NEWS

1999 NEWS STORIES
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ROAMIN' CATHOLIC




Contents © 1999
by Jim Holman.
All rights reserved.

JULY/AUGUST 1999 NEWS
from the Los Angeles Lay Catholic Mission

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The gag, according to Rosenberg, was a commercial spoof showing a car pulled up to the pumps from which a "nerdy driver got out, looked around and hit the horn. Gyrating to rock music, three scantily clad babes emerged from the station seductively, and as the driver's eyes widened, they suggestively flipped open the hood, shook off the squeegee and plunged the gas nozzle into the tank." The driver, wrote Rosenberg, grew more excited when he noticed a "glittering cross hanging in one of the female's ample cleavage." The voice-over accompanying this scene said; "The Catholic Church: We've made a few...changes." When the shot widened to show Marge Simpson and Lisa watching the commercial, Lisa commented: "These Super Bowl commercials are weird."

In the re-airing of the gag, Fox had deleted "Catholic" from the voice-over, leaving the word, "church."

Rosenberg wrote that Fox was so sensitive to offending Catholics because, as Mike Scully, executive producer for The Simpsons, said, "Fox already had trouble with Catholics earlier this season." The trouble surrounded a November 1998 episode of the Simpsons where a hungry Bart Simpson asked his mother, "Mom can we go Catholic so we can get Communion wafers and booze?" Marge responded: "No one is going Catholic. Three children is enough, thank you."

While Rosenberg admitted that, given the media's treatment of religion, the Catholic League's "thin skin is understandable," he said it was not always justified. He called the League's "crusade" against Nothing Sacred "fanatical," and said they see "anti-Catholic demons where none" exist. Rosenberg suggested that different standards are being applied to Catholics than are applied to other faiths.

Not all Times readers agreed with Rosenberg. In a letter, published June 5, Ericka Lozano of Glendale wrote that she finds that "in all mediums, Catholic-bashing seems to be very popular. Television shows, magazines and books belittle everything from our belief in the Immaculate Conception to the pope's miter. Much of the commentary about the church has a sharp, cruel edge that would be rightly decried by the Anti-Defamation League if aimed toward Judaism." Father John Pejza, OSA, the president of Villanova Preparatory School in Ojai, wrote in another June 5 letter that, while he agrees that the Catholic League's techniques "can get somewhat heavy-handed at times," nevertheless, Rosenberg's defense of the series "is not justified." "I think," continues Father Pejza, "he [Rosenberg] has been caught up in the modern feeling that almost anything goes in the media, as long as it gets laughs or an audience. Is there no sense of propriety left in this country? The Fox network particularly seems to cater to the mentality that whatever draws a large audience is acceptable television.....Is the 1st Amendment the be-all and end-all of decent behavior? Someone has to speak out to attempt to stem the tide. If the Catholic League does it, fine. If B'nai Brith does it, fine."


WHILE ATTENTION HAS BEEN TURNED on Kosovo, American and British airstrikes have been killing Iraqi citizens daily, according to Raphael I Bidawid, Chaldean Patriarch of Babylon. Patriarch Raphael, head to about 600,000 Catholics of the Chaldean Church, most of whom live in Iraq, in a June 1 interview with FIDES news service said that the Iraqi people continue to resist even though the "U.S. and Great Britain bomb every day, hitting not only military targets." These bombings, which he called "crimes against a civilian population," the patriarch said "kill about twenty people every day."

Patriarch Raphael noted that the Iraqi people "feel they are in the same trench as the people of the Yugoslav Republic. What has been happening there for two months now has been happening here for nine years; and the same people are dropping the bombs." The patriarch said the United States and Great Britain "undervalue the tenacity of the Iraqi people who has resisted for nine years, and the same appears to be true of the Yugoslav people. They [the United States and Britain] think that with bombs they can weaken the power of the leaders, whereas, in fact, they only increase the suffering of the people. The people prefer to support their leaders rather than end-up under the slavery of America."


ABORTIONIST EDWARD ALLRED'S Los Alamitos racetrack was the venue for an Orange County GOP fundraiser. Scheduled to appear at "An Evening at the Races" were Assembly Republican leader Scott Baugh and GOP Congresswoman Mary Bono from Palm Springs. Reception, dinner, and races tickets were billed at $500 each. To register protest call Jeff Miller, 916-448-9496 or write Assembly Republican PAC, PMB-C298, 915 L Street, Sacramento CA 95814.


BUD AND CARIE NEWELL dreamed of creating a facility where, in Carie's words, "the elderly would have something to really look forward to: to live instead of die...." Ingleside Lodge, a fully licensed, 15-bed, assisted living facility opened in February, with Bud and Carie serving as administrators. It was built next to Our Lady of the Desert School in Yucca Valley, orthodox Catholic in curriculum and administration. Carie has been its principal for 16 years. Bud previously served as the administrator of a 146-bed psychiatric facility in Rosemead. The Newells originally envisioned the school by itself, but their vision expanded after observing the treatment received by an elderly relative in a residential care facility. "Often times families...today...are so busy that they can't take the time to take care of the elderly like we used to be able to do, and we always did, especially in Catholic families," Carie commented.

