‘Ready to lay down our lives in service for humanity’: Young Priest, Deacon Shine at St. Patrick Seminary Gala

A shorter version of this post appeared in last week's California Catholic Daily.

On the evening of Saturday, September 19, more than 550 people gathered on the outdoor grounds of St. Patrick’s Seminary in Menlo Park. The evening was warm and clear. The occasion was St. Patrick’s Eighth ‘Four Pillars’ Gala, the seminary’s annual fundraiser in support of their mission: forming men for the priesthood of God. Founded in 1898, St. Patrick’s is currently forming 72 men from the dioceses of Fresno (3), Honolulu (5), Monterey (3), Oakland (11), Orange (6), Reno (2), Salt Lake City (2), Sacramento (9), San Francisco (16), San Jose (10), Santa Rosa (1), and Stockton (4). The ‘four pillars’ of the seminary are human formation, spiritual formation, intellectual formation, and pastoral formation. The evening’s program describes each pillar as necessary to the final mission “Through human, spiritual, intellectual and pastoral development (the seminary) enables Christ-centered men to grow and excel as collaborative, culturally-aware pastoral leaders committed to Jesus and His Church.”

The evening began with Vespers in the seminary chapel.  This was followed by appetizers and cocktails on the lawn, where guests could also bid on items at a silent auction to support the seminary. Those who desired could join a guided tour of the campus, led by seminarians.

As dinner was about to begin,the invocation was given by Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco. His Excellency was joined by most of the other Bishops whose diocese are served by the seminary.  Bishop Thomas Daly, former Vocations Director for the Archdiocese of San Francisco, and currently Bishop of the Diocese of Spokane, served as master of ceremonies. Interspersed between his introduction of speakers,  the witty bishop, a San Francisco native, forcefully encouraged the faithful  to bid on auction items and purchase raffle tickets. His encouragement was rewarded:  a silent auction item for a trip to Ireland including a round of golf at one of that countries famous courses went from $0 to over $7,000 in five minutes. The winner of the raffle’s grand prize—a car valued at $35,000 or $25,000 in cash, chose the  money, and returned half as a gift to the seminary.

The special honorees at the event were the members of the  Serra Clubs of the Greater Bay Area (San Francisco, San José and West Contra Costa County). The mission statement of the Serra Clubs is simple and direct: ‘to fostering and affirming vocations to the priesthood and religious life.”

The highlights of the evening, affirming both the mission of the seminary and the impressive quality of the young men being formed, were two addresses to the crowd, the first by the recently ordained Fr. Pat Summerhays, and the second by transitional Deacon Andrew J. Pacheco.

Fr. Summerhays described how each of the ‘four pillars’ contributed to his formation as a priest. His description of spiritual formation was especially powerful:  “Spiritual formation, of course, begins by St. Patrick’s Seminary being a Eucharistic community.  Each day begins with Morning Prayer that leads the seminarians right into the celebration of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.  It is there that we contemplate Jesus the High Priest who emptied himself completely, laying down his life for all of humanity, allowing us to receive him body, blood, soul and divinity.  It is in this spirit or sacrifice and communion that we are later meant to rise each day in rectories, ready to lay down our lives in service for humanity.  The daily Eucharist Adoration, Days of Recollection, Annual Retreats, and Spiritual Direction allow seminarians to learn how to rest in Christ, learning how to say along with St. Paul: ‘[I]n  any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and want.  I can do all things in him who strengthens me.’” 

Deacon Pacheco eloquently described a new project certain to enrich the formation experience of the future priests: the construction of large-scale outdoor Stations of the Cross on the seminary grounds. The seminary hopes to raise at least $10,000 for each Station, and each Station will be accompanied by a bench that will bear the name of the donor. A portion of the cost was pledged at the dinner.

The evening closed with the all seminarians gathering on the broad steps of the school, where they led the guest in singing the Salve Regina. The beautiful masculine voices of the seminarians, rising to heaven in praise of Our Blessed Mother, especially following their impressive speeches could not help but remind one of Jesus’ promise that the gates of hell would not prevail against His Church.

To help St. Patrick’s Seminary form men for the priesthood, go here:

www.stpatricksseminary.org/ and select the “Donate” tab.

To see a video of seminarians walking the proposed route of the outdoor Stations of the Cross, go here:

https://vimeo.com/139617081 The password to open the video is SPSU.

Fr. Illo’s Parishioners Step Up

Supporters at Star of the Sea far outnumber opposition.
(An edited version of this story appeared in today's California Catholic Daily.)

On Thursday, March 26, the San Francisco Chronicle reported on a meeting at San Francisco’s Star of the Sea Parish. The meeting was between a group of parents and press and Star of the Sea's pastor, Fr. Joseph Illo, and parochial vicar, Fr. Patrick Driscoll. The article, titled “Parents ask S.F. Archdiocese to remove school’s leaders” began “In an emotional and at times angry meeting with representatives from the Archdiocese of San Francisco, more than 100 parents of Star of the Sea School children pleaded Wednesday night for the controversial leaders of their school’s church to be removed from their posts.” The brouhaha stemmed from Fr. Illo’s “boy’s only” policy for altar servers.

On March 29, Palm Sunday, parishioners at Star of the Sea responded. They overwhelmingly endorsed their pastor and parochial vicar. At all the Palm Sunday Masses, concerned parishioners collected signatures in support of Fr. Illo and Fr. Driscoll. Total signatories to the petition of support numbered nearly 500, which more than quadruples the number of the parents, press, and others who attended the March meeting, it far exceeds the total number of the parents of students at Star of the Sea. According to the school’s website, the student body consists of 233 children from 185 families, 42% of whom identify as Catholic. The signatures supporting Fr. Illo and Fr. Driscoll will be presented to Archbishop Cordileone this week. It is unlikely that the overwhelming show of support will make the pages of the Chronicle.

By quantifiable measures, Illo appears to be revitalizing the parish. He has certainly kept it in the news. Star of the Sea has not only met its Assessment for the 2015 Archbishop’s Annual Appeal in slightly over one week (something few, if any other parishes in the Archdiocese have done) it has exceeded the assessment. The Oratory of St. Philip Neri, which is hosted at the parish, has two seminarians studying for the priesthood—again, something few if any other parishes in the Archdiocese can say. The parish has been host to a number of parish missions with well-known priests. As CalCatholic reported, from March 1-3, Star of the Sea hosted noted Mariologist Msgr. Arthur Calkins for a three day parish mission. In June of 2014, the church hosted Father Paul Nicholson who has been “given the ecclesiastical office of Missionary Preacher” by his Bishop, Ronald Peter Fabbro CSB, of London, Ontario. Nicholson’s mission was on “The Eucharist: the Source and Summit of Catholic Life.” But as Fr. Illo has written, (see: ‘Sitting in an empty church’ CalCatholic, November 17, 2014) Catholicism in San Francisco’s Richmond District (and the city as a whole) seems to be dying. But that problem is not unique to Star of the Sea, it exits nationwide, and Illo, at least, faces the situation publicly.

