Vol 4 No. 6- Dedicated to St. Joseph By & For Santa Clara Valley Catholics Nov/Dec, 1997 Editor - Jane Anderson Publisher - Marc Crotty

Starting with this issue we will be publishing the View on-line as articles are sent in. Check here periodically as this issue grows. Last Update: 3 Nov 1997

WHAT'S IN THIS ISSUE:  Campaign for Human Development 

Renew: Sound and fury signifying nothing  

  Billy Graham outdraws RENEW 

  Denver Bishop asks: Is fetus just a parasite? 

Cardinal Mahony:Let 'em eat pita bread 

Nothing doing on Nothing Sacred 

Letters to the Editor 

Bright & Dim Views 

U.S. Catholic bishop's letter urges parents to accept, respect their homosexual children 

30 years later: 

Your California tax dollars at work 

SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION 

PAST ISSUES OF THE VIEW 

OTHER CATHOLIC SITES 

LOCAL WEEKLY TRADITIONAL MASS SCHEDULE 

 

Campaign for Human Development (CHD) 

`Tis the season to be open-hearted.  And, coincidentally, `tis the season for the Campaign for Human Development (CHD). 

Brochures explain that donations will go to the poor. How can we turn our backs on the poor?  Christ himself admonished us to feed the hungry and clothe the naked. 

We should NOT turn our backs on the poor.  But we should NOT support CHD, either. Here's why: 

Dr. Gregory Gronbacher, research director for the Acton Institute, was asked to research the Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF), whose major funding arm is the Catholic Church through CHD. The IAF is a Marxist organization founded by activist Saul Alinsky  in the `60s.  The alarming fact is that IAF philosophy runs counter to Catholic doctrine. It is creeping liberation theology which Pope John Paul II has vigorously condemned. 

According to Gronbacher, who presented his findings to a regional Wanderer Forum in Westmont, Ill., on Oct. 11, the IAF operates on three main principles: 

1. The poor are the victims of a class society. To cure poverty, one must eliminate the rich.  The poor must be taught they are victims  "Rise up and take what is rightfully yours." And the middle class and rich must be taught guilt.  San Jose's nominally religious organization, "People and Community Together" (PACT), demonstrates this aggressive, class-warfare approach. 

2. The poor are an institutional problem. Poverty is abstract, statistical, so efforts to solve it will be political. 

3. The economic picture of poverty is a static  "pie," in which the poor wind up with the crust. Marxist theory and welfare advocacy in the United States since the `60s assert that everyone should have an equal share of the pie. Both assume that the primary passion in the human heart is envy and that the rich have grabbed "unfairly"an unjust portion of the social desserts. 

Contrast this IAF philosophy with what the Church teaches in papal documents, Second Vatican Council documents and Dignitatis Humanae: 

1. The Principle of Subsidiarity, taught by  Pius XI, Pius XII and John Paul II,  states that MANY institutions working together in their own  proper spheres make up a successful society.  These institutions: family,  Church, market, government, etc., only work well when they do not tread on  each other's toes. Together they produce the `'common good.'' 

2. The principle of Preferential Option means it is the Church's job to help the poor because Christ commands it. This means we take PEOPLE seriously, not just a group of statistics.  The gospel of Jesus Christ is not spread by government programs. The gospel is spread by people who go into the neighborhoods where the poor live, offering more than money and blankets. 

3. The Principle of Virtue and the Principle of accountability come from the doctrine that Man is made in the image and likeness of God. 

Accordingly, the Church teaches that WORK entitles a person to the just  fruits of life. The IAF stresses non-accountability.  Whatever you do or don't do you're entitled to your piece of the pie. If you're poor, it's not because of social or moral factors, it's because you've been robbed of your rightful share. 

These basic differences in philosophy are not just cosmetic. They go to the very heart of society.  The IAF philosophy has turned government into a Big Daddy that promises everything without God, whereas Church doctrine promises eternal life to souls who have faith and follow the Ten Commandments. And Church doctrine specifies it is the Christian's duty to spread the Good News, especially to the poor. 

Consider one example:  Confronted by a young woman whose husband has left her with three hungry children, the IAF would advise her to go to a government building, fill out forms, be visited regularly by a state worker and consider it compassion. The late Mother Teresa would have taken this woman under her wing, feed and clothe her, take care of her children while she sorted out her options, pray with her, and then put her to work. 

