Pope Francis tells Kim Davis "Stay strong!"

Bless his heart! The Holy Father stands with marriage and the brave Kentucky clerk Kim Davis, who went to jail rather than support counterfeit marriage.

Bless both their hearts!

From Reuters:

The Davis couple traveled to Washington and met the pope at the Vatican embassy last Thursday, ABC News and CBS News reported.

"It was really very humbling to even think that he would want to, you know, meet me or know me," Davis told ABC. "I put my hand out, and he grabbed it, and I hugged him, and he hugged me and he said, 'Thank you for your courage'."

"He told me before he left, he said, 'Stay strong.' That was a great encouragement," Davis said.

Davis said knowing that the pope agreed with what she was doing "kind of validates everything."

ABC said the pope gave Davis a rosary, which she plans to give to her Catholic parents.

The pope, speaking to reporters as he returned home from his 10-day trip to the United States and Cuba on Monday, said government officials had a "human right" to refuse to discharge a duty if they felt it violated their conscience.

Davis was jailed for five days in September for refusing to comply with a judge's order to issue the licenses in line with a U.S. Supreme Court ruling.

Archbishop Family Support Day Picnic!

Wow! What a joy-filled expression of support for Archbishop Cordileone! Our article about the picnic is over at Catholic World Report, and here are a selection of pictures from Lisa Hamrick, the Latin Mass Society of San Francisco, and Catholic San Francisco. First, here's some shots of the Mass at the Shrine of St. Francis of Assisi:

The picnic began at 11:30. Lots of kids, families, religious, and all-around faithful Catholics:

 

San Francisco's beloved Bishop Emeritus Ignatius Wang goes for cookies:

Fearless Fr. Joseph Fessio of Ignatius Press gives a blessing:

 All generations were there:

 

Giants fans, too!

Meeka from Saints Peter and Paul with Tough Guy. Tough Guy's wearing blue in solidarity!

Me with the Saints Peter and Paul banner.

Entertainment provided by the Mariachi Juvenil de San pablo:

When the Archbishop arrived, he was immediatly surrounded by supporters.
 Eva Muntean, the Picnic organizer said "He's like a rock start!"

His Excellency enjoyed the Mariachis, too

 

With pro-life hero the Rev. Walter Hoye:

 Everybody wanted pictures!

 Many generations: 

Lots of games for the kids. A race is about to start!

Mommy's a Mariachi musician:

Faithful old-timers:

As always, the SFPD did a great job. Here they are getting well-deserved thanks. 

Baronelle Stutzman, American Heroine

Baronelle Stutzman is the florist from the state of Washington who refused to provide flowers for a same-sex "wedding." As a result she was sued by the ACLU and Bob Ferguson, Attorney General of the state of Washington. On February 18, Judge Alexander C. Ekstrom ruled against Mrs. Stutzman. Mrs. Stutzman's attorney Kristin Waggoner, of the Alliance Defending Freedom, will appeal the ruling. Following the ruling, Mrs. Stutzman sent this beautiful letter to Attorney General Ferguson:

Dear Mr. Ferguson,

 Thank you for reaching out and making an offer to settle your case against me.

 As you may imagine, it has been mentally and emotionally exhausting to be at the center of this controversy for nearly two years. I never imagined that using my God-given talents and abilities, and doing what I love to do for over three decades, would become illegal. Our state would be a better place if we respected each other’s differences, and our leaders protected the freedom to have those differences. Since 2012, same-sex couples all over the state have been free to act on their beliefs about marriage, but because I follow the Bible’s teaching that marriage is the union of one man and one woman, I am no longer free to act on my beliefs.

Your offer reveals that you don’t really understand me or what this conflict is all about. It’s about freedom, not money. I certainly don’t relish the idea of losing my business, my home, and everything else that your lawsuit threatens to take from my family, but my freedom to honor God in doing what I do best is more important.

Washington’s constitution guarantees us “freedom of conscience in all matters of religious sentiment.” I cannot sell that precious freedom. You are asking me to walk in the way of a well-known betrayer, one who sold something of infinite worth for 30 pieces of silver. That is something I will not do.

 I pray that you reconsider your position. I kindly served Rob for nearly a decade and would gladly continue to do so.

I truly want the best for my friend. I’ve also employed and served many members of the LGBT community, and I will continue to do so regardless of what happens with this case.

You chose to attack my faith and pursue this not simply as a matter of law, but to threaten my very means of working, eating, and having a home. If you are serious about clarifying the law, then I urge you to drop your claims against my home, business, and other assets and pursue the legal claims through the appeal process.

