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ROAMIN' CATHOLIC
Contents © 2000
by Jim Holman.
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NEWS
APRIL 2000
A FORMER ABORTION CLINIC in Palmdale has become a pro-life pregnancy counseling center. On March 24, the vigil of the Feast of the Annunciation, Father Rankin of St. Mary's Church in Palmdale said a Mass at the former clinic to consecrate the future activities of the Antelope Valley Pregnancy Counseling Center there. On March 25, the new center held its grand opening.
The former abortion clinic closed its doors two years ago after years of weekly protests by pro-life activists. "They said they didn't have enough clients," said Catherine Cincis, Life Service Coordinator for the Antelope Valley Pregnancy Counseling Center, "but we think it was because there were prayer warriors out there every day. But maybe they didn't have enough clients because there were prayer warriors out there everyday."
Cincis said that the counseling center's executive director, Marc Boileau, decided after the center's fund raising dinner last November to take over the former clinic as a counseling center. There are plans, too, to turn the new location into a pregnancy clinic. "We want a clinic to go there, right at that spot," said Cincis. "We want to do ultra-sound right in that room [where children were aborted]. It takes almost a year to get licensing, so we decided that rather than wait and go in as a clinic, we'd go in as a pregnancy counseling center. And do you know what has happened? Since we have had so many volunteers, like the Knights of Columbus and other people there painting and getting ready, we've had two girls come there and think that the abortion clinic has re-opened. Can you imagine the people that we will get? They'll think that it's the abortion clinic, and we'll have a chance to touch them."
Those who would contact the Antelope Valley Pregnancy Counseling Center may call them at (661) 942-0829.
"THE HOLY FATHER URGES US to seek out the roots of violence and injustice. Uncovering these roots in the human heart is necessary for engendering healing and hope for reconciliation," wrote Roger Cardinal Mahony in his Lenten 2000 message to the archdiocese of Los Angeles. Following Pope John Paul II, the cardinal wrote that the "road to reconciliation" is "a way of confession, repentance, forgiveness," and in this "way" he offered apology and asked forgiveness for "several groups and issues within our Local Church of Los Angeles." This apology, said the cardinal, must be accompanied by a "firm purpose of amendment."
Cardinal Mahony apologized for his own lack of "patience and understanding" and for his intemperate remarks to priests, religious, deacons and lay leaders, pledging "to continue my efforts to be more humble, generous, kind, considerate, and supportive to all within the Archdiocese."
The cardinal offered apology for those within the archdiocese who were guilty of stereotyping "those who are 'other,' such as those of other cultures, languages, ethnic backgrounds, and immigration status" and for the "sin of silence (omission) in the face of hatred, political policy, prejudice, violence, intolerance here in Southern California over the years."
Among "the deeper wounds experienced here in our Local Church following the Second Vatican Council," Cardinal Mahony noted "the tension and stress between the Archdiocese and the Immaculate Heart Sisters. Without trying to re-visit the facts and details of that unfortunate dispute," the cardinal wished "to apologize to all who felt hurt and rejection by the Church during those years." Said Cardinal Mahony, "in a special way" he wanted to apologize "to all Women Religious in our Archdiocese who may have felt slighted, not fully appreciated, or discriminated against in any way." The cardinal noted that "the Archdiocese has tried to bring women into all levels of the Church's life and ministry, especially in leadership roles, and pledged his "resolve to continue to reach out to women throughout our Local Church and to invite them to place their gifts and talents at the service of the Church at every level possible."
Cardinal Mahony apologized "to those individuals, families, and parish communities who have suffered because of clergy sexual abuse." He gave his assurance that "thorough and firm policies and procedures are in place to deal with misconduct of any kind among our clergy and those in ministry." The cardinal also extended his apologies to homosexuals and lesbians for the times the Church "appeared to be non-supportive of their struggles or of falling into homophobia." Mahony also apologized for "our lack of outreach, lack of sensitivity, and lack of adequate pastoral programs in the past for our divorced and remarried Catholics."
Noting that "in the past, the relationship of the Archdiocese and organized labor has been uneven," Cardinal Mahony apologized to workers "if our attitude and efforts failed to value working people and their legitimate right to seek self-organization." He promised to continue efforts to improve the relationship between the Church and labor and "to serve in a role of reconciliation and mediation where disputes exist."
