On The Street
Where You Live
By Tom Burke
This Sunday, September 5th at 4 p.m., it’s tunes and thanks
as Father Paul Perry plays a dedicatory concert on the new Allen organ at St.
Anthony of Padua Parish in North Fair Oaks, San Mateo County. The most generous
benefactors are Shirley and Al Schwoerer of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Parish in
neighboring Redwood City. Al who grew up in St. Anthony’s and recalls “many
happy memories there,” donated the $32,000 instrument in memory of his now
deceased parents Margaret and Richard. “We are most grateful to Al and Shirley
for this wonderful gift,” said pastor, Father Jim Garcia on behalf of himself
and the St. Anthony’s parish family. Holding forth on the new organ in
subsequent weeks at parish Masses are Larry Martin, who has played at the
parish for 40 years and Javier Pacheco. Father Perry, who serves at St.
Sebastian Parish in Greenbrae is a popular and well-known musician among his
brother priests and the faithful…. It was the best of sending offs for Amanda
Galli from All Souls Elementary to Mercy High School, Burlingame and Kevin
Castech from St. Veronica Elementary to Junipero Serra High School. Proud folks
are Mary and John Castech and Tina and Todd Galli, whose family owns the famed
Galli Bakery of South San Francisco that produced the two cakes honoring the
new grads. Sibs of the secondary school-bound duo are Andrew Galli, an All
Souls 8th grader and Jessica Castech, a 7th grader at St. Veronica’s. Also in
line to offer congrats were grandfolks Marilyn and Amby Galli of All Souls,
Martha and Paul Castech of St. Cecilia’s and Bernadette and Joe DeLuca also of
All Souls and who sent in the good news. The DeLucas celebrated their 41st
wedding anniversary May 25th. …Speaking of sending-offs, how about looking-backs?
A grade-school reunion for my class of ’65 is in the works for next summer.
Rounding up classmates will be a chore but much easier methinks thanks to the
Web site developed by a fellow St. Joe’s alum. Should you be in the throes of
raising folks from the past and have someone on board to build even a primitive
Web site, please go for it. It’s been a great assist to us. Should ya’ want
a peek, go to http://stjoes65.homestead.com….It was fond
farewells at St. Paul’s for Mary Tan who has retired after 14 years as pastoral
associate at the Noe Valley parish. “We wish Mary joy and happiness in the
years to come,” said pastor, Father Mario Farana. “She always has a home at St.
Paul’s.” Mary is also a former “new digs” colleague having previously served in
the Religious Education office of the Archdiocese. Her proposed roster of
retirement activities includes a trip to the Philippines and “more Giants and
49ers games.”…Hats off to Ed Callanan, who attended St. Paul Elementary and
recently retired after 50 years with the California Department of Industrial
Relations. Ed and his wife Peggy – longtime members of St. Brendan Parish -
celebrated their 37th wedding anniversary April 8th. “I have plenty to do in
retirement,” Ed told me noting he’ll be busy helping at the parish as well as
with organizations including the Presidio Trust, the Young Men’s Institute and
the Hibernians. Ed’s sister is former San Francisco Treasurer, Mary
Callanan….Celebrating his 70th birthday among friends and fans at the St.
Anthony Foundation July 28th was Franciscan Father Floyd Lotito, the forever –
at least some 40 years worth – ambassador of the lauded agency. The priest
brought meals on Sunday to the dining room in 1981 and two years later
additional services for the poor and homeless including a laundry and
barbershop. Father Floyd entered the Franciscans July 12, 1953 and was ordained
December 17, 1960. “I’ve spent more than half my life at St. Anthony’s and I’m
honored to share this special day with our guests in St. Anthony Dining Room,”
he said….It only takes a moment to let us know about a birthday, anniversary,
special achievement, or special happening in your life. Just jot down the
basics and send with a follow-up phone number to
On the Street Where You Live, One Peter Yorke Way, SF 94109.
You can also fax to (415) 614-5633 or e-mail, do not send attachments, to tburke@catholic-sf.org.
LOCAL NEWS IN BRIEF
New principals 2004–05
Jay Buckley
San Domenico Middle School, San Anselmo
Mr. Buckley has been teacher, administrator and coach at the
elementary through college levels during his 25 years as an educator. “I am
thrilled to be part of the administrative team,” Mr. Buckley, who will also
teach Science at the San Anselmo school, said. “I look forward to getting to
know each of the students.” His outside interests include reading, swimming and
running. “His focus on curriculum, understanding of the needs of
middle-schoolers, and his great sense of humor will make him a definite asset
at San Domenico,” said Mathew Heersche, San Domenico Schools’ director.
Angela Taylor
Stuart Hall for Boys Elementary School
An administrator at Stuart Hall since 2000, Ms. Taylor said
she’s wanted to be a teacher since she was six years old. She especially likes
the interest of Stuart Hall faculty and staff in the welfare of students.
“That’s why I felt like I fit in here,” she said. “The reason I became an
administrator is because I love children and I felt if I had a positive impact
on their teachers, I would be able to have more of an impact on them,” the New
Orleans-born educator said. She has previously served in schools in Oakland and
Boston.
Ken Hogarty, Ed.D.
Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory School
Dr. Hogarty, a 1966 alumnus of Sacred Heart High School –
now Sacred Heart Cathedral - has taught at his alma mater since 1971. He calls
teaching his “first source of joy” but has additionally served as department
chair, program director, counselor and vice-principal. “We’ve always been
fortunate in the students who have chosen to attend this school. This year’s
student body will be no exception. I know, too, the time and effort many people
in our community invest even beyond the classroom to make this a rich
experience for the students. I hope, this year, I can make my mentors and
advocates over the years proud. I know it’s an interim appointment but I’ve
never been one to just keep a seat warm.”
Gabriel A. Crotti
Archbishop Riordan High School
Born in Italy, Mr. Crotti moved with his family to San
Francisco’s North Beach in 1953. He is a graduate of Noe Valley’s St. Paul
Elementary School and today holds a graduate degree in counseling. He has been
an educator for 35 years, 32 of them at Archbishop Riordan. “I love guiding and
educating – it’s truly a calling. We have a great school – one of the best kept
secrets in San Francisco and I want to let people know about us.” Mr. Crotti
serves as the school’s principal for academics. Marianist Father Tom French
serves as principal for fiscal affairs.
Bill Hambleton
St. Dunstan Elementary School, Millbrae
Mr. Hambleton was born in Southern California and grew up in
Utah, later earning undergraduate degrees in Philosophy and Theology at schools
in Ohio and Rome. He has taught Theology at a Catholic high school in Salt Lake
City as well as directed a campus ministry program at an overseas site. He is
currently completing a post-graduate degree at the University of San Francisco
in the area of Catholic Educational Leadership. His outside interests include
skiing and jogging.
Sister Chris Maggi, DC
Visitacion Elementary School
Daughter of Charity Sister Chris Maggi is a San Francisco
native who entered religious life after earning an undergraduate degree in
Biology at the University of San Francisco. She later completed a graduate
degree in Private School Administration at USF. She has formerly taught at
elementary schools including Visitacion and has also served as principal at an
elementary school in Los Angeles. She is returning to school administration after
four years in the service of her congregation as Provincial Secretary.
Debbie Bell
St. Charles Elementary School, San Carlos
Ms. Bell moved to the Bay Area from Memphis where she has
previously served as a teacher, vice-principal and principal at that city’s St.
Ann school. “I am dedicated to Catholic education and I look forward to
continuing my ministry at St. Charles,” she said. “I feel blessed to be part of
such a welcoming community.”
Sister Mary Susanna Vasquez, OP
St. James Elementary School
Dominican Sister Mary Susanna is a graduate of St. Anthony –
now St Anthony Immaculate Conception – elementary school as well as Immaculate
Conception Academy, a hallmark of the Dominican Sisters of Mission San Jose
since its founding in 1883. “I am beginning my thirtieth year in Catholic
education,” she said “I love San Francisco and it is good to be back home in
the Mission.”
Yvonne Olcomendy
St. Robert Elementary School, San Bruno
A graduate of the City’s St. Brendan Elementary School and
Mercy High School, Ms. Olcomendy holds an undergraduate degree from Santa Clara
University, a teaching credential from San Francisco State and a graduate
degree from Notre Dame de Namur University in Belmont. She is the “proud
mother” of a son, Joey. “I am looking forward to serving the St. Robert’s
parish community this year as principal,” Ms. Olcomendy said.
Martin Young
Marin Catholic High School
Mr. Young has more than 30 years experience as an educator
and is a former principal of Santa Clara High School in Southern California. He
holds a graduate degree in education from Chapman University.
