NEWS
2005 NEWS STORIES
December
November
October
September
July/August
June
May
April
March
February
January
ARTICLES
LETTERS
ROAMIN' CATHOLIC
Contents © 2005
by Jim Holman.
All rights reserved.
NEWS
January 2005
SCHOOLS ARE NOT REQUIRED to tell parents when their children leave campus for "confidential medical services," such as abortion, opined California state attorney general Bill Lockyer in early December. According to the December 2 LifeNews.com, Lockyer was addressing a state statute that says schools may release students for "confidential medical services" without parental consent; but for Lockyer, it seems, may means must. According to the attorney general, schools must "notify both students and their parents that students are allowed to be excused from school for confidential medical appointments without parental consent." Critics of Lockyer's opinion, however, point out that as an opinion, it has no legal weight.
FOCUS ON MAHONY. The November 19 San Francisco Chronicle carried an Associated Press story on Cardinal Roger Mahony, "Scandal puts face on LA cardinal, whose legacy may be at stake." The article speaks of the "dramatic contradiction some see in Mahony" -- his reputation as "a voice for the poor and the dispossessed," on the one hand, and the perception of him as one who will protect the church establishment at any cost. The article singles out Mahony's building of the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels -- at a cost of $189 million -- and his handling of the clergy sexual abuse crisis. As to the latter, Richard Sipe, a former Benedictine monk and current expert on sexual molestation, said Mahony " is very knowledgeable about church politics and he has had a long, long history of knowing about sexual abuse in his diocese. Cardinal Mahony is a prince of the church, and his princedom is his kingdom and he has absolute power." But David Gibson, a former reporter for Vatican Radio and the author of the book The Coming Catholic Church, took a more benign view. "He's treating those inside the church, namely the priests, with the same kind of generosity and spirit of forgiveness that he wants to see society show towards the marginalized," Gibson said of Mahony.
Mahony's treatment of the marginalized, according to the article, includes his championing of the rights of farm workers (he supported Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers) and of hispanic and Vietnamese immigrants. Mahony, said the article, is something of a "workaholic," though he has always found time to entertain seminarians and to play corny practical jokes. But the article likens him to Cardinal Bernard Law of Boston, who, while a priest in Mississippi, worked for civil rights. Like Law, Mahony (as bishop of Stockton and archbishop of Los Angeles) has allegedly shuttled priests he knew were guilty of molestation from parish to parish.
But whether the molestation crisis will bring down Mahony as it did Cardinal Law is uncertain, according to the article. According to Gibson, because Mahony is a cardinal, "the Pope is always going to stand behind him. But I think there is concern in theVatican about this. Whatever they think of Mahony, they don't want another Bernie Law. They do not want him resigning."
ASKED WHAT THE BIGGEST influences have been on his life and ministry, Cardinal Mahony told the Associated Press, the "most important is the celebration of the Eucharist, which is at the very heart and center of who we are as priests." Other influences, said the cardinal, include his "discipleship with Jesus Christ," "praying the Gospels and trying to imitate Jesus in our own time." Cardinal Mahony said he "love[s] celebrating Mass with people." "A particular ministry that I really love is hospital visitation. People facing illness are in a very special place in their lives, especially if they are seriously ill. And so to have that opportunity to minister to them while they are ill is very important to me."
What regrets does the cardinal have in how he has handled abusive priests? Mahony did not really say he had regrets but noted that "it's easy to sit here in 2004 and make commentary on things that happened in the early 1980s or mid-1980s.... There's been an evolution over the years on how these matters have been understood by professionals as well as by the Church." He said that he did not fault the "culture of the Church" for the molestation crisis. "This is a serious human failure and a criminal and sinful one," said Mahony.
Asked whether he thought celibacy "still has a place in the Church," Mahony answered emphatically, "I certainly do. We have had a celibate priesthood since the 1200s. Keep in mind that at least 96 percent of priests have lived out their celibacy with great commitment and great service to the people of the church. So the fact that a few priests have violated those vows doesn't mean that the celibacy is the problem."
