NEWS
2000 NEWS STORIES
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ROAMIN' CATHOLIC
Contents © 2000
by Jim Holman.
All rights reserved.
NEWS
NOVEMBER 2000
THOMAS AQUINAS COLLEGE in Santa Paula is one of the top 15 colleges in the nation, according to Insight Magazine, a publication of the Washington Times, Inc. As the October 2 issue of Insight explained, these top 15 "politically incorrect" colleges offer an education that provides training in the "lifelong discipline" of learning -- "if their students take advantage of what's offered to them." Among the other colleges chosen were the Catholic Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio, and Christendom College in Front Royal, Virginia. Another local school, Claremont McKenna College, also made the list.
One of the criteria of judgment used by Insight was teacher dedication. The experience of college, said the magazine, is only as rich as the ability of undergraduates to "come into regular contact with professors who are happy to be teaching and do it well." A core curriculum was also important -- "a common set of courses" that "gives students subjects they can talk about together." A core curriculum "avoids the fragmentation characteristic of higher education these days," noted the magazine.
Thomas Aquinas College, according to Insight "offers one of the most creative core curricula at any American college. Courses are based, with adjustments toward the times in which we live, on the trivium and quadrivium of medieval education. Their freshman year, students read Homer, Plato, Thucydides. Four years later as seniors, they read Einstein, Tolstoy and other 19th- and 20th-century greats."
Campus aesthetics also played their part in the selection. Colleges, said Insight, "should provide students some sense of being in a special place at a special time in their lives. And they should be places that offer a rich sense of continuity with the past." Colleges chosen also had a good record of sending students "on to law, medical and other professional schools." Having "efficient student aid programs" was also an important criterion.
AT THE URGING OF CARDINAL MAHONY, the Service Employees International Union agreed to end its county-wide strike late Wednesday night, October 11. Talks between Local 660 of the union and Los Angeles County ended September 29 and were followed by six days of rolling walkouts that brought parts of the county health service to a standstill. Talks resumed Tuesday, October 10, when the county agreed to abandon its policy to not meet with union representatives during strikes. However, by late Tuesday, the union and the county could reach no agreement, and Local 660 called a general strike for the following day.
The contention between the county and the union centered on how large a pay raise services workers should receive. According to the Los Angeles Times, the county has offered a nine percent pay raise over the next three years -- an offer already accepted by other county-wide unions. Local 660 demanded a 15.5 percent raise for the 47,000 workers it represents, 60 percent of whom make $32,000 a year, or less.
The general strike on Wednesday would have included 40,000 service employees had not some crossed the picket lines to go to work. A court order on Tuesday, too, forced 5,000 employees, including registered nurses, laboratory technicians and other health care workers, to return to work. Still the strike severely impacted county services, including welfare and child support offices, libraries, the probation department, and the registrar-recorder's, the assessor's and the treasurer-tax collector's offices. County hospitals were so under-staffed that emergency patients had to be transported, sometimes by helicopter, to private hospitals.
Late Wednesday, Cardinal Mahony intervened and asked the Service Employees International Union to suspend its walk-out while negotiations were underway for a new contract. Noting that the strike most affected the poorest and the weakest, the cardinal said in his statement, "it is my firm belief that the issues raised by both parties will be resolved only through continuous, face-to-face, good-faith negotiations rather than through a protracted strike." Mahony also called on county supervisors not to retaliate against workers.
Annelle Grajeda, Local 660's general manager, announced Wednesday that "we will temporarily suspend our strike with confidence that good-faith bargaining can produce a fair agreement that will allow our members to provide adequately for their families and their future." But not all union members were pleased with the decision. The Times reported that one worker stormed out of the meeting where the cardinal's proposal was discussed, saying, "they sold us out."
WHAT WILL BE THE IMPACT of the Vatican document, Dominus Iesus, on the Los Angeles Catholic/Buddhist dialogue? "Will the document," asks an October 6 Tidings article, "with its emphasis on the 'exclusive, universal and absolute' value of Jesus Christ and the Catholic Church as necessary for salvation, drive a wedge into interfaith dialogue, as some fear? Or will there be a renewed awareness of the need to dialogue?"
The document, said Dr. Michael Kerze, the Los Angeles archdiocese's representative for the Catholic-Buddhist dialogue, "would be an educational opportunity, a call for both groups to a new understanding of one another.... But quite honestly, I don't see that the impact will be that great, because in these dialogues it will be a matter of neighbor talking to neighbor -- people who live in the same local communities, who have similar service projects going on, who respect each other's faith and reverence for life."
