CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO, NOVEMBER 7, 2003

By Maureen Kramlich

Samuel was twenty-one (gestational) weeks old when he had surgery to correct spina bifida. Michael Clancy was assigned by USA Today to photograph the experimental procedure. The entire surgery took place within the womb, which had been lifted out of Mrs. Armas’s body. At the end of the procedure, Clancy said, “I saw the uterus shake, but no one’s hands were near it. It was shaking from within. Suddenly, an entire arm thrust out of the opening, then pulled back until just a little hand was showing. The doctor reached over and lifted the hand, which reacted and squeezed the doctor’s finger.” Clancy snapped a photo.

When the film had been developed, Clancy’s editor called him to say it was the most incredible photo he had ever seen. Clancy had captured Samuel’s tiny fist, reaching out from his mother’s womb, grasping the surgeon’s finger.

Today, Samuel is a precocious three year-old. He loves bugs, especially lunar butterflies. After Senator Brownback showed Clancy’s photo at the hearing, he asked Samuel, “Have you seen this photo?” “Yes,” he replied. “They fixed my boo-boo.” That photo, incidentally, was said to be too graphic for American audiences. It took four years for the mainstream press to pick it up.

The photo is graphic. It displays a surgery, and surgeries aren’t pretty. There is blood. There is flesh. But the photo is graphic in another sense. It shows the living hand of a living unborn child, reaching out to one of the (born) people trying to help him. This, I suspect, is why the mainstream media rejected it. A media engrossed with graphic images of war does not fear blood and flesh. It fears to show unborn children as people.

We live in a culture that wants to view these children as nothings. At the stage when Samuel underwent surgery (21 weeks), about 13,000 unborn children are aborted every year, thousands by partial-birth abortions.

But as science and technology progress, it will become increasingly difficult to label unborn children as nothings. Dr. Thorp testified, “It is extremely difficult not to see the fetus as a child before birth with the same value as a child after birth.” Dr. Thorp, who performs fetal blood transfusions on children as young as 19 weeks, said that the unborn child reacts to the pain of a needle just as any born child does. He says the treatment possibilities are limited only by practical considerations. For example, most needles are too large for younger unborn children. However, he noted, unborn children are having hernias repaired and tumors removed and even having balloon angioplasty on their little hearts.

Unborn children are undeniably alive and human. The question, then, that has to be at the center of the abortion debate is: Are these human lives worthy of the protections of the law?

Maureen Kramlich is a public policy analyst with the Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities in the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

By Catholic San Francisco Staff

“It is a great victory for unborn children, for women and for all Americans,” said George Wesolek, director of Public Policy and Social Concerns for the Archdiocese of San Francisco.

“The signing of this ban truly is an historic moment,” he added. “It marks the enactment of the first federal law in 30 years to limit an abortion procedure,” he said.

The U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate passed the partial-birth abortion ban by wide margins in October. The final votes were to reconcile House and Senate versions of the legislation.

Earlier, the Senate had amended the bill to include language endorsing the Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v Wade decision. That language was dropped from the final legislation.

Republican support for the bill was nearly unanimous. Only four House and three Senate Republicans opposed the bill. A solid majority of congressional Democrats opposed the bill, but it did receive significant bipartisan support, with 63 House Democrats and 17 Democratic Senators voting for the bill.

California Senators Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer opposed the ban on partial birth abortion as did local Representatives Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco), Tom Lantos (D-San Francisco/San Mateo) and Lynn Woolsey (D-Marin/Sonoma). Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-San Mateo) did not vote. The first legislation to ban partial birth abortion was considered by Congress nearly 10 years ago. Various polls have shown as much as 80 percent of the American people oppose the partial-birth abortion procedure, which ends the life of a nearly born baby by puncturing a hole in the baby’s skull and removing brain tissue. “Partial-birth abortion is performed at 20 weeks’ gestational age and beyond, and neurological evidence has confirmed that it is a ‘dreadfully painful’ experience for the unborn child,” according to Cathleen Cleaver of the U.S. Bishop’s Secretariat for Pro-life Activities. “What’s more, it presents a threat to the health of women who mistakenly believe it is a good choice,” she said.

Congress twice before has passed a partial-birth abortion ban, but each time the legislation was vetoed by then President William Clinton. He said the law did not contain an exception for the health of the mother. “The health exception is the quintessential exception that swallows the rule — so broad that you could drive a truck, or a fully-formed unborn baby, right through it,” Ms Cleaver said.

In 2000, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a Nebraska law banning partial birth abortion by a 5-4 margin. The Court majority ruled that the law was unconstitutional because it did not contain sufficient exception protecting the health of the mother and that its language was “too vague,” potentially undermining a woman’s right to abort a non-viable fetus. Cathleen Cleaver believes language in the new federal legislation crafted by Rep Steve Chabot (R-OH) and Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA) should satisfy the concerns of the Court. In addition, she said the Court’s ruling was based on faulty findings by a lower court asserting the “Big Lie,” that the procedure is sometimes medically necessary. According to Ms. Cleaver, “The new ban on partial-birth abortion that has now passed both houses of Congress and is on its way to the president’s desk for signature is replete with findings of fact that expose the Big Lie.”

Over the course of congressional hearings, hundreds of obstetricians and maternal health experts joined with former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop in testifying that partial birth abortion is “never medically necessary to protect a mother’s health.”