Nor do the priests neglect the more homey side of the faith—what some people mean by the word ‘pastoral’. Fr. Illo has started a monthly parish barbecue open to all. The girls of the school are engaged in an ongoing project to collect toiletries for the elderly at the nearby St. Anne’s Home for the elderly, run by the Little Sisters of the Poor. On Palm Sunday, when the petition signature gatherers were waiting for Masses to end, they congregated in the school’s playground and parking lot, at tables hosted by the parish’s Legion of Mary. The tables are there each week, and the older ladies of the Legion provide coffee, donuts, and Chinese pork buns. After Masses ended Frs. Driscoll and Illo were in the parking lot, mingling with parishioners, and fulfilling requests. Fr. Driscoll went into the rectory and returned fully vested, carrying the aspergillum, to bless one family’s car and a lady parishioner’s dog.

Supporting Archbishop Cordileone at tonight's anti-Catholic protest

Photo: Mike Koozmin, SF Examiner.
Thanks, Mike, but I'm praying in SUPPORT of the Archbishop
and real Catholic Education, not against him!

I went to the plaza in front of St. Mary's Cathedral tonight while the protest against Archbishop Cordileone's initiative to re-Catholicize Archdiocesan high schools was taking place. While the protesters posed for the cameras and encouraged passing motorists to honk their horns, I knelt on the hard stones for about 90 minutes praying the Rosary for our great Archbishop. You know Our Lady loves him!

One of the recent California Catholic Daily articles about the protests was headlined "Gays herd high schoolers to St. Mary's" and boy, were they being herded tonight. While I was praying someone with a megaphone announced (I don't claim this is verbatim--I was praying, not taking notes, but it is accurate) something like "the 6:00 news is here...we need signs for photos over here" and then, a little later "OK, now, we need signs over here."

Nothing's real with these guys--only how it looks. Counterfeit marriage, counterfeit "genders," deliberate misunderstanding of Pope Francis, counterfeits all the way down.

Anyway, I had a great time praying for His Excellency. The Good Lord knew what he was doing when he sent ABC to the city of St. Francis! What a blessing!

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.

Planned Parenthood 'waging a less-than-truthful PR campaign''

An edited version of this article appears in today's California Catholic Daily.

'A less-than-truthful PR campaign’
SF’s Planned Parenthood claims ‘harassment’—but where’s the evidence?

On Sunday July 27, the San Francisco Chronicle reported on complaints from the proprietors of San Francisco’s largest abortion business. The Chronicle’s article “Planned Parenthood gripes about S.F. Protestors” covered the latest fallout from the Supreme Court’s McCullen v. Coakley ruling, which defended the First Amendment rights of pro-life activists. The article began:

“Planned Parenthood executives say San Francisco police and the city attorney aren't doing enough to protect patients and staff from ‘harassment and intimidation’ at the organization's health center on Valencia Street.

‘Each week, as the harassment and intimidation escalate ... the city's ordinances are violated ever more flagrantly,’ Planned Parenthood's Bay Area chapter leader, Heather Saunders Estes, wrote in a July 22 letter to City Attorney Dennis Herrera.

And when center staffers call police, they are told that ‘there is nothing they can do,’ Saunders Estes wrote.

The latest protest rift was brought on by last month's U.S. Supreme Court decision striking down Massachusetts' 35-foot no-protest zone around clinics.

The protesters now ignore San Francisco's 25-foot buffer zone as they pass out literature, and film staffers and patients entering the building, clinic reps complain.

While other California cities ‘have come out in strong defense of their ordinances,’ Saunders Estes told Herrera, ‘your office continues to dither.’

In response, Herrera said his office shares ‘some of the understandable bitterness and disappointment’ over the Supreme Court ruling and is working with legal experts elsewhere to figure out how to respond.

The real fear, according to insiders, is that defending San Francisco's 25-foot zone could invite a suit by antiabortion activists - which could leave the city on the hook for big legal expenses if they win.”

The Chronicle also reported that San Francisco’s Supervisor David Campos is weighing in. Campos made national news in January on another free speech issue: he introduced a resolution officially opposing banners carrying the “Abortion Hurts Women” message of the Walk for Life West Coast. The banners were hung along the City’s Market Street in preparation for the Walk. Although Campos’ resolution passed—a foregone conclusion with the SF Board of Supervisors-- it was opposed by editorials in both the liberal San Francisco Chronicle and San Francisco’s ABC affiliate, KGO TV.

The Chronicle reported that “Supervisor and Assembly candidate David Campos - who showed up at the clinic Thursday to see the situation firsthand - said police are awaiting a city ‘policy decision on how to proceed.’

‘I hope we stick as close to the (existing) ordinance as possible, because I think the only way to protect women's access to the clinic is to continue to enforce a buffer zone," Campos said. ‘Even if there are legal risks involved.’ ”

An obvious point was made in the comments section to the article: that if harassment really was occurring, it would not be difficult to prove. One commenter wrote: “Get the cameras rolling. As soon as one of them commits obvious battery, show it to the da/cops. If they STILL drag ass, make a citizens arrest.”

To which another commenter responded: “Trust me, they are. The cameras are rolling constantly, by both sides, at abortion clinics. The fact that you aren't seeing damning videos posted, by either side, shows that whoever is crying to the press is waging a less-than-truthful PR campaign.”

New Pastor, Parochial Vicar for Most Holy Redeemer

An edited version of this article appeared last week in California Catholic Daily. They did not include what we consider to be one of the most interesting things about MHR, and why it is so hard for pastors there, addressed with utmost brevity in our second to last paragraph (in bold).


On June 2, Catholic San Francisco, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of San Francisco announced the clergy changes that will take effect in the coming year. The changes included the news that Fr. Brian Costello will be leaving the City’s notorious Most Holy Redeemer parish. Fr. Costello will be replaced by Fr. Jack McClure C.PP.S, who will serve as pastor, and Fr. Matthew Link C.PP.S, who will serve as Parochial Vicar. C.PP.S. is the acronym for Missionaries of the Precious Blood.

 On June 6, the National Catholic Reporter ran an article titled “San Francisco’s largest gay parish to get new pastors.” From the article:

 “(Fr.) McClure said when Link learned in January that Most Holy Redeemer would be looking for a pastor, he approached McClure and suggested they apply as a team. Eventually, the men met with Auxiliary Bishop William Justice, who heads pastoral ministry for the archdiocese….The Precious Blood Fathers have had an outreach to the LGBT community since 2007. They say the ministry was developed to foster dialogue, reconciliation and justice with people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender.”

