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2000 NEWS STORIES
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ROAMIN' CATHOLIC
Contents © 2000
by Jim Holman.
All rights reserved.
NEWS
JULY/AUGUST 2000
REFUSING TO OBEY a further silencing from the Vatican, Sister Jeannine Gramick faces a possible dismissal from her religious order, the School Sisters of Notre Dame, according to a Catholic News Service report. The Vatican, last July 13, had forbidden Sister Gramick and Father Robert Nugent to continue their work with homosexual and lesbian Catholics because of the priest's and sister's promotion of "errors and ambiguities" that had "caused confusion among the Catholic people and have harmed the community of the church." Since that time, both Gramick and Nugent have spoken publicly on the issue of homosexuality, and Gramick made a tour to rally support against the Vatican's ban on her past work. In May, the Vatican's congregation for religious summoned the pair to Rome for clarification on the scope of the ban.
In meetings, held May 24 and 25 at the headquarters of their respective congregations, Gramick's and Nugent's religious superiors forbade them to speak further on the issue of homosexuality and on last year's ecclesiastical censure. Father Nugent, in a statement dated May 24 and released May 26, stated he would accede to the further clarification of the ban, stating that his public activities since last July had been in accord with what he believed "to be a reasonably correct interpretation" of the Vatican's ban.
Sister Gramick, however, refused to obey. In a statement dated May 26, she wrote: "I choose to obey the voice of God within me, and in this instance, the voice of God is saying that I should not collaborate with my own oppression." This act of disobedience to her religious superiors could result in Gramick's dismissal from her congregation.
Sister Rosemary Howarth, Gramick's Superior General in Rome, in a written statement said "it saddens us deeply that Sister Jeannine's immediate response was that she cannot live with these directives." The statement continues: "We had asked her to 'let the land lie fallow' ... and redirect her gifts and energies toward a different ministry."
Gramick had said last September that she could not acquiesce in the Vatican's ban on her ministry, and so would work within Church structures to have the ban reversed. Last January, in a talk at Mother of Good Counsel church in Los Angeles, sponsored by the Los Angeles and San Diego chapters of Call to Action, Sister Gramick asked those gathered to send letters of protest to the Vatican, the bishops, and the papal nuncio. "If the people are coming forth to state that their conscience differs from the teachings of the Church," said Gramick, "it is then that we can dialogue as a community and ask, is the Spirit speaking here, is the Spirit trying to tell us something and move us to the development of doctrine?" (See "Call to Dissent," March 2000 Mission).
"THE VATICAN HAS SILENCED Sister Jeannine Gramick, SSND, and Father Robert Nugent, SDS," began an ambiguous letter written by Father Peter Liuzzi, O.Carm., to members of his Ministry with Lesbian and Gay Catholics. Liuzzi, director of the Los Angeles archdiocesan ministry, began his June 2 letter with a short litany of events that concern gay rights activists. "The United States Catholic Conference (through the Office of the General Counsel)," continued Liuzzi, "has raised an amicus brief ... supporting the right of the Boys [sic] Scouts to discriminate against homosexual membership. The Vatican has raised powerful and effecive objections to a gay parade in the streets of Rome during the Jubilee year. As I share these events with you, I wonder about your feelings and your response?... I would offer some questions which might help shape a response."
What follows is a series of questions that Liuzzi says he struggles with -- questions regarding the significance of these events, both in themselves, and in relation to the ministry and its members. Liuzzi then refers to Paul's letter to the Romans, Chapter 12, 9-18: "Your love must be sincere. Detest what is evil, cling to what is good.... Rejoice in hope, be patient under trial, persevere in prayer.... Bless your persecutors; bless and do not curse them...." "These words from scripture," wrote Liuzzi, "sound like a plan!"
In response to the question, "what shall we do?" Liuzzi responds: "Continue to build up our parish based communities and our parent support groups and invite back to the church all our alienated brothers and sisters." Commending his readers, Liuzzi wrote: "I so admire the courage and the perseverance of all of you in the face of all the crises that are now mere memories. Yes, we are wounded but so was Jesus and by his glorious wounds, we are healed so let us be wounded healers."
