November 8, 2013 by Catholic San Francisco

‘ART OF DYING’:

RETIRED PRIESTS:

‘The last act of living well is dying well’

500 gather to honor retired clergy

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MISSIONERS: Mission group hopes to re-evangelize faithful in Asia

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CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO Newspaper of the Archdiocese of San Francisco

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NOVEMBER 8, 2013

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East Palo Alto parishioners join hands in housing battle EDISON TAPALLA CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO

With Internet giant Facebook moving its headquarters to the area and the Silicon Valley tech boom pushing up land prices, East Palo Alto is becoming a battleground between real estate investors and local residents struggling to maintain the city’s social and economic diversity. In what is seen as a fight against gentrification, St. Francis of Assisi Parish is playing a key role as a group of parishioners opens dialogue to find common ground between the Peninsula city’s AfricanAmerican and Latino communities. Many African-American property owners and Latino renters have been at odds over the issue of

All Souls’ Day prayers at cemetery

SEE EAST PALO ALTO, PAGE 20

Dominican Sister Maria Catherine Toon is pictured at Holy Cross Cemetery, Colma, Nov. 2 before the All Souls’ Day Mass celebrated by Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone. In the morning before the Mass, a group of Dominican sisters walked silently among the graves praying.

Bishops asked to assess marriage, family life

Mater Dolorosa to build light-filled confessional inside church

CINDY WOODEN CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE

VATICAN CITY – Bishops around the world are being asked to take a realistic look at the situation of families under their care and at how effective pastoral and educational programs have been at promoting church teaching on sexuality, marriage and family life. The preparatory document for the extraordinary Synod of Bishops on the family, which will be held in October 2014, ends with 38 quesPope Francis tions about how church teaching is promoted, how well it is accepted and ways in which modern people and societies challenge the Catholic view of marriage and family. Archbishop Lorenzo Baldisseri, general secretary of the synod, asked bishops to distribute the document SEE SYNOD, PAGE 20

(PHOTO BY EDISON TAPALLA/CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO)

VALERIE SCHMALZ CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO

Mater Dolorosa’s pastor is building a confessional inside the South San Francisco church – restoring the penitential sacrament to the church interior about 30 years after it was removed to a storage room off the church foyer. “This is a very important significant sacrament, a vehicle of God’s mercy and love for us,” said pastor Father Rolando De la Rosa. He hopes the new light-filled confessional room –with opportunities for both private and faceto-face confession– will be ready for the Advent season, which begins Dec. 1. “My focus was to make it available to all penitents, to make available the great mercy and love of God,” Father De la Rosa said, recalling a man in a wheelchair who fortunately was willing to make a face-to-face confession because there was no way for him to receive the sacrament privately.

The existing room is also difficult for elderly and disabled people with canes and walkers to use, he said. The red/green light isn’t clearly visible, so at times confessions have been interrupted by a waiting penitent. In addition, Father De la Rosa said some parishioners have told him: “I don’t even know where the confessional is.” The new confessional will be in the far back corner of the church interior, with a glass roof to let in the natural light filtered through the stained glass windows that line the top of the church wall. A fixed wall between confessor and penitent will include a sliding grille that allows the penitent to choose face-to-face confession while remaining physically separate on the other side. The pastor is particularly delighted with the glass roof “to get the rays of the sun.” “A confessional is a place to have peace, of course SEE CONFESSION, PAGE 20

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CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | NOVEMBER 8, 2013

Gen X priests: ‘God still calls’ CHRISTINA M. GRAY CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO

A high-spirited team of young Dominican priests represent a new generation of ministry and evangelization at St. Dominic Parish in San Francisco, says new pastor Dominican Father Michael Hurley, 36. Father Hurley was installed as the 140-year-old church’s 27th pastor this fall. He replaced longtime pastor Father Xavier Lavagetto, who left in July to become the Stanford University Catholic chaplain. “This is an exciting and daunting adventure,” said Father Hurley, about returning to San Francisco to step into the sandals of Father Xavier, a pastor widely credited with the growth and vitality of St. Dominic parish during his 13-year tenure. “There’s such a wonderful history in this parish,” Father Hurley said. “But it feels as if there’s a new page before us. And in some ways, it’s allowing God to write this page through us.” “Us” is Father Hurley, 34-year-old Dominican Father Isaiah Mary Molano and 39-year-old Dominican Father Emmanuel Taylor. The young priests, ordained six years, three years and one year ago respectively, knew each other in overlapping years at St. Albert’s seminary in Berkeley. In a group interview the trio revealed a natural and at times jocular collegiality they say is rooted in their shared

Dominican Father Michael Hurley, left, converses with Dominican Father Isaiah Mary Molano and Dominican Father Emmanuel Taylor. The three are the new pastoral leadership at St. Dominic Parish in San Francisco. Dominican identity and generational perspective. “In a sense, we have the same family history,” says Father Hurley, a boyish, bearlike figure with a booming voice and a steady grin. “We each represent the totality of the (Dominican) order and the parish.” Father Hurley, who was ordained at St. Dominic in 2007 and served his first priestly assignment for a year under Father Lavagetto, spent the last four

years as a parish priest at St. Dominic in Benicia before returning to San Francisco this year. The new pastor says he wants the preaching at St. Dominic in San Francisco, a large parish with 23 Masses each week, to be intentional and reflective of their community. “It’s not just what we are saying in the pulpit that reflects our Dominican identity, it’s also how we interact with one another,” Father Hurley said. “What

fuels everything we do comes from a normal, healthy and connected place. We are a bunch of average, 30-something guys often teasing one another and enjoying each other’s company.” The young priests are members of Generation X, a term that describes those born after the post-World War II baby boom ended. According to Fathers Hurley, Taylor and Molano, this shared demographic distinction colors their walk and talk. Father Molano said each generation has its own language and the term evangelization means different things to different generations. “We as a team have the same understanding, and we can translate that to a certain dynamism,” he said. That will probably mean stepping out together more, evangelizing in their Dominican habits, Father Taylor added. Father Hurley sees the new evangelization as the team’s ministry, but says he understands that concept not as the Protestant, door-to-door kind, but as a way of “equipping parishioners to evangelize by showing the world the best version of ourselves.” According to Father Hurley, the youthful new Dominican team has unwittingly accomplished something big before it has even gotten started – a revived hope in the future of the priesthood. “It’s important for the parish to see younger priests,” he said, “to know that the vocation is still relevant and that God still calls.”

Catholic San Francisco’s eEdition is live CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO

Catholic San Francisco is now publishing an interactive, digital replica of the archdiocesan newspaper. Computer users, go to http://eedition. catholic-sf.org/Olive/ODE/SFArchdiocese for the desktop version of the eEdition, which also features a side window with selections from the latest content from the paper’s website, catholic-sf.org. Mobile device and tablet users, go to http://eedition.catholic-sf.org/Olive/ Tablet/SFArchdiocese for the eEdition mobile application. Many readers now download a PDF of the print paper from the Digital Paper page at catholic-sf.org. That feature will still be available at the same time

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the new evangelization theme of the Year of Faith that ends later this month, the new technology also gives a means to proclaim the faith beyond our print subscriber base. The new publication is not only a new means of delivery but also a way to extend our Catholic content without the expense of printing and home delivery. Some issues of eEdition will carry bonus advertising and editorial features. And if important news breaks, we can deliver a CSF special issue within hours. The low cost and flexibility of the eEdition opens a new horizon of collaboration between the paper and content providers. For example, pastoral ministries of the archdiocese may be interested in working with the paper

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CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | NOVEMBER 8, 2013

‘Art of Dying’: Seminar embraces the end of life CHRISTINA M. GRAY CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO

Even for Catholics for whom death represents a new life in heaven, thinking about or planning for that transition is so uncomfortable it often goes ignored – a reality St. Dominic Parish is hoping to change. “We live in a death-denying culture,” said Dominican Father Patrick O’Neil, director of Vallombrosa Retreat Center and a former hospice worker. “Americans in particular don’t like to think about Father Patrick the impermanence of their lives.” O’Neil, OP It is estimated that at least half of all Americans do not have a will. Father O’Neil was one of two guest speakers for “The Art of Dying,” a free seminar hosted by the parish’s Spiritual Life and Liturgical Commission Nov. 2 and attended by an overflow crowd of 150. Opening with a prayer, Father O’Neil said that both the cause and consequence of ignoring or postponing end-of-life issues on either a spiritual or practical level is fear. He urged participants to remember that “the last act of living well is dying well” and that end-of-life planning is a great gift to others who can be left with both emotional and financial turmoil in the absence of proper plans.

“Ninety percent of us will have the time to reflect and spiritually prepare for our own deaths,” said Father O’Neil, who shared the often-heard concerns of dying people – a lack of worthiness of God’s love and a need for forgiveness. He used the parable of the prodigal son to illustrate God’s mercy and limitless love. “The degree to which you can understand and accept this Gospel is the degree to which you will have a happy death,” he added. “The Art of Dying” series, which continues throughout the month of November, was born out of the death of a parishioner last year. She was gone two days before anyone in the parish knew. “No one should die alone,” said Ivi Fandino, spokeswoman for the 12-member commission galvanized by that death to create a more supportive and involved parish community from birth to the end of life. Fandino said the series this month is the first part of a three-phase program that will work to merge new ministries for the sick and dying with existing ones, educate the parish community about sacramental anointing and include it in more Masses. “There is a misconception that the sacrament of the sick is only for people on their deathbed,” she said. “This is not true. We hope to teach our parishioners about the importance of this sacrament: what it is, who can receive it and when and how.” Don Fitzgerald, an attorney and a St. Dominic pa-

rishioner, shouldered the practical aspect of death preparation by opening his presentation with the statement: “Everyone should think of himself or herself as terminally ill.” In other words, it is never too early to plan for your death. The kinds of people who make advance plans for their death can be a surprise, he said, using his brothers who predeceased him as an example. “My younger brother died of AIDS and was very prepared and organized; my older brother was a lawyer and had cancer and he wasn’t prepared at all,” he said. Fitzgerald led participants through a folder that included samples of essential legal documents such as wills, trusts, durable power of attorney and advanced health care directives. “Dying often causes people to focus on living more fully,” said Father O’Neil in conclusion. “Dying has a lot to teach us. It’s a shame to wait until you are dying to find out.” Here is “The Art of Dying” schedule for November. All programs are free and located in the St. Dominic Parish hall, 2390 Bush St., San Francisco, unless otherwise noted. Space is limited and registration is required. Email info@stdominics.org or call (415) 567-7824. “Funeral Planning,” Nov. 9, 9 a.m.; “Grieving,” Nov. 16, 9 a.m.;“Dead Dominicans Come Alive,” Nov. 23, 9 a.m-5 p.m., St. Dominic Cemetery, Benicia (fee).

4 ON THE STREET WHERE YOU LIVE

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | NOVEMBER 8, 2013

Faith life’s best companion TOM BURKE CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO

The old spiritual about a “closer walk with thee” may well be the crux of “Alive in the Spirit,” a faith formation conference Nov. 22, 23 sponsored by the Archdiocese of San Francisco and the dioceses of Oakland, Stockton, San Jose and Monterey. Kyle Lierk, campus minister, Junipero Serra High School; Dan Baer, religious studies instructor, Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory, and Missy Kyle Lierk Sundblad, master catechist, St. James Parish, San Francisco, are among the presenters. Kyle has been Serra’s campus minister for seven years and puts witnessing the faith development of youths among the greatest rewards of the work. He is a veteran of the Jesuit Volunteer Corps and holds a graduate degree from the Jesuit School Dan Baer of Theology in Berkeley. Kyle’s workshop will focus on the spirituality of the Catholic educator. “The greatest impact on the faith life of a teenager is the faith life of their parents and other meaningful adults in their lives,” Kyle told me. His presentation offers a reflection on the power that reality holds for those who care about youth. Kyle was a teenager when he had a spiritual awakening on a diocesan retreat. “I continue to refer to that experience as foundational in my faith life as a Catholic and in my relationship with God.” Parents and families can best encourage the “faith-lazy” teenager by not becoming lazy in the faith themselves, Kyle said. “I strongly encourage parents to engage the questions their child may have about God, affirm wherever they are on the journey, and offer an authentic model of discipleship with how they live their lives.” Dan Baer holds a graduate degree in theology from St. Louis University. He has been teaching for 15 years and is a former head of the theology department at San Francisco’s Archbishop Riordan High School. “Head, Heart and Hands,” the workshop Dan will help lead is about discipleship, he told me. The talk focuses on discipleship cited in the 25th chapter of Matthew’s Gospel – caring for others cares for Christ. “When these Gospel passages are properly understood, made part of the prayer life of the student and school, and become reality in actual service, then the Gospel is both understood and lived by the student,” Dan said. Teens grow apathetic if not sensing the cur-

BREAKING BREAD: Service to the poor during the last 170 years would have been truly without save for the ministry of the St. Vincent de Paul Society. SVdP’s history and hard work often amid desperate times were the focus of a Vincentian Family Mass and dinner Oct. 20 at St. Mary’s Cathedral. Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone, pictured here with Daughter of Charity Sister Marjory Ann Baez, and Vincentian Father Andy Bellisario, was principal celebrant and homilist. Almost 200 Vincentians shared in the afternoon.

