NEWS

ARTICLES

LETTERS

FOLLOW ME

ROAMIN' CATHOLIC






Contents © 2003
by Jim Holman.
All rights reserved.

NEWS
November 2003

---

FOLLOWING THE DEATH of a young Alameda County woman who had taken the abortion drug RU-486, "women's health experts," said the September 24 San Francisco Chronicle, "were defending the safety of the abortion drug." Holly Patterson, 18, sought pain treatment at Valley Care Medical Center in Pleasanton on September 14 after she had taken an abortion pill prescribed by the Planned Parenthood clinic in Hayward. Sent home with painkillers, she returned to the hospital three days later, where she died of a massive systemic infection.

Though Patterson's death has been under investigation by state and federal authorities, "top medical experts, including Planned Parenthood's national medical director, said there appears to be no reason to back away from using RU-486," said the Chronicle. "Until we're able to examine the medical records, and piece together from the medical records exactly what the sequence of events was, we will not be able to know why this woman died," said Cullins . "It may be totally unrelated to the medical abortion." RU-486 (also called mifepristone), said Cullins, is "really safer than carrying a pregnancy to term. I hope that the media attention around this tragic situation does not scare other women from opting to have a termination procedure through mifepristone medical abortion if that's something the woman wants to do."


A FEDERAL JUDGE in Sacramento on September 5 ordered the California state department of motor vehicles to stop issuing new types of specialty license plates after the state legislature refused to allow a plate that said "Choose Life," said the September 6 San Francisco Chronicle. Motorists may order specialty plates at an initial cost of $50 and for $40 a year, half of which goes to benefit a charity or cause. While most specialty plates benefit government organizations, private groups may receive approval for such plates if they can find 7,500 motorists who can apply in advance for the plates. The only private group to date which has received legislative approval for the plates is the Yosemite Fund. Others have applied, but were unable to garner the necessary number of contributors.

In turning down the request for plates by the pro-life Women's Resource Network, the state legislature displayed its "unbridled authority ... to suppress (an applicant's) point of view," said Federal judge Garland Burrell. The legislature has to change its process for approving requests for plates, he said.


UPON HIS RETIREMENT, Bishop John Cummins of Oakland "may rock the world,' said the September 10 Oakland Tribune. How so? By taking on the leadership of a yet-to-be-founded Cummins Catholic Institute at St. Mary's College in Orinda. At this institute, said the Tribune, Cummins wants to explore "morality issues that generally escape society's attention" -- such as, the effect of genetically altered foods on world nutrition and "spiritual" issues as the "hard-to-come-by answers to such questions as what it means to be a Catholic." The Tribune reported that Cummins and the college hope to make a formal announcement on the institute at the end of September.


BUT BEFORE HE LEAVES his post, probably in mid-October, Bishop Cummins hopes to settle where to build the new cathedral slated for Oakland, said the Tribune story. The first site proposed for the Christ the Light cathedral, at the end of Lake Merritt, was nixed after Oakland voters in November 2002 approved Measure DD, a proposal to protect wet lands and the water quality of Lake Merritt. Since then, the diocese has been conducting a "quiet search" for a downtown location for the cathedral, preferably close to BART.

Cummins' retirement, though obligatory (he turned 75 in March) "seemed premature for someone in the prime of life, recognized by church leaders the world over for his excellent, progressive leadership," said the Tribune. On October 1, Pope John Paul announced that he had accepted Bishop Cummins' resignation.


FROM CHRIST TO BUDDHA. A Catholic religious congregation, the Sisters of St. Francis, entered into a purchase agreement to sell their Mt. Alverno convent near Cañada College in Redwood City to a Japanese Buddhist sect, Shinnyo-en, said a September 8 San Francisco Examiner story. The sisters, who have been at Mt. Alverno since 1960, had received at least a dozen offers, including some from residential developers, a private school, and a religious organization. St. Matthias Catholic Church had also considered the 26-acre Mt. Alverno site. The Sisters of St. France said they were forced to sell the property because of their order's dwindling numbers and the increasing age of its members.

Sister Maria Elena Martinez wrote to neighbors of the convent of the proposed sale to Shinnyo-en, "We feel blessed that our property will continue to be used for a sacred purpose and know that Shinnyo-en will maintain a fine relationship with our neighbors." They will "aim to be good members of the community by applying what they learn at the temple," wrote Martinez. "They believe that enlightenment (or nirvana) can be found in everyday life, in the most ordinary of activities, and that everyone can reach that goal."


