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Contents © 2005
by Jim Holman.
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NEWS
September 2005
ARCHBISHOP WILLIAM LEVADA'S pastoral experience as a bishop will help him as prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the archbishop himself told Catholic News Service on June 6. With Cardinal Josef Ratzinger, said Levada, the congregation had a great theologian; with himself, however, it has "someone who has pastoral experience of dealing with questions of faith as they are lived out in the local church. I think that's an important thing for the bishops around the world, to have the sense that when they need to talk to me or to our congregation there is someone here who is sympathetic to their pastoral situation and experience."
Archbishop Levada said the "primary job" of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith is "promoting a sound grasp of doctrine and helping the church see how beautiful and wonderful God's love is, as it has been revealed to us." But there is a "negative" aspect to the congregation's work -- dealing with errant theologians. "I think people have sometimes gotten the idea that if you don't let every theologian say everything that he or she thinks, or if you challenge them in any way and say, 'That's not correct,' that somehow you are impeding freedom of conscience or freedom of inquiry," said the archbishop. "But that's not the case. We have freedom to inquire. But a theologian himself or herself is called to discriminate between where that inquiry leads and how it corresponds to the faith that the church continues to receive and to live by. Otherwise they would not be doing true theology, it seems to me. Theology itself is in dialogue with revelation, which has some things to say. And you can't just say that revelation says anything you want it to say."
Archbishop Levada offered to give what help the congregation could to bishops who must wrestle with thorny religious-political issues, such as whether pro-abortion Catholic politicians should be allowed communion. But the issues as to how Catholics "interface with a complex political world in a pluralistic society," said Levada, fall first to the bishops, not the congregation.
AMONG HIS FIRST ACTS as prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Archbishop Levada signed a decree removing the head of a religious order from active ministry, said the July 22 National Catholic Reporter. The May 27 decree said that Father Gino Burresi, founder of the Congregation of the Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, no longer has faculties to hear confessions, is prohibited from giving spiritual direction, is forbidden to preach and celebrate sacraments and sacramentals publicly, and may not speak publicly or write on subjects having to do with faith, morals, or supernatural phenomenon. The decree was signed by Archbishop Levada and confirmed in forma specifica by Pope Benedict XVI -- meaning there is no appeal from the decree.
Father Gino Burresi has been reputed to be a mystic, complete with the stigmata and the "odor of sanctity." Critics, however, have charged that Burresi faked supernatural phenomena. In 1988, when Burresi was a member of the Oblates of the Virgin Mary, he was accused of sexual misconduct with adult seminarians. The order conducted an investigation of the charge, though no canonical process against him resulted. The charges against Father Burresi which have resulted in this year's decree, however, do not primarily concern sexual misconduct but violations of the seal of the confessional.
The Burresi decree may give some indication of how the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith may handle cases similar to Burresi's. It is reported that currently, the congregation is investigating Father Marcial Maciel Degollado, founder of the Legionaries of Christ, on account of charges of sexual misconduct with minors and absolving alleged victims.
TRADITION IN OAKLAND. Since January, a weekly Latin Mass (according to the 1962 missal) has been celebrated in the Oakland diocese. Bishop Allen Vigneron approved the daily celebration of what is popularly called the Tridentine Mass, and on January 28 appointed Father Michael Wiener, a priest of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest as his episcopal delegate for the Latin Rite of 1962. Father Wiener, born in Hamburg, Germany, was ordained priest in 1999 and directed a similar apostolate in Basel, Switzerland.
The Mass is celebrated at St. Margaret Mary church at 1219 Excelsior Avenue in the foothills of Oakland. Daily, Monday through Friday, Father Wiener says Mass at 6 p.m.; and on Saturday mornings at 10 a.m. On Sunday, Father Wiener offers a sung High Mass at 12:30 p.m.
LOCKYER WANTS AN ANSWER NOW. State attorney general Bill Lockyer took the unusual step on July 1 of asking the California supreme court to remove all legal hurdles and declare whether marriage to a man and a woman is constitutional, the Associated Press reported on July 2. In March, San Francisco County superior court judge Richard Kramer ruled that state laws permitting only marriage between a man and a woman were unconstitutional, but his decision has been stayed pending an appeal. Lockyer, however, wants the state's high court to bypass the appeals court and make a quick decision. "Same-sex couples should be given a prompt determination as to whether they can marry, and should not have to put their lives and affairs on hold indefinitely while this matter works its way through several levels of court proceedings," said Lockyer.
