NEWS
2001 NEWS STORIES
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ROAMIN' CATHOLIC
Contents © 2001
by Jim Holman.
All rights reserved.
NEWS
NOVEMBER 2001
"I INVITE EVERYONE, clergy, religious and laity, to prepare for this event by listening anew to the Word of God which forms and challenges us, by praying for enlightenment and wisdom, by participating through dialogue and discernment." So ran Cardinal Roger Mahony's proclamation opening the first archdiocesan synod in 30 years. According to the Tidings, the archdiocesan paper, the synod officially opened on September 30, with scrolls, prepared in six languages, carried in procession in archdiocesan churches.
Cardinal Mahony called for the synod in his April 2000 pastoral letter, "As I Have Done For You." Unlike the 1960 synod, called under Cardinal McIntyre, Mahony's synod will include more than just clergy. Laity, as well, will address the challenges arising from the priest shortage and a growing number of Catholics in the archdiocese. In his 2000 pastoral letter, Mahony called the "vocations crisis" "one of the many fruits of the Second Vatican Council, a sign of God's deep love for the Church and an invitation to a more effective ordering of gifts and energy in the Body of Christ."
Pope John Paul II seems to have a different opinion of the vocations crisis. In his letter conveying the pope's blessing on the synod, Monsignor Pedro Lopez Quintana of the Vatican Secretariat of State wrote that it is "His Holiness' hope that the synod will prepare the Archdiocese to meet the challenges of the second new millennium by a conscious and faithful application of the teachings of the Second Vatican Council ... and inspire many young people to dedicate their lives to the building up of the Church by generously answering the Lord's call to follow him unreservedly in the priesthood and the religious life."
CATHOLIC CHARITIES WILL HAVE ITS DAY IN SUPREME COURT. On September 26, the California Supreme Court voted unanimously to grant a review of the case, Catholic Charities of Sacramento, Inc. v. Superior Court in which a lower court decided that Catholic Charities would have to adhere to the Women's Contraceptive Equity Act. The act, passed by the California state legislature in 1999, requires HMO insurance packages to provide coverage of Food and Drug Administration-approved prescription contraceptive methods. Though exempting religious employers, the act so narrowly defines the term "religious employer" as to exclude religious hospitals and universities.
On July 3, 2001, the third district court of appeals upheld the decision of the lower court. The decision of the supreme court, thus, is encouraging to Catholic Charities. Said James Sweeney, attorney for Catholic Charities: "We are obviously pleased that the California Supreme Court, which has a long and distinguished history of broadly protecting freedom rights of Californians under our own state constitution, has agreed to review this important case. We hope that this Court's tradition will be reaffirmed and the rights of people of faith secured from discriminatory treatment of government."
ABOUT 30 PRO-LIFERS, including sidewalk counselors, priests, parents and children converged on Governor Gray Davis' office in the Ronald Reagan Building on Spring Street in Los Angeles on September 19, according to a LifePriority report. The pro-lifers gathered to urge the governor to veto two bills, authored by Senator Deborah Ortiz of Sacramento. Spokesmen for the pro-lifers met with Davis representatives who said the governor had not yet taken a position on the bills. The Governor signed the bill on Monday, October 15.
The first senate bill, passed by the assembly on September 6 and the senate on September 12, defines "reproductive rights crimes." It declares a misdemeanor any act that "by force, threat of force, or physical obstruction that is a crime of violence, intentionally injures, intimidates, interferes with, or attempts to injure, intimidate, or interfere with" anyone seeking "reproductive health services" or any one providing such "services." Those using "non-violent" means to do the same also commit a misdemeanor, according to the bill. A first offense for the first misdemeanor carries a prison term of up to one year and a fine of $25,000. A first-time commission of the non-violent misdemeanor earns a prison sentence of up to six months and a fine of $2,000. Second offenses double the fine for the violent misdemeanor while increasing the fine for the second to $5,000.
Ortiz's second bill (passed in the assembly on September 10 and in the senate on September 13) would expand Medi-Cal school-based clinics. According to the LifePriority report, judges have ordered Medi-Cal to provide contraceptives and abortion referrals to minors, thus stepping between children and their parents.
"I'M THRILLED TO BE BACK IN LOS ANGELES," Jesuit Father Albert J. DiUlio told the Tidings, the Los Angeles archdiocesan weekly. "It's a great city, I love its vitality, it's veracity, its tolerance -- all of which extends to our Catholic schools."
DiUlio, who, in August, was appointed the first president of the archdiocesan schools, comes to his job with several goals. According to the Los Angeles Times, archdiocesan schools have suffered a decline in enrollment and have been losing teachers. DiUlio hopes to remedy these problems by raising teacher pay (Catholic school teachers are paid up to 50 percent less than public school teachers) and by upgrading campuses. All this involves raising money, a task to which DiUlio has committed himself. DiUlio told the Tidings that he was also committed to bringing into Catholic schools as many disadvantaged children as possible. He noted he would like to double or triple the number (5,000) of children who annually have received assistance from the archdiocesan Catholic Education Foundation.