Thanks again for writing and I hope you will consider my offer.

Archbishop Cordileone acts on Catholic Schools: they "exist to affirm and proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ as held and taught by the Catholic Church"

Bless his Lionheart! Forgive the long post  title, but this initiative is so important every word is also important. Excerpts from Valerie Schmalz's article on the front page of today's Catholic San Francisco are below.

The Archdiocese has also released a special supplement to this week's Catholic San Francisco which consists of: the Archbishop's letter to school faculty; the documentitself: "Statement of the High Schools of the Archdiocese of San Francisco Regarding the Teachings and Practice of the Catholic Church”; a statement from Maureen Huntington, Superintendent of the S.F. Department of Catholic Schools; and Q and A about the new teachers' union contract. The supplement may be found here (PDF).

Here's a (very) short video of His Excellency outlining the initiative:

Archdiocese: Catholic schools exist to ‘affirm and proclaim’ Gospel of Jesus
February 3rd, 2015
By Valerie Schmalz 

Faculty handbook changes emphasize that teachers, staff must not publicly contradict Catholic teaching

 The Archdiocese of San Francisco is proposing three new clauses to the contracts for the teachers in the archdiocesan Catholic high schools. The purpose is to further clarify that Catholic schools – as the first clause states – “exist to affirm and proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ as held and taught by his Catholic Church.”

 The archdiocese is also adding detailed statements of Catholic teaching on sexual morality and religious practice – taken from the Catechism of the Catholic Church – into the faculty and staff handbooks of the four archdiocesan high schools, Archbishop Riordan, Marin Catholic and Junipero Serra high schools and Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory. The handbook additions will take effect in the 2015-16 school year and are not part of the contract.

 While the handbook and contract changes reiterate more strongly the responsibility of teachers and staff not to contradict Catholic teaching in school and in their public lives, they do not contain anything essentially new and are intended to clarify existing expectations that Catholic teachers in their professional and public lives uphold Catholic teaching, archdiocesan Catholic Schools Superintendent Maureen Huntington said.

The intent is not to drive any teacher out of the schools, Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone and Huntington said....

Archbishop’s letter
Archbishop Cordileone specifically addressed concerns about job security in a letter dated February 2015 to teachers. 

“At the outset, I wish to state clearly and emphatically that the intention underlying this document is not to target for dismissal from our schools any teachers, singly or collectively, nor does it introduce anything essentially new into the contract or the faculty handbook,” the archbishop wrote in the letter.

The handbook additions clearly state that the institution believes in the listed items, and does not require each individual staff member or teacher to assent to each stated item of Catholic doctrine. That is because the archdiocese recognizes that some Catholic teachers and other non-Catholic teachers may not agree with all that the Catholic Church teaches, Archbishop Cordileone said. The aim of the handbook additions is to specify for all what the church teaches and require that high school staff and teachers not contradict Catholic teachings in a school environment or in public actions. ...

 Archbishop Cordileone explained the reasoning in his letter to the archdiocesan teachers, saying “I see a need to provide more clarity for our teachers.” “For a Catholic high school to attain excellence, it must be at one and the same time an excellent institution of secondary education and a truly Catholic institution,” he said. “Changes in our secular society over the last few decades have brought new challenges to this endeavor in both senses, as we now face both increased difficulties in educating our students well in an array of academic subjects, and unprecedented challenges in forming our young people with a deep and strong Catholic identity as well as knowledge and practice of the Catholic faith,” the archbishop wrote....

Changes cover ‘hot button’ issues
The additions to the faculty handbooks cover what Archbishop Cordileone termed “hot button” issues and are drawn directly from the Catechism of the Catholic Church. They include statements of Catholic teaching on abortion, same-sex marriage, artificial contraception and artificial means of reproduction such as in-vitro fertilization as well as affirming the authority of the magisterium of the Catholic Church and the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist.

 “Confusion about the church’s stance is prevalent in areas of sexual morality and religious practice,” Archbishop Cordileone said. “For this reason, the statements for inclusion in the faculty handbook focus on these two areas. This focus does not imply lesser importance to Catholic teachings on social justice, which in fact are widely accepted and well interpreted in Catholic educational institutions.”

 “There is nothing new under the Catholic sun with this approach,” said Jesuit Father John Piderit, moderator of the curia/vicar for administration for the archdiocese. “It is in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. It is straightforward.” 

Read the whole thing.

At Synod, divorce IS on the table--but whose?

