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Contents © 1997
by Jim Holman.
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NEWS
NOVEMBER 1997

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AN ESTIMATED 250 SUPPORTERS OF FEMALE ORDINATION gathered in an Oakland plaza on October 5 to hold a mock mass called "Critical Mass: Women Celebrating Eucharist." The "liturgy" revolved around the mockery of a traditional priest, played by married former priest Skip Sikora. "He's like Falstaff in a Shakespeare play. He is a foil," said a man in the crowd.

Dressed in Tridentine-style vestments, Sikora faked dismay each time a trumpet (symbol of a clarion call to female ordination) interrupted his traditional prayers and songs. At the conclusion of his play-acting--and after being stripped of his vestments by a female event organizer--Sikora said to the crowd, "Now, I'm a protagonist for the future Church.... The most important question facing the future Church is the equality of women." A group of women, including Victoria Rue, then danced around the altar, holding loaves of bread and saying, "This is my body. This is my blood" (presumably referring to themselves). "Some of us are called to the priesthood," said the emcee. "We are claiming here today the freedom to try or experiment and to do so publicly."


SURSUM CORDA MAGAZINE FEATURES IN ITS FALL ISSUE a story about recently-appointed Melbourne Archibshop George Pell. Chronicling Pell's efforts to restore orthodoxy to the Church in Australia, Sursum Corda reports that he "battled with--and bested--the liberal (former) head of Australia's Jesuits, Rev. W.J. Uren, in a controversy involving Ignatius Press publisher Fr. Joseph Fessio.

"As Archbishop, Pell has taken the field against opponents not only within his diocese, but across Australia," writes Sursum Corda reporter Rick Rotundi. "One headline-making case occurred shortly after his installation, and involved American Jesuit Fr. Joseph Fessio, publisher of Ignatius Press. Fessio was preparing to embark on a lecture tour of Australia, having been invited to do so by an organization of Catholic priests.

"When Jesuit Provincial Rev. W.J. Uren learned of Fessio's proposed visit, he circulated a 'warning' to the Australian bishops, saying that Fessio's visit was unauthorized. Though Fessio's American superiors had given permission for the trip, Uren claimed Fessio was violating Jesuit protocol by not obtaining his permission as well. ('Preposterous,' says Fessio. 'If the protocol Fr. Uren refers to exists, no Jesuit I have spoken to has ever heard of it.')

"Uren was also concerned that Fessio had 'on occasion given expression to some rather reactionary views,' and that his Australian sponsors subscribed to 'rather legalistic forms of orthodoxy.' (Father Fessio responded by challenging Uren to state publicly his acceptance of Church teaching on homosexuality, artificial contraception and the possibility of women priests.)

"In the midst of this uproar, Archbishop Pell contacted the bishops whose dioceses Fr. Fessio would be visiting. Pell informed the bishops that he would be present for Fessio's address in Melbourne, and would personally propose the vote of thanks.

"That settled the matter of whether Fessio would come to Australia. In fact, he drew crowds of 500 in Brisbane and Sydney--and 1500 in Pell's Melbourne."


THE SEAMLESS GARMENT NETWORK CO-SPONSORED A "CONSISTENT ETHIC CONFERENCE" on September 20 at the University of San Francisco. Speakers addressed such disparate topics as "war, abortion, racism, the arms race, the death penalty, and euthanasia," offering a curious mixture of strong pro-life sentiments and hard left-wing views.

"We have to be wild as God is wild," said Shelley Douglass, urging the audience to embrace pacifism. Cheered for her long-time opposition to Trident nuclear submarines, Douglass expressed dismay at the sight of a military poster beneath a statue of Martin Luther King in her hometown of Birmingham, Alabama.

Mary Krane Derr, a "pro-life feminist," elicited a laugh by repeating a pro-choice slogan ("If men could get pregnant, it would be a sacrament"), even as she gently disagreed with pro-abortion views.

A Jesuit and Franciscan also spoke, addressing not abortion or euthanasia, but the environment and nuclear arms. Also scheduled to speak was Steve Cook of "Pro-Life Alliance of Gays and Lesbians." He was unable to attend the event. However, conference participants could pick up a flyer for his group, which boasts the novel slogan, "Abortion as Gay Bashing." Other materials offered at the conference included: a magazine promoting committed homosexual relationships, a petition to "close the U.S. Army School of Assassins," and an invitation to join Abolition 2000, "a Global Network to Eliminate Nuclear Weapons."


PRO-LIFE CATHOLIC ALAN KEYES, WHO SOUGHT THE REPUBLICAN NOMINATION for president in 1996, has said his supporters must raise $2,000,000 by February 1997 before he can declare his candidacy for the year 2000.

