NEWS
2001 NEWS STORIES
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ARTICLES
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ROAMIN' CATHOLIC
Contents © 2001
by Jim Holman.
All rights reserved.
NEWS
JANUARY 2001
KNOWING THAT MOST LATINOS VOTE Democratic, and concerned that they would overwhelmingly support pro-abortion Al Gore without knowing all of the facts surrounding the abortion issue, one San Diego pro-life activist, Jim Cunningham, decided to run a pro-life advertisement in the Los Angeles Spanish language daily, La Opinion. An advertising representative told Cunningham, that his advertisement, which included a line drawing of a baby undergoing a partial birth abortion, was too controversial for La Opinion, and that they would not run such an advertisement because they are "family oriented." Cunningham offered to take out the photo of the baby and replace it with the caption, "foto prohibido" (photo was prohibited) but La Opinion refused the offer.
When pressed for comment regarding the advertisement, Joseph Ortega, executive assistant to La Opinion's publisher, Monica Lozano, said that La Opinion viewed the advertisement as too controversial and feared a backlash if they ran it. When asked about what policy the paper has for accepting or denying advertising, Ortega responded that each advertisement is viewed individually to see if it meets the Lozano's criteria. "The Lozanos have the final word and it's their criteria," he said. Ortega admitted that it was possible for the pro-abortion group, People for the American Way, to take out an advertisment in La Opinion. In addition, Ortega also stated that "most of our readers are opposed to abortion, so it's not really giving abortion a fair [shot]."
DEFEATING PRO-ABORTION CANDIDATE Roz McGrath by a razor thin margin, incumbent Tony Strickland retained his seat in the 37th assembly district. According to one pro-life activist in Oxnard, this is "at least the third time Roz has run for office." Pro-life activists say that the Democratic party has singled out Strickland. "They are trying to pick him off because he's so young and he voted against the budget."
Strickland narrowly defeated McGrath two years ago. This near-defeat increased Democratic contributions to McGrath's campaign. The McGrath campaign launched a drive to raise over a million dollars to defeat Strickland, but to no avail.
Strickland received heavy support from pro-lifers in the district. When McGrath held a fundraiser at the home of her cousin, retired Superior Court judge Charles McGrath (a parishioner at Santa Clara Catholic church in Oxnard), pro-lifers stood outside the home holding signs. Some of the protestors included members of the extended McGrath family. Additionally, pro-lifers picketed the McGrath family farm stand in Oxnard, standing on the road holding signs showing pictures of aborted babies.
The election in the 37th district was not without incident. One activist said that while she was handing out pro-life literature on the sidewalk outside of St. Anthony's Catholic church in Oxnard, the pastor and a nun complained that she was "blocking the driveway." The activist said that she was certain that the pastor and the sister knew she was handing out pro-life literature. The pastor did not return the Mission's call for comment.
Strickland's campaign manager said that abortion had not really been an issue in the campaign, but that "Tony is very pro-life."
A call to the McGrath campaign office was not returned.
A NURSE HAS FILED a lawsuit against Riverside County health officials, charging that they violated her constitutional right to free speech and her right to religious liberty under the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
According to a December 4 Riverside Press-Enterprise report, Michele Diaz and four other nurses who worked at the Riverside Neighborhood Health Center on Indiana Avenue in Riverside refused to dispense the abortifacient "morning after pill" and to refer patients for abortion, because they thought abortion immoral. While the other nurses resigned, Diaz refused to resign and was fired four days later. She cited her pregnancy and the need for medical benefits as her reason for not offering her resignation.
The American Center for Law and Justice and the Temecula firm of Tyler, Dorsa and Eldridge filed the suit for Diaz with the United States district court on Thursday, November 30. Alleging financial loss and damage to her reputation as a nurse, Diaz seeks unspecified monetary damages.
Riverside County health officials claim that they fired Diaz because she violated federal law in refusing to dispense what are called "emergency contraceptives." According to Diaz's attorney, the county claims that they did not have to give her a reason for firing her since, at the time, she was on probationary status.
WHEN MONROVIA POLICE HAD STOPPED her home-schooled sons for the twenty-second time for violating the city's daytime curfew law, Rosemary Harrahill decided that it was time to take legal action against the city of Monrovia.
In February 1997, Monrovia adopted a daytime curfew which, effectively, made it illegal for any minor to be in the streets between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. During the spring of 1997, Harrahill's two oldest sons, Jess and Ben, were stopped 22 times by the Monrovia police department while on route to take a class at the local public school. After failing to convince the Monrovia city council to drop their ordinance, in April of 1997 Harrahill and her husband, Don, became the lead plaintiffs in a lawsuit filed in the Los Angeles superior court citing the unconstitutionality of the daytime curfew.
