December 3, 2020

ADVENT:

A LIGHT SHINES:

GREGORY:

PAGE 6

PAGE 14

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Bishops’ resources for Advent practice, reflection

How one priest keeps the faith in COVID time

Black Catholics joyful as DC prelate named cardinal

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO Newspaper of the Archdiocese of San Francisco

SERVING SAN FRANCISCO, MARIN & SAN MATEO COUNTIES

www.catholic-sf.org

DECEMBER 3, 2020

$1.00 | VOL. 22 NO. 22

At Mass with new cardinals, pope warns against worldliness CAROL GLATZ CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE

(PHOTO BY DENNIS CALLAHAN/CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO)

First Sunday of Advent in COVID time

Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordlieone celebrated Mass for the First Sunday of Advent on Nov. 29 at St. Mary’s Cathedral. The previous day, a surge in COVID cases prompted the state of California to assign San Francisco and San Mateo counties to the most restrictive pandemic reopening tier, closing worship services, gyms, museums and movie theaters. In a commentary posted the same day, the archbishop called the move discriminatory, saying “the government is demoting worship to the same status as watching a movie: ‘non-essential.’” Read the commentary at https://sfarchdiocese.org/letters-and-statements.

VATICAN CITY – Concelebrating Mass with newly created cardinals, Pope Francis said Advent is a time to be vigilant, hopeful and helpful.

People of faith who believe in the heaven that awaits them should not be caught up with earthly concerns, he said during a Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica Nov. 29, the first Sunday of Advent, which marks the start of a new liturgical year.

“Why should we be anxious about money, fame, success, all of which will fade away? Why should we waste time complaining about the night, when the light of day awaits us?” he asked.

The Mass was celebrated the day after Pope Francis created 13 new cardinals from eight different nations. The new cardinals included Cardinal Wilton D. Gregory of Washington.

Wearing purple vestments, the 11 new cardinals SEE POPE, PAGE 17

Vatican tells young people to ask for ‘words of wisdom’ for Christmas CAROL GLATZ CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE

VATICAN CITY – One present young people should ask for this Christmas is words of wisdom from older people they know, a Vatican dicastery said.

“Today, in the difficult circumstances of a Christmas still overshadowed by the pandemic, we are proposing that young people post on social media a memory, a piece of advice or a ‘gift of wisdom’ they have received from one of the elderly people with whom they have formed a bond in recent months,” said the Dicastery for Laity, the Family and Life.

The invitation was part of a new campaign launched Nov. 27 aimed at encouraging young people to reach out to their grandparents and other older people, not only to help alleviate the isolation and loneliness caused by pandemic restrictions, but also to create new and creative bonds.

The unusual circumstances caused by the pandemic means “there is an opportunity for young people to receive a special gift” for Christmas this year, the dicastery said in a news release.

“Because of the pandemic, there are more elderly people who live alone. We can create bonds with each of them – this is a treasure waiting to be discovered!”

The Vatican office asked that people reach out to older people and ask for “the gift of their wisdom.”

People can then take the advice, memories and nuggets of wisdom they collect and post them on social media using the hashtag #aGiftOfWisdom.

“Some of the best posts will be shared” on the dicastery’s social media accounts @laityfamilylife, it said. personal way to honor your loved one’s patriotism to our country.

“Unfortunately, inA many cases, because of the (CNS PHOTO/DICASTERY FOR LAITY, THE FAMILY AND LIFE) If you have received a flag honoring your loved one's military service and would to donate it A Vatican sociallike media campaign aims to encourage young to the cemeterySEE to be flown as part an “Avenue of Flags" on Memorial Day,to4th of July Day, CHRISTMAS, PAGEof17 people reach outand to Veterans' their grandparents and older people.

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For an appointmentHoly - 650.756.2060 | www.holycrosscemteries.com | CA Cross Catholic Cemetery, 1500 Mission Road, Colma, 650-756-2060

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INDEX National . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Faith . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Opinion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Calendar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 SF Católico . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

2 ARCHDIOCESE

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | DECEMBER 3, 2020

NEED TO KNOW PRIESTS’ RETIREMENT LUNCHEON: The Priests’ Retirement Luncheon Nov. 19, 2020 was a virtual event. It is archived with other captured events and available for viewing at https://youtu. be/XhVgW4QkoZo All are welcome and while there is no charge for the livestream, donations to the Priests’ Retirement Fund are welcome. Visit www. sfarchdiocese.org/giving.