“Outreach to the LGBT community” won’t be necessary at Most Holy Redeemer. On page 29 of Jesuit Father Donal Godfrey’s chronicle of MHR Gays and Grays: the Story of Most Holy Redeemer Parish, he describes events in the parish, circa 1983: “The two gay men (on the MHR advisory board) suggested we start a gay and lesbian outreach. And that was approved 12 to nothing.” Further down the page he writes: “The Gay and Lesbian outreach Committee—so unique, so bracing, so critically what the parish needed when it needed it—eventually withered away, a victim of its own success, when the entire parish had taken on the work it was formed to begin.” In other words, “gay and lesbian outreach” was no longer necessary because the entire parish had become a locus for the celebration of homosexuality. By 2002, the New York Times was reporting “…about 80 to 90 percent of the members are gay.”

Fr. Brian Costello, the outgoing pastor, truly had the spiritual welfare of his parishioners at heart. Some parishioners did not see it that way. The NCR reported that Fr. Costello had requested a transfer last August, and quoted him:

"It just didn't work out. I did the best I could. My best was just not good enough for a lot of people here," he said. "There are real challenges here, and the truth is I just didn't have the gifts to meet those challenges."

One example of the tension between Fr. Costello and “a lot of people here” occurred early in his tenure. On April 19, 2012 CalCatholic reported that in the previous week transvestites had MC’d/judged a Castro Country Club fundraiser at the parish. The MC went by the name “Laybelline” and the judge “Syphilis Diller.” In October of 2012 the same group wanted to come back, but the Archdiocese and Fr. Costello nixed the event. The homosexual oriented Bay Area Reporter covered the story, and quoted Fr. Costello ““I am the new pastor…There is a new archbishop. The archdiocese told me straight out, ‘No drag queens.’… “I am big on compromising.” Fr. Costello said “[Castro Country Club] would not work with me. It was all or nothing. And they got nothing.”

The Archdiocese eventually made the ban more generally applicable, thus appeasing homosexualist activists. Following the ban, Costello had received push-back from parishioners, which MHR’s business manager, Michael Poma, described as “education.” Poma was quoted in Bondings, the blog of New Ways Ministry: “‘Father Brian wasn’t educated about the importance of drag queens in the gay community…We are part of the community here and to think that we’re banning drag queens is obnoxious and ridiculous.”

Another example was related by Fr. Costello himself in the March 3, 2013 MHR bulletin:

“Two weeks ago, after Pope Benedict XVI had announced to the world that he would be resigning the office of Peter as of February 28th, I put the Pope’s picture, that usually hangs in the rectory, in the church. A handful of people told me that they would rather it not be there. They explained that the feeling was while he was Pope, as well as his time as a Cardinal, Pope Benedict had made hurtful and hateful statements regarding the LGBT Community and thus, his picture should not be placed on the altar of MHR. I was also warned, many parishioners would walk out of Sunday Mass if the picture was not removed. I spoke with a close priest friend of mine, and even though both of us were saddened by this, the wisest course, I felt, was to remove the Pope’s picture.”

The difficulties Fr. Costello experienced, and that Frs. McClure and Link will face, are formidable. Psychologically, the parishioners at MHR are “a chosen people”—a group formed by the shared minority experience of same-sex attraction, followed by the shared experience of an apparently hopeless and fatal epidemic, but one which against all hope was overcome, followed by the shared experience of undreamed-of political victories and power. That “chosen people” attitude was expressed by Fr. Godfrey on page 130 of Gays and Grays: “A parish such as MHR calls the rest of the institution to conversion.” Such an attitude is not conducive to salvation. One comes to the Catholic Church not to convert, but to be converted.


That’s difficult material to work with. If Frs. McClure and Link have an easier time of it than did Fr. Costello, it’s probably a sign they’re doing something wrong.

Archbishop Cordileone, Archdiocesan Director of Communication Defend Faith, Marriage

Very good to see, from LifeSiteNews:

Archbishop to Pelosi, critics: No, I won’t drop March for Marriage

"San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone has responded that, despite criticism from political leaders in his home state, he will attend the March for Marriage this week, because his position requires him to act as a defender of the Catholic faith.

In a letter released today, Cordileone wrote that he is required “as a bishop, to proclaim the truth—the whole truth—about the human person and God’s will for our flourishing ... especially the truth about marriage as the conjugal union of husband and wife,” Cordileone wrote. “That is what I will be doing on June 19th.”

Christine Mugridge, the Director of Communications for the Archdiocese, was excellent as well:

"Dr. Christine Mugridge, head of the Archdiocese of San Francisco's department of communications and outreach, told LifeSiteNews that the politicians had allowed ideology to blind them to an archbishop's mission. 'They are forgetting the fact that he has an obligation to teach the faith,' she said. 'In the public arena, they are not responsible for every speaker’s opinion at a public meeting.'

 'It isn’t his personal opinion; it is the teaching of the Church,' she said.

Both letters quoted an off-the-cuff remark by Pope Francis, 'If someone is gay and is searching for the Lord and has good will, then who am I to judge him?' The statement has been used to confuse the faithful and public at large about the Church's stance on homosexuality – confusion Archbishop Cordileone aims to dispel.

'The Holy Father is being misquoted repeatedly to defend acceptance of the gay lifestyle,' Dr. Mugridge told LifeSiteNews. 'The Pope has said he is a son of the Church and that he does not defend the gay lifestyle and opposed lobbyists for that lifestyle.'

 'His 'who am I to judge?' quote is now being used to condone the active homosexual lifestyle, which is in complete contradiction to our Catholic faith,' she said."

Absolutely right.

Four new Priests of God for the Archdiocese of San Francisco!

Today His Excellency Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone ordained four men into the priesthood at St. Mary's Cathedral. I did not get a chance to attend, but those who did said it was like heaven on earth. The four, from left to right, are Fr. Mark Doherty, who will serve at St. Peter's in San Francisco and as part-time Chaplain at Sacred Heart High School; Fr. Roger Gustafson, who will serve at St. Hilary in Tiburon;  Fr. Andrew Spyrow, who will serve at St. Raphael in San Rafael; and Fr. Tony Vallecillo, who will serve at St. Matthew's in San Mateo and as part-time Chaplain at Serra High School.

(The news that two of the good young priests will serve as high school chaplains is very heartening to anyone who has been following California Catholic Daily's recent expose of the catastrophic state of the departments of religious studies at S.F. Archdiocesan High schools. CalCatholic's site was hacked but you can read the google cached versions of some the stories here, here, here, here, here, and here.)

Archbishop Cordileone's homily for the Mass of Ordination is below.

“PASTORAL CHARITY, THE HEART OF THE VOCATION OF THE PRIEST”

HOMILY – MASS OF ORDINATION TO THE PRIESTHOOD

June 7, 2014

(Readings: Jeremiah 1:4-9; 1 Peter 5:1-4; John 10:11-16)

          Introduction

The earliest examples of Christian art we have are wall paintings found in the catacombs of Rome.  There we see the first image of our Lord depicted in Christian art: the figure of a young man with a lamb on his shoulders and feeding lambs at his side – precisely the image of the Good Shepherd which we hear Jesus ascribe to himself in the Gospel reading just proclaimed.  From the very beginning, this has been one of the most beloved images our Lord uses to describe himself in the gospels.