A MODESTO MAN was formally accused of playing a key role in the 1980 assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero in San Salvador, said a September 17 San Francisco Chronicle story. A lawsuit filed in the U.S. district court in Fresno on September 16 claims that Alvaro Saravia was a top aide to Roberto d'Aubuisson, a Salvadoran death squad leader at the time of Romero's assassination. The lawsuit was filed by a San Francisco-based non-profit group, the Center for Justice and Accountability, in behalf of a relative of Archbishop Romero.

Romero, the archbishop of San Salvador in El Salvador, was shot while celebrating Mass at a hospital. As archbishop, he had upheld the Catholic faith while publicly criticizing the human rights abuses carried out by the Salvadoran government. Though Salvadoran officials conducted an investigation of Romero's killing, no one was ever charged with the murder.


CRADLE CATHOLIC LATINOS are more likely to remain in the Catholic Church than are "white" Catholics, says a new study. The September 13 New York Times reported that, in a survey of 982 adults born Catholic carried out by Georgetown University's Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate, 81 percent of Latinos surveyed had remained Catholic, compared to 72 percent of "whites." Those Latinos, too, who left the Church were more likely to embrace another faith, while apostate whites tended to claim no religious belief at all.

The study also showed that, while the percentage of Pentecostals among Latinos has grown from three to four percent over the decade of the 1990s, the number of Latinos claiming no religion went from six to 13 percent.


CATH MCGHEE FOUND HER VOCATION -- pastoral adminstrator for St. Monica's parish in Moraga, said the September 8 Catholic Voice, the Oakland diocese's newspaper. "I became hooked on ministry," said McGhee, who joined the St. Monica's staff 25 years ago as a religious education teacher. She became director of religious education for the parish and, eventually, pastoral administrator. According to the Voice, in 1996 the diocese, looking for a "priest pastor" to take over St. Monica's, chose McGhee instead. "The (diocesan) Strategic Plan had just been completed," said McGhee, "and there it said we could look at alternative models. So I always suspected I was a little bit of an experiment." As pastoral administrator (or, as the diocese now calls the position, "pastoral life director"), McGhee runs the parish. This entails such mundane jobs as making sure the parish's physical plant is maintained, but also includes much more. McGhee, said the Voice, "frequently acts as a counselor to those who want spiritual guidance, she is present before and after every weekend Mass, she oversees the parish staff, plans events, coordinates liturgies and -- outside of priestly duties -- does what pastors generally do." The Voice noted that, in preparation for her ministry, McGhee "audited classes in church history, liturgy, preaching, Scripture, pastoral counseling and ethics."

The parochial vicar for St. Monica's, Father Declan Deane, said having a pastoral life director is "wonderful. I would recommend it for all priests. Cath is a super organizer, and if I have any administrative ability, it has yet to manifest itself. It allows me to be a priest." Deane, said the Voice, "can devote his energies to spirituality and social justice and not 'have to worry if the roof is leaking or not.'"


UNLIKE MCGHEE, who, said the Voice, chose not to wear an alb during liturgies, the lay pastoral life director for All Saints in Hayward frequently dons the distinctively clerical garb. Steve Mullin told the Voice that he does for the 3,000-family parish "everything a pastor does but not the priestly things." Now married with four children (ages 14 to seven), Mullin said he had attended St. Patrick's seminary in Menlo Park. Though he had decided against a priestly vocation, Mullin said he "felt a call to work in the church." After working in various ministries in the diocese, Mullin was invited by Bishop John Cummins to take over the pastoral position at All Saints. At his going away party, former pastor, Father Bob McCann, introduced Mullin as his replacement, said the Voice.

Mullin tries to be present at every Sunday Mass. "He participates in liturgies," said the Voice, "wearing an alb for funerals, wakes and other services. At reconciliation services, he said, 'I wear an alb as I lead the service, then I take it off and lay it in a chair as I go to confession.'"

"I love the setup," said Father Carl Seewald, who serves as one of two parochial vicars at All Saints. After spending 15 years as a pastor elsewhere, Seewald said he "was very happy to be an associate." Mullin, said Seewald, "deals with headaches that I'd rather not deal with." Though, according to Mullin, most of the parishioners have adjusted well to him and "many are enthusiastic," some, he admitted "would prefer to have an ordained person as head of the community." Some, he said, have quietly left the parish.