The American Medical Association has declared the procedure “not good medicine” and “not medically indicated” in any situation. Even late term abortionist, Warren Hern, author of a widely used textbook on abortion procedures said he “would dispute that [partial-birth abortion] is the safest method to use.”

“Despite numerous setbacks, the pro-life community never wavered in its commitment to protect women and their unborn children from this heinous form of abortion,” Mr. Wesolek said.

He noted “the leadership shown by U.S. Catholic bishops in the effort” and “the faithful witness of so many in the Catholic community.”

Before the law was signed, Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) and its local affiliate Planned Parenthood Golden Gate filed suit in federal court Oct. 31 seeking an injunction against enforcement of the law.

Eve Gartner, attorney for PPFA said she believes the law is unconstitutional and is seeking a restraining order against implementation of the legislation pending resolution of the case.

Background notes on partial-birth abortion ban

Significance.

The enactment of this law is historic - it is the first federal law since Roe v. Wade in 1973 to forbid an abortion procedure. The law bans partial-birth abortion unless it is deemed necessary to save a mother’s life.

The Procedure.

The abortionist pulls a living baby feet-first out of the womb and into the birth canal, except for the head, which is left just inside the cervix. The abortionist punctures the base of the baby’s skull with a surgical instrument, such as Metzenbaum scissors, then inserts a catheter into the hole and removed the baby’s brain with a powerful suction machine. This causes the skull to collapse, after which the abortionist completes the delivery of the now-dead baby. Ron Fitzsimmons, executive director of the National Coalition of Abortion Providers, estimated in 1997 that the method was used 3,000 to 5,000 times annually, and he said, “in the vast majority of cases, the procedure is performed on a healthy mother with a healthy fetus.” It is usually done at 20 weeks’ gestation or beyond, when the child is extremely sensitive to pain.

Not Medically Necessary.

American Medical Association Executive Vice President P. John Seward, M.D. has said the procedure “is not good medicine.” According to the AMA, there is no evidence of a situation in which partial-birth abortion is “the only appropriate procedure.” Health Risks to Women.

Partial-birth abortion poses serious health risks to women, including damage to the cervix (a leading causes of future miscarriages and premature deliveries), infection (the main cause of subsequent infertility), tearing of the uterus, severe hemorrhage and other complications which could require hysterectomy. Many women suffer emotionally and psychologically from abortion, and women who have abortions for fetal abnormalities suffer a disproportionate number of psychological complications.

Role of the Church.

Banning partial-birth abortion has been a major legislative priority for the Catholic Church in the United States. Two highly successful postcard campaigns in favor of the ban in 1996 and 1998 flooded congressional offices with messages from millions of Catholics across the country. Catholics have been at the forefront of this battle for almost a decade.

Legal History of Abortion.

Roe v. Wade crafted a constitutional right to abortion that appeared to have limits, but Doe v. Bolton (issued the same day) effectively erased those limits. Doe required states to permit abortion any time in pregnancy for reasons of “health,” defined as “all factors” - physical, emotional, psychological, familial, and the woman’s age - relevant to the well-being of the patient. Thus, abortions can take place legally throughout all nine months of pregnancy. Since Roe v. Wade the Supreme Court has allowed regulation of abortion only at the margins, such as parental notification and waiting periods. State laws against partial-birth abortion were the first to approach the heart of the matter, but their enforceability was called into question when the Supreme Court struck down Nebraska’s law in Stenberg v Carhart (2000). The new federal law was drafted to address the alleged constitutional defects of the Nebraska law.

Future.

Abortion advocates are expected to file suit immediately upon enactment, so it is possible that the ban will not go into effect right away. What can be expected from the courts is, of course, impossible to predict with any certainty. Whatever the final disposition of such a case, the enactment of the ban will itself be a significant moment in history - it will be an enduring, unambiguous record of the struggle of the American people and their elected representatives to end this barbaric practice. Secretariat for Pro-Life Activites, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops

Southern California fires unite parish communities with help, hope

By Patrick Joyce

Many of the pines that helped create the whispering atmosphere in the mountains east of San Diego are gone. So is most of the Whispering Winds Catholic Conference Center just south of the old mining town of Julian, destroyed by the Cedar fire.

The center, a decades-old dream of Don Kojis, was 80 percent destroyed in a few hours despite the heroic efforts of firefighters. Kojis was told they had made a stand in the large square of lawn outside of the chapel as the firestorm swept over the camp. Firefighters escaped injury but most of the buildings were reduced to twisted metal and white ash. The chapel, where firefighters took refuge, survived. Tears came to Don Kojis’ eyes as he spoke of the letters the firefighters left, thanking their “hosts” for putting them up during the cold nights. They even left $10 as payment for the snacks they ate, food left behind by the Cursillo group who fled the camp on Oct. 26.

Kojis, a National Basketball Association basketball player from 1963-1975 and two-time All-Star, began the center in the early 1980s and is now its executive director. He plans to rebuild and have the center operating again by March, with “the help of the Catholic community.”

Just to the north of Whispering Winds, firefighters saved the historic mountain town of Julian, including St. Elizabeth Church, but many nearby homes were lost.

Parishioners “are just now coming back up here to find that their houses were destroyed,” Father William Stevenson, pastor of St. Elizabeth, said. “My plan is just to be with the people and if they want me to go out with them to their homes, I’ll be happy to do that.”

Father Stevenson and the other residents fled Oct. 28, as the Cedar fire charged up the tree-rich slopes outside of town. While others scooped up treasured belongings, Father Stevenson carried away with him the Blessed Sacrament and the parish registry.

