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Contents © 2006
by Jim Holman.
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NEWS
May 2006
CONTINUING HIS CATECHESIS on the necessity of the Church, Pope Benedict XVI in his April 5 general audience address laid out these goals: "to consider the origins of the Church, to understand Jesus' original plan and in this way understand what is essential in the Church, which endures with the passing of time." He said "we also want to understand the reason for our being in the Church and how we must commit ourselves to live it at the beginning of a new Christian millennium."
The pope said the early Church had "two aspects." The first is that "there is a profound relationship between the Holy Spirit and the Church." The second is that "this profound relationship with the Spirit does not eliminate our humanity, with all its weakness." So it was that "the community of disciples experienced from the beginning not only the joy of the Holy Spirit, the grace of truth and love, but also trial, made up above all by the contrast between the truths of faith and the resulting lacerations of communion."
The danger of division in the Church always exists, said Benedict. Thus, "it is a specific duty of those who believe in the Church of love and want to live in her, to recognize this danger also and to accept that communion is not possible with those who do not abide in the doctrine of salvation (cf. 2 John 9-11)." Referring to the theme of love developed in his first encyclical, Deus Caritas Est, Benedict said "the Church of love is also the Church of truth, understood above all as fidelity to the Gospel entrusted by the Lord Jesus to his own." To maintain the unity of love in truth, "to live in unity and peace," continued the pope, "the family of the children of God needs someone who will keep them in the truth and guide them with wise and authoritative discernment: This is what the ministry of the apostles is called to do.... And here we come to an important point. The Church is totally of the Spirit, but it has a structure, the apostolic succession, which has the responsibility to guarantee the Church's permanence in the truth given by Christ, from which the capacity to love also proceeds."
COMMUNION IN THE CHURCH requires not only love but truth; but truth blossoms into charity, said Pope Benedict. "Communion," he said, "is born from faith aroused by the apostolic preaching, it is nourished from the breaking of bread and prayer, and is expressed in fraternal charity and service." The ministry of the apostles and their successors, therefore, is twofold: they "are custodians and authoritative witnesses of the deposit of faith given to the Church, and they are also the ministers of charity: two aspects that go together."
And the pope continued, "truth and love are two sides of the same gift, which proceeds from God and which, thanks to the apostolic ministry, is kept in the Church and comes to us in our present [time]!" This realization, he said, "leads us to pray for the successors of the apostles, for all bishops, and for the Successors of Peter so that they will really be custodians of truth and at the same time of charity, so that they will really be apostles of Christ, so that their light, the light of truth and charity will never be extinguished in the Church and the world."
CARDINAL MAHONY ONLINE! was again a feature at the archdiocesan Religious Education Congress, held March 31-April 2. This year's cyber-chat with Mahony, however, featured a few more challenging questions than those in previous years. For instance, one "Matt" asked, "may a priest change the liturgy as he sees fit? For example, may he change the words given by ICEL, use a wooden or glass chalice, or allow a lay person to read the Gospel or give a homily?" To which the cardinal replied, "every priest must follow and use the Roman Missal as published, and may not change any words. In fact, the Bishops are now developing a new English translation." As for the material for sacred vessels, it "needs the approval of the Local Bishop, but must be fitting for the Eucharist," said Mahony. (The cardinal himself permits the use of glass pitchers and cups for the distribution of communion, a practice the Holy See has specifically forbidden. See "Pope Roger," November 2004 Mission.) Only priests and deacons, said Mahony, "are to proclaim the Gospel and give the homily. Now and then, others may give a reflection."
Another participant, "Joe," asked the cardinal, "with the growing interest in traditional worship of the Catholic Church are we going to see a more generous use of the Traditional Latin Mass?" Mahony corrected Joe. "It is not correct to say 'traditional worship' in our Church," he said. "For a small slice of Church history, Latin was the language of Mass. But the Council moved us beyond that to a new Roman Missal. We must continue forward with the Church." The cardinal did concede, however, that "it is important to bring with us our Latin hymns and other treasures from the past ages."