When Los Angeles Superior Court judge Carolyn Kuhl ruled in favor of the plaintiffs in February of 1999, the city of Monrovia appealed her decision to the California court of appeal. The court of appeal issued a ruling in January of this year, vacating Judge Kuhl's order. The appellate court then sent the case back to the lower court.
In July, the plaintiffs streamlined their lawsuit by dropping some of the other plaintiffs and defendants, including Monrovia chief of police Joseph Santoro. According to Donna Dean, an associate with the law firm of Lurie, Zepeda, Schmalz & Hogan, who are acting as local counsel in this case, the plaintiffs contend that the city ordinance is unconstitutional because "by virtue of Article IX, Section 14 of the California Constitution, the state legislature and school boards have exclusive legal authority over education." Additionally, the plaintiffs assert that the ordinance is unconstitutional because "it prohibits a mere presence in public."
This October, both sides filed motions for summary judgment and a hearing was scheduled for December 13 before Judge Irving Feffer in the Los Angeles superior court.
According to one of the plaintiffs' attorneys, David Gordon of the Home School Legal Defense Association, "the principal issue for the court to decide is whether the comprehensive truancy scheme of the state legislature preempts the city of Monrovia from its own version of truancy enforcement of a daytime curfew. In the meantime, private school students not required to be in school are stopped by police to explain their presence in public."
The case is set to be tried in February 2001.
JOINING FORCES with several corporations and the cities of San Francisco and Chicago, the Los Angeles city council on Tuesday, November 28 voted to ostracize the Boy Scouts of America. In a 11-0 vote (councilmen Hal Benson, Joel Wachs, Rudy Svorinich, Jr., and Rita Walters were absent) the council, according to a Wednesday, November 29 Daily News report, moved to exclude the Boy Scouts from the city police Explorers program and to prohibit them from using city facilities without charge.
The council based their decision on what councilwoman (soon to be assemblywoman) Jackie Goldberg called the Boy Scouts' choice "to discriminate based on religion or being gay." The avowed lesbian councilwoman referred to the Boy Scouts' refusal to allow openly homosexual men to serve as scout leaders a right they have, according to a June 28, 2000 United States Supreme Court decision. "We have to send a message that we will not tolerate discrimination," said Goldberg. Councilman Mike Feuer said he thought the city had a legal obligation to sever its ties with the Boy Scouts. "We have no choice," he said.
With this decision, the city council will review all city service contracts with the Boy Scouts of America. Currently, besides the police department's Explorer program, the Boy Scouts have involvement with the Sea Explorers and the fire department. Police commissioner Dean Hansell said the Los Angeles Police Department is considering having Chief Bernard Parks meet with the Boy Scouts to urge them to change their policies in regards to homosexuals. Hansell said Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca will do the same.
While Mayor Richard Riordan could veto the city council's decision, the 11-0 ruling spells an almost certain override from the council. Though Riordan has been a supporter of "gay rights," his spokesman said, "the mayor is concerned about punishing children but also is opposed to any discrimination. "He wants to look at some of the options available."
Hugh Travis of the Western Council of the Boy Scouts, told the Daily News, "we have had a long involvement with the police department and sheriff's department and believe the quality of both agencies have been enhanced through our partnership. We have a national policy, but on our applications we don't ask about sexual orientation, religion or politics. What we ask is that people not wear their sexual orientation, religion or politics on their sleeves. When they do, that's when we have to take action."
A NEW CATHEDRAL FOR BISHOP BROWN? Officials of the diocese of Orange have announced that plans are underway for five new parishes in Santa Ana, Huntington Beach, Irvine, and Aliso Viejo, according to a November 18 Los Angeles Times report. Along with the new parishes, the diocese is planning six church renovations and, perhaps, a new cathedral in Santa Ana.
The diocese is in the process of buying 15 acres of bean fields near South Coast Plaza in Santa Ana, which could be the site of a new cathedral. A study, to be completed in mid-January 2001, will determine whether the land will be used for the cathedral or for a neighborhood parish. The diocese will not release information on the price of the land nor on the prospective costs of a new building.
The diocese cites the great surge in Catholic population in Orange County as the reason for the new building program. According the diocese, the Catholic population in Orange County has risen from 598,663 in 1995 to over one million in 2000. Half of all Catholics in the diocese are Hispanic.