An American Buddhist convert confessed himself "amused" by Dominus Iesus because "our salvation as Buddhists doesn't depend on that document." Father Gil Romero, director of the archdiocese's office for ecumenical and interreligious affairs, said "the goal is to move the dialogue to the pastoral, personal level and away from the academic level. Some people at the parish level are confused, I think, by various ecumenical and interfaith developments over the past year or so -- the pope at the wailing wall in Jerusalem, Dominus Iesus, the sainthood of Pius IX, and so on. It isn't clear, in their minds, whether our church wants to be active in ecumenism or not."
Father Romero noted that "the prospect of different faith communities coming together to find common ground can only be helpful for our area. And once people of both faiths are more aware of what is taking place -- beyond what Dominus Iesus said -- the relations between the two will improve further."
DOMINUS IESUS, said Pope John Paul II in his October 1 Angelus message, "expresses once again the same ecumenical passion that is at the basis of my encyclical Ut Unum Sint. It is my hope that, after so many mistaken interpretations, this heartfelt declaration will finally be able to achieve its clarifying function, as well as that of openness."
In the declaration, said the Holy Father, "which I approved especially at the summit of the Jubilee Year, I wished to invite all Christians to renew their adherence to him in the joy of the faith, unanimously witnessing that he is, today and also tomorrow, "the way, the truth, and the life' (John 14:6). Our confession of Christ as the only Son, through whom we ourselves see the face of the Father (see John 14:8), is not arrogance that shows contempt for other religions, but the joyful recognition that Christ showed himself to us without any merit on our part. And, at the same time, he has urged us to continue to give that which we have received and also to communicate to others that which was given to us, because the Truth that was given and the Love that God is belong to all men."
Dominus Iesus, said the pope, "clarifies the essential Christian elements, which do not obstruct the dialogue, but show its basis, because a dialogue without foundations would be destined to degenerate into empty verbosity." The statement from Vatican II that "the one Church of Christ subsists in the Catholic Church," "does not intend with this to express little regard for the other churches and ecclesial communities. This conviction is coupled with the understanding that this is not human merit, but a sign of the fidelity of God who is stronger that human weaknesses and sins, which we solemnly confessed before God and men at the beginning of Lent. The Catholic Church suffers, as the document states, by the fact that true particular churches and ecclesial communities, with precious elements of salvation, have separated from her."
THE ANNUAL PILGRIMAGE to the patronal icon of the All-Holy Mother of God, Searcher for the Lost at Holy Resurrection Byzantine Catholic Monastery in Newberry Springs on October 7, marked a new epoch in the life of the monastery. The day commenced with the singing of Matins, followed by the celebration of the Divine Liturgy. At the conclusion of the liturgy, Archimandrite Wesley Izer, Protosyncellus of the Byzantine Eparchy of Van Nuys, formally invested Father Nicholas Zachariadis as hegumen (abbot) of the monastery, giving into his hands a pastoral staff as the symbol of his authority. The archimandrite represented the eparch, Bishop George Kuzma, who was unable to attend the ceremonies. In a short address following his investment, Father Nicholas revealed that the local province of the Conventual Franciscans, from whom the monks had acquired their property, had, in the spirit of the Jubilee year, forgiven the monastery's debt to them. The hegumen also announced that the monastery would soon begin a building project to house the monks and a number of prospective vocations.
Holy Resurrection began several years ago when Father Nicholas and two men came from Australia to the United States with the dream of founding a monastery. Five years ago, the monks purchased land in the Mojave Desert community of Newberry Springs, a few miles east of Barstow. On May 15, 2000, on the Eve of Mid-Pentecost, Bishop George Kuzma formally erected them as a monastery sui juris of eparchial right under the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches, and received the perpetual profession of Father Nicholas and the three monks, Fathers Moses, Maximos, and Basil. (In the Byzantine churches professed monks are called "father" even though they may not be priests.)
Holy Resurrection Monastery is located at 45704 Valley Center Road, Newberry Springs, CA 92365; phone: (760) 257-4008. They also have a web-page (http://www.byzcath.org/hrm/) that explains something of Byzantine monastic life and gives the times of their public worship.