POPE JOHN PAUL II's Eucharistic Year, it seems, is having some good effect in the archdiocese of Los Angeles. In "Mission Rooted in Eucharist," published in the November 26 Tidings, Cardinal Roger Mahony addressed how the archdiocese would follow the pope's lead in honoring the Eucharist. Most of what the cardinal said was a reiteration of the prescriptions of his 1998 pastoral on the liturgy, As I Have Done for You; but in "Suggestions for Making the Most of the Year of the Eucharist," Cardinal Mahony hits a new note. "The Year of the Eucharist provides ample opportunity to increase or develop our practice of Eucharistic Adoration," writes the cardinal. "Quiet time before the Blessed Sacrament prepares us for the celebration of Christ's Mysteries in the Eucharistic Celebration. It also provides an opportunity to relish the grace of the sacrament long after the celebration of the Eucharist. In his Apostolic Letter on the Year of the Eucharist, our Holy Father Pope John Paul II writes: 'Eucharistic adoration outside Mass should become a particular commitment for individual parish and religious communities.' (Mane Nobiscum Domine 18)" The cardinal goes on to say each liturgical season "can be marked by a special opportunity for Eucharistic Adoration; he notes that the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles will have exposition of the Blessed Sacrament every Friday during the Eucharistic Year, from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. He recommends that "parishes throughout the Archdiocese would do well to make opportunities for Eucharistic Adoration available to parishioners on a regular basis," and he addresses the topic of tabernacles for the repose of the Sacrament. "In addition, parish communities might take a closer look at the place where the Eucharist is reserved," writes the cardinal. "Is the tabernacle a worthy vessel for the Most Blessed Sacrament? Is the Sacrament kept in an inviting place of beauty that is conducive to quiet prayer?"
POLITICOS REPRESENTING GLENDALE gave their opinions on the passage by California voters on November 2 of Proposition 71, the embryonic stem cell initiative, to the November 12 Glendale News Press and Leader. United States representative Adam Schiff, a Democrat, was upbeat about the initiative's passage. "It holds enormous promise for medical breakthroughs that will save countless lives," said Schiff. "It will be done ethically and morally. It has to be done that way. At the national level, we have done a disservice by artificially curtailing this vital research. California will once again be on the cutting edge." But Schiff's position is hardly surprising, since in February 2003 he tried to amend a congressional bill to ban human cloning so that it would exclude "therapeutic cloning" -- that is, cloning for stem cell research.
But what of David Dreier, the Republican congressman representing La Crescenta? Dreier supported President George W. Bush's cutting of federal spending for stem cell research on any new stem cell strains. What was Dreier's opinion of Proposition 71? "Pursuit of a method to find cures for horrible ailments like Alzheimer's, diabetes and cancer is a high priority for all Americans," Dreier told the Glendale paper. "Now that 71 has passed, I expect the funding it provides will be closely monitored so that it yields the most efficient and effective results for the people of California and the nation."
CATHOLC STATE ASSEMBLYWOMAN Patty Berg (D-Sebastopol) will join Assemblyman Lloyd Levine (D-Van Nuys) in holding hearings in San Francisco and Los Angeles to craft an assisted suicide law for California, said the November 14 Sacramento Bee. The proposed law will be similar to Oregon's 1998 Death with Dignity Act. This will not be the first time that a suicide bill has been considered in California. In 1992, an assisted suicide ballot initiative failed at the polls. In 1999, Assemblywoman Dion Aroner's bill failed in the assembly
Why might the Berg/Levine bill succeed where others have failed? Because, say the bill's proponents, California has the most progressive pain-management and end-of-life care policies which will preclude arguments that patients who opt for suicide do so because they are driven to desperation. Kathryn Tucker, legal director for Compassion in Dying, an Oregon-based group, opined that "when an aid-in-dying measure is presented, there will be no traction to an argument that it is important to address the needs that patients have." But the California Medical Association, which opposes physician-assisted suicide, won't make that argument. Said Ron Lopp, a spokesman for the group, "our position all along has been that physicians are healers, not killers. Instead of participating in assisted suicide, doctors should aggressively help and attend to the needs of the patient at the end of life. The patients shouldn't be abandoned."
But why does Berg, a Catholic, support legalizing assisted suicide? Her "support for the issue was strengthened after she watched her husband die after a stroke 17 years ago," said the Bee.
