501(c)(4) corporation can take a political position but donations to it are not tax-deductible. The Million Mom March was registered as a 501(c)(4) corporation yet occupied rent-free (taxpayer-subsidized) offices within San Francisco General Hospital, a city property. Such use of public property is prohibited under the regulations, according to March. March said, "By using Catholic churches for meeting places, money and other logistics, plus established activist clusters, McGuire and the MMM get easy startup -- but it's all tax-deductible money and by diverting it into politics, the churches risks the wrath of the IRS."

St. Patrick's Social Justice Alliance director offered a different account of the events in a June 12 telephone interview. He insisted that neither the Social Justice Alliance nor the parishes had broken any laws by inviting McGuire to speak and defended the group's support for gun control. "We chose as our initial program gun control, over a year ago. We have supported the Million Mom March and picketed at the gun show in Marin. We're upset that one child per day gets shot in Marin; 1000 guns were confiscated last year by the sheriff in Alameda County. One of the things that came out of the April meeting was the fact that the National Rifle Association is heavily indoctrinated. Four or five of there members were there; they stood up and shouted. I believe two of them were carrying [guns]. At one point, an 80-year-old nun told them to sit down, that she didn't come there to hear them. It was my pleasure to throw one of them out of the meeting. I've seen these clowns before when I've picketed the gun show. They were there to harangue and interrupt, not to listen. They found out about this because we publicized this heavily." Referring to the brochures that were on display during the meeting, he said, "By the way, the NRA is guilty of stealing from us. They took all of our materials off our desk and replaced them with their materials."

Asked whether he was aware of the allegations against the Million Mom March concerning the San Francisco General Hospital lease before the event at St. Sebastian's, the director said, "I'm aware that the NRA raised it and that they've got a lot of clout, but I'm not involved in any way. I was not aware of the problem before April 10. It came up during the meeting that there was an issue with the tax-exempt status of the MMM. I could have cared less at that point. We invited people to speak from Dominican College and other groups, both profit and non-profit. We were after as good authorities as we could get. But the NRA attendees brought that activity up."


U.S BISHOPS APPROVE GUIDELINES FOR EX CORDE MANDATUM. Zenit.org reports that the U.S. bishops' conference approved guidelines in early June requiring professors of theology at Church-affiliated colleges and universities to teach "authentic Catholic doctrine." The guidelines for Catholic theologians spell out no specific penalties for those who refuse to follow the rules and seek a mandatum, a form of approval, from their local bishops. But individual Catholic schools could adopt rules requiring faculty to abide by the guidelines. The guidelines define theological disciplines as the teaching of "sacred Scripture, dogmatic theology, moral theology, pastoral theology, canon law, liturgy and Church history." The requirement to obtain a mandatum from the local bishop applies only to Catholic teachers of the theological disciplines; a non-Catholic professor would not have to meet the requirements. Current teachers have until June 1, 2002, to apply for a mandatum. New instructors are required to obtain a mandatum within the academic year or within six months of being hired, whichever is longer. If a teacher fails to obtain a mandatum within the required time, the guidelines provide only that "the competent ecclesiastical authority should notify the appropriate authority in the college or university."

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