          Pastoral Charity

It is a beloved image which goes all the way back to Old Testament times: there, through His prophets, God refers to Himself as the Shepherd of Israel.  But God had human instruments.  Recall the story of the choosing and anointing of David to be king.  He was the youngest of Jesse’s sons, not even present when the prophet Samuel came to him to determine which one of Jesse’s sons God had chosen.  No, David was off tending the sheep.  He is the shepherd-king; the role of a king is to rule, to govern.  But the kings of God’s people were to govern as a shepherd caring for his sheep.  This is indicated even in the very language spoken by God’s original chosen people, in which the word that means “to rule” also means “to shepherd.”  We just prayed the most beloved of all psalms: “The Lord is my shepherd.”  In Hebrew, this means, “The Lord rules me.”

Now, this might sound quite strange to our ears, we who are English speakers in this contemporary culture.  But let us think again of who this Good Shepherd is who rules us: “A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep….  I know mine and mine know me … and I will lay down my life for the sheep.”  This is good!  It is also how we make sense of the fact that in our religious tradition the head is the servant.

I am very grateful to the faculty of Saint Patrick’s Seminary for the formation they give to our future priests.  I am grateful for many things, but one of them is the solid grounding the seminarians receive in the foundational document on priestly formation, Pastores dabo vobis.  There, St. John Paul II explains at length the key to understanding how it is that the head is the servant: it is pastoral charity.  He explains that Jesus presents himself as the Good Shepherd because “[h]is whole life is a continual manifestation of his ‘pastoral charity’” (n. 22).  Jesus lives out this pastoral charity through the compassion he shows to the crowds, feeding them spiritually and physically, healing them, teaching them, and, ultimately, offering his life for them through his death and Resurrection – literally laying down his life for them.  This pastoral charity of Jesus gives to the priest the very meaning and definition of his identity: “By virtue of their consecration, priests are configured to Jesus the good shepherd and are called to imitate and to live out his own pastoral charity” (n. 22).

Charity is love in action, the practical, concrete ways that love is lived out and realized.  For the priest, the highest expression of this kind of love in his vocation is his pastoral charity, which John Paul defines as “the virtue by which we imitate Christ in his self-giving and service.”  He says that pastoral charity “is not just what we do, but our gift of self, which manifests Christ’s love for his flock.  Pastoral charity determines our way of thinking and acting, our way of relating to people.  It makes special demands on us” (n. 23; emphasis added).

It makes special demands on us.  Those special demands manifest themselves in a whole myriad of ways: how the priest spends his time, his attention to detail in caring for the people of God, meeting them in their moments of need, instructing them, preaching to them, leading them in divine worship, being truly and totally present to them.  This is the way in which he lives his Priesthood with integrity, the way in which he fulfills what John Paul calls “the essential and permanent demand for unity between the priest’s interior life and all his external actions and the obligations of the ministry” (n. 23).

          Total Gift of Self

For the priest, a most particular and great demand which pastoral charity requires of him is priestly celibacy.  I fear that this ancient discipline of the Church is sorely misunderstood and under-appreciated in our time, seen as just a practical provision so that the priest can have more time to do his job, or, even worse, as something oppressive.  Rather, this is a way in which the Church seeks to preserve our understanding of the truth that the Priesthood is a vocation, and not simply a job.

In Pastores dabo vobis, St. John Paul makes a particularly compelling statement on the rationale for this extraordinary commitment of the priest.  He says:

It is especially important that the priest understand the theological motivation of the Church’s law on celibacy.  Inasmuch as it is a law, it expresses the Church’s will ….  But the will of the Church finds its ultimate motivation in the link between celibacy and sacred ordination, which configures the priest to Jesus Christ the head and spouse of the Church.  The Church, as the spouse of Jesus Christ, wishes to be loved by the priest in the total and exclusive manner in which Jesus Christ her head and spouse loved her.  Priestly celibacy, then, is the gift of self in and with Christ to his Church and expresses the priest’s service to the Church in and with the Lord [n. 29].

Total and exclusive: this is the love of spouses, which opens us up to the true meaning of the priest’s commitment to celibacy.  As John Paul also says in this passage:

In … celibacy, chastity retains its original meaning, that is, of human sexuality lived as a genuine sign of and precious service to the love of communion and gift of self to others.  This … makes evident, even in the renunciation of marriage, the ‘nuptial meaning’ of the body through a communion and a personal gift to Jesus Christ and his Church which prefigures and anticipates the perfect and final communion and self-giving of the world to come.

This is a profound truth of our human nature: chastity exists for the sake of communion, it enables the individual to live his or her vocation as the way God calls that individual to love according to what love truly is.  In the words of John Paul II – to cite that phrase of his used here and which he used repeatedly in all of his teachings, and is the key to understanding his thought – the true meaning of love is the “gift of self.”  The free and total gift of self is what love is and is how we attain true happiness in life, and chastity is what enables us to get there.  This is why, when treating the three evangelical counsels (poverty, chastity and obedience), the Second Vatican Council taught that, of the three, chastity is preeminent (Lumen Gentium, n. 42).

For the priest this means that his pastoral charity, as expressed and lived out in his priestly celibacy – a total and exclusive gift of himself to Christ’s bride, the Church – is paramount to all he is and does.

 Vocation

This brings into everyday reality those “special demands” that pastoral charity places on him.  That is, it doesn’t simply remain at the level of theory, but is played out in very real, concrete ways for the sake of his own personal holiness, so that he can then in turn sanctify his people.  It is one’s vocation that brings the demands of love down into the concrete.

Perhaps the prophet Jeremiah already foresaw this at the time of his call, and therefore is why he was resistant to that call.  He tried to find excuses to get out of it – he doesn’t know how to speak, he’s too young, and all that.  But in the end he can’t fight it; as with everyone else, God put that vocation in his heart at the very first moment of his existence, and to turn away from it would be to violate his very identity, no matter how high the price.  And for Jeremiah, that was a very, very high price.

So it is with the priest: the priest whose Priesthood has become a job has turned his back on his vocation, he has become the “hired man, who is not a shepherd” whom our Lord describes in the Gospel, who “works for pay and has no concern for the sheep”; he does not see the sheep as his own, and when he “sees a wolf coming [he] leaves the sheep and runs away, and the wolf catches and scatters them.”  This can happen easily, even imperceptibly.  This happens when those special demands seem just overwhelming; it is then that the priest becomes stingy with his time, stingy with his affection, selective in what he does.  He easily refuses to suffer for the sake of the Gospel, in whatever form of suffering that might take, whether simply inconvenience or ridicule or loss of popularity.  Ultimately, the priest ends up not knowing his people.  Yet, charity is love, and love means presence.  When you love someone, the most important, most delightful, thing is simply to be with them.  The essence of pastoral charity is pastoral presence.