The Newells' philosophy is to maintain quality care while minimizing the feeling of being in an institution. "We have very qualified staff: people who have worked with the elderly before," Carie said. Likewise she is proud of its cuisine: "We have a very large food budget, and we do serve them wonderful food."

Other amenities include a double tennis court; facilities for Ping-Pong, horseshoes and croquet; a weight room; a full-time handyman with a wood shop; three rose gardens; a newly planted orchard; and a 1,700-foot commons for barbecues and other social events.

Residents can watch the students at the neighboring school at play, visit classrooms and tutor students. Once a week students serve the residents a formal tea and entertain them. Located on the school grounds is a 180-seat chapel, where residents can participate in the daily rosary and an occasional Mass said by a visiting priest.

For more information, contact Ingleside Lodge Assisted Living, 55747 Mountain View Trail, Yucca Valley, California 92283, (760) 228- 1180.


THE NUMBER OF PRIESTS ORDAINED this year for the archdiocese of Los Angeles is the smallest since 1985, according to a June 6 Los Angeles Times story. While last year the number of ordained was 14, this year's number was only three. The three newly ordained are: Fathers Jose Bautista, 32; Brian Castaneda, 26; and Ramon Palomera, 33.

The small number of those ordained is not encouraging to auxiliary Bishop Gabino Zavala. "When you think of the number of priests who are either retiring or dying," said Zavala, "we're not keeping up with the status quo." However, on a more optimistic note, Father Roberto Juarez who works in the archidiocese's office of vocations, noted that 80 men are at St. John's Seminary in Camarillo, and will be ordained over the next nine years.

Of the three new priests, only one, Father Castaneda, was born in the United States. Both Fathers Palomera and Bautista hail from Mexico. Their ordination marks a nation-wide trend characterized by a rising number of immigrant priests, most of whom come from Mexico and Vietnam. According to a National Conference of Catholic Bishops' survey, cited by the Times, nearly 20 percent of ordained this year are immigrants.


LATIN AMERICA LEADS THE WAY. In the footsteps of Carlos Menem, president of Argentina, who this year proclaimed March 25, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, national "Day of The Unborn," and called on the leaders of Latin America, Portugal, Spain and the Philippines to follow suit, the Congress of Guatemala, on May 24 adhered to a proposal to make March 25 a "Day of the Unborn" for their country. According to Zenit News, the congress' decision was an "agreement" rather than a "decree," and so did not yet have the force of law.

The text of the agreement reads: "the State guarantees human life from conception, in keeping with the American Convention on Human Rights, of which the Republic of Guatemala is a signatory." The agreement further states that the "Day of the Unborn" will "be widely publicized in all national and private educational centers, coupled with campaigns for life, respect for oneself and for others."

On May 13, Zenit also reported that the congress of the Mexican state of Nuevo Leon was planning to call a referendum to raise to a state constitutional right the "right to life from conception until natural death. According to the proposal, the words "every person has the right to life and to health from the moment of conception until natural death" would be added to the Article 3 of the Political Constitution of the Free and Sovereign State of Nuevo Leon. The proposal "also requests penalties for those who in any way support or practice abortion," according to Zenit.


THE CALIFORNIA STATE ASSEMBLY rejected a proposal by Assemblywoman Sheila Kuehl (by a vote of 31 to 39) which would have required Catholic hospitals to either provide abortions or referrals for abortions When Assemblymember Sheila Kuehl (D-Santa Monica) first sought support for her measure, a letter to all members of the state legislature soliciting co-authors was sent out on her assembly letterhead, along with a column from The Nation entitled, "Immaculate Contraception." The article features a picture of the Blessed Mother holding an infant Jesus and warns that Catholic hospital mergers have resulted in severe denial of "reproductive care" for women. Among those who opposed the bill were the Catholic Conference, the California Association of Catholic Hospitals, the Alliance of Catholic Care Systems, and the California ProLife Council.

Five Latino Democrats voted against the measure, thus insuring that Kuehl would not get the bill out of the assembly. Under Kuehl's proposal, those Catholic hospitals which refused to provide or arrange for abortions would have been prohibited public bond financing or Cal-Mortgage Loan Insurance unless they guaranteed that they would provide abortions and other controversial services, or "partner" with agencies that would. Insurance companies would have been required to contract with facilities that provide abortions and other reproductive health services. Under the measure, the attorney general would have been required to consider the impact on access to abortion and other controversial reproductive health services before approving mergers occurring between non-profit hospitals.