Father Ignatius Reilly asked Mahony, "why have you removed Our Lord -- present in the tabernacle -- from its proper place in the center of the sanctuary?" To which, the cardinal: "I'm not sure what Fr. Reilly is referring to."
CARDINAL MAHONY'S ONLINE CHAT, of course, addressed more than liturgical issues. Participants asked him about immigration, the clergy sexual abuse crisis, evangelism, and other matters. One "Archilochos," however, asked Cardinal Mahony if he thought "the Church will restore the female diaconate, and if so, when?" Mahony, however, did not answer the question directly, saying only, "the female deaconate [sic] was studied, and it turned out to be something far different than the Order of Deacon."
Another participant, "Bill," noted that "some of the scheduled speakers at this Religious Education Congress are well-known dissenters of our Catholic Church teachings." Bill was probably referring to speakers like Michael Crosby, who in 2004 told the Catholic-Hindu dialogue at Loyola-Marymount in Los Angeles, "celibacy is a system of power, of patriarchy. So much of it is not holy, but a reaction to sin." (Crosby is also has spoken frequently at conferences held by Call to Action, a group that dissents on Church teachings regarding contraception, homosexuality, and women's ordination, among others.) Or Bill was referring to Dr. Richard Appleby, who in 2002 told U.S. Catholic, "it seems to me ... that we are on the brink of sacrificing the Eucharist to the insistence on an all-male, celibate clergy. I wish we had a sufficient number of priests, but we clearly do not."
Dr. Diana Hayes, a Call to Action circuit speaker who opposes an all-male priesthood, returned to the congress this year, as did Richard Gaillardetz, who, last year, said the Church's teaching on artificial contraception is "authoritative " but may be "mistaken, at least in part." Father Thomas Reese, erstwhile editor of America, was also present, as was the National Catholic Reporter's Rome correspondent, John L. Allen, Jr., who said of last year's congress that it "tend[ed] to skew a bit to the center-left -- reflecting, in that sense, the personality of the Los Angeles archdiocese under Cardinal Roger Mahony." Given such speakers, Bill asked the cardinal, "why are they repeatedly invited back to the Congress and why are those who are requesting a closer monitoring of these speakers and asking for 100% orthodoxy being ignored?" To which Mahony answered, "I simply don't agree with Bill."
SMOG -- MAYBE WORSE THAN YOU THINK. A University of Southern California study released in March indicates that the number of deaths from smooty smog in the state is over twice as many as previously thought. Rather than rely on annual averages citywide of soot measurements and deaths, as has been done in the past, the USC study looked into such phenomena in hundreds of neighborhoods, said the March 25 Los Angeles Times. The research team headed by Michael Jerrett, associate professor of preventive medicine, found a greater mortality risk -- nearly two to three times -- from heart attacks, lung cancer, and other illnesses for those who breathe sooty air than did previous studies. The largest risk is in the Inland Empire, where winds blow the particulate matter produced by automobiles, trucks, trains, refineries, airplanes, and other sources, which is then trapped by mountain ranges. "Somebody living in San Bernardino is two or three times more likely to die from smog during a given period than someone in Venice," said Jerrett. State officials currently estimate the number of deaths in California from diseases caused or exacerbated by air pollution to be 9,000. If the USC results withstand further review and are incorporated by the Air Resources Board, this number could double or triple.
Other recent studies have asserted the health risks of air pollution. Loma Linda University found increased deaths from heart conditions among women exposed to particulate matter in the air and ozone. In late March, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's recent National-Scale Air Toxics Assessment, in a study based on emissions of 177 chemicals in 1999, concluded that about 66 million Californians are at risk to contract cancer by breathing airborne chemicals over their lifetime. Another USC study published in March found that ozone reduced sperm counts of men in Los Angeles.
