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Contents © 2005
by Jim Holman.
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NEWS
July/August 2005

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NOT THE ONLY "INAPPROPRIATE" THING. Last summer, Fresno diocese's Bishop John Steinbock removed Father Jean Michael Lastiri from St. Patrick's parish in Merced after it was discovered that the priest had frequented homosexual websites on the internet, where he also solicited liaisons. At the time, Bishop Steinbock called Lastiri's behavior "inappropriate," though the bishop said Lastiri had "denied any inappropriate sexual activity on his part and declared that he only entertained fantasies through this activity on the Internet." Now, according to the May 25 Merced Sun Star, an audit of parish finances has shown that Father Lastiri had engaged in other inappropriate behavior. According to the audit, Lastiri misspent some $60,000 in parish money during his last 20 months as pastor of St. Patrick's. On Sunday, May 21, a letter from Bishop Steinbock was distributed at St. Patrick's. Steinbock confirmed the results of the audit and said the parish had been reimbursed; the letter, however, did not say whether Lastiri or the diocese had paid back the money.

Over the past five months, a group of six St. Patrick's parishioners had met to go over parishes financial records. The group discovered that Lastiri had drawn from the parish $19,881 in personal travelling expenses, $10,766 in purchases of personal goods and services, $10,200 in personal loans, $3,000 for a down payment for a car, and $16,311 in other expenses.

THAT OLD CLERGY SHUFFLE. It was only last July that Father Lastiri was forced to resign as pastor of St. Patrick's in Merced and only this May that news of his financial mismanagement became public. But this was not the last news on Father Lastiri. According to the June 5 bulletin of St. Philip the Apostle parish in Bakersfield, Father Lastiri will be joining the parish as associate pastor. In the announcement, St. Philip's pastor, Monsignor Ron Swett, describes Lastiri as a "wonderful priest who is very experienced in ministry." Swett says nothing of his new associate's past improprieties.

SUICIDE BILL — NOT QUITE DEAD. About 100 picketers protesting a proposed bill to allow assisted suicide (AB 654) marched outside the state capitol in Sacramento on May 18, according to an e-mail report from Bill May of the group Catholics for the Common Good. That day, the assembly appropriations committee met to consider the bill, hearing testimony from May as well as representatives of the California Medical Association, the Alliance of Catholic Health Care, the Coalition of Concerned Medical Professionals, and other groups, all of whom oppose the bill. The assembly committee decided not to vote on the bill, placing it on their "suspense calendar." According to May, "this is usually an indication that there were not enough votes to pass the bill out of the committee." However, wrote May, "when a bill is on the suspense calendar ... it can be brought up and passed at any time."

THE FATE OF THE SUICIDE BILL was attributed by its supporters to "misinformation" being spread by opponents about Oregon's assisted suicide law. While this may have been a factor, it wasn't the whole story. Capitol sources say that too many assembly members were uncomfortable with how this measure would change the definition of a doctor — from a healer to a killer. It also would place the state's imprimatur on killing vulnerable people.

However, the bill's authors, Lloyd Levine (D-Van Nuys) and Patti Berg (D-Eureka), plan on taking a measure that has already passed the assembly and is currently in the senate and doing what is called a "gut and amend" on it. This entails gutting that other bill's language, amending the language of the assisted suicide bill into that measure, and then trying to pass it through the state senate. But even if they are successful in the senate, they would still have to come back to the assembly, go through the committee process, get the bill back on the floor, and pass it. But there it will face stiff opposition, since the speaker pro tem is against it, as are the chairwoman of the assembly rules committee and Assemblyman Jerome Horton (D-Inglewood).

ABOUT 35 PEOPLE PROTESTED outside the Eureka office of Assemblywoman Patty Berg, one of the two sponsors of the assisted suicide bill before the state assembly, said a May 20 LifeNews.com report. While most of the protestors at the May 19 event objected to the bill as a violation of respect for human life, one protestor told the local Record Bee newspaper that he was worried about its economic fallout. "We feel that if this were to pass and assisted suicide becomes legal, that the poor, the disabled, the senior citizens — those who cannot afford health care will be jeopardized," he said. Dr. Judy Burns, a physician, said she believes it is "unethical for physicians to be involved in giving drugs in helping people end their lives. I think some people will come to feel that they should end their lives because they don't want to be a burden, and that's not a good reason."