STELLA MARIS: Mary’s light on the water shines especially bright at Madonna del Lume Society events each October at Fisherman’s Wharf that include a blessing of boats and prayer for those lost at sea. Sicilian fishing families began the devotion in 1935. Pictured from left are young women chosen to represent the long-standing work: Shannon Sanfilippo, maiden; Queen Lauren Cresci-Meyers, and Adrian Alioto-Suarez, outgoing queen. riculum and its presentation apply to their lives, Dan said, and it’s not enough to simply wield the grade as a reward. “The religious instructor must not settle for a situation where the student aces the classes and forgets the material. These are the classes that we intend the students

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to ‘take with them’ into the world.” Teaching theology interests Dan because it provides a setting in which students are encouraged to ask ultimate questions concerning salvation, morality, the sacred, or justice issues “that shape the vision we have for our society and civilization,” he said. Missy Sundblad, master catechist, St. James Parish, San Francisco, said right at the top of her interview that she “entered the Catholic Church at Easter Vigil of 1999” and started teaching religious education just a few months later. Missy’s workshop will address “engaging the children in activities related to the topics we teach without using ditto forms as busy work.” The title of the talk – “All My Students Showed up – Now What?” – comes from Missy’s own experience. “I remember having the children show up, many more than had originally registered and I felt like a deer in the headlights,” she said. “These were fourth graders with lots of energy who had come back to school on a Saturday after they had already spent five days in school.” The children are the best part of the ministry, Missy said. “I never know what will come out of their mouths.” Visit www.faithformationconference. com. Email items and electronic pictures – jpegs at no less than 300 dpi to burket@sfarchdiocese.org or mail to Street, One Peter Yorke Way, San Francisco 94109. Include a follow-up phone number. Street is toll-free. My phone number is (415) 614-5634.

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CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | NOVEMBER 8, 2013

Founder of Sisters of Presentation on sainthood path VALERIE SCHMALZ CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO

The founder of the Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, one of the pioneering orders of the Archdiocese of San Francisco, was declared venerable by Pope Francis Oct. 31. Sister Honora â€œNanoâ€? Nagle lived a life of â€œheroic virtue,â€? Pope Francis stated, one of four people declared venerable Oct. 31. Sister â€œNanoâ€?

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founded the Sisters of the Presentation in 1775, and established schools to teach poor Irish children in defiance of English penal laws that forbade teaching Irish children to read or write or about the Catholic faith. Born in 1718 to a wealthy Cork family, she died in 1784, having spent all her fortune on the poor. â€œItâ€™s exciting for us to have her recognized by the universal church,â€? said Presentation Sister Presentation Stephanie Still, president of the Sister Honora order. â€œWe have taught generaâ€œNanoâ€? Nagle tions of women and men in San Francisco so we have a rich tradition and history here.â€? The Sisters of the Presentation first came to San Francisco in 1854 to establish schools in the wake of the Gold Rush. After the 1906 earthquake and fire, which destroyed their convents and schools, the sisters taught at the Salesian refugee school at Sts. Peter and Paul and at camps set up in Golden Gate Park. Most recently, the sisters taught at St. Anne of the Sunset, and now-closed St. Agnes

School and Presentation High School. Another branch, the Union of the Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, is active in St. Robert Parish. Today the director of consecrated life for the archdiocese is the orderâ€™s vice president, Presentation Sister Rosina Conrotto, who said, â€œI have always considered myself blessed to be a daughter of Nano Nagle, a woman of courage, integrity and deep prayer.â€? Pope Francis also recognized the heroic virtue of Mother Celestine Bottego, founder of the Xaverian Missionary Sisters of Mary, who was born in Ohio in 1895 and died in Italy in 1944 as well as Sister Olga Gugelmo, one of the first members of an Italy-based religious order, the Daughters of the Church, who died in 1943. Pope Francis recognized the martyrdom in Communist-controlled Romania of Bishop Anton Durcovici of Iasi, Romania, in 1951, which clears the way for his beatification. While beatification requires a recognized miracle, those who are martyred can be canonized without miracles.

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San Rafaelâ€™s Free Dining Room, a work of the St. Vincent de Paul Society of Marin County for more than 30 years, is in dire need of turkey and other meats to prepare the more than 40,000 meals the facility is serving in November and December alone. â€œWeâ€™re asking the public to help create a nice holiday for a lot of people experiencing very serious hardship this year,â€? said Suzanne Walker, SVdP associate director. The dining room has provided complete Thanksgiving and Christmas meals to Marinâ€™s low

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CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | NOVEMBER 8, 2013

Court OKs admitting privileges for Texas abortion doctors CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE

AUSTIN, Texas – A panel of judges on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Oct. 31 that a provision in a Texas law requiring abortion doctors to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital can take effect. The panel made the ruling three days after Judge Lee Yeakel of the U.S. District Court in Austin said the provision was unconstitutional. The judges on the 5th Circuit said the provision can be carried out while a lawsuit challenging the abortion law’s restrictions moves forward. The U.S. Supreme Court, they said, has held that having “the incidental effect of making it more difficult or more expensive to procure an abortion cannot be enough to invalidate” a law that serves a valid purpose, “one not designed to strike at the right itself.” Yeakel argued that requiring admitting privileges would unreasonably limit a woman’s access to abortion. The provision, he said in his ruling, was “without a rational basis and places a substantial obstacle in the path of a woman seeking an abortion of a nonviable fetus.” His decision was appealed by Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, who argued that the state Legislature was well within its constitutional rights to require admitting privileges. “We were disappointed in part of (Yeakel’s) ruling,” said Jeff Patterson, executive director of the Texas Catholic Conference, in an Oct. 29 telephone interview with Catholic News Service. “But the one thing I think the Catholic bishops would want to underscore to people is that most of the bill that was passed by the Legislature was upheld,” Patterson said. Yeakel upheld a second provision that requires doctors to use a particular drug protocol in nonsurgical, medication-induced abortions.

The Texas law requires doctors to use a protocol approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2000, which allowed the use of higher doses of the medication through the seventh week of pregnancy. Yeakel ruled that requiring the protocol did not pose an unconstitutional obstacle, except in cases where the new regimen appeared necessary to save the life or health of the mother. The regimen calls for two drugs to be used to induce an abortion, and the Texas law requires they be administered in person by a doctor within the first 49 days of pregnancy as determined by the woman’s last menstrual period. Yeakel did find – and the 5th Circuit did leave in place this finding – that an exception to the statemandated use of abortion-inducing drugs would be allowable for a subset of women whose physicians’ “sound medical opinion” say that a newer regimen would be the only viable option for women needing abortion between the 50th and 63rd days of pregnancy. “Planned Parenthood and the pro-abortion community were quick to say (Yeakel’s decision) was a huge overturning of the law when it was nothing of the sort,” Patterson told CNS. The suit, brought by the American Civil Liberties Union, the Center for Reproductive Rights, Planned Parenthood and the owners of abortion clinics in Texas, did not challenge a ban on nearly all abortions starting at 20 weeks after conception. The ban took effect Oct. 29. Also not challenged in the suit was a provision that all abortion clinics meet the standards of ambulatory surgery centers. The provision does not take effect until next September. Yeakel said the ultimate decision on the law would not be reached by him, but “by either the (5th) Circuit or the Supreme Court of the United States.”

CARDINAL: DISCLOSE ABORTION COVERAGE

WASHINGTON – Boston Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley urged Congress to support the Abortion Insurance Full Disclosure Act, a measure that would require health plans to disclose if they subsidize abortion coverage. He said the legislation would address one part of the abortion-related problem in the Affordable Care Act. In his Nov. 1 letter, the cardinal pointed out that under the federal health care law – unless state law requires otherwise – each insurer may choose whether to include coverage of elective abortions in health plans it offers on a state health exchange. He noted that if the insurer does cover such abortions, the overall health plan may still receive federal tax subsidies, which he said violates the policies governing all other federal health programs.

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8 NATIONAL

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | NOVEMBER 8, 2013

Court rules on religious rights of for-profit entities PATRICIA ZAPOR CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE

WASHINGTON –The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled Nov. 1 that two Catholic brothers from Ohio were wrongly denied a preliminary injunction exempting them from providing contraceptive coverage in employee health insurance, sending the case back to a lower court. Their business, however, is not entitled to the same religious rights exemption as the brothers, the court said. In a 2-1 decision released Nov. 1, the circuit court said Francis and Philip Gilardi, owners of Freshway Foods and Freshway Logistics, were wrongly denied an injunction individually, but that the District Court was right to deny an injunc-

tion to their company. In short, the court found that the brothers have rights under the Free Exercise clause of the First Amendment that their for-profit company does not. The case, Gilardi v. HHS, is one among many cases challenging the requirement in the Affordable Care Act that most employers must provide coverage for contraceptives in employee health insurance. The Gilardis, who are Catholic, told the court that they have moral objections to artificial birth control and have previously declined to include that in insurance for their 400 employees. “The contraceptive mandate demands that owners like the Gilardis meaningfully approve and endorse the inclusion of contraceptive coverage in their companies’ employer-provided plans, over whatever

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Doors open at 2:30pm ~ Service will begin promptly at 3:00pm In keeping with the Holiday spirit, we ask each family to bring an unwrapped toy for the San Francisco Firefighters Department Toy Program or unexpired canned food for the North Peninsula Food Pantry and Dining Center of Daly City. RSVP 650/756-4500 by November 1 Please call with the number attending for a light reception and to include your loved one’s name in the Song of Remembrance

A federal appeals court upholds the First Amendment rights of 2 Catholic brothers. objections they may have,” wrote Judge Janice Rogers Brown. “Such an endorsement ... is a cognizable burden on free exercise. And the burden becomes substantial because the government commands compliance by giving the Gilardis a Hobson’s choice. “They can either abide by the sacred tenets of their faith, pay a penalty of over $14 million, and cripple the companies they have spent a lifetime building, or they become complicit in a grave moral wrong,” she continued. “If that is not ‘substantial pressure on an adherent to modify his behavior and to violate his beliefs,’ we fail to see how the standard could be met.” The opinion quoted from an “amicus,” or friend-of-the-court, brief filed by 28 Catholic theologians to discuss the moral grounds on which the Gilardis posed their argument, but the court ultimately concluded that when it comes to the rights of a business, “we have no

basis for concluding a secular organization can exercise religion.” The decision joins at least three other rulings by federal appeals courts on whether for-profit employers can claim protection of religious rights. Two found in favor of the Obama administration, one other found for the Oklahomabased company that sought an injunction. Those three cases are currently awaiting consideration of their petitions for review by the Supreme Court. In a dissent from the majority, Judge Harry T. Edwards asked what would prevent another company seeking a religion-based exemption from a requirement to cover vaccines. “The mandate does not require the Gilardis to encourage Freshway’s employees to use contraceptives any more directly than they do by authorizing Freshway to pay wages,” wrote Edwards, adding that nothing was stopping the Gilardis from publicly voicing their disapproval of using contraceptives. Francis Manion, attorney for the Gilardis, said they would appeal the part of the ruling that dealt with corporate rights, but he told The Associated Press that the rest was “a big victory, but not total.”

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Annual Thanksgiving Prayer Service Nov. 17, 2013 • 2:00 pm • Sung by the Vallombrosa Choir Join us for an afternoon of music, prayer, reflection and refreshments. The Vallombrosa Choir is under the direction of Patrick Feehan, a well known local composer, teacher, and conductor. A donation of $20.00 per person is suggested. To help us plan for this event, please confirm your attendance by calling 650.325.5614 or contact Rachel Alvelais: rachel@vallombrosa.org.

