Changes at USF: Fr. Donal Godfrey Out as Executive Director of University Ministry

The "Lane Center's" Julia Dowd to serve as Interim Director.

On September 15 we noted the apparent departure of Fr. Donal Godfrey, SJ from the position of Executive Director at University Ministry at the (Jesuit) University of San Francisco. His departure is now confirmed.

Godfrey’s departure comes on the heels of the revelation that his long-time associate Patrick Mulcahey, has, over a number of years, been teaching and moderating workshops on the Master/slave and sado-masochistic lifestyle. (See California Catholic Daily, September 3, 2010).

As recently as August 30, 2010, according to a cached webpage from the ministry’s site, Fr. Godfrey was still serving as Executive Director of the Ministry. Sometime between August 30 and September 15, 2010, (which obviously includes the date the California Catholic Daily story was published) Fr. Godfrey was replaced by Ms. Julia Dowd, a layperson. Fr. Godfrey will continue to serve as one of the ministry’s five “Associate Directors.”

Fr. Godfrey was appointed on August 1, 2007. His views on the Church’s position on homosexuality were already quite well known: In 2002 he was one of the panelists at the University’s "New Jewish & Christian Approaches to Homosexuality" symposium (where he quoted Mr. Mulcahey extensively). In 2006, he gave a homily at San Francisco’s predominantly homosexual Most Holy Redeemer Church on “Finding God in the Erotic.” The homily was published in the “Gay Catholic Forum.” In April 2007, he celebrated the famous “Gay Service” at Most Holy Redeemer, which was broadcast worldwide on "BBC Radio4." The photograph above is from San Francisco's 2003 Gay Freedom Day Parade. Photo credit: Most Holy Redeemer Church.

Immediately following his appointment, Lexington Books published "Gays and Grays: The Story of the Gay Community at Most Holy Redeemer Catholic Parish." Fr. Godfrey had been working on the book for much of the decade. On March 3, 2008, Godfrey plugged the book in an Australian publication called Eurekastreet.com/au in an article titled "Towards a church apology for gay prejudice." On March 9, 2008, Godfrey gave another homily at Most Holy Redeemer “The Call to Come Out.” The homily likens Jesus’s calling Lazarus to come out of the tomb to same-sex attracted persons coming out of “the closet.” That homily was also published in the “Gay Catholic Forum.”

On July 18, 2008 Godfrey visited World Youth Day in Australia. He attended an "Acceptance" forum. "Acceptance" --"gay, lesbian, bisexual, & transgender Catholics"--is the Australian version of "DignityUSA." The Australian Church did not allow Acceptance to attend the official World Youth Day events.
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While Catholics will be heartened by the news that one of the world’s most famous homoactivist priests is no longer be in charge of ministry at a Catholic University, his replacement, Julia Dowd, does not give much reason for rejoicing. On October 20, 2007, Ms. Dowd, joined by members of USF’s LGBTQ Caucus, attended the "OutThere" conference at De Paul University. The conference’s program makes clear that the its purpose was to create more effective advocacy for positions opposed to the Catholic Church on Catholic Universities. The description of USF’s presentation reads:

“This roundtable describes a series of community conversations on LGBTQ issues and Catholicism held in 2006 at the University of San Francisco. Three public forums, two held at local parishes, invited open dialogue in the midst of a church-wide debate following statements by church officials about LGBTQ issues. Roundtable participants will discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the series as a model to educate and create community debate.”

The “conversations” described include “Is it Ethical to Be Catholic? Queer Perspectives” held at Most Holy Redeemer Church on February 12, 2006.

In addition to her new position as Executive Director of University Ministry, she continues to serve as an associate director of USF’s Lane Center for Catholic Studies and Social Thought. Over the past few years, the Lane Center has hosted such speakers as Fr. James Keenan, SJ, who, on April 28, 2003 spoke before the Massachusetts legislature "as a Catholic moral theologian," opposing Massachusetts Bill H. 3190, which would define marriage as between one man and one woman; Professor and ex-priest Paul Lakeland, who is best known for his support of Connecticut's recent attempt to have lay persons take over the governance of the Catholic Church; renegade Australian Bishop Geoffrey Robinson, (despite Archbishop George Niederauer's orders that he was not to speak at any Catholic institutions in the Archdiocese); professor and abortion advocate Sylvia Marcos, who believes in working to make abortion legal in countries where it is now illegal; and the Rev. Ignacio Castuera, President of the Clergy Network of Planned Parenthood and the Rev. Lisa Sargeant, Chaplain of (now defunct) Planned Parenthood Golden Gate. Ms. Dowd was also one of the signatories to a March 1, 2009 document supporting the nomination of Kathleen Sebelius to head the Department of Health and Human Services. Prior to the release of the document, Sebelius’ Archbishop, Joseph Naumann had already called Sebelius' actions on abortion "a scandal to the faithful," and had requested she refrain from receiving communion.