ON MOTHER'S DAY, May 14, a pro-abortion senator, Christopher Dodd (D-Connecticut) addressed the graduates of Loyola Law School at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. Senator Dodd is a Catholic and a vocal advocate of all forms of abortion, including partial-birth abortion. While Dodd spoke, over twenty pro-life protesters holding signs and handing out leaflets, presented an interesting spectacle to motorists passing by the large stone sign sporting a cross and the name of the university. The protest was organized by Dr. James Hanink, prolife activist and professor of philosophy at LMU since 1976. Haninck is also the associate editor of the New Oxford Review.
When asked, by e-mail, why he organized a protest during Dodd's speech, Hanink said, "a Catholic university has a vocation to reflect the Gospel. [By inviting Dodd] LMU was distorting, rather than reflecting, the Gospel of Life." Haninck said that Dodd was invited "because of his political status -- and he's a lawyer." (John Kerry, D-Massachussetts, a Catholic pro-abortion legislator who also voted in favor of partial birth abortion, received the same honor just a few years ago.)
Haninck said his protest received a variety of responses -- "denial, puzzlement, and the usual finger flipping. But ... also some soul-searching -- a longtime LMU staffer told me that inviting Dodd "just didn't make sense."
Was the protest a success? "Yes," replied Haninck. "We lit a candle!" Haninck said that if Dodd is invited again next year, he would call for another protest.
If someone told Haninck he was compromising his commitment to the university, Haninck said he would ask, why? "We have to distinguish between the good of the university and PR-related aping of secular universities," he said.
As a "suggestion," Haninck urged contacting Father Robert Lawton, S.J., LMU's President, to ask him "what's going on." Father Lawton may be reached at (310) 338-2775; Loyola Boulevard at W. 80th Street, Los Angeles, CA 90045.
THE PRESIDENT OF THE AFL-CIO, John Sweeney, with Roger Cardinal Mahony, and Bishop Nicholas A. DiMarzio, representatives of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, held a joint news conference on March 15 to call for changes in U.S. immigration policy. Sweeney and the bishops announced that the union and the bishops' conference would join forces to work for legalization of undocumented immigrant workers.
In an opinion piece for the June 8 Los Angeles Times, Cardinal Mahony noted that "organized labor's commitment to seek changes in immigration law is an affirmation of the stories and struggles of immigrant workers across the country." These immigrants, noted Mahony, suffer from an economy "that often sees low-wage, low-skilled workers displaced by sudden changes in the market." Immigrants, too, he wrote, "are particularly vulnerable to discrimination and harassment by unscrupulous employers who are willing to exploit the labor of immigrants -- especially those without legal status -- who they know are reluctant to seek legal recourse."
"The American economy is growing," noted the cardinal, "not in spite of immigrant workers but with their help. Farm workers and garment workers put food on our tables and clothes on our backs. The state's robust tourism industry is supported by busboys, dishwashers, cooks, maids and janitors. In return for their efforts, immigrant workers deserve the protections that permanent residency and the enforcement of workplace rights would afford them."
To ensure such protections, Cardinal Mahony listed the following policies espoused by the Catholic bishops and the AFL-CIO: "the legalization of immigrant workers and their families, especially those who come to the United States fleeing oppression and destitution and who make significant contributions to our country; greater respect for both the civil and workplace rights of immigrant workers, regardless of their legal status; U.S. foreign and economic policies that better address the conflict, poverty and denial of human rights that pressure people to come to this country; [and] a reexamination of how immigration laws are enforced in the workplace, including the repeal of employer sanctions."
As a step to "a broad legalization", Cardinal Mahony wrote that Congress should allow immigrants who have been in the United States since 1986 to become legal, permanent residents. Congress, too, wrote the cardinal, "should correct a 1997 law that allows Nicaraguans and Cubans to apply for permanent residence" while leaving other groups without similar access."
"Legalization has broad benefits," said Mahony. It would permit immigrants to participate more fully in our nation's civic and political life and would protect them from exploitation and abuse. It would promote family unity by allowing immigrant parents to obtain legal status and remain here with their children, many of whom are citizens. Moreover, it gives employers a stable and reliable force of workers who are invested in both their jobs and their community."