The confusion for well-meaning Catholics is this:  If the Campaign for Human Development promotes a philosophy which is contrary to Catholic doctrine, why do the American bishops back it? There is no simple answer to this question:  Some are duped just like us into thinking that what sounds good IS good. Some are too busy to ask the right questions. But some are anxious to push this new agenda: liberation theology or Marxism. 

Catholics in the pew must understand that a donation to CHD actually ROBS the Church of its dual function: to rescue the poor in body and in spirit.  IAF-type organizations are only concerned about changing a political and economic system by promoting the welfare mentality, middle-class guilt, and class warfare. The Church, on the other hand,  wants to help the poor PERSON, raise him up to something better in this world and teach him how to be happy with God in the next. 
 

  

 Renew: Sound and fury signifying nothing 

What better place to be on a hot Sunday afternoon than the ballpark . . . listening to the first pitch of the San Jose Diocese RENEW the Renewal Program? It was your typical September day: 90 degrees in the shade – and there was no shade for the approximately 1,300 people who showed up at this event.  The program, held September 28, at San Jose Municipal Stadium, opened with dancing nymphs coming from right-center field sliding gracefully into third base where the stage was set up. They did a modern/interpretive dance, accompanied by  boom box-like  music. The teenage nymphs, dressed all in black, wore tight slacks with spaghetti-string blouses, and carried red clay bowls blowing smoke, which is pretty much is what you got. We thought we were at the altar of Zeus on Mount Olympus. 

Later, more black-clad, not so teenage nymphs joined the dance. Next came a procession of people, young and old, carrying flags that had the RENEW Tree with the name name of individual parishes. They were followed by the bishop's entourage, many of whom were older women in straw hats and sun glasses looking all the world like henchmen for Lucky Luciano. And trailing far back in the pack, as if he were an after thought, was Bishop Pierre DuMaine. Following this was the greeting by Ms. Olga Bradley, dressed in a black dress, joined on stage by a signer for the deaf, who was also dressed in black. Bradley claimed that THIS RENEW in this diocese was making history. That "peace and justice" would come of this. And just what is that peace and justice? Well the Litany would tell us like a Greek chorus it was: "to end the isolation of the old, Kyrie, eleison . . . end the farce of an unjust school admittance program, Christe, eleison . . . end the nuclear holocaust (What! Are we going to bomb Alviso?) . . . end slavery and greed, Kyrie, eleison . . ." etc. 

The Bishop spoke at the podium behind which was a mural of "The Tree" with rainbowesque vertical stripes in drab colors. (If God had painted a rainbow like that, he'd still be looking for believers.) The stage was dressed in a black, crepe-like skirt. "We begin", he said at one point, "this (RENEW) process in the spirit of celebration and in a spirit of joy and in a spirit of confidence and hope." (If this be a celebration, don't show us the requiem.) He spoke in glowing generalities. "We can only touch those we can touch," he said.  He spoke about the "culture of death" that permeates society today, but when the crowd applauded, he rebuked them by saying, "Don't applaud, it's not a thing to applaud about." He received no further applause.  The RENEW program will take three years. It will "affect your Church, your home, your life," he said. "It will change the way you read the Bible." How? Don't know. An intriguing part of his speech was when he said, "Silence makes us nervous." And then he proceeded to be silent for 30 seconds. He did this to show that "we should RENEW our sense of silence, God's presence in silence. Renew the mystery of 'Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again.' Rediscover the simplicity, the clarity of worship and forgo many of the trimmings that tend to obscure, and recover the essential lines." He hoped that we would "RENEW the relatedness and connectedness to RENEW: that sense, that Catholic sense of solidarity."  Solidarity seems dubious since the RENEW program will split us into little groups so there is nothing upon which to hang our solidarity.  Any resemblance between the Catholicism of yesterday, and the Catholicism of tomorrow will be purely coincidental.  All and all it was like a 0-0 extra inning ball game, in which there are lots of errors, lots of walks, lots of meetings on the mound, but no score. Finally one team scores through attrition. This is still a 0-0 game with lots of talk signifying nothing.  It was not what was said that mattered, but what was not said. We were not told how this RENEW will work, though training classes have been in progress since early June. (See View from the Pew, issues May/June, July/Aug. 1997.) We can only surmise the process from places where it has been implemented, such as the Archdiocese of Newark or up north in the diocese of Oakland. And it is not pretty.  Apparently the object of RENEW is to break us off into little cells of 12 or so people. The leader of each cell, already trained by facilitators from the diocese, is trained never to correct the belief of another cell member. There is no right or wrong. It's "I'm OK, you're OK", pop psychology of the 60s again.  Before we left, we were given a packet of seeds – to plant perhaps. Jesus told us not to waste good seed on barren soil. Whom do we pray to then? Demeter, god of fertility and the nymphs?  As we were leaving, we turned and looked back at the stage and the Tree. The Tree. Isn't that what got us into trouble in the first place? 