"THIS ISSUE JUST WON'T DIE. How many times do [Californians] have to say no before these people let go?" So said California Catholic Conference spokeswoman Carol Hogan to the November 19 Tidings of the latest attempt to pass an assisted suicide bill. But though proponents of the bill think they have a fighting chance for passage, and despite the passage in November of the embryonic stem cell research measure, Hogan and other opponents of assisted suicide say public opinion on the subject has not changed. "It is evident that both the electorate and their elected representatives have chosen a more sophisticated and compassionate response to end-of-life issues," Hogan said. "Compassion means to suffer with the dying and to make sure they get adequate care and pain management. It's a cop-out to kill and we don't believe most people want this."
Father Richard Benson, academic dean and professor of moral theology at St. John's Seminary in Camarillo, criticized the notion of assisted suicide. "Instead of attacking the disease, will we just be attacking the person with the disease?" he asked. "Will it be taken advantage of by health care companies? Instead of fighting disease, will people just be encouraged to commit suicide so as not to spend money on research to keep people alive longer?" Father Benson pointed out that whatever push for assisted suicide there is "comes from a society not good at taking care of the sick and elderly and many in the medical field that are not adept at pain control."
The California Catholic Conference has said it will fight an assisted suicide measure. It is putting together a coalition of various groups, including right to life, medical associations, labor unions, and advocacy groups for the disabled.
IN AN EFFORT TO REGAIN dissident parishes, the Episcopalian bishop of Los Angeles, the Rt. Rev. J. Jon Bruno, said he would refrain from blessing same-sex unions, said the November 24 Los Angeles Times. However, Bruno said he would not forbid his priests to do so. The bishop also suggested an international church summit, to be held in Los Angeles, which would include two African bishops who have taken the Los Angeles-area dissident Episcopalian parishes under their protection. Last August, All Saints Church in Long Beach, St. David's in North Hollywood, and St. James' in Newport Beach severed ties with the diocese of Los Angeles over Bishop Bruno's acceptance of homosexuality. Besides blessing homosexual unions, Bishop Bruno consented to the election of an openly homosexual man (who had left his wife for his male partner), the Rt. Rev. V. Gene Robinson, as bishop of New Hampshire.
The two African bishops who have received the Los Angeles churches, Archbishop Henry Luke Orombi, primate of the Anglican Church in Uganda, and Bishop Evans Kisekka of the diocese of Luweero in Uganda, however, said they would attend no summit with Bishop Bruno. "Our churches in Los Angeles came to us like children who were running away from home and we have offered them a safe place to be," they wrote to Bruno. "We will not relinquish them into a spiritually dangerous situation." Though Bruno has (sort of) apologized for his supprt for Bishop Robinson -- "I wish for you to know that I regret any confusion, hurt or offense any of my actions may have elicited in other members of our church or in the Anglican Communion," Bruno wrote -- neither the African bishops nor the dissident Southern California parishes think this enough. The bishops have called on Bruno to repent of his "participation in and promotion of unbiblical behavior and teaching."
THE FASTEST GROWING SEGMENT of the homeless population in Southern California is families, said a November 30 Los Angeles Times story. In 2003, the city of Los Angeles noted a 25 percent increase in requests from families seeking emergency shelter. It is estimated that about 34,000 family members are homeless at any given time in the Southland. The city of Long Beach counted 795 homeless families, with 2,000 children. Pasadena has claimed that about one-third of its 1,000 homeless are children. According to the Times, poverty and high housing costs drive families onto the streets.
There are not enough shelters for homeless families. According to a study by the U.S. Conference of Mayors, in Los Angeles County over half the families who seek emergency shelter are refused. When families are housed, they are often split.
A LETTER PUBLISHED in the November 6 Los Angeles Times defended two San Gabriel Valley priests whose public opposition to a Wal-Mart superstore in Rosemead elicited criticism from those who say the clergy has no right to speak on such subjects. The letter writer, Rafael Vega of North Hollywood, noted that the Church and her priests have the duty to speak out on questions of social justice. Vega quoted the bishops' 1971 World Synod that "action on behalf of justice and participation in the transformation of the world fully appear to us as a constitutive dimension of the preaching of the Gospel." In his 1981 encyclical Laborem Exercens, Pope John Paul II, too, said Vega, wrote, "the Church considers it her duty to speak out on work from the viewpoint of its human value and of the moral order to which it belongs."