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NATIONAL 9

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | NOVEMBER 8, 2013

Vet says time as POW of Nazis deepened Catholic faith GEORGE P. MATYSEK JR. CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE

DUNDALK, Md. – U.S. Army Air Corps Cpl. Leo Wojciechowski had just unloaded bombs targeting the Blechhammer synthetic oil refinery on the Nazi-occupied Czech-Polish border when he felt his B-24 shudder. Anti-aircraft fire had struck the nose gunner’s plane during the Aug. 7, 1944, mission, causing it to lose speed and altitude as gasoline flooded the rear of the compromised aircraft. Wojciechowski and the nine other crew members had only one option: Jump. It was a fateful step that would ultimately lead to more than a year of harrowing experiences inside prisoner of war camps for Wojciechowski – and, ultimately, a deepening of his Catholic faith. In an interview with The Catholic Review, Baltimore’s archdiocesan newspaper at his home in Dundalk, he reflected on his memories of war and redemption. When he launched himself out of his plane so many decades ago, Wojciechowski hit his head – briefly getting knocked out. The then-parishioner of Holy Rosary in Fells Point awakened to discover himself floating beneath a parachute toward a large clover patch in Czechoslovakia, 400 miles inside enemy lines. “I was terrified,” said Wojciechowski, now a white-haired parishioner of Sacred Heart of Mary in Graceland Park. “I had a 45 (.45-caliber revolver) with me, and I thought that if anyone saw me with a gun, they’re going to shoot me. You are at their mercy.” The airman tossed his weapon in a ditch before an angry farmer approached him with a pitchfork and spoke in German. “He looked at my dog tags and saw that I was Catholic,” Wojciechowski told the Review a few weeks before he was honored with other POWs at the Pentagon in September. “He took my holster off and smacked me across the face with it. He

said he couldn’t understand Catholics bombing Catholics.” Wojciechowski’s bombardier landed nearby and was soon standing alongside the nose gunner when two Gestapo agents appeared to interrogate them. Although Wojciechowski spoke Polish, he pretended not to understand when questioned in the language. Leo One of the agents tied the Wojciechowski Americans’ hands behind their backs and laid them side-by-side in a field. “He got in the Volkswagen and started driving real fast like they were going to ride over us,” Wojciechowski remembered. “I started screaming and hollering and kicking my feet, and they stopped within a foot of us.” Wojciechowski was sent to a prisoner of war camp in Luxembourg and later transferred to another camp in northern Poland, where he met a Scottish priest who had been captured after his plane was shot down while he was accompanying British airmen on a mission. The priest celebrated Mass every week for the prisoners of war and offered them support. Wojciechowski promised God he would never miss Sunday Mass if the Lord would deliver him from the enemy. He prayed the rosary and wrote to his Baltimore girlfriend, Thelma (who would later become his wife of 66 years and counting), asking her to pray for him. “I was happy that Boze spared me,” said Wojciechowski, using the Polish word for God. “I guess I must have been blessed because Boze was looking out for me.” While his memories of his wartime experiences are clear, he recalls nothing of what may be his most significant act. According to Morton Gollin, navigator on Wojciechowski’s downed B-24, Wojciechowski pulled him back into the plane after Gollin’s para-

chute got snagged on a lip of the nose-wheel door when he tried to jump. “There’s no question in my mind that he saved my life,” said Gollin, 91, in a telephone interview from his home in California. Gollin said he is eternally grateful to Wojciechowski and has written him notes of appreciation. Wojciechowski acknowledged it’s possible he forgot about the incident when he was knocked unconscious. Or, he said, maybe the kind act was not meant to be remembered. “Maybe Boze is telling me to forget about it,” he said.

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10 WORLD

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | NOVEMBER 8, 2013

JPII’s secretary: Meeting Legionary founder was mistake CINDY WOODEN CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE

VATICAN CITY – Blessed John Paul II’s 2004 meeting with and praise of the founder of the Legionaries of Christ – who later was banished to a life of penance because of sexual abuse – was a mistake, said the late pope’s longtime secretary. “The Holy Father should not have received that individual,” said Polish Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz of Krakow, who served as personal secretary to the pope for 39 years. In a new book, “Ho Vissuto con un Santo,” (“I Lived

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with a Saint”), released in early November, Cardinal Dziwisz said the meeting was just one example of a serious lack of communication in the Roman Curia, which Pope John Paul tried, largely without success, to reform. Although rumors had been circulating for years that the Legionaries’ founder, Father Marcial Maciel Degollado, had sexually abused seminarians, Cardinal Dziwisz said, “When the Holy Father met him, he knew nothing, absolutely nothing. For him, he was still the founder of a great religious order and that’s it. No one had told him anything, not even about the rumors going around.”

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“Unfortunately,” the cardinal said, “it was the consequence of a still extremely bureaucratic structure” where important information was not always shared. After Pope John Paul was elected in 1978 – the first non-Italian pope in more than 450 years – he said, “some in the Curia called him ‘the Polish pope,’ and I don’t think they meant it in a positive way.” The late pope tried to reform the Curia, but did not succeed, Cardinal Dziwisz said. “Maybe the Curia wasn’t ready to accept a reform that would return it to an effective function of service to the pope and the bishops, and, therefore, to being an authentic instrument of communion between the Holy See and local churches.” Cardinal Dziwisz, who participated in the conclave that elected Pope Francis in March, said that in their pre-conclave meetings the cardinals discussed the urgent need to reform the Curia. Pope Francis “already has made important decisions and launched a series of initiatives that are sure to bring big changes to the curial structure and to relations between the Roman Curia and the local churches,” he said. The Polish cardinal also addressed criticisms by victims of clerical sexual abuse and some media, who believe Pope John Paul did not do enough to protect victims and punish guilty priests. In the book, presented as a “conversation” with Italian journalist Gian Franco Svidercoschi, Cardinal Dziwisz said, “from the moment the scandal erupted, especially in the United States, there was perfect agreement between John Paul II and Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, in confronting the problem” and in deciding to transfer the cases from local dioceses to the congregation.

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WORLD 11

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | NOVEMBER 8, 2013

Sisters ask pope for day of prayer against trafficking CAROL GLATZ

‘The pope, ever since he was an archbishop, had already intuited this serious social problem. We were dumbstruck for not having figured it out beforehand.’

CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE

VATICAN CITY – After Pope Francis entrusted two Vatican academies to study the problem of human trafficking, a group of women religious asked the pope to raise greater awareness in the church about the issue by establishing a worldwide day of prayer and fasting. “The pope was very interested in our suggestion and asked us what date we would like the day to be,” Consolata Sister Eugenia Bonetti told Catholic News Service. “We told him Feb. 8 – the feast day of St. Josephine Bakhita,” a Sudanese slave who found freedom in Italy and became a nun in the late 19th century. She said the idea for a worldwide day of prayer came from “the need to do something that joins us together” to tackle the global problem; some dioceses and parishes are active on the issue while others are unaware or indifferent, she said. Sister Eugenia, a leader among religious women in Italy working against human trafficking – particularly women and young girls forced into prostitution – was one of about 80 people attending a Nov. 2-3 working group on trafficking at the Vatican. She talked to CNS Nov. 3 about her informal meeting with Pope Francis in late September when she and three other sisters from different religious congregations were invited to attend the pope’s early morning Mass at his Vatican residence. They had written the pope thank-

BISHOP MARCELO SANCHEZ SORONDO ing him for his work and focus on the marginalized, and alerted the pope about the need for greater involvement by the church, especially by religious congregations of men, parish priests and schools in curbing the demand for prostitution by promoting a “culture of respect.” Sister Eugenia, who together with some 250 women religious through the Union of Major Superiors of Italy, has spent the past two decades fighting the illegal sex trade and helping victims. She said that after the Mass she and the three sisters presented the pope with a signed poster, photographs and letters from women who have been rescued from traffickers, but are being held in a detention facility in Rome. The Vatican working group on trafficking was organized by the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences and the Vatican-based International Federation of Catholic Medical Associations. Bishop Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo, chancellor of the academies, said Pope Francis had specifically asked him to have the academies study the problem of new forms of slavery, including the trafficking of people and human organs.

“The church as a whole isn’t sufficiently aware of the problem” or hasn’t focused deeply enough on how serious a problem it is, he told Vatican Radio Nov. 1.

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The November meeting was the first time the Vatican academies had dedicated a session to studying human trafficking, which the U.S. State Department estimates affects 21 million people, the bishop said. They will have another meeting next year in the run-up to a larger gathering in 2015, the bishop told journalists. “The pope, ever since he was an archbishop, had already intuited this serious social problem,” Bishop Sanchez told Vatican Radio. “We were dumbstruck for not having figured it out beforehand.”

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12 WORLD

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | NOVEMBER 8, 2013

POPE: SAINTS AREN’T SUPERHEROES, THEY JUST NEVER STRAYED FROM GOD

VATICAN CITY – Saints aren’t superheroes, they are regular people who just never left God’s side after encountering him and his love, Pope Francis said on the feast of All Saints. “Being a saint is not a privilege of the few, like someone getting a large inheritance. All of us have inherited through baptism the ability to become saints,” he said Nov. 1. Before reciting the Angelus with people gathered in St. Peter’s Square, the pope talked about God’s call to holiness. “The saints are friends of God,” he said. But they “are not superheroes, nor were they born perfect. They are like us, each one of us.” What makes them stand out, he said, is once they encountered Jesus, they always followed him. “The path that leads to holiness has a name and has a face, it’s the face of Jesus Christ; he teaches us to become saints,” the pope said, adding that Jesus shows the way in the Gospels, especially with the beatitudes.

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VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis will create his first cardinals during a consistory Feb. 22, the feast of the Chair of St. Peter. The pope also is expected to use the occasion “to have a meeting with the cardinals for consultations” immediately before the ceremony, as retired Pope Benedict XVI did in the run-up to his consistories, said Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman. The names of the new cardinals usually are announced a little more than a month before the consistory itself. Father Lombardi told reporters Oct. 31 that also in mid-February, the pope will have members of the governing council of the Synod of Bishops meet in preparation for the extraordinary session on the family in October 2014 and to have his Council of Cardinals, the group of eight advisers, hold what will be their third gathering.

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WORLD 13

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | NOVEMBER 8, 2013

Nuncio: Food insecurity must end CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE

UNITED NATIONS – No one-sizefits-all solution exists to end food insecurity around the globe, but world leaders must act beyond voicing their commitment to seeking food security for all, the Vatican nuncio told a U.N. gathering. “Hunger is not caused by the lack of sufficient food to feed every person on the planet” but by social structures and failure to prioritize basic human rights, Archbishop Francis A. Chullikatt said in an Oct. 29 address to a session on agriculture development, food security and nutrition during a session of the U.N. General Assembly. He quoted Pope Francis extensively in his remarks. For example, he cited the pope’s observation that “current levels of production are sufficient, yet millions of people are still suffering and dying of starvation. This ... is truly scandalous. A way has to be found to enable everyone to benefit from the fruits of the earth, and not simply to close the gap between the affluent and those who must be satisfied with the crumbs falling from the table, but above all to satisfy the demands of

justice, fairness and respect for every human being.” The nuncio said that “while improvements in food production remain an important goal, food security will be achieved by all only when we change social structures and when we learn to show greater solidarity toward the poor and the hungry. Hunger is not just a technical problem awaiting technological solutions. Hunger is a human problem that demands solutions based on our common humanity.” The archbishop’s remarks, and those of many other countries during the session on agriculture development in late October, addressed the balance of market pressures, the right to food and nutrition and development goals. Archbishop Chullikatt observed that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights recognizes the fundamental right to adequate food, as well as its importance to human development. The nuncio said governmental reports and national commitments to end hunger are numerous. “Yet in today’s world, many nations still face periodic food crisis. Clearly more needs to be done.”

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CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | NOVEMBER 8, 2013

(PHOTO COURTESY DENNIS CALLAHAN)

Dr. Allison Metz, Arthur Mischeaux, Father David M. Pettingill, Barbara Cantwell, Lynne Horan

(PHOTO COURTESY DENNIS CALLAHAN)

Father Kirk J. Ullery, salutes the Sacred Heart Cathedral Prep Vocal Jazz Choir. The school’s string ensemble also performed for the gathering of more than 500.

Archdiocese honors retired priests A

rchbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone said it best at the third annual archdiocesan St. John Vianney Luncheon to honor retired priests: “There is no such thing as a retired priest.” While the event Oct. 25 at St. Mary’s Cathedral’s Patrons Hall in San Francisco honored all retired priests, Msgr. John T. Foudy, who had just celebrated his 100th birthday, received a standing ova-

(PHOTO COURTESY DENNIS CALLAHAN)

Archbishop Cordileone, Salesian Father Austin Conterno

tion, a papal blessing and a letter of recognition from San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee. “I didn’t realize what a big deal this is,” the archbishop said, addressing a capacity crowd of 530 guests, with tables full of priests, parishioners, family and friends. “It really speaks of your love of our retired priests.” He added that the wisdom of retired priests has guided him through-

(PHOTO COURTESY DENNIS CALLAHAN)

Msgr. Michael D. Harriman, Auxiliary Bishop William J. Justice, Msgr. John T. Foudy

(PHOTO COURTESY DENNIS CALLAHAN)

Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone

out his vocation as a seminarian, priest and bishop, sometimes encouraging him to push ahead and “at times helped me cool my jets.” The St. John Vianney Luncheon, named for the Cure of Ars’, the patron saint of parish priests, grossed more than $200,000 with at least $155,000 netted for the priests retirement fund, archdiocesan officials said.