THE ARCHDIOCESE OF LOS ANGELES reached its first settlement with alleged victims of clergy molestation since the abuse scandal broke four years ago, the March 14 Los Angeles Times reported. The archdiocese, however, will only pay a small fraction (less than $2 million) of the more than $28 million settlement, since the 25 male and female alleged victims say they were molested by members of the Order of Friars Minor, mostly at the now-closed St. Anthony Seminary in Santa Barbara. A few of the cases involve Franciscans at archdiocesan parishes.
The allegations concern ten current and former Franciscans, and allegedly occurred between the 1950 and 1987. Three of the accused are dead, two are living under restricted conditions with the order, and four have been removed from ministry.
WHERE THE VOCATIONS ARE. A story in the June 2005 Catholic World Report ranks every U.S. diocese for its success in priestly vocations. Counting the number of Catholics in each diocese, the number of seminarians and the ratio of Catholics to seminarians, the study found that the most successful diocese was Lincoln, Nebraska, led by Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz, a known defender of orthodoxy. The latest figures available found that, in 2004, the diocese of Orange ranked 154 out of 176 dioceses, even lower than its 2003 ranking of 151.
The Catholic News Service story last fall mentioned Lincoln's faithfulness to the magisterium and quoted Father Robert Matya, chaplain at the University of Nebraska's Newman Center. "It's not that we try to be overly conservative," said Matya, "but as a diocese, we do try to act how God wants us to be, and I think that is very appealing to a lot of these young men."
In October 2005, a woman who writes under the name "Angelswatchin" sent by e-mail a copy of the Catholic News Service article to Judy Bobier, Orange bishop Tod Brown's secretary, asking her to forward the story to the bishop. Bobier forwarded the e-mail to vocations director, Monsignor Wilbur Davis, under the heading, "Plenty of vocations in Lincoln Nebraska." Monsignor Davis responded by e-mailing the quote from Father Matya to Father Michael Heher, then the editor for Orange County Catholic, the official diocesan newspaper, adding his own observation: "Michael, this kind of stuff pisses me off." ("Angelswatchin" said she doesn't know how she got a copy of the e-mail message; "all I can think of is that Monsignor Davis hit 'reply all' instead of 'reply' -- to Father Heher's e-mail -- because it did come directly to me directly from him," she said.)
When the Mission asked Monsignor Davis about his e-mail message, he said, "my concern is that sometimes some elements act in a manner that becomes divisive, presenting one diocese or bishop as better than another diocese or bishop.... I know many of the bishops in the West, and for them I have the highest respect. They labor hard with a pastor's heart. I am unhappy when I read anything that challenges their zeal and commitment. I hope this helps to clarify what was a quick intra-office message to Father Heher alone."
JOURNALIST GUSTAVO ARELLANO tells us why he left the Catholic Church in the pages of the March 19 Los Angeles Times. Though he said he "had spent most of the Sundays of my life at Mass, in the comfort of St. Boniface Roman Catholic Church in Anaheim," and remained "in the pews" even after the revelations of clergy sex abuse, he "finally gave up last spring." Why did he give up and leave the Church? Said Arellano, "the election of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger by the College of Cardinals to assume the papacy after the death of Pope John Paul II." Was this event worse than the clergy sex abuse scandal? For Arellano it appears it was, for, he said, "to millions of Catholics like me, the new Benedict XVI represents a step back into the darkness, away from the light of ecumenism, of giving the faithful a greater voice in running the church. Away from a church of love."
Now nearly a year into his reign, Pope Benedict has led no purges of heretics or autos de fé; nevertheless, Gustavo is bummed. Catholics like himself "have floundered in desperation since Benedict's election." But Arellano, it appears, has discerned a scintilla of joy; "we finally have our gospel," he said.
