NEWS
1999 NEWS STORIES
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ROAMIN' CATHOLIC
Contents © 2000
by Jim Holman.
All rights reserved.
NEWS
JANUARY 1999
FEARING A REPEAT OF THE PRO-LIFE DEMONSTRATIONS that disrupted Governor Pete Wilson's inauguration in 1991, Governor-elect Gray Davis will not be holding the now-traditional ecumenical service at the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament in Sacramento. (The Governor-elect's inauguration committee had sent out an invitation, citing the cathedral as the site of the service, to prospective donors.)
On Tuesday, November 24, the Sacramento Bee ran a story about the ecumenical service, citing the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament as the location of the service. According to Steve Capps, the reporter who broke the story, when he contacted Darius Anderson, the committee'e executive director, for comment on the location of the service, Anderson told him that he had been in touch with a "Father Ned Dolesji" about the use of Blessed Sacrament Cathedral.
A secretary in Sacramento's Bishop Wiegand's office said that the Bee "had made a mistake" when it ran the story about the proposed use of the cathedral. This story was echoed by another Catholic who had become concerned about the invitation that had been sent citing the use of the cathedral for the ecumenical service. When he called Bishop Wiegand's office, the bishop's secretary told him that the bishop had nothing to do with the invitation but the caller should contact either Father Vincent Brady or Ned Dolesji at the California Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Father Brady at Blessed Sacrament Cathedral said he believed that the Davis people were "working off an old list," an apparent reference to the list of sites that Wilson camp had used in 1991. When asked why would Davis presume that the cathedral was available, he said, "the one who is speaking publically about this is Ned Dolesji." Father Brad
He said his comment would be "whatever Dolesji's comment is."
Ned Dolesji, executive director of the California Conference of Catholic Bishops, said that he had been contacted by Anderson, the week before Thanksgiving, after having had discussions with the "Wilson people." "There were concerns about the lawsuit and protests," he said. "We talked about the difficulty of the cathedral not being accessible on a Sunday morning." Dolesji said he had given assurances to the committee that the California Catholic Conference would work with them. When asked why there were concerns over protests, Dolesji cited "Davis' solid pro-choice stance during the campaign". When asked if any of the bishops would be present at the service, Dolesji said that the bishops would be on retreat that weekend. Dolesji said that the pastor of Gray Davis' parish would be at the service, but no other priests had, as of yet, been invited.
The December 1 issue of the Sacramento Bee said that the ecumenical service will be held at the Sacramento Convention Center.
LOS ANGELES PRO-LIFE ACTIVISTS TIM AND COLETTE WILSON have adopted their first child, Paul Howard Wilson, born November 1 to a young mother living at His Nesting Place, a maternity home and church to which the Wilsons belong.
Tim and Colette met in 1990 when Colette represented a group of Operation Rescue activists (including Tim) arrested for blocking an abortion clinic. They married in 1991.
Unable to have a family of their own, the Wilsons expressed their love for children in a full-time pro-life apostolate. Colette quit her job as an attorney and began sidewalk counseling five days a week. Tim, a carpenter and handyman, reduced his work hours so he could spend time investigating malpractice lawsuits and other legal woes of Southern California abortionists.
The Wilsons had considered adopting, but had not yet taken steps to begin the process, waiting until they were in a better financial position and until Tim finished remodeling their house.
But when their pastor, Al Howard, called them in mid-October asking if they would like to adopt the soon-to-be-born baby of a new resident of His Nesting Place, "We didn't even have to think about it," said Colette. "We were overjoyed!"
Paul's natural mother is an 18-year-old Hispanic woman who came to His Nesting Place in her eighth month of pregnancy, after the first prospective adoptive parents (arranged through an adoption agency) fell through. "Kelly" told Colette that the planned adoptive parents, with whom she was staying, got into some legal troubles and she had to leave with no notice. A police officer who had delivered legal papers to the couple paid for a hotel room for Kelly and put her in touch with His Nesting Place, as the adoption agency had told her that they did not know of any place she could stay. (Kelly had hidden her pregnancy from her family, who thought she was away attending job training; so returning home was not an option for her.)
Colette says she put her trust in the Lord and "all of the things I saw as obstacles to adoption just dropped away. God provided the money. God provided baby clothes and equipment." Paul made his entrance Sunday, November 1, weighing in at just 5 pounds.
Concerned that their unfinished house would not meet with the approval of social workers at the county adoption service, Tim and Colette moved into Viva House, an apartment rented by a group of Los Angeles pro-lifers as a home base, located next to the Inglewood Family Planning Associates abortion facility.
Colette has returned to her sidewalk counseling. She often walks back and forth in front of the nearby abortion clinic, wearing Paul in a baby sling and praying. Paul has already played a part in saving a baby, she says. When another sidewalk counselor brought a pregnant girl to Viva House to watch a video, the girl decided to keep her baby after holding Paul.