In his homily at the ordination of priests a month ago, Pope Francis cited the well-known sermon of Saint Augustine on this point.  He said:

[C]onsider what St Augustine said regarding pastors who seek to please themselves, who use God’s sheep to feed and clothe themselves, to invest themselves with the majesty of a ministry they knew not whether it was of God.  Finally, participating in the mission of Christ, Head and Shepherd, in filial communion with your Bishop, seek to bring the faithful together into one single family, so that you may lead it to God the Father through Christ in the Holy Spirit.  Keep always before your eyes the example of the Good Shepherd who came not to be served but to serve, and who came to seek out and save those that were lost.

          Conclusion

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our priests in the Archdiocese who do precisely that, who keep the example of the Good Shepherd before their eyes.  In the opportunities I have had to be with you in your parishes, I have seen your pastoral charity in action, your presence to your people and the positive rapport you have with them.  I have been encouraged by the love our people have for their parish and their priests, and their energetic commitment to the wide array of ministries in which they are involved.  Thank you!

And to you, my dear brothers and sons who are about to be ordained priests: it is now for you to continue this legacy.  You are no longer your own.  No, you now belong to Christ and his Church; you belong totally and exclusively to Christ’s bride, with all that this vocation demands.  You will live this out in concrete, day-to-day ways with those brothers and sisters of yours you are called to serve with your pastoral charity.  Love them with the love of Jesus Christ, and at all times live, proclaim and witness to his truth in charity, in compassion, laying down your life for them as the Good Shepherd for his sheep.

More on Fr. Illo and the new Oratory of St. Philip Neri

Jim Graves at Catholic World Report has a nice interview with Fr. Joseph Illo, who will head the new Oratory of St. Philip Neri in San Francisco. Here's an excerpt:


CWR: What is your plan for the new San Francisco Oratory of St.Philip Neri?

Fr. Illo: It is our hope to establish it as a community for secular priests, living in community, with a common prayer life and a common rule of life. It will support the work of priests called to work in parishes.

We hope it will be one solution to the problem of priests living in isolation, which has become a deepening difficulty in the Church. Even in a rectory with multiple priests, they can be like ships passing in the night, with little contact with one another and no common prayer life. This is an issue that bishops and diocesan personnel boards speak about all the time. I served as a vocations director for four years, and this was a big concern among men considering the priesthood. They were afraid if they gave up wife and family, they’d be lonely and isolated.

A priest in this situation has little or no accountability. Take the case of Father John Corapi. Although he was in a religious community, he lived on his own, and he got into trouble. A good prayer life is essential to the well-being of a priest; if he prays regularly, he is protected from many evils.

A priest needs support, and he needs to be kept accountable. There are many ways to do this, the oratory being one of them. There are many oratories throughout the world today, and many oratorians. [Bl.] John Henry Newman was famous for bringing the oratory to England in 1848. Today, there is still a large oratory in England, and another in Toronto. In the United States, you can find them in places like St. Louis and Cincinnati; I’ve been in touch with one in Lewiston, Maine, the Fraternity of St. Philip Neri. They have a wonderful life together and do much good work in their diocese.

Mr. Graves also gives this heartening description of Fr. Illo, which reminds me of our dear departed Fr. Malloy:

"Known for his outspoken fidelity to Catholic teaching, Fr. Illo made the news when he wrote his parishioners in 2008, “If you are one of the 54 percent of Catholics who voted for a pro-abortion candidate, you were clear on his position, and you knew the gravity of the question, I urge you to go to confession before receiving Communion.”

Praise God!

Valerie Schmalz, at Catholic San Francisco, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of San Francisco, also has a good article on the Oratory. Check it out here.

Fr. Joseph Illo's Farewell to Thomas Aquinas College

In August, Father Joseph Illo will come to San Francisco, to lead the new Oratory of St. Philip Neri. The Oratory will be at Star of the Sea Church, at 8th Avenue and Geary Boulevard. In the post below, Fr. Illo gives a hint as to the role of the Oratory.

The change is bittersweet, as are many things in life. Fr. Illo's coming to San Francisco means leaving his flock, the students of Thomas Aquinas College in Santa Paul, CA. From his blog:

Thank you for coming to say good-bye to someone who was with you only briefly. It’s a good reason to have a barbecue—many thanks to the cooks!

Briefly indeed—I hardly got to know you, but what I did get to know has been with a Tolkienesque affection and reverence. I feel like Bilbo at his eleventy-first birthday speech, but I won’t repeat his cryptically ambivalent modalism on that occasion (something about not knowing half of you half as much as I’d want). It’s been brief—I had intended to be at TAC for 3 years, but Archbishop Cordileone asked if we could get moving on the San Francisco Oratory this year. “Are you bound by contract with TAC?” he asked me last year. “Just bound by fraternal charity,” I told him, “and there’s lots of that here in Santa Paula.”In fact, I discovered “love” right away at TAC. I had interviewed with several other Catholic colleges, all of whom offered me chaplaincy positions, but only TAC offered me a job with these words: “We love you father, and we hope you will take this position.” So devastatingly disarming—you might guess that our esteemed Dean uttered those words, so characteristic of our beloved Dr. Kelley.
My Dad was a college professor, and I’ve always wanted to be a college professor. I was on my way to becoming one when I sensed a call to the priesthood, so I switched from literature to theology. But these two years have been a kind of dreamy sabbatical between parish assignments, at least living with college professors and strolling through breezy quadrangles between classes.

TAC is all about truth, but even more obviously for brief sojourners like me, the College manifests beauty. The afternoon sun on Santa Paula Ridge, for example; the morning sun that first touches the Topa Topa bluffs; young voices ringing out the glory of God in a perfectly-proportioned chapel; students sprawled under spreading oak trees with Plato and Aquinas, or playing soccer on broad green swards; spirited Shakespeare plays and Gilbert and Sullivan operettas somehow rehearsed to near-perfection alongside ambitious academic loads.

I hope the San Francisco Oratory will be counted among TAC’s many friends and supporters for years to come. I hope we can send students to you, and you can send an occasional “discerning young man” to us (if he can escape the titanic forces emanating from TAC’s lovely females). Much good work has already been accomplished at the future Oratory parish in San Francisco: a healthy elementary school and the Latin Mass every day. It is close to a few universities and Archbishop Cordileone has indicated we put particular energy into youth and young adults, as is consistent with the charism of St. Philip Neri. I thank you for affording me a brief stay with you; I ask your prayers for our fledgling Oratory of priests in SF, and assure you of ours.