Since his return, he has been “overwhelmed by the outpouring of support we are getting from the community.” People have been dropping off truckloads of supplies and clothing, canned goods and food, and he is in the process of trying to open up the building to organize the goods so that parishioners can help distribute them where the greatest needs are.

Father John Gubbins passed the word of the Scripps Ranch community evacuation order to the congregation as he celebrated 9 a.m. Mass at St. Gregory the Great Parish on Sunday, Oct. 26. Most of the congregation left. About 80 people stayed to finish Mass. By that time flames were coming over the top of the hill behind the parish. Father Gubbins made sure everyone was out safely, posted a note on the church doors with his home phone number, took the Blessed Sacrament into his Hyundai Santa Fe and left.

A few hours later the Cedar fire destroyed 350 homes in the community, including those of 55 parishioners. The parish buildings escaped major damage.

After hosting an Oct. 28 town hall meeting, the parish canceled all faith-formation events in the parish hall and transformed it into a center for victims. “This is a greater lesson in faith and what faith can do than any catechism class could ever teach,” said Father James Poulsen, pastor. Father Poulsen was on vacation when the fire started. He came home Oct. 30 to find the community devastated by fire but alive with generosity. Looking at hundreds of people on the parish grounds distributing and receiving aid, he said, “This is what the Church should be about. When people are hurt, we had better be there. Generosity inspires generosity; compassion inspires compassion. We always believe that, but here we see it in action.”

The parish has received more than $200,000 in cash, checks and emergency supplies.

One burned-out parishioner told Father Poulsen he was thankful his family’s lives had been spared. “We’ll invite you over to dinner when the house is rebuilt,” he said. “I’ll be there to bless the new home,” Father Poulsen responded. “I’ll have a lot of new houses to bless.”

As the Cedar fire approached the hilltop community of Crest on Sunday afternoon, Oct. 26, Father Robert Irwin, pastor of St. Louise de Marillac Parish, had only 15 minutes to escape. He took the Blessed Sacrament and the parish’s sacramental records and fled with a convoy of parishioners.

Two days later, with the roads still closed to cars, Father Irwin walked several miles uphill from El Cajon to the church. The fire had destroyed dozens of homes, including some across the street from the parish. The church was still standing but stained glass windows were broken, the roof charred, and the interior damaged by smoke.

As residents came back to town, the parish served hundreds of hot meals and distributed clothing, canned goods, bottled water, and other supplies, provided by Catholic Charities, local businesses and other members of the community. Robert Mosher, deputy director of Catholic Charities of San Diego, was in Crest with about 10 staff members each day to provide counseling.

One week after the fire swept through, Father Irwin celebrated Mass with the community in the parish parking lot. “The flame of faith of St. Louise burns far brighter than any flame of fire,” Father Irwin said in his homily. “We are a people of faith. God loves us, and yes, God is with us.” To the north, in the San Bernardino Mountains east of Los Angeles, Father Amaro Saumell first heard of what was to become known as the Old Fire in the morning of Oct. 25. The blaze was small and far away. “Someone said there was a fire at the bottom of the mountain, about the size of two cars,” he recalls nine days later, after driving past the ruins of homes burned out by the fire.

On the first day of the fire, Father Saumell watched flames climb relentlessly through trees killed by bark beetles and others dried out by drought. It was moving toward the mountain top community of Crestline and his parish of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini. By evening he learned that Crestline was to be evacuated, Father Saumell said, “So I got out the parish registry and called everyone on it. I told them what was happening and I asked them to call their friends. The evacuation was remarkable. It went so smoothly. The people up here know everyone, if not by name by sight.”

Father Saumell makes it clear that Crestline is not a community of expensive homes with great views. His people live on the mountain not because of the scenery but the economics. Housing is cheaper here. Retired people live in simple cabins. Young families come with their children. “Forty percent of the people get government aid, that includes Social Security, but there are many welfare recipients,” he says.

“Crestline itself fared pretty well,” he said, “but Cedar Pines Park lost many homes. One couple lost who their home are in their 90s. I don’t know how they’re going to manage, psychologically, at that age.” The people of Cedar Pines live in simple cabins that they have converted to affordable homes.

The fire came to the edge of his parish’s property but caused no damage. Father Saumell returned to the parish Sunday night to find the electricity off, snow falling and temperatures freezing. He bundled up before the fireplace and spent the night. He hopes to return permanently this week.

In a radio address Oct. 28, Bishop Gerald Barnes of San Bernardino called for prayers and good works to ease the suffering. “Let us be present to those most in need; let us listen to them and be there for them. Let those of us who are able open our homes in hospitality to those who have been displaced, offer food and a place of rest and sleep. Let those of us who are able financially, support the relief efforts of the Red Cross, Catholic Charities and other charitable agencies.”

“Whatever our religious affiliation may be, let us all raise our voices together in prayer to our God who stands with us, and who is for us a sign of hope and strength in this terrible time of tragedy.”

Bishop Barnes hosted a “Community United in Faith” interfaith prayer service for fire victims and firefighters at Our Lady of the Rosary Cathedral Oct. 30.

The fire caused the diocese to cancel a 25th Anniversary Celebration. The celebration was to have taken place Nov. 2 at California State University, San Bernardino. “This decision reflects the need to respect the people who have lost their homes in the Cal State area and in recognition of the need for the Church to be present to those who have been displaced, as well as those who are continuing to battle the fires,” a diocesan statement said.