Marilyn Porto
St. Rita Elementary School, Fairfax
Ms. Porto attended San Francisco’s St. Cecilia Elementary
School. “My grammar school education provided a foundation based upon faith and
tradition, which was instilled and practiced by my parents, school and parish
community,” she said. After graduation from Mercy High School, San Francisco
she attended San Francisco State University where she earned a California
teaching credential. She served as teacher and administrator at St. Hilary
Elementary School in Tiburon for 16 years. About her new role at St. Rita’s,
she says, “I was thrilled to be offered the position.”
Women Religious – New Sister and new leadership
Mercy Sister Sherry Dolan professed final vows Aug. 8, 2004
in rites at the congregation’s Motherhouse Chapel in Burlingame. Presiding was
Mercy Sister Mary Waskowiak, president of the Sisters’ Burlingame Region.
Jesuit Father Donal Godfrey, celebrated Mass. Mercy Sister Suzanne Toolan and
Dan Schutte – composers of pieces including I Am the Bread of Life and Here I
am Lord – shared the song leading. Sister Sherry, who grew up in the Oakland
Diocese, is manager of a Resident Ministry and faith formation program at the
University of San Francisco and became familiar with the Sisters of Mercy while
employed as a Human Resources director at a Bakersfield hospital.
Notre Dame Sisters
The new Leadership Team of the Sisters of Notre Dame de
Namur began five-year terms Aug. 1, 2004. The congregation marked its 200th
year in 2004 with celebrations that included special rites on Feb. 2, 2004 –
the anniversary of its founding by St. Julie Billiart in France – and
international closing ceremonies July 31, 2004 in Belgium. The new leadership
team pictured at right are Sister Louise O’Reilly, SNDdeN, Sister Kathryn
Keenan, SNDdeN, and Sister Theresa Linehan, SNDdeN. Outgoing officers are
Sister Mary Laxaque, SNDdeN, Sister Nancy O’Shea, SNDdeN, and Sister Virginia
Unger, SNDdeN. The Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur are a community of nearly
2,000 Sisters around the world with140 Sisters in the California Province. The
congregation sponsors Notre Dame de Namur University and Notre Dame elementary
and high schools in Belmont. Sisters also serve in Archdiocesan schools,
parishes and community education programs.
Catholic Radio Hour Week of September 6 – 10
Weeknights at 7:30 p.m. – KTVO 1400 AM Radio Pray the Rosary –
hosted by Fr. Tom Daly- One half-hour of prayers, reflections and music
Monday: Joyful
Mysteries of the Rosary; Lives of the Saints; Sunday Soundbite.
Tuesday: Sorrowful
Mysteries of the Rosary; Catholic Book Publishers Bestsellers.
Wednesday: Glorious Mysteries of the Rosary;
Minute Meditation; Modern Physics and Ancient Faith.
Thursday: Luminous
Mysteries of the Rosary; Devotions
Friday: Sorrowful
Mysteries of the Rosary; Office of Film and Broadcasting.
Catholic Radio Hour is a production of the Archdiocese of
San Francisco. It is brought to you in part thanks to your generous
contribution to the Catholic Communications Campaign. Please be generous when
asked to give at your parish.
Prayers requests are welcome. You can help keep the rosary
on the air by sending a donation to Catholic Radio Hour, One Peter Yorke Way,
San Francisco, CA 94109.
Ministry goals and strategies presented in update of Archdiocesan Pastoral
Plan
By Jack Smith
The result of a three-year review and revision of the 1995
Archdiocesan Pastoral Plan is now being distributed to parish councils in the Archdiocese
of San Francisco.
The original pastoral plan, “A Journey of Hope Toward the
New Millennium,” was developed during the tenure of former San Francisco
Archbishop John R. Quinn and confirmed and promulgated by Archbishop William J.
Levada.
In the Jubilee Year 2000, Archbishop Levada appointed an
Archdiocesan Pastoral Council (APC) and set as its first priority a review and
evaluation of the 1995 Pastoral Plan.
The membership of diocesan pastoral councils is spelled out
by Canon Law and “having one is highly recommended,” said Presentation Sister
Antonio Heaphy, director of the Department of Pastoral Ministry for the
Archdiocese. Archbishop Levada has also mandated that each parish have a
pastoral council, she said.
The APC is composed of about 40 members including lay
representatives from each of the deaneries, ethnic community representatives,
and members representing deacons, the Archdiocesan Council of Priests,
Religious women and religious order priests.
“It’s a pretty good representative cross-section of the
Archdiocese,” Sister Antonio said. About one third of the membership rotates
each year, so several dozen people have been involved in the three year review
of the pastoral plan.
The goal of reviewing the plan was not to invent anything
new, Sister Antonio said, but to discover how well the original plan had been
implemented and to prioritize its goals. “The original plan was a wonderful
plan, but nobody monitored it,” Sister Antonio said. “Some of the APC members
hadn’t even heard about it,” she said.
That goal is shared by St. Matthias parishioner Jim
Brunsmann who served as Secretary of the Council through two years of its work.
“The committee hopes to keep the original plan alive and get the parishes to
look at it,” he said. Brunsmann’s strategy for accomplishing that was very
practical, he said. “My focus was looking toward what can the Archdiocese feed
down to the local level that the parishes can work with and actually
implement.”
In his introduction to the APC’s report called, “Review of the
Implementation of the Pastoral Plan and Recommendations for Future Actions,”
Archbishop Levada said, “It analyzes what has been accomplished thus far, and
makes recommendations about ongoing pastoral goals in the light of today’s
needs in the Archdiocese and the universal Church.”
Archbishop Levada, as president of the APC said he hopes
“the document can be a vehicle to enhance effective communication between
Pastoral Councils at the Parish and Archdiocesan levels, and in this way be
helpful to the ongoing process of good pastoral planning so important to the
vitality of our local Church.”
While the report makes numerous specific recommendations,
the core of its purpose is to focus and better prepare the local church for its
primary role of evangelization, Sister Antonio said. That purpose is drawn from
the Church’s “call to transform society with the Gospel message of Jesus
Christ,” according to the report. “The Jubilee Year’s proclamation ‘Open Wide
the Doors to Christ’ is an even more urgent cry today,” the report says, “. .
.Because of the pervasive secular culture of the Bay Area, this renewal of our
commitment to be in communion with Jesus Christ is now most critical.”
The main portion of the report is dedicated to prioritizing
the ministry goals of the Archdiocese. The report lists seven goals “that will
require the focus of resources, time and creativity,” and suggests strategies
to accomplish those goals.
Many of the goals in the plan focus on the preparation of
the laity to take on their role as evangelizers. “If they don’t know the faith,
how can they pass it on,” Sister Antonio said. “All segments of the Church have
come to the realization that people need a better formation in the faith – for
the adults’ own spiritual development and so they can pass it on to their
kids,” she said.
One goal touching upon that aspect is strengthening the role
of the family as the agent for passing on the faith. “The role of the family as
the primary educators of children in ways of faith . . . must be expanded beyond
the sphere of Catholic elementary schools into total parish life,” the report
says. Part of that must be accomplished by assisting parents in their own
“on-going conversion and formation in the faith.”
Another goal centers on educating parishioners about the
basic social teachings of the Church. “Raising the level of awareness of the
Church’s social teachings throughout all levels of society will make witnessing
to the world a more effective experience,” the report says.
“The area that most excites me is social justice,” Brunsmann
said. That is in part because he believes it can be successfully and concretely
implemented. “I think you can easily get the parishes involved and excited
about that,” he said.
Beyond identifying specific priority goals, the APC also
spent nearly two years reviewing the successes and failures in implementing the
original plan. It identified provisions of the original plan which have been
successful, those which need more work, and those which should be “dropped from
concern.”
In preparation for this review, every office of the
Archdiocese presented the APC a report on what had or hadn’t been done, Sister
Antonio said. In addition, the members brought their own experience “of what is
happening in the parishes,” with regard to the implementation of the plan, she
said.
Pastoral plan provisions deemed successfully or moderately
implemented include the focus and coordination of sacramental preparation
programs and the incorporation of young adults into parish life.
Provisions requiring further progress include the promotion
of Scripture study and faith sharing in all parishes and better fostering
opportunities and hospitality for Catholics willing to re-identify with the
Church. The report also said “the funding of the Catholic School system needs
to be studied . . . in order to move toward a more equitable and secure
future.”
