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Contents © 2004
by Jim Holman.
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NEWS
July/August 2004

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CALIFORNIA SUPREME COURT justice Kathryn Werdegar, it seems, is concerned about "fairness" to homosexuals declared married by the city of San Francisco if the California Supreme Court should declare those marriage in violation of Califonia law. In a May 25 hearing on the issue, Werdegar, according to the May 26 Los Angeles Times, asked several times if it would not be unfair to invalidate the 4,000 homosexual marriages approved by San Francisco without giving the affected couples the opportunity to address the pertinent legal issues. This was a sticking point for the justice, it seems, who noted, "if the mayor had no authority, would it not follow that the marriages were invalid?" Justice Marvin Baxter said that, if there were unfairness, "of course, it is the city that has created this mess."

According to the Times, most of the justices seemed inclined to regard Mayor Gavin Newsom's approval of gay marriages as an abuse of authority. Wouldn't Newsom's action encourage other cities to ignore laws they deemed unconstitutional? And, if homosexual marriage was approved in California, Justice Ming Chin asked, "would mayors throughout the state be free to disregard it?" Justice Janice Brown opined that, even if a local official could refuse to enforce a law he deemed unconstitutional, Gavin Newsom went farther and "eliminated the role of both the courts and the Legislature." Justice Joyce Kennard wondered "what was the emergency" that compelled Mayor Newsom to defy state law? "What about the irreparable harm?" Justice Werdegar noted that a trial court in California was reviewing the constitutionality of the state's marriage laws and that the case would likely reach the state supreme court in one or two years. If the supreme court should deem these laws unconstitutional, "would these [same-sex] marriages spring back to life or would the couples have to be remarried?" But Chief Justice Robert George said such an event "wouldn't revive the marriages."

SACRAMENTO CITY COUNCILMAN and Democratic contender for the ninth state assembly district, Dave Jones, has asked the city of Sacramento to extend marriage rights to city employees who can present a same-sex marriage certificate, said the May 10 Sacramento Bee. Though a state law that will go into effect January 1 will mandate such benefits to domestic partners registered with the state, Jones said the city should adopt his proposed ordinance. "I just think this is the right thing to do," he said.

In March, the San Jose city council voted to grant city employees with same-sex marriage licenses from San Francisco the same rights accorded married employees.

BUT GROUPS OPPOSED to same-sex marriage filed a lawsuit against the city of San Jose on May 13, saying the city's vote to recognize same-sex marriages violated California marriage law. Jordan Lorence of the Alliance Defense Fund, which filed the suit on behalf of the Proposition 22 Legal Defense and Education Fund and theValues Advocacy Council, said the city had a "policy and plan to use taxpayer-funded time, labor and public resources to violate California state law." Lorence said, "recognizing these attempts to redefine (same-sex) marriage as legal is anarchy and expresses disdain for the rule of law."

AN ASSEMBLY BILL that would, if passed, have undercut a state law that defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman was shelved, said the May 20 Sacramento Bee. The bill, the California License Nondiscrimination Act, would have removed the terms "male" and "female," "man" and "woman" from the California Family Code and replaced them with "person" and "persons." The new language would apply to all but one section of the code (section 308.5), which deals with marriages performed out of state, where language from Proposition 22, the initiative that defined marriage as a union between a man and a woman, appears. The proposed bill also declared, "where necessary to implement the rights and responsibilities of spouses under the law, gender-specific terms shall be construed to be gender-neutral, except with respect to Section 308.5." The bill's sponsor, Assemblyman Mark Leno of San Francisco, said he dropped the bill because "I did not have the certainty of 41 votes on the floor of the Assembly at this time." Leno also said that Governor Arnold Schwarzenneger "may not be prepared to see this (bill) on his desk this year," since he had not yet met with the legislature's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Caucus. Leno said he would bring up similar legislation in December of this year -- after the elections.

The fact that this is an election year is the real reason Leno dropped the legislation, according to Benjamin Lopez of the Traditional Values Coalition. "If they truly believe in this issue," said Lopez, "they'll run with it this election year. Instead, they want to cram this smut down the throats of Californians when they don't have to face the voters."