In his radio address, Bishop Barnes offered the prayers of the people of the diocese for victims in the area east of Los Angeles. “I call on all of us, who call the Inland Empire home, to stand in prayer and solidarity with those who have been so terribly affected by this disaster,” he said. “ To all those who have lost family members or homes and possessions we want you to know that your community stands with you.”

The descriptions of the San Diego County fire were drawn from stories written by Vincent Gragnani and Ann Aubrey Hanson of the Southern Cross, the newspaper of the Diocese of San Diego.

Catholic Healthcare West hospitals join in recycling effort

By Sharon Abercrombie

“It is absolutely vital for us to be doing this,” pointed out Burlingame Mercy Sister Susan Vickers, director of advocacy. “There is a clear link between healing and promoting health for our people, and operating to help maintain the heath and safety of our planet.”

For Dominican Sister Mary Ellen Leciejwski, CHW’s Ecology Program Coordinator, recycling is about spirituality. “To me, ecology is a deeply spiritual issue. It invites us to an exquisite awareness of the interconnection of all things. If one thing moves, it all moves,” said Sister Mary Ellen. “Spirituality has to do with how we think about the world; not just in touchy feely ways, but in ways that practically affect how we work in the world, how we provide health care, the kinds of carpeting, thermometers and IV bags we buy, how we dispose of our waste and how that affects the environment,” she added.

Since the mid-1990s, Sister Mary Ellen has been the passionate driving force behind CHW recycling efforts. Her community’s Dominican Hospital in Santa Cruz, a CHW member, was a pioneer, in fact.

“The way we care for Earth and one another is the way we are spiritual,” said the Adrian Dominican nun.

In 1995, Sister Mary Ellen started “DominAgain,” an on-site recycling store open to the public a few days every month. The store gave things away or charged a small fee. Why would anyone want hospital items? “Because they are highly useable,” she explained. “Once you open up something in a hospital, you can’t use it again. These still-good throwaways can work elsewhere.”

For instance, nine-volt batteries from heart monitors are just fine for wind-up toys; blue plastic wraps which once held sterilized surgical instruments make hand drop clothes for kindergarten finger-painting; saline solution plastic liter bottles can be filled with ice water for backpacking trips and plastic food trays can become planters and pet dishes.

In 1996, CHW took a deeper step into environmental commitment: it signed on to the Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Economies (CERES). Formed in 1989 right after the Exxon Valdez Oil spill, CERES supports changing and minimizing our impact on the environment.

Sister Mary Ellen refers to the CERES principals as “the house rules of the planet.” They include protecting the biosphere, using natural resources wisely, minimizing risk to employees and community, reducing environmental damage, providing safe products and services. Organizations which have signed on to CERES have an annual audit which measures how much water and energy they are using, how much solid and medical waste we have going out the back door, how much we’re recycling.” The bottom line question is “are we getting better?” They are.

CHW today has a mercury elimination policy. So none of CHW hospital use thermometers or blood pressure cuffs containing mercury. It is deadly, said Sister Mary Ellen, “Only one gram, the sized of a plain M&M candy, can contaminate a 20-acre lake.”

As an institution CHW also is keenly aware of the worldwide scarcity of clean water and is doing its part to help safeguard “the most precious source of life on our planet,” said Sister Mary Ellen. CHW is installing 300 water savers in their facilities. The device, which is attached to a wet film processor, reduces the consumption of water needed to develop a quality x-ray. The hospitals will save 140 million gallons of water each year throughout the system.

Its other projects include; developing a sustainable building mission statement with “green” energy-saving guidelines, working with manufacturers to reduce the amount of packaging coming in the front door and toxic substances going into their products; and collaborating with such groups as the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition, Kaiser Permanente, and the Center of Environmental Health to make sure that computers are being responsibly recycled so that their poisonous materials are not polluting the soil and water.

In San Francisco, at St. Mary’s Medical Center, and Saint Francis Memorial Hospital, and Sequoia Hospital in Redwood City, new “green projects” are flourishing.

Last Earth Day, St. Mary’s opened “Drop and Shop,” its local version of “DominAgain.” Every Wednesday, the store is open to accept and give away recyclable items. In July, the Hospital inaugurated a pilot project for recycling blue wrap. Blue wrap, used to wrap surgical instruments, represents at least 20 percent of all the waste created in the surgical arena. “If we could recover a lot of this material it would reduce the volume of solid waste generated by the hospital,” said Sister Mary Ellen. Last year, at Dominican, “we captured 16,000 pounds of it.”

St. Mary’s is in the process of capturing its blue wrap, with the help of a new state of the art baler. So far, it’s the only one of its kind in use and the hospital got it for free, as part of the pilot project. Employees “smush down the plastic as much as they can, and a 7,000 pound weight does the rest,” explained Debi Simon, environmental coordinator for the three hospitals. The compacted plastic is then sent to Boise-Cascade in Washington State to be recycled into tough, resilient, exterior siding for houses. “It lasts much longer that wood,” she said.

The baler has come to the attention of the California Department of Health Services, and it is endorsing the hospital project. Last July the agency produced a video and is showing it at other facilities around the state as an example of how blue wrap recycling can work, said Simon. Food services have gotten in on the green scene, too. The Food and Nutrition staff is now recycling all its battles, jars and aluminum cans. “When you recall how large those institutional sized cans are, this is really a big deal,” said Simon.