One June 1, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that Lockyer would not seek to bypass the appeals court, though he had previously mentioned the possibility of a direct appeal to the supreme court.
LOCKYER MADE HIS APPEAL only two days after the supreme court let stand a state law granting homosexual domestic partners most of the same rights as married couples. State law grants domestic partners the right to community property and child custody as well as child support and alimony after separation. It also provides for something like divorce proceedings for couples that have been together at least five years. Groups challenging the law in court, including the Campaign for California Families, argued that the state's domestic partner laws essentially violate Proposition 22, which defined marriage as a union between a woman and a man, by making domestic partnership equal to marriage. A Sacramento judge and a state appeals court, however, have rejected this argument, saying that domestic partnerships are not eligible for some state and federal marriage benefits. The court of appeals argued that voters were not told that Proposition 22 placed any limitations on domestic partnerships; but, of course, said attorney Robert Tyler with the Prop. 22 Legal Defense and Education Fund, this was because when the proposition was put up for a vote the state had not recognized domestic partnerships. "What the Legislature has done over the years is to create domestic partnerships and to play semantic games until they have been able to create a close replica of marriage in all but name," Tyler said.
Though defeated in court, the groups opposing domestic partnerships are working on a ballot initiative that would amend the state constitution to forbid not only same-sex marriage but marriage benefits for same-sex couples. The initiative could be on the ballot next year. For more information, see www.VoteYesMarriage.com.
TRY, TRY AGAIN. Though Assemblyman Mark Leno's bill to legalize same-sex marriage went to down in defeat on June 1, seven votes shy of the majority it needed to pass, the San Francisco homosexual assembly member has not given up. In late June, Leno used the gut-and-amend process in which an older bill can become the vehicle for another bill it closely resembles in content to reintroduce his same-sex marriage bill, this time in the state senate. The gutted-and-amended bill, AB 849, which originated in the senate, originally dealt with marine fisheries research (queer fish?). The senate judiciary committee voted to approve the bill.
Though Leno has said Proposition 22 does not rule out homosexual marriage as such but only applies to same-sex marriages contracted out of state, one supporter of Leno's bill disagrees. According to the July 13 San Francisco Chronicle, state senator Gil Cedillo (D-Los Angeles) admitted that a majority of California voters voted in opposition to homosexual marriage when they approved Proposition 22. "The people have spoken. They have spoken," said Cedillo. "But people aren't always right."
ASSEMBLYMAN LENO was far from happy with the failure of his same-sex marriage bill on June 1, the June 3 San Francisco Chronicle reported. "If this body can't pass AB19," Leno told lawmakers, "it should clarify its position and say we do believe that gay and lesbian couples are second-class citizens. That is the statement that's been made tonight." Among those calling on assembly members to support Leno's bill were the Gatto "family" of San Carlos -- two lesbians, Ramona and Arzu, and Ramona's 16-year-old daughter, Marina. (According to the Chronicle, Ramona is "a professional kickboxing champion whose all-black ensemble and pierced left eyebrow separated her from others pleading their cause.") Ramona and Arzu asked legislators, speaking of Marina, "is this child less equal than another child? Does this child's family deserve to be treated differently from another?" According to Ramona, "none of them could reconcile that."
The Gattos made at least one convert -- Assemblyman Alberto Torricio (D-Fremont). Raised a Catholic but now a born-again, Torricio found the Gattos "wonderful. Tremendous. I was humbled they would want to talk to me." Torricio underwent a great struggle, according to the Chronicle, trying to reconcile his duties to God and government. He even consulted www.bible.com on his chamber laptop. Finally, based on Matthew 22.21, "render therefore unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's," Torricio voted for Leno's bill.
DOMESTIC PARTNERSHIP IS MARRIAGE in all but name sums up an August 1 California supreme court decision. The case, according to the August 2 Los Angeles Times, involved two lesbians who are registered with the state as domestic partners. The couple sued a country club in San Diego that refused to give them the same golfing privileges it grants to spouses. The supreme court decided, 6-0, in favor of the couple, saying "a business that extends benefits to spouses it denies to registered domestic partners engages in impermissible marital status discrimination." Until this decision, state law only covered employee benefits, mandating that a business grant domestic partners the same benefits it grants to married couples. Now the supreme court has extended this mandate to the clients or customers of businesses. Most domestic partners are same-sex couples, homosexuals or lesbians.