"THE NEED FOR PRIESTS and religious will become increasingly acute in our Diocese," wrote Bishop William Weigand in the May 8 Catholic Herald, the newspaper of the diocese of Sacramento. Bishop Weigand detailed the reasons for this: the increasing Catholic population in the diocese and the growing number of priests 60 years of age and older. Despite the growing Catholic population, however, few of the new priests are home-grown, said Weigand. "Of the 32 priests ordained for the Diocese of Sacramento over the last 10 years, 11 (34%) were living in the Diocese of Sacramento for a substantial period of time before entering the seminary," he wrote. "The other 20 came as candidates from Mexico, the Philippines, Colombia and elsewhere." Over the past five years, only five (21 percent) of the 24 priests ordained were sons of the diocese.

Though grateful for the foreign-born priests, Bishop Weigand said "that many young men who live in the Diocese are called to the priesthood, but have not yet discerned and responded to God's call. The dearth of local vocations must be of concern to all of us." Since vocations do not come out "of thin air," said the bishop, questions must be asked: "how eager are families to have one or more of their children be a priest or religious? How much are youth and children encouraged to consider the priesthood or religious life? This encouragement should begin early on in their development." Quoting Pope John Paul II, Weigand wrote: "vocations are indeed a gift from God for which we must pray unceasingly. Following the invitation of Jesus, we need to pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest (cf. Mt 9:37). Prayer, enriched by the silent offering of suffering, remains the first and most effective means of pastoral work for vocations."

LITURGICAL REFORM IN OAKLAND? Bishop Allen Vigneron, in an April 27 letter to the clergy and faithful of the diocese of Oakland, drew attention to the April 23 publication in English of the Vatican document, Redemptionis Sacramentum. This document, said Vigneron, not only "reiterates the centrality of the Eucharist in the life of the Church, and comments on the reasons for a faithful observance of the liturgical norms, especially those found in the recently published General Instruction of the Roman Missal," but "also points out some liturgical abuses that occur in different parts of the world, so that they can be expeditiously corrected." To implement the directives of Redemptionis Sacramentum, the bishop said the diocese must begin catechesis on the document for clergy and laity. Since this catechesis must be done well, planning it will take "time and careful consideration." Vigneron said he would "be discussing this matter with the Presbyteral Council and appropriate diocesan staff, so that we can formulate our plans as soon as possible."

NEWS OF THE CLOSING of three diocese of Oakland schools incited a storm of protest from parents of affected students, said a May 10 Catholic Voice article. Parents and staff members of the three elementary schools learned of the closings April 30. The schools in question are St. Augustine and St. Paschal Baylon schools and Sts. Cyril-Louis Bertrand Academy, all in Oakland. At three May 4 meetings, held at the schools, parents protested the diocese's decision. They had prepared a resolution asking the diocese to rescind the decision; but Bishop Allen Vigneron and Mark DeMarco, diocesan superintendent of schools, immediately denied the appeal, saying the decision to close the schools had been reached after much consideration and on the advice of pastors advising the bishop.

Since January, the diocese had been monitoring the three schools and two others, which have suffered from declining enrollment and deficit spending. On January 15, DeMarco wrote to the schools saying that Bishop Vigneron had decided "to keep open all of the Catholic schools in the Diocese of Oakland with the understanding that each school will meet the criteria established by the task force and approved by the Bishop." The Academy and St. Paschal Baylon had until June 30 of this year to meet the first enrollment goals, while St. Augustine had until March 31, 2005. But the diocese said it could already see indications that the goals would not be met and so decided on closing the schools. Parents, however, complained that the diocese was reneging on its agreement with the schools.

The diocese said it would make up the difference in tuition for students now forced to attend other diocesan schools, as well as provide vouchers for uniforms. The diocese is assisting faculty and staff of the affected schools to find new positions.