THE ASSEMBLY PASSED a measure on June 2, sponsored by Assemblyman Lloyd Levine, that would revoke a pharmacist's license if he refused for moral reasons to fill a prescription for contraceptives. The bill (AB 21) passed 43-23, with only one Republican (Lynn Daucher of Brea) voting for it.

On June 1, the assembly also passed a bill (AB 1677, Koretz, D-West Hollywood), which would give condoms and dental dams to prison inmates. Even though sexual activity among imprisoned felons is a felony, this measure would require prisons to distribute these prophylactics. Assembly Republicans tried to introduce an amendment to replace the original bill with a measure to toughen penalties on dangerous sex offenders, but Democrats killed the amendments. The amendments were designed after a Florida law, named after nine-year-old victim Jessica Lunsford.

"THEIR PURPOSE IS TO PREVENT women from getting abortions," said attorney Mark Merin of pro-life demonstrators outside the Women's Health Specialists clinic in Sacramento. One, perhaps, might think so obvious a point could go without being said, but Merin was representing the clinic in Sacramento superior court against one Harry Reeves, executive director of Sanctity of Human Life Network. Women's Health Specialists wanted the court to expand court orders limiting pro-life demonstrations at its clinic to Reeves and other demonstrators. And, according to the May 28 Sacramento Bee, the court acceded to the clinic and Merin's request, placing a temporary restraining order against Reeves and associates, who, it was claimed, were violating a 20-foot buffer zone enacted by county ordinance around abortion clinics. Merin complained to Judge Thomas Cecil that protestors on Saturdays used bullhorns in front of the clinic and that sign-carriers blocked access to the clinic's driveway. Further, Merin charged in court papers that Sanctity of Human Life Network on its website displayed photographs of clinic staff with the descriptions, "hall of shame" and "killing day."

Reeves denied violating the buffer zone and said his group are "Christians" who are "committed to being non-violent." But, said Reeves, "we do raise our voices. We cry out for mercy for the unborn babies."

Cecil was to decide on June 10 whether the temporary restraining order would be made permanent.

ONLY A FINGER IN THE DIKE? Lawsuits filed against the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, the state agency that awards grants for embryonic stem cell research, hampered the disbursement of the first round of grants in May, said a May 10 LifeNews.com report. One lawsuit was filed by People's Advocate and the National Tax Limitation Foundation, which charge that since the state has no oversight of the state panel that disburses funds, those funds are illegal. The lawsuit also charges that the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine panel violates conflict of interest and open meeting laws. The second lawsuit was filed by Californians for Public Accountability and Ethical Science, made up of pro-life advocates and others who oppose embryonic stem-cell research because its alleged benefits are unproven. This lawsuit charges that state officials, rather than the public, have appointed all but two members of the panel.

Though the panel met May 9 and authorized the borrowing of $3 billion in bonds for disbursement through the stem-cell research institute, it may have problems selling long-term bonds to cover the loan. Investors are hesitant to purchase bonds while lawsuits pend, since, if the suits are successful in court, the bonds become valueless. State attorney general Bill Lockyer and state treasurer Phil Angelides have admitted that funding may be hampered; but Lockyer said triumph for the stem-cell institute is assured. "The legal claims raised by the opponents have no merit and appear designed only to delay the inevitable," Lockyer said.

MEANWHILE, A BILL that would apply stricter standards to the Californian Institute for Regenerative Medicine has been moving forward in the state senate, said a May 19 LifeNews.com report. The bill, SCA13, sponsored by Senators Deborah Ortiz (D-Sacramento) and George Runner (R-Lancaster), would make conflict of interest rules governing stem cell research more stringent. For one, it would prohibit institute employees from holding stock in biotech or pharmaceutical companies. On May 18, the senate election committee unanimously approved the measure. To become law, the bill must garner a two-thirds majority in both the assembly and the senate and then be approved by state voters.

SAN FRANCISCO MAYOR GAVIN NEWSOM'S lobbying has paid off — California's stem cell research institute will be located in his fair city. The May 6 decision marked a signal triumph for San Francisco over Sacramento and San Diego, which also lobbied hotly to have the institute. But in the end these cities, despite their tempting lures, could not outbid the Bay city, which, according to the May 7 Los Angeles Times, offered $17 million in perks, free furniture worth $500,000, free lab space for research, and $900,000 in discounts on hotel rooms for conventions. Bob Klein, head of the stem-cell agency and chief backer of Proposition 71, also happens to live in the Bay Area. The stem cell institute will be housed in a building in Mission Bay adjacent to the University of California's research laboratories and across the street from Giant Stadium.