INTERFAITH WINTER SHELTER PROGRAM: The program jointly run by the city of San Francisco, the San Francisco Interfaith Council and Episcopal Community Services will serve 67 individuals experiencing homelessness at St. Mary’s Cathedral through Jan. 31, 2021, providing guests with two hot meals, takeaway lunches and mobile showers will be provided. Interfaith council executive director Michael Pappas thanked the cathedral for providing an extended stay location for the homeless during COVID restrictions.

HELP MEND THE DIGITAL DIVIDE: Catholic Charities of San Francisco is intent on helping immigrant families face yet another challenge of the pandemic: The digital divide that makes distance learning difficult or impossible.

Disadvantaged families lack access to computers and the internet. The CCSF Center for Immigration serves immigrant youth and their families whose livelihoods and futures are especially vulnerable. To help immigrant families get school desks, laptops, internet access, printers, and supplies visit www. catholiccharitiessf.org/. For remote volunteer opportunities at Catholic Charities Center for Immigration Legal & Support Services, email Carol Laughlin, claughlin@CatholicCharitiesSF.org. www.youtube.com/archdioceseofsanfrancisco HANDLING HOLIDAY GRIEF: “Help Is Here,” with Mercy Sister Toni Lynn Gallagher and others in two workshops addressing grief around the holidays, Dec. 9, 7-8:30 p.m. All are welcome.

The intention is to hold the workshop, following distancing protocols, at Homer Crouse Hall on the St. Pius Church grounds in Redwood City. Should there be a change in the rules of gathering in our county we will hold the workshop virtually. For this reason, we ask that you register for the workshop, giving us your contact information so that we can alert you to any changes made to the location. Email griefministry@pius.org or phone (650) 361-0655.

(PHOTOS BY DENNIS CALLAHAN/CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO)

Archbishop Cordileone addresses adult confirmation candidates at St. Mary’s Cathedral on Nov. 21, 2020. He stressed a three-part plan to live in faith: prayer, ongoing faith formation and practicing the corporal works of mercy.

Archbishop: The way of Christ is ‘the bottom line’ Putting the way of Christ into action is “the bottom line” and the faithful must exercise the corporal works of mercy, while embracing prayer and ongoing faith formation, to maintain a positive balance with God, Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone told adult candidates for confirmation.

“We will all be held accountable to the Lord at the end of our lives,” he said in remarks to 36 adults receiving the sacrament of confirmation at St. Mary’s Cathedral on Nov. 21, the eve

of the feast of Christ the King. “… we need to claim Christ as the ruler of our life and live our faith accordingly.”

Noting that this is a time of political polarization and of hostility against religion stemming from misunderstanding, the archbishop stressed the importance of prayer, especially attending Sunday Mass. He encouraged the candidates to confess frequently, study the Bible and learn about the positive contributions of the church throughout history.

The corporal works of mercy put “love in action” and ensure a good final accounting with God. The confirmation candidates represented 17 parishes in the archdiocese, and some had been waiting more than a year to be confirmed because of COVID-related delays, worship director Laura Bertone said. She emphasized that no extra guests were allowed and everyone maintained social distancing for the entire Mass to conform with pandemic guidelines.

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO (Serving the Bay Area Since 1968)

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Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone Publisher Mike Brown Associate Publisher Rick DelVecchio Editor/General Manager EDITORIAL Christina Gray, associate editor Tom Burke, senior writer Nicholas Wolfram Smith, reporter

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ARCHDIOCESE 3

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | DECEMBER 3, 2020

Virtual luncheon honors retired priests’ ministry NICHOLAS WOLFRAM SMITH CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO

Clergy and laity in the Archdiocese of San Francisco paid tribute to the ministry of retired priests at a virtual luncheon held on Zoom Nov. 19.

Now in its 10th year, the St. John Vianney luncheon annually celebrates the archdiocese’s retired priests and raises funds for them. While an inperson gathering could not occur, the archdiocese held a virtual luncheon featuring several live and pre-recorded speakers who paid tribute to retired priests in general and to this year’s luncheon honorees, Father John Greene, who retired this year, and Msgr. Michael Harriman, who retired in 2017.