HOLY CROSS PARISH in Santa Cruz has expanded its communion service offerings. Now, not only Saturday morning Mass, but Friday morning as well are communion services. Last month, the Faith reported that Holy Cross pastor, Father Stetz, replaced the 8 a.m. Saturday morning Mass with a communion service, led by a female presider. The presider reads the Gospel and hold the chalice and host aloft to recite, "this is the Lamb of God." When asked what the pastor, Father Stetz, does Saturday mornings to prevent him from saying Mass, a woman from the rectory replied, "baptisms, weddings and other things."

Jesus, an Italian journal published by the Pauline Fathers, reported on September 22 that a Vatican document on liturgical norms was returned to the drafting committee after some prelates raised objections to it and suggested revisions, said a September 24 Catholic News Service story. Cardinal Achille Silvestrini of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith said that members of his congregation and the Congregation for Divine Worship discussed the document in June. "Many observations were made, both negative and positive," Silvestrini told Catholic News Service. "The document which will be released eventually will not be the same document I saw. I have not seen a new draft, so I cannot say what will be in it." Another prelate told Catholic News Service that it was his understanding the document was being rewritten.

According to the Jesus article, the document emphasized maintaining the distinctions between clergy and laity in the liturgy and maintaining the ban on laity giving homilies. It also discouraged lay pastoral assistants from assuming liturgical roles and, while recognizing a bishop's right to permit altar girls, said he should not do so "without a just pastoral reason, and priests must never be obliged to call girls to this role." The document also reportedly forbade applause and dancing inside a sacred building, even when Mass is not being celebrated. It also said that, where central doors in an altar rail have been removed, they should be restored and that plans for them should be included in the design of new churches.


FOCUS ON FARM WORKERS. The head of the United States bishops' domestic policy committee, Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, issued a Labor Day message calling on Catholics and all Americans to focus on the plight of farm workers. Because of cultural, linguistic, and legal status, farm workers, said McCarrick, often find themselves subject to exploitation. Though some farmers, said the cardinal, treat their workers well, "too many do not, often relying on labor contractors, some of whom essentially traffic in human labor and suffering for economic profit." Housing for workers, said McCarrick, is often "decrepit" and "unsafe," and some workers "end up living under bridges or even in caves. Those who do find housing in labor camps sometimes live without decent sanitation, despite state and federal health laws." Not only do workers often suffer from "violations of wage and hour laws," but "their children often must join them in the fields because without their help, the family may not survive. They can face death and injuries on the job from dangerous farm equipment and the threat of poisoning from the pesticides used to protect the crops."

To remedy the situation, McCarrick said the United States government needs to adopt policies which recognize the dignity and rights of farm workers. He also called for "comprehensive immigration reform which features legalization" so that workers may secure their rights more easily.


TIBETAN RELIGIOUS LEADER, the Dalai Lama, received an honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters from the University of San Francisco during an interfaith service at St. Ignatius church on September 5, said the September 19 Catholic San Francisco. "His Holiness," as the article referred to him, was surrounded "by many dignitaries on the altar, including the former Archbishop of San Francisco, John Quinn, and 24 local representatives of world religions." Speaking to the audience, the Dalai Lama displayed, said the Catholic San Francisco, his "reputation for profound simplicity. "My brothers and sisters," he said, "we are all the same. There is no difference. We are born the same, and we die the same. And we all hope for happiness." He spoke of the importance of "practicing compassion," saying "take serious your inner quality," but warned that too much self-focus "can make you miss an important experience."

The Dalai Lama, said Catholic San Francisco, "is recognized as the fourteenth earthly reincarnation of Avalokitesvara, the Buddha of mercy and compassion." He is known for his worldwide advocacy for peace.


A MASS FOR CHILDREN who died shortly before, during or after birth was scheduled to be held at Holy Cross Cemetery in Colma on September 20, announced the September 19 Catholic San Francisco. Concelebrated by several priests of the archdiocese, the memorial Mass was to be an act of healing for parents who had suffered from miscarriages, or whose children had been still born, dead at birth, had died early, or who had been aborted. Mary Ann Schwab, coordinator of Project Rachel, said "the ceremony will reflect on the child's union with God and their state of eternal joy. It is offered to grieving parents as an occasion for healing and remembering."