Provisions dropped from concern over the last ten years
since the promulgation of the original plan include creating youth councils in
parishes and identifying specific parishes as youth centers. Provisions of the
original plan were dropped either because they were not practical or “because
the need was being served by some other means,” Brunsmann said.
Copies of the report were mailed to parishes at the end of
August. All pastors, pastoral staff members of parishes and all parish council
members will receive a copy of the report to study. Sister Antonio, who also
heads the Archdiocesan Office of Evangelization, has organized nine parish
pastoral council workshops throughout the archdiocese to be held in October and
November. The sessions are two and a half hours and will help parish council
members become familiar with the intent of the report in an informative and
interactive way.
“The diocese has a vision, and the parishes need to be
working together on that vision,” Sister Antonio said.
Jim Brunsmann “is looking forward to see how the parishes
embrace the report in the sessions,” he said. “We need to open the avenues more
between the parish pastoral councils and the Archdiocesan Pastoral Council.”
CURRENT ARCHDIOCESAN
PASTORAL COUNCIL MEMBERS
President:
Archbishop William J. Levada, Archbishop of San Francisco.
Pastoral Center Representatives
Bishop John C. Wester; Bishop Ignatius C. Wang; Monsignor
Harry Schlitt – Vicar for Administration and Moderator of the Curia; Monsignor
Jose Rodriguez – Vicar for Spainsh Speaking; Sister M. Antonio Heaphy, PBVM –
Director of Pastoral Ministry (Member, Executive Committee); Maureen Huntington
– Superintendent of Catholic Schools.
Dean Representatives
Monsignor Fred Bitanga – San Francisco County, Pastor of St.
Patrick Church. Reverend Michael Keane – Marin County, Pastor of St. Isabella
Church.
San Mateo County to be filled.
Ethnic Communities Representatives
Francis Jhung – Korean Community; Aulola Lavulo – Tongan
Community (Secretary); Elizabeth Law – Burmese Community; Nellie Hizon –
Filippino Community; Lorraine Vallejo – Croatian Community; Nelly Salem – Arab
Palestinian Community.
Deanery Representatives
Mary Ann Bouey – Deanery 1; Mario Vierneza – Deanery 2; Roz
Gallo – Deanery 3; Simon Tsui – Deanery 4; Elsie Foley – Deanery 5; Roseanne
Baron – Deanery 6; Terry Murphy – Deanery 7; Glenen Grivas – Deanery 9; May
Lyau – Deanery 10; George Schoenstein – Deanery 11.
Other Representatives
Doris Munstermann – Ecumenical/Inter-religious
Representative (Vice Chair); Dr. Anthony Ramirez – Catholic School Board of
Education Representative; Brian Cahill – Executive Director of Catholic
Charities/ CYO; Reverend Piers Lahey – Council of Priests Representative;
Deacon Bernie O’Halloran – Liturgical Commission Representative; Reverend Louis
Vitale, OFM – Community of Men Religious Representative; Sister Anne Bertain,
OP – Community of Women Religious Representative; Deacon William Mitchell –
Diaconate Representative (Chair).
Executive Secretary: Mary Ellen Hoffman
Review of original Pastoral Plan provisions
Actions of the Pastoral Plan that were deemed
successfully or moderately implemented
• Sacramental
preparation programs are focused and well-coordinated.
• Youth
and young adults volunteer their time to services of mercy and justice.
• Young
adults are incorporated into the life of the parish.
• Support
for the Archbishop John R. Quinn Social Justice Colloquium is strong.
• Family
and personal counseling is being implemented through Catholic Charities.
Actions of the pastoral plan that are still in progress
and where implementation needs to continue
• Catholic
Schools Strategic plan needs to be funded to be fully implemented,
especially
in marketing our schools to those who have not been previously
reached
and to newly arrived populations. The funding of the Catholic
School
system needs to be studied and recommendations given, in order to
move
toward a more equitable and secure future.
• The
promotion of Scripture study and faith sharing are not consistent from
parish
to parish. More has to be done to enable the parishes to provide
effective
and systematic adult faith formation.
• Those
parishes which did utilize the RENEW process need to be supported in
their
continued efforts at small faith communities.
• The
personnel and financial resources for faith formation of children and
families
in parishes and Catholic Schools need to be enhanced.
• A
team to provide prayer opportunities and hospitality for Catholics willing to
re-identify
with the Church needs to be established in every parish.
• Candidates
for the Diaconate need to be continually identified, assessed and formed.
Areas that dropped from concern over ten years
• Youth
Councils in parishes
• Parishes
identified as Youth Centers
• School
endowments at every parish
Seven goals for the future of the ministry in the
Archdiocese
Following are the seven goals identified by the Archdiocesan
Pastoral Council toward which the Council requests a “focus of resources, time
and creativity.” They are listed in order of priority and include selected
strategies for their implementation:
1. Collaboration
with and empowerment of the
laity
in the mission and ministry of the Church
„ Provide
educational programs at the parish, deanery
and
archdiocesan levels on collaboration and
cooperation
between clergy and laity;
„ Establish
avenues for informing and updating the
laity
on the Church’s teaching, using official Vatican
and
USCCB Documents;
„ Empower
parishioners to take an active role in the
various
ministries of the parish, reaching out to old
and
young alike;
„ Utilize
the services of the School of Pastoral
Leadership
(SPL) in empowering, educating and
preparing
the laity for roles of ministry in the parish.
Expand
the curriculum to include diaconate formation,
more
adult education programs, and lay ministry
formation.
2. Vital,
reverent liturgies with homilies that
bridge
the gospel and everyday life for
parishioners
„ Provide
assistance and training to new and existing
liturgy
committees;
„ Empower
parishioners to take an active role in the
appropriate
liturgical parish ministries and provide
them
with the necessary training;
„ Develop
a professional interactive training program
in
homiletics for priests and deacons; (Vicar for Clergy)
„ Promote
the use of the forthcoming Sacramentary
with
liturgy committees and parish leadership.
3. Laity
who know Catholic social teachings and
put
these principles into action in all areas of
their
lives
„ Establish
a social justice outreach in each parish
that
works for justice, life and social change;
„ Make
available, in the parish, educational
programs
on Catholic Social Teaching;
„ Encourage
parishioners to become involved in
community
social action, e.g., by providing
opportunities
for training of laity in Faithful
Citizenship.
(c.f. USCCB Document, Faithful
Citizenship
1999.)
4. Better
communication of the Church’s mission
and
ministry within our local church
„ Develop
a forum through which the laity can express
their
views and engage in open dialogue;
„ Enhance
communication between the Archdiocesan
Pastoral
Council and the local parish pastoral
councils;
(APC)
„ Motivate
parishioners to become familiar with
archdiocesan
avenues of communication, i.e.,
Catholic
San Francisco and the archdiocesan
website;
„ Develop
a process which ensures that information
is
current and accurate on the archdiocesan
website
and that a means will be provided to
accept
feedback on the web. (Office of
Communications)
5. Strengthening
the role of the family as the
intergenerational
agent for the transferance
of
the faith
„ Assist
parents to recognize their role as the primary
educators
in the faith development of their
children;
„ Assist
parents in their on-going conversion
and
formation in the faith; (c.f. Document:
Partners
in Faith: Parish, School and
Family
- Archdiocese of San Francisco,
June
2000)
„ Develop
a resource or referral service for families
or
individuals who have specialized needs and
post
information on available websites;
6 Enhancement
of ethnic ministries to foster
evangelization
and faith formation among
various
peoples and call forth ecumenical and
inter-religious
dialogue
„ Encourage
an environment that fosters the
celebration
of ethnic diversity while at the same time
nourishes
parish unity;
„ Assess
the demographics of the parish in order
to
anticipate the emerging needs of new
parishioners;
„ Identify
a parish resource that would advocate for the
ecumenical
life of the parish;
„ Address
evangelization as a specific focus as
indicated
in Section III of this document: - Areas Of
Concern
Identified by the Archdiocesan Pastoral
Council.
7 Awakening
parish communites to their role
in
fostering vocations to the priesthood and
religious
life
„ Provide
opportunities to educate the parish
community
on religious life and priesthood;
„ Emphasize
prayer for vocations in the parish and in
families;
„ Use
Catholic and secular media to promote
vocations;
„ Establish
parish vocation committees.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
They still come
I was very touched by Terry Fenwick’s conversion story in
Catholic San Francisco. (Letters – Aug. 27) The present time with all the
scandals is perhaps not the easiest time to join the Catholic Church. On the
other hand, it is presumptuous to think that the Holy Ghost is shackled or
constrained by human sin.
As a parishioner at the Cathedral, I say “welcome” to Terry
and her husband. We are honored to join them on their pilgrim journey.