Father DiUlio is the former president of Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio, and of Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Prior to accepting his post with the archdiocese of Los Angeles, he was in Ethiopia investigating the possibility of founding a Catholic university there.
HOME SCHOOL LEGAL DEFENSE ASSOCIATION reported on September 25 that California home schoolers have had difficulty receiving private school affidavits from some county offices of education. California allows private home schooling to operate under the "private school exemption," and requires home schooling families to file affidavits to notify the state that their "private school" is operating and to give the state information on the school. Initially, home schooling families were told there was a shortage of affidavit forms, but, later, the division of the state department of education responsible for distributing affidavits refused to send them to those indicating they were home schooling or who did not indicate the requisite number of students for a private school.
According to Home School Legal Defense, the state department of education seemed to be following the opinion of the department's Deputy General Counsel, Carolyn Pirillo. Pirillo opined that parents may not establish private schools in their homes; that their only legal options were either to enroll their students in public school independent study programs or to obtain a California teacher's credential. Home School Legal Defense disputes Pirillo's opinion.
On October 2, Home School Legal Defense reported that the supervisor of the department handling affidavits had indicated that the affidavit problem had arisen from a misunderstanding among the new staff. The affidavit forms, he said, are now available to those who want them.
"MRS. B," WHOM VENTURA COUNTY THREATENED with a reduction in her Aid to Families with Dependent Children because she was home schooling her eight-year-old son, has been vindicated. Though Mrs. B followed California law, filing her private school affidavit, Ventura County claimed that Mrs. B's son was truant. According to a Home School Legal Defense report, Mrs. B had removed her son from public school because he was having difficulty learning. Since beginning home schooling, Mrs. B's son has progressed to grade level in his school work.
On September 13, the administrative law judge who heard the matter ruled that Ventura County incorrectly reduced Mrs. B's benefits. The judge found that the county failed to follow regulations requiring them to provide the written standards they used to define regular school attendance. The judge said that Ventura County's school attendance policy might violate Mrs. B's constitutional equal protection rights, since some county school districts and many districts throughout the state recognize home schooling. According to Home School Legal Defense, the county, because of this decision, must reevaluate its policy requiring parents to be certified teachers in order to establish a private school in their homes.
For more information on the Home School Legal Defense Association, one may contact them at P.O. Box 3000, Purcellville, VA 20134-9000; phone: (540) 338-5600; fax: (540) 338-2733; e-mail: mailroom@hslda.org; web page: http://www.hslda.org/
PRIEST FORCED TO RESIGN. Because of a Los Angeles Times interview wherein he had admitted that he had had "four serious" relationships with women, Father John Lenihan had to resign as pastor of St. Edward's parish in Dana Point. According to a September 25 Times story, Lenihan had told Times columnist Steve Lopez that, besides the four women, he had had sexual relations with a teenage girl, Mary Grant, in the late 70s. Though Lenihan appeared in Lopez' column as "Father X," the reference to his relationship with Grant alerted the diocese of Orange. In 1991, the diocese had paid out $25,000 to settle a suit Grant had brought against the Church. Lenihan admitted to diocesan officials that he was Father X.
"This self-revelation is a cause of scandal to many in the Church, and it is a cause of great concern to me," said Bishop Tod Brown in a letter to the parishioners at St. Edwards. "Father John's resignation does not negate any of the good that has been accomplished in the parish during his time as pastor," wrote Brown. A letter from auxiliary bishop Jaime Soto, accompanying Brown's letter, addressed the subject of celibacy, which he called "a demanding discipline that requires prayer and sacrifice from those who assume it." Celibacy, wrote Soto, "is very counter-cultural for a society that knows no limits or boundaries."
Father Lenihan had told Lopez that celibacy was the most difficult aspect of the priesthood. The diocese has sent Lenihan for psychological evaluation. He may have to receive treatment before he is again assigned other duties.
INAUGURATING THE TENTH General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops in Rome on September 30, Pope John Paul II spoke on the importance of poverty in the proclamation of the gospel, according to a Zenit news report. "Indeed, poverty is an essential feature of Jesus' person and of his mystery of salvation," said the pontiff, " and it represents one of the indispensable requirements so that the proclamation of the Gospel will be heard and accepted by humanity today."
"We are asked to verify to what degree there is personal and communal conversion in the Church connected to effective evangelical poverty," the pope told the synod, whose focus is the role of the bishop. "The way of poverty will help us transmit the fruits of salvation to our contemporaries. Therefore, as bishops, we are called to be poor in the service of the Gospel."
Bishops today, said John Paul, must be "prophets who courageously manifest social sins connected to consumerism, hedonism, an economy that produces an unacceptable division between luxury and misery." To do this bishops must promote "that ensemble of principles of solidarity and social justice that make up the social doctrine of the Church."