THE ONLY PRO-LIFE CANDIDATE in California's U.S. Senate race is Diane Templin, of the American Independent Party, the California affiliate of the nationwide Constitution Party, formerly known as the U.S. Taxpayers Party. Templin is competing with pro-abortion Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein and pro-abortion Republican Tom Campbell. Templin said that she felt a call to public office at the state and national levels in 1992, after Bill Clinton was elected as president and Feinstein and pro-abort Barbara Boxer were elected as California's U.S. Senators. Templin has run for state assembly, state attorney general and president on the American Independent ticket. Templin has practiced law for over 25 years, has served as a foster parent of 68 children and has recently completed an eight-month stint as a staff member of the charitable Brother Benno Foundation in Oceanside.
In her webpage titled "On the Sanctity of Life," found on her web site (www.votefordiane.org), Templin declares, "I am Pro-Life 100% with NO EXCEPTIONS." She also recounts her own experience: "Twenty-two years ago, I had an abortion and know that taking the life of the baby within my womb was the worst decision I ever made and I have regretted it ever since. I tell young girls [at] every opportunity I get that I had an abortion so that I can share with them the years of guilt and anguish I had and how I have reaped what I sowed -- spiritually, mentally, emotionally and physically." Templin's essay includes the entire text of Mother Teresa's famous 1994 statement identifying abortion as a root cause of violence, which concludes, "This is why the greatest destroyer of love and peace is abortion."
According to Templin, in previous elections, pro-family organizations such as the California Pro-Life Council and the Christian Coalition have been unwilling to list pro-life, third party candidates on their candidate slates, even when they have not endorsed the Democratic or Republican candidate for a particular race. She is concerned that, if the past is prologue, she will not be listed as an endorsed candidate for this year's senate race. For more information, contact Templin at 2596 Jefferson St. #6, Carlsbad, CA 92008; phone 760-729-7014; e-mail: DT@votefordiane.org.
ATTENTION PRAYERFUL single men and women! The Holy Trinity Trappist-Cistercian Monastery for men in Huntsville, Utah, and the St. Rita Trappist-Cistercian Monastery for women, in Sonoita, Arizona will host two live-in experiences November 24-28 and January 3-7. Learn about the life and hear talks given by the monks. College groups welcome. No cost, but space limited. Godfrey (Gilad) Barcelon from San Diego has recently stayed with the Trappists; contact him for information, (858) 484-6329 or (909) 236-9638. Or call Natalie Smith, (954) 340-5705 for reservations.
TATTOO REMOVAL AS A CORPORAL ACT OF MERCY. According to an October 7 Los Angeles Times report, a Dominican nun runs a tattoo-removal clinic at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills. The 76-year-old Sister June Wilkerson said she sees tattoo removal as a way "to reduce violence and to serve the community. Ex-gang members are just hanging around. They have tattoos, so they can't get jobs, and they end up getting in trouble."
The tattoo removal clinic forms a part of the San Fernando Violence Prevention Coalition. With $25,000 from Providence Holy Cross, Sister June was able, two years ago, to find a doctor who would volunteer his services, and to rent a tattoo-removing laser. Today, 15 doctors and 16 nurses volunteer their services, along with eleven student nurses and seven non-medical volunteers. Patients who are poor can pay through volunteer service or by showing achievement in school.
Since its opening, the clinic has completely removed tattoos from 85, and has served more than 500, patients.
DR. NOLAN JONES, about whose abortion practice was covered in the September issue (see "Stick it to the Poor") has been evicted by the property management company who manages the building where he worked. The businessman who leased the building included a no-abortion clause in the lease agreement. The "Congregation of the Mission" (the Vincentians), which staffs St. Vincent's Church across the street, owns the land where the building stands.
When the Mission story broke, the property manager called Dr. Jones' clinic inquiring whether or not he performed abortions. According to the property manager (who asked to remain anonymous), the receptionist said that Dr. Jones did perform abortions. Upon hearing this, the property manager began legal proceedings against Dr. Jones because of his breech of the no-abortion contract. After the judgment was given, Los Angeles sheriff's deputies came on Friday, October 13, to lock out Dr. Jones, who still owes the property management company $8,000 in back rent. The property manager told the Mission that Dr. Jones had denied that he performed abortions. Apparently, Dr. Jones vacated the clinic before the deputies arrived. "He left in the middle of the night," said the property manager.