David R. Dion-San Francisco
Voting for hubby
I hope Therese J Borchard (Guest Commentary – Aug. 27) will
take some responsibility for her (and our) future, and that she will not write
in her husband’s name on the presidential ballot this November. Ms. Borchard’s
husband may be a wonderful guy, and he may even meet all the criteria in her
wish list for a U.S. President. But everybody has a different wish list, and in
our representative democracy, all of the wish lists get thrown in together as
we vote in primaries, participate in political events, make contributions of
time and money, and, ultimately, vote in the general election. As imperfect as
the process is (and as imperfect as the candidates are) the outcome will be
even worse if good people like Ms. Borchard and the readers of Catholic San
Francisco, opt out of the process. Ms. Borchard should summon in herself the
very virtues she seeks in a president, particularly the part about “wrestling
with the tough questions.”
Choosing among imperfect alternatives is a prime example of
the kind of tough question we expect our presidents to handle as part of the
job. Won’t she do her job? Writing in Hubby, or dropping out all together, does
not promote what she says a president ought to be looking out for — the common
good for the country. I hope no reader of Catholic San Francisco will follow
her example.
Stephen St. Marie - San Francisco
Strange sensibility
The guest commentary, “Looking for a Candidate” by Therese
J. Borchard is more of a comedy piece. She wants a Catholic President with the
faith sensibilities of John Kerry. How sensitive is he to the teachings of the
Catholic Church? He opposes the most important principle of our church, the
right to life. Health care, economic security and jobs are meaningless to the
4,000 babies a day that were not given their God given right to life. He even
voted to oppose the ban on partial birth abortions that cause suffering to the
unborn as they are pulled apart and removed from their mothers womb in the
second and third trimesters of a pregnancy. How sensitive is that?
If Therese Borchard applauds Kerry for not being afraid to
vote for abortions and stem cell research (I assume she means embryonic stem)
then I am pleased that she is voting for her husband and not the Democratic
candidate.
Claire P. Rogus-San Mateo
Kill, don’t kill?
I was shocked by two recent politically biased articles:
“Knights of Columbus hear Bush, approve resolutions at convention” on Aug 13,
and “What Happened to the Boston Democrats?” on Aug 27. It is certainly good
for us to be informed on the position of our candidates. However, these points
should not let us forget a major issue that should, by far, be the center of
our decision to vote for Bush or Kerry in November. We have killed and continue
to kill thousands of innocent men, women, and children, and ruin the lives of
millions of Iraqis based on either false or incomplete information. This has
triggered a worldwide hate of our country, and may be the risk of a new
worldwide war. Our president in office bears the full responsibility of this
act. This alone should make us decide if we should give him another chance or
place another man in the highest office of the land.
I understand the opposition to abortion that is promoted
through the many articles. Privately, my wife and I are opposed to it, as are
Kerry and Bush. What I object to, is to present public positions as pro and
against abortion or, even stronger, pro or against life. This is a
fundamentalist position that calls for confrontation. As Christians, instead of
being divided and fighting to the point of even killing a doctor who performs
abortions, we should look at the common beliefs that we have on this issue, and
work from there. As Christians, we agree that we should not kill either an
innocent adult or an innocent baby. We also agree that we have free will and
should respect the free will of others, even if we see its exercise as a sin.
God lets us sin. This is our free choice. Why should we deny it to others? The
only unresolved question is to know at what point there is a human being in the
womb of a woman. To have a human being, we need a life vehicle supplied by the
parents. But we also need a God-given soul. When God grants a soul is the
question which divides “pro-life” and “pro-choice” advocates. Certainly science
today doesn’t have the answer. I do not know of any instrument that can detect
the soul. God is the only one who truly has the answer.
Bernard Bouyssounouse-Novato
Photo bias
An important election is fast approaching. We will soon
decide which way our country will be going for the next four years. Recently we
have been receiving messages from leaders of the Catholic Church that
politicians running for office can’t be both Catholic and pro-abortion.
For this reason, I was very surprised to see the very nice
picture of John Kerry and John Edwards on page four of the July 30 Catholic San
Francisco with no comments pro or con about how they stand on any issues. It
appears that you have endorsed gentlemen who would not support human life at
home, in the courts, or at the United Nations.
How will Christianity survive this kind of leadership? How
will our society survive? A picture is worth a thousand words.
Gloria Gillogley-Acosta-San Mateo
SCRIPTURE COMMENTARY
Shaking us up
By Father Gerry O’Rourke
On this secular holiday weekend Labor Day 2004, I must
confess that I was looking forward to a nice set of easygoing, laid back, end
of the summer, soothing.
Readings for the 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time! Imagine my
rude awakening by the time I got to the gospel reading from Luke’s Gospel. By
that time I was really jolted out of my complacent dreaming and longing.
The first Reading is from the Book of Wisdom. It is a piece,
if the truth be known, that calls me on my arrogant acts of ignoring and
forgetting about the “Magnificence” of God as our Counselor, as the incorruptible
One in this current age of massive corruptibility and as the dispenser of
wisdom in this time of confusion and limited vision.
I truly needed to be reminded once again of my limitations,
without the gift of the “Holy Spirit on high.” Once again I had to be reminded
that all of us need the “Holy Spirit of God” to show us the “path” and to be
our “Refuge” in our lives. Yes, we do need the “gracious care of God “ to
“prosper our work” whatever that work may be on this Labor Day 2004!
The Second Reading is about a slave, Onesimus, who came to
St. Paul for refuge and then became a Christian. Philemon was a friend of Paul,
a leader in his local church and the owner of Onesimus.
This was the era of the Roman Empire. The Romans were the
most dominant people in the world and they literally built their empire on the
backs of a huge and monstrous slave system at all levels of society. Slaves
were laborers, servants, technologists, teachers, financial experts, etc. and
without human rights or freedoms. Slavery was totally at odds with the message
of Jesus Christ.
Yet, slavery existed everywhere and was accepted everywhere
over most of the history of the human race. It still emerges in different forms
in our world today, especially in the deadly sexual trading and bondage of
young people.
However, slavery is universally condemned in our world
today. Thank God for the great “Universal Declaration of Human Rights” which
was unanimously passed by the United Nations Assembly on December 10, 1948. It
is totally appropriate that we be reminded, on this Labor Day weekend, of the
“Universal Declaration of Human Rights.” In this context it is good for us to
hear the plea of St. Paul for the release of a slave about 2000 years ago in
the name of the same Christian Faith that Paul, Onesimus, Philemon and you and
I share today! By the way, tradition tells us that Onesimus was released and
became a Bishop in Ephesus later on!
Remember the rude awakening and the jolting I referred to in
the first paragraph! It really came alive for me in the Gospel Reading. It is
about Jesus talking tough to us: shaking us up, awakening us up! It is a tough,
all out, no nonsense assault on any complacency or mediocrity that may be
lurking in our daily lives. Jesus challenges us to commit wholeheartedly to his
call to love and serve the will of God without reservations or excuses.
He does not want us to use our relationships, especially our
close ones, to back off from, to exonerate ourselves, to minimize or to
trivialize our commitment to God.
From time to time Jesus uses startling language to get our
attention like a Prophet or Poet. It is a literary device that he uses in this
passage to shake us up especially from using our family or loved ones to
release us from our obligation to love God and love our neighbor!
Jesus also challenges us to carry our “own cross” and
“follow” him. This is a challenge, I confess, that I have wrestled with and
resisted without success for ages. Thank God, my listening to these words of
Jesus has shifted. I now hear them as an invitation to be open, a call to
embrace the ”cross” whatever it may be. This takes away the hard labor and the
slavish attitudes that you and I may have about living our lives as Christians.
It may also get us back in touch with and experience the comfort
and the reassurance in the words of Jesus to us all; “Come to me all you who
are weary, troubled and overburdened and I will refresh you and give you rest”
– (Matt 11:28-30)
May our holiday weekend be a time to heal our weariness, to
lighten our burdens, to give rest to our tiredness, to expel our boredom and to
renew our spirit for the work ahead.
Father Gerard O’Rourke is Director Emeritus of the Office of
Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs for the Archdiocese of San Francisco.
Guest Commentary
A Catholic perspective on free trade
By Father Kenneth M. Weare
In their far-reaching pastoral letter, Economic Justice for
All, the U.S. Catholic bishops offered a visionary and prophetic perspective on
the global economy. They taught that “every economic decision and institution
must be judged in light of whether it protects or undermines the dignity of the
human person.”
