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Contents © 2002
by Jim Holman.
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NEWS
DECEMBER 2002

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THE VATICAN MAY BAR the admittance of homosexuals to the seminary, according to an October 8 Catholic News Service report. For years, the Vatican has "quietly considered" excluding homosexuals from the priesthood, but has reached no consensus, said the report; but the clergy sex abuse crisis in the U.S Church has made the question an urgent one.

The Congregation for Catholic Education, along with the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith as well as other Vatican agencies, has drafted a draft document addressing the question of homosexuals in the seminary, according to unnamed Vatican sources. During the month of October, the draft document was to be circulated for comment among theologians and other experts.

The Congregation for Catholic Education has finished another document addressing the role of psychology in helping seminaries discern fit candidates. While this document will offer merely a set a guidelines for bishops, the document on the admission of homosexuals to seminaries mandates directives or norms binding on the universal Church, Vatican sources told Catholic News Service. "The document's position (on admission of homosexuals to the priesthood) is negative, based in part on what the Catechism of the Catholic Church says in its revised edition, that the homosexual orientation is 'objectively disordered,'" Catholic News Service quoted one source as saying. "Therefore, independent of any judgment on the homosexual person, a person of this orientation should not be admitted to the seminary and, if it is discovered later, should not be ordained," said the source.

Though the document on the use of psychological sciences was slated for publication by the end of 2002, Vatican officials offered Catholic News Service no definite timetable for the publication of the document on homosexuals in the seminary.


A PARENT IN ELK GROVE has complained that a middle school in Elk Grove subjected her son to a pro-homosexual presentation without informing parents, according to an October 16 Pacific Justice Institute press release. According to the release, the presentation consisted of several one-man skits, one of which concerned a girl being raped and another about a football player who was born homosexual. The parent claims that her son was told that it was O.K. if he didn't like girls, because that meant he was gay. The Pacific Justice Institute has agreed to represent the parents in this matter and has filed an administrative complaint with the school district.

It is alleged that, while the Elk Grove high school provided notice of this presentation to parents, the middle schools were told they were not required to. In a response to the Faith, the school district said it is "committed to providing a safe learning environment for all children. We have many programs in place to teach students to respect the rights of other students, including presentations by Dr. Michael Fowlin, a psychologist and a nationally-renowned speaker, for his one-man play, 'You Don't Know Me Until You Know Me.'" According to the district, Dr. Fowlin's "presentation presents victims of discrimination that teaches students and adults about tolerance and bias prevention." The district assured that while one person complained about the presentation, "Dr. Fowlin has given his presentation in the district for more than three years and has been very well received by students and parents."

But did the middle school inform parents of Fowlin's presentation? And are middle schools not required to inform parents of such presentations? "The school had intended to send parents information about Michael Fowlin's presentation in the school newsletter," said district communications director Eileen Brault; "however, the school is a brand new school and was not able to send the notice home prior to the performance." Brault said that, "due to the possibility of litigation on this issue," the school district is "unable to respond to your questions beyond the statement already provided."


A SEVERE SHORTAGE OF SAFE, affordable housing for farm workers in San Luis Obispo County has moved the Social Justice Committee from Mission San Luis Obispo, along with other community organizations, the city of San Luis Obispo housing authority and Catholic Charities to find ways to address the problem. The project is "pretty preliminary," said Bill Watt, director of program development for Catholic Charities. "We have been meeting for about four months, doing a database needs assessment as well as meeting with the community and identifying funding sources. Right now, our major challenge is to secure the land."

Watt said Catholic Charities and its allied groups are looking to build around 45 units and hope to purchase from three to five acres. They chose the area around Shandon in northeast San Luis Obispo County because it is "significantly more affordable than, say, Paso Robles, which is 25 miles to the west," said Watt, or other areas in the south county region. Shandon, too, said Watt, is "an area that has been largely shifting towards grapes and more longer term employment than row crops."

For more information on the project, one may contact Bill Watt at (805) 544-1048.


SAYING IT IS NOT HIS INTENTION "to dictate to Catholics the conclusions they should reach" on whether the United States should wage war on Iraq, Bishop Patrick of McGrath of San Jose on September 25 laid out the prerequisites for a just war and his own stance on the threatened conflict. McGrath said the Church lays down five conditions for a just war: "1) a nation may defend itself against unjust aggression; 2) war is the last resort. All other means of resolution must be exhausted; 3) Only legitimate authority can wage war; 4) There can be no attack on the innocent; 5) There must be reasonable proportionality between the injustice suffered and the violent means used to correct it. The common view is that nuclear war is never permissible since nothing could justify such mass killing and destruction."