"Human Rights" Court Forces Church to Hire Adulterer

They are trying, anyway. From Catholic Culture:

"A European court has ruled that a German Catholic diocese cannot terminate the employment of a church musician who left his wife to live with another woman.

The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg upheld the complaint of Bernhard Schueth, a music director at a parish in the Essen diocese. The European court ruled that German courts had erred in their findings that the diocese was justified in dismissing Schueth. Diocesan officials pointed to an employment contract under which Schueth, like other parish employees, had made a commitment to uphold the teachings of the Catholic Church."

Catholic Culture links to Ekklesia, which provides more information. The adulterous musician lost his job in 1997, and has been suing the Church for 13 years, each time rebuffed by a German court:

"ENInews reports that the European court ruled on 23 September 2010 in favour of a church musician from the diocese of Essen, in western Germany, who lost his job in 1997 after separating from his wife and forming another relationship.

In the last 13 years, church organist and choirmaster Bernhard Schueth has fought a protracted legal battle in his country. Time and again, Germany's courts have ruled in favour of the parish of Sankt Lambertus because Schueth, like all employees of Catholic Church institutions, had to sign a pledge to uphold the values of the church.

In separating from his wife and in forming a relationship with another woman, German courts ruled that Schueth was in breach of contract with the church even though he is not divorced.

The court found that the German labour courts had "failed to weigh Schueth's rights against those of the church employer in a compatible manner [with the European Convention on Human Rights]."

What with having to pay off the debts of their less thrifty neighbors, I hope the Germans will soon have had enough of the EU. This case reminds me of the 2009 case in Italy, where the EU ordered Italy to remove crucifixes from the classroom, caused the Italians to say "CHI VI CREDETE DI ESSERE!" (I know a more apt phrase in Italian, but Fr. Malloy would excommunicate me.) That case is currently under appeal.

Posted by Gibbons J. Cooney

Sharp Rebuke

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a sharp rebuke Wednesday of a book by two Creighton University theologians, saying it contradicts church positions on homosexuality, premarital sex and birth control, among other issues.

The conference noted that at one point, "The Sexual Person: Toward a Renewed Catholic Anthropology" asserts "some homosexual acts may be morally right."

"The authors insist that the moral theology of the Catholic tradition dealing with sexual matters is now as a whole obsolete and inadequate and that it must be re-founded on a different basis," the conference's 23-page statement says.

The book was written by Todd Salzman, chairman of the Creighton's Department of Theology, and Michael Lawler, professor emeritus at the Jesuit university in Omaha. It won a Catholic Press Award last year.

I hope the Conference turns its attention to our own USF situation and other Catholic Universities that seem to promote homosexuality.

"What’s gone strange with America”

A message that all of our bishops should take to heart and proclaim as fearlessly as Archishop Chaput.

Christians’ cowardice prevents cultural renewal, Archbishop Chaput tells Catholic scholars. Christians’ lack of faith and cowardice are the primary obstacles to Christian culture at a time when unbelief is the spirit-destroying “state religion” of the modern world, Archbishop Charles Chaput has told a gathering of academics. He urged personal repentance and witness as the path to cultural renewal….

He told the scholars that their task is to strengthen their zeal in advancing the Gospel, their courage in struggling against sin, and their “candor in naming good and evil.” He advised them to use their God-given skills to strengthen this spirit in each other, their students, and their colleagues. “If you do only that, but do it well, then God will do the rest,” Archbishop Chaput declared.

Comparing American Catholics to the ancient Israelites who “forgot their faith because they weren’t taught,” he said that if Catholics no longer know their faith or their obligations, “we leaders, parents and teachers have no one to blame but ourselves.” ...
Baltimore, Md., Sep 26, 2010 (CNA/EWTN News)

"Killer Physicians and Surgeons"

Harsh but true words from Bishop Doran of Rockford, Illinois. Full column published at LifeSiteNews:

"'In our devolving and decaying morally relativistic society, there are many people who regard the killing of a pre-born child as of no consequence whatever.'

The bishop's column, titled 'The practice of abortion in our country and city holds hidden dangers," addresses the danger of abortion "not only for its victims but also for its perpetrators and for societies that permit it, allow it and license it.'

'As with other forms of wrongful activity sanctioned or winked at by the government, procured abortion is for the killers and those who support them, immensely profitable,' the bishop says.