Father Ulysses D’Aquila and Father Michael Healy also retired this year.

Father Patrick Summerhays, assistant vicar for administration, emceed the virtual event and praised the contributions of retired priests to the local church. He also thanked viewers for their financial support of retired clergy, as this year’s luncheon raised more than $100,000 for their retirement fund.

“It makes a great difference in their lives, as they’ve made a great difference in ours,” he said.

Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone reiterated that retired priests play an instrumental role in the archdiocese’s ministry and said their legacy provides “momentum that keeps our archdio-

TEXT ‘SISTER HOPE’ FOR ANONYMOUS EMOTIONAL HEALTH SUPPORT

Stressed local Catholics can now find emotional support in the palm of their hands with the launch of a textbased tool called Sister Hope.

The Archdiocese of San Francisco launched the one-year pilot program Nov. 23 to offer anyone with a cell phone or computer immediate, private and free psychological support with a faith-based orientation.

Text: 1 (478) 999-1080 on your phone and respond to prompts. Alternatively, type “Sister Hope” into Facebook Messenger. English and Spanish

(ROSE MARIE WONG/ARCHDIOCESE OF SAN FRANCISCO)

Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone presents retired Father John Greene, right, and retired Msgr.

Michael Harriman with gift baskets during a virtual luncheon for retired priests held Nov. 19. cese going.”

“Our retired priests have given their lives to serving you, God’s people, and now it’s our opportunity to show our gratitude in return,” he said.

The priests retirement fund has raised $2.2 million dollars since 2011 to cover living expenses for retired clergy.

At 70 years old, priests start receiving language options are available.

“It really kind of intrigued me as far as a tool we can put into people’s hands to help them with depression and anxiety,” Dick Collyer, coordinator of the archdiocese’s mental health ministry told Catholic San Francisco.

The Archdiocese of New York is using it in their marriage program, as is Catholic Charities in the Diocese of Charlotte, North Carolina.

Contact Dick Collyer for more information at collyerr@sfarch.org.

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payments from the retirement fund to help cover additional living and medical expenses as they age. The funds supplement Social Security benefits that are typically low for priests because of their sparse lifetime earnings.

Retirement for a priest can be profoundly uncertain, Msgr. Harriman said in a prerecorded video. “He leaves

what has been his home, he leaves what has been his office, so there’s a sense of how am I going to be supported as I continue on as a retired priest?,” he said.

In a live appearance during the Zoom event, Father Greene said he and other retired priests “are grateful to you for what you’ve done for us in our active ministry and what you’re doing for us in our retired ministry. It’s so important that we have your support, your prayers, your generosity during this time of retirement,” he said.

Prerecorded tributes to this year’s honorees were played during the Zoom meeting. Several firefighters from the San Francisco Fire Department spoke warmly about Father Greene, who was the department chaplain for 37 years.

Lt. Steven Maguire said Father Greene has “always been there for me and all of us in the fire department and for that I’m just super grateful.”

Jamie Leanues-McClone praised Msgr. Harriman for his gift for humility and listening well. She first met him at CYO camp and said “Through his direction at camp, young people learned that the church cared for us, that we were important in the eyes of God.” The archdiocese also paid tribute to eight priests who died this year: Fathers Bernard F. Brennan, Brian L. Costello, Thomas Joseph Ervin, Gerard O’Rourke, Kirk J. Ullery, Kenneth M. Westray, Jr., and Raymond J. Zohlen and Msgr. Edward P. McTaggart.

4 ARCHDIOCESE

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | DECEMBER 3, 2020

COUNCIL OF CATHOLIC WOMEN MARKS 100TH YEAR

The San Francisco Archdiocesan Council of Catholic Women celebrates its 100th anniversary in 2021.

December is the month of the council’s Christ Child Layette Drive where new baby clothes and diapers are collected for mothers in need as they prepare for their newborn babies. Josephine Longhitano at (650) 756-4361 or Cathy Mibach at (415) 753-0234 can answer questions on how people can help. Cash donations are used to purchase diapers.

January is National Slavery & Human Trafficking Prevention Month. The council is coordinating with the Office of Human Life & Dignity to promote a series of Zoom webinars from January to March. The first meeting on Jan. 27, 2021, will be an Overview of Human Trafficking. We encourage your participation. Visit sfarch.org/seminars.