"The priests who spoke out on Wal-Mart and its effect on their community were speaking faithfully in the tradition of our church," said Vega. "Those Catholics who would deny priests their voice need to carefully study the teachings of the Catholic Church. Those citizens who would deny priests participation in discussions of public issues need to rethink their understanding of the nature of American democracy."
THE 2004 ELECTION showcased Wal-Mart's interest in California. The retail behemoth not only has plans to build 40 of its supercenters (combination grocery and department stores) across the state, it has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on state campaigns and one ballot measure, Proposition 72. According to the November 6 Sacramento Bee, Wal-Mart contributed $650,000 to the no on Proposition 72 campaign. The measure, which lost by the narrow margin of 51 percent for, 49 percent against, would have required businesses with 50 or more employees to pay up to 80 percent of health care costs for their employees. However, Wal-Mart spokeswoman Cynthia Lin told the Bee that it was not for fear of health care costs that the company opposed Proposition 72, but because advertisements for the measure "tried to make this debate all about Wal-Mart." Union backers of Proposition 72 said they supported the measure to make a level playing field for union stores and stores like Wal-Mart.
Wal-Mart says it provides health care coverage for two-thirds of its full-time employees. Critics of Wal-Mart, however, have charged that the company's health coverage is inadequate; a study by the University of Berkeley said that the state spends $32 million on health care costs for Wal Mart employees to make up for this inadequate coverage. Another study said that Wal-Mart's coverage in 2002 was 30 percent less per employee than other employers. Cynthia Lin called the Berkeley study "bogus, biased."
Over the past two years, Wal-Mart has donated $153,000 to the state Republican Party, $10,000 to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and lesser amounts to other, mostly Republican, candidates.
BISHOP JAIME SOTO, an auxiliary of the Orange diocese, ordained eight St. John's Seminary, Camarillo, seminarians to the order of deacon on November 20, said the November 26 Tidings. Next spring they will be raised to the priesthood. Four of the ordinands will serve in the Los Angeles archdiocese: they are Vincent Khoa Luong Mai, Joseph Quan Nguyen, John Quy Tran, and Joseph C. Wah, Jr., all of Los Angeles. A fifth deacon for the archdiocese, Robert Garon, was ordained by his uncle, Bishop Faber McDonald, in Nova Scotia. The deacons ordained for the Orange diocese were: Edward Becker, Michael St. Paul, Danh Trinh, Paul Trinh, and Martin Nguyen. In December, five more seminarians were to be ordained deacons for the dioceses of San Diego and Tucson.
"NO ONE CAN DENY that the decline in priestly vocations represents a stark challenge for the church in the United States," said Pope John Paul II to American bishops on November 26. Twenty bishops from Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska met with the pope for the their ad limina visit. Though he made no direct reference to the clergy molestation scandal, the pope said that seminary training must inculcate in candidates for the priesthood a commitment to "holiness and spiritual wisdom." The challenge of increasing priestly vocations, said John Paul, "cannot be ignored or put off;" rather, it should be addressed by "insistent prayer" and a "program of vocational promotion which branches out to every aspect of ecclesial life." According to a November 25 Associated Press report, within a year the Holy See will conduct an investigation of United States seminaries.
CATHOLICS IN THE REVIVAL TENT. The archdiocese of Los Angeles has made an "ecumenically spirited agreement" with the organizers of the Billy Graham Crusade, said the November 12 Tidings. Those at the Crusade who, as the Tidings put it, "commit themselves to Christ" and identify themselves as Catholics on their registration form, will be referred to the archdiocese. "[Crusade organizers] want to be open to bringing people to Christ and that means Catholics as well," Father Alexei Smith, archdiocesan ecumenical and interreligious affairs office director, clarified. "They approached us and we have a marvelous agreement with them." The Greater Los Angeles Billy Graham Crusade occurred November 18-21 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. Said the Tidings, "more than 1,400 churches representing 100 denominations -- including the Catholic Church -- have participated in months of preparation."