Billy Graham outdraws RENEW 
While the RENEW rally planners were patting themselves on the back for drawing 4,000 people to the event at San Jose Municipal Stadium on Sept. 28 (we counted only 1,300), evangelist Billy Graham pulled in 18,500 on that Sunday and a whopping 71,500 during the entire weekend crusade.  The Valley Catholic had urged people to attend the Graham crusade and even arranged to have Catholic witnesses present for folks who come forward to "commit themselves to Christ." Guess the Diocese didn't think about the fact it was having its own little bash.  Or maybe people decided they wanted to listen to real religion. While Catholics at the rally heard platitudes about nuclear holocaust and ecological disaster and school admissions, Catholics at the Graham crusade were hearing about Jesus Christ, sin, repentance and walking in the shoes of the Fisherman. Is the Diocese listening? The people apparently know which road they want to take. 
 

 

 

Denver Bishop asks: Is fetus just a parasite? 
By Archbishop Stafford  The Denver Catholic Register last month's article in the New York Times on abortion has remained with me like a nightmare. It described abortions beyond 24 weeks of pregnancy. It haunts my sleep and my waking hours. One of the American doctors who is reported to be doing "more and more abortions in the third trimester" is a Coloradan, Warren Martin Hern, M.D., M.P.H., Director, Boulder Abortion Clinic. I've spent considerable time in reviewing critically the writings of some abortionists, including Dr. Hern's, which are available in the Denison Memorial Library of the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. I'm trying to find out how they justify their abortions practice.  It appears that most abortion practitioners are men. Their views have been very influential in the decision by public policy-makers legalizing abortion. Leading Colorado officials including Gov. Richard Lamm and Congress-woman Patricia Schoeder have been supportive of Dr. Hern's abortion activities.  More recently, Gov. Roy Romer has reiterated his own adamant pro-abortion position. In a survey of the 1989 Colorado Legislature, 69 of the 100 members said they would vote against attempts to make abortion illegal. So my interest in the intellectual underpinnings of pro-abortionists has been quickened . . . To base one's pro-abortion position exclusively "on a woman's right to choose," as many politicians do, is disingenuous. To "choose" means to opt to do something in abortion one chooses deliberately to kill a fetus, to "devitalize" it, as the medical establishment puts it and to "evacuate" it from the womb.  So the following questions are being raised for the sake of clarification. I am searching for the intellectual foundations of the public health policies allowing nearly unlimited access to abortion operations in Colorado. They are addressed to the governor and state lawmakers.  What are the intellectual assumptions that guide public policy decisions and attitudes of various state officials: 1) on the nature of pregnancy; and 2) on the significance of the fetus?  Dr. Hern is quite frank in his professional writing. He attempts a comprehensive, unifying justification of his abortion practice. since his views seem part and parcel of the pro-abortionist mainstream. I will make use of his position at least as part as representative of that group.  My first question to public officials concerns the significance they attach to pregnancy. Supporters of legalized abortion appear to see pregnancy as a biocultural event in the context of other illnesses. In other words, they judge pregnancy to be a disease. It is equaled with an infection and, consequently, abortion practice is understood best in the framework of epidemiology. These views obviously imply certain attitudes towards the meaning of health, disease and illness. Influential abortionists consider that pregnancy is an illness, a pathologic process.  I ask Gov. Romer and state legislators, what are the assumptions underlying your attitudes toward pregnancy?  Do you agree with leading medical exponents of abortion that pregnancy generally is to be considered an illness, a sickness and that abortion is the indicated treatment of choice?  My second question to public officials concerns their understanding of the significance of the fetus. considering how they mutilate the fetus. I can understand why abortion practitioners take a dim view of it. After having read about various techniques and procedures employed in abortions. I am not surprised that Dr. Hern advises his fellow practitioners against sharing specific I details of their operations with the public media. Nevertheless, abortion technocrats are quite explicit and candid in their professional writings. In some abortion literature the fetus is considered to be a parasite invading its host, the woman's womb; it is also likened to a morbid growth. Its kinship with the rest of us is neutralized by referring to it as "the content" of a pregnant uterus or simply as a fetal placental unit.  Some descriptions exceed in banal horror the malevolence of a painting by Hieronymus Bosch. I was revolted by the description of how the abortion operative deals with the "Calvaria" trapped in the uterus. It is not difficult for Christians to infer what "Calvaria" means. In abortion manuals it refers to the severed skull of the fetus and its contents. Does any abortion operative dare to describe in detail to the general public the meaning "of the sign of the Calvaria" in second trimester abortions? Especially execrable is the "operator's sensation as he grasps the severed Calvaria of the fetus within its mother's womb, collapses it with his instruments and withdraws it.  So, governor and members of the state legislature, what is your understanding of the fetus? Does it have any kinship with us? And if you believe that it does, how can one tolerate the butchery  of the human form by  abortions operatives? "butchery" is a very harsh word, I know. But what other word can describe what happens in an abortion operation? At least the word is accurate and honest. Surely there is something happening more evil than implied in the banal description of the pregnant uterus being emptied of its "decidua?" Our hands, and particularly the hands of medical men, are more and more pervious to unspeakable barbarism. That is the fact and the meaning of the fact.  I pray continually to God for the public peace of our state and yet I know there can be no peace. For the darkness of the womb conceals a crime that cries to heaven. One hears the fearful reply, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord" (Rom. 12:19; Heb. 10:30). 
 