Catholic San Francisco did not elaborate how the assurance of a presumably unbaptized child's union with God expressed by Schwab squared with the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which expresses only the "hope that there is a way of salvation for children who have died without baptism." The Church, says the Catechism, "can only entrust them to the mercy of God."


NO CARE NOT CASH. The San Francisco board of supervisors on September 16 voted down Supervisor Gavin Newsom's homeless welfare reform measure, called "Care Not Cash," said a September 17 San Francisco Examiner story. Last November, voters in San Francisco voted in the controversial measure, which would have cut the $350 to $410 monthly cash payments the city gives to homeless people to $59 a month, in return for providing room and board and other necessary services. Early this year, a judge ruled against key provisions of the measure, saying that only the board of supervisors could set public benefits limits. The board of supervisors has appealed the ruling. Earlier this summer, the board narrowly passed an amendment to the measure that removed shelter beds from the benefits homeless would receive from the city in lieu of payment.

Supervisor Tony Hall has criticized Newsom's Care Not Cash measure, saying it did not efficiently deliver services in order to combat homelessness. In an interview published in the July 25 Catholic San Francisco, Hall said, "when you take something away from someone, it's usually because it's hurting them. I'm not convinced that every person on cash assistance is a substance abuser, as the [Care Not Cash] campaign portrayed. I think a lot of people use that $349 a month to subsist on, albeit in a very meager fashion, but for some it represents independence and at least hope. The measure itself broad-strokes the entire homeless community as substance abusers. [a category] that represents 25-30% of the homeless population." Newsom has defended the efficiency of the measure.

The Examiner said that those who voted down Care Not Cash included "three progressives, Matt Gonzalez, Tom Ammiano and Chris Daly, two moderates, Fiona Ma and Sophie Maxwell, and conservative Tony Hall."


MARRIAGE BY ANOTHER NAME. Governor Gray Davis on February 19 signed into a law a bill that grants homosexual couples nearly every right accorded to the married, said a Campaign for California Families report. Though falling short of calling homosexual unions marriages, the new law violates the Protection of Marriage Act, passed by California voters in 2000, said Randy Thomasson, executive director of the Campaign for California Families. Thomasson announced that on September 22, the Alliance Defense Fund and Liberty Counsel would file separate lawsuits against Gray Davis on behalf of voters who supported the Protection of Marriage Act.

The new law states that "registered domestic partners shall have the same rights, protections, and benefits, and shall be subject to the same responsibilities, obligations, and duties under law. as are granted to and imposed upon spouses.. This act shall be construed liberally in order to secure to eligible couples who register as domestic partners the full range of legal rights, protections and benefits, as well as all of the other responsibilities, obligations, and duties to each other, to their children, to third parties and to the state, as the laws of California extend to and impose upon spouses."


CATHOLIC CONFERENCE YEAS AND NAYS. The California Conference of Catholic Bishops voiced its support of some bills and disapproval of others slated to be signed by Governor Gray Davis, said the September 26 Catholic San Francisco. The conference gave its support to a bill, sponsored by Senator John Burton (D-San Francisco) which would require businesses with more than 20 employees to provide health care for their employees, who, under the bill, must pay either 80 percent of the cost of coverage or pay a fee to the state. Businesses with 200 or more employees would have to provide coverage for their employees. "The Catholic bishops in the United States and in California have been very concerned about the number -- 40 million nationally and 7 million in California -- of people with no access to basic health care coverage other than attending their local emergency room," said the California Conference's executive director, Ned Dolejsi. "We have supported responsible attempts to deal with that issue."

The Conference opposed a bill that would require companies and non-profit groups that do business with the state to provide the same benefits to homosexual couples as to the married. Dolejsi said the chief problem with the bill was the way it violated religious liberty. The bill, he said, reverses the way in which California has dealt "respectfully with religious organizations when there is a conflict around different kinds of public programs and an individual organization's conscience."

The Catholic Conference also supported a senate bill, also sponsored by Senator Burton, that which would forbid the execution of the mentally retarded. The Conference, though, opposed a bill that, said Dolejsi, would undermine parents' role as the primary educators of their children. Instead of, as in the past, schools being required to obtain parental permission before students take sexual health and HIV/AIDS classes, the bill would require parents to inform the schools that their children will be exempted, thus switching the burden of proof to parents.

TOP