What is this "gospel"? A book, A Church in Search of Itself: Benedict XVI and the Battle for the Future, by Robert Blair Kaiser. In his book, Kaiser, "a Jesuit turned journalist," said Arellano, "embarks on a two-pronged project." The first is "a thorough retelling of two millennia of Roman Catholic history: the major schisms, popes, reforms and problems right up to discussions among the cardinals sequestered inside the Sistine Chapel, discussions no one else is supposed to hear." The second is where Kaiser "bravely maintains that the solution to the church's problems is within the church." Kaiser, according to Arellano, offers vignettes of six cardinals who "he believes can lead Roman Catholicism back toward the light." One of these is Cardinal Roger Mahony, whom Kaiser praises "for his emphasis on tending to the poor (along with some rightful condemnation for Mahony's atrocious handling of the archdiocese's priestly sex-abuse scandal)." Another is Cardinal Francis Arinze, who, wrote Arellano, "earns acclaim for allowing Nigerian tribes to synthesize their traditions with the Westernized Mass."
In his article, Arellano singled out this line from Kaiser's book. "When the people of God wake up to the fact that they can exercise the art of politics and remain good Catholics, changes will start to occur in a Church where they can claim ownership, and, just as important, citizenship."
"BUT A GREAT DECEIVER LURKS within the 250 pages of A Church in Search of Itself," continues Arellano ominously, "and his name was Joseph Ratzinger but is now Benedict XVI (always the shape-shifter)." Gustavo's evangelist, Kaiser, obviously does not like the pontiff: as Arellano says, the author "makes no effort to hide his disgust for the new pope: At one hyperbolic point, he writes that the then-cardinal has 'wolverine rings under his eyes.'" Speaking for the "throngs that had gathered at St. Peter" for Benedict's first address, Kaiser, according to Arellano, notes "they had hoped for someone as wide as all outdoors. Someone like John XXIII. Instead, they got a man they only knew as narrow."
According to Arellano, Kaiser paints Ratzinger as a thoroughgoing Machiavellian. John Paul II was merely "Ratzinger's puppet, someone whose only use was to wave to the television watching masses." And while the pope was playing Howdy-Doody, Ratzinger "nefariously expanded his power over the Catholic Church even as he publicly expressed no interest in becoming the Vicar of Christ." And what is Kaiser's evidence for all this? The author, says Arellano, "nails [his thesis] by merely retelling the past." This past includes Ratzinger's squelching the Latin American liberation theology movement, thus ensuring "that Latin American churches would once again embrace the rich and ignore the poor," and undermining John Paul's ecumenical openness "by publishing Dominus Iesus, a 2000 document that stated that 'there is no salvation outside the Church.'" (Dominus Iesus, however, could not have been published without the pope's approval, and was published with his approval. Arellano leaves one wondering what nefarious measures Ratzinger used to coerce this.)
There must be more to Kaiser's argument, for Arellano assures his readers that "the case against Benedict XVI is strong." But perhaps it is only strong for those look for a new gospel in the popular press.
ST. MARY OF THE ASSUMPTION in Whittier is a Eucharist-centered parish, according to an article in the March 24 Tidings, the newspaper of the archdiocese of Los Angeles. Redemptorist priest Father Jose Luis Chavez, who has been the parish's pastor for a little over six months, said his task is to help parishioners "grow and continue to be more united." But, he said, if the parish "is going to be united, it isn't going to be because of me, but because of the Eucharist. My emphasis has been adoration, the Eucharist and preparation for the Masses." In the past few months, St. Mary of the Assumption has established adoration of the Blessed Sacrament -- and, said the Tidings, "participation in all aspects of parish life has grown in the last few months since adoration has been introduced to the weekly schedule." But the parish is not simply committed to worship but to the service of its neighbors. The parish hosts St. MaryPlace, which feeds about 30 homeless each morning.
FAST FOR THE OPPRESSED. Cardinal Roger Mahony declared April 5, a Wednesday in Lent, a day of fasting and prayer for "just and humane immigration legislation." The U.S. Senate was at the time debating an immigration bill that would make illegal immigrants felons and punish those who give them aid. "This is probably one of the most critical weeks in the history of our country, in this new millennium and in this new century," said Mahony at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, according to the April 6 Los Angeles Times. "The United States Senate has the opportunity, at long last, after 20 years of inaction, of passing a new law that deals with all aspects of immigration." Mahony said the faithful should ask God to move legislators to enact a just and humane immigration policy that protects the rights and dignity of all immigrants.
