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ROAMIN' CATHOLIC
Contents © 2004
by Jim Holman.
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NEWS
May 2004
"ENORMOUSLY UNFAIR" was what the archdiocese of Los Angeles attorney J. Michael Hennigan called criticism of Cardinal Roger Mahony, according to an interview with Hennigan in the March 26 Tidings, the newspaper of the Los Angeles archdiocese. In a February 27 report, the National Review Board, a group of prominent laymen investigating the U.S. bishops' handling of sexual abuse crisis, criticized Cardinal Mahony for his "level of cooperation in the criminal investigation" of alleged priest molesters. "The archdiocese," said the review board, "resisted grand jury subpoenas ... by arguing that communications between priests and bishops were privileged." According to Hennigan, the National Review Board's criticism "was a potshot that did not take into account the nature of the process that we're all involved in, that we're all frustrated by, but one that we all agreed to."
According to Hennigan, Cardinal Mahony could not release the personnel files of priests, even if he wanted to. "Every document subject of this public interest inquiry is protected by the California Constitution, and cannot be distributed without a court order," he told the Tidings. "So even if we decided it is in the best interest of the church to distribute these documents, we could not do so. It is prohibited by law." According to Hennigan, the priests' personnel files fall under a "spiritual counseling privilege, in which every member of any religious denomination has the right to seek counseling from a clergyman" and have the proceedings held as confidential. Hennigan said the archdiocese's position is that this privilege applies to the priests' personnel files. Until a court determines otherwise, said Hennigan, Cardinal Mahony cannot turn the files over to the district attorney's office.
BUT WHY, IN OTHER STATES, have dioceses turned similar court documents over to law enforcement? "I honestly have no idea, other than the law is obviously different in other states," said Hennigan. "California law is neither ambiguous nor capable of inviting serious debate over this issue." Neither, seemingly, is the U.S. Constitution: "the First Amendment," said Hennigan, "guarantees one's right to spiritual counseling and to have those sessions be protected from government intrusion." One difference, however, which leads to "controversy," according to Hennigan, is "when these spiritual sessions are used to direct a person's career -- being asked to resign, or move to another assignment." Supposedly, under such circumstances, documents can then be released. "That's what the judge needs to assess," said Hennigan.
But, in returning to the subject of dioceses in other states, Hennigan did not mention their rights under the U.S. Constitution. "When you go outside California, you see that the laws of other states differ," he said. "Some states don't recognize the same spiritual counseling or psychotherapy privileges. Again, I don't know what happened in other states and why dioceses turned over documents to the courts, although my sense is that the particular dioceses didn't think through the ramifications of their actions first."
THE DISPUTED FILES contain evidence that Cardinal Mahony and other archdiocesan officials improperly handled cases involving abusive priests, asserted the March 14 Los Angeles Times. As evidence, the Times cited archdiocesan spokesman Tod Tamberg, who said, "we believe that our early decisions were correct at the time they were made, but, as our understanding grew, we concluded that those early decisions had generally been too tolerant. In retrospect, then, some of our early policies were mistakes." The Times, though, said that "through Tamberg, Mahony declined to say whether the release of documents would reveal further errors he had made in dealing with sexual abuse by priests."
The Times noted that archdiocesan attorney J. Michael Hennigan invoked a "formation privilege" to protect the secrecy of the priests' personnel files. The privilege, according to the Times, is rooted in a bishop's duty to provide a lifetime formation for his priests. Such formation involves sensitive information. According to the Times, Hennigan said the formation privilege is "close and sometimes identical to the priest-penitent privilege." Legal scholars cited by the Times, however, said they had never heard of a "formation privilege." And as for canon law -- according to Ladislas Orsy, a Jesuit visiting professor at Georgetown University law school, "in these matters canon law has little to say in one way or another." Canon law, said Orsy, takes "for granted that in a legitimate criminal investigation, church authorities should cooperate with state agencies."
WHAT FORMATION PRIVILEGE? The March 26 Tidings interview asked Hennigan about his reference to the "formation privilege" in the Times, noting that "several legal experts" were quoted "as saying they'd never heard of such a thing." "Of course they hadn't, because it doesn't exist," said Hennigan. "I used the phrase once, a year and a half ago, in a different context, and discarded it. We don't use it. Had the Times' reporters asked the experts about medical privilege and spiritual counseling privilege, they would have received very different answers. Had they asked the experts if Cardinal Mahony could turn these documents over if he wanted to, they would have received a different answer. Any responsible lawyer in this state would have replied, no."