Moral assessment
In articulating this Christian vision of economic life, the
bishops referred to the Second Vatican Council’s seminal document, Gaudium et
Spes (the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World), and Pope
John XXIII’s encyclical, Mater et Magistra: “The dignity of the human person,
realized in community with others, is the criterion against which all aspects of
economic life must be measured.”
Expressed in a more explicit way, the bishops, at the very
outset of their pastoral letter, stated flatly: “Every perspective on economic
life that is human, moral, and Christian must be shaped by three questions:
What does the economy do for people? What does the economy do to people? And
how do people participate in it?”
In nearly two decades since its promulgation, the moral
insight and wisdom of the Catholic bishop’s economic analysis and ethical
evaluation have not been well heeded by the market players from government and
business alike. In direct contrast to Catholic teaching, from the Americas to
Asia and around the world, the gap between rich and poor has escalated
steadily. Women and children continue to be exploited. Rainforests disappear.
Fish stocks are depleted. Natural resources are ravaged. Environmental
pollution abounds. And, the dignity of God’s people is defamed on every side by
neo-liberalism’s economic flagellation.
Constituent to globalization are the so-called “free trade”
agreements. “If allowed to take root, [the proposed Free Trade Areas of the
Americas (FTAA) agreement] threatens to make more extreme the poverty,
injustices, and inequalities that we suffer in our countryside and our cities,
and to subordinate our nations once and for all to the interests of the U.S.
corporations.” This was the conclusion of an international conference on free
trade held in Havana earlier this year, which drew more than 1,200 participants
from three-dozen countries in North, Central, and Latin America.
Conference participants included not only scholars in
theology, economics, political science, engineering, and other professions, but
also politicians, environmentalists, labor leaders, elected officials, Church
workers, health workers, and others. Most significant were representatives from
the working classes and the poor themselves including the working poor,
indigenous peoples, farm workers, factory workers, the underemployed, and the
jobless. Their multitude of personal stories and individual testimonies
provided firsthand witness to the daily lived experience of millions. The
subsequent socio-political and economic analysis and moral evaluation produced
a very important critical assessment of the proposed FTAA.
Critique of free trade agreements
One of the strongest criticisms of the proposed FTAA is that
it has been constructed without the participation of the people who will be
most affected by it. It was written by corporate attorneys without public
knowledge or input. Like the ten-year old North America Free Trade Agreement
(NAFTA), the proposed FTAA clearly favors corporate profits above and beyond
the social needs and human rights of citizens and irrespective of a sustainable
environment.
As Nobel laureate and former World Bank Vice President
Joseph Stiglitz recently warned, “Economic policy is today perhaps the most
important part of America’s interactions with the rest of the world. And yet
the culture of international economic policy in the world’s most powerful
democracy is not democratic.”
The free trade agreements also transcend democratic
legislation. The less than analytical U.S. media typically confines the debate
over free trade to the sole issue of tariff reduction. Officially the free
trade goal is “to lower tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade and
investment.” Thus, local laws that protect the quality of water, require just
wages for employees, give preference to wood harvested in an environmentally
sustainable way, or protect domestic jobs, can be judged as “state
interference,” and can be struck down as a non-tariff barrier.
NAFTA’s Chapter 11 section on investment specifically
accords private investors and corporations the right to challenge
environmental, worker safety, and health regulations. In short, “free trade”
means freedom from any democratically established laws that do not maximize the
profit of international corporations.
Free trade policy and practices facilitate the privatization
and deregulation of energy, health care, education, and water supply. These
services will no loner be seen as the necessities to which every human person
has a right. Rather, they become commodities to be traded for profit. Society’s
poor and marginalized often are forced to go without life’s necessities. Thus,
free trade agreements undermine the ability of governments to fulfill their
responsibility to ensure basic services to all their people.
Free trade agreements like NAFTA not only cost U.S. jobs,
but also do not provide good employment opportunities in developing nations.
The U.S. Department of Labor certified that by the end of 2002, about 525,000
workers lost their jobs as a result of NAFTA. Other studies put the figure as
high as 3,000,000. While Mexican unemployment rates may have dropped, for
example, poverty has increased and minimum wages fell 25 percent. Thus, while
free trade may be good for profits, it is bad for workers. As an AFL-CIO report
concluded, “Globalization has spawned a race to the bottom for workers in both
developed and developing nations alike.”
Free trade impacts almost all sectors of society including
workers, small farmers, small business owners, environmentalists, women’s
organizations, unions, indigenous rights groups, members of religious
communities, international solidarity groups, government employees, and many
others. Yet, the free trade emphasis on market supremacy meets the needs of
only a select few. Instead, free trade ought to balance the needs of business,
communities, and democratic governance.
A further criticism of NAFTA as representative of free trade
agreements concerns the investor-state suit provisions. They are nothing short
of a blatant departure from both domestic and international legal norms. First,
they provide corporations with the right to directly enforce an international
treaty to which they are neither parties nor under which they have any
obligations. Second, they allow private industry to oppose long standing U.S.
laws that have nothing to do with commercial contracts and everything to do
with public policy. And third, they create substantive legal rights concerning
expropriation and national treatment that go far beyond those available to
local citizens and small businesses.
Trade and investment agreements, as part of globalization,
are crucial to both developed and developing nations, with the potential to
benefit both business and people alike. Trade agreements must meet everyone’s
needs and respect everyone’s human rights. Unfortunately, current trade
agreements emphasize market supremacy over and above the needs of the greater
community. What is needed are trade agreements that seek to alleviate poverty
by educating the poor, offering opportunities for living wage jobs, and make
long-term social development a top priority. Trade agreements must also protect
the environment and offer incentives to innovative businesses seeking new,
eco-friendly methods of production.
Alternatives to the FTAA
Pope John Paul II, together with many religious, economic,
political and academic leaders, has continued to provide critical analysis and
moral assessment of the economic impact of globalization. The singular popular
response heard from almost all sectors is: “So, what’s the alternative?”
The basis for a realistic alternative to the proposed FTAA
is found both in sacred scripture and in contemporary Catholic social thought.
In particular, as already noted, the U.S. Catholic bishops teach that “every
economic decision and institution must be judged in light of whether it
protects or undermines the dignity of the human person.” In short, “the dignity
of the human person…is the criterion against which all aspects of economic life
must be measured.”
Today, an alternative to the FTAA does exist. It was
developed by the Hemispheric Social Alliance (HSA) in response to the proposed
FTAA. The HSA is a coalition of labor unions, environmentalists, family
farmers, economists, scholars, and other coalitions representing more than 100
organizations throughout North, Central, and Latin America. It was created in
1999 to facilitate information exchange and joint strategies and action towards
building an alternative democratic model of development in the face of the
currently proposed international trade agreements within overall economic
globalization.
The Alternatives for the Americas is a document of the HSA
guidelines that would make the economic integration process of hemispheric
globalization more inclusive, democratic, environmentally and culturally
sustainable, and equitable.
Fully consistent with Catholic social teaching, the plan
proposes economic development based on democratic citizen participation, local
control over resources, and the reduction of economic and social inequalities.
It proposes a more responsible proactive role for the state and increased
regulation of the economy both nationally and internationally in the pursuit of
social justice, public services, and public security.
With the economic purpose to achieve a just and sustainable
development, the Alternatives proposal affirms that trade and investment should
not become ends in themselves, but rather the instruments (means) to promote
economic justice for all. The Alternatives delineates in detail three main
guiding principles: democratic participation, the role of the state, and the
reduction of inequalities.
The document affirms that local communities affected by
economic policies should be involved in drafting, approving, and monitoring
those policies. These include creating a national development program, free
trade policies, development projects, mining, biodiversity, and so forth.
Policy development should be a widely participatory process utilizing
broad-based consultation. Local community rights to veto or reject a project
must be respected and honored.
The document further affirms that the sovereignty of states
should be preserved by any trade agreement such that states can exercise
authority to maintain citizen well being. Such responsibility would include: to
ensure that social needs supercede corporate interests, especially regarding
education, housing, and health care; to control investment hazards to workers,
the environment, and the national development plan; to promote just and
sustainable development; to ensure that the export market not sacrifice the
domestic market; to evaluate and define rules and regulations of free trade
agreements within frameworks of national development plans; and, to protect
natural resources including small family farms.
Finally, in order to reduce social and economic
inequalities, the following alternatives are proposed: promote improved
standardization of rights and laws, including the use of insecticides,
emissions and transfers of pollutants, and labor standards; institute a tax on
revenues from international financial transactions to endow investment in
education, health, and job training; forgive foreign debt; promote aid to
developing countries; compensate women and various racial and ethnic groups
previously exploited; recognize indigenous rights to land and resources.