The court's decision did not address the issue of same-sex marriage per se. Gerald Uelman, a University of Santa Clara professor of law, told the Times that the decision "does not bode well for same-sex marriage," since it could undermine the claim that not granting marriage to same-sex couples amounts to discrimination. Indeed, for it seems only the designation "marriage" is now denied homosexual couples in the state of California. Whether the court will deem this sufficient grounds for a ruling of discrimination against homosexual couples will be seen in the coming months.
CALIFORNIA'S CHALLENGE to a federal law that seeks to protect doctors and medical institutions that object to abortion from state penalties may go forward, a federal judge ruled on June 27. Late last year, the U.S. Congress passed, and President George W. Bush signed, the Hyde-Weldon amendment to the 2005 Health and Human Services appropriation bill, which blocks federal aid granted under the act to agencies and local governments that discriminate against doctors, hospitals, or programs that refuse to pay or refer for abortions. On January 25, California's attorney general Bill Lockyer filed suit against the amendment, arguing that the federal requirement violates California state law, which requires that doctors and hospitals perform abortions if giving birth would threaten the mother's life or health. Though, said a June 29 Associated Press report, the Bush administration asked the court to dismiss the lawsuit, a federal district judge in San Francisco, Jeffrey White, refused. The issue raised by Lockyer, said White, could pose "an injury to California's sovereign interest."
NO TO CONSCIENCE. The American Medical Association at its national meeting in Chicago voted that pharmacists should not be allowed to refuse filling prescriptions for any drugs, but especially abortifacients, LifeNews.com reported on June 21. The June 20 vote committed the medical association to supporting legislation that would force pharmacists to cooperate with patients who seek legal contraceptives and abortifacients. Pharmacists may refuse to prescribe the drugs, but they must make sure patients can get access to them.
A bill (SB 644) in the California legislature would make it harder for pharmacists to follow their consciences. The bill, sponsored by Senator Debra Ortiz (D-Sacramento) would require that at the beginning of their employment pharmacists notify their employers that they will not dispense emergency contraceptives or drugs that violate their religious and ethical beliefs. The employer is then required to make reasonable efforts to accommodate the pharmacist's concerns. The bill states that an employer is not required to make extraordinary efforts to accommodate the pharmacist. The bill passed the state senate on May 26. As of July 13, it had passed the assembly appropriations committee.
SENT TO PRISON. Bishop John Steinbock of Fresno has finally found a place for Father Jean Michael Lastiri -- prison. On July 28, according to the Fresno Bee, the diocese of Fresno announced that Lastiri will direct the diocese's detention ministry. The priest will be in residence at the Shrine of St. Therese, a parish in Fresno, though, according to St. Therese's pastor, Monsignor E. James Petersen, Lastiri "won't be working here on the weekend." Bishop Steinbock removed Lastiri as pastor of St. Patrick's parish in Merced for what the bishop called "inappropriate" behavior; Lastiri had frequented a homosexual dating site where he solicited liaisons. In May an audit of St. Patrick's finances revealed that Father Lastiri had "misspent" $60,000 in parish finances, spending it on personal travelling expenses, purchase of personal goods and services, personal loans, a down payment on a car, and other items. According to the Bee, the diocese cited administrative problems as the source of the misspending and repaid the money to the parish.
In June Bishop Steinbock appointed Lastiri as associate pastor of St. Philip's parish in Bakersfield, but meeting protest from some parishioners and others, the diocese announced that Lastiri would not be assigned to the parish.
ST. PHILIP'S PASTOR, Monsignor Swett, was not pleased with the reaction of some to Lastiri's appointment. On June 12, the Sunday after the parish bulletin announced Lastiri's appointment, the monsignor read to his parishioners a letter from Bishop Steinbock informing St. Philip's parishioners that Father Lastiri would not be coming to the parish because he did not want "to be the cause of division and condemnation in the parish." According to the June 12 Bakersfield Californian, the bishop's letter indicated that news of Lastiri's appointment caused something of an uproar among St. Philip's parishioners and others. "Unfortunately, a good deal of gossip and misinformation have distorted public perception and seeks to frame Fr. Lastiri's appointment within the context of the clergy sexual abuse scandal," wrote Steinbock. "This is simply not the case." Rather, "the issue with Fr. Lastiri has been one of addiction, not criminal sexual behavior. It has been addiction both to the fantasy world of the Internet and to the spending of money." For this, Lastiri has undergone therapy, the bishop noted.
