NEWS
1999 NEWS STORIES
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ROAMIN' CATHOLIC
Contents © 1999
by Jim Holman.
All rights reserved.
FEBRUARY 1999
"ANY SOCIETY, ANY NATION, IS JUDGED on the basis of how it treats its weakest members-- the last, the least, the littlest." So wrote Roger Cardinal Mahony in a November 12, 1998 "Reflection" on the the last election, entitled "Creating a Culture of Life." Missing, wrote the cardinal, from pundits' election analyses will be the "human and moral implications of the votes cast on election day, and of the campaigns that helped to sway the votes."
Mahony wrote that both politicians and the electorate fail to ask the appropriate questions regarding the common good. "Will our newly elected officials," asked the cardinal, "offer a vision for the future that includes all people-- young and old, rich and poor, great and small, healthy and weak? Will politicians focus on the concerns that unite us instead of the divisive issues that were central to most of the campaigns? Will the protection of human life and human dignity be tests for social policy? Or will fundamental human values be negotiated away at bargaining tables for partisan advantage? Will the language of the 'right to choose' continue to drown out the language of commitment to the common good?"
Cardinal Mahony lamented that "anti-life themes" played such a big role in the election. Politicians, he wrote, promised to protect a woman's "right" to choose to kill her unborn child, "to apply the death penalty quickly and vigorously, killing as many of those on death row as possible during their term of office," and pledged to support euthanasia and other "right to die" measures.
Pope John Paul II, said Cardinal Mahony, calls us all to a "conversion of hearts and minds." In doing so, the pope "reminds us that abortion, capital punishment, and euthanasia are not just medical, legal, or economic issues," but are "moral and ethical matters" that challenge us "to stand up to the truth that each and every one is a unique expression of God's love-- the last and the least no less than the strong and the robust!" We are called, said the cardinal, "to create, promote, and sustain a culture of life," which is "the only legacy worthy of passing on to the next generation. And the next."
A CLINTON SUPPORTER has been appointed by Roger Cardinal Mahony to co-chair the archdiocesan Cathedral Campaign. William M. Wardlaw, a "[p]rominent Los Angeles attorney and civic leader," according to a January 12, 1999 press release from the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, will join Phyllis Hennigan and Gretchen A. Willison to help the campaign raise $163 million for the new cathedral by the end of 1999. To date, according to the press release, over $130 million has been pledged to the Cathedral Square Project at Temple and Grand in downton Los Angeles.
According to the archdiocese, Wardlaw, a Knight of Malta, who has served as legal counsel to the archdiocese and sits on the Board of Directors for Catholic Charities, has been active in Los Angeles and California state politics. In 1993 and 1997, he served as chairman of the "Riordan for Mayor" campaign, as well as chairing Mayor Riordan's transition team in 1993. Wardlaw was state chairman for the Clinton/Gore campaigns that, in the words of the archdiocese's press release, "carried California in the 1992 and 1996 presidential elections." Currently, Wardlaw leads a citizens group to bring the 2000 Democratic National Convention to Los Angeles.
LA VIDA NUEVA, the Los Angeles Archdiocese's Spanish-language newspaper, has stopped running advertising for Clinica Medica San Miguel. In December 1996, Clinica Medica San Miguel's owner Dr. Mahfouz Michael was charged by then State Attorney General Dan Lungren with several counts which included Medi-Cal fraud, prescribing without medical indication, clearly excessive prescribing of drugs and/or treatment, and repeated negligent acts, among other counts.
According to Elisa Wolfe, the Deputy Attorney General who handled the matter, "on November 3, 1997, the board approved a settlement agreement in Dr. Michael's case. The agreement required Dr. Michael to take and pass the Special Purpose Examination... in conjunction with the National Board of Medical Examiners to assess a physician's basic medical knowledge; take and pass a course in Ethics; pay the board's division of Medical Quality, a penalty assessment of $11,300 (the alleged amount of referral fees paid to him); reimburse the Board's division for its costs of investigation and prosecution in the amount of $12,000. Because Dr. Michael satisfied all four requirements on a timely basis, the accusation was withdrawn and on August 27, 1998 a citation was issued. If Dr. Michael had failed to complete all four requirements, then his license would have been placed on probation."