"Some make negative comments about movies and the media, and their negative influence on culture," noted the cardinal, "and all too quickly assign that negative influences to members of the Jewish community. In other ways, too, the Jewish people and their faith have been stereotyped and made the object of insult, jokes, and generalizations." For these, the cardinal offered apology. From Moslems, too, the cardinal sought forgiveness. "The religion of Islam is portrayed by some as barbaric, primitive, restrictive, and without any contribution to the family of peoples," said the cardinal, and "Islam is often identified directly with terrorism, and easily becomes the universal villain. But as we know, the Islamic faith teaches love, respect, family values, and a deep responsibility for improving the common good for all peoples."
JAMES BEMIS, a Catholic, has written a Sunday column for the Los Angeles Daily News for three years. The column's title for the Sunday prior to the March 7 primary election was "Proposition 22: Preserving the Normal." Bemis' topic was inspired by his attendance at a February 27 forum held at California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks on the so-called "Limit on Marriages" state ballot initiative. The initiative passed by a 61-39 percent margin of California voters.
Cal Lutheran's Religion Department, the Conejo Valley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, and the United Church of Christ of Simi Valley hosted the forum. On the panel were four speakers opposed to Proposition 22 and one in favor of it. The lone Proposition 22 supporter was Andrew Seeley, a Thomas Aquinas College instructor. The opponents were Dr. Pamela Brubaker, from Cal Lutheran's Religion Department; Dr. Jane Drucker, a lesbian sociologist; Mark Levine, a homosexual attorney; and Jeanie Mortensen-Bessano, an excommunicated Mormon who runs an internet support group for homosexuals. Dr. Joseph Everson, also from Cal Lutheran's Religion Department, whom Bemis describes as being clearly against Proposition 22, served as the moderator.
While listening to the speakers, Bemis imagined how he would have responded to the arguments made. "In a sane age, this assertion -- containing the entire text of Proposition 22 -- wouldn't be subject to debate, much less to a vote of the people," he wrote in his column. "But ours is not a sane age, and thus today's men and women are driven to extraordinary lengths to defend the ordinary truths of their fathers. Hence, Proposition 22. Believe it or not, the assumption that marriage should be limited to a man and a woman wasn't always a controversial matter...
"Most societies recognized both matrimony's cultural benefits and the burdens assumed by the married couple on behalf of the society at large, primarily in the proper raising of future generations.... First came society's recognition of marriage's cultural value and its duties and burdens. The privileges and benefits afforded husband and wife followed. To hear some tell it, you'd think marriage was created solely as a means to bestow certain 'rights' on heterosexual couples and deny them to homosexuals. This is a fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of the institution of marriage, part of what seems to be a widespread misunderstanding of the nature of all cultural institutions.... With 'domestic partnerships'-- including heterosexual ones -- children are only incidental to the relationship and no long-term commitment exists to share in the offspring's upbringing. Consequently, there is no 'give' to society, only 'take.' Therefore, persons participating in domestic partnerships have no claim to any special benefits beyond those of any other citizen. None.
"Much of this debate centers on marriage's nominal -- i.e. cash -- value and how unfair it seems that some receive it and others don't. But this avoids what is really the heart of the matter: knowing what is and is not a marriage.... We're threatened by what G.K. Chesterton called modernity's morbid weakness of 'sacrificing the normal to the abnormal'.... So long as we shrink from defining our cultural standards, we'll continue to be bombarded with assaults on traditional institutions, until one day we'll find there's nothing left of civilization worth preserving."
The Daily News declined to run this column, as they have done previously with a few of Bemis' other pieces on controversial issues. "Three topics seem to make them very uncomfortable: abortion, feminism and gay rights," he explained. "The reason given to me for not running my column was that it was the weekend before the election and they like to give people at least a week to respond to political columns before an election, even though my column runs with my picture and it is clearly my own personal opinion and no one could possibly think this was the paper's editorial opinion. By the way, I have often written about political initiatives and issues in the midst of campaigns before, but I don't remember if any ran the weekend before an election. This restriction was, obviously, news to me." Bemis told the Mission that the Daily News does run opinion pieces on both sides of the abortion, feminism and homosexuality issues from outside contributors. He attributes their reluctance to run his columns on these topics to being nervous about one of their own contributors having "views so doggedly opposed to the prevailing cultural winds. They are so used to seeing liberal or even 'moderately' conservative views from other newspaper columnists. I'm afraid they're a little too worried about what their friends at the Los Angeles Times are going to say about their having such a cultural anachronism writing for their paper."