'Abortuaries are gold mines for their operators. Killer physicians and surgeons, distaining the Hippocratic Oath, travel hundreds of miles to assassinate a few children, and you may be sure that that kind of doctor or nurse does not work for nothing.'"

March for Life in Berlin!

It took place on September 18, and about 1,800 people were there:



Bryan Kemper, an American who attended, has a report at Life News:

"Many of you may have been to a March for Life in America where there are hundreds of thousands of people, and you probably feel safe and powerful with so many people on our side. This year in Berlin the organizers were ecstatic that they had 1,800 people show up to march; this was 500 more than last year.

Besides the 1,800 pro-lifers in attendance; there were hundreds of riot police to protect us from the over 500 pro-abortion protesters who came to interrupt and attempt to attack us."

People came from Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, and the U.S. to speak for those who cannot speak for themselves, the most defenseless among us.

Here's a link to some German sites describing the event, if you speak German, or want to use your browser's translator:

http://www.google.com/search?q=marsch+fur+das+leben&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=ie7&rlz=1I7GGIE_en

Holy Father Supports "40 Days for Life"

His Holiness sent a letter of support to the 40 Days for Life London team.

The letter is posted on Love Undefiled.

"Leather Week" in San Francisco

We’ve recently covered the story of Most Holy Redeemer’s Patrick Mulcahey, a past parish council vice-president and Extraordinary Minister of the Eucharist, who was leading s/m workshops at the “Master/slave Conference 2010.”

It is almost incomprehensible to the average person that the sado-masochistic sexual perversion is not only respected, but affirmed, in a Catholic parish. But as we said in 2007, in our review of Father Donal Godfrey’s book, “Gays and Grays,” Most Holy Redeemer is no longer a Catholic parish. It is not a Christian parish. It is a gay parish. It would better be described as a homosexualist spiritual institution. The community-forming experience around which the parish congregates is not Christianity, (except perhaps incidentally) it is the celebration of homosexuality. This is demonstrable. At any place or time that Christianity comes into conflict with the celebration of homosexuality, the congregation will choose the celebration of homosexuality.¹ In this, MHR is quite conventional and representative of its surrounding environment. Sado-masochistic leather “sexuality” is affirmed by the surrounding culture; MHR, as a representative institution of that culture, must affirm it as well.

It is equally incomprehensible to the average person that the sado-masochistic sexual perversion can not only be respected but affirmed as a positive good by the government of a major American city. Yet such is the case. For the entire month of September banners advertising the largest homosexualist s/m event in the world, the Folsom Street Fair, are on every lamppost on Market Street from Van Ness Avenue to Castro Street. On the Sunday of the Folsom Street Fair, which this year will be Sunday, September 26, the leather flag (red, black and blue: symbolization obvious) takes the place of the rainbow “gay rights” flag at the corner of Market and Castro streets.

The leather subculture is not exactly a dispossessed and oppressed minority. San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom took out a full page in the 2007 Folsom Street Fair program officially welcoming the “wonderful and exciting” event. In 2007 State Senator Mark Leno, one of the most powerful politicians in Sacramento, attended the InterClub Fund awards at (where else) Most Holy Redeemer. Befitting the occasion, Senator Leno was decked out in leather. Senator Leno, again in leather, attended the 2008 & 2009 "Up Your Alley Fairs", smaller versions of the Folsom Street Fair. (left: Senator Leno at the 2009 "Up Your Alley Fair" Photo: SFIST and Gothamist, LLC).

The San Francisco Police Department threatened to withhold a permit for the fair in 2009 because in 2008, the fair Leno attended, men were urinating on other men and masturbating into the crowd from a third-story window. Senator Leno chairs the state Senate’s Public Safety Committee and the Budget and Fiscal Review Subcommittee on Health and Human Services.

At the 26th Annual “Leather Daddy” awards Supervisor Bevan Dufty presented a proclamation to the event from San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Dufty is currently running for Mayor in San Francisco, and has a fair chance of winning.

The city government’s embrace of the s/m lifestyle has not weakened since 2007. In the September 23, 2010 issue of the homosexualist Bay Area Reporter (“Politics and Leather a Natural Alliance in SF”), Matt Bauer writes

“There may be no better example of San Francisco's priorities than the city's giddy anticipation of two upcoming events: the November elections and this Sunday's 27th annual Folsom Street Fair.

The city's long-established leather community tends to enjoy a strong relationship with city government.

‘Local politicians have been very friendly and supportive,’ said Liza Sibley, executive producer of Ms. San Francisco Leather. ‘[State Senator] Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) has always been fabulous for the leather community. [Assemblyman] Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco) has always been wonderful in talking to the leather community." In addition, she observed, District 8 supervisor candidates Rebecca Prozan, Scott Wiener, and Rafael Mandelman were present at this year's annual Leather Walk.’