David Quakenbush, a Thomas Aquinas College professor who worked on the Keyes campaign in '96, has come up with a plan to raise the entire $2,000,000 by the required date--and all from small donations. He is looking for 2000 people (called the "Keyes 2000") who will pledge $10 per month for the next 15 months. Each member of this 2000 will then seek out six other people, who, in turn, will pledge $10 per month. "If we have this in place by December 1997," says Quakenbush, "total revenue through February 1997 will be $2,100,000." Keyes 2000 members will receive a package of promotional materials that includes the best Keyes campaign video from '96. The task of placing 2000 of these packages will be divided among the 50 states, the number of packages per state being determined by population. Thus, says Quakenbush, California will receive 240 packages, Arkansas 20, et cetera.

"If we get this going by December 1997, we will have done the most significant thing in presidential campaign finance since the $1000 limit was passed into law," Quakenbush says. "A candidate will know 26 months before Iowa that he will have millions of dollars--none of it special interest, none of it regional or single-issue--and we will have an absolutely rabid network of grass roots activists who have tasted success, are hungry for more, and we will have money to enable them to do much more."

For more information, contact Keyes 2000 Program at 325 East Oakview Ave., Oakview, CA 93022, or call (805) 649-4299; e-mail: davidq@SoCa.com


IS ACCEPTANCE OF CHURCH DOCTRINE A REQUIREMENT to teach religion in a Catholic school? Apparently not in San Francisco. The September 14 Sunday to Sunday, the official newsletter for the San Francisco Archdiocese, spotlights Karen Atkinson, a third-grade teacher at San Francisco's Holy Name of Jesus Elementary School. "Karen admits to being at odds with the Church over some issues, saying she subscribes to a feminism based in the equality of women and men," Sunday to Sunday reports, hastening to add, "But none of the rubs[sic] diminishes her commitment to the faith she professes and represents. 'As much as I might disagree with the Church about certain things, I know I'm a child of God and how important it is for me to maintain that relationship with God,' Karen said. 'Any human institution is going to have problems and imperfections. I enjoy teaching about the Catholic faith and letting my students know it is a human institution."

Atkinson also imparts to her students an enthusiasm for religious pluralism: "One of the things Karen likes best about the Church is its willingness to respect other faiths, many of which are represented in her classroom and classrooms throughout the Archdiocese. 'One of the things I try to get across to them is how the Catholic Church teaches the need to respect other religions and a lot of the students are really happy about that,' Karen said."


AT THE SEPTEMBER 4-7 CONFERENCE OF THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF CATHOLIC DIOCESAN LESBIAN AND GAY MINISTRIES in Long Beach, numerous Bay Area clergy appeared to promote the homosexual agenda.

The Northern California division of the conference acknowledged the strong support it has received from the diocese of Oakland (where Fr. Schexnayder heads the gay and lesbian outreach, from which office he also operates the national association), the diocese of San Jose (where the bishop, Pierre DuMaine, is planning a regional gay and lesbian support meeting), and the diocese of Monterey. The group noted, however, that it needs to do "outreach" to the conservative dioceses of Santa Rosa, Stockton, Fresno and Sacramento to get these dioceses to start gay and lesbian ministries. A sign-up sheet was passed around to collect names for an effort to organize all Northern California diocesan homosexual support groups into a network.

Father Schexnayder noted the success of the high school program he instituted in Oakland to educate Catholic school teachers about the needs of gay youth. Bishop Cummings and the Oakland Superintendent of Catholic schools support this endeavor, he said.

Father Schexnayder also runs gay support groups at two Catholic boys' schools. Asked about this after the session, Father Schexnayder provided a pamphlet on the school program and noted that he often speaks at other Catholic schools in the Bay Area, such as Carondelet High School in Concord, where he addressed the school's "Women's Health Issues" class. According to the pamphlet, the High School Youth Project is funded by grants from the Horizons Foundation (which donates primarily to radical gay causes; an Internet search turns up its name in such places as the Queer Art Resource web page and the Pacific Gas and Electric Fund for Lesbian and Gay Youth and Education). The pamphlet also says that the project provides curriculum and library resources for teaching children about homosexuality, information on referrals to "community services," and promotes on-campus support groups and "peer ministry."

Other Bay Area representatives at the conference included: Deacon Jim Campbell of St. Augustine Parish in Pleasanton (diocese of Oakland), who seemed angry with the Church for alienating his lesbian daughter; Sister Pat Mulpeters, vicar for pastoral ministry for the diocese of San Jose, who is working on outreach to Spanish-speaking homosexuals; Father Tom Ryan, administrator of St. Ambrose parish in Berkeley (diocese of Oakland), who wore a homosexual rainbow ribbon pin handed out by Dignity; and Sister Sharon Casey of Holy Names College in Oakland (who noted that the college observes National Coming Out Day), Father Rich Lewandowski of Santa Clara University, and Father Bob Loughery, director of campus ministry for the Oakland diocese.

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