At the end of each day, the hospital cafeteria donates its leftover good food to a local homeless feeding program. And across the City at Saint Francis Hospital, the food services staff has inaugurated a composting project, making it the first private hospital to recycle cuttings from raw veggies and fruit.

Sequoia is recycling all its paper, and printer cartridges. According to a recent report, the hospital is now at a 20 percent recycle level as compared to its overall waste stream. Its goal is 50 percent.

Popular Catholic singer, songwriter in free local concerts

The concert titled “Peace in your heart; in your family; in your world,” will be “an opportunity for deep prayer and reflection as well as a chance to put your heart, your family, and the world, into perspective,” according to Chris Lyford, director of the Office of Marriage and Family Life. Mr Poirier, one of twelve children, began performing publicly at age 14. He has sung in bus stations to comfort lonely, weary travelers, on street corners to calm the hurried, in hospitals to relieve the suffering and in soup kitchens to fill the hungry, Mr. Lyford said. He now travels the country with his family performing at popular parish missions and prayer concerts. Mr. Lyford said, “Michael’s music speaks of forgiveness, peace, and love from the perspective of someone who knows what it takes to forgive, and the blessings forgiveness brings.”

The concert at Saint Gregory, 2715 Hacienda St. in San Mateo is from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 23. Event at Saint Dominic, 2390 Bush St. in San Francisco is from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 24.

Father Frank Pavone leads retreat for respect life coordinators

By Jayme George

In past years, Respect Life Month has been honored with an annual conference that attracts over 600 participants for the sharing of news, programs, and challenges that face the pro-life movement of the Catholic Church today. This year, the Office of Public Policy and Social Concerns restructured the event in order to focus on the members of the church who are deeply involved in the fight to end abortion.

A smaller, retreat version of the annual conference was organized for those at the heart of the ministry to receive a spiritual rejuvenation, said Melanie Piendak, one of the event’s coordinators. “These people have a frustrating job in a society that is so staunchly anti-life,” said Piendak. “This one-day retreat was an opportunity for everyone to reflect on their own ministries and restore their faith.” Father Frank Pavone, executive director of Priests for Life, led the Bay Area Respect Life Retreat. Priests for Life seeks to help priests around the world spread the Gospel of Life. The organization’s mission is to unite and encourage all clergy to give special emphasis to the life issues in their ministry. It also seeks to help them take a more vocal and active role in the pro-life movement, with predominant emphasis on the issues of abortion and euthanasia.

Father Pavone presented a clear, compassionate and dynamic message to a group of more than 50 pro-life coordinators from around the Bay Area. The retreat offered participants the opportunity to network within the pro-life community and learn more about organizations such as Project Rachel, a group that offers hope to women suffering the aftermath of an abortion. The daylong retreat also included time for prayer, reception of the Sacrament of Reconciliation, recitation of the rosary and concluded with celebration of the Eucharist. According to Melanie Piandak, Respect Life Coordinator for the Archdiocese of San Francisco, the Respect Life conference format will be reinstated next year. However, the Office of Public Policy and Social Concerns will plan a retreat every few years, she said.

Catholic Radio Hour Week of Nov. 10 – 14

Weeknights at 7 p.m. – KEST 1450 AM Radio Pray the Rosary – hosted by Fr. Tom Daly One half-hour of prayers, reflections and music

Monday: Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary with Fr. Theodore Hesburg, President Emeritus of Notre Dame University; The New Face of Baseball, Latinos & Faith; Fr. Adelmo Dunghe’s Veteran’s Day commentary; Lateran Basilica.

Tuesday: The Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary with Fr. Theodore Hesburg; Uninsured Children; Fact of Faith: RCIA.

Wednesday: Glorious Mysteries of the Rosary with Fr. Theodore Hesburg; Mr. Fred Rogers and a Catholic College; Theology and the Lord of the Rings; Holy Lives: St. Francis Xavier Cabrini.

Thursday: Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary; Three-Minute Theologian.

Friday: Rosary for Vocations; Sorrowful Mysteries; Film Piracy and the Oscars; Pro-Life Pictures. Todos Los Santos – All Saints’ Day

Hundreds join to honor the saints and pray for their dead at Holy Cross

More than 1000 people attended an All Saints’ Day – Todos Los Santos Mass celebrated by Archbishop William J. Levada at Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery in Colma last Saturday. The day also served as an All Souls’ celebration, with those attending the Mass and many others taking the opportunity to visit and decorate the graves of their loved ones throughout the cemetery.

The venue and setting for this year’s All Saint’s Day Mass vividly incorporated the celebration of the Archdiocese’ 150th anniversary. Mass was celebrated on the altar in the center of Holy Cross mausoleum. To the left and right behind the altar are the crypts of the former Archbishops of San Francisco and in front are those of former auxiliary Bishops. Worshiper’s spread out in the halls of crypts radiating from the altar. Archbishop Levada used, for the first time, the “cathedra” or bishop’s chair of San Francisco’s first Archbishop, Joseph Sadoc Alemany.

In his homily, Archbishop Levada relayed his recent participation in the ceremony declaring Mother Teresa of Calcutta a Blessed at Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome. Archbishop Levada said “we think of Mother Teresa as woman who epitomizes what it means to be a saint because she drew close to Jesus . . . and brought Him with her into every part of her life reaching out to the needs of the poor, the sick and the dying.” Archbishop Levada thought to himself at the beatification, “I’m no mother Teresa,” and wondered, “Is there any hope for me?” The Archbishop answered, “of course there is, and there is hope for all of you and all of us as we take daily our steps through our lives seeking to meditate on the beatitudes.” The beatitudes speak about an ideal person, and “that person is Jesus Christ,” he said.