A BILL BEFORE THE CALIFORNIA state senate, sponsored by Planned Parenthood, declares in its introduction that "the Legislature finds and declares that antiabortion crime and hate crime differ in concept, but often converge in practice, and that law enforcement should address them in concert."
According to a news alert put out by the internet site, www.prolife.com, "the bill's authors cite statistics which purport to show that California has been subject to rampant antiabortion crime in recent years. In fact, however, an actual crime committed by someone who opposes abortion is already subject to aggressive prosecution." Pro-life sidewalk counselors are fearful that they will become the target of this legislation. The new alert pointed out that "in recent years, Planned Parenthood has even claimed that peaceful prayer vigils on public streets adjacent to their abortion chambers have been criminal acts." Further, the bill would allow pro-abortion activists and clinic escorts to use pseudonyms in court in order to accuse pro-lifers anonymously. Pro-lifers say that this bill will relegate pro-life sidewalk counseling and activism to the level of a hate crime.
According to a May 15 update on Tim Palmquist's web site, www.glorifyjesus.com, the senate bill "as written by Sen. [Deborah] Ortiz [D- Sacramento], originally began with the [above] quoted words. On May 9, these words were removed, the title of the bill was deleted, and the bill was given a sunset date of January 1, 2006. However, none of the actual provisions of the bill were changed in any way. The May 9 amendment was obviously just 'window-dressing' designed to hide the fact that the law would treat 'anti-abortion crime' like 'hate crime.' In spite of the fact that these words were deleted, they obviously reveal the intent of the author."
THE CATHOLIC FOUNDATION will provide $4.5 million in scholarships for the 2000-2001 school year to poor families who want to send their children to Catholic schools, according to a May 31 Los Angeles Times story. The foundation's scholarships will aid 4,700 children in Los Angeles, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties. The $4.5 million represents an eight percent increase over the amount of money awarded last year.
Roger Cardinal Mahony started the Catholic Foundation in 1988. With an endowment of $82 million, the foundation has awarded over $28 million in scholarships to 37,000 children over the past 12 years. Next year, the foundation hopes to raise an additional $2 million in scholarships, and in the long term, hopes to boost the number of scholarships to 7,500.
Of the archdiocese's 279 schools (with a student population of about 100,000), those schools in poorer areas have several thousand seats open, Jerome R. Porath, the archdiocese's superintendent of schools, told the Times. Schools in middle to upper income areas, however, are full, with waiting lists, said Porath. Porath noted that "we have not kept up with demand." The archdiocese, he said, does not plan to build any new schools because of the prohibitive cost of land and construction.
THE SPECTER of women resorting to "back alley abortions" and dying at the hands of unscrupulous doctors is a key strategy of abortion rights activists when any mention of curbing abortion comes up. The mantra of a "safe and legal abortion" is often used by abortion proponents as a public relations tool in order to garner support for abortion on demand. Yet a review of court records shows that in spite of the fact that abortions are legal in all 50 states and are a constitutional right, too often women end up dying at the hands of unscrupulous doctors.
Fearful that other abortionists who kill women may suffer the same fate as Bruce Steir (see article, this issue), abortion proponents have introduced a bill in the state senate which would repeal the penal codes that allow prosecutors to file charges against doctors who perform illegal abortions.
Bob Cielnicky of Life Priority Network said, "I have often wondered how supportive the feminist movement is towards women. This bill gives us the answer. They [the feminists] support it and it's back to the back alley." Life Priority Network sent out an action alert, listing the names and numbers of key legislators to contact regarding the bill. One of these assemblymen was Gil Cedillo (D-Los Angeles). When asked for comment, a receptionist for the assemblyman who did not want to identify herself said that assemblyman would not have to vote on the bill "unless it comes before the appropriations committee and when it's on the assembly floor."
IN HIS ADDRESS to the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., May 25, Cardinal Mahony announced "I have written today to Gray Davis, Governor of California, calling on him to institute a moratorium on the death penalty while the California system can be thoroughly assessed and the inequities, weaknesses, and biases in the process can be revealed fully."