Bishop McGrath cites a "recent letter" Bishop Wilton Gregory, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, wrote to President Bush, in which Gregory notes that "present circumstances" meet none of the criteria for a just war. Bishop Gregory's letter also pointed out, wrote McGrath, that "for the past eleven years an embargo against lIraq has resulted in, by common estimates, more than a million deaths. As always, the casualties have been primarily among children and the poor. I fear that a military assault at this time will compound this tragedy.

While admitting that "we have the right and duty to defend ourselves," Bishop McGrath said he does "not believe that we can pursue this defense at the cost of still more innocent lives. A great danger in answering violence with violence is that we may become what we oppose."


"GRANNIES AGAINST DEAD CHILDREN," read one sign, "Drop Bush, Not Bombs," read another (among many others) at an October 26 rally against war in Iraq in San Francisco, according to an October 27 San Francisco Chronicle report. The rally, which, according to protestors, drew 80,000 participants (police estimated half that number), was said to be the largest peace demonstration in San Francisco since the Vietnam War. The protest began at Justin Herman Plaza, proceeded down Market Street, and ended with a rally at the Civic Center. The same day, other peace rallies were staged in front of the White House in Washington, D.C., in Rome, Mexico City, London, Tokyo and other cities. The rally at the Civic Center in San Francisco lasted more than an hour. Among the speakers at the rally were United States Representative Barbara Lee (D-Oakland), folksinger Utah Phillips, and the Green Party's gubernatorial candidate, Peter Camejo.


THE GIVE AND TAKE OF POLITICS. Pro-lifers rejoiced last July when President George W. Bush announced that he would redirect the $34 million Congress had slated for United Nations family planning programs because of their ties with forced abortion in China. Bush redirected the money to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which, according to an October 24 Catholic World News report, has announced that it will endow the Population Council with a $65 million grant. According to its website, the Population Council "works in countries where abortion is legal to make abortion services safer and to improve access to them. The organization also works in these and other countries to reduce the burden of morbidity and mortality from unsafe abortion. Council work in abortion includes both medical abortion and post-abortion care." The Council also, says the website, "holds the United States rights to mifepristone [RU-486] for early pregnancy termination. In 1996, the Council filed a New Drug Application for U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval of the drug; approval was granted in September 2000. The Council conducted a clinical trial in the United States involving 2,100 women at 17 sites."


DUBYA'S COMMITMENT. "President Bush has made the fight against AIDS a priority of his administration," said Dr. Anne Peterson, U.S. Agency for International Development's assistant administrator for global health, according to a USAID press release. She referred to USAID's $65 million grant to the Population Council. The grant will go to the Horizons program, which calls itself "a team of US-based and international organizations working to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS and mitigate its impact on individuals and communities." One Horizon program pays for condom use among "sex workers" (prostitutes) in third world countries. According to the May 2002 Horizons Report, a Santo Domingo "100 percent" program (sponsored by Horizons) "promotes solidarity among sex workers, sex establishment owners, managers and staff, and others in the sex work industry to build a collective commitment to condom use for every commercial sex act." In addition, it sponsors "workshop discussions on such sensitive issues as trust and intimacy between sex workers and regular clients and boyfriends, with whom condom use is often irregular." Catholic World News reported that, in a letter to pro-life groups, Congressional Pro-Life Caucus leader John Cusey pointed out that Horizons gives condoms to sex workers instead of helping them escape their condition. Some members of Congress, said Cusey, are working on a letter requesting USAID not to direct the money to the Population Council.

In September, Bush also pledged to rejoin UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, which advocates reproductive health services for children, including abortion.


ARCHBISHOP WILLIAM LEVADA of San Francisco joined a U.S. bishops/Vatican commission to discuss how to reform the U.S. bishops "zero-tolerance" sexual abuse policy adopted by the prelates last June, according to an October 24 San Francisco Chronicle report. The Vatican refused to approve the bishops' sex abuse policy because it did not sufficiently safeguard the rights of accused priests and could be a "source of confusion and ambiguity." Cardinal Francis George of Chicago, Bishop Thomas Doran of Rockford, Illinois, and Bishop William Lori of Bridgeport, Connecticut represented the U.S. bishops along with Levada. About the talks, said Levada, "I want to take a positive view. Rome wants to be helpful. If they had wanted to reject the charter, they could have." The bishops hoped to have a compromise plan in place to present to the U.S. bishops at their November 11-15 meeting in Washington, D.C.