"Mahony's remarks reflected the tone and substance of a three-year campaign launched by the U.S. Catholic Conference of Bishops in May to promote immigrant rights," said the Times. As part of this campaign, the conference in January began distributing a parish kit on immigration to dioceses throughout the country. The kit offers prayers and biblical passages referring to immigrants (such as Leviticus 19: 33-34, "if a stranger lives with you in your land, do not molest him. You must count him as one of your own countrymen and love him as yourself -- for you were once strangers in Egypt. I am Yahweh your God."), as well as practical tips on how to write legislators, activities to highten childrens' awareness of immigration issues, and feast day theme suggestions. An example of such a suggestion is, "on certain feast days, it may be appropriate to raise questions about laws that deny immigrants the human rights of housing, education and healthcare." And "on Right to Life Sunday," says the kit, "one could raise awareness of the hundreds that die crossing the desert in an attempt to come to the United States for a better life and how immigration policies currently do not reflect our respect for life."
"THERE IS A GROWING SENSE shared by many people, including a wide range of religious leaders, that a Marriage Protection Amendment is the only federal-level action that ultimately will protect and preserve the institution of marriage," wrote Bishop William Skylstad, head of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, on April 5. In his letter, Skylstad urged the U.S. bishops to take action on the issue of a federal amendment to protect marriage; "timely and focused efforts are needed to help the Catholic faithful form their consciences on such an important matter," he said. A draft marriage protection amendment is expected to appear before the U.S. Senate in June.
On March 14, according to an April 6 Catholic News Service report, the administrative committee of the U.S. bishops conference reaffirmed its support for a marriage protection amendment. In his April message, Bishop Skylstad, "aware that the time is short for taking action," nevertheless called on the bishops "to do whatever you can, given the situation and the resources available to you." Given the fact that "in some states there are upcoming votes for either legislation or constitutional amendments defining marriage," Skylstad noted that, "we are challenged ... to give attention to the interplay of state and federal level policy as well as to focus our efforts where they are most needed and can do the most good."
Marriage, "a gift of God to humankind and to his Church," said Skylstad, "needs to be promoted, preserved, and protected now and for the future.'
MAYWOOD, a small working-class city south of downtown Los Angeles, is set to become a "sanctuary city" for undocumented immigrants under its new city council, the March 21 Los Angeles Times reported. Built in the 1920s and '30s as a suburban community for factory workers and their families, Maywood currently has an official population of 29,000, but, factoring in illegal residents, an actual population closer to 45,000.
Immigrants began moving into Maywood and other nearby cities as area factories began closing in the '70s. Until last November, the city's council members were not particularly friendly to undocumented residents. Under their watch, police set up sobriety check points on city streets in the afternoon, by which they were able catch not only drivers under the influence but drivers without licenses, whose cars would be impounded. Most of those without licenses were immigrants, who had to pay a fine to get their cars out of impoundment. One woman interviewed in the Times article said her family twice had their car impounded, and each time it cost them $1,800 to get it back. The city also forbade residents to set up shade canopies at their residences; immigrants used canopies to create more living space for themselves.
Opposition to the towing arose. Felipe Aguirre, who runs Comite Pro-Uno, a service center for immigrants, joined with St. Rose of Lima church to fight the practice. St. Rose's Father David Velazquez said, "people felt like they were being persecuted. Hundreds of cars were being taken away." This led to a coalition that backed three candidates for city council, including Aguirre, all of whom won their seats in November.
With a three-to-two majority, the pro-immigrants on the city council eliminated the city police's traffic division, thus stopping the sobriety check points. Towing was discontinued, and the city gave drivers without licenses permits for overnight parking. The council repealed the law on canopies, and there is even talk of renaming the local elementary school after Mexican revolutionary and president, Benito Juarez.