But not all San Francisco officials were pleased with the victory. Said Supervisor Chris Daly, "it doesn't appear that the industry — if it takes a hold in San Francisco — is really going to be delivering economic opportunity for those who need it most. The area that would do that is more blue-collar type of industry."

NO COPY CATS. Genetic Savings and Clone, a Sausalito company that clones cats and hopes one day to clone dogs, may not be able to sell its "product" in California if a new bill passes the state assembly, said the May 2 Los Angeles Times. Assemblyman Lloyd Levine (D-Van Nuys) introduced the bill to ban the sale of cloned pets as well as genetically modified pets because, he said, animals "are not toys to be played with at our amusement." Levine and the animal rights groups that support the bill also say that cloning hurts animals, exploits pet owners who grieve over the loss of a beloved pet, may lead to unexpected and dangerous results (a "Franken-kitty," according to Levine), and adds more animals to an already over-abundant pet population. The bill would not shut down Genetic Savings and Clone nor the San Diego company Allerca, which sells genetically-modified, allergy-proof cats, but keep them from selling in California. (Allerca's coming product, cloned horses, would not be covered by the bill, since horses are not pets.) Assemblyman Levine is also co-sponsor of an assembly bill that would permit physician-assisted suicide.

Bill supporter Jennifer Fearing of United Animal Nations cited respect as one reason for her support of Levine's bill. When her Labrador Retriever was dying of cancer last year, she said, she might have considered cloning him if she had had the opportunity. But, said Fearing, "I realize now it would be an insult to my dog's life to take a scraping of him and suggest that he could be rebuilt in a lab. That's not accepting, honoring the life he had."

Genetic Savings and Clone sells cloned cats for $32,000 — a steal, considering last year's price was $50,000.

SAD. Genetic Savings and Clone posted on its website a message of thanks, received via e-mail on February 5, from a pleased customer, "Dan." Genetic Savings had cloned Dan's late feline, Gizmo, producing "Little Gizmo," which, said Dan, "is EXACT, EXACT, EXACT in all of her mannerisms, habits, traits and personality" to Gizmo. Little Gizmo, wrote Dan, "is already watching TV like my Gizmo and has already adopted Gizmo's favorite chair, the rocker in the family room." And Little Gizmo has nearly all, if not all, the characteristics of her prototype, at least according to Dan, whose euphoria seemed to be boundless. "I just can't tell you how happy, how ecstatic I am," wrote Dan. "I feel like I have been born again, like I am alive again. There are no words to describe how happy I am and how very much I would like to thank you. Today I am re-living the happiest day of my life.... I have the light, the love and the joy of my life again."

FATHER CLARENCE (LARRY) SILVA, vicar general and moderator of the curia for the diocese of Oakland, was on May 17 named bishop of Honolulu by Pope Benedict XVI, said a Zenit News report. Bishop-designate Silva will succeed Bishop Francis Xavier DiLorenzo, who was transferred to Richmond, Virginia in March 2004. Silva, though born in Hawaii, spent most of his life in California. After graduating from St. Patrick's Seminary in Menlo Park, Silva was ordained priest in 1975. In January 2004, Oakland Bishop Allen Vigneron named Silva his vicar general and moderator of the curia. In a May 17 statement, Bishop-elect Silva wrote, "I look forward to growing in faith and love with the people of Hawaii and being their spiritual leader as we all strive to grow in holiness and allow that holiness to transform the world and all that is within it ... I rely on the continued support of all your prayers to make me a wise, courageous and loving bishop."

NOT POLITICS AS USUAL. Pope Benedict XVI, addressing members of the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy, which trains future representatives of the Holy See, told them on May 20 that their task is to see that "the bonds of communion of the local churches with the Apostolic See will be ever more intense and effective," as well as "to make visible the solicitude the Successor of Peter has for all those who form part of the Lord's flock, especially the vulnerable, the weak, and the abandoned." The role of papal diplomats transcends the merely political, the pope implied. Rather, he said, it is "indispensable ... that you set holiness and the salvation of souls that you meet on your path as the fundamental objective of your life."