JOIE DE WHAT? The tenth annual Celebrity Pool Toss was an exotic affair, according to the October 22 San Francisco Chronicle. The event, held at the Tenderloin's Phoenix Hotel (described by the Chronicle as "a Miami-inspired crash pad for traveling rock stars, naked performance artists and all mutations of glitterati"), was a fundraiser for the Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation, which provides housing for about 3,000 needy persons. The pool toss was "an evening of wackiness, indulgence and 'La Cage Aux Folles' spectacle," according to the Chronicle. At one point, said the Chronicle, "a towering drag queen in a platinum wig and silver lamé hot-pants/halter-top combo," cried out, "honey, don't f-- with Snatch" while "the intoxicated crowd hoot[ed] with pleasure." The Chronicle continued: "a man clad in full armor waits patiently for his moment of wet humiliation: Ms. Snatch will kick him into a pool swarming with muscle-bound, scantily clad attendants of both sexes."

According to the Chronicle, the Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation's executive director, Franciscan Brother Kelly Cullen, instituted the pool toss. This year's event drew about 500 participants (including Mayor Willie Brown) and raised $170,000 for the corporation's family and children's services. At one point, Brother Kelly, in his Franciscan habit and wearing giant plastic wings, danced with Chip Conley, dressed as a devil in silk pajamas. (Conley is the owner of the Joie de Vivre hotel chain, which includes the Tenderloin's Phoenix Hotel.) The two sang, "Travelin' along, singin' a song, side by side," before they were pushed into the pool.


CLERGY ON STRIKE. On September 13, the San Francisco Marriott agreed to a labor contract with the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Local 2, according to the October 4 Catholic San Francisco, the organ of the archdiocese of San Francisco. The contract ends a dispute between the union and Marriott that has gone on since 1996. The dispute has been characterized by strikes and civil disobedience on the part of union members and their supporters, as well as boycotts of Marriott hotels. According to the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union, Marriott has been guilty of unfair labor practices, including giving raises and benefits to all employees, except those represented by Local 2. The new settlement gives workers medical, childcare and retirement benefits, job security, and regular schedules.

Mike Casey, president of Local 2, said that the contract with Marriott "would never have happened without the support of Catholic and other religious leaders." Both priests and Catholic laity worked in the cause of union organization, an effort supported by Archbishop William Levada. In commending the Catholic presence in the organizing effort, Casey noted the participation of Father William O'Donnell, parochial vicar of St. Joseph the Worker in Berkeley; Franciscan Father Louis Vitale, pastor of San Francisco' s St. Boniface; Father Peter Sammon, now deceased, formerly pastor of San Francisco's St. Teresa's church; and Presentation Sister Kathleen Healy, also of St. Teresa. These, said Casey, "were active, outspoken and came to the lines." Father O'Connell was twice arrested during peaceful civil disobedience demonstrations.


NOT SINCE ADAM AND EVE. California's teen birth rate has dipped below the national average for the first time since 1980, said an October 21 Associated Press report. Only 45 teen females, ages 15-19, out of every 1,000, gave birth this year, compared with 1991, when it was reported that 73 out every 1,000 teen girls gave birth. The national average is currently 46 girls out of every 1,000.

State officials attribute the decline in birth rates to a state media campaign which tells teenagers their reproductive options. The programs stress male involvement in preventing "unplanned" pregnancies. They also publish information on family health services and communication between teenagers and their parents. The program's web site gives links showing where to obtain family planning services.

While the average birthrate has decreased in the state, on a local level it has decreased for only 32 of California's 58 counties. Fresno, Yuba and Kings counties retain the highest rates, while Marin County has the lowest rate -- 12.9 per every 1,000 girls. Among ethnic groups, the highest rates are found among Hispanic girls (86.2 births for every 1,000) and blacks (53.3 births for every thousand.) Asian and Pacific Islander girls have the lowest birthrate -- 15.6 per every thousand.

Kathy Kneer, president of Planned Parenthood Associates of California, said the decreased number of births does not reflect an increased number of abortions. She noted that there has been a 60 percent decrease in state-funded abortions since 1990. Kneer said that the state's approach of "responsible" sex among teens is more realistic than President George W. Bush's push for abstinence. "That probably hasn't happened since Adam and Eve," said Kneer.