Bemis hastened to point out that he nonetheless enjoys a very good relationship with his editor and the newspaper in general. "At least the Daily News does print my column nearly every time and they never try to influence my choice of topics," he commented. "I frequently write quite favorably about religion -- especially the Catholic Church -- with no problems or even comments from my editors. Neither of the other two local papers -- the Los Angeles Times or the Ventura County Star -- are anywhere nearly as balanced on the opinion page as the Daily News is. Nevertheless, there is obviously less than real free speech in the mainstream media, generally. As George Orwell said, an unfashionable idea is almost never given a fair hearing. If it was true in his day, it is doubly true in our day of militant political correctness."
DOCTOR LAURA SCHLESSINGER has recently come under fire from pro-homosexual activists incensed that the highly rated radio talk show personality has called homosexual activity a "deviant behavior." Homosexual activists have enlisted the gay and lesbian Horizon Foundation to send Doctor Laura a letter demanding that she "follow the example of the Rev. Jerry Falwell who recently told a gathering of gays and lesbians that 'I have been strident in my language' ... and has pledged to no longer refer to homosexuals as deviant."
In addition to the letter, homosexual activists have run full-page advertisements in major newspapers throughout the county, and have created a website, www.stopdrlaura.com, in order to get others to launch an attack on radio stations that carry Doctor Laura's radio program. Additionally, the web site asks for people to contact Paramount Studios, who will produce Doctor Laura's television talk show this coming fall, and demand that they withdraw the show.
Erin Malec of Community Works, a public interest public relations firm that is handling media calls for the Stop Doctor Laura campaign, told the Mission that they are concerned how Doctor Laura's "anti-gay comments will affect children." She said that the Horizons Foundation's letter to Doctor Laura included the signature of Child Welfare League of America's executive director, Shay Bilchik.
AFTER A FOUR-YEAR WAIT, the Senate confirmed United States district court judge, Richard Paez, to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Paez, who served as a Los Angeles superior court judge, repeatedly thwarted efforts by attorneys for Operation Rescue to invoke the "necessity defense" during the trials of rescuers arrested for blocking entrances to clinics during the 1989 Holy Week rescue held in Los Angeles. "Necessity defense" is the legal doctrine that says that one can break human law when there is a higher good involved.
After his appointment to the U.S. District Court, Paez was later appointed to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals by President Clinton. Because of his activist record, Republican senators concerned with Paez's judicial activism delayed Paez's confirmation.
Earlier this year, the Clinton administration launched a campaign to hasten Paez's confirmation by saying that the Senate Republicans were stalling on the confirmation of judges who where minorities and women. "Senate Republicans waited far too long to act ... on these judges ... it has been very disappointing to see Republicans put Judge Paez ... through years of undeserved anguish and uncertainty merely to satisfy the partisan extreme wing of their party," said Orange County Democratic Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez.
IN THE FINAL DAYS before the March 7 primary election, several big city mayors in California came out in opposition to Proposition 22, the initiative that sought to define marriage as a union of a man and a woman. On March 3, Los Angeles mayor Richard Riordan joined San Diego mayor Susan Golding, San Francisco mayor Willie Brown, Oakland mayor Jerry Brown and San Jose mayor Ron Gonzalez in formally opposing Proposition 22. In his statement, Mayor Riordan said that while he opposed gay marriages, the "proposition isn't about marriage. Proposition 22 is a mean spirited, divisive initiative that unfairly targets one group of Californians for discrimination. In Los Angeles, we have come a long way toward uniting people of various creeds, colors and backgrounds. Proposition 22 undermines these efforts."