The city has come under criticism both from conservative talk shows and from its own residents, many of them older Latino immigrants who have assimilated more to U.S. culture. One longtime citizen, J. Luis Ceballos, 52, told the Times, "I'm afraid we're testing the limits of the law, and that's dangerous. I think there is a danger of people thinking that they can do whatever they want." But Councilman Aguirre sees the city's new policies as responses to social justice. "I think we needed to amplify the debate by saying that no human being is illegal," he said. "These people are here ... making your clothes, shining your shoes and taking care of your kids. And now you want to develop this hypocritical policy?"
A VIDEO PURPORTING to show the dumping of a discharged patient on Skid Row in Los Angeles came to light in March. The video, recorded March 20, shows, according to the March 23 Los Angeles Times, a taxi cab making a u-turn and driving off. From the direction of the cab a woman, dressed in gown and slippers, is seen walking in San Pedro Street and then onto the sidewalk in front of the Union Rescue Mission, into which she is escorted by mission staff. The woman has been identified as 63-year-old Carol Ann Reyes, a patient from Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Bellflower. Reyes was released after spending three days at Kaiser Permanente, according to the hospital. Los Angeles police captain Andrew Smith said he thinks the cab took Reyes to Skid Row against her will. Reyes herself said she did not remember when she left the hospital or how she arrived on Skid Row.
At a subsequent press conference where the video was played for reporters, Diana Bonta, vice president of public affairs for Kaiser Southern California, said she wanted to apologize to Reyes. The treatment of Reyes, said Bonta, "is not in keeping with the policies of Kaiser Permanente.... We will immediately take action to make sure this never happens again."
Captain Smith drew attention to the dumping of the poor on Skid Row in September when he complained that police agencies from outside Los Angeles dropped off those released from jail in downtown Los Angeles. Los Angeles police officials have said they regularly see people with hospital wristbands, and some with colostomy bags, on Skid Row. The police department named in a report a number of hospitals which are thought to dump patients, including Kaiser Permanente West Los Angeles. The hospitals, however, said they have no better place to bring discharged homeless patients than Skid Row, since that's where the services are.
LOS ANGELES COUNTY OFFICIALS on March 23 suggested a plan to reduce the dumping of homeless on Skid Row, said the March 24 Los Angeles Times. The plan would establish five regional homeless centers, one in each supervisorial district, that would be 24-hour drop-off points for police and health care entities to drop off those who have no homes. The centers would have about 30 beds each and services for mental health and drug abuse. The centers would seek long-term shelter and care for their clients, with the county giving out grants to help create private shelters. Cost for the centers, which would be located on county property, is estimated at $7 million. The chief difficulty is the public opposition to the placing of homeless centers in their neighborhoods. Burbank mayor Jef Vander Borght expressed this opposition when he said, "it isn't going to go down well if this city was chosen for one of these centers, and I suspect it will be much the same in other cities. We wouldn't want to house the county homeless population. We probably represent a hundredth of that population, not a fifth. I hate to sound like I suffer from NIMBYism, but it is unlikely to fit in with the neighborhoods."
However, despite opposition foreseen or expressed, the county supervisors on April 4 voted 4-1 to approve the proposal; only Supervisor Mike Antonovich voted against it, citing costs and the potential for spreading homelessness across the county. The cost will not be slight. With property tax revenues at a high because of the Southland's housing boom, the supervisors voted to spend $100 million on the project, $80 million of which would go, not to the regional centers, but to fund homeless and housing programs across the county, said the April 5 Times. Supervisor Knabe's proposal of an amendment to allow regional governments to approve the building of a regional center did not pass; instead the county said it would build the centers "in cooperation with" local governments.