“Sainthood means letting Jesus Christ into our lives; letting him take over our lives by His grace, transform us day by day, step by step. It doesn’t happen all at once,” he said. Archbishop Levada said we must let Jesus change us “through the sacraments, through our conversion and repentance for sin, through the Eucharist; when He comes into communion with us again and again.” God is preparing us “through our pilgrim journey to know Jesus and to let ourselves become one with Jesus,” so that then marked with the blood of the “Lamb of Sacrifice,” we will be marked as those “Saints who are one with Jesus,” he said.

The Stained Glass Artistry of Carl Huneke

By Terry Blaine

Saint Vincent de Paul Church was completed in 1913, just twelve years after the parish was founded, and just seven years after the great San Francisco earthquake of 1906. The architects, Frank T. Shea and John D. Lofquist, designed a structure with campanile, using brick and California redwood, with the opportunity for art glass effects. Although described as “modified Gothic,” the church would be very much at home in an alpine village. Its steep roof, deep overhangs, and prominent bell tower provide a unique, pleasing contrast to the Victorian and early 20th century buildings in the neighborhood.

The art glass effects envisioned by the architects would take a long time to complete, but they would be worth the wait. More than thirty years, and two World Wars after the church was dedicated, work on the stained glass windows began.

Father James H. Long, the pastor of Saint Vincent de Paul, had a clear idea of the theme for the windows. The designer/craftsman selected to create the windows was an unknown San Franciscan, Carl Huneke. Mr. Huneke was born in Achim bei Bremen, Germany in 1898. He started his stained glass career as a 13-year-old apprentice in Bremen, Germany. He was a bright student who had been offered a scholarship to continue his academic studies. But, he had to contribute to his family’s income, since his mother was a widow with nine children. He loved art and eagerly applied himself to stained glass. In 1925, he immigrated to San Francisco, and was employed by Edward La Potka at Church Art Glass Studio. For the next several years, Mr. Huneke studied English and oil painting at night school. He prospered in his occupation until the Depression, and then there was no work in stained glass for several years. To survive the Depression, Mr. Huneke and his wife, Lee, started a small neighborhood grocery store.

The one brief bright spot during the Depression years occurred in 1931. Charles Connick, the renowned Boston stained glass artist, created stained glass windows for Grace Cathedral. By chance, he hired Carl Huneke from the union hall to assist in the installation of those windows. From that incidental contact, the two men developed great respect for each other.

In the late 1930’s, stained glass work revived and Mr. Huneke was called back to work at Church Art Glass. He soon became principal artist for that firm. During creation of windows for Saint Mary of the Annunciation Church in Stockton (now Cathedral of the Annunciation), the imperious Monsignor William E. McGough fired the firm, but insisted that Carl Huneke stay on to complete the windows in the church.

Reluctantly, Carl Huneke acquiesced, and the Century Stained Glass Studio was born. The stained glass windows created by Mr. Huneke for the new Saint Mary’s were a great success, partly because the charming young principal of the grammar school, Sister Maurice Powers, O. P., mediated between the demanding monsignor and the quiet, humble artist who spoke with an accent. Sister Maurice became a life long mentor and confidante to Mr. Huneke and his family.

Work on Saint Mary of the Annunciation was not quite complete when Mr. Huneke accepted the task of putting Father Long’s visions for Saint Vincent de Paul into glass, paint and lead. It was Charles Connick who had recommended Carl Huneke for the job. The contract for the first window was signed in November 1944. Father Long liked the Gothic Revival windows proposed by Mr. Huneke. They agreed that the color tones should be dominantly blue. Mr. Huneke experimented with 8 x 10 black and white photos of existing stained glass windows. Using a fine tipped camel hair brush, he applied enamel paint to each individual segment of glass in the photo to achieve the balance of blue, with red, yellow and green accents. Several of those experimental miniatures still exist.

Century Stained Glass Studio was located in a tiny space at 374 Fillmore Street. That space was sufficient for a workshop large enough to lay out individual sections of the large windows at St. Mary of the Annunciation and Saint Vincent de Paul, but was not large enough for an entire window. The same was true for the glass easel, which stood upright in the shop. Each piece of glass was waxed onto that easel, was painted or stained, then was removed for firing in a kiln to fuse the stain permanently into the glass. Great care was taken to match the continuity of the panels in geometry, color and intensity without ever seeing them together until the final installation in the church. The shop was too small for the kiln. It was located in the back room of their grocery store at the corner of Page and Lyon Streets. Mr. Huneke had built the kiln himself with advice from Charles Connick and assistance from an engineer at P. G. and E. Through ingenuity and diligence, Mr. Huneke surmounted the challenges of starting a new stained glass business during the war years. He found lead and solder for the windows when metal was scarce. He arranged gasoline for transportation when it was rationed. He got shipments of glass from the East Coast when rail and highway shipping space had military priorities. All new stencils for borders and backgrounds for the windows were cut square inch by square inch. He completed research into the accoutrements, symbols, icons, colors, and representations traditionally presented with each saint or event depicted.

Mr. Huneke bought a second hand projector. Each night at home, he projected his small pencil sketches or pictures gleaned from reference sources onto the wall of their rented flat in the Haight-Ashbury. The image, projected onto a large sheet of blank butcher paper tacked to the wall, was resketched full window size for the cartoon. The cartoon became the plan for cutting the glass and assembling the window.