In accord with Catholic social teaching on the economy, the
proposed alternatives to the FTAA also include directives on the following
categories: human rights, labor, investment, agriculture, gender, environmental
protection, and immigration.
Human rights should be promoted by economic integration.
These rights constitute civil, political, economic, social, cultural, and
environmental rights including rights specific to women, children, and
indigenous peoples.
Labor issues should be included in trade agreements. Basic
workers rights should be guaranteed, ensuring adequate social assistance to
those negatively impacted by globalization. Labor standards and living
standards should be improved.
Investment should be productive rather than speculative,
transfer appropriate technology, and should create high quality employment.
Governments should have the right to curtail investments that do not further
development or are detrimental to human labor and environmental rights.
Agriculture should have high priority in trade agreements.
To ensure food security, nations should have the right to protect or exclude
various food stuffs. Property rights need to be respected. Small-scale farming
needs special protection regarding land conservation, appropriate technology
(including biotechnology), agricultural research, credit, and subsidies. And,
trade agreements must improve the standardization of financial assistance for
agriculture.
Women from all levels of society should be included and
engaged in trade debates and negotiations. Trade agreements should ensure that
women have equal access to needed resources such as credit, technological
training, and land. Likewise, laws and policies should provide assistance to
promote education, technological training, and skills development for women.
Environmental protections should be prioritized over
corporate interests. Trade agreements should recognize government rights to
direct investment towards environmentally sustainable activities, prohibit the
privatization of natural resources, and eliminate policies that subsidize fossil
fuel energy.
Finally, all trade negotiations should address immigration
issues. Governments should grant amnesty to undocumented workers, demilitarize
border zones, and support international subsidies for regions and countries
that are major exporters of labor.
In conclusion, the challenge is not insurmountable. The
change of priorities requires a change of heart. And a change of heart brings a
change of mind.
When the world’s economic leaders are converted to see every
man, woman, and child as brothers and sisters, then the genius of our human
history and the insight of our moral wisdom will guide our transformation from
an economy of the few to an economy of the many. It is then that we will have
begun to build the road to an economic justice for all.
Father Kenneth Weare, Ph.D., a Catholic moral theologian,
teaches social ethics at the University of San Francisco and serves as
Administrator at St. Rita’s Parish in Fairfax. Currently he is co-authoring a
book on globalization.
DATEBOOK
Food & Fun
Sept. 3: Catholic Marin Breakfast Club gathers for Mass and
special presentation. Featured speaker is Jesuit Father Joe Daoust, president
of the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley who will speak on Empty Churches,
Empty Pews. The morning begins with Mass at 7 a.m. in St. Sebastian Church, Bon
Air Rd. and Sir Francis Drake Blvd., Kentfield. Breakfast and presentation
follow in parish hall. Reservations required to Sugaremy@aol.com or (415)
461-0704 daily. Members $7, others $10. Dues $20 per year.
September 8th and subsequent 2nd Wednesdays: Monthly
breakfast meetings of the Catholic Professional & Business Club. New
members are always welcome! Join us on our new day and in our new location, SF
City Club at 155 Sansome (at Bush). Today’s speaker is Tony Hall, former SF
Supervisor and current Head of Treasure Island Development Authority.
Presentations discuss the challenges all adults face when striving to live
their vocations as Catholics in the working world. Monthly meetings include a
full breakfast beginning at 7:00 a.m. Speaker program begins at 7:30 a.m. Cost
is $20 for members, $27 for non-members. Membership dues are $45 annually. Call
(415) 614-5579, or visit the website at www.cpbc-sf.org for more information.
Sept.9: Curtain up on the 150th year of service of the
Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Archdiocese of
San Francisco. A year of celebration commences November 13th with a theatrical
interpretation of the Sisters’ history in Ireland and San Francisco. Dancers,
singers, and actors, especially women, are being sought to appear in the
production. This call is for people of all ages and abilities. Auditions will
take place September 9th at 7:30 p.m. at 281 Masonic Ave. cross street Turk 3rd
floor, SF. Bring a song to sing without accompaniment. Rehearsal schedule to be
announced.
Sept. 10: Celluloid Dreams, join Presentation alumnae and
friends for the annual Presentation Alumnae Silent Auction at the Irish
Cultural Center. Friday, Sept. 10, at 5:30 p.m. Many exciting movie related
items to bid on as well as great meal and complimentary wine. Tickets are $50
per person. Call Helen Harwood at (415) 422-5015.
Sept. 11: Luncheon and Bingo in St. Cecilia Lower Church
benefiting the League of Sacred Heart Altar Society $20 per person. Call Rose
Marie at
(415) 753-5680.
Sept. 12: Palmdale Spectacular VII, a day benefiting the
Sisters of the Holy Family at their Palmdale Estates, 159 Washington Blvd,
Fremont. Enjoy silent and live auctions, scrumptious food and entertainment.
Tickets $75 per person. Call Linda Micciche at (510) 624-4581.
Sept. 13: 12th Annual Capuchin Seminarian Golf Tournament at
Sharon Heights Golf and Country Club, Menlo Park. Format is 18-hole Scramble
with check-in at 10 a.m. followed by lunch, shotgun start at noon and hosted
cocktails and dinner at 6:30 p.m. Prices are $260 for golf with cart and
dinner. Dinner only is $50. For tickets and information, call Mike Stecher at
(650) 342-4680 or Anne Hahn at (650) 692-5044.
Sept. 16: Garden Luncheon benefiting San Mateo County
Pro-Life Council at noon in the gardens of the Draeger home, 259 Bridge Rd.
Hillsborough. Featured speaker is Dawn White from Heritage House in San Jose, a
resource for pregnant women in need. Tickets $20 per person. Call (650)
342-1600.
Sept. 18: East Meets West, third annual luncheon and auction
benefiting the Viet Blind Children Foundation, Sept. 18th at St. Matthew Parish
auditorium, 9th Ave. at El Camino Real, San Mateo. Doors open at noon to silent
and live auctions as well as raffles for cash prizes and other fun. For ticket
information, please contact the foundation at (415) 713-2481 or (408) 296-6557.
Visit the Web site at www.vietblind children.org.
Sept. 19: Celebrate the 10th anniversary of St. Ignatius
Parish, 650 Parker Ave. at Fulton, SF. Mass at 10 a.m. features voices from
parish choir as well as singers from the University of San Francisco. Reception
and brunch follows. All are welcome.
Call (415) 422-2188.
Oct. 16: Late Night Catechism!! Nonie Newton-Breen, an alum
of Chicago’s famed Second City comedy troupe, is Sister!!! Buckle your seatbelt
and settle in for this rollicking entertainment coming to St. Stephen Parish,
601 Eucalyptus next to Stonestown Mall, at 7p.m. Tickets are $35 per person.
Enjoy a front row seat and a “meeting with Sister” for $10 more. Group
discounts are available. Call (415) 681-2444, ext. 26.
Respect Life/ Family Life
Sept. 8 – Oct. 13: Relationships and Prayer From the Heart,
a Wednesday morning and evening conference at St. Sebastian Church, Sir Francis
Drake Blvd. and Bon Air Rd., Greenbrae. Meets 10 – 11 a.m. and 7:30 – 8:30 p.m.
Theme is Recognizing Your Unique Sacred Gift. Facilitator is graduate psychologist
and St. Sebastian parishioner, Andra Dhein. Class includes prayer, scripture,
centering meditation. Registration is $30 per person. Call (415) 925-0487.
Sept. 11: Annual Memorial Mass sponsored by SFFD and SFPD at
St. Monica Church, 24th Ave. at Geary, SF at 10 a.m. All are welcome.
Sept. 11: Film and television star, Jennifer O’Neill, is
featured speaker for the 2004 Respect Life Conference of the Archdiocese of San
Francisco. The event takes place Sept. 11th, 8 a.m. – 3 p.m. at St. Mary’s
Cathedral, San Francisco. Also on the program is Wesley Smith of the
International Task Force on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide. Tickets $20 per
person. Contact the Office of Public Policy and Social Concerns at (415)
614-5567. In the evening, Ms. O’Neill will speak at St. Sebastian Church,
Greenbrae on behalf of the Marin County Respect Life Program. Contact Vicki
Evans at (415) 945-0180.
Sept. 18: Would you like to deepen your marriage
relationship? Marriage Enrichment Workshop at St. Peter Church, 700 Oddstad
Blvd., Pacifica, 9:15 a.m. – 4 p.m. $40 per couple includes lunch, book and
expenses of presenting couple, Anne and Bob Herendine of Salinas. Call (650)
359-6313.