TWO PROPOSALS TO CLEAN UP Skid Row have been proposed by Los Angeles police department officials, said the March 10 Los Angeles Times. The more controversial of the two, put forward by Assistant Chief George Gascon, calls for ridding the Row of tent and box cities. (Currently Los Angeles police allow people to set up encampments at night but require them to be dismantled by 6 a.m.) Gascon wants police with the help of service providers and prosecutors to go through the tent and box encampments, identify and arrest those suspected of crimes, offer drug treatment to those with addictions, and give shelter beds to others. Gascon's plan is similar to Chief William Bratton's 2002 plan calling for removing tent cities, which was stymied by ACLU lawsuits saying that such actions violate the homeless' civil rights.
But other police department officials are proposing a plan put forth by Rutgers criminologist George Kelling, who, with James Wilson, co-authored the "broken windows" approach to policing that Bratton has embraced. Kelling thinks that trying to help the homeless with shelter or drug rehabilitation is pointless unless the criminal element among them is removed. He proposes strictly punishing lesser offenses (prostitution, drug dealing, petty crimes such as breaking windows or perhaps urinating on the sidewalk) which, he claims, leads to a reduction in major crimes. His plan would, on the other hand, leave tent and box cities unmolested, at least for the time being. Kelling said Los Angeles police need to deploy more police on Skid Row, though it is unclear whether the police department has the required personnel. Bratton has tried the "broken windows" approach but was halted by an injunction obtained by the ACLU that forbids police from searching without reasonable suspicion homeless people suspected of violating parole. The city also passed an ordinance forbidding sitting or sleeping on public streets, which was challenged by the ACLU in federal court. The civil liberties group lost that case but has appealed it to the ninth district court of appeals.
THUMBS UP FOR "BROKEN WINDOWS." Despite its past opposition to Chief Bratton's "broken windows" policies, the ACLU has joined with Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and downtown business interests in endorsing the similar more police in Skid Row, said the March 18 Los Angeles Times. Ramona Ripston, executive director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, has in recent months gone out on police rides and talked with service providers; she has concluded that, if anything, Skid Row needs more police. "Sometimes," she said, "you reach a moment where we have to do something. We can't let that continue to go on down there.... One of the steps we need to take is to try to purge that neighborhood of the criminal element." Ripston, however, said she thought the Kelling proposal only a short-term remedy that would not solve the problems downtown. County and city officials say a long term response would require more shelter space, long-term housing, and drug and mental health treatment.
The problems on Skid Row seem to be gaining more attention on account of reports of patient and jailhouse dumping by healthcare services and police. But another, perhaps more pricking, concern is downtown's growing residential population (now at 24,000 and growing) and consequent gentrification of neighborhoods around Skid Row. An estimated 8,000 to 10,000 homeless live on Skid Row.
THE LONG BEACH REDEVELOPMENT agency board met on March 27 to decide finally whether or not to use eminent domain to turn church property over to a private developer for an affordable housing project. The board had voted two weeks previously, said the March 28 Long Beach Press Telegram, that it would take the property of the Filipino Baptist Fellowship on Atlantic Avenue in Long Beach as part of a redevelopment agency project. Previously, the city had offered the church 13 alternative sites, to pay the church's moving costs, and pay the appraised value of the land ($855,000), $600,000 more than what the church paid for the property in 2002. But Pastor Roem Agustin found none of the sites suitable. "Either they are small in area or they are in the redevelopment area of the city, and we don't want to move to a place where later on we'll be told to move out again," he said.
The redevelopment board's decision drew attention across the state and the nation as an example of an abuse of eminent domain. Perhaps it was for this reason that on March 27, the redevelopment board, after meeting in closed session for 30 minutes, decided to end negotiations with the church on the property. But what seemed like a victory for the church may not have been a real triumph, according to John Eastman of the Claremont Institute, who represented Filipino Baptist Fellowship. In a March 31 letter to Thomas Fields, chairman of the redevelopment board, Eastman said that the March 27 "motion actually adopted by the Board does not appear to terminate the authorization for condemnation nor revoke the resolution of necessity" for the condemnation, though Assistant City Attorney Heather Mahood told the media that the board had done so. The board's vote, taken after a meeting in closed session, gives the appearance, said Eastman, that it had "made a deliberative decision behind closed doors, in violation of the Brown Act," which requires such decisions and discussions leading up to those decisions be done in a public meeting. Eastman asked the board to place its decision to terminate condemnation proceedings "on more solid legal footing than it is at present."