Monsignor Swett himself said he had received in regard to Lastiri "a few comments filled with a vitriol and hatred unlike any I have ever received as a pastor and unlike I would expect from anyone who bears the name of Christian." So, instead of welcoming a "fallen priest" who is "good" and "caring," and "graced by God to deal with his compulsive and addictive behavior," the parish lost a golden opportunity. "Perhaps being a welcoming community is more easily accomplished when we feel comfortable with the Gospel rather than when we are challenged by that same Gospel," said Swett.
Some parishioners, it appears, felt pangs of guilt over the affair. One Bea Mahlmann said, "I think it's too bad that we condemned him before we heard anything about it. I think he could have helped people who were having struggles of their own." And, according to Diana Wilson, "I feel he was sort of driven out of Kern County. Once you're forgiven for your sins, your sins are reconciled. You shouldn't be ostracized for that."
To date, Father Lastiri has made no public statement of repentance for his "addictive" behavior.
ASSAULTS ON HOME SCHOOLING, OR JUST MISTAKES? On July 26, the Home School Legal Defense Association reported that in a letter published in the May 27 Gilroy Dispatch, the attendance officer for the Gilroy Unified School District, Frank Valadez, said that anyone starting a small private school must first inform the district, which has the authority to approve such schools. Valadez outlined several steps for approval of a home school, including a meeting with the school district attendance officer, who will either approve or not approve a home school exemption; and in the event of a disapproval, an appeal to the school attendance review board, which will determine whether or not the student in question is receiving an "adequate education." Anyone refusing to comply with these steps could have his child declared truant, said Valadez, and "truancy procedures, including a referral to the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office, will be imposed."
But in a letter published in the June 2 Dispatch, Michael Smith, president of the Home School Legal Defense Association, pointed out that, under California law, a home school, to qualify as a public school, need only file a private school affidavit with the state. The local school district has the authority only to verify that the affidavit has been filed and the student in question is not truant.
IN A SUBSEQUENT ARTICLE, published June 16, Valadez answered Michael Smith. According to Valadez, the public school district has jurisdiction not only over students in its own schools but over private school students as well. It is not enough, he said, that an attendance officer verify that a student attends a recognized private school; he must also be assured that the student regularly attends the school. Valadez further said that a home school must show "proof that the several branches of study required in the public school will be taught, that the teacher speaks English and that there is an attendance register being kept are the minimal requirements permissible by Ed. Code 48222."
Valadez said Gilroy school district is now exercising authority over private schools because "there have been three key truancy cases this year which have caused the district concern about the safety and education of its children. One case involved suspected child abuse or neglect. A second case involved Spanish-speaking parents with pre-school children and a teenaged daughter. A third case involved a family with a five-year history of truant children. Parents in all three cases pursued the home schooling option."
Valadez noted that the procedures he outlined in his first letter "were implemented to serve as a wake-up call to those families that have not set the health, safety and education of their own children as a priority." Though "the procedures will be regarded by some parents as a major intrusion," nevertheless, said Valadez, "by allowing parents to initiate the contact with the attendance supervisor in order for a determination of compliance and attendance to be made, the need for visits to the home or places of employment will be minimized."
MICHAEL SMITH responded to Vala dez on June 23 in a letter titled, "Surely GUSD does not want to invite lawsuits over homeschooling." Again citing the California education code, Smith said the authority a school district has to verify attendance at a legal private school "is not to be construed as an evaluation, recognition, approval, or endorsement of any private school or course."
"Therefore," continued Smith, "when there is an allegation of truancy against the child attending a private school, the attendance officer must first determine if the child is attending a private school by contacting the private school administrator. If the chief administrator indicates that the child is in attendance in the private school and not truant, the next step for the attendance officer is to verify whether the affidavit has been filed. Once the attendance officer determines from the state Superintendent of Public Instruction that the affidavit is on file with the California Department of Education, the investigation ceases."
And Smith concluded, "the bottom line is that if Gilroy Unified School District insists that parents teaching their children at home pursuant to the private school exemption have to receive prior approval, this constitutes a prior restraint of a protected constitutional right and a clear violation of statutory authority of the school district. I am certain this is not the desire of Frank Valadez, nor the Gilroy Unified School District."
THEY'LL WAIT ON ROME. During the June meeting held in Chicago this year, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops decided to bypass discussing whether the Church in the Untied States should admit homosexual men into the seminary, the June 18 San Francisco Chronicle reported. Instead, the bishops decided, they would await upcoming guidelines on the subject to be issued soon by the Holy See's Congregation for Catholic Education. The Chronicle pointed out that in recent years some Catholic seminaries have decided not to admit men who admit they are homosexuals. But St. Patrick's in Menlo Park, the seminary for the archdiocese of San Francisco, is not one of these.