‘This is a rare Folsom I'll miss,’ Leno told the Bay Area Reporter.”

The embrace of perverted sexuality is not harmless. Since 1980, over 18,866 people in San Francisco have died from AIDS. That number includes four persons quite close to me. It includes Senator Leno’s “life partner.” Of the over 18,000 deaths, 17,035 were of same-sex attracted men (14,125 men who have “sex” with men; 2,869 men who have “sex” with men who were also intravenous drug users).² 15,330 of those who died were under 50 years old—in the prime of life. In March, 2010 the Center for Disease Control reported that in the United States men who have “sex” with men are 44 times more likely to contract HIV than are other men. They are also the only risk group among whom HIV infection rates are increasing. This is neither random nor a chastisement from God. It is the clearly demonstrable result of specific behavior. In his important 1997 book "Sexual Ecology: Aids and the Destiny of Gay Men" activist Gabriel Rotello writes "For various reasons we are, in effect, defending the behaviors that are killing us."

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors can find time to unanimously issue a resolution urging “Meatless Mondays” as a public health measure. Yet in the face of the greatest public health crisis in the city’s history, one that has cut down over 15,000 people under age 50—people in the prime of life--the city’s government is on record as supporting the behavior that contributes to the holocaust.

1) According to Professor Jerome Baggett’s recent book “Sense of the Faithful” 93% of Most Holy Redeemer parishioners polled think “a person can be a good Catholic” without obeying the Church’s teaching on engaging in homosexual acts.

2) San Francisco Department of Public Health HIV/AIDS Epidemiology Annual Report, 2008.

3) "Sexual Ecology: AIDS and the Destiny of Gay Men" p. 202.

Posted by Gibbons J. Cooney

Another Hopeful Sign: The Pledge to America

It's a good document, getting down to principles. Excerpts from the preamble:

"In a self-governing society, the only bulwark against the power of the state is the consent of the governed, and regarding the policies of the current government, the governed do not consent...."

We've been talking about the consent of the governed here for years, specifically where courts impose counterfeit "marriage" on the people.

"An unchecked executive, a compliant legislature, and an overreaching judiciary have combined to thwart the will of the people and overturn their votes and their values, striking down longstanding laws and institutions and scorning the deepest beliefs of the American people."

That would be Judge Walker, etc. The Pledge goes on to assert:

We pledge to honor families, traditional marriage, life, and the private and faith-based organizations that form the core of our American values.

We'd rather they used "natural" instead of "traditional" for marriage--still, the meaning is intact.
On abortion, in the body of the pledge:

"Permanently Prohibit Taxpayer Funding of Abortion

We will establish a government-wide prohibition on taxpayer funding of abortion and subsidies for insurance coverage that includes abortion. This prohibition would go further and enact into law what is known as the Hyde Amendment as well as ban other instances of federal subsidies for abortion services. We will also enact into law conscience protections for health care providers, including doctors, nurses, and hospitals."

UPDATE: The very smart pro-lifer Yuval Levin is impressed.

Tom Peters Touring California

Thomas Peters, the "American papist" will be touring California next week as part of the "Vota tu Valores" (Vote your Values) outreach to Latino Californians. The tour runs from September 27 to October 6.

This is your chance to meet this young man, who has done so much to help the Church in the digital age. From his website:

"It is organized by Latino Partnership for Conservative Principles, the pro-life Susan B. Anthony List, and the pro-marriage National Organization for Marriage.

I will be riding in the WI-FI equipped “Vota Bus” pictured above and at right, taking photos, sending out updates and live-tweeting at the Tus Valores Twitter account."

The tour will cover 2,500 miles and make 42 stops. dates and times of the stops are listed here.

Posted by Gibbons J. Cooney

"Jesus said to love our enemies, not flatter or fawn on them"

Koran blessed in Sacramento's Cathedral.

From the blog of Abbott Joseph, the superior of Holy Transfiguration Monastery (aka Mt Tabor Monastery), a Byzantine-rite Ukrainian Catholic monastic community in Redwood Valley, CA.

"It seems that insanity is reaching new levels in certain places. Here is a portion of the story: “Representatives of different religions, including members of the Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Muslim, Mormon, and Druid [yes, California has everything] communities, took part in an interfaith blessing of the Qu’ran at Sacramento’s Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament on September 11. During the ceremony, Father Michael Kiernan, rector of the cathedral, read from the Beatitudes… Several dozen people placed roses on the Quran, in front of the main doors to the cathedral. Upon placing their roses, people said before the crowd, ‘Let there be peace on Earth, and let it begin with me....