LESBIAN STATE SENATOR Sheila Kuehl (D-Los Angeles) on February 22 introduced into the senate a bill (SB 1437) that would remove all "discriminatory content" against homosexuals from school instruction and activities. Current law forbids any school instruction, school-sponsored activities, and any instructional materials to have content that reflects badly on anyone because of race, color, creed, national origin, ancestry, sex, handicap, or occupation. Kuehl's bill would seek to revise this list to include, according to the senate bill's legislative analyst's report, "race or ethnicity, gender, disability, nationality, sexual orientation, religion, and occupation."
But the bill would go further than this. It would amend the education code to require that "instruction in social sciences" include, not only "the early history of California and a study of the role and contributions of both men and women, black Americans, American Indians, Mexicans, Asians, Pacific Island people, and other ethnic groups," but also the contributions of "people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender, to the economic, political, and social development of California and the United States of America, with particular emphasis on portraying the role of these groups in contemporary society."
A RIVERSIDE SUPERIOR JUDGE during the first week of April allowed a lawsuit brought by two girls, allegedly lesbian, against the California Lutheran High School Association to proceed, Capitol Resource Institute's Capitol Update-California reported on April 6. The lawsuit was filed last December by two high school girls who were expelled from California Lutheran High School in Wildomar because the administration suspected them of being lesbians. The lawsuit alleges invasion of privacy and that the expulsion violates the state's Unruh Civil Rights Act, which forbids businesses to discriminate based on sexual orientation. Keith Hanson, who represents the girls, said that since the school receives tuition it is more like a business than a non-profit institution. In December, Hanson said the school may not discriminate against homosexual students because it "is not a church. They accept non-Christians and ... they accept Jews, who as a fundamental doctrine of their religion do not accept Jesus Christ. What can be more antithetical to Christianity than Judaism? California law says you cannot pick and choose who you discriminate against."
But school principal, Gregory Bork, said, "a homosexual relationship is un-Christian. To allow the girls to attend [Cal Lutheran] ... would send a message to students and parents that we either condone this situation and/or will not do anything about it. That message would not reflect our beliefs and principles."
THERESA CRUZ for 15 years has been a prisoner at the California Institute for Women in Corona after being convicted of conspiracy to commit murder; but after the board of prison terms recommended parole, the California Coalition for Women Prisoners and Women and Criminal Justice asked Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to grant her parole, something he rarely does, said the March 24 Tidings. A San Diego native, Cruz conspired to murder her ex-husband in 1991, said a San Diego City Beat story; the day before they were to go to court over custody of their four-year-old son, four men shot Cruz's ex-husband several times in the legs while, according to court documents, Cruz watched from a car nearby. Police reports say that Cruz's ex-husband had previously raped her at knife point. Cruz was sentenced to life in prison on February 13, 1991.
In November, the board of prison terms found Cruz suitable for parole. Her ex-husband supports her release, as does the original trial judge. Diana Block with the California Coalition for Women Prisoners said of Cruz, "this is a woman who made a mistake, but has totally turned her life around." Formerly addicted to tranquilizers, Cruz has helped run 12-step recovery programs and helped start a program that allows prisoners to train dogs for the disabled. She has served as secretary to the prison's Catholic chaplain.
Catholic leaders have supported Cruz's request for parole. "She is someone who has really worked hard at rehabilitation," said Bishop Gabino Zavala. "She had modeled restorative justice."
According to an April 7 Catholic News Service report, Governor Schwarzenegger recommended Cruz not be paroled. The parole board was scheduled to hold an en banc hearing April 11 to decide whether it would uphold its decision to grant parole.