CRITICS OF THE DIOCESE of Oakland's Christ the Light Cathedral project told Bishop Vigneron that the $131 million price tag for the things was too high, said the May 8 Oakland Tribune story. The money, said some, should be spent on the poor. To the question whether the money for the cathedral would not be better spent on the schools the diocese said must close, Bishop Vigneron replied that the financial issues of the cathedral and schools were separate.

ELECT THE POPE or, at least, the bishops, was the theme of speakers at a May 14 conference, "Sin Against the Innocents," at Santa Clara University, according to a May 15 Associated Press story. The keynote speaker, Leon Panetta, who sits on the U.S. bishops committee on child sexual abuse, said the Church "is for all intents and purposes a feudal system, and these are fiefdoms that bishops operate pretty much on their own." Panetta, who as former chief of staff to President Bill Clinton knows the value of democracy in keeping officials accountable, said the bishops "don't want to be accountable to anyone but the pope, and what he doesn't know is just as well."

John Gonsiorek, a psychologist at the Minnesota School of Professional Psychology, said "only solution" to the clerical molestation crisis "is for the faithful to remove the current church hierarchy from power." Gonsiorek, who is also the editor of The Breach of Trust, a book about sexual exploitation, opined that "the faithful need to take decisive action -- otherwise, they're complicit" -- at which, said Associated Press, the crowd of about 200 people erupted in "rounds of applause and cheers." "At a minimum," the psychologist continued, "there needs to be direct election of bishops by the laity.... Do not fund the church until it shapes up." Canon lawyer, the Rev. Thomas Doyle, agreed with Gonsiorek, saying the bishops should be elected, not appointed by the pope.

Other participants included Kathleen McChensney, executive director of the U.S. bishops' office of child and youth protection; Michael Rezendes, the journalist who broke the Boston sexual abuse story for the Boston Globe; David Clohessy, executive director of Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests; Richard Sipe, author of Sex, Priests and Power and national clergy sexual abuse guru; the Rev. Gerald Coleman, recently retired rector of St. Patrick's Seminary, Menlo Park; and Jesuit father Thomas Rausch, theology professor at Loyola-Marymount, Los Angeles.

DAVID CLOHESSY, national director for the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, hand-delivered a letter to the San Francisco archdiocese, urging the Archbishop William Levada to back a second audit of church progress in identifying and removing molesting priests and preventing further abuse, said the May 16 San Jose Mercury News. Clohessy noted that several East Coast bishops have delayed till November a U.S bishops conference vote whether to conduct a second audit. The U.S. bishops' lay-run Review Board, however, discovering this, were able to get a vote on the agenda at a June bishops' retreat in Denver. Clohessy told the Mercury News that "the guys out East have drawn lines in sand, and while dozens may want to postpone or cancel the audit, even more have remained silent." Clohessy said, "it may be necessary to fight those other bishops to move forward."

A spokeswoman for the diocese of San Jose, Roberta Ward, told the Mercury News that, if the bishops approve another audit, she's sure her bishop, Patrick McGrath, would also approve it. "He has always been clear that it's important to get all the information out there," Ward said.

"ANTI-CATHOLIC BIGOTRY is still rampant and I don't believe it has ever died, even if it did appear dormant for a time." So wrote the Rev. John Malloy in a letter to the editor, published in the May 21 San Francisco Chronicle. Father Malloy, pastor of Sts. Peter and Paul Church in San Francisco, was commenting on a May 20 news report that 48 Catholic members of Congress have warned Washington D.C.'s bishop, Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, that placing ecclesiastical sanctions on pro-abortion Catholic politicians would revive anti-Catholic bigotry. Father Malloy said that the refusal to admit "abortionists" to communion is not some new measure; but "any Catholic, politician or not, who supports abortion rights is subject to sanction and separates himself or herself from the Catholic Church. This has been the law of the church for centuries." The bishops, "as teachers of the faith," wrote Malloy, have the "obligation to instruct the faithful and uphold the law of the church even to the invoking of sanctions."