Jesus said to love our enemies, not flatter or fawn on them. We love them by prayer and sacrifice, begging God to enlighten them to the truth, to convert them from their murderous intentions, to forgive their sins by the power of the Precious Blood of Jesus so that they may be saved and find everlasting life in Him. That is genuine love, not making ineffectual gestures that weaken us by denying, in effect, that Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and that no one comes to the Father except through Him.

This is an isolated incident, but the fact that it can happen at all, and then of course be plastered all over the internet, means that some internal housecleaning is indicated. Those Koran-blessers are doing it in the name of peace, but peace is not an absolute value (see Lk. 12:51; Mt. 10:34), and it can’t simply mean 'peace' in the sense of placating those whom we fear will slit our throats if we look at them the wrong way—which seems to be the reason why practically the whole world is allowing Islam to pervade and possess it."

The very week this event took place, Molly Norris, the Seattle cartoonist who came up with the "Everybody Draw Mohammed" idea, was forced to go into hiding on the recommendation of the FBI for exercising her right to free speech. Those who threaten Ms. Norris will take heart that nothing is out of bounds for them--whatever they do, our collapsing culture will accomodate them, simply becasue it is easier than the alternatives. What the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament should do is give sanctuary to Ms. Norris.

It is often said that those who seek to impose Islamic law on others by violence or intimidation are not truly representative of Islam. That's nice to believe, but it is not exactly true. Certainly not all Muslims support that, but those who do, as counterterrorism and Islamic expert Brian Fairchild has argued on Reclaiming the Culture, "Salasfism: Understanding a Strain of Radical Islam" are indeed representatives of a quite legitimate strain of Islam.

Posted by Gibbons J. Cooney

The Holy Father Returns from Britain

So much has been written by so many good people about His Holiness triumphant visit to Great Britain that we have nothing to add.

Father Z has many wonderful posts about the visit.

Raymond Arroyo, writing in National Review:

"The Pope saved the most important news of his visit to the United Kingdom for the end. Most people didn’t even hear or see it. But I imagine Thomas More and John Henry Newman were smiling . . .

In November of 2009, Pope Benedict XVI issued an extraordinary invitation to Anglicans disaffected by the changes taking place in their communion. The failure to affirm traditional Christian orthodoxy, the ordination of gays, and the recent push to create female Anglican bishops have splintered the communion and caused heartbreak among both clergy and laity....
With this understanding, the symbolic and stated message of Pope Benedict during his British sojourn comes into stark relief. His meeting with the Catholic and Anglican bishops at Lambeth Palace, the home of the Archbishop of Canterbury for 800 years (the first 70 Archbishops of Canterbury were Catholics), his visit to Westminster Abbey (built by the Catholic king, Henry III and home to Benedictine monks until the Reformation), his moving speech at Westminster Hall (where Catholic martyrs Thomas More, Edmund Campion, Bishop John Fisher, and others were condemned to death for their refusal to disavow their faith), and finally his beatification of the 19th century Anglican convert to Catholicism, Blessed John Henry Newman suddenly all seems one piece. Benedict’s visit was a stand against relativism in the heart of Europe and a plea for Britain to return to herself — to return to her Catholic roots. In a visit worthy of his predecessor, Pope Benedict, with precise language and symbols, communicated a message that will long be felt in England. It was a message controversial and reasonable, bold, and utterly faithful — a simple call, really: England, come home to what you were, and truly are."

Hilary White, at LifeSiteNews

"And how did the British people, millions of whom followed the papal events on the BBC’s live feed on the internet and on television, react to the pope? “They listened,” said Fr. Hugh Allan, the superior of a community of priests, called Norbertine canons, in Chelmsford, Essex, who attended some of the events.

“They really wanted to hear him, and that is going to make the difference. I’ve heard it from so many people.”

On the phone today, Fr. Allan confirmed that the anti-pope crowd have badly lost the argument, and the sympathy of the British public with their months of shrill, fever-pitch attacks. The British people, he said, wanted to hear what the pope had to say.

“One of the most beautiful things has been to see an eighty-three year old man completely taking the wind out of the sails of the Peter Tatchells and the rest of the crowd,” Fr. Allan said....

The pope’s messages, that Christianity has a foundational place in the building of a just society, one that cannot be suppressed without destroying the foundations of freedom, were delivered fearlessly but gently, in a tone that one had to strain to hear and with an accent one had to concentrate to understand.

“He was just stating the truth,” Fr. Allan said. “It’s really swept people off their feet.”