NEWS
1997 NEWS STORIES
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ROAMIN' CATHOLIC
Contents © 1997
by Jim Holman.
All rights reserved.
NEWS
OCTOBER 1997
THE CATHOLIC LEAGUE for Religious and Civil Rights, since August, has mailed 500,000 signatures to Walt Disney Company chariman, Michael Eisner. The signatures gathered protest the new television series, "Nothing Sacred," that has aired on Disney-owned ABC television this past September. In addition to Catholics, Protestants, Jews and Muslims also circulated the petition.
The League also took out an ad in ADWEEK calling on companies not to buy air time on ABC television. In the future, the League plans a boycott of the Walt Disney Company and ABC. The American Baptist Church is also boycotting the Disney Company.
The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights includes such notables as Mary Ann Glendon, Professor of Law at Harvard University, William Bentley Ball, a prominent constitutional lawyer who won a landmark Supreme Court ruling in the 1970's, Wisconson v. Yoder, and Michael Novak, who received the Templeton prize and helped found Crisis magazine.
In an interview with Business Week magazine, Mr. Eisner attacked the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, saying the group was inconsequential. ABC also held a press conference on July 22, 1997 at the Pasadena Ritz-Carlton Huntington hotel to defend "Nothing Sacred" and itself against the protest lauched by the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights.
"Nothing Sacred" features a priest, Father Ray, telling his congregation that the time is ripe to "call a moratorium on the sins of the flesh." Father Ray tells the parish that the Church's teachings on homosexuality, abortion, promiscuity, birth control can be ignored. Father Ray also tells his congregation that he is no longer a "sexual traffic cop," and those who want such a priest should go elsewhere.
If you would like a copy of the peitition to circulate, please call The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights at (212) 371-3191; or fax them at (212) 371-3394.
L.A. MISSION REPORTERS HAVE noticed that the speakers at conferences often present a recurrent theme in their talks. At both the August West Coast Call to Action conference in Pomona and the September National Association of Catholic Diocesan Lesbian and Gay Ministries in Long Beach, speakers expounnded the idea that current Church teachings (expressed at Vatican II and reiterated in the Catechism) are only binding until a new council is convened.
In her talks at the Long Beach conference, Sister Kathleen Schinhofen claimed to adhere to current Church teaching, quoting from the documents of Vatican II and from Evangelium Vitae while telling her audience: "We must not contradict the essential teaching of these documents until the next council. Period."
At the Call to Action conference, keynote speaker Tom Fox (publisher of the National Catholic Reporter) quoted anonymous bishops and Vatican officials whom he says are pretending to go along with the beliefs of John Paul II, waiting for a new pope and a new council to change Church teachings. (One unnamed cardinal told Fox that, if he is elected pope, he will ordain women within the first year.)
Father Barry Brunsman, a Franciscan working in the Diocese of Oakland, speaking on the subject of divorce at the CTA conference, told his listeners that he was told by a former President of the Canon Law Society of America that the only way the Church can change her teaching on the nature of marriage is to hold a new synod. Father Brunsman said he hoped this would be coming soon.
A CONTROVERSIAL BILL, AB 257, is headed for Governor Peter Wilson's desk in October. This bill, authored by Assemblyman Anthony Villaraigosa (D-Los Angeles) would prohibit anyone from refusing to employ or rent to a person because of their sexual orientation. The bill would add the language to the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA), putting sexual orientation on a par with religion, race and nationality as protected classes.
Though supporters insist that AB 257 would exclude churches, this bill as is currently written "would vest the Department of Fair Employment and Housing with awesome investigatory, regulatory and prosecutory powers" according to constitutional lawyer Peter D. Lepiscopo, who regularly writes legal opinions at the request of lawmakers.
This bill would be in direct conflict with both the state and federal constitutions, but unless willing to launch a costly court battle, most churches, non-profits and small businesses would not be able to challenge violations to their constitutional rights of free speech and religion. The result could cost business unimaginable burdens as they struggled to comply with AB 257.
The Boy Scouts of America is one of the groups opposing this bill. The Boy Scouts' legal counsel, David Park wrote to Assemblyman Steve Baldwin (R-La Mesa) opposing AB 257, citing how "Boy Scouts of America and its local councils have been put to great expense in litigating its right to teach Scouting values to youth and thus preserve its right to accept members and recruit commissioned professionals who share those values."
Readers interested in voicing their opposition to AB 257 should contact the governor's office at (916) 445-1455 or fax him at (916) 445-4633. Letters can be directed to Governor Pete Wilson, State Capital, Sacramento, CA 95814.
ON SEPTEMBER 12, 1997 Concerned Roman Catholics of America held a demonstration in front of the Los Angeles Archdiocese's chancery office, protesting Cardinal Roger Mahony's recent Pastoral Letter on the Liturgy. The demonstration was peaceful, the participants carried signs and prayed the Rosary. A few minutes after the protest began, archdiocesan, spokesman Father Gregory Coiro, O.F.M. Cap., came out of the chancery office onto the sidewalk where he told the demonstrators that they could not demonstrate in front of the Wilshire Boulevard building.