WHAT ABOUT THE REFERREE? Last year, the archdiocese of Los Angeles and prosecutors agreed to turn the disputed files over to a retired judge, Thomas Nuss, to see if any privilege applied to them. Los Angeles County deputy district attorney, William Hodgman, told the Times that he hoped the introduction of Nuss would "expedite resolution of these issues, not exacerbate or prolong them." Now, Hodgman is disappointed. After holding a series of secret hearings, Nuss has issued some preliminary rulings; but they remain sealed, since they are linked to grand jury proceedings, which must remain secret. In the meantime, until the Nuss' rulings are made public, the archdiocese is paying the judge $350 an hour.
O'GRADY AGAIN. Cardinal Mahony will testify for the second time in a molestation case involving Stockton diocese priest, Oliver O'Grady, said the April 3 Los Angeles Times. O'Grady was convicted of child molestation in 1994 and spent six years in prison. Now another alleged victim, a man, has accused O'Grady of having molested him in the 1970s at St. Anne Catholic school in Lodi. The man is suing the diocese of Stockton for negligence, saying former bishops transferred O'Grady to parishes though they knew he was a molester. Though Mahony was not bishop of Stockton until 1980, he was called to testify in this case because, according to the alleged victim's attorney, the cardinal is "the best person still alive with the most information about what went on" in regards to O'Grady.
In 1998, Cardinal Mahony testified in hearings for a lawsuit involving O'Grady, brought by two young men against the diocese of Stockton. Though Mahony allegedly knew that O'Grady had been guilty of pedophilia, he nevertheless reassigned him to another parish after referring him to a psychiatrist, who said O'Grady "reveals a severe defect in maturation, no only in the matter of sex, but more importantly in the matter of social relationships.... Perhaps Oliver is not truly called to the priesthood." Mahony claimed that the psychiatrist in question never recommended dismissing O'Grady from the priesthood. Besides, said Mahony, "at that time, I did feel professional counselors and psychiatrists were capable of helping these people."
THE SEXUAL ABUSE CRISIS for the Church in America is a "time of purification" that "will, by God's grace, lead to 'a holier priesthood, a holier episcopate and a holier Church,'" said Pope John Paul II on April 2 in an address to a group of United States bishops on their ad limina visit to Rome. The pope told the bishops, "there can be no effective reform without interior renewal." Though "this is true not only of individuals, but also of every group and institution in the Church," Church renewal is "closely linked to the renewal of the episcopal office. Since the bishop is called in a unique way to be an alter Christus, a vicar of Christ in and for his local Church, he must be the first to conform his life to Christ in holiness and constant conversion." Such conversion requires for all "a return to the heart of the Church, a recovery of faith's vision of the nature and purpose of the Church in God's plan, and a clearer understanding of her relation to the world."
The pope said "the [Second Vatican] Council's urgent summons to pray, work and hope that the image of Christ may shine ever more brightly on the face of the Church ... calls for a constant reaffirmation of faith's assent to God's revealed word and a return to the sole source of all authentic ecclesial renewal: the Scriptures and the Apostolic Tradition as authoritatively interpreted by the Church's magisterium."
THE BISHOP IS TO BE "a prophet, witness and servant of hope to the world," Pope John Paul II told the American bishops. But "the exercise of this prophetic witness in contemporary American society has ... been made increasingly difficult by the aftermath of the recent scandal and the outspoken hostility to the Gospel in certain sectors of public opinion." In spite of that fact, said the pope, the prophetic witness "cannot be evaded or delegated to others." The pontiff continued: "precisely because American society is confronted by a disturbing loss of the sense of the transcendent and the affirmation of a culture of the material and the ephemeral, it desperately needs such a witness of hope. It is in hope that we have been saved (cf. Romans 8:24); the Gospel of hope enables us to discern the consoling presence of God's Kingdom in the midst of this world and offers confidence, serenity and direction in place of that hopelessness which inevitably spawns fear, hostility and violence in the hearts of individuals and in society as a whole."