FIRST SATURDAY MASS RETURNS ONLINE

First Saturday Mass from Holy Cross Cemetery in Colma returns Dec. 5, 2020, at 11 a.m. Msgr. Harry Schlitt will be the celebrant and homilist of the liturgy from All Saints Chapel at the cemetery. The Mass is for all those at rest in the Catholic cemeteries, particularly remembering those who have passed in the last several months while we have been unable to gather in person. Mass will be available at www.holycrosscemeteries.com and across Holy Cross Cemetery’s social media channels: YouTube: holycrosscemeteries; Facebook: holycrosscemeteries; Twitter: @HolyCrossColma; Instagram: holycrosscolma.

(COURTESY PHOTOS)

From left: Franciscan Brother Dick “DT” Tandy; Provincial Minister, Franciscan Father David Gaa; Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, Nils Behnke, St. Anthony’s CEO, and Franciscan Brother Martin Sanabria. Right, the archbishop helps serve a St. Anthony’s guest.

Archbishop visits St. Anthony’s Archbishop makes pastoral visit to St. Anthony’s Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone made a pastoral visit to San Francisco’s St. Anthony’s on Nov. 20, 2020.

“He toured some of our programs with Provincial Minister Father David Gaa, and St. Anthony’s CEO, Nils Behnke,” Michael Meadows, St. Anthony’s marketing lead, told Catholic San Francisco. “He also rededicated the onsite chapel that’s used by the staff for reflection, after which he helped pass out meals in our dining room.”

For the health and safety of its guests, staff, and volunteers, St. Anthony’s celebrated Thanksgiving curbside this year, Meadows said. St. Anthony’s, now

in its 70th year, serves 2,400 meals a day to guests but on Thanksgiving Day the number is closer to 3,000.

“These will be served to guests experiencing extreme poverty and homelessness at individual tables, with six feet of spacing, under tent cover.” Meadows said.

The dining room’s costs have increased 40% with the pandemic so support for the Thanksgiving meal by donors is more important than ever, Meadows said.

St. Anthony’s Thanksgiving Turkey Drive fundraiser is 100% virtual this year. To help St. Anthony’s feed struggling and hungry San Franciscans every day of the year, visit stanthonysf.org/curbside-2020.

Archdiocese offers free tool for estate planning (COURTESY PHOTO)

DRIVE NETS 622 VIRTUAL TURKEYS

“Thanks to so many neighbors donating virtual turkeys for the poor and the homeless served at San Francisco’s St. Anthony’s,” said Pierre Smit, on left with volunteer Herb Jeong at right. “The Neighborhood SF Turkey Drive at St. Emydius collected 622 virtual turkeys on Nov. 21, 2020.” The number is a 37% increase over last year’s returns, Smit, founder of the annual campaign, said. All proceeds benefit St. Anthony’s, a ministry serving 2,400 meals a day to the poor and more than 3,000 meals on Thanksgiving and Christmas Day. The virtual drive, where each turkey is priced at $25, continues until Christmas. The drive has increased its contributions to St. Anthony’s holiday meals each of its eight years. Now, with the pandemic prohibiting product donations, St. Anthony’s receives a cash donation.

Donation and contact information is available at SFTurkeyDrive.com; email SFPierre@aol.com.

Rod Linhares, director of development for the Archdiocese of San Francisco, shares the following article.

Do you have an estate plan in place? Estate plans, most commonly in the form of a legal will or trust, are essential documents that help to protect your assets, make your wishes known, and put control of your health and safety decisions into your own hands.

In many states, the absence of a will results in the government claiming ownership of your assets. It’s therefore so important to have a plan to support your loved ones and the things you’ve worked hard for.

Nearly 70% of Americans don’t have an updated, legal will or trust despite it being such an important task. People often think that a will isn’t a good fit for them due to their age or size of their estates. But whether you’re eighteen or eighty, everyone should consider their future – especially after a major life update, like a marriage, a new child or pet, or a big move.

Estate planning, such as writing a trust or will, is specifically important for Catholics: we are called

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to act as stewards for our lives and our futures, so that we can better reach future generations with the Church’s message of faith, love and hope.