"This is ecumenicity at its finest," said Father Alexei. "We're all working for the same goal to bring people to Christ, but there's no sheep stealing... These people are serious about evangelization, and so should we be."
Cardinal Mahony himself has held out the ecumenical hand to the Crusade. In October, he wrote archdiocesan priests saying, as the Tidings put it, "parishioners could be encouraged to attend the Crusade if they asked their priests about it." And, wrote the cardinal, "while there are some doctrinal differences in our theologies, we can certainly support Dr. Graham's core message of the need for conversion of life and the establishment of a personal relationship with Jesus." That those "doctrinal differences" lead Catholics and Protestants to understand different things by a "personal relationship with Jesus" perhaps did not occur to the cardinal.
REPUBLICANS LOVE GAYS. When members of Cal State San Bernardino's College Republicans learned that their president had posted anti-homosexual signs around the campus, they were quite upset, said a November 12 Associated Press report. Club president Ryan Sorba, besides posting signs that said homosexuals live 20 years less on average than heterosexuals and that children can be socialized into homosexuality, also "staged a boycott of the perspectives on gender class in the club's name." For these offenses, the club asked Sorba to step down as president. "I was rather upset and disturbed by it," said the club's vice-president, Scott Murphy, who added that the College Republicans' first president was homosexual. Murphy called the college president's office and the college's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Straight Alliance to apologize.
MARINES AT ANTI-WAR PROTEST. What were first identified as tanks but were later identified as Marine APCs appeared at a demonstration against the Iraq war at the Federal Building in Westwood, said an la.indymedia.org report. About 400 to 500 people showed up for the November 9 demonstration to protest the start of the U.S. attack on Fallujah. About 7.30 p.m., according to an eyewitness account, two APCs headed eastbound down Wilshire. About ten or fifteen minutes later, two APCs (presumably the same ones) again headed east down Wilshire, and stopped at a light. Protestors blocked the APCs, chanting "U.S. Out!" to the soldiers in the armed vehicles. Protestors surrounded the APCs until dispersed by police about ten minutes later. No account has been given why the armed vehicles were there.
A GREAT HERESY. A priest at St. Pius X Catholic school in Santa Fe Springs felt the wrath of parents for comments he made at morning Mass at the school on November 17, said a November 19 Associated Press story. Did the priest, the Rev. Ruben Rocha, deny the Trinity? Transubstantiation? The Virgin Birth? No. He told the kindergarten through third-grade students gathered for the Eucharist that there is no Santa Claus. He even told one child that his parents ate the cookies left out for St. Nick on Christmas Eve. Parents were outraged. "I believe they've taken some of the innocence out of her childhood, and I'm very upset," said one parent of a kindergarten-aged daughter. The parent added that the child no longer believes in Santa Claus "as an institution." Complaints elicited phoned apologies to each of the parents from the school's principal. Los Angeles archdiocesan spokesman Tod Tamberg told Associated Press that Father Rocha did not have permission to tell the children that Santa doesn't exist. "It's not his job or his role, and I know he regrets it now," said Tamberg.
Father Rocha wrote a letter of apology to the affected families.
CARDINAL MAHONY WAS DEPOSED November 23 in court cases concerning clergy abuse in three Northern California dioceses, said an Associated Press report. Lawyers for alleged victims questioned Mahony at an undisclosed location in Los Angeles. Mahony was to be questioned about former Stockton diocesan priest Oliver Francis O'Grady, who pleaded guilty to abuse in 1993. Mahony, who had been bishop of Stockton from 1980 to 1985, testified in a 1998 case against O'Grady in which two brothers were awarded $30 million, later reduced to $7.5 million, in a settlement with the diocese. Cases still pending accuse O'Grady of molesting six other children. Though, as bishop of Stockton, Mahony allegedly knew that O'Grady had been guilty of molestation, he nevertheless reassigned him to another parish after referring him to a psychiatrist, who said O'Grady "reveals a severe defect in maturation, no only in the matter of sex, but more importantly in the matter of social relationships.... Perhaps Oliver is not truly called to the priesthood." Mahony claimed that the psychiatrist in question never recommended dismissing O'Grady from the priesthood. Besides, said Mahony, "at that time, I did feel professional counselors and psychiatrists were capable of helping these people."