"FOR ME, 'THE PASSION' had a deep, spiritual impact that will long endure," wrote Cardinal Mahony in the March 19 Tidings. In particular, Mel Gibson's movie of Christ's suffering and death helped the cardinal reflect "back on the crosses I have had to embrace over the years -- practically none carried with the generosity of Jesus." In this reflection, Mahony said, "I discovered a new strength, even a zeal, to accept my own present crosses."
Cardinal Mahony wrote that, initially, he did not know how The Passion would affect him. But he found himself "somehow absorbed into that band of disciples who were with Jesus that dreadful night and the next day." The cardinal "felt transported into the scenes, not as a viewer, but as a friend of Jesus, one who was terrified and mystified by each tragic event that blended into the next." As Jesus' friend, "Mary, His mother, John the disciple and Mary Magdalene seemed to reach out and draw me into their small circle of disciples. Together, we recoiled in fright at what was happening to Jesus, we tried desperately to get near Him, to let Him know that we were now with Him -- as He is with us when we carry our crosses." Further, the film gave Mahony a "deeper appreciation" that "the celebration of the Eucharist was the celebration of the sufferings, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.'
As he walked out of the theater, Mahony said he realized "I was not alone -- my Friend was walking alongside me, reassuring me that He would always be there for me and with me. Somehow my own crosses seemed so much lighter now."
A CHANGE OF HEART? Franciscan Father Virgil Cordano, pastor emeritus of the Santa Barbara Mission, served on the interfaith task force formed by a local chapter of the Anti-Defamation League six months before the release of Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ. Father Cordano is well known for his long involvement in ecumenical and interfaith activities. According to the February 8 Santa Barbara News-Press, Father Cordano said, "this fellow [Mel Gibson] is not a Catholic in good standing and he rejects Vatican II." With regard to Gibson's film, Father Cordano opined, prior to having seen the film, that "in the minds of some fanatics, this film could stir up hatred of the Jews. If this film does that, I don't care how good it is or how dramatic -- it's harmful. We do not want to see a revival of Jewish hatred of any kind."
Father Cordano was among the two dozen or so Anti-Defamation League Passion task force members who saw the The Passion of the Christ when it debuted on February 25. While not constituting an unqualified endorsement, his assessment of the film, after seeing it, was significantly more positive. According to the February 26 News-Press, "where some saw blatant anti-Semitism, other committee members came away with a different view but acknowledged the pain the film has caused. 'It was very powerful,' said the Rev. Virgil Cordano of the Santa Barbara Mission. 'I thought of all the suffering of all people, of how universal this story is in that regard,' he said. 'It depicts the heroism of Jesus and points to the heroism of the Jewish people, who have suffered so much. It also depicts how cruel people can be to one another.' He said he understood how some Jews could see the story as harmful but said, 'If you're not anti-Semitic, you won't become so because of this film. But for those that are, it can be found.'"
CINEMA ETIQUETTE POLICE. A full-page advertisement in the February 24 Santa Barbara News-Press, the day before the film's Ash Wednesday U.S. release, included the following statement: "We, the undersigned religious and community leaders ... will, therefore, commit ourselves to being sensitive to the possibility that such a dramatic portrayal of the passion might provoke in some people anti-Semitic feelings and even acts of violence, for history shows that this has occurred on far too many occasions.... If you choose to attend the movie, we ask that you monitor your emotions, especially regarding the way that Jews are portrayed in the story." The ad concluded with a call to "participate in congregationally and academically based educational forums where the movie and the issue of anti-Semitism can be discussed" and "participate in a community forum scheduled for March 14." Father Virgil Cordano was listed first among the ad's signers. There were no additional signatures from Catholic clergy.
SEVERAL PROMINENT Jewish media personalities have been outspokenly critical of the Anti-Defamation League's national campaign to brand Gibson and his film as anti-Semitic prior to its release. Nor was anti-Semitism the top concern of all Jewish organizations vis-à-vis The Passion. According to the March 1 Israel National News, Rabbi Dr. Tzvi Hersh Weinreb, the Orthodox Union's executive vice president, is concerned "not so much with anti-Semitism the movie might cause.... 'What I'm concerned about is that Jews who see this film will identify deeply with Jesus, and will dis-identify with their own G-d-given identity as the Jewish people.'"