TV/Radio
Mon – Fri., KVTO 1400 AM, 7:30 p.m.: Catholic Radio Hour
features rosary, music and commentary with Father Tom Daly.
Sunday 6 a.m., WB Channel 20/Cable 13 and KTSF Channel
26/Cable 8: TV Mass with Msgr. Harry Schlitt presiding.
1st Sun, 5 a.m., CBS Channel 5: Mosaic, featuring
conversations on current Catholic issues.
3rd Sun, 5:30 a.m., KRON Channel 4: For Heaven’s Sake,
featuring conversations about Catholic spirituality.
Reunions
Nov. 5, 6, 7: Reunion Weekend Celebration for Notre Dame
High School, Belmont honoring graduates from classes of ’54, ’59, ’64,’ 69,
’74, ’79, ’84, ’89, ’94, ‘ 99. Weekend features are Nov. 6 luncheon at 11:30
a.m. and all alumnae are invited to Nov. 5 lunch as well as Mass and Brunch on
Nov. 7. Call the Development Office at (650) 595-1913, ext. 351.
June 25: “It’s been a long time but it’s coming,” said St.
Agnes Elementary alum, Sam Coffey, about upcoming reunion for all former
students of the missed and now closed SF school. Please contact Sam at
coffey@eesclaw.com; Leanne Guth Chapman at chapman@stanne.com; Jana Serezlis at
janaser@hotmail.com. If without Internet access, contact Leonor Pokorny at St.
Agnes rectory at (415) 487-8560.
Prayer Opportunities/Lectures
Oct. 1 – 3: Return to Me, a Holy Spirit Conference at St.
Mary’s Cathedral Conference Center, Gough and Geary Blvd., SF. Opens with Mass
at 7 p.m. Fri., Bishop Ignatius Wang presiding. Call Ernie Von Emster (650)
594-1131. Speakers include Father Joe Landi. Fees are $20 per day or $30 for
both days.
Sept. 11 and subsequent 2nd Sat.: Sisters of Notre Dame de
Namur offer Saturday Morning Prayer 9:30 – 11:30 at their Province Center, 1520
Ralston Ave. across from Ralston Hall on their university campus in Belmont.
Call (650) 593-2045, ext. 350. This year’s theme is the Beatitudes: Becoming
Beatitude People.
Young Adults
Office of Young Adult Ministry: Connecting late teens, 20s
and 30s, single and married to the Catholic Church. Contact Mary Jansen,
415-614-5596,jansenm@sfarchdiocese.org. Check out our website www.sfyam.org for
a list of events around the Bay Area.
Sept. 18: Fall Fest, Choices: What’s God Have to Do With It?
at the University of San Francisco with keynote, workshops, exhibits, Mass,
dinner and dance. Bishop Jaime Soto of Orange is among the speakers.
Registration is $50 before Sept 3 and $60 at the door. Contact for
registration, 415-614-5594, www.sfyam.org.
Retreats
—— Vallombrosa Center ——
250 Oak Grove Ave., Menlo Park. For fees, times and details
about these and other offerings call (650) 325-5614. Presentation Sister Rosina
Conrotto, Program Director.
Sept. 10, 11: Unconditional Love and Forgiveness, a workshop
with protestant minister, Rev. Charles Allen Lingo. Will offer participants the
actual practice of unconditional love and forgiveness toward themselves and
others. Methods learned in the workshop have proven successful toward changing
human relations where change is imperative. Rev. Lingo has previously led this
process in Europe, India, Brazil and additional locations in the U.S.
Oct. 8 – 10: A retreat with Father David Pettingill
Single, Divorced, Separated
Separated and Divorced support groups meet 3rd Sat. at 6:30
p.m. at St. Mary’s Cathedral, call Pat at (415) 492-3331; and 1st and 3rd Wed.
at 7:30 p.m. at St. Stephen Parish Center, SF, call Gail at (650) 591-8452.
Catholic Adult Singles Assoc. of Marin meets for support and
activities. Call Bob at
(415) 897-0639 for information.
Meetings
2nd Wed.: Men’s Evening of Reflection: Being Catholic in the
Modern World at the National Shrine of St. Francis of Assisi, 610 Vallejo St.
at Columbus, SF beginning at 7 p.m. Call (415) 983-0405.
Courage, a Catholic support group for persons with same-sex
attraction, meets Thursdays at 7:30 p.m. Call Father Lawrence Goode at (650)
322-2152.
Taize Prayer
3rd Wed. at 7:30 p.m. with the Sisters of Notre Dame de
Namur in their Province Center Chapel, 1520 Ralston Ave., Belmont across from
Ralston Hall on the campus of their Notre Dame de Namur University. Call (650)
593-2045, ext. 350 or www.SistersofNotreDameCa.org.
1st Fri. at 8 p.m. at Mercy Center, 2300 Adeline Dr., Burlingame
with Mercy Sister Suzanne Toolan. Call (650) 340-7452; Church of the Nativity,
210 Oak Grove Ave., Menlo Park at 7:30 p.m. Call Deacon Dominic Peloso at (650)
322-3013.
2nd Fri. at 7:30 p.m. at St. Peter Church, 700 Oddstad
Blvd., Pacifica. Call Deacon Peter Solan at (650) 359-6313.
3rd Fri. at 8 p.m. at Woodside Priory Chapel, 302 Portola
Rd., Portola Valley. Call Dean Miller at (650) 631-2882
1st Sat. at 8:30 p.m. at SF Presidio Main Post Chapel, 130
Fisher Loop. Call Catherine Rondainaro
at (415) 713-0225
EDITORIAL
Guest Commentary
New Beginnings
By Maureen Huntington
As the lazy days of summer transition into the final days of
August, students, teachers, and parents begin to think of returning to school.
The beginning of school produces feelings of excitement, anticipation and even
some sadness. Students generally are excited to be back in school. They look
forward to returning to familiar surroundings and renewing friendships with
classmates. For Kindergartners and ninth graders, school beginning signifies a
new start in a new place. For others it means the beginning of the end as high
school seniors anticipate graduation, college acceptance and moving on into a
new life as an adult. Teachers look forward to meeting a new group of students.
Parents look forward to their children returning to school and re-establishing
the family routine.
Principals and school administrators see the beginning of
school differently. They have spent the past two months preparing the school
facilities, curriculum and staffing for another year. Painting, cleaning,
repairing, installing new features, hiring and evaluating the past year have
consumed their summer. The planning and preparation needed to welcome students,
teachers, and parents for another school year is tremendous and all while the
principal is simultaneously closing out the last school year. Each new school
year brings a new set of challenges and opportunities. Some principals are
concerned that their student enrollment will be sufficient to meet budget
expectations. They are concerned that the new teachers they hired will be able
to provide the best Catholic instructional program possible to serve the
specific needs of their students. How do we, as part of the larger Catholic
community, continue to carry on the mission of the Church through prayer,
service, worship and community?
Our Catholic Schools in the Archdiocese are faced with many
challenges. Our school communities are struggling with the effects of changing
demographics. Families cannot afford to live in the city and are choosing to
move to areas where housing is more affordable. Jobs and businesses are moving
to other areas where costs are less. Premiums associated with health care and
insurance continue to escalate causing family and school budgets and student
tuition to increase each year. How do we continue to carry out the mission of
our schools, maintaining a balanced, nurturing and challenging educational
program and still keep it affordable? How do we attract families to our schools
and support their efforts to provide a Catholic school education for their
children? With rising costs and the declining population – how do we maintain a
balance? How do we acquire the resources our schools need to carry on their
mission? How do we sustain our commitment to academic excellence, carry on the
mission of the Catholic Church, ensure a safe environment while serving very
diverse student populations from various cultures and languages?
We are faced with many questions, problems and challenges
but no easy answers or solutions. Where and how do we begin to address the
challenges? The reality is that each of us is a part of the solution and each
of us holds the answer within our heart. The solutions are not simple or easy.
The prize is too valuable and fragile for simple solutions. Catholic Schools
are pearls of great value and worthy of great efforts to sustain, secure and
preserve for future generations. Catholic Schools are a gift to the Church and
a blessing to our American society. Millions of us have benefited from the
sacrifices and dedication of generations past. Our challenge is to shoulder
this responsibility on behalf of the next generations of students. We owe our
parents, teachers, pastors and benefactors a debt that we pay forward to the
next generation of children and students. Our efforts today will have a
lifelong effect on families for generations to come.