Real estate developer and Catholic Tim Strader, is enthusiastic about the plans for a new cathedral. Strader told the Times, "I'm very excited about the opportunity to build a cathedral in Orange County to provide the facilities necessary to allow for the church's growth in the next century." Leia Smith of the Santa Ana Catholic Worker was somewhat more guarded in her comments. "My hope is that the bishop will always ask this question through the process: 'How is what we're going to do going to affect the poorest among us?'" she said. She hoped the Church would not avoid the question, but added that "if the cathedral is going to be in Santa Ana, that would allow us to have another parish in an area that really needs more."
THE CANONIZATION CAUSE OF FATHER JUNIPERO SERRA is now publishing a newsletter titled Siempre Adelante! to promote the cause by disseminating information about Father Serra and the cause's progress. The title means "always go forward" in Spanish and comes from Father Serra's motto, "Always go forward and never turn back!" In its inaugural issue, summer 2000, Siempre Adelante! published a eulogy for the cause's previous vice postulator, news of the appointment of a new vice postulator and his staff, web sites of interest, contacts for the cause and a report of prayer requests and favors received through Blessed Junipero's intercession.
The cause of Father Serra, "the Apostle of California" and founder of California's missions, was opened in 1934. Subsequently Franciscan fathers Maynard Geiger and Eric O'Brien completed much of the required historical research. After the 1960 cure of Franciscan Sister Mary Boniface Dyrda had been authenticated in 1986, Pope John Paul II, on September 25, 1988, beatified Father Serra in Rome. The cause is now pursuing Blessed Junipero's canonization as a saint.
In addition to the newsletter, a newly published booklet of Blessed Junipero devotions, "Meditations and Novena," is now available for a $5 donation. For more information about the Blessed Junipero Serra cause, contact Brother Timothy Arthur, OFM, at Old Mission Santa Barbara, 2201 Laguna Street, Santa Barbara, California 93105, (805) 682-4713 / FriarTim@aol.com.
ON THE FIRST SATURDAY of each month, 9 to 11:30 a.m., Mission San Juan Capistrano offers its Saturday at the Mission program, which explores a different time period in the history of the Mission. The program is for children ages 6-11 and complements the daily tours given by mission docents.
"Saturday at the Mission is a hands-on program designed to get kids involved in Mission San Juan Capistrano's history," remarks Cathy Smith, a grade-school teacher who conducts the program. A long-time resident of San Juan Capistrano, Smith first became involved in the Saturday at the Mission program more than a decade ago. Each month, Smith teaches a class on some element of mission history, including the pre-colonial era, the founding of the Mission and daily life at the Mission. A fourth class, the Great Mission Mystery, is a game for children which encompasses many aspects of early mission history.
The class-sizes of Saturday at the Mission vary from month to month, but generally number about a dozen. The cost of each class is $15 per child for materials; each child receives a certificate when he completes the class. The next class is Saturday, January 6, 2001. Reservations required. Please call (949) 234-1300, ext. 317.
A LESBIAN SUPPORTING her partner and child may apply for the "head of household" designation on her state tax return, according to a Capitol Resource Institute report. In early November, the California Board of Equalization ruled that Helmi Hisserich could claim the designation, which has applied to unmarried taxpayers supporting dependent family members. The Franchise Tax Board had previously denied Hisserich the designation.
Hisserich called the ruling "a real stroke for recognizing gay and lesbian families in the state of California." The dissenting opinion on the Board of Equalization, however, said, "One can only imagine the invasive questions related to the sexual orientation of the family members, the method of contraception and the lifestyle of the family unit" the state will use in determining head of household status.
MISSION VIEJO HAS FOLLOWED the lead of Laguna Beach to become the second city in Orange County to provide domestic partner benefits, according to a December 2 Orange County Pro-Family Network (oc-profam-net) report.
The Mission Viejo city council, on November 20, voted on a resolution that the city "extend health benefits coverage to domestic partners, and their eligible dependents" The resolution passed by a vote of three to two, councilmen John Paul Ledesma and William Craycraft voting against it.
TO PROVIDE FOR THE NEED for more Catholic voices in all writing milieus, a group of Catholic writers are forming a Catholic Writers Guild. The guild will provide a forum for Catholic writers, or those interested in becoming Catholic writers, to share experiences and opportunities in their fields and facilitate occasional meetings for discussion, prayer and liturgical celebrations.
About 100 people gathered at Thomas Aquinas College in Santa Paula on October 14 for the First Annual Ventura County Catholic Writers Conference. Several speakers gave talks on Catholic free-lance writing, writing for secular publications, screenwriting, and writing for the home schooling market. Mass was offered in the college's chapel, and the day concluded with a writers' roundtable, an open forum and question and answer session, followed by the recitation of the rosary.