Archbishop Cordileone Reminds Us of Our Duty to Jesus

God bless our good shepherd! We must be in agreement with the Church, both in thought and deed, to receive Holy Communion. Check out his video on properly receiving God:

I myself sometimes see Jesus in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar as the same as Jesus on the cross. He is there, defenseless, helpless. Will I hurt him or not? If I receive communion unworthily I am hurting a defenseless Jesus.

"Let not the partaking of Thy Body, Lord Jesus Christ, which I, unworthy, presume to receive, turn to my judgement and condemnation, but through Thy goodness may it be to me a safeguard and remedy both of soul and body."

Archbishop Cordileone to establish "Oratory of St. Philip Neri" in SF! Fr. Joseph Illo to lead it!

Our Archbishop is certainly building up the Church in San Francisco! This is from the blog of Fr. Joseph Illo, chaplain of Thomas Aquinas College. San Francisco Catholics: go to Fr. Ilo's blog to pledge your support for this worthy effort!

Appeal for the San Francisco Oratory of St. Philip Neri

I’ve been serving as chaplain to Thomas Aquinas College for the last two years and feel greatly privileged to work among such deeply Catholic educators and students. Recently, however, San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone has invited a priest-friend and me to establish an “Oratory of St. Philip Neri” in his city.

Most diocesan priests who pray their breviaries pray them alone. Those who do the daily holy hour do it alone, and those who pray their daily rosaries do so by themselves. I’ve done this, more or less, over the 24 years of my priesthood, and I’ve always desired greater priestly community. In my last parish (St. Joseph’s in Modesto) we did pray our holy hours together every morning, and I miss that here in the College. In 1996 I spent two weeks with the Missionaries of Charity Fathers in Tijuana, discerning if I should join their Order. I concluded that God wanted me to remain “in the world,” pastoring a parish and evangelizing the workaday world. Now comes the opportunity to work in the world and live in community.

The Oratory is an Institute in the Church that allows “secular” (parish) priests to live in community under a rule of life. St. Philip Neri founded “the Oratory” in Rome in 1575 as a religious congregation of priests and brothers who lived in the parish of Santa Maria in Vallicella, now known as Chiesa Nuova, in downtown Rome. It provides a supportive rule of life for priests who desire a greater commitment to prayer in common. The most famous Oratorian Father for English-speakers is Blessed John Henry Newman, who brought the Oratory to England in 1848. Today there are 85 Oratories with 500 Oratorians in 19 countries. We would establish the first congregation of Oratorian Fathers in the Archdiocese of San Francisco.

We would begin with two priests and two brothers in a downtown parish with a large rectory, which Archbishop Cordileone has offered us. One of us priests would serve as pastor; we would build up the parish through beautiful liturgy and the lay apostolate, but focus also on evangelizing young adult professionals. The Archbishop has mentioned possibly establishing a Catholic center in one of the larger office buildings with daily Mass and confessions.

A few months ago we were discussing the enormous potential of the Oratory in San Francisco with Archbishop Cordileone. At one point he paused and smiled: “I’m a diocesan bishop, and so I have to think about money, too. I would need you to secure financial commitments to fund part of your living expenses over three years.” I knew he was going to get around to that sooner or later! But as Mother Teresa used to say, “Don’t worry about money. God has lots of it.” If the Lord Jesus and his holy Mother want an Oratory in San Francisco, they will find the money. But of course we have to ask for it.

Would you, my dear readers, like to help us establish the San Francisco Oratory of St. Philip Neri? One of the founding priests would receive a pastor’s salary, but the Archbishop needs us to obtain $220,000 in pledges to fund living expenses for the other three founders, contingent on our actual expenses. If each of you pledged $150 per year for three years, we would meet our goal. Some can pledge much more, and some less, but together we can present a commitment of full support to Archbishop Cordileone.

We don’t want any money right now, but only pledges of financial support. We would begin either the summer of 2014 or the summer of 2015, and would call upon those pledges only as needed from that time for three years. If you get a chance, look-up the “Oratory of St. Philip Neri” to better understand what kind of community and ministry we are seeking to establish in San Francisco. Ask God if He would like you to support this work with a pledge. If you can partner with Archbishop Cordileone and us, please fill out the pledge form below and keep the San Francisco Oratory of St. Philip Neri in your prayers.

We place this work in the hands of Immaculate Mary, Cause of Our Joy and Mother of the Church.

Yours sincerely in Christ,



Fr. Joseph Illo
Head Chaplain, Thomas Aquinas College
Santa Paula, California

Like I said, you can pledge support at Fr. Illo's blog. Go for it!

UPDATE: The pledge drive progress page is here.

SF Supervisors Pass Resolution Against Free Speech

Here's our article from yesterday's Catholic World Report. Unsurprisingly, the full Board of Supervisors passed the resolution.

Free Speech and Politics in San Francisco

Which banners actually “undermine public health”?

On December 26, the Walk for Life West Coast, working through the city’s Department of Public Works, had 50 banners placed on lampposts on San Francisco’s Market Street. The banners were in preparation for the January 25 Walk for Life West Coast, the second-largest pro-life event in the country and one of the largest annual events to be held in San Francisco. The banners met all requirements and proclaimed the Walk’s contention: “Abortion HurtsWomen.” Not everyone was happy. On December 31, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that Ellen Shaffer of the Silver Ribbon Committee, a pro-abortion group, had demanded that Mayor Ed Lee have the banners removed. Mayor Lee’s spokesman Francis Tang responded, “Mayor Lee is a staunch, longtime defender of a woman’s right to choose and disagrees strongly with the message of the banners, but the mayor’s disapproval obviously doesn’t and shouldn’t trump the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.”

Would that the San Francisco Board of Supervisors could understand such a simple principle of civic responsibility. On January 14, in the latest seemingly willful effort to make themselves ridiculous, Supervisor David Campos, joined by six of his colleagues, jumped on Ms. Shaffer’s bandwagon, and introduced a resolution opposing the banners. The Chronicle reporter covering the resolution expressed appropriate skepticism: “While the resolution may have many San Franciscans nodding in agreement, it’s seems unlikely that city has any legal right to refuse to post something simply because politicians don’t like the message.”

The Supervisors’ resolution was reported nationwide.   Even the San Francisco Chronicle–no friend of the Walk for Life West Coast–condemned the resolution in a January 24 editorial. Here’s an excerpt from the Chronicle’s op-ed:

City can’t suppress unpopular message

From the Embarcadero to Civic Center Plaza, 50 banners proclaiming “Abortion hurts women” have waved for a month from city lamp posts in advance of the 10th annual Walk for Life rally Saturday.

The banners have infuriated pro-choice advocates, who hung their own banners from the same utility poles two years ago in observance of the anniversary of the Supreme Court decision that enshrined a woman’s right to choose…

Supervisor Campos’ objections to the message likely reflect those of his constituents and many San Franciscans. Our position on abortion rights is well established: A woman’s right to choose is a matter of fundamental privacy that is protected by the U.S. Constitution.