Colette points out that His Nesting Place is an interesting meeting point for Catholic and Protestant pro-lifers. Although it's a Protestant church, the majority of its funding comes from Catholic parishes. Pastor Al Howard and his wife Judy come to local parishes, speak after each Mass (Colette often speaks at the Spanish Masses) and set up a table outside to sell pro-life items and accept donations. They have spoken at over 30 Southern California parishes so far. His Nesting Place, both in its service to unwed mothers and in some of its theology (including opposition to contraception), reflects the Catholic Church's teachings.
Contact His Nesting Place at 350 East Market Street, Long Beach, CA 90805; (562) 422-2137.
LITTLE COMPANY OF MARY HOSPITAL, owned by the Sisters of the Little Company of Mary, has been at its Torrance location since 1960. The cross-shaped hospital is affiliated with a medical group called the Medical Institute of Little Company of Mary. Medical records recently obtained reveal that the Medical Institute of the Little Company of Mary readily refers women for abortions.
One document, a fax cover sheet dated June 24, 1998, had the notation: "Auth. For (the patient's name)." The fax was directed to Family Planning Associates, an abortion clinic owned by well known abortion provider, Dr. Edward Allred. The fax was sent from the institute's authorization office.
The second document, dated August 17, 1998, titled "Medical Institute of Little Company of Mary Authorization Form." The primary Care MD was listed as Gene L. Hawkins. The referral sheet states "Diagnosis: Pregnancy." The form refers the patient, a 19 year old girl from Manhattan Beach, to Family Planning Associates. The referral form states June 21, 1998 as the day of her last menstral period ("LMP"), August 1, 1998 as the date that pregnancy was confirmed, and March 28, 1999 as the estimated date of birth. Assuming that the abortion took place after the date the form was faxed to the Family Planning Associates on August 18, 1998, the patient's baby was almost 2 months old when aborted. A note at the bottom of the form stated that the authorization was good for 60 days; thus, the patient could have been in the second trimester when she aborted her baby. Family Planning Associates provides pap smears, sterilization, and birth control to non-pregnant women. The only service they provide to pregnant women is abortion. They do not provide pre-natal services.
In January of 1995, the National Conference of Catholic Bishops issued their Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services. Directive 45 directly deals with abortion and Catholic heath care institutions. The directive said: "Abortion... is never permitted. Catholic health care institutions are not to provide abortion services, even based upon the principle of material cooperation." Additionally the directive cites the papal encyclical Humane Vitae as the authority for Catholic hospitals not to be involved with prescribing artifical birth control.
The fact that Little Company of Mary's affiliate, the Medical Insitute of Little Company of Mary, is referring women to abortion providers is troubling. The bishops' directive is very clear on such affiliations, "Catholic health care institutions need to be concerned about the danger of scandal in any association with abortion providers."
When contacted for comment, a Little Company of Mary spokeswoman faxed a response saying that "we cannot restrict our physicians from providing information about the availability of such services."
AFTER ATTENDING A JUNE 1997 HUMAN LIFE INTERNATIONAL conference in Minneapolis, pro-life activist Jim King and others thought about starting an Inland Empire chapter of Human Life International. Father Paul Marx, founder of Human Life International, asked King to start a chapter of Human Life International in the Inland Empire, to which King agreed.
The group held their first banquet in July 1997 at the Elks Lodge in San Bernardino. Father Marx was the keynote speaker. The dinner was a success, with over 200 persons attending the event. At the dinner, Father Marx spoke about the culture of death and how the low birth rates throughout the world will have lasting, negative effects into the next century. In June 1998, the group held their second banquet, with former Congressman Bob Dornan as their keynote speaker.
The group holds monthly meetings at Jim King's home. When the Mission asked King about the chapter's activities, he cited the group's weekly prayer vigils in front of an abortion clinic in San Bernardino. King emphasized that Human Life International is an educational organization. "HLI's strength is their resources. Their resources on the culture of life are unrivaled." Once the people have the information, they can go out as private citizens and change their world.
"LEAD WITH THE EYES OF WISDOM" is the theme for the 1999 Archdiocese of Los Angeles Religious Education Congress, to be held February 12-14. According to the archdiocese's explanation, the theme "beckons us to the wisdom tradition of the Hebrew Scriptures. The Book of Proverbs exhorts one who would seek wisdom to seek 'the way of insight.' The Book of Job speaks of pursuing the way of light. The Jewish wisdom tradition speaks of wisdom not only as a path or a way of life, but also as the manifestation of God-- God's very creative presence in the world. ... Divine wisdom, the very creative power of God pervading the whole of reality, is localized in the person of Jesus Christ, who is 'the Way.' Our ministry calls us to lead with eyes of wisdom. In trusting our own wisdom, we embrace the source of all wisdom that is present and active within, even as we acknowledge the greater wisdom beyond the boundaries of our being.... Each day God invites us to draw from the deep wisdom within us and the wide wisdom beyond us. This calls us to claim our own power and wisdom, and it means listening to the still small voice, the whisper that can easily be lost in the whirlwind of busyness."