Cardinal Mahony: Let 'em eat pita bread 
What I most dislike about the "American Catholic Mass" (pick one): 

	Hands raised while reciting the Lord's Prayer.
	Inclusive language.
	Ordinary bread used for the Host.
	Standing during the Eucharistic Prayer.
	Other.

Well, it turns out you don't have to choose if you're in the Diocese of Los Angeles. Cardinal Roger Mahony unveiled a new directive called "Gather Faithfully Together," which calls for all these items – and more – to be forced on priests and people.  Anticipating that conservatives will fight the directive, Mahony stressed that he is not kidding around: "Jubilee (the year 2000) is a time to acknowledge and celebrate that things need not be what they have been, that the future need not repeat the past. Jubilee is a sorting out of what of that past must be forgiven or set aside, and what of the past is worthy to be grasped and handed on, built upon, made our own and given to our children.  "The Sunday assembly should bring together men, women and children of all ages. It should be the one experience in our lives when we will not be sorted out by education level, skin color, intelligence, politics, sexual orientation, wealth or lack of it, or any other human condition. If the assembly is the basic symbol (a BIG "if") when the liturgy is celebrated, the comfortable homogeneity promoted by so many in this nation has no place. Homogeneity and comfort are not Gospel values." 

Mahony somehow got the wrong-headed idea that people who like their Mass are prejudiced against other people. Is this crazy or what? People who like a straight, spiritual Mass like it precisely because it DOES fit all ages, shapes, sizes, cultural groups, etc., not because of its creature comforts. Mahony's changes, which will incorporate whatever oddities each particular "team" cooks up, will mean that folks will continue to be "roamin' Catholics" to escape some of the silliness.  What Mahony is really saying is: I don't like the way the Church is run, and I'm gonna to see that it's run differently here in Los Angeles. If parishioners don't like it, they're old, conservative and prejudiced. They gotta get with it. It's jubilee, for Heaven's sake. By the year 2000, I'm gonna have this diocese doing things the new way, whether people like it or not. And everyone who helps me promote it will get a bigger church or a better job.  It ought to work, says Sister Ann Rehrauer, associate director of the Office of Liturgy with the National Conference of Catholic Bishops.  She was quoted in the Los Angeles Times as saying: "I believe that Cardinal Mahony's effort in terms of calling people to the Eucharist liturgy and calling them to a renewed commitment to a deeper awareness and greater sense of worship and reverence is a wonderful thing and a marvelous way to prepare for a new millennium." Right. Deeper awareness, greater sense of reverence and commitment is going to come from consecrating pita bread and concentrating on the "assembly?" Are these people nuts?  Everything that's happened in the last 30 years should tell them what de-sacralizing the liturgy has meant: 
 

de-populating the Church.