THREE BAY-AREA LAW SCHOOLS — Golden Gate University School of Law and the faculties of Stanford and the University of San Francisco law schools — have publicly backed a lawsuit that challenges a federal law that forbids federal funds to schools which refuse to allow military recruiters on campus, said the May 3 San Francisco Chronicle. The schools, however, do not simply object to the requirement of admitting recruiters but to the fact that under the 1994 "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" federal law, the military excludes openly homosexual recruits. Since the law schools forbid access to other employers who discriminate against homosexuals, the schools say the federal government is violating their freedom of speech by compelling them to tolerate representatives of the "anti-gay" military and thus forcing the schools to spread a message of intolerance. Eighteen law schools filed the suit in 2001 after the Bush Administration began to toughen enforcement of a federal law called the Solomon Amendment that threatens the removal of almost all federal funds from schools if they do not admit military recruiters. In November of last year, the U.S. court of appeals in Philadelphia ruled that the Solomon Amendment was likely unconstitutional since, in 2000, the Supreme Court ruled that the Boy Scouts of America have the right to bar homosexual scoutmasters; if the Boy Scouts could ban homosexuals, the government cannot force schools to act against their own anti-discrimination policies.

The federal government has appealed the Philadelphia federal court's decision, arguing that hiring is not equivalent to admitting recruiters. On May 2, the United States Supreme Court agreed to hear the case and will take it up in the 2005-06 court term.

TWO PROPOSED AMENDMENTS to the state constitution that would ban homosexual marriage were rejected by the senate and assembly judiciary committees on May 10, said a Mercury News story. Assemblyman Ray Haynes (R-Murrieta) and Senator Bill Morrow (R-Oceanside) submitted the measures in their respective houses. The measures were designed to strengthen Proposition 22, the ballot measure that banned marriage between members of the same sex. Some, including Assemblyman Mark Leno (D-San Francisco), have claimed that that ballot measure, passed overwhelmingly by voters, only forbids California from recognizing homosexual marriages performed in other states but does not forbid California itself from recognizing such unions.

Haynes and Morrow's amendments would also have forbidden state benefits to homosexual domestic partnerships, though it would have left untouched the state right, among others, allowing hospital visitation rights to unmarried homosexuals. After their defeat in the senate and assembly committees, backers of the proposed amendments said they would initiate a signature campaign to put a measure on the 2006 ballot calling for a constitutional amendment banning homosexual marriage.

NO SAME-SEX MARRIAGE, FOR NOW. A bill that would have legalized same-sex marriage in California went down to defeat on June 1. The bill, AB 19, sponsored by Assemblyman Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) failed passage by a vote of 35-37. Five Democrats and all Republicans voted "no," while seven Democrats abstained from voting on the measure.

WHAT CONSTITUTES A PARENT? Should lesbians and homosexuals have parental rights over their same-sex partners' children, even without adopting them? This question came before the California supreme court on May 23. According to a California law, effective this year, parental rights over one partner's children are automatically granted to both members of a domestic partnership registered with the state. But what to do with same-sex couples who broke up before the law took effect, and with couples who do not register? The court heard three cases. In one of the cases, a lesbian, "K.M." is seeking parental rights over her former partners' children — though really, in a sense, they are K.M.'s children, since she donated the ova to her partner, who carried the children to term and gave birth to them. But K.M. signed a waiver of parental rights when she donated the ova. In another case, two lesbians went to court in Los Angeles County to declare joint parental status over one partner's unborn children. After the women split, the mother successfully challenged the pre-birth agreement in court. In the third case, a lesbian mother is demanding child support from her former lover who helped raise her children and even claimed them as dependents for taxes and insurance.

Nearly all the justices seemed sympathetic to one or all of the three plaintiffs in the cases. Only Justice Janice Rogers Brown, President Bush's nominee for the federal court, questioned the affects of granting parental status to members of domestic partnerships. The cases, said Brown, could "open up a lot of possibilities for intrusion on parental roles" by people who are all but strangers. For instance, if a waiver of parental rights could be judged null and void, would not male sperm donors then be able to claim custody over the children they, albeit artificially, sired?

The court was expected to decide the cases in 90 days.

THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT has taken up a case that may decide by what standards courts can judge whether abortion restrictions are constitutional or not, said the May 23 Contra Costa Times. The state of New Hampshire has a parental-notification law which a lower court struck down for a lack of an exception for a girl's health. The New Hampshire parental-notification law includes an exception only for life-threatening circumstances. In 1992, the Supreme Court, in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, ruled that states could not place "undue burdens" on women seeking abortions. But New Hampshire argues that the proof that a law is unconstitutional rests with those who challenge it — they must prove that it is not constitutional under any circumstances.