Malloy said that "the bishops who have so ruled are doing a favor to these politicians by not allowing them to commit a sacrilege -- which is receiving the Sacrament unworthily."

THE CALIFORNIA CATHOLIC CONFERENCE has voted to oppose a November 2004 voters initiative which would approve $3 billion in bonds to fund fetal stem cell research, said a May 21 Associated Press report. The bill would permit state funding for the cloning of human embryos for research purposes. "We think it's really outrageous to grant a constitutional right to conduct stem cell research," conference spokeswoman Carol Hogan told Associated Press. The bishops, she said, believe that only the richest patients will benefit from potential medical breakthroughs -- and, she said, "to obligate our state to more debt at this time is simply wrong." Hogan said that though the conference will oppose the initiative, it had yet to raise funds. The conference would be "lucky," she said, to raise $1 million by the election.

BUT THE BILL'S PROPONENTS are already well-heeled, financially. According to Associated Press, several Silicon Valley capitalists and their families have contributed $1.8 million to the campaign to approve state funding for stem-cell research. As of May, the campaign had raised about $5.3 million, with a goal of $20 million by November. Among the contributors are bio-tech firms and bio-tech investment firms, though some, like $250,000 contributor Michael Gordon, managing partner of the Palo-Alto-based Meritch Capital Partners, which has no bio-tech investments, said his reasons were personal: he has been a diabetic for the past 38 years, he said. But Woodside's Joseph Lacob, a partner in Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers, which does have bio-tech investments, said his $250,000 contribution to the cause had no financial strings attached. "People know the people behind the initiative," he said, "and the support has nothing to do with a profit goal. It has to do with doing good." Another Kleiner Perkins partner, John Doerr, and his wife together contributed $974,649 to the campaign. Doerr also owns a stake in Google Inc.

POLICE LED A RAID on a homeless encampment on a West Sacramento riverfront May 5, said the May 6 Sacramento Bee. Homeless squatters were given a week's notice before the raid, which Detective Amy Weirich, spokeswoman for the West Sacramento police, said was not carried out "to punish people for being homeless. Unfortunately, the water parkway is being used for illegal camping and it is not a healthy situation. There is pollution and human waste going into the river and a danger of fires. We had to clear it out." During the raid, police made 11 arrests for illegal camping, one for drug possession, and one for a felony parole violation. Most of the homeless had decamped before the raid.

West Sacramento mayor Christopher Cabaldon said that the homeless were encamped on public land and that that "isn't an option." The encampment was part of a 43-acre site for a future state park and governor's mansion. Across the levee from the camps is the site for a development of 1,140 house and condominiums. But Sharon Wagner, coordinator of the Broderick Christian Center's homeless drop-in program, said the problem is that the homeless in West Sacramento have no option. "They'll go away for a couple of days, and then they'll come back," she said. "They'll have no place else to go. This just reinforces the fact that we need an overnight (homeless) shelter in West Sacramento. But there's just a lot of politics involved in that."

FAMILY PROTECTION MINISTRIES of Lincoln, California, has scored another victory for home schoolers, according to a May 21 Home School Legal Defense announcement. California senator Kevin Murray (D-Los Angeles) had initiated a "clean bathroom bill" in the senate education committee. The bill would have authorized cities and counties to inspect bathrooms in public and private schools to ensure they were clean and operational and well supplied with soap, toilet paper, hand towels or working hand dryers. Since, in California, home schools are registered as private schools, the bill, according to Family Protection Ministries and Home School Legal Defense, would have allowed local officials to inspect bathrooms in the homes of home schooling families. Family Protection Ministries communicated its concerns to the senate education committee and Senator Murray's office. Early this year, along with Home School Legal Defense, Family Protection Ministries worked to ensure that home schooling families would be exempt from the legislation. Senator Murray has since withdrawn his bill from the senate committee.