Archbishop William Levada, now apostolic administrator for the archdiocese and prefect for the Holy See's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, said in an interview that bishops were beginning to change their views on "the ability of sexually active people -- whether homosexual or heterosexual -- to change that lifestyle quickly. There was a time in seminary admissions when people would accept a fellow's enthusiasm (for the celibate priesthood). Experience shows that needs to be tested in wholesome and appropriate ways." In this spirit, the bishops have added a line to the seminary guidelines they adopted during their June meeting: applicants to the seminary "shall give evidence of having lived in (sexual) continence" for at least two years.
THE ARCHDIOCESE OF SAN FRANCISCO on June 10 reached a settlement with alleged victims on 15 clergy sexual abuse lawsuits, said an Associated Press report. Brokered by a retired judge, Coleman Fannin, the settlement gives $21.2 million to the alleged victims, with the archdiocese itself paying $6.6 million and the remainder provided by insurers. Of the 15 cases, ten involve former San Jose priest, Father Joseph Pritchard, who died in 1988. Three other priests who had served in the San Jose area in the 1970s were also named in the settlements. San Jose was formerly part of the archdiocese of San Francisco.
The archdiocese announced settlements in a dozen more lawsuits on July 8, Associated Press reported. The archdiocese will pay $16 million to alleged victims of Father Pritchard. Part of the settlement, $437,000, goes to Dennis Kavanaugh, 47, an amount determined by a jury in March. According to the Associated Press, "dozens of additional civil suits are still pending against the church in San Francisco and Oakland."
THE DIOCESE OF SACRAMENTO settled with 33 alleged victims of clergy sexual abuse just minutes before the cases were to go to trial, said a June 30 Associated Press story. In the June 29 settlement, the diocese will pay $35 million to 33 alleged victims, who will receive payments ranging from $400,000 to $4.2 million. Sixteen of the cases surround the Rev. Mario Blanco, 76, who currently lives in a nursing home in Tacoma. Blanco, formerly a Salesian, served in the Sacramento diocese from 1969 to 1973, when then-Bishop Alden Bell dismissed him. Blanco has been an independent traditionalist priest, saying the traditional Mass in Tacoma since 1980. Besides the 16 current cases, the diocese previously settled two cases against the priest; but Blanco denies he's done anything wrong. "I know I'm innocent and God knows I'm innocent," Blanco told a Tacoma newspaper. "I don't understand why the diocese settled." Another priest, the Rev. Jose Luis Urbina, was convicted in 1989 of molesting Salvador Prez, now 34, of Sacramento, but fled the country before sentencing. He is still at large and has served as a priest in Mexico in recent years, though now his whereabouts are unknown. Eight cases had to do with Father Javier Garcia, accused of molesting children in three Northern California counties. In 1995, Garcia fled to Mexico and is still at large. Of the remaining priests involved in the cases, one other fled to Mexico, two are dead, and three have retired or are no longer in ministry. The Sacramento diocese transferred no priest to another diocese, said the July 2 Catholic Herald, the newspaper of the Sacramento diocese.
Also on June 29, the diocese of Santa Rosa agreed to settle with eight alleged victims of clerical sexual abuse for $7.3 million. In May, the diocese settled with a woman for $3.15 million. The woman claimed that the former priest Donald Kimball molested her for several years, beginning when she was 15.
ACCORDING TO THE HERALD, insurers for the Sacramento diocese will pay less than 50 percent of the settlement costs. The diocese will pay the remainder by a 15 percent reduction in operating expenses this year, sale of assets, and loans. Religious orders -- the Dominicans, Salesians, and Redemptorists -- will also contribute to the settlement payments. Bishop William Weigand has said no parish assets would be used to pay for the settlement nor any monies contributed to the 2002 diocesan capital campaign.
MEXICAN WOMEN COME to the United States for abortions, a researcher for the Population Council told the University of California, Berkeley's faculty club on July 6. According to Dr. Daniel Grossman, formerly of the Bay Area and currently working as a physician in Mexico City, about 20 percent of the women who utilized San Diego's largest abortion clinic had Mexican addresses. A quarter of these women chose to go north because they did not trust Mexican abortions. Some women -- mostly middle class Mexicans, go as far north to San Francisco to obtain abortions, Grossman said. Mexico restricts abortions far more than does the United States.