The Supreme Court is set to hear the case this fall and is expected to decide on it in June 2006.

A NAVAL PETTY OFFICER, Pablo Paredes, on May 11 was degraded to the lowest rank in the Navy and sentenced to three months of hard labor for refusing to board his ship, bound for the Persian Gulf. But according to the May 28 San Francisco Chronicle, anti-war activists were cautiously optimistic at the news and planned to broadcast a three-minute video message from Paredes at an antiwar rally that was scheduled for King Middle School in Berkeley on Memorial Day weekend. Why the optimism? Because Paredes's sentence was so benign; he received no prison time for violating the terms of his enlistment. Though Luke Hiken, an attorney with the Military Task Force, said he does not think Paredes' sentence was "going to set any sort of legal precedent, and the military isn't going to let everybody out who says, 'This war sucks, and I want to go home,'" still he thought Paredes would serve as an example for other military men who object to the war. Also, antiwar groups hope the actions of Paredes and others might stimulate growth in the antiwar movement, which has seen a decline in attendance at demonstrations and a decrease in donations.

Paredes on December 6, 2004, arrived at the San Diego pier where he was to board ship wearing a t-shirt that read, "Like a cabinet member, I resign"; he then held a press conference. Paredes told the military judge that the Iraq war was "random, unprovoked illegitimate violence" and "any soldier who knowingly participates in a war can find no haven in the fact that they were following orders, in the eyes of international law." The Navy sought for Paredes nine months confinement, a bad conduct discharge, and a reduction to the rank E-1, the lowest in the Navy.

PARISHIONERS OF SACRED HEART church on Fillmore Street in San Francisco have decided to fight the archdiocese over its plans to sell their church to developers, said the May 13 San Francisco Chronicle. Sacred Heart, which celebrated its 120th anniversary on June 3, has been called "a church unlike any other" in San Francisco by architectural historian William Kostura, who sat on San Francisco's landmarks board in the 1990s. Built in the Lombardi style that flourished in northern Italy in the late fifth century, Sacred Heart features a five-story bell tower and three Baroque altars designed in Carrera marble in the early 20th century by San Francisco artist Attilio Moretti. "What is lost if we lose Sacred Heart?" said Kostura. "To me, sheer beauty. This church is beautiful for its composition, materials, lavish details, superb craftsmanship. It's incredible to me, but beauty is something that does not seem to be valued today."

According to parishioners, Sacred Heart offered more than beauty to those in the neighborhood, serving as a haven for young people. "Sacred Heart kept me from being another statistic," 26-year-old parishioner Maurice Moore said. "It helped me develop into a young man." It was also a welcoming place, according to 24-year-old parishioner Robert Pritchard. "We're black, white, Vietnamese, Salvadoran, gay, straight, young, old," he said. "Everyone was welcome. We were a family."

THE SAN FRANCISCO ARCHDIOCESE says it needs to close Sacred Heart because it is too expensive to keep open. The church, built to seat 1,200, had less than 300 parishioners, with only about 150 regularly attending Mass on Sundays. It also requires seismic retrofitting, which is estimated to cost $5 million. "It's not an easy decision to close a parish church," archdiocese spokesman Maurice Healy told the Chronicle. "But after a great deal of contemplating, praying and getting input from a lot of people, we decided that sadly, this is the way to go." But 24-year-old Robert Pritchard disagrees. "Every avenue needs to be exhausted before this church is demolished," he said. "The Archdiocese thinks we're just going to roll over and disappear, but we're not. We're fighting. We are determined to save the building."

Pritchard and other parishioners have hired an attorney and have enlisted the help of Supervisor Ross Mikarimi, who himself has obtained the help of neighbors and architecture preservationists. Mirkarimi was trying to work out a compromise with the archdiocese to keep the church open, perhaps as a community space.

THE LANDMARKS ADVISORY BOARD in San Francisco voted 6-0 on May 4 to recommend St. Brigid's Church on Van Ness and Broadway in San Francisco for landmark status, said the San Francisco Chronicle. The archdiocese of San Francisco closed the 101-year old church in1994 because of the costs of seismically retrofitting the structure. The archdiocese wants to sell the property for fair-market value — which means that it will probably have to be sold to a developer who will tear down the church. For parishioners who have fought to preserve St. Brigid's, the landmark decision is a victory, but not a clinching one. The proposal for landmark status must still go before the city's planning commission, and if approved there, to the city supervisors and the mayor.