(PHOTO COURTESY DENNIS CALLAHAN)

Judy Morris, Father James H. Morris

(PHOTO COURTESY DENNIS CALLAHAN)

Sister Patricia Cloherty, Father John J. Cloherty, Msgr. James T. Tarantino

(PHOTO COURTESY DENNIS CALLAHAN)

Msgr. Maurice M. McCormick, Father Daniel E. Carter

(PHOTO COURTESY DENNIS CALLAHAN)

Auxiliary Bishop Ignatius C. Wang

(PHOTO COURTESY DENNIS CALLAHAN)

Msgr. Warren Holleran, Msgr. John T. Foudy, Father J. Thomas Madden

(PHOTO COURTESY DENNIS CALLAHAN)

Msgr. Floro B. Arcamo

(PHOTO COURTESY DENNIS CALLAHAN)

Father Anthony P. La Torre, Remy Everett, Father John J. O’Neill, Sandy Kearney

(PHOTO COURTESY DENNIS CALLAHAN)

Msgr. John R. Pernia

16 OPINION

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | NOVEMBER 8, 2013

Peace is not the absence of war CARDINAL PETER TURKSON

This is an excerpt from a Vatican Radio report of an address by Cardinal Peter Turkson of Ghana, the president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, at Salesian Pontifical University in Rome Oct. 30 to mark the 50th anniversary of the encyclical “Pacem in Terris” (“Peace on Earth”) by Pope John XXIII. Let us understand the half-century context of the encyclical: One of the great lessons, if not the greatest lesson, that humanity learned, especially, from the two world wars (1914-1918, 1939-1945), was that safeguarding the well-being and interest of humanity, and especially peace, is the task of all. Thus, after World War I, the League of Nations was developed as a fruit of the Paris Peace Conference that ended that Cardinal Peter war. It was the first international orTurkson ganization whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. Though the league’s initiative reflected humanity’s sense of brotherhood and its desire for peace, it failed to safeguard the peace or prevent World War II. But the shared desire for peace and human flourishing once again recovered, as the world community found the energy from within itself to step over its betrayal to form the United Nations (1945). Inheriting most of the ideals and values of the League of Nations, the United Nations aimed to stop wars between countries, and to provide a platform for dialogue, cooperation in international law, security, economic development, social progress and human rights. But the building block of nation has persistently been a stumbling block. The humanly established order does not inherently promote peace, because nations compete. Even when these nations resolve to seek peace via an arrangement like the League of Nations or the United Nations, the starting point of nation scuttles the enterprise: Ultimately, a nation will pursue its interests above those of any set of nations, let alone of all nations. The sovereign nation considers the particular good of its own constituent

(CNS PHOTO)

Pope John XXIII signs his encyclical “Peace on Earth” (“Pacem in Terris”) at the Vatican in this 1963 file photo. citizenry – or rather, of its elite – to be a higher value than the common good of all. Nations are prone to the faults that the apostle James identified when he asked: “What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures” (James 4, 1-3). And so the encyclical “Pacem in Terris” was issued at a moment when another and a more devastating war – that is, a nuclear disaster – loomed. For in the 1960s, not yet two decades after the conclusion of World War II, and despite the pledged commitments of nations to stop wars and to maintain world peace, the human family stood again at the brink of interna-

tional war. Rival political ideologies had more or less forced the nations of the world into opposed political blocs that competed desperately for supremacy. This division found a concrete expression in the erection of the Berlin Wall (1961), and it was a division between the East of the Soviet bloc and the West of NATO. The following year Soviet nuclear missile sites were constructed in Cuba to deter any future invasion attempt by the United States, and the United States responded with an air and sea blockade to prevent the Soviet nuclear weapons from arriving in Cuba. The United States demanded that the Soviet Union dismantle the missile bases and take back all weapons. Tension escalated when Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev wrote to U.S. President John Kennedy that “The Soviet government considers the violation of the freedom of navigation in international waters and air space to constitute an act of aggression propelling humankind into the abyss of a world nuclear-missile war.” The Cuban missile crisis was the moment when the Cold War came closest to turning into a nuclear conflict. It showed how precarious world order can be in the face of opposed militarization of political ideologies. Was humanity again going to betray its desire for security and peace? Would humanity bear out Thomas Hobbes’ observation of man as a wolf to man? The great problem confronting the world after almost 2,000 years remains unchanged. Christ is ever resplendent as the center of history and of life. Men are either with him and his church, and then they enjoy light, goodness, order and peace – or else they are without him, or against him, and deliberately opposed to his church, and then they give rise to confusion, to bitterness in human relations and to the constant danger of fratricidal wars. Thus, Pope John’s radical insight was to write about peace rather than about absence of war, and to address “Pacem in Terris” to all people and only secondarily to all nations. History showed him and has shown all of us the inadequacy of the humanly established order. Peace can be neither established nor guaranteed except by “diligent observance of the divinely established order,” and that is what he set himself to teach in “Pacem in Terris.”

LETTERS Communication and the new evangelization It was very heartening to read the front- page message “From the Archbishop, Salvatore J. Cordileone” (Oct. 25), which discusses “the joy of believing and the enthusiasm for communicating the faith,” as defined by Blessed John Paul II as a new evangelization. Our archbishop very perceptively leads us to expect the best of what Catholic San Francisco provides in its weekly editions. I hope that Catholic San Francisco meets this responsibility by making room in its pages for the most important news that is being withheld from us by the liberal press in its pandering to the liberal dictates of today’s socialist-progressive agenda. Notably, in this issue, you found no room to carry the seriously anti-church decision of the U.S. Air Force Academy to eliminate the words “so help me God” from its ceremonial oath. And you also missed the grievous ruling by a Texas judge against that state’s anti-abortion law. Yet, there was room on Pages 1 and 25 to publicize performances by a dance group wanting attention for a cause that may be understandably important to them, but does not rise to the importance of a federal repression of the faith, nor of continued legalizing of mass killings of the soon-to-be born. Robert Jimenez Burlingame

NFP coverage was ‘witness to truth’ Thanks for the amazing summary of the natural family planning meeting (“Archbishop lauds NFP as key to evangelization,” Nov. 1). We thought the coverage and information were fantastic. Thanks for your witness to the truth. Jamie and Matt Blinn Tiburon

Response to article on contraceptives’ health risk This letter is in response to “Health risks of contraceptives,” a sidebar to “Archbishop lauds NFP as key to

evangelization,” Oct 25. The sidebar excerpted information presented by Dr. Lynn Keenan, a UCSF-Fresno clinical professor of medicine, at an archdiocesan conference on natural family planning Oct. 9. Dr. Keenan’s response is on the opposite page. In the following, I write of the science, and not at all about the morality, of contraception. The reason for writing is to prevent our preachers and evangelists looking foolish were they to use the flawed information in the sidebar. The use of statistics to prove points should be left to those who can properly interpret and put into perspective what they have read in the scientific literature. For example, the risk of stroke is almost doubled in women in general while on certain contraceptive medication. The increase is from 4.4 per 100,000 to 8.4 per 100,000. In real numbers, one in 23,000 women had a stroke, but taking the pills raised the risk to one in 12,000. Not mentioned in the side bar, increased risk of stroke during pregnancy is about equal. Also not mentioned, women who both smoke and use contraceptives have about six or more times the risk of stroke compared to nonsmokers. It is not known if smokers are included in the article quoted by Dr. Keenan. When the FDA knows of a risk that outweighs the benefit of a drug that drug is taken off the market. Also the FDA requires the risks to be stated clearly on the labeling of each drug. Every person, taking every drug, should always read the labeling and decide if the benefit of the drug outweighs the associated risk. Clearly the decision is smoking or taking the Pill, but not both.

Here, briefly, is an analysis of effectiveness of natural family planning using statistical method. NFP is 96 percent effective. That means that there are 4,000 pregnancies in every 100,000 trials. If the claims for contraceptives are 99.96 percent effective, there are 40 pregnancies in every 100,000 trials. Calculating: 4,000/40=100. That means that the contraceptive method is 100 times more effective than NFP in preventing pregnancy. Of course, both claims are approximate, but readers should understand how this kind of statistic may be used (or abused) to prove a point. The article by Valerie Schmalz accompanying the sidebar missed a great opportunity in quoting medical literature. There is a natural product that greatly augments NFP. Although first published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal only 50 years ago (G.S. Greenstein, 1965) and given the name “Armpitin,” the organic product always was and always will be an effective aid to natural contraception. It is produced by both women and men especially during hard labor or heavy exercise. Its effect, however, is much reduced by salts of aluminum or zirconium. Therefore the church may wish to warn against use of antiperspirants labeled with these compounds in NFP advice publications. Regarding the paragraph starting with “everything about the woman is about conceiving …,” I quote my wife: “Male chauvinist!” She stopped there, politely, but then added, “Pope Francis would disagree with the archbishop.” Alex M. Saunders, M.D. San Carlos

LETTERS POLICY EMAIL letters.csf@sfarchdiocese.org WRITE Letters to the Editor, Catholic San Francisco, One Peter Yorke Way, San Francisco, CA 94109

NAME, address and daytime phone number for verification required SHORT letters preferred: 250 words or fewer

OPINION 17

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | NOVEMBER 8, 2013

Who God is and who God is not

he most signal contribution of David Bentley Hart’s “The Experience of God: Being, Consciousness and Bliss” is to clarify that serious theists and atheists, though they debate frequently concerning the reality of God, are hardly ever using the word “God” in the same way. This fundamental equivocation contributes massively, in fact, to the pointlessness and meanness of most of these discussions. It is not so much that Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins disagree with Thomas Aquinas on FATHER ROBERT the existence of God; it BARRON is that neither Hitchens nor Dawkins has any real grasp of what Aquinas even means when he speaks of God. To a person, the new atheists hold that God is some being in the world, the maximum instance, if you want, of the category of “being.” But this is precisely what Aquinas and serious thinkers in all of the great theistic traditions hold that God is not. Thomas explicitly states that God is not in any genus, including that most generic genus of all, namely being. He is not one thing or individual – however supreme – among many. Rather, God is, in Aquinas’ pithy Latin phrase “esse ipsum subsistens” – the sheer act of being itself. It might be helpful here to distinguish God from the gods. For the ancient Greeks and Romans, for example, the gods were exalted, immortal, and especially powerful versions of ordinary human beings. They were, if you will, quantitatively but not qualitatively different from regular people. They were impressive denizens of the natural world, but they were not, strictly speaking, supernatural. But God is not a supreme item within the universe or alongside of it; rather, God is the sheer ocean of being from whose fullness the universe in its entirety exists.

Why should the universe exist at all? David Bentley Hart’s book helps us to see that the question of God – the true God – remains the most beguiling of all. It is absolutely right to say that the advance of the modern physical sciences has eliminated the gods. Having explored the depths of the oceans and the tops of the mountains and even the skies that surround the planet, we have not encountered any of these supreme beings. Furthermore, the myriad natural causes, uncovered by physics, chemistry, biology, etc., are more than sufficient to explain any of the phenomena within the natural realm. But the physical sciences, no matter how advanced they might become, can never eliminate God, for God is not a being within the natural order. Instead, he is the reason why there is that nexus of conditioned causes that we call nature – at all. The Russian cosmonaut from the 1950s who, having pierced the heavens, confidently asserted, “I have found no God,” was speaking so much nonsense, though he would have been right had he changed the “G” from large case to small. This is why the new atheists and their army of disciples are committing a category mistake when they confidently assert that scientific advances cause religion to retreat onto ever-shrinking intellectual turf or when they stridently challenge religious people to produce “evidence” for God. No amount of scientific progress can even in principle pose a threat to authentic religion, and no amount of experimental evidence can tell for or against the true God. So how do we get at the true God? Hart clarifies that real religion begins with a particular type of wonder, namely, the puzzle that things should be at all. We are surrounded on all

sides by things that exist but that don’t have to exist. The computer on which I am typing these words indeed exists, but its existence is not self-explanatory, for it depends on a whole range of causes, both extrinsic and intrinsic. It exists only because an army of manufacturers, designers, technicians, etc. put it together and only because its molecular, atomic and subatomic structure sustains it. Furthermore, it is situated in an environment that conditions it in numberless ways. The technical philosophical term for this caused and conditioned existence is “contingency.” Now a moment’s meditation reveals that all of the conditioning elements that I mentioned are themselves, in similar ways, contingent. They don’t explain their existence any more than the computer does. Therefore, unless we permanently postpone the explanation, we have to come, by logical deduction, to some reality which is not contingent and whose very nature is to exist. This power of being itself, which explains and determines all the contingent things or our ordinary experience, is what serious theists of all of the great religious traditions mean by the word “God.” I fully realize, of course, that the vast majority of religious believers wouldn’t say that their faith in God is a function of this sort of philosophical demonstration. Nevertheless, they are intuiting what the argument makes explicit. I often tease the critics of religion who take pride in the rigor of their rationalism. I tell them that, though they are willing to ask and answer all sorts of questions about reality, they become radically uncurious, irrational even, just when the most interesting question of all is posed: Why is there something rather than nothing? Why should the universe exist at all? David Bentley Hart’s book helps us to see that the question of God – the true God – remains the most beguiling of all. FATHER BARRON is the founder of the global ministry Word on Fire and the rector/president of Mundelein Seminary, Mundelein, Ill.