With the beginning of this new school year, please take some
time to consider the many blessings you have received during your lifetime and
consider ways that you can make a significant contribution to a child or family
to secure their future. Your willingness to volunteer; or financially support a
child or a classroom; or your daily prayers for the success of our students;
are just some of the ways that you and I can repay our debt to those that
assisted us and pay our debt forward to the next generation of Catholic
families and students.
To all students, teachers, parents, principals and
administrators returning to a new school year – WELCOME BACK! Have a great
school year!
Ms. Maureen Huntington is Superintendent
of Catholic Schools for the Archdiocese of San Francisco.
DATEBOOK
Sept. 19: Celebrate the 10th anniversary of St. Ignatius
Parish, 650 Parker Ave. at Fulton, SF. Mass at 10 a.m. features voices from
parish choir as well as singers from the University of San Francisco. Reception
and brunch follows. All are welcome.
Call (415) 422-2188.
Oct. 16: Late Night Catechism!! Nonie Newton-Breen, an alum
of Chicago’s famed Second City comedy troupe, is Sister!!! Buckle your seatbelt
and settle in for this rollicking entertainment coming to St. Stephen Parish,
601 Eucalyptus next to Stonestown Mall, at 7p.m. Tickets are $35 per person.
Enjoy a front row seat and a “meeting with Sister” for $10 more. Group
discounts are available. Call (415) 681-2444, ext. 26.
Respect Life/ Family Life
Sept. 8 – Oct. 13: Relationships and Prayer From the Heart,
a Wednesday morning and evening conference at St. Sebastian Church, Sir Francis
Drake Blvd. and Bon Air Rd., Greenbrae. Meets 10 – 11 a.m. and 7:30 – 8:30 p.m.
Theme is Recognizing Your Unique Sacred Gift. Facilitator is graduate
psychologist and St. Sebastian parishioner, Andra Dhein. Class includes prayer,
scripture, centering meditation. Registration is $30 per person. Call (415)
925-0487.
Sept. 11: Annual Memorial Mass sponsored by SFFD and SFPD at
St. Monica Church, 24th Ave. at Geary, SF at 10 a.m. All are welcome.
Sept. 11: Film and television star, Jennifer O’Neill, is
featured speaker for the 2004 Respect Life Conference of the Archdiocese of San
Francisco. The event takes place Sept. 11th, 8 a.m. – 3 p.m. at St. Mary’s
Cathedral, San Francisco. Also on the program is Wesley Smith of the
International Task Force on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide. Tickets $20 per
person. Contact the Office of Public Policy and Social Concerns at (415)
614-5567. In the evening, Ms. O’Neill will speak at St. Sebastian Church,
Greenbrae on behalf of the Marin County Respect Life Program. Contact Vicki
Evans at (415) 945-0180.
Sept. 18: Would you like to deepen your marriage
relationship? Marriage Enrichment Workshop at St. Peter Church, 700 Oddstad
Blvd., Pacifica, 9:15 a.m. – 4 p.m. $40 per couple includes lunch, book and
expenses of presenting couple, Anne and Bob Herendine of Salinas. Call (650)
359-6313.
TV/Radio
Mon – Fri., KVTO 1400 AM, 7:30 p.m.: Catholic Radio Hour
features rosary, music and commentary with Father Tom Daly.
Sunday 6 a.m., WB Channel 20/Cable 13 and KTSF Channel
26/Cable 8: TV Mass with Msgr. Harry Schlitt presiding.
1st Sun, 5 a.m., CBS Channel 5: Mosaic, featuring conversations
on current Catholic issues.
3rd Sun, 5:30 a.m., KRON Channel 4: For Heaven’s Sake,
featuring conversations about Catholic
spirituality.
Reunions
Nov. 5, 6, 7: Reunion Weekend Celebration for Notre Dame
High School, Belmont honoring graduates from classes of ’54, ’59, ’64,’ 69,
’74, ’79, ’84, ’89, ’94, ‘ 99. Weekend features are Nov. 6 luncheon at 11:30
a.m. and all alumnae are invited to Nov. 5 lunch as well as Mass and Brunch on
Nov. 7. Call the Development Office at (650) 595-1913, ext. 351.
June 25: “It’s been a long time but it’s coming,” said St.
Agnes Elementary alum, Sam Coffey, about upcoming reunion for all former
students of the missed and now closed SF school. Please contact Sam at
coffey@eesclaw.com; Leanne Guth Chapman at chapman@stanne.com; Jana Serezlis at
janaser@hotmail.com. If without Internet access, contact Leonor Pokorny at St.
Agnes rectory at (415) 487-8560.
Prayer Opportunities/Lectures
Oct. 1 – 3: Return to Me, a Holy Spirit Conference at St.
Mary’s Cathedral Conference Center, Gough and Geary Blvd., SF. Opens with Mass
at 7 p.m. Fri., Bishop Ignatius Wang presiding. Call Ernie Von Emster (650)
594-1131. Speakers include Father Joe Landi. Fees are $20 per day or $30 for
both days.
Sept. 11 and subsequent 2nd Sat.: Sisters of Notre Dame de
Namur offer Saturday Morning Prayer 9:30 – 11:30 at their Province Center, 1520
Ralston Ave. across from Ralston Hall on their university campus in Belmont.
Call (650) 593-2045, ext. 350. This year’s theme is the Beatitudes: Becoming
Beatitude People.
Young Adults
Office of Young Adult Ministry: Connecting late teens, 20s
and 30s, single and married to the Catholic Church. Contact Mary Jansen,
415-614-5596,jansenm@sfarchdiocese.org. Check out our website www.sfyam.org for
a list of events around the Bay Area.
Sept. 18: Fall Fest, Choices: What’s God Have to Do With It?
at the University of San Francisco with keynote, workshops, exhibits, Mass,
dinner and dance. Bishop Jaime Soto of Orange is among the speakers.
Registration is $50 before Sept 3 and $60 at the door. Contact for
registration, 415-614-5594, www.sfyam.org.
Retreats
—— Vallombrosa Center ——
250 Oak Grove Ave., Menlo Park. For fees, times and details
about these and other offerings call (650) 325-5614. Presentation Sister Rosina
Conrotto, Program Director.
Sept. 10, 11: Unconditional Love and Forgiveness, a workshop
with protestant minister, Rev. Charles Allen Lingo. Will offer participants the
actual practice of unconditional love and forgiveness toward themselves and
others. Methods learned in the workshop have proven successful toward changing
human relations where change is imperative. Rev. Lingo has previously led this
process in Europe, India, Brazil and additional locations in the U.S.
Oct. 8 – 10: A retreat with Father David Pettingill
Single, Divorced, Separated
Separated and Divorced support groups meet 3rd Sat. at 6:30
p.m. at St. Mary’s Cathedral, call Pat at (415) 492-3331; and 1st and 3rd Wed.
at 7:30 p.m. at St. Stephen Parish Center, SF, call Gail at (650) 591-8452.
Catholic Adult Singles Assoc. of Marin meets for support and
activities. Call Bob at
(415) 897-0639 for information.
Meetings
2nd Wed.: Men’s Evening of Reflection: Being Catholic in the
Modern World at the National Shrine of St. Francis of Assisi, 610 Vallejo St.
at Columbus, SF beginning at 7 p.m. Call (415) 983-0405.
Courage, a Catholic support group for persons with same-sex
attraction, meets Thursdays at 7:30 p.m. Call Father Lawrence Goode at (650)
322-2152.
Taize Prayer
3rd Wed. at 7:30 p.m. with the Sisters of Notre Dame de
Namur in their Province Center Chapel, 1520 Ralston Ave., Belmont across from
Ralston Hall on the campus of their Notre Dame de Namur University. Call (650)
593-2045, ext. 350 or www.SistersofNotreDameCa.org.
1st Fri. at 8 p.m. at Mercy Center, 2300 Adeline Dr.,
Burlingame with Mercy Sister Suzanne Toolan. Call (650) 340-7452; Church of the
Nativity, 210 Oak Grove Ave., Menlo Park at 7:30 p.m. Call Deacon Dominic
Peloso at (650) 322-3013.
2nd Fri. at 7:30 p.m. at St. Peter Church, 700 Oddstad
Blvd., Pacifica. Call Deacon Peter Solan at (650) 359-6313.
3rd Fri. at 8 p.m. at Woodside Priory Chapel, 302 Portola
Rd., Portola Valley. Call Dean Miller at (650) 631-2882
1st Sat. at 8:30 p.m. at SF Presidio Main Post Chapel, 130
Fisher Loop. Call Catherine Rondainaro
at (415) 713-0225