Going into the current Synod on the Family one of the most publicized issues (rightly or wrongly) was whether or not to give communion to divorced and remarried Catholics. I have a disturbing sense that this is because some of the clergy at the synod are trying to divorce the Church, the Bride of Christ, from her groom, Jesus.

The big news yesterday was the bizarre paragraph 50, from the recently released relation, which asserting that the Church should accept sin.

"Homosexuals have gifts and qualities to offer to the Christian community: are we capable of welcoming these people, guaranteeing to them a fraternal space in our communities? Often they wish to encounter a Church that offers them a welcoming home. Are our communities capable of providing that, accepting and valuing their sexual orientation, without compromising Catholic doctrine on the family and matrimony?"

A church document asserting that we should value sodomy. Only a Bishop or Cardinal who has divorced himself from Jesus Christ could have written that.

The authors are now scrambling for cover.

From Catholic News Agency earlier today:

1) First they report what the Holy See's Press office said:

"The General Secretariat of the Synod … reiterates that it is a working document, which summarizes the interventions and debate of the first week,” said an Oct. 14 declaration of the Holy See press office on behalf of the secretariat of the Synod of Bishops."

2) But the Synod declines responsibility:

"Cardinal Napier, a moderator of one of the small circles at the synod, openly dismissed the relatio during an Oct. 14 briefing with journalists, saying, 'that’s Cardinal Erdo’s text, not the synod text.'

The cardinal questioned whether 'some expectations of the synod are unrealistic,' and underscored that 'the synod is not called to discuss contraception, abortion, same-sex marriages. It was convoked to speak about the family.'

 'How it is written, the relatio conveys that there is an agreement on issues, on which there is not in fact an agreement' the Archbishop of Durban underscored.'

3) But Cardinal Erdo says:

"Cardinal Peter Erdo of Esztergom-Budapest and general rapporteur of the synod, said the relatio may not be completely attributed to him.

When asked about legislation regarding homosexual couples, Cardinal Erdo did not respond and instead gave the floor to Archbishop Bruno Forte of Chieti-Vasto, saying 'who has written the paragraph must respond.'
However, after Archbishop Forte’s response, Cardinal Erdo wanted to point out that the relatio lacks a mention of 'the disorder' of some behavior, even though synod fathers had stressed it."
Some Cardinals, Bishops, and Priests of course still respect their vows:

"In an Oct. 13 interview, Cardinal Raymond Burke, prefect of the Apostolic Signatura, told CNA the relatio 'is simply riven with very serious difficulties, and I'm deeply, deeply concerned and I'm not alone.'”

Indeed, he's not. Here's the comment of Cardinal Gerhard Muller, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. From La Repubblica, via Rorate:

"Undignified, Shameful, Completely Wrong."

 Vatican Radio (again, via Rorate):
 
"The document summarizing the first week of the synod is not acceptable to many bishops - so says Archbishop Stanislaw Gądecki." 

 Archbishop Gadecki is the President of the Polish Bishop's Conference.

Archbishop Cordileone: "At the heart of marriage is the spiritual-sexual relationship between husband and wife"

Lovely.

The following is an excerpt from His Excellency's speech given at the Confraternity of Catholic Clergy, in Hanceville Alabama, July 8-11, 2014.

You can listen to his full speech here.

Marriage as the Key to the New Evangelization 

The virtue of chastity is absolutely necessary for persevering in any vocation, no matter what your vocation may be, because it is necessary in order to arrive at true love, in which one makes a gift of oneself to the other, and so attains the true happiness that God created us for; this is living the way God designed it to work.

For married couples, this is lived out by the spirituality of responsible parenthood, the complete, unreserved gift of each one to the other, in conformity to God's design for marriage, all the way to the most intimate dimension of the marital relationship. The point of all this, though, is not only for the good of the couple themselves; it goes far beyond that.

How does an individual grow into a person capable of this great of love? The obvious answer, as challenging as it is in the times in which we're living, is chastity. Today's world sees this as a negative, as a deprivation, as a suppression of the sexual appetite. Chastity, though, essentially means living according to the personalistic norm in our relationships.

If you think about it, the formula is quite simple and clear: healthy societies are built on healthy, united families; healthy, united families are based on healthy, happy, harmonious marriages; and at the heart of marriage is the spiritual-sexual relationship between husband and wife. It all really comes down to that. The whole point is the plan of God for our happiness: it is clear that in the plan of God marriage is meant to be a faithful, fruitful, life-long union between a man and a woman.