LETTERS

NFP more effective, less risky, than oral contraceptives This is a response to Dr. Alex Saunders’ letter on the opposite page. Dr. Saunders concern that clergy understand the statistics of the harm of oral contraceptives is appreciated. CANFP (California Association of Natural Family Planning) has recently given several seminars to the clergy regarding the church’s teaching on family planning, and during that time I spent considerable time discussing many different studies, as well as the specific statistics related to the effecDr. Lynn Keenan tiveness and safety of different methods. A snapshot in the sidebar may have been misunderstood by those only reading the article. There are multiple studies showing that if a woman is currently on the pill, she about doubles her risk of stroke, as well as heart attack, compared to another woman not taking the pill. By Dr. Saunders numbers, the risk of a woman taking oral contraceptives increases from 4.4 to 8.4/100,000 women per year, which is essentially doubling the risk. As smoking is a very well known risk for stroke and heart attack, especially if women are on hormonal contraceptives, nearly all studies adjust for this known risk. One of the most recent articles giving similar stroke risks is by Lidegaard in the June 14, 2012, New England Journal of Medicine, with an increased relative risk varying 1.3 to 2.2 depending on the progestin type and estrogen dose. In the associated editorial, it is estimated that 10-20 women per 100,000 women taking the

Empowering women with the knowledge of their fertility brings benefits far beyond family planning, pill would have a serious event of either heart attack or stroke per year. By the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s statistics, 10.7 million women in America are on oral contraceptives each year, and with the added numbers of women on the patch, ring or implant, which have higher risks for stroke and heart attack, the number of women expected to have a life threatening event due to hormonal contraceptives is 1,200 to 2,400 per year. This does not include the number of women harmed by the increased blood clots from being on hormonal contraceptives. For perspective, the average loss of soldiers due to the Afghanistan and Iraq wars was 600/year. When the Women’s Health Initiative study was curtailed early due to excess cardiovascular events and excess breast cancer, the hazard ratios were 1.29 and 1.26 respectively. This study also dealt with small individual risk, but had enough effect on the population that clinical practice changed practically overnight. The oral contraceptive is 5-10 times more potent than the hormones used in the Women’s Health Initiative. Dr. Saunders makes a common comparison of risk of the pill compared to risk of pregnancy, but the real comparison should be the risk of the pill compared to the risk of the newer fertility awareness-based methods. In comparing

effectiveness, he used the method effectiveness for the pill, compared to the use effectiveness of Creighton Model of FertilityCare. The use effectiveness is the more realistic number, of what happens in real life, as opposed to the lab setting. The use effectiveness of oral contraceptives as currently listed by the CDC is 88-94 percent, which is less than the 96.8 percent use effectiveness of the Creighton Model. If looking just at teens living with their boyfriend, the effectiveness of the pill is closer to 50 percent. Another factor that does not come into the statistical analysis is that if you empower a woman to understand her fertility, she has the knowledge for a lifetime, as opposed to always being dependent on the health care system. Empowering women with the knowledge of their fertility brings benefits far beyond family planning, with the charts showing early signs of risks for disease, allowing early intervention. I disagree with Dr. Saunders’ statement that clearly the choice is just between smoking or taking the pill. Women want healthier options. Archbishop Cordileone’s statement was regarding the beauty of the complex physiology of a woman’s reproductive system that is designed to bring forth new life. He has consistently defended the dignity of women – we are beautifully created by God and do not need to be modified by pill, patch or shots to be loved. His courage in promoting this teaching of the church, which has been so misunderstood by today’s culture, has made him a hero to many women, myself included. Dr. Lynn Keenan Clinical professor of medicine UCSF-Fresno

18 FAITH

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | NOVEMBER 8, 2013

SUNDAY READINGS

Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time Jesus tells the questioning Sadducees that God is a God of the living, ‘for to him all are alive.’ LUKE 20:27-38 2 MACCABEES 7:1-2, 9-14 It happened that seven brothers with their mother were arrested and tortured with whips and scourges by the king, to force them to eat pork in violation of God’s law. One of the brothers, speaking for the others, said: “What do you expect to achieve by questioning us? We are ready to die rather than transgress the laws of our ancestors.” At the point of death he said: “You accursed fiend, you are depriving us of this present life, but the king of the world will raise us up to live again forever. It is for his laws that we are dying.” After him the third suffered their cruel sport. He put out his tongue at once when told to do so, and bravely held out his hands, as he spoke these noble words: “It was from Heaven that I received these; for the sake of his laws I disdain them; from him I hope to receive them again.” Even the king and his attendants marveled at the young man’s courage, because he regarded his sufferings as nothing. After he had died, they tortured and maltreated the fourth brother in the same way. When he was near death, he said, “It is my choice to die at the hands of men with the hope God gives of being raised up by him; but for you, there will be no resurrection to life.” PSALM 17:1, 5-6, 8, 15 Lord, when your glory appears, my joy will be full.

Hear, O Lord, a just suit; attend to my outcry; hearken to my prayer from lips without deceit. Lord, when your glory appears, my joy will be full. My steps have been steadfast in your paths, my feet have not faltered. I call upon you, for you will answer me, O God; incline your ear to me; hear my word. Lord, when your glory appears, my joy will be full. Keep me as the apple of your eye, hide me in the shadow of your wings. But I in justice shall behold your face; on waking I shall be content in your presence. Lord, when your glory appears, my joy will be full. 2 THESSALONIANS 2:16-3:5 Brothers and sisters: May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us everlasting encouragement and good hope through his grace, encourage your hearts and strengthen them in every good deed and word. Finally, brothers and sisters, pray for us, so that the word of the Lord may speed forward and be glorified, as it did among you, and that we may be delivered from perverse and wicked people, for not all have faith. But the Lord is faithful; he will strengthen you and guard you from the evil one.

We are confident of you in the Lord that what we instruct you, you are doing and will continue to do. May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the endurance of Christ. LUKE 20:27-38 Some Sadducees, those who deny that there is a resurrection, came forward and put this question to Jesus, saying, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us, if someone’s brother dies leaving a wife but no child, his brother must take the wife and raise up descendants for his brother. Now there were seven brothers; the first married a woman but died childless. Then the second and the third married her, and likewise all the seven died childless. Finally the woman also died. Now at the resurrection whose wife will that woman be? For all seven had been married to her.” Jesus said to them, “The children of this age marry and remarry; but those who are deemed worthy to attain to the coming age and to the resurrection of the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. They can no longer die, for they are like angels; and they are the children of God because they are the ones who will rise. That the dead will rise even Moses made known in the passage about the bush, when he called out ‘Lord, ‘ the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; and he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.”

The resurrected life transcends our own

n the Gospel, Jesus instructs the Sadducees, who did not believe in the Resurrection, that his father is “not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.” Belief in the afterlife is as much a struggle for some today as it was for the Sadducees and others in Jesus’ time. We see this in the “new age” concept of cosmic unity as well as in Eastern beliefs in reincarnation. Both witness to our desire for some form of continued life as well as to our struggle with comprehending what that life might be like. Belief in the resurrection is the very foundation of our Christian faith. We trust in God’s words about the DEACON resurrection from the dead, FAIVA PO’OI and yet we have no proof nor personal experience of such an afterlife. There is little that we can say about it. In the Book of Revelation, we read about various images about an afterlife. We are led to see heaven

SCRIPTURE REFLECTION

POPE FRANCIS GOD NEVER TIRES OF OFFERING ETERNAL LIFE

God never ceases to forgive, offering even the disobedient the chance for eternal life, Pope Francis said. “Even if our entire existence is surrounded by threats, nothing can ever separate us from the love that Christ himself gained for us,” the pope said in a homily in St. Peter’s Basilica Nov. 4. “Only the sin of man can break this bond, but even in this case God will always go in search of him, to restore that union that lasts even after death.”

as a place where we kneel on clouds, play harps and sing the praises of God all day long until the end of time. Life will probably be very different in heaven, but these images of an afterlife seem a bit boring when compared to our lives on earth. In the long run, perhaps these images are not very helpful in our anticipation of life after death! The author of the book “The Cloud of Unknowing” suggests that we only begin to know God when we come to the realization that we really do not know him at all in this life. God asks us to believe without understanding. But that is precisely what faith is. God asks us: “Will you trust me on this?” The fact is that even if the afterlife was carefully explained to us in simple words and terms, we would still be unable to comprehend the meaning of the resurrection. We believe in the resurrection because Jesus taught us about it and because he appeared to the apostles after his death. Jesus told us that this resurrected life awaits us after death if we live for him in this life. And yet, it is completely beyond our understanding. To challenge Jesus, the Sadducees present him with a complicated situation: A woman has married and been widowed seven times. She has no children. If there were a resurrection of the dead, would the wife then have seven husbands in the

afterlife? Likely, the Sadducees thought that the very absurdity of the situation would prove the foolishness of the belief. But Jesus does not falter in his response. He dismisses the Sadducees’ argument. Since resurrection means eternal life, there is no need for a son to carry on the family name. There is, therefore, no need for marriage in the life to come. Through this example, Jesus makes it clear that the foolishness of the multiple marriages does not disprove the resurrection; resurrection simply makes marriage unnecessary. The resurrected life goes beyond the dimensions of earthly existence. Thus, our expectations and practices in this world will not carry over to the next life. Moreover, the resurrected life transcends this one. By citing Moses, Jesus taps the source of Jewish faith as well as the basis of the Sadducees’ teaching. In Jesus, we see the perfect image of a life of self-sacrificing and giving – the kind of life which leads to eternal life with God. At every Mass, we participate in the sacrifice that make life after death possible. We become present to the death and resurrection of Jesus. Let us pray with Paul and say: “May the Lord direct our hearts to the love of God and to the endurance of Christ.” DEACON PO’OI serves at St. Timothy Parish, San Mateo.

LITURGICAL CALENDAR, DAILY MASS READINGS MONDAY, NOVEMBER 11: Memorial of St. Martin of Tours, bishop. Wis 1:1-7. PS 139:1b-3, 4-6, 7-8, 9-10. PS 139:1b-3, 4-6, 7-8, 9-10. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 12: Memorial of St. Josaphat, bishop and martyr. Wis 2:23–3:9. PS 34:2-3, 16-17, 1819. Lk 17:7-10. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 13: Memorial of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, virgin. Wis 6:1-11. PS 82:3-4, 6-7. Lk 17:11-19. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 14: Thursday of the Thirty-

second Week in Ordinary Time. Wis 7:22b–8:1. PS 119:89, 90, 91, 130, 135, 175. Lk 17:20-25. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15: Friday of the Thirty-second Week in Ordinary Time. Optional Memorial of St. Albert the Great, bishop, confessor and doctor. Wis 13:1-9. PS 19:2-3, 4-5ab. Lk 17:26-37. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 16: Saturday of the Thirtysecond Week in Ordinary Time. Optional Memorials of St. Margaret of Scotland; St. Gertrude, virgin. Wis 18:14-16; 19:6-9. PS 105:2-3, 36-37, 42-43. Lk 18:1-8.

FAITH 19

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | NOVEMBER 8, 2013

Dying into safe hands

t’s hard to say something consoling in the face of death, even when the person who died lived a full life and died in the best of circumstances. It’s especially hard when the one who’s died is a young person, still in need of nurturing and care in this life, and when that young person dies in lessthan-ideal circumstances. As a priest, I have, a number of times, had to preside at the funeral of someone who died young, either as the result of illness, accident, or suicide. Such a funeral is always doubly sad. I remember one such funeral in particuFATHER RON lar: A high-school student had ROLHEISER died in a car accident. The church was over-packed with his grieving family, friends, and classmates. His mother, still a young woman herself, was in the front pew, heavy with grief about her loss, but clearly weighed-down too with anxiety for her child. After all, he was still just a boy, partly still in need of someone to take care of him, still needing a mother. She sensed how, dying so young, in effect, orphaned him. There aren’t many words that are helpful in a situation like this, but the few that we have say what needs to be said – even if on that day, when death is still so raw, they don’t yet bring much emotional consolation. What’s to be said in face of a death like this? Simply that this young boy is now in more-loving, more-tender, gentler, and safer hands than ours, that there’s a mother on the other side to receive him and give him the nurturing he still needs, just as there was one on this side when he was born. No one is born, except into a mother’s arms. That’s an image we need to keep before us in order to more healthily imagine death. What, more precisely, is the image? Few images are as primal, and as tender, as that of a mother holding and cradling her newborn baby. Indeed the words of the most-renowned Christmas carol of all time, “Silent Night,” were inspired by precisely this image. Joseph Mohr, a young priest in Germany, had gone out to a cottage in the woods on the afternoon of Christmas Eve to baptize a newborn baby. As he left the cottage, the baby was asleep in its mother’s lap. He was so taken with that image, with the depth

and peace it incarnated, that, immediately upon returning to his rectory, he penned the famous lines of “Silent Night.” His choir director, Franz Gruber, put some guitar chords to those words and froze them in our minds forever. The ultimate archetypal image of peace, safety, and security is that of a newborn sleeping in its mother’s arms. Moreover, when a baby is born, it’s not just the mother who’s eager to hold and cradle it. Most everyone else is too. Perhaps no image then is as apt, as powerful, as consoling, and as accurate in terms of picturing what happens to us when we die and awake to eternal life as is the image of a mother holding and cradling her newborn child. When we die, we die into the arms of God and surely we’re received with as much love, gentleness, and tenderness as we were received in the arms of our mothers at birth. Moreover, surely we are even safer there than we were when we were born here on earth. I suspect too that more than a few of the saints will be hovering around, wanting their chance to cuddle the new baby. And so it’s okay if we die before we’re ready, still in need of nurturing, still needing someone to help take care of us, still needing a mother. We’re in safe, nurturing, gentle hands. That can be deeply consoling because death renders every one of us an orphan and, daily, there are people dying young, unexpectedly, less-than-fullyready, still in need of care themselves. All of us die, still needing a mother. But we have the assurance of our faith that we will be born into safer and more nurturing hands than our own. However, consoling as that may be, it doesn’t take away the sting of losing a loved one to death. Nothing takes that away because nothing is meant to. Death is meant to indelibly scar our hearts because love is meant to wound us in that way. As Dietrich Bonhoeffer puts it: “Nothing can make up for the absence of someone we love. ... It is nonsense to say that God fills the gap; God doesn’t fill it, but on the contrary, God keeps it empty and so helps us keep alive our former communion with each other, even at the cost of pain. ... The dearer and richer our memories, the more difficult the separation. But gratitude changes the pangs of memory into a tranquil joy. The beauties of the past are borne, not as a thorn in the flesh, but as a precious gift in themselves.” OBLATE FATHER ROLHEISER is president of the Oblate School of Theology, San Antonio, Texas.