Grossman conducted his study as part of the University of California's California-Mexico Health Initiative, which is funded by U.S. and Mexican government and academic organizations. Another study in the initiative that an increasing number of U.S. citizens -- about three to five percent of Californians -- are seeking medical care in Tijuana, more than the number of Mexicans seeking healthcare in the United States. Many, though not all, of these Americans are uninsured and find Mexico a cheaper alternative for prescriptions, dental care, and plastic surgery.
A BILL CALLING FOR A RAISE in the minimum wage has already passed the California state assembly and is currently in the senate, the July 18 Sacramento Bee reported. The state minimum wage stands now at $6.75 hour (about $1080 a month before taxes) -- an amount, when adjusted to inflation, that is 28 percent less than the 1968 minimum wage, according to the bill's supporters. Under the new bill, the state would in July 2006 raise the minimum wage to $7.25 an hour and then to $7.75 an hour a year later. Subsequently, the wage would increase each year in accord with the state's consumer price index. Opponents of the wage hike say it will harm California's economic recovery and would induce business owners to lay off employees -- an argument used by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger last year when he vetoed another minimum wage hike bill. But proponents say the wage hike will give low-wage workers a needed boost in earnings that will help keep them out of poverty; "the alternatives to raising the minimum wage are homeless shelters and soup kitchens and bread lines. And we don't think that's a reasonable substitute," bill sponsor Sally Lieber (D-Mountain View) said. Some studies suggest that a minimum wage hike causes an increase in the number of poor and near-poor families, while others indicate a moderate wage hike has no effect on employment. Others admit the decrease in employment but say an increase in wages for some is worth the tradeoff. California currently has the lowest minimum wage on the west coast.
MOONBEAM TIES THE KNOT. Oakland mayor Jerry Brown, 67, (governor of California from 1976 to 1983) married his partner of 15 years and manager of his upcoming campaign for attorney general, Anne Gust, 47, in a ceremony held at Oakland's civic center, said the June 19 San Francisco Chronicle. Senator Dianne Feinstein, in a pink dress, presided over the June 18 ceremony, which was orchestrated by Brown. Gregorian chants (in Latin), readings from the Old and New Testaments, and selections of medieval music graced the ceremony, which drew the elite of the Democratic party in California. Originally, said the Chronicle, Brown wanted a "pre-Tridentine" wedding -- that is a ceremony without the benefit of clergy -- but former San Francisco supervisor Angela Alioto dissuaded him. "I told him it wouldn't feel real if he didn't get married in church," she said; and so, Brown and Gust, after the Oakland ceremony, were married at a smaller ceremony at St. Agnes church in San Francisco, where Brown's father, the late Governor Edmund G. Brown, and mother were married, and where Mayor Brown was baptzied. According to the Chronicle, "Alioto interpreted Brown's decision to marry as a coming to grips with life's trajectory: 'Jerry has big issues of mortality and immortality, so it makes sense.' Alioto said she bought a burial plot 'next to his, and I kept saying to him, "What about eternity, Jerry?"'"
Stewart Brand said of his friend, the former governor, "he's a good Catholic boy who's read the Confessions of St. Augustine. He knows that you get to play for a long time, and then you bear down. He did play for longer than most." In May, according to Associated Press, Brown sold his converted warehouse home on Harrison Street in Oakland for between $3 and 4 million. The buyer of the communal home, where Brown had lived with a variety of roommates -- political activists, artists, and intellectuals -- was Covenant House, which hoped to use it as a homeless shelter.
A SOCIAL JUSTICE ORGANIZATION, Communities Organized for Relational Power in Action, in which the diocese of Monterey participates, has been involved of late in county and city government initiatives. One such initiative, as reported in the July Observer, the newspaper of the diocese of Monterey, is in support of city libraries, which may close for lack of funds. Earlier in the year, five parishes raised funds for Rally Salinas and Communities Organized in support of a campaign to help libraries. But on Mother's Day, Sunday, May 8, a large banner draped around the interior walls of Sacred Heart church in Salinas, greeted worshippers coming in for Mass. The banner, designed by a muralist and painted by Sacred Heart religious education students, sported "images of a beautiful city, with gardens, libraries, recreation centers, and happy, safe children and families," said the Observer. Father Mike Miller made the banner the subject of his homily, warning that the city it depicted was threatened; they could lose their libraries, recreational centers, and even some police and firemen. Father Miller urged worshippers to sign the mural; it was then sent to other parishes in Salinas, where it collected over 300 names of supporters. Communities Organized has since met with Salinas city leaders to strategize on how convince voters to support a half-cent sales tax increase.