The California ProLife Council pointed out that Catholic hospitals are not the only ones that would have been affected by the bill. The First Amendment rights of hospital systems owned by or associated with any religious institution whose doctrine directs their institutional policies would have been violated by the provisions of Kuehl's bill. The California Association of Catholic Hospitals, in their opposition letter to the bill said, "For us, to 'arrange for' is the functional equivalent of providing abortions and is something we cannot do.

Washington D.C.-based Catholics for a Free Choice supported the bill and said that in its survey of 589 emergency rooms in Catholic hospitals that 82 percent would not give "emergency contraceptives" to rape victims. President Frances Kissling was quoted by the Associated Press saying, "As the number of Catholic health care facilities increase and as non-Catholic hospitals agree to follow Catholic rules as a condition of consolidation, more and more women will be denied reproductive health services."


EUTHANASIA KILLED -- FOR NOW. Assembly Bill 1592, by Assemblymember Dion Aroner (D-Berkeley), would make California the second state in the United States to allow doctor assisted suicide. The so-called "Death with Dignity Act" is modeled after an Oregon law that has been in effect for 18 months. Aroner managed to squeeze the bill out of both policy and fiscal committees in the assembly, but when it came time to bring the bill before the full assembly, Aroner knew she did not have enough votes and pulled the bill off the assembly file. The doctor-assisted suicide bill will not again be eligible for consideration until the next half of the current two-year session reconvenes in January.

Some political observers were speculating that if the measure passed the Assembly, it would give Governor Gray Davis a perfect chance to cement his centrist politics by vetoing the bill. While Governor Davis is a staunch supporter of abortion on demand, the pro-euthanasia lobby does not carry the same clout as Planned Parenthood in California politics. Governor Davis' involvement proved unnecessary, however, when Aroner found that numerous Latino Democrats were prepared to join with San Francisco Assemblyman Kevin Shelley in rejecting the proposal on a floor vote.

Assemblyman George Runner (R-Lancaster), author of recent legislation rasing barriers to pain treatment and a staunch opponent of euthanasia, said, "suicide is rarely a rational decision, most often it is associated with depression or other disorders, and suggests a condition needing medical treatment, not lethal medication." Runner continued, "Going down this slippery slope, an expectation might even arise where certain members of society, like the disabled community, will be encouraged to voluntarily end their expensive suffering. Mixing managed care with physician-assisted suicide is like mixing gasoline and fire -- it is a very dangerous combination."

Among those in opposition to the bill are the California Catholic Conference, Catholic Charities, the California Medical Association, the California Nurses Association, the California State Hospice Association, the Scholl Institute of Bioethics, and numerous disabled-rights activists who fear the right to doctor assisted suicide would eventually become an obligation under managed care.


A THREE-HOUR DEBATE on the assembly floor over a bill by Assembymember Sheila Kuehl (D-Santa Monica) that would have added sexual orientation to a law that already prohibits bias against students on the basis of race, gender, and religion, offered a glimpse of the passion that will be see when the field of battle passes from the legislature to the polling booth in 2000. The defeat of Kuehl's Assembly Bill 222 by one vote, 40-38 in the 80 member assembly, also divided the assembly Democratic caucus between urban liberals and moderate Latino Democrats. Seven of the eight Democrats who opposed the bill came from the Central Valley or other rural areas where there is a high level of Republican registration. Dean Florez, a Latino Democrat from Shafter who opposed the measure, was quoted in the Sacramento Bee saying, "I'm one of the folks that basically votes the Catholic line."

The division between Christian conservatives and liberals will be magnified in the upcoming battle over the Defense of Marriage Act, sponsored by Senator Pete Knight (R-Palmdale) for the 2000 election cycle. Republicans hope that polling results showing that the measure is favored by 55 percent of Californians will give them the wedge issue they need to get conservatives to the polls in the next general election. These field polls show that 66 percent of Protestants and 60 percent of Catholics favor the measure.

During the debate over Kuehl's bill, Republican assemblyman Bruce Thompson (R-Fallbrook) said, "The war has begun. This issue will be the issue that will divide this country and this state more than any other. We are not hypocrites. We do not preach something on Sunday and turn around Monday and disobey. We believe in our hearts that this lifestyle is wrong, and we are not gong to condone it." Many of the Democrats who voted against the measure were targeted with bilingual ads in their local papers. One of these shows two men kissing and warns, "Proteja a los ninos del asalto homosexual!" or "Protect the children against homosexual assault." During the debate on the assembly floor, Hannah-Beth Jackson, a Santa Barbara assemblymember who is Jewish, said, "So when I hear my brothers and sisters on this floor talk about good Christian beliefs, I ask myself 'I thought being good Christians meant loving everyone?' This is not good Christian values we're hearing. This is fear. This is not American, and it's certainly not right." Governor Gray Davis did not take a position on the bill, but said in a gubernatorial debate last fall that "California is not ready for gay marriages."

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