But even if approved by the city government, the landmark status may mean nothing, since a 1994 state law exempted churches from that status. However, a bill introduced by Senator Carol Migden (D-San Francisco) in the state senate calls for the exclusion of St. Brigid's from the 1994 law. By early May, Migden's bill had passed the transportation committee and was expected to be heard by the full senate in June.

George Wesolek, director of public policy for the archdiocese, complained that landmark status would probably mean the archdiocese could not sell St. Brigid's for as much as it could otherwise get if a buyer could tear down the structure for housing. But Eleanor Coke, who first began attending St. Brigid's in 1957, would not be moved by such considerations. "My grandparents came from Tipperary, Ireland, and this church was built by Irish people who put all of their savings and work into it," she said. "They did this for posterity — not to have it torn down to pay for the abuse of priests."

$13 MILLION AND GROWING? The diocese of Stockton settled with an unnamed man who claims to have been molested by the priest Oliver O'Grady in Lodi in the 1970s, said a May 20 Associated Press story. In the settlement reached May 18, the diocese agreed to pay the alleged victim $3 million, though he did not give up his right to sue O'Grady himself, according to the alleged victim's lawyer, John Manly. A trial is expected to commence this summer.

In 1998, a Stockton jury ordered the diocese to pay two O'Grady victims, Joh and James Howard, $30 million; the reward was later reduced to $7.5 million. In March of this year, the diocese settled with two alleged O'Grady victims for $3.6 million. There are four additional cases against O'Grady for alleged molestation crimes while he served in the diocese. In 1993, O'Grady pleaded guilty to abusing the Howard brothers and served seven years in prison. He was paroled in 2000, defrocked, and deported to his native Ireland.

O'GRADY TELLS ALL. The former Stockton diocese priest, Oliver O'Grady, was questioned in March at his home in Ireland for the latest sexual abuse case against the Stockton diocese concerning him. O'Grady admits that he has molested about 30 children.

According to a May 11 Associated Press story, O'Grady in his March deposition claimed that two priests and his brother had molested him when he was young; O'Grady in turn molested his younger sister. He described the sort of children — both male and female — he found attractive and even demonstrated for the camera how he would seduce a child. O'Grady said he confessed his molestation in the confessional and wished his superiors had found help for him. "As I look back on my life, I realized that I had or have a very serious problem," O'Grady said. "The problem seemed to be there for a very long time. I often question myself ... if I even should have been ordained a priest to begin with."

ALAMEDA SUPERIOR COURT Judge Ronald Sabraw ruled tentatively on May 27 that two former altar boys who claim they were molested by the late Rev. Joseph Pritchard may seek punitive damages from the archdiocese of San Francisco. According to the May 28 San Francisco Chronicle, Father Pritchard, the plaintiffs claim, molested them in the 1970s at St. Martin of Tours parish in San Jose, then part of the San Francisco archdiocese. If finally allowed to seek punitive damages, the plaintiffs could come away with a substantially higher settlement then if they could claim only actual or compensatory damages. The case is scheduled for jury trial on July 11. Judge Sabraw's ruling could put pressure on the archdiocese to settle out of court for other pending negligence claims stemming from the period before Archbishop William Levada led the archdicoese.

In April, a jury in San Francisco awarded four victims of Pritchard $6 million; another $437,000 was awarded a Pritchard victim in March.

THE CHRISTIAN BROTHERS have backed out of plans to build a university west of Roseville in Placer County, the May 11 Sacramento Bee reported. The religious order said its decision was based on what it deemed the county's over-long planning process and an increase in costs. The Christian Brothers' university, which would have been dubbed De La Salle University, would have sat on 1,100 acres of land donated by the development company KT Communities. Six hundred acres of this land would have been for the university while the remaining 500 would be developed into housing and apartments. According to Kyriakos Tsakopoulos, who heads KT Communities, the Christian Brothers had expected a two-year wait for the planning process — a wait, however, that would not be complete until this coming fall. The Christian Brothers said they had hoped the project would have been farther along by May of this year. The county, though, has said that the location for the development in the midst of rice fields and grazing lands made it difficult to plan infrastructure for it — hence, the time lag. The county is still interested in hosting a university and will look for other potential investors. The Christian Brothers have indicated that they still might be interested in the project once the county approves it.

The Christian Brothers also run St. Mary's College in Moraga.