 

 

Nothing doing on Nothing Sacred  The ABC-TV sitcom, Nothing Sacred, is aptly named. Nothing IS sacred, and Catholics are mad as heck and not going to put up with it anymore.  Nothing Sacred is about a young priest who is shown in the early shows: 1) Telling a teenager in the confessional that she should answer to her own conscience on abortion; 2) Telling his congregation that the Bible says little or nothing about sexual behavior and he does not intend to be a sex cop; 3) Trying to decide in the company of his former girlfriend whether he made the right decision to become celibate, etc., etc., etc.  The Catholic League for Religious and Civil rights believes that this show, the movie Priest, and the selection of a Catholic-basher to provide the "color" at Mother Teresa's funeral, are indicative of anti-Catholic bias at ABC and its parent company, Walt Disney.  The Catholic League is urging people to notify the sponsors of Nothing Sacred that they are not going to purchase their products. (The View is not listing the sponsors because they are continuing to drop out as complaints come in.) Call local carriers of the program, Channels 11 and 7, and inform them you are boycotting all local sponsors of Nothing Sacred. For up-to-date information on which national companies to boycott, call the Catholic League at 1-800-355-0980. 
 

 

J Bright Views J 

Yale's Orthodox Jewish freshmen demand to live off-campus  It didn't come from Catholic students, but it's a good sign nevertheless:  Five Orthodox Jewish freshmen at Yale University in New Haven, Conn., have demanded to live off-campus because the university furnishes dormitories where the sexes are allowed to live in near proximity – either on separate floors or next door to one another in separate rooms.  The five Orthodox Jews say their religion prohibits living with members of the opposite sex unless they are married.  Yale alum William F. Buckley Jr. has taken up the cause for the students. In answer to those "progressives"  who say "integrated" living is all part of the educational package, Buckley wrote: The idea is certainly conveyed to freshmen that sex on campus is what one . . . does, like canasta or lacrosse."  The five students have been told they should go somewhere else, but they aren't backing down. Batsheva Greer, 18, said: "Why should I have to go to the back of the bus?" 
Let your fingers do the the praying  Wherever you're traveling nationwide you can call 1-800-627-7846 and, after giving the local zip code or phone number you're calling from, you will be told the location of the nearest Catholic church, it's address, phone number, and times of Masses weekdays and Sundays. 

L Dim views L 
 
$25 million fed study: Teens need love  A national study, published in the September issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, found that feeling loved, understood and paid attention to by parents helps teenagers avoid risky activities – regardless of whether a child comes from a one- or two-parent household. The study also concluded that "being connected" is  more important than parents and teen-agers spending time together.  This sounds like wishful thinking to us. A $25 million federal study that surveyed 90,000 students reports to show that family relationships are critical to teen mental and physical health. BUT – it's not necessary for the family to be intact or for parents to spend time.  The study was sponsored by an agency of the National Institutes of Health. To get to the bottom of this kind of "research," we would have to see the questionnaires. It appears to us that the hidden agenda of these "researchers" is to assuage the guilt of a society that is witnessing the disintegration of so many young people because so many older people are simply unwilling to get their priorities straight. 
House rejects parent notification bill  The U.S. House of Representatives rejected a measure Sept. 10 that would have required federally-funded health clinics to notify parents before providing contraceptives to their teenagers. These clinics do require parental permission to administer an aspirin tablet. The house accepted a milder substitute bill, requiring clinics to encourage, but not mandate, family involvement in sexual issues facing minors. 

U.S. Catholic bishop's letter urges parents to accept, respect their homosexual children 
U.S. Catholic bishops released a pastoral letter on Sept. 30, urging parents to accept, love and respect their homosexual children and warning that rejection could lead to substance-abuse or suicide.  The message was developed by the National Conference of Catholic Bishops' committee on marriage and family and approved by the bishops' administrative board at a meeting Sept. 9-11."Always Our Children: A Pastoral Message to Parents of Homosexual Children and Suggestions for Pastoral Ministers," said the fundamental rights of homosexual men and women were to be respected and defended. It said homosexual orientation is not always freely chosen and therefore "cannot be considered sinful, for morality presumes the freedom to choose. 