To assist conference attendees to seek wisdom, Sister Edith Prendergast, Director of Religious Education for the archdiocese, has invited speakers who will address such subjects as parish leadership, Celtic spirituality, Christian spirituality, catechesis, liturgy, and justice. Among these speakers is Robert Ludwig, Sister Barbara Fiand, and Diana Hayes, all public dissenters from Church teaching. Ludwig will address "the Catholic Future: A New Generation. A New Millenium," and "The Jesus Path-- What Happened Then, What It Means Today." According to Donna Steichen, author of Ungodly Rage, Ludwig is a frequent speaker at Call To Action events and a promoter of "small faith communties" within parishes. Call to Action publicly dissents from Church teachings on birth control, ordination of women and homosexuality.
Barbara Fiand will address "Prayer Energy and Cosmic Transformation," and "Feminist Theology: A New Way of Seeing. A New Way of Being." Last September, Fiand was removed from teaching at Mount Saint Mary's of the West, the seminary division of the Athenaeum of Ohio, reportedly for not supporting vocations to the priesthood in the climate of today's church, a charge which she denies. According to the May/June 1998 Saint Catherine's Review, in her 1987 book Releasement (a book she has used for ten years as a text in her courses), Fiand wrote that the "stubborn resistence to the ordination of women which uses nothing less thatn Scripture and tradition (misinterpreted though they may be) to justify itself, is probably the clearest example of the repressed feminine turned sour." Elsewhere in Releasement she wrote, "[w]hen women in our churches will be allowed to do what men have been doing for centuries, justice will have been served without a doubt." Barbara Fiand also addressed last year's Religous Education Congress.
Diana Hayes is also a frequent congress speaker. A professor of theology at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., Hayes, like Ludwig, has addressed Call to Action Audiences, and in November 1996, addressed the Women's Ordination Conference in Arlington, Virginia. As reported in the February 1996 Mission, Hayes shared the podium at this 1996 conference with Dr. Elizabeth Schussler-Fiorenza, who proclaimed "we have come together to say, 'Ordination means sub-ordination... We claim today our spiritual power not for becoming incorporated into the lowest ranks of the kyriarchal hierarchy... but for subverting the dehumanizing kyriarchal structures." Hayes herself, in her address, stated that "to ordain women into the Christian church as it is presently constituted is to make them a part of an oppressive structure which abuses and distorts its power and authority. It is making them tools of the Master... Recalling the prophetic words fo the late Audre Lord, I quote, 'The Master's tools will never dismantle the master's house'... Dismantling of the entire structure is needed, from within and from without, using tools of our own creation."
Father Michael Crosby, who will also address the Religious Education Congress this year, is associated with Call to Action.
CURRENT CHILD ABUSE AND NEGLECT laws require many persons who come into contact with children to report suspected child abuse and neglect to Child Protective Services. These include, among others, doctors, nurses, family and marriage counselors, teachers and daycare workers. All the law requires of a mandated reporter is "a reasonable suspicion" that the abuse and neglect may be occurring. Until recently, Catholic priests and other clergy were exempt from the mandatory reporting laws. In 1997, a law was passed which requires clergymen, including Catholic priests, to report suspected child abuse and neglect when counseling a person. The Catholic seal of the confessional is not governed by this law.
Paul Chrissey, a child advocate in Solano County, who for ran a state-wide Child Protective Services training program for 13 years, spoke to the Mission about what led to this law's enactment: "There were different people who approached the issue [expanding the mandated reporting laws] from different angles. The pedophile priest problem was one and also a general support for an increase in the number of mandated reporters. Clergymen see a lot of kids and the purpose [of the law] is to create an awareness of the problem of child abuse." Chrissey pointed out that many Catholic priests feel that Child Protective Services are not friendly to priests, hence would not contact them if they knew of a possible child abuse or neglect case. Chrissey elaborated on how too often priests know of Child Protective Services being "too vigilant" and removing children from their homes when it was not necessary. He added that when the law was being debated in Sacramento, the Catholic Church initially opposed the bill, but later changed her position.
Father Bernard Bush, S.J., a child advocate at the Jesuit Retreat House at Los Altos, denied that the Church was against expanding the number of mandated reporters. Instead, he said there were legitimate concerns about the separation of church and state and also the Church was concerned about the law affecting the Catholic practices, such as confession, not being put under the jurisdiction of the state. Father Bush said that, in the end, the bill preserved the confidentiality of penitential communications, so that such communications between clergymen and their flock remained privileged. The bill also states that it is up to each denomination to determine what falls under the title of penitential communication. To his knowledge, Father Bush said the law has not been used to prosecute a clergyman for failing to report suspected child abuse.
In order to inform the priests of this change in the law, the California Conference of Catholic Bishops has held a series of workshops throughout the state. Father Bush and the General Counsel of the California Conference, have been conducting the presentations.
This past spring, a workshop was held at the Sierra Madre Retreat house with priests from the Los Angeles archdiocese and surrounding dioceses attending.