ADVOCATE FOR THE POOR and homeless, Sister Sheila Walsh, has stepped down as executive director of Jericho, an interfaith educational and political advocacy organization she formed in 1986, according to an October 17 Sacramento Bee report. A Sister of Social Service, Sister Sheila has spent the last 25 years as a lobbyist in Sacramento, tirelessly working for legislation to help the poor, the homeless, the unemployed, and low-income senior citizens. Sister Sheila and Jericho have favored legislation that calls for low-income housing, healthcare for the uninsured, pre-natal care for the poor, and mental healthcare for the homeless.

Jericho has taken no positions on abortion, the death penalty, "gay rights" issues, or school issues, such as home schooling and vouchers. The organization's neutrality on abortion is, perhaps, indicated by the 100 percent approval rating it has given to pro-abortion state legislators as Senator John Burton (D-San Francisco), Assemblyman Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) and Senator Liz Figueroa (D-Fremont) for their support of issues that impact the poor (according to the June 1, 2002 Catholic Herald.) In an e-mail message, Sister Simone Campbell, who succeeded Sister Sheila as executive director of Jericho, told the Faith that Sister Sheila developed Jericho "to address the needs of the poor in California that were not being addressed by other organizations within the faith community. Therefore, the major focus has been (and continues to be) welfare reform, low income housing, health care access, and the state budget to the extent that it impacts these three areas." Issues such as abortion, the death penalty, homosexual issues, and schooling issues are not "within these areas," said Sister Simone, though Jericho does "collaborate with those who do have positions on these topics." With whom do they collaborate? "On these issues," said Sister Simone, "we collaborate principally with the California Catholic Conference of Bishops."


AFTER A FIVE YEAR RESTORATION costing $12 million, St. Boniface church in San Francisco celebrated its reopening liturgy on October 6, according to an October 18 Catholic San Francisco report. The restoration, which did not change the traditional character of the beautiful church, arose from a consensus of the parish members, including the street people of the Tenderloin, according to Franciscan Father Louis Vitale, the church's pastor. The renovation, said Father Louis, "cost a lot more than we expected. If we had known how much we might not have done it. It was in the hands of God. It was a miracle that we raised that much. It shows that this is what God wants."

When the restoration project's original price tag of $5 million was first announced, said Father Louis, "someone wrote a letter to the editor saying we ought to give the $5 million to the people in line for St. Anthony's Dining Room" -- the parish's homeless outreach. But, said Father Louis, "how far would that extra cash go? And it wouldn't go far for housing." In defense of the restoration, Father Louis noted that "Dorothy Day said, 'don' t ever take away beauty from the poor.'" With the restoration of St. Bonfice, the people of the Tenderloin have again in their midst a place of "beauty, safety and sanctuary." The restoration also included the Franciscan friary at St. Boniface, the DeMarillac school for children of the Tenderloin, and a theater located on the church's lower level.


ON TO PRISON. Father Louis Vitale spoke of the parish renovation shortly before going to Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada to serve a three-month sentence at a federal prison camp for a participating at a peaceful protest at Fort Benning, Georgia, last year. Fort Benning is the site for the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, once known as the School of the Americas. Peace activists have long accused the institute for training Latin American military personnel who, when they returned to their countries, committed murder and acts of repression. Father Louis has served jail time for other acts of civil disobedience.


NIGHTIME SAN FRANCISCO talk show host, Bernie Ward, on October 16 addressed about 80 attendees of "General Life Series" program at Bellarmine College Prep in the Silicon Valley, according to a Catholics United in Restoring Orthodoxy in Christ Our King news release. Ward is known for his attacks on Pope John Paul II and the teachings of the Catholic Church. Ward had been invited by Bellarmine president, Jesuit Father William Muller, according to the press release.

According to the news release, when asked for the cause of the current priest shortage, Ward answered, the Holy Spirit. There are so few vocations, said Ward, because there is nothing attractive "about the feeling that you' re going to be isolated and by yourself." Ward spoke of the Eucharist, which he called a sharing experience. Confirmation, he said, was about a person's decision to be Catholic. He opined that the rising number of "conservative" seminarians would bring tensions to parishes and school and lead to an exodus of Catholics.

According to the press release, when was asked "why he would choose a speaker who undercuts authentic Catholic teaching," Father Muller shrugged off the question. The presentation, he said, was "just having a conversation about Catholic education tonight."

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