The Los Angeles Archdiocese's spokesman, Father Gregory Coiro, contacted for comment, did not return the Mission's phone call.
INLAND HEALTH, a member of Catholic Healthcare West, the largest Catholic healthcare provider on the West Coast recently sent a questionnaire to Family Planning Associates' San Bernardino abortion clinic. Family Planning Associates is owned by California's biggest abortion provider, Edward Allred. The form letter was addressed "Dear Provider," and went on to state that in order to "improve our quality of service, Inland Health Or-ganization has developed a survey that will allow our contracted providers to candidly express their concerns..."
When a reporter for the Mission contacted Inland Health Organization for comment regarding their relationship with an abortion provider, the call was directed to Peggy Richards, Materials Manager. Richards did not return the Mission reporter's phone call.
STATING THAT FATHER PAUL MARX was not on the "approved list of speakers" for the diocese of San Bernardino, Bishop Barnes initially rescinded an invitation to Father Marx to speak at a one-day conference which was scheduled to be held at Ss. Peter and Paul Church in Alta Loma. Then, in an apparent about-face, Bishop Barnes changed his mind and agreed to let Father Marx speak in the diocese, though Father Marx was not permitted the use of the church.
Jim King, the head of the Inland Empire chapter of Human Life International, told the Mission that he found it hypocritical for the diocese to reject of Father Paul Marx as a speaker, since, last spring, the diocese had featured Father Robert Drinan, S.J. as the keynote speaker at the annual Red Mass. Father Drinan consistantly supported abortion on demand during his ten year career as a Congressman from Massachusetts. More recently, Father Drinan again defied the Church's teaching on the sanctity of life by his support of President Clinton's veto of the partial birth abortion ban.
King noted that the chapter had already printed up thousands of flyers announcing the seminar and at the eleventh hour Bishop Barnes decided to change the location of the talk. However, at the same time, the conference was cancelled because Father Marx was hospitalized because his carotid artery "needed to be cleaned out" according to HLI's conference coordinator.
FOLLOWING A FORMAT similar to that of Surprised by Truth, the popular book in which Catholic converts tell their own stories, Physicians Healed recounts the spiritual and professional conversion stories of fifteen physicians who changed their minds about prescribing contraceptives and abortifacients. This new book is the brainchild of Steve Koob, the founder and director of One More Soul, a Catholic apostolate dedicated to disseminating the Church's teachings on life issues, particularly contraception. Koob recruited Cleta Hartman as its editor. Physicians Healed, available for $10 plus $4 shipping and handling, can be ordered through One More Soul, 616 Five Oaks Ave., Dayton, OH 45406/1-800-307-7685/e-mail: omsoul@juno.com (include quantity desired, and credit card type, number and expiration date).
FATHER JOHN VAUGHN, OFM, has been appointed as the new vice postulator for the cause of Father Junipero Serra. His appointment was announced on December 10 by Father Finian McGinn, OFM, provincial minister of the Franciscan Friars of the Province of Saint Barbara. As vice postulator, Father Vaughn, age 70, succeeds Father Noel Moholy, OFM, STD, who died on September 4 in Santa Barbara. Ordained in 1955, Father Vaughn served in Oakland as provincial minister of the Franciscan Province of St. Barbara from 1976 to 1979, and in Rome as minister general of the Order of Friars Minor from 1979 to 1991. At the time of his appointment he was master of novices at the Old Mission San Miguel Novitiate. According to the Province's December 10 press release, "Fr. John will work to see that Blessed Junipero Serra, the Apostle of California, is proclaimed a Saint in the Roman Catholic Church."
For more information, contact the Serra Cause, Old Mission Santa Barbara, 2201 Laguna St., Santa Barbara, CA 93105-3611, (805) 682-4713.