The bishops' letter went on to say that homosexual persons should strive to live chaste lives because the Church continues to hold that sex outside of heterosexual marriage is a sin.  The question is: How long will the bishops continue to hold that sex outside of heterosexual marriage is a sin when the dioceses are being run by people with an agenda that most people can't accept – Catholic or non-Catholic.  Consider this: On Sept. 4-7, the National Association of Catholic Diocesan Lesbian and Gay Ministries met in Los Angeles to plan how to push their way further into the mainstream of the Church. Roger Cardinal Mahony of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles welcomed the group.  According to The Wanderer newspaper, an unspoken theme at this a conference was the expectation that eventually, the Church will catch up to the modern world and give its blessing to homosexual unions. Some participants came forward with stories about the acceptance of their gay lovers in RCIA programs and other parish activities.  Participants in the workshop on campus ministry included Fr. Bob Loughery of Cal State-Hayward, director of campus ministry for the Diocese of Oakland; and Fr. Rich Lewandowski of Santa Clara University. A new board and officers were elected to the group, and Fr. Jim Schexnayder, who ministers to gays and their families for the Diocese of Oakland, became the self-appointed executive director. Candidates for members-at-large included Terri Iacino of the Diocese of San Jose's Office of Pastoral Ministry and Cathy Jarosz of Santa Cruz.  The event The Wanderer called "the most astonishing" was the blessing presentation by Carmelite Fr. Peter Liuzzi. Liuzzi is director of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles' Ministry with Lesbian and Gay Catholics, and as master of ceremonies for a fundraising auction, he dressed in a monsignor's cassock and held up a little white puppy, shaking with fear. The crowd began to warn him the dog would urinate on him; Liuzzi went along with the gag and pretended the dog had urinated in his hand. He put the microphone in his hand and mockingly blessed the crowd. The audience howled with laughter at the mixed reference to sacred waters and "golden showers." 

Events like these should be an earthly and eternal embarrassment, but the San Jose Diocese was one of several others handing out literature showing various aspects of its outreach programs. In addition to diocesan materials, there was a table with We Are Church petitions from dissident Catholics. Other tables featured catalogs that included pornographic materials and a newsletter with contacts for lesbian nuns who want e-mail or Web site contacts.  The pastoral letter from U.S. bishops tells parents to be loving toward their children: Most parents don't even need that advice. Parents love their children because it's innate and because God commands it in the Fourth Commandment. So what is this message really about? It's about legitimizing homosexual activity. It will be another watershed issue – like contraception and Humanae Vitae. May the Holy Spirit win. 
 

* Letters to the Editor * 

Reader disputes the View's view of Fr. Coleman: 
 Dear Editor:  I was surprised to read in the current View from the Pew that Fr. Gerald Coleman has your confidence as spokesman for Catholic doctrine.  About 1990 Fr. Coleman spoke at St. Angela's Church in Pacific Grove on the formation of consciences according to Catholic teaching. Fr. Coleman defended the concept of the autonomous conscience. For Coleman, Catholic doctrine was "a reference point" for a Catholic forming his conscience and in no way obliged. Newman told us that the conscience is the voice of God speaking to us from the depths of the human soul.  I was so angered by Fr. Coleman's apostasy that I wrote directly to one of the highest ranking Americans in the Vatican curia, Archbishop Justin Rigali (now ordinary of St. Louis) complaining of Fr. Coleman's heresy and his position as head of a major seminary. I sent a copy to Fr. Coleman and he replied with a letter answering none of my objections but damning me for questioning his good intentions. I later discovered an article in Homiletic and Pastoral Review by Fr. Joseph Farraher, SJ, former provincial of the Jesuits in California and a distinguished moral theologian, criticizing Fr. Coleman for misquoting John Paul II in an effort to validate dissent from Humanae Vitae.  Perhaps Fr. Coleman has turned over a new leaf. I am not willing to trust any theologian who has deceived me in the past. Fr. Avery Dulles, SJ, has recently been rehabilitated by Catholic conservatives. I cannot forget, nor forgive, his endorsement of the two-magisterums doctrine, which has deceived a whole generation of Catholics.  St. Patrick's seminary is close to a convent of cloistered Dominican nuns. Fr. Coleman's boys routinely characterize the nuns as "cookie-worshippers."  St. Patrick's most celebrated professor is Fr. Raymond E. Brown, SSS, the heretical scripture scholar who maintains that there is NO scriptural foundation for the establishment of a Church or a priesthood by Christ. The layman who teaches liturgies at St. Patrick's is enamored by Marxism. He challenges those who participate in the offertory procession not to stop at the entrance to the sanctuary but to continue to bring their gifts directly to the altar, affirming that the altar does not belong to the priest but to the people.  Eppstein's 1960's book, Has the Catholic Church Gone Mad? was followed by Frank Sheed's 1970's book, Is it the Same Church? Father James V. Schall, SJ has given us the 90's book, Does the Catholic Church Still Exist?  Anthony Sistrom 
Editor's Reply: We are aware of Fr. Coleman's "checkered" history, but we were evaluating his column and nothing else in the Sept./Oct. issue of the View from the Pew. Everything else aside, Fr. Coleman's column in The Valley Catholic is usually solid. 