According to Ken Fisher, chairman of Concerned Roman Catholics of America, Father Coiro challenged the group's right to protest in front of the chancery office. According to Ken Fisher, the leader of the demonstration, Father Coiro approached him and told him it was illegal to protest in front of the chancery office and that the chancery office would call the police. Fisher said he replied that as a veteran of many an Operation Rescue protest he was well aware of his First Amendment rights. Fisher said Father Coiro responded that it didn't matter whether or not the demonstrators were on a public sidewalk. Father Coiro then reportedly went back into the chancery office and the demonstration continued. Fisher told the Mission that some in the group told Father Coiro that this demonstration was a prelude to the one scheduled for October 10th , 1997--the day the cardinal will formally introduce his proposed liturgical changes.
When contacted by the Mission for a comment, Father Coiro said that he did not attempt to stop the demonstration, he merely advised the group that the police had informed him that the protesters had to be continually in motion and could not block the sidewalk. When asked about a police car reported to be cruising by after the dispute between Fisher and himself, Father Coiro said he wasn't aware of anyone calling the police. He added that there is a police substation
nearby.
CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM--from the grass roots: Alan Keyes, who sought the Republican nomination for president in 1996, may run again in 2000. According to David Quakenbush, a Thomas Aquinas College professor who worked on the Keyes campaign in '96, Ambassador Keyes has said that his supporters must raise $2,000,000 by February 1999 before he can declare his candidacy. Quakenbush says that the Keyes exploratory committee is already raising funds in the traditional manner, by phone and mail; however, Quakenbush has come up with a plan that, he says, will raise the entire $2,000,000 by the required date--and all from small donations.
Quakenbush says his plan will look for 2000 people (called the "Keyes 2000") who will pledge $10 per month for the next 15 months. Each member of this 2000 will then seek out six other people, who, in turn, will pledge $10 per month. "If we have this in place by December 1997," says Quakenbush, "total revenue through February 1999 will be $2,100,000." Keyes 2000 members will receive a package of promotional materials that includes the best Keyes campaign video from '96. The task of placing 2000 of these packages will be divided among the 50 states, the number of packages per state being determined by population. Thus, says Quakenbush, California will receive 240 packages, Arkansas 20, etc.
Quakenbush says his plan has "the additional advantage of allowing us to be sure by January 1, 1998 that we are going to succeed. I think if we get this going by December 1997, we will have done the most significant thing in presidential campaign finance since the $1,000 limit was passed into law. A candidate will know 26 months before Iowa that he will have millions of dollars, none of it special interest, none of it regional or single issue, and we will have an absolutely rabid network of grass roots activists who have tasted success, are hungry for more, and we will have money to enable them to do much more."
For more information, contact Keyes 2000 Program at 325 East Oakview Ave., Oakview, CA 93022, or call (805) 649-4299; e-mail: davidq@SoCa.com
VENTURA ACADEMY, a small, parent run independent Catholic school, has begun its fourth year of classes with a new name--St. Augustine Academy. Named after St. Augustine of Hippo, a Father of the Church and the Doctor of Grace, the school chose this new name to better reflect its Catholic character.
St. Augustine Academy offers a traditional classical education. For more information contact Mr. Martin O'Hara, Headmaster, at 1711 Wood Place, Ventura, CA 93003 or call (805) 658-8161.
HOLY RESURRECTION MONASTERY in Newberry Springs (near Barstow) will host its annual pilgrimage on Friday and Saturday, October 24 and 25. Holy Resurrection is a Byzantine Catholic monastery under the jurisdiction of Bishop George Kuzma of Van Nuys. The pilgrimage, drawing Byzantine and Roman Catholics from California, Nevada, and Arizaona, and as far way as the Pacific Northwest, will begin on Friday evening at 7:30 p.m. with Great Vespers and candlelight procession. Divine Liturgy will be offered on Saturday at 11 a.m., followed by a barbecue luncheon. At 3 p.m. there will be a Moleben (a service of prayer) to the Mother of God, with events ending at 4 p.m. A $5 donation is requested for the luncheon. For more information, call Holy Resurrection at (619) 257-4008, or contact them via e-mail at HCommun871@ aol.com. Holy Resurrection Monastery is located at 45704 Valley Center Rd., Newberry Springs, CA 92365.
A FORMER THOMAS AQUINAS COLLEGE student, who generated international publicity when she sued the college for refusing to let her stay overnight with her fiancé, has withdrawn her lawsuit. Twenty-three-year-old Aliya Peerzada of Ojai cited lack of funds as the reason for the withdrawal. However, an August 23 L.A. Times article quoted Peerzada as saying that "if I can possibly help it" she will refile before a December deadline.
The Santa Paula based college expelled Peerzada last December after refusing to comply with a request by college administrators that she stop spending nights at her fiance's Ojai home. The college's 1996-97 handbook states that when students violate "the standards of Christian conduct," the school "has the right to dismiss a student at any time."
Peter DeLuca III, vice president for administration and finance, said that the college declined to settle the suit out of court. "We don't have any choice in the matter but to defend the suit," DeLuca said. "We have to maintain the right of the school to maintain some kind of standard. We couldn't concede the principle or appear to concede the principle."
"I think the whole episode was unfortunate, and I hope we've seen the end of it," DeLuca commented. "For one thing, it was an embarrassment to her, I think. It certainly should have been. I'm vastly relieved."