To give thanks for our own good

ovember brings a favorite celebration for many of us: a special day set aside to consider our blessings and give thanks. Meister Eckhart noted that if the only prayer we ever offer is, “Thank you,” that would be good enough. If we make of our life a prayer, then giving thanks would be the foundational act from which everything else flows. The Chinese character for thanks is a combination of three elements that represent the spoken word, body and spirit. By this conceptualization, gratitude involves the whole self through what we CAROLYN WOO say, do and what animates our being. When we marked the Chinese New Year in my youth, my siblings and I would follow our eldest sister into our parents’ bedroom and lined up in front of them, got down on our knees and bowed in unison. It was our way of thanking our parents for giving us life and the sustenance that allowed us to flourish. We always looked forward to this simple ceremony. Another vivid memory is watching my nanny (a Buddhist at that time) begin her day with joss sticks in hand, on her knees facing the open window in the kitchen, touching her head to the floor to thank the heavens and the earth. She had little in her life, as she was 9 when she was sold as a servant when her father died of tuberculosis, yet she had this unshakable sense of gratitude. From this flowed a generosity that led her to give away the bulk of her earnings, first to her mother and then to other people she would describe as “not as fortunate as me.” Somehow, I sensed that her daily ritual was sacred, even before I knew that word. Decades

later, I would get down on my knees and offer my nanny tea as part of an adoption ceremony whereby she would no longer be a servant, but become family. In the mid-1990s, I attended a three-week professional development program that offered much-needed time to think through a potential major change in my career. As each day passed, I grew more anxious as I had not gained any clarity for my quandary. The only “insight” that gripped my attention related to what I wanted most for our two sons (in third and sixth grades at that time). The revelation was so clear that it might as well have been inscribed on stone tablets. There were three things: I wanted them to know their gifts, to develop these with hard work and to use them to elevate and not diminish others. I was seeking a calculus for a professional decision; instead I got the bearings not only for parenting but for my own commitments. Jesus asked why only one of the 10 lepers healed returned to give thanks. As in all things, what Jesus asks of us is not for his glory but for our salvation, our joy. Giving thanks is the first step to knowing God and knowing how intimately present he is in our lives. It invites the reflection of the bounty of God: limitless generosity as he provides us with earthly wonders for the nourishment of our bodies, personal endowments that are uniquely ours to celebrate and share with others, and people who invest themselves in us. Most important, of course, is the love of God for us, denying us nothing, including his son, all the second chances for the asking, his incarnation as one of us thousands of years ago and continuing communion with us through the sacraments. Next time, when we cannot sleep, why bother counting sheep? Count blessings instead. WOO is president and CEO of Catholic Relief Services.

Unfaithful in marriage; waiting period for sainthood

How does one confess a mortal sin so foul to himself, his spouse and his family – knowing that by doing so he will destroy all that he loves? I have committed fornication outside of marriage and am living day to day with remorse and guilt so intense that my thoughts are constantly on suicide and despair. I have prayed to the Blessed Virgin and to the Lord Jesus to forgive me and to give me one more chance with my family. I have also prayed that my wife and children never find out, as she is all-good and has shown me and our children nothing but respect and love. FATHER I pray and beg for KENNETH DOYLE forgiveness and repentance on a constant basis. Is there a way that I can reclaim my soul, that I can go on living my faith and staying with my family? I am at an end, admit that I failed terribly as a human being and sinned against the love of Our Lord. Please help me. I do not know what to do. (City of origin withheld) Here is what you need to know: God can forgive us for anything, and wants to. Some of the greatest saints had sex outside of marriage, repented and were absolved (St. Augustine, most notably). Divine forgiveness is as close as the nearest confessional and a priest can never disclose what you tell him during confession. What you should do, right away, before you carry this heavy burden any further, is to stop at a nearby Catholic church (anytime, day or night). Ask the priest to hear your confession and also get his recommendation for counseling or a follow-up. The question of whether your spouse needs to know – and, if so, when – depends on a lot of factors, and a counselor can help you sort them out. If thoughts of suicide persist, one solid resource is the Samaritans crisis hotline. Your local phone directory, or an online search, will give you their number. Meanwhile, please know that you will be in my prayers daily. What comes to mind is the story in John’s Gospel (Chapter 8) of the woman taken in adultery. Jesus refuses to punish or condemn – or even to criticize her. He simply says, “Go, [and] from now on do not sin any more.” Please give Christ the chance to be just as kind to you. The announcement of the forthcoming canonizations of popes John XXIII and John Paul II caused me to wonder. I thought that it was Vatican policy not to canonize anyone until at least 50 years after their death. Did that policy change? (Walton, N.Y.) Yes, the policy changed. The canonization of saints is now governed by reforms set in place by Pope John Paul II in 1983. Prior to that time, the introduction of a saint’s cause had to wait until 50 years after that person’s death. The thinking was that this buffer would allow mere human enthusiasm to cool and the fame of genuine holiness to endure. The downside, though, was that witnesses to the person’s life died off and personal correspondence and other writings became more difficult to assemble. Under the present guidelines, the investigation into a person’s life usually opens no sooner than five years after death – although popes are free to waive even that delay, as was done in the cases of Blessed Teresa of Kolkata and Blessed John Paul II.

QUESTION CORNER

Q. A.

Send questions to Father Kenneth Doyle at askfatherdoyle@gmail.com and 40 Hopewell St., Albany, NY, 12208.

20 FROM THE FRONT

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | NOVEMBER 8, 2013

EAST PALO ALTO: Parishioners find common cause over housing concerns FROM PAGE 1

garage conversions, or second-unit households. For many Latino residents, having a second-unit household and multiple families living at one address is the only way to afford a mortgage or rent. But the city’s more established African-Americans, many of whom are homeowners, worry that overcrowding and the presence of second units will drive down home values and drive up utility rates. “It’s not just a small issue – this issue will affect everybody in 10 to 15 years,” said St. Francis of Assisi parishioner Teo Hernandez, an 18-year resident of the city. Hispanic residents make up nearly two-thirds and African-Americans about 17 percent of the population of East Palo Alto, a city of 29,000 with more small children, a higher poverty rate and a lower median household income than the average for California, according to the 2010 census. Hernandez became involved in community development a year-anda-half ago through meetings at St. Francis of Assisi hosted by Peninsula Interfaith Action over the issue of affordable housing. “People are worried about home values, but if we don’t work together we’ll all be suffering,” Hernandez said. Without the option of adding units to existing homes, East Palo Alto families will be forced to move to

(PHOTO COURTESY ANGEL SANTUARIO/PENINSULA INTERFAITH ACTION)

Faith Missionary Baptist Church members and parishioners from St. Francis of Assisi met with the East Palo City Council Oct. 7 on critical housing issues facing the city. the East Bay or San Jose to find more affordable housing, she said. “But the jobs are here,” she said. “And that will lead to the separation of families.” Many residents work 10 to 12 hours a day to support their families, and if they move and add more time away from home because of commuting, it will weaken families, Hernandez said. In order to address the concerns of both the African-American and Latino communities, about 15 parishioners from St. Francis of Assisi, including Hernandez, met with seven members of Faith Missionary Baptist Church, a predominantly African-

American congregation located in East Palo Alto, at a City Council meeting Oct. 7. “This meeting was the first step in a positive direction to determine what it will take to solve the housing issue,” said Alvin Spencer, an AfricanAmerican member of Faith Missionary Baptist and 50-year resident of East Palo Alto. In the past, the two communities have met with the City Council in opposition to each other, he said. “If the community responds with a community objective of working together, we will come up with good results,” Spencer said.

At the Oct. 7 meeting, all began seeing the issues in terms of the whole community rather than just from their group’s point of view, said Angel Santuario, a Peninsula Interfaith Action representative who has been working closely with both congregations. “The meeting helped everyone see the difference between transactional relationships and transformational relationships,” he said. “What began as a process to address specific problems became a dialogue about the well-being of the community.” As a result of the meeting, the City Council commissioned a study to examine options to meet community needs for affordable housing while maintaining safety standards and home values. “We’d like to see the city be more concerned with education on safety (rather) than on enforcement of unfair laws, so the communities can work closer together rather than against each other,” said St. Francis of Assisi pastor Father Lawrence Goode. Father Goode is hopeful that the city’s fact-finding report will uncover ways to support the dialogue between the communities. “We have the power,” Hernandez said. “The community has the power and working together we will make positive change. God knows our need and he will help us.”

CONFESSION: SYNOD: Bishops asked to assess marriage, family life Light-filled room for reconciliation FROM PAGE 1

FROM PAGE 1

forgiveness, but peace is a product of forgiveness,” he said, calling the sacrament of reconciliation “somehow the overlooked sacrament.” Canon law requires that the confessional be inside the church, visible, accessible to every possible penitent, and open for private and face-to-face confession, Father Father Rolando De la Rosa said. He De la Rosa has posted the canon law requirements, and the U.S. bishops’ directive on the sacrament with the construction plans in the church lobby. More than $13,000 of the approximate $22,000 cost has been donated already with the remainder pledged, he said. While parishioners Father De la Rosa has talked to do not have clear memories of where the confessional was, the consensus is it was located where the new confessional will go, he said. At the same time as the confessional is installed, the wall separating the storage/confessional room from the vestibule will be taken out and the vestibule expanded. The statues of Mary and the Sacred Heart of Jesus in the vestibule will be moved into that area as will the statue of St. Anthony now located where the confessional will go, he said.

and questionnaire “as widely as possible” to deaneries and parishes, summarize the responses and send them to the Vatican by the end of January. Distributing an outline of the chosen topic and related questions, seeking responses from bishops, religious orders and interested Catholic groups is a normal part of the preparation for a synod. Archbishop Baldisseri, encouraging even wider consultation, did not specify how bishops should seek input. The Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales put the questionnaire online in late October, leading to news stories about “polling” Catholics for their opinions and suggestions. The extraordinary synod on “pastoral challenges to the family in the context of evangelization” was convoked by Pope Francis for Oct. 5-19 and will bring together presidents of bishops’ conferences, the heads of Eastern Catholic churches and the heads of Vatican offices to describe the current situation and “to collect the bishops’ experiences and proposals in proclaiming and living the Gospel of the family in a credible manner,” the document said. A second gathering, a world Synod of Bishops on the family, will be held in 2015 “to seek working guidelines in the pastoral care of the person and the family,” it said. “Vast expectations exist concerning the decisions which are to be made pastorally regarding the family,” the document said. Some people may believe changes in church teaching are in store given Pope Francis’ emphasis on mercy, forgiveness and not judging others, and his specific comments on helping divorced and civilly remarried couples

AT A GLANCE

A VATICAN DOCUMENT has been distributed to the world’s bishops in preparation for the extraordinary Synod of Bishops on the family, which will be held in October 2014. IT ENDS WITH 38 QUESTIONS about how church teaching is promoted, how well it is accepted and ways in which modern people and societies challenge the Catholic view of marriage and family.

THE QUESTIONNAIRE asks bishops to describe how people understand church teaching, how their local churches and Catholic movements try to promote it and what difficulties people face in accepting the teaching. who cannot receive Communion. However, the document said, “the teaching of the faith on marriage is to be presented in an articulate and efficacious manner so that it might reach hearts and transform them in accordance with God’s will.” Church teaching always has been clear that marriage is a lifelong bond between one man and one woman open to having and educating children, it said, and the synod’s goal will be “to communicate this message with greater incisiveness.” The preparatory document specifically mentioned modern contributions to church teaching, including the Second Vatican Council’s defense of the dignity of marriage and family, Pope Paul VI’s encyclical “Humanae Vitae” on fidelity and procreation in marriage, and Blessed John Paul II’s teaching on God’s plan for married love.

“The church’s pastoral ministry,” it said, “finds inspiration in the truth of marriage viewed as part of the plan of God, who created man and woman and, in the fullness of time, revealed in Jesus the completeness of spousal love elevated to the level of sacrament.” The questionnaire asks bishops to describe how people understand church teaching, how their local churches and Catholic movements try to promote it and what difficulties people face in accepting the teaching. Synod organizers ask the bishops to estimate the percentage of local Catholics living together without being married, the percentage of those divorced and remarried, and the proportion of children and adolescents in their dioceses who are living in families in those situations. Bishops are asked for their suggestions about the advisability of simplifying church annulment procedures and for suggestions on how that might be done. The questionnaire surveys the bishops about the legal status of same-sex unions in their local area and church efforts to defend traditional marriage, but also asks them what kind of “pastoral attention can be given to people who have chosen to live” in same-sex unions and, in places where they can adopt children, what can be done to transmit the faith to them. Several questions focus von “Humanae Vitae” and church teaching against the use of artificial contraception. The bishops are asked if people understand the teaching and know how to evaluate the morality of different methods of family planning. They also are asked if the question comes up in confessions and if they have suggestions for fostering “a more open attitude toward having children.”