SANCTIONS LEVELED against a law firm that defends pro-life activists may force it to close down, said a March 9 LifeNews.com report. Last December, San Diego superior court judge Kevin Enright ruled that lawsuits brought by the United States Justice Foundation against Planned Parenthood and its affiliates in Los Angeles, Riverside, and San Diego counties were "frivolous" and ordered the foundation to pay $15,000 in damages. On March 4, the California Court of Appeals upheld another ruling by Judge Enright against the foundation. The foundation had filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit by Planned Parenthood of San Diego and Riverside Counties accusing a pro-life protestor of trespassing and harassing employees and patients at an abortion clinic in San Diego. Enright ruled the motion frivolous and sanctioned foundation lawyers by awarding $60,000 to Planned Parenthood. With the appeals court ruling on the case, the foundation has to pay an additional $40,000 in appeals costs to Planned Parenthood.
United States Justice Foundation president Gary Kreep told World Net Daily that his organization does not have the money to pay the sanctions: "Unless God intervenes and people come forward with money," Kreep said, "we will be shut down."
ALLIES AGAINST WAL-MART. St. Michael's Catholic Church in Inglewood joined the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the Nation of Islam, members of the Inglewood city council, and labor unions, among others, to protest a ballot initiative that, if passed by voters, would bring a Wal-Mart super store to Inglewood. According to the March 30 Los Angeles Times, opponents of the Wal-Mart gathered across from the slated Wal-Mart site (covering an area the size of 17 football fields) to urge Inglewood voters to reject the proposed project. The opponents noted that, by submitting the project to a vote rather than to the city council, Wal-Mart could bypass environmental review for the project. The ballot initiative, if passed, could set a precedent by which Wal-Mart (which is looking to build 40 super centers throughout California) could undercut local and state control.
Critics also said that Wal-Mart was misleading voters through mailings of glossy brochures promising jobs, shops, and restaurants. In their own campaign, Wal-Mart opponents noted that the company uses cheap labor overseas and is anti-union at home, and will undercut local businesses. Critics also note that Wal-Mart has been repeatedly sued for alleged discrimination of women and minorities. Inglewood is mostly hispanic and black.
In an April 6 vote, Inglewood residents overwhelmingly rejected the proposed Wal-Mart, 60 to 40 percent, said the April 8 New York Times. "We are disappointed that a small group of Inglewood leaders together with representatives of outside special interests were able to convince a majority of Inglewood voters that they don't deserve the job opportunities and shopping choices that others in the L.A. area enjoy," said a representative of the Arkansas-based retail giant.
But Wal-Mart will probably not give up. "They're not about to quit," Kenneth Stone, emeritus professor of economics at Iowa State University, who has written much on Wal-Mart, told the Times. "They may move into a neighboring area and make Inglewood merchants and city officials sorry they turned them away. That's happened elsewhere... This is the biggest company in the world, and they desperately want to be in urban centers."
"IT'S TIME TO SAY enough is enough," said Judy Ahrens, board member for the Westiminster Unified School District. "This lethal 'perceived sex' wording could further jeopardize families in Westminster." Ahrens referred to a new state anti-discrimination policy that broadens the basis on which parents and students can allege discrimination from merely sex to "gender" -- including transsexual. According to the March 9 Orange County Register, Ahrens with two other board members, Blossie Marquez-Woodcock and Helena Rutkowski, voted against state-mandated changes to the school district's anti-discrimination policy. The three board members said such a policy could further erode respect for the family in society. Rutkowlski said, further, that with the new state policy "we create protected groups that will shove their lifestyle down our throats. A person can be anything that they wish to be, but I don't need to accept their behavior. I will do everything to protect the students from this mindset."
Board president James Reed voted to change the district's anti-discrimination policy. He warned that "the consequences for refusing to comply with the law are serious." Among the serious consequences is the possibility that, in not following the law, the district will not receive up to $9.2 million in state and federal funding. The March 24 Los Angeles Times reported that, on account of the board vote, Bank of America refused to extend a $16-million loan to the school district that was to go to a $22-million facilities improvement project.