However, this is not about whether we or anyone at City Hall likes the message on those antiabortion banners. If the city wants to keep contentious issues from those prime vantage points, it should be applied evenly. When it comes to the airing of views in public places, a government does not have the right to give an advantage to those it agrees with and to suppress those it does not.

Despite the Chronicle’s warning the full Board of Supervisors will vote on the resolution on January 28. The Supervisors call the banner’s message “false” and Ms. Shaffer called it “hate speech.” 

Had they joined the tens of thousands of peaceful people who were at the Civic Center and on Market Street on Saturday they could have learned otherwise. They could have listened to the post-abortive women at the Silent No More Awareness Campaign, held before the rally. They then could decide for themselves whether or not abortion hurts women, and whether what they were hearing is “hate speech.” They could listen to Gianna Jensen, who spoke at the 2008 Walk and bears the marks of a failed abortion to this day. They could listen to Vera Faith Lord, who spoke at the 2007 Walk. They could listen to the women in the “Been There” videos, who describe the pain of their abortions, pain they bear to this day. They could listen to world-famous actress Jennifer O’Neill, to former “card-carrying NARAL member” Karen Shablin, to Georgette Forney, to Karen Williams, to Norma McCorvey, the “Roe” from Roe v. Wade. All of these women grippingly testify that “Abortion Hurts Women.”

What makes the Supervisors contention that the banners "undermine public health" doubly ridiculous is the fact that every September banners advertising the notorious Folsom Street Fair will line Market Street. The HIV epidemic was and is the greatest threat to public health the city of San Francisco has ever faced. And, tragically, for the first time in six years, the city saw an increase in HIV cases in 2012.  All San Franciscans are sadly familiar with this. In fact, the co-founders of the Walk for Life West Coast, Dolores Meehan and Eva Muntean, first met while caring for AIDS patients at Mother Teresa's Gift of Love hospice in San Francisco’s Western Addition.  That behaviors which really do “undermine public health” take place at the Folsom Street Fair has been extensively and disgustingly documented.  But far from objecting to the Folsom Street Fair banners, in 2008 the Supervisors declared September 28, 2008 to be "Folsom Street Fair Day."  So one can take their professed concern for “public health” with a rather large grain of salt.

The Supervisors’ resolution will not affect the Walk for Life West Coast banners in any way. It’s a political charade, as the Chronicle intimated. It’s not news to us, any more than it is to most San Franciscans, that the Supervisors find time to waste the taxpayers’ money on an unreal issue.

More Pre-Walk for Life West Coast Friday Events!

More important updates about the most Catholic weekend of the year in San Francisco from the blog of the  Walk for Life West Coast. The picture at lest is from last year's all-night Eucharistic Adoration for Life at Saints Peter and Paul. Check it out:

"The Standup 4Life Rally and Walk is not the only Walk-related event going on tomorrow. Check out these great opportunities:

YOUTH CONFERENCE
St. Mary’s Cathedral, 1111 Gough Street, San Francisco, 9:00AM

All teens (7th to 12th grades) are welcome to a morning of prayer and reflection with the Sisters of Life. There will be a special Mass celebrated by Bishop Thomas Daly at 10:30 am. The event flyer may be downloaded here. Contact Vicki Evans atvevans1438@gmail.com or 415-614-5533.

LAW OF LIFE SUMMIT WEST
St. Mary’s Cathedral Conference Center, 1111 Gough Street, San Francisco, 4:00-6:00PM by RSVP only (space very limited)

First ever “West Coast Summit” sponsored by Life Legal Defense Foundation, Ave Maria School of Law and the National LIFE Runners. An action-packed event bringing together pro-life leaders and students to create measurable and achievable objectives for overturning Roe v. Wade and for defending the sanctity of human life. Contact Lawlife.org for more information.

ANNUAL PRAYER VIGIL FOR LIFE
St. Dominic’s Church, 2390 Bush St, San Francisco, 5:00 pm

The Sisters of Life will host their annual Prayer Vigil for Life! This year, TWELVE of the Sisters will be with us, including Mother Agnes Donovan, SV who has been a past WFL Rally Speaker. Vespers will be at 5:00pm and Mass will be celebrated at 5:30pm by Bishop Thomas Daly of San Jose. Everyone is welcome! The event flyer may be downloaded here. Contact the Sisters of Life atevangelization@sistersoflife.org or (845) 357-3547.

THE 7TH ANNUAL CONVERSATIONS 4 LIFE BENEFIT DINNER
St. Margaret Mary Church, 1219 Excelsior Avenue, Oakland, 5:30 pm

Guests include Father Frank Pavone, Star Parker, Rev. Clenard H. Childress, Abby Johnson, Jeff White, Cecilia Chavez, and Lori & Walter Hoye. For more information, visit here. The event flyer may be downloaded here. Contact Joni at 925-550-3122.

PRO-LIFE YOUTH MASS
Saints Peter and Paul Church, 666 Filbert Street, San Francisco, 7:00PM

ALL NIGHT EUCHARISTIC ADORATION FOR LIFE
Saints Peter and Paul Church, 666 Filbert Street, San Francisco, 8:00PM-7:00AM
Adoration begins at 8PM, and will last until 7AM on Saturday, January 25."

California's Poverty Rate Highest in Nation

The Party of Death holds every statewide office and has supermajorities in both the Assembly and Senate. So why are they not helping the poor?

Aaron Sankin writes in the Huffington Post:

California Poverty Rate Highest In Nation Based On New Census Department Figures

California has a poverty rate of 23.5 percent, the highest of any state in the country, according to figures released this week by the United States Census Bureau.

The only other geographic region with an equivalent poverty rate is the District of Columbia, with 23.2 percent. The second most poverty-stricken state was Florida, at 19.5 percent.

The recognition of California's shockingly high poverty rate comes as a part of a shift in the way the Census Bureau measures its data. When the government began examining poverty back in the early 1960s, the line for determining who fell underneath the threshold was determined solely by looking at food costs.

In the decades since, there's been increasing criticism this benchmark, as it doesn't take into account tax rates and assistance programs such as food stamps, child care expenses and medical costs. In examining its most recent data, the Census Bureau considered these previously ignored factors, deemed the "supplemental poverty measure."

These new metrics have yielded quite different results than in past years. Under the traditional definition of poverty, for example, California's rate is 16.3 percent.

"We're seeing a very slow recovery [nationally], with increases in poverty among workers due to more new jobs which are low-wage," University of Wisconsin-Madison economist Timothy Smeeding told the Associated Press. "As a whole, the safety net is holding many people up, while California is struggling more because it's relatively harder there to qualify for food stamps and other benefits."

The Golden State's jump between the supplemental and conventional measures was the largest swing of any state, and the Sacramento Bee attributes it to California's high cost of living...."

Read the whole thing.