ARTS & LIFE 21

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | NOVEMBER 8, 2013

Scholars offer historic, contemporary looks at Eucharist REVIEWED BY MITCH FINLEY CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE

“THE EUCHARIST: A BIBLE STUDY GUIDE FOR CATHOLICS” BY FATHER MITCH PACWA, SJ. Our Sunday Visitor (Huntington, Ind., 2013). 112 pp., $9.95. “CONSUMING THE WORD: THE NEW TESTAMENT AND THE EUCHARIST IN THE EARLY CHURCH” BY SCOTT HAHN. Image Books (New York, 2013). 161 pp., $23. Consensus among Catholic Scripture scholars tends to maintain that to gain the best understanding of any given biblical document – and, by extension, any part of that document – we need to understand the various stages of scriptural development. In other words, to best understand Scripture we need to take seriously that Scripture is the word of God in human – historically, culturally conditioned – words. Without explicitly acknowledging all this in “The Eucharist: A Bible Study Guide for Catholics,” Jesuit Father Mitch Pacwa leads the reader, either as an individual or as a member of a Bible study group, through a study of what Catholics can learn about the Eucharist from the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures (i.e. the Old and New Testaments). While adult Catholics may well have appreciated at least a short chapter on contemporary Catholic methods of scriptural interpretation, all that Father Pacwa offers clearly depends on his own mastery of these methods and what he has learned from using them himself.

Father Pacwa’s book is divided into six sections for use in the same number of Bible study sessions. Following a section on Old Testament background to the Christian Eucharist, in the remaining five sections he leads readers through what may be learned from the Old and New Testaments about the Eucharist, and in some instances, he also draws on Jewish tradition as it is still practiced today. Parish Bible study groups, as well as individual Catholics, will find in this slim volume a helpful resource to gain a more complete scriptural background for understanding and experiencing the Eucharist. In “Consuming the Word: The New Testament and the Eucharist in the Early Church,” which takes wholeheartedly contemporary Catholic methods of Scripture scholarship and interpretation, Scott Hahn says his overall aim is “to promote biblical literacy for Catholic laypeople and biblical fluency for Catholic scholars and clergy.” To that end, Hahn not only draws on modern Catholic Scripture scholarship, but he takes quite seriously the role of sacred tradition, including the writings of the early Fathers of the Church and other saints. He even draws on what may be learned from the church’s responses to early heresies, as well. What may we learn about the Eucharist from the oral traditions that preceded the written New Testament documents? What may we learn from the New Testament documents themselves? What may we learn from the

regional churches we find in the New Testament and from how the New Testament uses the Old Testament? What does it mean to say the Scripture is sacramental? How are the Lectionary and the New Testament similar and how do they differ? By reading through what Hahn says in response to questions such as these, readers will find themselves

and their understanding of both Scripture and the Eucharist greatly enriched. FINLEY is the author of more than 30 books for Catholic readers, including “The Joy of Being a Eucharistic Minister” and “The Joy of Being a Lector” (both from Resurrection Press). To learn more visit www.mitchandkathyfinley.com.

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22 COMMUNITY

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | NOVEMBER 8, 2013

A novel of belief and unbelief REVIEWED BY MAUREEN DALY CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE

“WHAT HAPPENED TO SOPHIE WILDER” BY CHRISTOPHER R. BEHA. Tin House Books (Portland, Ore., 2012). 253 pp., $15.95. “What Happened to Sophie Wilder,” the first novel by Christopher R. Beha, deserves to be placed in the company of great Catholic fiction by Walker Percy, Graham Greene, Heinrich Boll, Evelyn Waugh, Flannery O’Connor and Andre Dubus. This surprising, complex, short novel is about love and isolation, community and loneliness, success and failure, passing youth, facing death, faith and belief gone very wrong. It is a mystery, a love story and a conversion narrative. Beha probably would question being placed in the company of “Catholic novelists,” because, as he told interviewer Terry Gross on the NPR program “Fresh Air,” he is “someone who was raised Catholic and was indeed a believing Catholic, not just a cultural Catholic by upbringing, who then lost his faith.” Although he says he has lost his faith, he also says, “In lots of ways, faith became much more interesting to me once I didn’t have it.” An associate editor at Harper’s magazine, Beha brings his thoughtful consideration of faith to the pages of that magazine where he writes with respect about the questions of belief and unbelief. With this novel, Beha says, he was “interested in writing about a person of faith, while also writing

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about the attempt of someone who does not have that capacity for faith to try to understand it.” “What Happened to Sophie Wilder” tells the story of what happened to two young adults – intense friends in college who reconnect in their late 20s. Is any decade of life more eventful than ages 18 to 28? It is the age of first independence and self-definition. Experiences and decisions come thick and fast: What to learn? Where to live? What work to do? Who to love? What to believe? First-person narrator Charlie Blakeman is 28 and sharing a townhouse in Manhattan with his cousin Max, and other literary types, while he tries to figure out what to do next before his book advance runs out. He says: “In truth we were quickly reaching – had likely enough already reached – the age where it no longer made sense to talk about ‘promise.’ It was around this time that I remarked to Max that no matter what we now achieved no one would say, ‘He’s so young.’ Precocity had passed us by. ‘After 28,’ I said sadly, ‘you’re judged on your merits.’ “‘Unless one of us dies,’ Max corrected me. ‘Then they’ll all say, ‘He was so young.’” Charlie’s most significant friend from his college years, Sophie Wilder, appears at his house one evening and stays for a few days. The encounter, and its aftermath, prompt Charlie to look back over the years when the two were close and to piece together what happened in between. At 18, both Charlie and Sophie are only children with no family guidance. Charlie’s father is recently deceased, his mother withdrawn into drinking and grief. Sophie’s parents have died in a car crash, leaving her with a house, an income and a world of choices. First, they choose to be writers. They read and write intensely together. After a betrayal separates them, Sophie embraces a fervid Catholicism. She finds guiding principles, but applies them in isolation, even as she marries and embarks on a career. Following her own demanding judgment, she acts on her understanding of these principles in noble, harsh and ultimately tragic ways. “What Happened to Sophie Wilder” is a great read. It prompts questions that call for rereading. Is Sophie a coldhearted manipulator, an idealist, a seeker, all of these? Charlie wants to understand what happened. So will you.

Studies question too much screen time for kids MARK PATTISON CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE

WASHINGTON – The American Academy of Pediatrics issued a new policy statement Oct. 28 on the dangers of too much screen time for children. It replaces its prior statement, formulated in 2001, when tablets didn’t even exist, and smartphones weren’t nearly as smart as they are now. Media by itself is not the leading cause of any health problem in the United States, according to the pediatricians’ group, but it can contribute to numerous health risks. Those include obesity, lack of sleep, school problems, aggression and other behavior issues. The pediatricians’ organization has three tasks for parents: Model effective “media diets” to help their children learn to be selective and healthy in what they consume; make a media-use plan, including mealtime and bedtime curfews for media devices. Screens should be kept out of kids’ bedrooms; limit entertainment screen time to less than one or two hours per day. The news is not all bad. Common Sense Media, in a report issued this fall, “Zero to Eight: Children’s Media Use in America 2013,” found that total screen time has actually decreased, from 2:16 a day to 1:55 a day. And more children are using mobile devices to read, although reading still finishes last among the uses cited in a survey of families by Common Sense. Even so, the upswing in use of mobile media devices by kids no older than 8 is nothing short of astonishing. Tablet use by children is up to 40 percent from 9 percent in 2011. Smartphones: up from 52 percent of young children two years ago to 75 percent now. And kids have tripled their smallscreen time since 2011. TV still dominates children’s screen-time usage, but now kids are savvy in time-shifting, such as using digital video-recording devices, streaming and video-on-demand to watch shows at various times. The Common Sense study also showed gaps between rich and poor. The richer you are, the more likely you are to have cable or satellite TV, a DVR, or Internet-connected TV. The poorer you are, the more likely you are to have the TV on all the time, and for children to have a TV in their bedroom.

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COMMUNITY 23

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | NOVEMBER 8, 2013

Lay mission group formed to re-evangelize faithful in Asia EDISON TAPALLA CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO

Tricia Bolle says she believes the Holy Spirit is calling her to follow in the footsteps of one of the greatest missionaries to Asia, St. Francis Xavier â€“ but with a different focus. St. Francis Xavier was a Jesuit missionary and student of St. Ignatius of Loyola in the 16th century. St. Francis Xavier spread the Gospel to parts of Asia that had not been visited by other Christian missionaries. Bolle established the St. Francis Xavier Lay Missionary Society with Tricia Bolle the goal of sending lay missionaries to re-evangelize Catholic communities in Hong Kong, India and Japan. â€œIn Hong Kong, only about 4.5 percent of people are Catholic, of that only about 20 percent are fully engaged,â€? Bolle said. â€œThe number runs about the same with the 12 percent of Catholics in India, and the 0.5 percent of Catholics in Japan ... We want to focus on those that are already baptized, and help them live out their faith and to understand the intersection between faith and life.â€? Bolle graduated from Stanford University in Palo Alto in 2005 with a masterâ€™s in East Asian Studies and served as a lay missionary to Asia for more than six years. After having studied the writings of Alessandro Valignano she came to agree with his assessment that Japan and Asia represented the greatest missionary enterprise in the world at the time and today. Vallignano supervised the early Jesuit missionaries to Japan in the late 1500s.

Catholic missionaries have a long history of work in Asia. Groups like the Jesuit Volunteer Corps and the Maryknoll Lay Missioners have worked for social justice causes and taught in schools for decades. The St. Francis Xavier Lay Missionary Society differs itself from other missionary groups with its focus on engaging baptized young adult Catholics rather than trying to evangelize non-Catholics. Bolle says studies and anecdotal experience show that young adults 18-35 are the group most likely to accept or reject the faith of their childhood. To address this realization Bolle plans to have her missionaries establish fellowships, prayer groups, spiritual workshops and other activities designed to enrich young adult faith formation. Dominican Father Isaiah Mary Molano, parochial vicar at St. Dominic Parish in San Francisco, serves as the spiritual director for the missionary society. He said one of Bolleâ€™s strengths is her ability to connect. â€œOne important aspect she relies on is that of forming relationships with those who she ministers,â€? Father Molano said. â€œOnce a missionary has a good relationship with others, then can the missionary share the relationship he or she has with their best friend, God.â€? The society plans to send its first pair of missionaries to Hong Kong in fall 2014. By 2015, Bolle expects to send two more missionaries to Hong Kong and two to India before sending missionaries to Japan in 2016. â€?I think that the societyâ€™s goal provides a wonderful pathway for evangelization in the world which enlists the faith, energy and generosity of heart that is present among so many of our young adults,â€? San

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Francisco Auxiliary Bishop Robert. W. McElroy, who met with Bolle earlier this year, said in an email. Bolle believes everyone is called to be ambassadors of Christ, some abroad and some in their families. She cites Blessed John Paulâ€™s 1987 apostolic exhortation â€œChristifideles Laiciâ€? (â€œChristâ€™s Faithful Peopleâ€?): â€œThe lay faithful, precisely because they are members of the church, have the vocation and mission of proclaiming the Gospel: They are prepared for this work by the sacraments of Christian initiation and by the gifts of the Holy Spirit.â€?

SCRIPTURE SEARCH Gospel for November 10, 2013 Luke 20:27-38 Following is a word search based on the Gospel reading for the 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C: an imaginary story illustrating life and marriage. The words can be found in all directions in the puzzle. SADDUCEES MOSES A WIFE FIRST WOMAN WORTHY PASSAGE

QUESTION BROTHER RAISE UP SECOND RESURRECTION TO ATTAIN THE BUSH

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24 COMMUNITY

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | NOVEMBER 8, 2013

Where to donate to help the needy this holiday season off at 1237 Van Ness Ave., Suite 200, San Francisco. (415) 977-1270; info@ svdp-sf.org.

Throughout the year and especially at Christmas and Thanksgiving, organizations serving the poor are in need of supplies they make available to the homeless and lower-income individuals and families as well as meal programs they offer. Below are ways you can help.

VINCENTIAN HELP DESK: Canned goods, men’s large, extra-large clothing. Drop-off 1175 Howard St., San Francisco. (415) 202-9955; info@svdp-sf.org.

SAN FRANCISCO ST. VINCENT DE PAUL SOCIETY: www.svdp-sf.org. Call listed numbers for drop-off days and times.

ST. VINCENT DE PAUL SOCIETY OF SAN MATEO COUNTY: Travelsize shampoo and conditioner soap or body wash, body lotion, deodorant for men and women, toothpaste; disposable razors; T-shirts, men and women, medium through extra-large; underwear, men and women, small, medium, large; socks, men and women. $10 Target gift cards; $5 McDonalds gift cards. Drop-off every day, 50 North B St., San Mateo, 9-5. www.svdp-sanmateoco. org; (650) 373-0622.