Cardinal Mahony was also to give testimony on two other Stockton diocesan priests accused of molestation.
DURING THE CLERGY MOLESTATION crisis, the archdiocese of Boston paid out the single greatest amount in settlements -- that is, until December 2, when the diocese of Orange settled out of court with 87 people who claim they had been abused by priests, said the December 3 Los Angeles Times. In settling out of court with alleged victims, the diocese gave up its right to challenge a state law that for one year removed the statute of limitations for claims of sexual molestation.
Though the specifics of the settlement were placed under a court gag order, sources close to the settlement talks said it would exceed the $85 million paid out by the Boston archdiocese. After reaching the settlement, Bishop Tod Brown said the Church "will be able to fairly compensate the victims in a way that allows our church to continue its ministry of service to the entire community." Diocesan officials said the settlement would not bankrupt the Church nor force it to close any parishes. The diocese's general counsel said funds for paying the settlement would come from sale of property (Marywood, the diocese's 17-acre property was mentioned), cash reserves, loans, and staff cuts. Eight insurance companies will help bear the costs of the settlement.
The Times noted that the Orange diocese settlement amount could affect the archdiocese of Los Angeles, which faces, not 87, but 500 abuse claims, by setting a per-victim dollar amount.
SENATOR BARBARA BOXER vehemently objected to a measure, tacked on to an omnibus spending bill, that makes it easier for hospitals and health providers to refuse to provide abortions or cover them, said the November 21 Oakland Tribune. The House of Representatives and the Senate passed the spending bill, with the measure, on November 20. The Republican-backed measure basically blocks any money from the $388 billion spending bill going to federal, state, or local agencies which in any way seek to penalize health providers or insurers for refusing to perform, cover, or refer for abortions. To date, healthcare providers have been required, in exchange for federal money, to at least tell pregnant women that abortion is an option.
While the current measure seems only to affect monies from the current spending bill, opponents, including Senator Boxer, see it as weakening previous federal law that favors abortion as an option. "Now any business entity can decide to tell doctors working for it they can't give information to women about their right to choose," complained Boxer. According to Boxer, Senate leaders have promised her a vote on the measure next year, though Democrats admit they probably do not have the numbers to vote it down.
CALIFORNIA STATE ATTORNEY GENERAL Bill Lockyer, in a December 8 statement called the inclusion of pro-life proviso in the federal omnibus spending bill "an unacceptable attack on women's rights and state sovereignty, and a backdoor attempt to overturn Roe vs. Wade." According to the December 9 San Francisco Chronicle, Lockyer said he would file a case in federal court to block the federal law. The measure could jeopardize California's federal funding under the bill, since California requires hospitals that do not do elective abortions to perform abortions where the life of the mother is in danger.
SEVERAL LOS ANGELES ARCHDIOCESAN schools have implemented a program to help students with learning disabilities, said a November 8 Catholic News Service story. The teachers promoting these programs want to show that Catholic schools do have the resources to help students with special needs. Ninety-three archdiocesan schools have implemented "student success teams" which allow students with mild to moderate learning problems work with non-disabled peers. Merritt Hemenway, principal of Bishop Amat High School in La Puente, established (with the encouragement of retired bishop Norman McFarland) a program to help learning-disabled students at Santa Margarita High School in Rancho Santa Margarita in the diocese of Orange in 1995. Hemenway is establishing a similar project at Bishop Amat.
Meanwhile, religious leaders, including Sister Patricia Supple, have for years been petitioning Congress to revise the 1997 Individuals with Disabilities Education Act Amendments. Sister Patricia, who heads the archdiocese's federal and state programs, told Catholic News Service that "Congress never fully funded" the act. By the act federal money was to fund 40 percent of the costs for special education, but schools only get eight percent -- out of which private schools get their funding. A new version of the act is now before Congress; Sister Patricia and other Catholic educators are "pushing hard," according to Catholic News Service, for increased funding.