Though some parents support the three board members, others have begun a recall movement for Ahrens and Marquez-Woodcock (Rutkowski's term ends this year). Louise MacIntyre, president of Westminster's parent-teacher association, told the Times, "I am appalled that these three board members have put our children at such a financial risk."
IT MIGHT SEEM ODD to call Richard Strauss' opera, Die Frau Ohne Schatten (The Woman Without a Shadow), "an incomparably glorious and goofy anti-abortion paean," but that's what one review of the opera in the Los Angeles Times called it. The review, however, but not the reviewer. According to a March 6 LifeNews.com story, the reviewer, Mark Swed, actually called the opera a "pro-life paean" -- meaning that it celebrated life. A copy editor, however, following the Times' editorial policy, substituted "anti-abortion" for "pro-life," presumably thinking Swed was in some way referring to abortion. But, said Swed, the opera is "about children who aren't born yet screaming to be born -- not abortion." "Somebody who didn't quite get it got a little bit too politically correct ... and we had a little breakdown in communications," said Swed.
"ISSUES LIKE GAY MARRIAGE in the United States influence our political elites," said Father Sidney Fones Infante, associate secretary-general of the Latin American bishops' conference in an interview with Catholic News Service. According to the March 25 interview Fones gave while meeting with the United States bishops in Washington, D.C, he noted that this influence leads many in Latin America to question cultural and moral standards. "At stake is the Catholic identity of Latin America," Fones said.
Because of globalization, Fones said, "today, no country is outside the influence of another." Not only does globalization exacerbate Latin America' s poverty, but mass media originating in places like the United States push a cultural colonization. For instance, the media present images of men and women, which differ from traditional Latin American conceptions. And adherence to the Catholic faith is dropping. In a region where 90 percent of the people claim to be Catholic, Father Fones' native Chile has dropped to 70 percent Catholic. The remainder belong mostly to various Protestant sects.
LOS ANGELES COUNTY was able to gather $2.5 million to fund five proposed homeless shelters, with a total of 241 beds, that would complement an existing winter shelter project, said the April 5 Los Angeles Times. The problem is that only ten summer beds are currently available -- run by Catholic Charities -- since the county is having difficulty finding locations for shelters. Currently, there is little commercial property for shelters, and non-profits which will manage the shelters wish to avoid areas where they might meet community resistance. Thus far, real estate agents have been consulted, inquiries sent out to churches and synagogues; the only possibility is a building owned by the Veterans Administration. Deacon Frank Vargas of St. Monica's in Santa Monica has offered aid, enlisting parishioners who are real estate agents. "Most people in our society are an easy paycheck away from homelessness themselves," Vargas told the Times. "It would be a tragedy if we have the funding for these shelters and can't find a building."
The Los Angeles city council in early March scared up $1.9 million to keep winter homeless shelters open through July 15, said the March 17 Los Angeles Times. The move affects six emergency shelters, with a total of 730 beds. The winter program was slated to end March 16. According to the April 5 Los Angeles Times, the city is looking for money to extend the shelters through November 30, when the winter program again starts.
STIFF MARKET. According to March reports in Associated Press and The Age, pending the results of an investigation, the University of California at Los Angeles will not accept corpses for its medical students. The director of UCLA's Willed Body Program and another man have allegedly been operating a side business, selling body parts to research labs. Over the last five years, it is reported they have made $704,600 by the sale of 496 illegally sold cadavers. But such traffic is not unique to Los Angeles; Tulane University in New Orleans has admitted that it has sold seven surplus cadavers, at $1,000 a pop, to a New York-based corpse distributor, which then sold them to the United States military for $25,000 to $30,000. The corpses were blown up in army landmine experiments.
MORE EXPENDABLE BODIES. The March 5 New York Times reported that American drug companies are using patients in former Soviet bloc countries for drug experimentation. The people used are willing, for they cannot afford prescription drugs, and so participating in a medical trial is the only way they have to get treatment. But after the trial is over, the companies for the most part drop the patients. The new drugs are marketed in their countries, but the men and women who made the marketing possible, are unable to afford them. Bioethicist Ruth Faden of Johns Hopkins University spoke of the moral dilemma involved in such research. "Do we have an obligation to everyone in the trial or to everyone in the community, the province, the nation, the region or the world?" she asked. "We haven't really figured this out."