The first window installed at St. Vincent de Paul was the Christ the King window in the choir loft at the rear (south wall) of the church. It was a triptych – three panels in each opening with borders, accents, and a rosette at the apex. The panels include both Old Testament and New Testament events relating to The King of Kings. The central figure is Christ, garbed in red, with arms extended overhead. This window is one of only a dozen or so signed windows.

The Nativity window in the west transept and the Crucifixion window in the east transept followed. Like the Christ the King window, the Nativity and the Crucifixion are triptychs, consisting of nine panels. Old Testament prophesies of the event are on the left, and New Testament fulfillments of the event are on the right.

The center panel of the Nativity window is a lovely scene of Mary and Joseph in the stable with the Christ Child resting, comfortable and secure in the manger. Mary’s expression is serene and adoring. Joseph is relieved, protective and watchful. These figures exhibit the trademarks of Carl Huneke’s artistry: soft angelic faces, graceful hands, and flowing folds in garb.

In the Crucifixion window, the central panel shows a dying Christ on the cross. His spirit, about to leave his body radiates outward to heaven and earth. Beneath the cross, his stricken mother is comforted in her grief, and the Apostle, John, implores compassion.

Each of these three windows, Christ the King, The Nativity, and The Crucifixion, is larger than an average living room. The overall dimensions are approximately 20 feet wide by 25 feet high. They each contain more than 3000 individual pieces of glass carefully held in place by H bars of lead, soldered securely to the surrounding pieces. Many of the individual pieces of glass have been painted with stain or black to produce the intricate patterns or shading through which the artist develops the scene. The scale of these three windows is equal to windows in the great cathedrals of Europe. The artistry and the message of each of these three windows at Saint Vincent de Paul, fulfills the concept of those thousand year old windows in Europe.

Thirty-nine stained glass windows were completed by 1948, and the intent of the architects’ had been fulfilled. But the work continued. Two more windows were added in the bell tower between 1958 and 1960. In 1961, the final touch was the addition of 36 leaded panels in the front doors. These small panels are exquisite graphic art as well as a tantalizing treat for the eye. The bold cames of lead form the letters A, M, and V for Ave Maria, Virgin Mary and Vincent. Each panel, less than two and one half square feet, contains more than 300 individual pieces of glass. This masterpiece of architectural glass may be unsurpassed in any church in the world. Upon entry to the church, the radiant beauty of these panels is reflected in the clear glass screen separating the vestibule from the nave. They are also the last vision upon leaving the church.

This was only the second church in which Mr. Huneke designed and installed windows. During the 30-year existence of Century Stained Glass Studio, he went on to create about 1200 windows in 80 churches. Most of those were Catholic churches in the Archdiocese of San Francisco, including St. Rita, Fairfax; Our Lady of Angels, Burlingame; St. Timothy, San Mateo; St. Sebastian, Greenbrae; St. Anthony of Padua, Menlo Park and the Carmelite Monastery of Cristo Rey in San Francisco.

One of Mr. Huneke’s most interesting achievements was the windows at St. Stephen’s church in San Francisco, in which he experimented with a new type of stained glass. In Europe, innovative French artists had added a new dimension to stained glass by using thick slabs of glass for modern creations. The glass, called dalle-de-verre, is one inch thick. The sheets of glass used for traditional stained glass are little more than 1/8th inch thick. When chipped on the edges, the thick glass produces conchoidal fractures, which refract the light to produce a brilliant gem-like depth, much like those legendary stones of the ancients.

Dalle-de-verre windows in America were introduced in the mid 1950’s by French designers. By 1959, Carl Huneke, began experimenting with dalle-de-verre creations. He had worked in baroque, German style, and Gothic revival stained glass windows for more than forty years, and was eager to try this new medium. By 1962, he began installing faceted dalle-de-verre windows at Saint Stephen Church on Eucalyptus Drive in the Lakeside Park district of San Francisco. The theme of the windows included the Joyful, Sorrowful, and Glorious Mysteries, and saints selected by the pastor, and the many donors of individual windows. The effect of entering Saint Stephen Church is like stepping into a jewel box.

Mr. Huneke’s family were parishioners of Saint Stephen since the parish was founded in 1950. A new church was built in 1962. Architect Fred Houweling designed the Spanish mission style church with dalle-de-verre windows in mind. Father Joseph A. Donworth, Pastor, admired Mr. Huneke’s traditional stained glass windows, but liked the concept of the modern dalle-de-verre samples which Mr. Huneke showed him.

Mr. Huneke’s first experiments with dalle-de verre glass were disappointing. The glass pieces were crude because the glass was difficult to cut. Mr. Huneke purchased a tile saw with diamond blades. The pieces of glass could then be accurately cut to small sizes for intricate artistic designs.

Working with a new medium, Mr. Huneke could not rely on his skill with traditional stained glass windows to satisfy his own artistic vision. First, he made miniature pencil sketches of each window in proportions which could be expanded to the full size of the window. Several copies of each allowed him to experiment with combinations until the right proportions of light and dark, color and contrast, and pleasing composition of the scene had been achieved. Full size copies of the miniature sketches for the Nativity window at Saint Stephen’s are shown.