Communities Organized has also been working with a developer to provide affordable housing to residents of Santa Cruz County. Working with a private developer, a non-profit housing developer, the county, and elected officials, Communities Organized is proposing a development of over 200 housing units to be built on an old golf course. Of this number, 40 percent will be affordable to low and moderate-income families.
DOUBLE-BARRELL PROTEST. Members of Breasts Not Bombs, a Mendocino County anti-war protest group, went topless in San Francisco's Union Square on June 30, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. The protesters said this was their best weapon to get public attention, since people have become desensitized to antiwar demonstrations over the past two years. Bare breasts are not indecent, said the group; war is. "Boobies never hurt anyone," member Sherry Glaser said.
IN HIS COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS given at Stanford University on June 12, Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and Pixar Animation Studios, told graduates that he was a beneficiary of adoption. "My biological mother," he said, "was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption." Because his mother wanted him to be adopted by college graduates, said Jobs, "everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife." All seemed to be well, Jobs continued, "except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: 'We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?' They said: 'Of course.'" Jobs said his biological mother at first objected and refused to sign adoption papers because the couple were not college educated, but she finally relented when they agreed to send the child to college. They fulfilled their promise, but Jobs dropped out of Reed College after about six months because the tuition was exhausting "all of my working-class parents' savings." But, Jobs said, this was the best thing for him, for it started him along the path to his future as the creator of the Macintosh computer and the iPod.
The Faith was unable to determine how Jobs stands on the issues of abortion and adoption. The web page of Planned Parenthood of the Columbia/Willamette Valley, however, lists Apple Computer as one of the companies that matches employees' donations to the Planned Parenthood Federation of America.
"I HAVE NO AUTHORITY to tell Congress to change the law," U.S. District Judge Lawrence Karlton told plaintiff Michael Newdow on July 18. Newdow and eight co- plaintiffs have brought suit against various government agencies and Sacramento school districts to determine whether it is constitutional to ask children in the school districts to say the pledge of allegiance with the words "under God" included. According to the July 19 Sacramento Bee, Judge Karlton indicated that he might narrow Newdow's case to the question of the constitutionality of "under God" as far as school districts are concerned. Karlton said he did not have the competence to decide whether in a broader context the phrase violates the First Amendment -- the very question Newdow, finally, wants answered.
In 2003, the U.S. ninth district court of appeals ruled in favor of Newdow, who claimed that daily exposure in school to "under God" in the pledge violated his daughter's constitutional rights. In 2004, however, the U.S. Supreme Court dismissed Newdow's case, saying he lacked the standing to sue, since he did not have the primary care of his daughter. The court did not rule on the merits of the case.
PLANNED PARENTHOOD'S GOT RELIGION, according to the July 25 Oakland Tribune. "Planned Parenthood is deeply, firmly on the side of religion," Karen Pearl, interim president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said. And in evidence of this, last year, Planned Parenthood appointed a national chaplain, and local chapters (including one in Oakland) now have chaplains. According to Pearl, since religion is about ethics and morality, and ethics and morality are central to Planned Parenthood, "most Planned Parenthood board affiliates have religious people on them." The notion that the abortion debate "is religious vs. nonreligious," said Planned Parenthood Golden Gate spokeswoman Therese Wilson, comes from the media. But Planned Parenthood itself is partly at fault. "I think maybe we haven't done a good job telling the public how we do our work," Wilson opined.
But if religion and "pro-choice" are in bed together, why do people see them as divorced? Tom Davis, whose Sacred Choices describes the role of religion in the abortion debate, said it's because "people get comfortable with that stereotype. When the television thinks about religion, it thinks about Jerry Falwell, and it thinks about the Catholic bishops." It does not think about the United Methodist, Presbyterian USA, and the United Church of Christ -- as well as other churches, a network of 2,000 clergy, and all the religious women who go in for abortions -- who support a woman's right to kill her unborn child.
THIS YEAR, NO MONEY FOR THE MISSIONS. Though the United States Congress in 2004 approved a $10 million rescue package for the California missions, none of the money will be released this year, said the July 17 Sacramento Bee. This is because Congress will not give out any money until a lawsuit challenging the right of the government to fund mission restoration is resolved. Americans United for Separation of Church and State filed the lawsuit in federal court in Washington, D.C., saying that since the Catholic Church uses all but two of the missions for religious purposes, funding the missions would violate the First Amendment. "There is some controversy created by the lawsuit," said Representative Sam Farr (D-Carmel), a mission bill supporter and a member of the House Appropriations Committee. "They are not going to put money into this account until that controversy is removed."