St. Simon's teacher defends her school 
Dear Editor:  I read with great sadness the very mistaken perception of our diocesan parochial schools expressed in the Sept./Oct. edition of View from the Pew.  You and your readers don't seem to be in touch with what actually is being taught and by whom in our schools. Our diocese requires that all religion teachers be certified in teaching the Catechism of the Catholic Church. We are required to attend classes taught by Fr. G. Coleman and other theologians yearly to enhance our own understanding of the dogma of our Church, so we then  can bring it back clearly to our classrooms. Most members of our faculties also have California credentials. This means that we have made a choice to teach larger classes for less money because we treasure our Faith and want to share it with the youth of our Church.  I personally have taught first grade at St. Simon School for 10 years. When you walk in the door, you immediately notice that the walls are covered with religious pictures, and the front bulletin board is dedicated to the current liturgical season.  In the classrooms, our textbook is published by a Catholic publisher, Loyola Press, with the Nihil Obstat, and Imprimatur of the Church. Its doctrine at all grade levels is based on the Catholic Catechism and Magisterium of the Church. Each classroom has a bulletin board and area exclusively dedicated to the teaching of religion. In first grade, we call it our "prayer corner." This area includes a statue of Mary, the Bible, and often other religious articles such as Rosaries, candles, Lives of the Saints books, and a picture of Jesus knocking at the door for vocations. Each morning we begin the day with prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance, led by our principal, Sister Mary Glackin, I.H.M.  At St. Simon, our students learn to pray the Rosary, learn about the saints, prepare and receive the Sacraments, attend Masses as a school, attend Adoration and prayer services, and learn to serve as altar servers and choir members. The children are absolutely taught that abortion is wrong and chastity is ideal. Vocations are encouraged. In addition, they learn that the Earth has been given to us by God to safeguard and that all its people are children of God. Service in our Church and community is integral to our faith and is a part of our curriculum.  Jesus was a positive, loving, outgoing man, as well as the Second Person of the Trinity. In the traditional hymn we often sing, "They'll Know We Are Christians By Our Love . . ." There is a joyfulness in living a faith based on the love of Christ. How wonderful it would be if we fellow Catholics focused on joyfully sharing what we have in common, instead of on the few differences. We all are working to be with Jesus someday. Let's try to work together to get there.  Mary Jo Sullivan-Worley  St. Simon School 
Editor's Reply:  St. Simon's School undoubtedly has some caring, Catholic people doing their best to "share the faith." However, we should not bury our heads in the sand. Loyola Press is not a very  orthodox Catholic publisher, and all the bulletin boards will not add up to solid Catholic teaching. Since St. Simon's church has been a hotbed of defections from those who love their faith, we can only assume that something is amiss in the Garden of Eden you picture. 

Remembering the little giant  It's amazing how the poor and lowly can have the power to humble the mighty. Mother Teresa of Calcutta is a case in point.  On February 3rd, 1994, Mother Teresa addressed a crowd of dignitaries at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C.  After the speech, the audience exploded into thunderous applause for the diminutive octogenarian, yet four people grimly looked on and stubbornly refused to give this remarkable woman her due.  Their silence was as conspicuous as it was significant. The Clintons – and the Gores – must have felt pretty stupid, sitting in their chairs with their hands in their laps while the rest of the audience showered that withered, saintly woman with love and appreciation.  In a gentle but strong voice, Mother Teresa reminded the audience that Jesus commanded his followers, "Whatever you did to the least of these, you did to Me." She spoke of peace and brotherly love, compassion and understanding. What really threw a monkey wrench into the works was when Mother Teresa reminded Clinton that he was the author of a repressive reign of terror. Her remarks on abortion must've hit pretty close to the mark.  Mother Teresa was able to humble the proud and mighty Clintons because she practices what she preaches. Her life is dedicated to loving her fellow humans, even when they may seem totally unlovable. She loves all people, whether they are filthy and dressed in rags or sparkling clean and dressed in fine raiment; diseased and worm-ridden or healthy and robust; skeletal half-people crazed with hunger or pleasantly plump couch potatoes.  J. R. V 