According to a No on Knight/No on Proposition 22 campaign press release, not only mayors, but most statewide elected officials, major national leaders and "virtually all" state newspapers opposed Proposition 22. The anti-Proposition 22 coalition included, said the press release, "Governor Gray Davis and Senators Boxer and Feinstein, as well as major national leaders such as President Clinton, Vice President Gore, Coretta Scott King, and Dolores Huerta of the United Farm Workers. Newspapers opposed to Proposition 22, said the press relese, included "the conservative San Diego Union Tribune and even Pete Knight's home paper, the Bakersfield Californian."
WRITING IN THE FEBRUARY 6 parish bulletin, Father Ludo DeClippel, CJ, the pastor of Holy Cross Catholic Church in Santa Barbara, said that he hopes that "all will support Proposition 22." A little later in his piece, Father DeClippel said that the California bishops "are in favor of granting by law all the social rights of health care, social security, paying taxes, etc. to everyone and to all types of domestic partners, unions or committed relationships." Father DeClippel then went on to say, "but for God's sake, let's use the term 'marriage' only for what a marriage is since the origins of creation and for what divine revelation calls a marriage. If we need to create new legal terms to refer to other relationships, let's do so, but don't call them marriages."
SEVERAL "HIT PIECE" mailers were sent to voters in the 59th Assembly District. The mailers targeted the son of State Senator Dick MontJoy (R-Arcadia) who was running for the Assembly seat being vacated by Bob Margett due to term limits. The mailers accused Montjoy, whom they labeled as "Deadbeat Dennis," of not paying his taxes and his mortgage. One of the mailers was sent by CAUSE, the California Union of Safety Employees.
When asked why the Public Employees' union would target Mountjoy, Peggy Mew, Montjoy's Treasurer, said, "the unions want to take over the Republican party. They spent a quarter of a million dollars in Orange County targeting another conservative Republican, Jim Rijheimer. Dennis is the second one they targeted."
Unable to afford a mailer rebutting the hit piece, Mountjoy called a press conference on March 4. According to the San Gabriel Valley Tribune, Walter Allen, who was also running for the 59th Assembly District, said that he was unaware of the hit piece. "I never condoned it. This is not my method of campaigning," he told a reporter. The director of the public safety union, John Millar, could not be reached for comment.
Mew countered Allen's statement that he was not aware of the hit piece. "It's hard to believe," she said. "Everyone knew about it [the hit piece] two weeks before. We picked it up on the internet. There was a late filing for Dennis Mountjoy from the union. We knew that they would be hitting us. Everyone in Sacramento knew this for the past two weeks. They [the union] want Allen in there. Look at Allen's campaign contribution -- they're public agencies up and down the state. CAUSE, as of year end, had $32,628. Allen has a voting record of supporting the unions at the expense of the taxpayers."
RISING THREE STORIES, bronze doors will adorn the south-side entrance to the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, according to a February 26 Los Angeles Times story. According to the Times, the doors, designed by artist Robert Graham, will be so massive as to require a motorized hydraulic system to open and close them. Designed to "reflect the ethnic and cultural diversity" of the Los Angeles archdiocese, the bronze doors will be adorned with various symbols, said the Times. On the four bottom panels, set on four-inch square pedestals, will be 40 ancient symbols portraying God and His power; these will include a tai chi symbol of unity, a dog as symbol for loyalty, a peacock for resurrection, a Celtic missionary, and a Samoan kava bowl -- all united by a grapevine, symbolizing the Church. The upper panels will hold symbols of the Virgin Mary.
THE TIDINGS, the Los Angeles archdiocesan newspaper, blew Jesuit theologian Father Richard McCormick a farewell kiss after the dissident theologian died on February 12. Monsignor George G. Higgins applauded McCormick for dissenting from the magisterium on moral issues like birth control: "I feel confident in saying that on all matters of social ethics and social morality he was consistently on target."
Bob Vasoli, told the Mission recently that he remembers his Notre Dame colleague differently. "McCormick was a problem," said Vasoli, a retired Notre Dame sociology professor. "He had a big influence in the church promoting relativism and weakening the rules." Historian James Hitchcock agrees. "He was a dissenter to be sure," said Hitchcock, noting that one of McCormick's books is dedicated to the pro-abortion former congressman, Father Robert Drinan. "He was extremely influential with his views on contraception, homosexuality, etc."