In his talk, entitled "A Witness to Life: The Catholic Church and the Death Penalty," Cardinal Mahony said that "the words and actions" of Pope John Paul II put the Catholic Church "even more squarely on the side of those calling" for the abolition of the death penalty.
Citing America magazine, the cardinal noted that "pro-life Catholics are far more likely to reject capital punishment than Catholics who do not embrace the Church's stand on abortion. Among these pro-lifers, fifty-two percent reject the death penalty while support among all Catholics -- in 1998 -- remained at around 70 percent." In the
population as a whole, said Mahony, support for the death penalty is dwindling, though politicians from both major parties still support it.
Cardinal Mahony cited factors which have caused the public and political leaders to re-evaluate the death penalty. These factors include the sometimes arbitrary nature of the application of the death penalty, the disproportionate number of minorities and poor who are on death row, the "fiscal burdens borne by penal institutions," and the evidence that the innocent have been convicted.
Calling the United States the "most violent nation on earth not currently at war," Cardinal Mahony stated that our society is tempted to solve our most pressing problems with violence. "Abortion is promoted to deal with difficult or unwanted pregnancies; Euthanasia and assisted suicide are suggested as a remedy for the burdens of age and illness; Capital punishment is marketed as the answer to deal with violent crime. A nation that destroys its young, abandons its elderly, and relies on vengeance is in serious moral trouble."
Governor Davis, a Catholic and a strong supporter of the death penalty (as well as abortion), will not, it appears, accede to the cardinal's call for a moratorium on executions. A spokesman for Governor Davis told the Los Angeles Times on May 25 that as long as the death penalty is on the books in California, the governor will enforce it.
A PRO-ABORTION FEMINIST has been excommunicated and cannot be the godmother of a baby boy that would never have been born if she had had her way, says the vicar general of the diocese of Mexicali. The feminist, Silvia Reséndiz, has been a longtime advocate of legalized abortion in Mexico. Reséndiz befriended the family of 'Paulina,' a teen-age rape victim, and was one of several feminists who lodged complaints with the government after doctors at Mexicali's General Hospital refused to perform a judicially-authorized abortion. After the child was born, Reséndiz said she was going to be the boy's godmother. That brought a quick response from Rev. Raúl Enríquez Ramírez, vicar general of the diocese of Mexicali. He said Reséndiz had automatically excommunicated herself because of her pro-abortion activities, and therefore failed to meet the requirement of canon law that a godparent must set a good moral example for the child to be baptized. "She does not meet this requirement because she is against the right to life, a view she has expressed publicly for many years," the vicar general told the Mexicali daily La Cronica in an article published May 1. Reséndiz says she is not trying to promote abortion. "What I do is defend the right of a woman to decide about her body," Reséndiz said in a television interview. "I am sorry the Church has adopted this attitude."
The decisiveness and firmness displayed by the diocese of Mexicali with regard to the case of 'Paulina' has brought recognition from Rome. The diocesan cathedral has been designated 'a cathedral of life' by the Vatican, according to Bishop José Isidro Guerrero Macias. The bishop announced, May 10, that he had received a telephone call from Archbishop Javier Lozano Barragán, former Bishop of Zacatecas and now president of the Pontifical Council for Health Workers, informing him of the decision. He said Lozano told him Paulina's story had been discussed in the Vatican and that the Curia made the decision in April to award the designation to the Mexicali cathedral. Bishop Guerrero Macias said Archbishop Lozano extended greetings from Rome to the faithful in Mexicali and praised them "for striving to keep the teen from having an abortion and deciding to have her son."
WITH THE INCREASE in low test scores in the California public education system, some educators and legislators are calling for mandatory kindergarten as a way of stemming the downward spiral in scores. A state assembly bill, sponsored
by Assemblyman Kerry Mazzoni (D-San Rafael), would require that all public school children attend kindergarten prior to entering first grade. Some home schooling families are questioning whether or not this bill would apply to them, as well as to their private school counterparts. Because most home schoolers in California join independent study programs which are recognized as private schools by the state of California, if this bill would include private schools, then home schoolers may be required to comply as well.