Next a full size cartoon, the plan for the window was drawn. If the window was very large, the cartoon was cut to size of one or two panels within a window. Each piece of glass was shown in the cartoon, which served as the cutting guide for the glass. Sometimes a touch of watercolor was brushed onto the cartoon to indicate the color selection for an individual piece of glass. Next, the cartoon was laid out on a work table. A transparent sheet was taped over the cartoon then a 1 inch frame of wood exactly the size and shape of the finished panel was nailed down, holding the cartoon and transparent sheet in place. A dalle of the proper color was selected, and a piece of glass was cut to shape by diamond saw or glass cutter. Then facets were created by striking the edge or top face of the glass with a small hammer. After all the pieces within a panel were cut, they were arranged precisely on the cartoon. One by one, each piece was lifted out, liquid latex was applied to the bottom and the piece was glued onto the transparent sheet in the place indicated by the cartoon beneath.

When several Saint Stephen’s windows had been completed, Mr. Huneke evaluated the results. He searched further for techniques to perfect the most difficult part of any window – the faces. He felt that his artistry was limited by the straight cuts of the diamond saw. He suddenly realized that by using the flat face of the saw blade, along with the edge, he could produce curved concave cuts in small pieces of glass. His first success with that technique is shown in the mesmerizing eyes of Saint John Vianney, in a small window next to the pews on the right in Saint Stephen’s. Mr. Huneke’s mastery of the modern medium, faceted dalle-de-verre was now complete.

Each of the 36 windows at Saint Stephen’s is compelling. From the moment you enter the church, your eyes are immediately drawn to these radiant creations. On the way out, take time to look at the Coronation of the Blessed Virgin Mary window located in the choir. Even though each element of the window is bold, the faces and garments draw the composition together gracefully. Father Donworth’s favorite window was Saint Patrick, donated by his family. It is located in the southeast stairwell to the choir.

Mr. Huneke went on to create faceted dalle-de-verre windows in eleven other churches or chapels in the Bay Area. Terry Blaine, is a businessman in Menlo Park. He occasionally assisted his father-in-law, Carl Huneke at Century Stained Glass Studio, and in installations of windows. Over the past 12 years, as time permitted, he researched and photographed Mr. Huneke’s stained glass windows.

This is one in a year-long series of articles marking the 150th anniversary of the Archdiocese of San Francisco. Jeffrey Burns, archdiocesan archivist and author of a history of the Archdiocese, is coordinating the series.

Two weeks ago, a woman named Sharan Falotico died at the University of California at San Francisco hospital after a lengthy illness.

She is remembered by those who knew her as a brave and intelligent woman who exhibited great strength in dealing with the burdens of her debilitating illness and difficult life. She earned everyone’s respect by her integrity, sensitivity and compassion. She also had a very clear and very strong sense of righteousness. Sharan Falotico was a victim-survivor of clergy sexual abuse.

Describing the “Circle of Healing-Apology Ceremony,” which was planned by the Archdiocese of San Francisco and the No More Secrets group of victim-survivors, San Francisco Chronicle reporter Elizabeth Fernanadez wrote in June:

“For about three hours, survivors — men and women — one by one told their stories, profoundly painful accounts of innocence lost, faith shredded, power abused. They said they carried a lifetime of trauma instilled by their perpetrators and sharpened by church officials who ignored them or refused to believe them.

“Sharan Falotico described being repeatedly raped by a priest, her Latin instructor, when she was 13 and living in a small town in Ohio. She said she later learned that church officials had knowingly transferred the assailant to her town after he’d raped another young girl. When she later confronted one of the officials, he had the audacity and arrogance to (say) ‘It’s my understanding that you seduced him.’”

Sharan Falotico said that although those events took place 53 years ago, she was still dealing with the fallout. The sexual abuse that Sharan suffered as a child had marked her life and remained a cause of great pain.

In describing her ordeal, she said, “God must weep as he watches what his representatives do in his name.” Yet Sharan was not willing to be a victim forever. She became a survivor with a passion to tell her story so that other girls — other children — would not suffer, as had she and other abuse survivors.

Sharan was a member of the No More Secrets group of abuse survivors, which has provided extraordinary insight into the pain and long-lasting trauma of clergy sexual abuse. She went to tremendous efforts to come to the No More Secrets meetings at the Archdiocesan Pastoral Center. She brought with her an unselfish concern for her fellow abuse victim-survivors. Sharan had a righteous anger. Her anger was not that something had happened to her, but that this was allowed to happen to untold children.

In a letter to the San Francisco Chronicle four months before she died, Sharan wrote:

“How did sexual abuse become a Catholic story? … What about schools, hospitals, the Boy Scouts? …difficult questions to answer? No. Pedophiles in schools, hospitals and the Boy Scouts do not present themselves as representatives of God on Earth. All pedophilia is horrific. But the Catholic religion teaches Catholics that priests are in a special elite class, representing God on Earth. Catholic children are taught to revere, trust and obey priests above all others. The face of God is painted on the priest perpetrators. Using the face of God, the priest betrays the child’s trust and sexually invades the home of the child’s soul. The overwhelming devastation to the child’s body and mind pales in comparison to the devastation to the child’s spirit. That is why sexual abuse of children is a Catholic story.”

The memory of Sharan Falotico should not pass from our minds. As the Catholic Church in America implements the comprehensive steps of the “Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People,” which was approved last year by U.S. Bishops, a woman named Sharan Falotico stands sentinel to these actions. Her testimony of abuse by a priest and dismissal by Church officials should not be allowed to weaken in our memories.

Sharan Falotico and all of the victims of child sexual abuse — committed by clergy, Church employees or anyone else – ask us to work tirelessly to bring an end to the scourge of abuse. MEH