SF Seminarian Credits Fr. Malloy as "Particular Inspiration"

God bless our seminarians! This is from an article in the October 18 issue of Catholic San Francisco, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of San Francisco:

Grandmother’s great devotion helped instill priestly vocation

OUR SEMINARIANS: The paper will carry occasional articles by and about the 16 men who are in formation for the priesthood for the Archdiocese of San Francisco. This week’s article is by St. Patrick’s Seminary & University seminarian Alvin Yu.

"I was born and raised in San Francisco. My home parish is Sts. Peter and Paul Church, where I also went to elementary school. I attended Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory and did my undergraduate studies at San Francisco State University. After finishing college, I entered Saint Patrick’s Seminary & University, where I am currently in my second year of theological studies studying for the Archdiocese of San Francisco.

Reflecting on my journey toward entering the seminary and studying for the priesthood, I did not have a Damascus moment where God dramatically and unexpectedly called me to become a priest. Instead, my journey was one where God has gradually fostered my vocation through the different people and circumstances in my life...."

Later in the article the young man writes:

"The late Salesian Father John Malloy was of particular inspiration for me. As a high school freshman unfamiliar with the church’s moral teachings and growing up in an increasingly secular culture that saw the mayor at the time (Gavin Newsom) first issue same-sex marriage licenses, it was Father Malloy’s work in the area of defending life and traditional marriage that provided me a moral compass as to how to live a solid Christian life. And I was drawn to Father Malloy’s message precisely because it was not a message of hate or condemnation, but one of love as he never lacked charity and humility."

Read the whole thing. Mr. Yu is wise beyond his years, and his reflections show the importance of a family praying together. It will do your heart good. Father Malloy is certainly smiling from heaven!

New Momentum at San Francisco Rosary Rally!

Saturday's SF Rosary was great, especially because of the new level of commitment shown by the Archdiocese of San Francisco. Here's an excerpt from our story published Monday in California Catholic Daily, but be sure to read the whole thing, which describes some the new initiatives.

New wrinkles, bright future for SF Rosary rally
Faithful pray, feed poor

By Gibbons Cooney

"On Saturday October 12, San Francisco Catholics celebrated the third annual SF Rosary rally. The rally began with the annual Hispanic Day Mass at a packed St. Mary’s Cathedral. Mass was celebrated by San Francisco’s Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone. After Mass the faithful, led by a bier with a statue of Our Lady, followed immediately by the Knights of Columbus and the archbishop, processed the one mile to United Nations Plaza. The San Francisco police department had blocked off one lane of busy Van Ness Avenue, and the faithful filled the lane as well as the sidewalk. An attendee told CalCatholic that the procession was about two city blocks long and ten people abreast. The procession was accompanied by a sound truck leading the people in the Joyful Mysteries (in Spanish) as well as in hymns. Volunteers were passing out bottles of water to anyone who was thirsty. The crowd at that point was still mostly Hispanic—coming from the Mass– and our source told us that it was filled with people of all ages and had lots of babies in strollers. At around noon the procession entered the plaza...."

“It’s very exciting for us: We see everything collapsing around us, and the Church is emerging.”

John Burger has an excellent article at Aleteia, with observations from many people in the Archdiocese, (our headline quote from the story is by Walk for Life West Coast co-founder Dolores Meehan) on the first year of San Francisco's great new Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone.

SF “Gay Pride” Electoral College Picks Traitor as Grand Marshal

Board President Walks Honor Back After Furor 

On April 24, the homosexualist Bay Area Reporter announced the list of “Grand Marshals” for San Francisco’s 2013 “Gay Pride Parade.” Among those named was California Attorney General Kamala Harris. She was joined by imprisoned U.S. Army Private First Class Bradley Manning. Manning has already pled guilty to a number of charges related to releasing classified information. He has not yet entered a plea to the charge of “aiding the enemy.” That charge carries the death penalty, although prosecutors have said they will decline to pursue it. Manning will be liable to life imprisonment. Manning’s activities were made known to the FBI by a “hacker” named Adrian Lamo. In a December 19, 2010 article in the Sunday Times, writer Ed Caesar quoted Lamo “I knew that, unless stopped, he was going to continue to leak, and continue to endanger lives.”

During his brief military career Manning also punched a female intelligence officer in the face, and was considered sufficiently unstable for his Master Sergeant to remove the bolt from his rifle.

None of this was considered disqualifying by the “Pride” parade. But the choice quickly provoked outrage amongst members of the armed services. Within 24 hours of the announcement, the “Pride” committee was walking back the “honor.” On April 25, Lisa L. Williams, President of the SF Pride Board issued a somewhat contradictory press release, which began by blaming one person for the fiasco: 

“Bradley Manning will not be a grand marshal in this year’s San Francisco Pride celebration. His nomination was a mistake and should never have been allowed to happen. A staff person at SF Pride, acting under his own initiative, prematurely contacted Bradley Manning based on internal conversations within the SF Pride organization. That was an error and that person has been disciplined. He does not now, nor did he at that time, speak for SF Pride.”

But the final paragraph of the release enlarged the web of blame in a significant way:

“Specifically, what these events have revealed is a system whereby a less-than-handful of people may decide who represents the LGBT community’s highest aspirations as grand marshals for SF Pride. This is a systemic failure that now has become apparent and will be rectified. In point of fact, less than 15 people actually cast votes for Bradley Manning. These 15 people are part of what is called the SF Pride Electoral College, comprised of former SF Pride Grand Marshals. However, as an organization with a responsibility to serve the broader community, SF Pride repudiates this vote.”

So: the “less-than-a-handful of people” who chose to honor Manning are none other than members of the “SF Pride Electoral College, comprised of former SF Pride Grand Marshals.” In other words, those who have been held up as shining examples by the “Gay Pride” parade, chose to hold up a traitor as another shining example.

The choice of someone as defective as Manning as a “Pride” Grand Marshal is not unprecedented. In 2003, the parade named Larry Brinkin, “San Francisco Gay Rights Icon” and a staff member of San Francisco’s Human’s Rights Commission, as a Grand Marshal. In January of 2012, Brinkin was arrested on charges of child pornography. The SF Bay Citizen reported at the time: 

“One photo shows a child about 2 to 3 years old being sexually abused, according to the search warrant. Another shows an adult male attempting to receive oral sex from a small child….Brinkin’s account was linked to several Yahoo discussion groups on the sexual exploitation of children, according to the search warrant. Emails from Brinkin’s account to other users contained stories police suspect were fictional accounts written by Brinkin. The stories describe the rape and torture of African American children, according to the search warrant. One of the emails contained the words ‘White Power! White Supremacy!’”

In 1999 the parade’s grand marshal was Harry Hay, who had defended NAMBLA, the National Man Boy Love Association. In a 1983 New York University forum, Hay had said “”[I]f the parents and friends of gays are truly friends of gays, they would know from their gay kids that the relationship with an older man is precisely what thirteen-, fourteen-, and fifteen-year-old kids need more than anything else in the world.”