Karen Walker of Studio Raphael, discussed how to get published as a Catholic free-lancer. George Neumayr, former San Francisco Faith editor and currently an editorial writer with Investors Business Daily, reflected on Catholic writers in the secular media. "Can Catholics find a place in the secular media?" he asked rhetorically, then quipped, "no, but they can find a few homeless shelters." Describing the secular news media as a de facto "fourth branch of government" lacking accountability and friendly only to secularized religion, he asserted, "anti-Catholicism is the anti-semitism of the U.S. intellectual elite." The secular order can only be changed by an increased Catholic media presence, he concluded, and he pointed out the growing number of orthodox Catholics involved in the communications media, with such publications as The Washington Times, National Review, the Wall Street Journal and various internet web sites.
James Bemis, whose opinion columns and articles have been published in major Southern California dailies, the California Political Review, The Wanderer, National Catholic Register, Catholic Digest and the new Catholic web site, e3mil.com, warned against committing the error of looking at the Church through the eyes of 20th-century Americans. Instead, he said, we should look at 20th-century America through the eyes of well-catechized Catholics. While the prevailing secular humanist culture often fixates on the dangers in real or perceived tyrannies of the past, it is far more dangerous to be an orthodox adherent of Judeo-Christian principles fighting the tyrannies of the present, Bemis stated.
The luncheon keynote speaker was Donna Steichen, veteran Catholic journalist and author of Ungodly Rage: The Hidden Face of Catholic Feminism and Prodigal Daughters: Catholic Women Come Home to the Church. Steichen was presented with the Saint Augustine Award for Excellence in Catholic Writing, conferred for the first time at this conference. Her career in Catholic journalism was unforeseen and developed in response to the internal problems that have arisen in the post-Vatican II Church, she explained. Steichen encouraged Catholic writers to continue opposing false spirituality, participate in lay Catholic opposition to error within the Church, and mentor younger Catholic writers. "To be a Catholic writer is to be a witness to the truth," she stated.
Steichen's daughter, Laura Berquist, director of Mother of the Divine Savior home school program and author of Designing Your Own Classical Curriculum, explained the opportunities available for Catholic writers in the rapidly growing home-schooling market. Berquist suggested writing articles on books recommended for home schoolers to read and stated that more science texts and more Catholic materials are needed for the entire home schooling market. Other writing opportunities exist in the field of educational theory as it pertains to home schooling, she said.
Matt Summer, a Hollywood screenwriter, provided several guidelines for would-be screenwriters. A screenwriter, he said, must have a consuming passion for the art, and great perseverance. He must seek creativity in the same spirit that animated him as a child. Selling a screenwriter's work, he cautioned, often depends more on whom the screenwriter knows than on an agent's prowess. Screenwriters, he said, should avoid using storytelling to promote an agenda and instead just tell a great story. A great story, he explained, stirs up cognitive dissonance and makes the audience come to a new conclusion.
The last speaker was John Kurzweil, founder and editor of the California Political Review and president of the California Public Policy Foundation. Kurzweil asserted that mainstream political culture resists clear thinking, although it describes itself as rationalistic. Kurzweil characterized it as a rejection of all Western tradition. Secularists and "liberals" believe that man is naturally good and progress is inevitable; hence their inability to understand the resurgence of barbarism, Kurzweil said. In conclusion, he stated that "liberalism" is "ultimately just an attempt to flee God."
For more information on the Catholic Writers Guild, contact David Shaneyfelt, Thomas Aquinas College, 10000 North Ojai Road, Santa Paula, California 93060; or call (805) 525-4417, or fax (805) 525-0620.
DURING THE 2000 PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN, the Interfaith Alliance of Central California took out advertisements in several newspapers in California urging voters to ignore non-partisan voting guides that the Christian Coalition were passing out at churches. These voter guides emphasized the candidates' position on abortion and homosexual rights.
Ten clergymen signed the "Open letter to People of Faith" in the Interfaith Alliance's advertisements, including two Catholic priests. Father David Norris who is with the office of Ecumenical and Inter-religious Affairs in the diocese of Fresno signed the letter which called for "the legacy of people of faith" being "one of compassion, civility, tolerance and justice." A call to Sister Sandra Silva, chancellor of the diocese of Fresno, for comment was not answered.
Another Catholic priest who signed the letter was Father John McAndrew of St. Angela Merici Catholic Church in Brea. Calls to his parish for comment were not returned.