The bill would also require that school districts contact parents whose children are from three to five years of age and outline the options available to them through the public school system. Many home schooling families are concerned about the school district's contacting them regarding their educational plans for their children. Citing unfriendly contacts by public school officials throughout Californa, home schoolers have mobilized to oppose the bill. Currently the state of California does not require children to attend kindergarten.
The bill's author Senator Kerry Mazzoni (D-San Rafael) told the Mission that the bill would only apply to public school children: "The public schools in California have been changing standards. The standards for kindergarten are more rigorous now, kindergarten is no longer just milk and cookies. What we are finding is that often times children are not really ready for kindergarten."
However, a review of the California Assembly's web site shows that the March 6, 2000 amendment of the assembly bill states that "each child shall attend public or private kindergarten prior to entering the first grade."
THE FOLLOWING CHURCHES have been designated by the bishops of Southern California as Jubilee 2000 pilgrimage sites, where the Catholic faithful can receive the special Jubilee 2000 plenary indulgence granted by Pope John Paul II in his bull of indiction for the Jubilee Year, Incarnationis Mysterium, "The Mystery of the Incarnation: A Papal Bull on the Year 2000 Jubilee." The indulgence can be obtained through January 6, 2001.
In the archdiocese of Los Angeles: Mission Santa Ines, Solvang; Mission Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara; San Buenaventura Mission, Ventura; Blessed Junipero Serra, Camarillo; Mission San Fernando Rey, Mission Hills; St. Mary, Palmdale; St. Charles Borromeo, North Hollywood; St. Cecilia, Los Angeles; St. John Chrysostom, Inglewood; St. Augustine, Culver City; Blessed Sacrament, Hollywood; St. Anthony, Long Beach; Sts. Peter and Paul, Wilmington; St. Matthias, Huntington Park; St. Mary of the Assumption, Whittier; St. Joseph, Pomona; Immaculate Conception, Monrovia; Sacred Heart, Lincoln Heights; San Gabriel Mission, San Gabriel.
In the diocese of San Bernardino: St. Anthony's, Hemet; St. Frances of Rome, Wildomar; St. Joseph Mission (on the Soboba Reservation), San Jacinto; St. Ann's, Needles; St. Joan of Arc, Victorville; St. Joseph, Barstow; Holy Resurrection Monastery (Byzantine), Newberry Springs; Our Lady of Guadalupe, Palm Springs; Our Lady of Soledad, Coachella; St. Joan of Arc, Blythe; Our Lady of Guadalupe Shrine, Riverside; Shrine of Our Lady of the Presentation, Corona; St. Edward, Corona; St. Francis de Sales, Riverside; Our Lady of the Rosary Cathedral, San Bernardino; Precious Blood, Banning; Sacred Heart, Redlands; San Salvador, Colton; St. Anthony, San Bernardino; St. Bernardine, San Bernardino; Our Lady of Guadalupe, Chino; Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Rancho Cucamonga; St. George, Ontario. A booklet, "Your Pilgrimage," which provides detailed information on each pilgrimage site, is available from the diocese of San Bernardino: (909) 475-5100 or (909) 475-5350.
In the Diocese of Orange: Holy Family Cathedral, Orange; Mission San Juan Capistrano, San Juan Capistrano; Our Lady of Guadalupe, La Habra.
In the Diocese of San Diego: Mission San Diego de Alcala, San Diego; St. Ephrem Mission (Maronite), El Cajon; Mission San Luis Rey, Oceanside; Mission San Antonio de Pala, Pala; Santa Ysabel Indian Mission, Santa Ysabel; St. Thomas Indian Mission, Winterhaven (Imperial County).
For more information on the Great Jubilee of 2000 and the Jubilee 2000 plenary indulgence, contact your local parish or diocese, or the National Conference of Catholic Bishops' Jubilee 2000 office (202) 541-3244 / www.nccbuscc.org/jubilee); or check the Vatican's Jubilee 2000 web site (www.jubil2000.org); or the Eternal Word Television Network's web site (www.ewtn.com/jubilee).