The non-profit California Missions Foundation, which works to preserve the missions, was unable to obtain any money from Proposition 40, a state ballot measure passed by voters in 2002 which raises money, in part, for "the acquisition, restoration, preservation and interpretation of California's historical and cultural resources." State law forbids the expenditure of state funds for support of religious institutions. Last October, the California Cultural and Historical Endowment Board, which gives out state money, asked the attorney general's office whether state law indeed forbids state money for the restoration of historical, though religious, buildings. By late July, the attorney general's office had made no ruling.
MISSION SAN MIGUEL, near Paso Robles, which has been closed since December 2003 on account of earthquake damage, is in desperate need of funds. According to John Fowler, project manager for the mission's restoration, at least $16 million is needed to restore the mission so that it can be again opened to the public. So far, only $400,000 have been raised, $100,000 of that from the California Missions Foundation.
SACRED HEART CHURCH on Fillmore Street in San Francisco was bought by Fred Furth, a lawyer and winemaker, who plans to transform it into a school, the July 26 San Francisco Chronicle reported. In 2004, Furth gave over a million dollars to the Western Addition school, which houses students both at St. Dominic school on Bush Street and Sacred Heart school on Fell. Furth is likely to preserve Sacred Heart church's façade but use its interior for the school, which he renamed Megan Furth Academy, after his daughter. Sacred Heart, which San Francisco architectural William Kostura called "a church unlike any other," was closed by the archdiocese last December. Parishioners have been fighting to keep it open and functioning as a parish.
THE SAN FRANCISCO ARCHDIOCESE announced in late June that it would seek a new buyer for St. Brigid's church on Van Ness and Broadway -- a buyer that would not demolish the church, the July 13 San Francisco Chronicle reported. The Rathnew Corporation had bought the church with plans to demolish the 141-year-old structure to build condominiums. But preservationists and parishioners have fought to preserve the church. Under the archdiocese's arrangement, the new buyer of St. Brigid's must agree to preserve the structure and be subject to a ten-year moratorium on demolition. A legal agreement filed by the archdiocese in the San Francisco recorder's office, however, contains a clause that says the contract with the buyer can be "amended, modified, rescinded, canceled, or terminated" by written agreement between it and the Rathnew Corporation. If the new buyer proceeds with demolition, he must pay Rathnew $2.5 million.
A lawyer for the archdiocese said the agreement was drawn up to preserve Rathnew's interest in the property if ever the church were demolished. He said preservation laws would suffice to protect the church in the meantime, though in fact the agreement's wording does not guarantee preservation of the structure.
MOST PARENTS SAY YES TO PARENTAL NOTIFICATION, SAYS POLL. A recent poll conducted by Capitol Resource Institute gives evidence that Californians overwhelmingly support the right of parents to be notified when their children leave school for medical services. The poll asked parents the following question: "should our public schools require parental consent or notification when a minor student leaves the school grounds for any reason other than an emergency?" According to Karen England of Capitol Resource Institute, the overwhelming majority of parents said, "yes."
England said that her group contracted a polling firm in Virginia to survey parents. "The poll was conducted over two nights. We used a very reputable firm who used an automated phone system. This is important because there are no inflections in the voice, so it gives a more accurate statistic." England said that they polled four counties -- Solano, Placer, El Dorado, and Nevada. The polling broke down as follows: 84 percent of the people in Solano County responded affirmatively when asked if they think parents should be notified or be able to give consent when their minor children leave school to have medical services. Placer County had an 82 percent affirmative response, El Dorado County had an 82 percent affirmative response, and Nevada County had an 84 percent affirmative response. England noted that currently parents in Scotts Valley, which is located in the Santa Cruz Mountain area, are battling to keep a policy in place that requires that parents be notified before their minor children can leave schools in the Scotts Valley Unified School district.
An attorney with Capitol Resource Institute noted that it is up to the local school district to decide whether or not children should leave school grounds for medical services. "State law permits school districts, as a matter of local control, to choose to notify parents when minor children wish to leave for confidential medical services or not to notify them," said Amy Koons, an attorney with Capitol Resource Institute. "We believe that the Scotts Valley Unified School Board should respect the values and opinions of their constituents and notify parents."
England said that her group is confident that the polling numbers in the four counties that were surveyed would be applicable to the entire state of California. The upcoming November election will include Proposition 73, a proposed constitutional amendment that would require that parents be notified 48 hours in advance of their minor daughter's abortion.
Albin Rhomberg of the Proposition 73 campaign said he's confident about the upcoming election.