"LET THE BEAUTY WE LOVE be what we do. There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground." These words of Mevlana Jallaudin Rumi, a thirteenth century Islamic Sufi poet and mystic, expresses well the sentiments of Father Gerard O'Rourke, formerly director of the office of ecumenical and interfaith affairs for the archdiocese of San Francisco, according to the May 14 Catholic San Francisco, the archdiocese's official newspaper. Father O'Rourke, according to Catholic San Francisco, has spent many years in ecumenical outreach to bring members of different religions together in peaceful dialogue, to eliminate the sources of fear and violence. According to O'Rourke, "every religion has gifts to nourish and bless us all." O'Rourke told Catholic San Francisco that Jesus Himself promoted ecumenical unity without, it seems, proselytizing. O'Rouke used the example of Christ's meeting with the Samaritan woman at the well. She and Jesus drank water together and talked; "but there is no record that Jesus converted her. Rather, she became convinced that she was loved by God and went back to share this message with her people." Likewise Jesus did not direct his disciples to baptize the man freed from demons; "instead," said O 'Rourke, "he sent the man off to tell people how great God is. He appears to say, 'let people be.'"

Father Stephen Merriweather, chancellor for the archdiocese and successor to O'Rourke in the office of ecumenical and interfaith affairs, told Catholic San Francisco that he still relies heavily on Father O' Rourke. Speaking of the purpose of his office, Father Merriweather said, "it 's very important that we develop a mutual respect, appreciation and understanding for one another's faiths, while at the same time, we are holding different theological perspectives."

"NOT ONLY AN EXAGGERATION, but a blatant mistruth" is what Father Mark Catalana, director of vocations of the diocese of San Jose, called the statement that celibacy was instituted only "hundreds of years" after Christ. The statement had been made by Fred Kreyenbuhl in a letter to the editor featured in the February Catholic Voice, the newspaper of the diocese of San Jose. The letter met with no reply from the editor in the February issue; Father Catalana's letter in the April 20 Valley Catholic represents, perhaps, the diocese official response to Kreyenbuhl's opinions. Kreyenbuhl had written of the "imposition" of priestly celibacy as "a violation of the basic human right to participate in God-ordained procreation." Jesus, he said, "made no such conditions to the first leaders of his Church, and indeed, most of them were married."

Father Catalana wrote that, "leaving aside the expression 'right to procreate' and the many ways such a 'right' could be limited (call to another state in life), Jesus DOES talk about some who have renounced sex for the sake of the Kingdom of God (see Matthew 19:12). While celibacy may not be an acceptable choice to one who is not called to this state, ranting against those who DO have the gift is absurd. It is possible, and indeed likely, that one member of the Body of Christ may have a gift that another does not have. Clearly Jesus had the gift of celibacy -- The DaVinci Code notwithstanding!" Catalana noted that the Church Fathers indicate that from the beginning of the Church a married and celibate clergy "existed side by side." And, he said, "there is also very strong evidence that while remaining married, such priests did not continue to have sexual relations with their wives after ordination to the priesthood."

Those called to celibacy, said Catalana, "do not experience 'psychic, emotional or spiritual harm' from celibacy. On the contrary, celibacy becomes an expression of love from them -- both of the Church in general and the people entrusted to their spiritual care in particular."

FOR THE CHILDREN. "No one spoke in opposition" to a resolution passed April 29 by the Sacramento City Unified School District in support of efforts to "provide schools that are safe places for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning, gender non-conforming, and straight allied youth and adults," said an April 30 Gay-Straight Alliance news release. The resolution directed the district's superintendent "to oversee the development of plans that comply with the California Student Safety and Violence Prevention Act of 2000." This act broadens the basis on which parents and students can allege discrimination from merely sex to "gender" -- including "gay," lesbian, and transsexual.

Board member Jay Schenirer said "this resolution is long overdue. We need to ensure that the protections mentioned in this resolution make their way not just to high school and middle school campuses, but to the elementary school level as well, where the name-calling and harassment are already present." Gerald O'Connor of GLSEN (Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network) Greater Sacramento said, "we are hopeful that this resolution can serve as a model for other districts in the area, and that the real work of training staff and students about how to stop harassment and discrimination can begin."

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