AN EDITORIAL published in the May 6 Sacramento Bee noted that what Tsakopoulos and the Christian Brothers expected of the county "was exceedingly ambitious from the outset" — "to turn upside down an existing general plan in just two years." What the university's supporters wanted to do, said the editorial, was to turn "an Oklahoma-shaped panhandle of farmland into a residential development and a university. To rezone this panhandle and to leave unanswered the future of the farmland on three sides of the panhandle is an awkward planning exercise. Huge questions about water, sewer, transportation and open space are raised by developing the panhandle." If the county hadn't taken its time, then Tsakopoulos and the De La Salle University would have faced legal challenges from environmental groups, said the editorial.

And then there is the fundraising climate, which has not been too salubrious for the Christian Brothers of late. Last year, St. Mary's in Moraga received a pledge of $121 million from a donor, Conrad Colbrandt; the university then proceeded to spend $26 million in building a campus building before receiving any of the pledged cash. The donation never materialized.

FATHER THOMAS REESE, the erstwhile editor of America, a Jesuit monthly known for its heterodoxy, will take up residence at Santa Clara University for a one-year sabbatical, said the May 21 San Francisco Chronicle. Reese, who has been one of the most widely quoted American churchman in the media, stepped down from the editorship of America in May under what appears to have been pressure from the Holy See's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. But, according to the May 20 National Catholic Reporter, some have said that Reese voluntarily resigned when Cardinal Josef Ratzinger was elected pope.

The newly appointed head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith, Archbishop William Levada, when asked at a May 13 press conference whether America was "out of line with mainstream Catholic thought in the United States," answered evasively. "All I know is what I've read in a few newspaper articles," said Levada. "I've got a stack of back issues (of America) I pore through every time I get a couple of minutes. I will have to look into that."

RELIGIOUS OR JUST SPIRITUAL? Students at Napa Valley High School were up in arms over the painting of what they called a religious mural by a fellow student on campus, said the April 21 Napa Valley Register. Kylie Trudelle, a senior at Napa Valley, was painting a mural that depicted brick steps leading up to a castle in the sky. Students, however, said the mural was too religious, that it depicted heaven, a claim which Trudelle denies. "It's not a religious thing. It's more of a spiritual thing," said Trudelle, whom students nicknamed Pastor K because he brings a bible to school every day. Trudelle's mother agreed. "It's nothing more than a pathway to a nice, beautiful, glorious place that could be anything," she said. Finally, to keep peace, Trudelle agreed to change the mural. The castle will be firmly rooted to the earth and the path will lead to a sunspot in the sky.

MEMBERS OF ATHEISTS GROUPS in Northern California organized the first ever "All Atheist Weekend" in San Francisco on the weekend of May 20-22, said the San Francisco Chronicle. The group San Francisco Atheists was joined by the Godless Geeks of the Silicon Valley, among others. The weekend was a kind of outreach, according to Jim Heldberg, who coordinates the San Francisco Atheists. "We feel very threatened by what's going on in this country, but we realize that we can't just sit here in a corner by ourselves," said Heldberg. "If we do, the religious right is just going to run us over."

The problem with organizing atheists into a common front is that "atheists are not joiners," said Ellen Johnson, the national president of American Atheists. Another problem for atheists is that, relatively, there are so few of them, and atheist groups don't draw anywhere near the money many religious groups do. Hence, Johnson's call, "we need to be activists for atheism!" Heldberg was trying to do just that with his All Atheist Weekend. Atheist groups, he said, have to expand their base, which currently consists, he said, in "a bunch of old white guys who sit around and bitch."

A DISAPPOINTED DEACON, refused ordination to the priesthood, allegedly was contemplating turning assassin, said a May 24 San Francisco Chronicle story. The archdiocese of San Francisco filed a restraining order against the 57-year-old Rev. Mr. Dennis Gooch, who had served as a deacon at St. Gregory's church in San Mateo. Gooch had allegedly made threats to Monsignor Robert McElroy, pastor of St. Gregory's parish in San Francisco, after learning that McElroy had recommended against Gooch's ordination for psychological reasons. "Deacon Gooch did not take that very well," archdiocesan spokesman Maurice Healy said. "In conversation, he said something like, 'The day of retribution will come.' Monsignor McElroy perceived that to be a threat." Church officials searched Gooch's room at St. Gregory's and found six guns (some of them collector's pieces) and nine boxes of ammunition. According to Healy, Gooch was at an unidentified medical facility and could not be reached.

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