Traditional Latin Mass petitions sent to  Bishop Pierre DuMaine  View from the Pew has mailed the petitions requesting more accessible Traditional Latin Mass to Bishop Pierre DuMaine. The petitions were circulated throughout the Bay Area.  Signatures from many people could not be collected because they have left the Church. For example, more than 50 percent of the congregation at Peninsula bible Church, and Jubilee Christian Center are former Catholics or the children of former Catholics.  The View recommended that priests be trained to say the Latin Mass and that it be made available in parishes throughout the San Jose Diocese at convenient times. This would draw souls back to the True Church. And the additional support would benefit worthy Church programs.  The petition acknowledged the excellent Traditional Mass said once a month at Our Lady of Peach Church at 7:30 Saturday night, but many people can't attend because of the hour or the difficult commute.  The View intends to print the bishop's reply in the next issue. 

Boycott the messenger  Abortion's greatest ally in this country is not Planned parenthood, the Supreme Court, or Congress, but the secular print media which has been overwhelmingly and relentlessly "pro-choice" since Roe v. Wade. And it will never change.  The Southern Baptists, in a recent convention, voted to boycott DisneyWorld for its gay-pride programs and related activities. It is hard to determine how effective such a move will be against the most popular tourist attraction in the world, but the Baptists got their message out very effectively. News of the boycott spread to every state in the Union and overseas through radio, television, and the press and it was roundly applauded by many non-Baptists.  Isn't it about time that pro-lifers declare a nationwide boycott of the print media which continues, day after day, 365 days a year, to aid and abet the mass killing of some 4,400 unborn babies daily in the United States? The secular media consistently ignore pro-life events or if they are compelled to mention national activities such as the January March for Life or the October Life Chain they will usually falsify the actual attendance figures. 

Several years ago in San Francisco, perhaps the most liberal and pro-abortion city in the country, 10,000 men, women, and children massed along busy 19th Avenue for three hours in a life chain, holding signs saying "Abortion Kills Children." A small group of homosexuals and other pro-abortionists appeared on one corner to harass the people at that intersection.  The following morning the San Francisco Chronicle headlined the entire afternoon's activity as "A confrontation between pro- and anti-abortion Groups."  Life chains which draw more than 1 million persons nationwide have been ignored by the media for years, even though they have been one of the largest civil and human rights demonstrations in this century.  At the present time, there is a serious malaise in the pro-life movement due to many factors not the least of which is the defeat of the partial-birth abortion ban, the indifference of many religious and political leaders, the hostility of all the media, and the pro-abortion Clinton administration.  Newspapers are in serious economic trouble these days because of increased competition from radio, television, the Internet, and e-mail. Afternoon papers are closing down everywhere.  Word of the boycott could be circulated quickly and effectively.  On the day selected, calls to local newspapers would announce, "We are canceling our subscription to your paper and will not renew it until you present a fair and balanced account of abortion and its effects."  A.B. 
 

 

30 years later: Neither holier nor Christ-centered  I believe that much of the liturgical experiment that began 30 years ago has failed. We are not holier, nor more Christ-centered now that we were then. In fact, we are facing a generation of young people who are largely lost to the Church because we have not given them the precious gift that is at the heart of Catholicism, that is, the Real Presence of Jesus.  Mass has become simply a drama, a vehicle for whatever agenda is currently popular. The church building is no longer a place of encounter with the Lord but a sort of social center, not a place of prayer, rather a place of chatter. The noise level reaches the pitch that one would expect at a sporting event. The kiss of peace seems like New Year's Eve.  Fr. Simon, Pastor, St. Thomas of Canterbury Parish, Chicago, Ill. 
 

 

Babies killed: 114,000 
Your taxpayer dollars: $38.4 million 
Your average cost:      $339 per abortion 
Percentages of abortions by age group: 

	Teenagers 19.4%
	20-24 years 31.8%
	25-29 years 23.7%
	30-45 years 24.9%

	Hispanic   31.0%
	White 27.0%
	Black   21.0%
	Asian   6.7%
	Other 14.3%