MSC HOMELESS SHELTER: Hats, scarves, sweaters for men large, extra-large. Drop-off 525 Fifth St., San Francisco. (415) 597-7960, info@svdpsf.org. RILEY CENTER DOMESTIC VIOLENCE SHELTER: New twin sheet bed sets, twin comforters, towels. Drop-

ST. VINCENT DE PAUL SOCIETY OF MARIN COUNTY: Frozen or fresh ham; frozen or fresh turkey; frozen or fresh ground beef; milk, cheese, garlic, dried black beans, penne pasta, ketchup, sugar, cooking oil. Drop-off every day, 820 B St, San Rafael, 6:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Also needed are gift certificates; Safeway cards; phone cards; Subway sandwich cards; Walgreens gift cards. These should be in $10-$25 denominations and sent to SVdP Marin, P.O. Box 150527, San Rafael 94915, attn: Christine. For general information, visit www.vinnies.org; email cpaquette@vinnies.org; call (415) 454-3303, ext. 12. CATHOLIC CHARITIES CYO OF THE ARCHDIOCESE OF SAN FRANCISCO: http://bit.ly/wishes13. Gift cards from Target, Safeway, Costco, Ross,

Walgreens; arts and craft supplies; new board games; movie tickets; twin bedsheet sets; towels, socks, gloves, hats and scarves. To donate, call (415) 9721297; email volunteer@cccyo.org. To make a financial contribution by mail, make checks out to Catholic Charities CYO, mail to 180 Howard St., Suite 100, San Francisco 94105. Donate online at www.cccyo.org/donate. ST. ANTHONY FOUNDATION: www. stanthonysf.org. Curbside drop-off 150 Golden Gate Ave., San Francisco. Unopened hygiene items, new socks, hand-knit scarves and hats as well as foods. Donate online at www.stanthonysf.org. Thanksgiving: Saturday, Sunday Nov. 23, 24: 9-3; Nov. 25, 26, 27: 8-5; Nov. 28: 9-1. Christmas: Saturday, Dec. 21, 22, 24: 9-3; Monday, Dec. 23: 8-5.

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26 CALENDAR FRIDAY, NOV. 8 ‘JAVA, JAZZ AND JESUS’: “Shifting Focus: Finding God in the Busy,” with Jesuit Father Radmar Jao at St. Ignatius Parish, Fromm Hall, 650 Parker Ave., Father Radmar San Francisco, Jao, SJ 7 p.m. Talk is followed by small-group discussions and an open forum. St. Ignatius Parish invites all young adults, 18-40 years old, and those young at heart to a special evening of warm ambiance, relaxing music and meaningful conversation in the Maraschi Room. Think Green - BYOM (Bring Your Own Mug). RSVP, not required but helpful, at facebook.com/ groups/548083468597084/; siparishyoungadults@gmail.com; (415) 422-2188.

SATURDAY, NOV. 9 2-DAY CHRISTMAS FAIR: All Souls Church, Miller and Walnut avenues, South San Francisco, Saturday, Sunday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Lunch Saturday at 11 a.m., breakfast and pictures with Santa follow Sunday’s 9 a.m. Mass. Call (650) 871-8944 for additional information.

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | NOVEMBER 8, 2013

DOROTHY DAY: “Dorothy Day: A Life and Legacy,” a look at the journalist, social activist, and Catholic convert whose focus was the poor and homeless. Robert Ellsberg, Orbis Books, publishers of Day’s diaries and letters, will speak. Explore issues of nonviolence and a commitment to the poor by reflecting on the life of Dorothy Day with speaker panels from the Bay Area Catholic Worker community, talks by USF faculty, 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m., Fromm Institute, University of San Francisco main campus behind St. Ignatius Church along Parker Avenue. Free and open to the public. Day is sponsored by the USF Joan and Ralph Lane Center for Catholic Studies and Social Thought. Email lanecenter@usfca.edu or visit http://www.usfca.edu/ lanecenter/; call (415) 422-5200. RESPECT LIFE: “Love Made Medicine: Christian Answers to Health Care Challenges,” Respect Life Conference, 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m., St. Mary’s Cathedral, conference center, Gough Street at Geary Boulevard, San Francisco. Speakers include Dr. Mary Davenport on effectiveness and rewards of NFP and pro-life infertility treatment; Dr. Ryan Nash director of Ohio State University Center for Bioethics on palliative care and meeting the spiritual needs of the patient at the end of life; and Dr. Thomas Cavanaugh, professor of philosophy, University of San Francisco, with an historical and philosophical perspective on the influence of Christianity on Hippocratic medicine. Event sponsored by San Francisco Archdiocesan Office of Public Policy and Social Concerns. Tickets at $60, include continental breakfast and

buffet lunch plus conference materials. Scholarships are available for students. Continuing Professional Education credit for nurses though Dominican University for an additional $10. Vicki Evans, (415) 614-5533; vevans1438@ att.net. ALL-SCHOOL REUNION: “Blue and Green Bash” for graduates of Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory School at San Francisco Design Galleria Center, 101 Henry Adams St., an evening of food, dancing drinks, a night to reconnect. Patrick Kealy, alumni relations manager, (415) 775-6626, ext. 682; pkealy@shcp.edu. Tickets $80 and $65. FOCUS ON WOMEN: Information days about “Educating on the Nature and Dignity of Women,” a study program for women from early ages and throughout life, will be held Nov. 9 and Dec. 14 at St. Brendan Church, convent study room, 29 Rockaway Ave. at Laguna Honda Boulevard, San Francisco, 10:30-11:30 a.m. The information talks are for women interested in learning more about joining a study group, becoming a facilitator or bringing ENDOW to their parish. Visit www. endowgroups.org.

MONDAY, NOV. 11 3-DAY RETREAT: Our Lady of Angels Parish, 1721 Hillside Drive, Burlingame, Nov. 11, 12, 13; 8:30-9:30 a.m. and 7:30-8:30 p.m. each day with Father Robert Barron’s series on Eucharist as guide. Also opportunities to sign

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THEOLOGY CAFE: A speaker series at St. Pius Parish, Homer Crouse Hall, 1100 Woodside Road at Valota, Redwood City featuring topics associated with Vatican II and the church of today. Nov. 14: “Pope John XXIII: Holy Man and His Influence on Vatican II” with Sally Vance-Trembath, professor of theology, Santa Clara University. Sister Norberta (650) 361-1411, ext. 115; srnorberta@pius.org.

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FERTILITY SUPPORT: San Francisco Catholic Infertility Fellowship meets monthly to provide emotional, spiritual, and practical support to married individuals and couples who have been struggling to conceive a child for six months or more. Meetings are second Tuesdays, 7 p.m., Siena Room, St Dominic Parish, Bush Street at Steiner, San Francisco. Visit http://sfcatholicif. blogspot.com/.

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CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | NOVEMBER 8, 2013

FRIDAY, NOV. 15 LECTIO DIVINA: Pauline Books & Media, Redwood City, 6:30 p.m., with Paulist Sister Neville Christine Forchap. Learning to pray the word is a wonderful way of entering into the liturgical seasons. Discussion and social will follow presentation. (415) 847-3662. HOLIDAY BOUTIQUE: Sisters of Mercy at Marian Oaks Annual Holiday Boutique, Friday and Saturday 10 a.m.-3:30 p.m. On sale are the sisters’ legendary homemade jams, handcrafted blankets and crafts, all occasion handmade cards, baked goods, and fudge, 2300 Adeline Drive, Building D, Burlingame. Follow lower road on Mercy campus to Marian Oaks. Debbie Halleran, (650) 340-7426; dhalleran@mercywmw. org.

SATURDAY, NOV. 16 EPIPHANY REUNION: Calling all alumni, current students, parents, teachers and parishoners past and present to help celebrate the School of the Epiphany’s 75th anniversary, noon4 p.m., 600 Italy St., San Francisco. alumni@sfepiphany.org. HANDICAPABLES MASS: Father Kirk Ullery, chaplain, is principal celebrant of Mass at noon, Room C, St. Mary Cathedral Event Center, Gough Street at Geary Boulevard, San Francisco. Lunch follows. Volunteers are always welcome to assist in this ongoing tradition of more than 40 years. Joanne Borodin, (415) 2394865.

SUNDAY, NOV. 17 CHRISTMAS FAIR: St. Elizabeth Parish Youth Group Christmas Fair, 8 a.m.-3 p.m., Wayland and Bacon streets, San Francisco. Choose among unique and beautiful items, homemade blankets, jewelry, Christmas decorations. Tables are still available for rent. Laurrie, (415) 468-0820.

FRIDAY, DEC. 6

SATURDAY, DEC. 7

SIMBANG GABI MASS: Commissioning Simbang Gabi Mass, 7:30 p.m., Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, principal celebrant, Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption, Gough Street at Geary Boulevard, Archbishop San FrancisSalvatore J. co. Contact Nellie Cordileone Hizon (415) 6997927 or nelliehizon01@gmail.com.

CEMETERY MASS: Holy Cross Cemetery, 1500 Old Mission Road, Colma, All Saints Mausoleum, 11 a.m. Father Brian Costello, pastor, Most Holy Redeemer Parish, San Francisco, principal celFather Brian ebrant. (650) Costello 756-2060, www. holycrosscemeteries.com.

MASS AND TALK: Catholic Marin Breakfast Club, St. Sebastian Parish, Bon Air Road and Sir Francis Drake Boulevard, Greenbrae, 7 a.m. Mass followed by breakfast and talk by Cardinal William Cardinal William J. Levada, retired prefect, CongreJ. Levada gation for the Doctrine of the Faith and former archbishop of San Francisco. (415) 461-0704; sugaremy@aol.com.

SATURDAY, DEC. 14

MONDAY, NOV. 18 DIACONATE INFORMATION NIGHT: Information session for men and their wives interested in applying to the Deacon Formation Program for the Archdiocese of San Francisco presented by program director Deacon Rich Foley, St. Mary’s Cathedral, Gough Street at Geary Boulevard, San Francisco, 7:30-9 p.m. (415) 614-5531.

TUESDAY, NOV. 19 3-DAY BOUTIQUE: Holiday sale benefiting St. Mary’s Medical Center, main lobby, 450 Stanyan St., San Francisco; Nov. 19: 4-7 p.m. preview night, $10 admission, free parking and refresh-

CHRISTMAS REMEMBRANCE: Holy Cross Cemetery, 1500 Old Mission Road, Colma, All Saints Mausoleum, 11 a.m., Msgr. John Talesfore, pastor, St. Mary’s Cathedral, presides. (650) 756-2060, Msgr. John www.holycrossTalesfore cemeteries.com.

ments. Nov. 20, 10 a.m.-4 p.m; Nov. 21, 10-3.Both days free admission. (415) 750-5646.

WEDNESDAY, NOV. 20 GRIEF SUPPORT: Grief support group meets third Wednesdays, St. Mary’s Cathedral, Gough Street at Geary Boulevard, San Francisco, 10:30 a.m.-noon in Msgr. Bowe Room. Sessions provide information on the grief process, and tips on coping with the loss of a loved one. Sister Esther, (415) 567-2020, ext. 218.

FRIDAY, NOV. 22 2-DAY FAITH CONFERENCE: “Alive in the Spirit,” a two-day faith formation

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WEDNESDAY, DEC. 4 YOUTH: Interactive Advent event with singer, composer, catechist Jessie Manibusan at St. Charles Church, 880 Tamarack Ave., San Carlos, 7 p.m. Admission is free. www.stcharlesparish.org, (650) 591-7349.

THURSDAY, DEC. 5 STUDY GROUP: Don Bosco Study Group, 7 p.m., auditorium, Sts. Peter and Paul Church, 666 Filbert, San Francisco. Frank Lavin, FrankLavin@ comcast.net; (415) 310.8551.

FRIDAY, DEC. 6 FIRST FRIDAY: The Contemplatives of St. Joseph offer Mass at Mater Dolorosa Church, 307 Willow Ave., South San Francisco, 7 p.m. followed by healing service and personal blessing with St. Joseph oil from Oratory of St. Joseph, Montreal.

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DIACONATE INFORMATION NIGHT: Information session for men and their wives interested in applying to the Deacon Formation Program for the Archdiocese of San Francisco presented by program director Deacon Rich Foley, St. Gregory Parish, 28th Avenue at Hacienda, San Mateo, 7:30-9 p.m. (415) 614-5531.

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ALUMNI LUNCH: Archbishop Riordan High School “Downtown Luncheon,” Sir Francis Drake Hotel, San Francisco. Guest speaker is Jack Clark, head coach of Cal rugby and one of the most successful collegiate rugby coaches in U.S. history. Cocktails 11:30 a.m. lunch: 12:30 p.m. $70. www.riordanhs.org.

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“Serra prepared me for...”

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Bhaven Patel Class of 2012

Anthony Totah Class of 2012

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Princeton

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Henry Caruso Class of 2013

Kyle Merrigan Class of 2013

Matthew Boland Class of 2013

“It all began when I attended Serra’s Open House...”

Open House Thursday, December 5 at 7 p.m. 451 W. 20th Avenue, San Mateo, CA 94403 serrahs.com (650) 345-8207 BY THE NUMBERS 100% of Serra graduates are accepted to college $17 million in college scholarships was awarded to the class of 2013, with more than 70% receiving one or more awards