The Archdiocese of San Francisco wants to share our free tool to write a will or trust. This will-writing tool can make this essential, yet traditionally expensive, task a bit easier. In 20 minutes or less, you can protect what matters most, at no personal cost. You can also create a legacy gift in your plans that supports the parish, school, or ministry of your choice in the Archdiocese and strengthen our Catholic community for generations to come.

In addition, we have free resources to help you create an Advance Healthcare Directive and Financial Power of Attorney, two other important estate planning documents. California residents can also create a Revocable Living Trust (RLT), which is often preferable because it saves you time and money. All of these resources are cost-free and easy to use.

If you’re ready to get started, please visit FreeWill. com/SFArch.

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NATIONAL 5

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | DECEMBER 3, 2020

US bishops urge Trump, Barr to stop upcoming federal executions CAROL ZIMMERMANN CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE

WASHINGTON – In response to the what was then the pending federal execution of Orlando Hall Nov. 19, and two more federal executions scheduled to take place in December, two U.S. bishops’ committee chairmen called on the government to end this practice.

“We ask President (Donald) Trump and Attorney General (William) Barr, as an act of witness to the dignity of all human life: stop these executions,” said the Nov. 18 statement from Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City, chairman of U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, and Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann of Kansas City, Kansas, chairman of the USCCB Committee on Pro-Life Activities.

“Sadly, we must call on the administration yet again to stop an execution,” the archbishops said, noting the country is “now on pace for 10 federal executions in 2020, more than double the previous record of four in 1938.”

The archbishops’ statement said the death penalty is “not necessary to protect society. It is not necessary to hold people accountable for grave crimes.

The decision not to execute someone, even someone who has done something terrible, is not ‘soft on crime’; rather, it is strong on the dignity of life.”

They also quoted “Fratelli Tutti,” the recent encyclical by Pope Francis, which says: “The firm rejection of the death penalty shows to what extent it is possible to recognize the inalienable dignity of every human being and accept that he or she has a place in the universe.”

On Sept. 22, the two archbishops issued a similar statement, urging Trump and Barr to stop an execution that day and one two days later.

Sister Helen Prejean, a Sister of St. Joseph of Medaille and longtime anti-death penalty activist, has spoken against Hall’s execution on Twitter,

(CNS PHOTO/ANDY CLARK, REUTERS)

(CNS PHOTO/JEFF ROBERSON, POOL VIA REUTERS)

describing him as a Black man who was “convicted and sentenced to death by an all-white jury after prosecutors enlisted a lawyer with a known track record of excluding Black citizens from juries.”

Hall, 49, who was convicted of kidnapping and killing a Texas teenager in 1994, was executed Nov. 19 at the federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana, and pronounced dead at 11:47 p.m. He was the eighth inmate to be executed by the federal government this year after 17 years of no executions, CNN reported.

Sister Prejean tweeted Nov. 18 the Department of Justice is “trying to rush through as many federal executions as

In this file photo, the sun sets behind one of the guard towers at the Federal Correctional Complex in Terre Haute, Indiana, June 10, 2001. The death chamber at the correctional facility is where the federal death penalty is carried out.

Left, Attorney General William Barr is seen in St. Louis Oct.15, 2020. After a hiatus of about two decades, Barr announced July 25, 2019, the U.S. government would resume federal executions. possible during the ‘lame-duck’ period between now and January 20, 2021,” saying that lawyers with the Justice Department “have informed federal judges that more execution dates will be announced soon.”

“This shameful killing spree must end,” she added.

Lisa Montgomery, 52, is scheduled for execution Dec. 8. In 2007, she was convicted of strangling a Missouri woman who was eight months pregnant and taking her unborn baby, who survived. Montgomery is the first woman to face the federal death penalty in decades. She has asked for a delay in her execution because her attorneys have COVID-19.

Sister Prejean has said the “system failed Lisa Montgomery. The ultimate failure would be to execute this woman who is severely mentally ill and suffered through decades of torture at the hands of those who were supposed to love and protect her.”

Brandon Bernard, 40, is scheduled to be executed Dec. 10 for the 1999 kidnapping and killing of a husband and wife in Texas when he was 18. Sister Prejean has similarly spoken out for him, saying he is “unjustly on federal death row.”

In a Nov. 18 tweet, Sister Prejean commented, “Attorney General Barr has presided over an unprecedented spree of federal executions this year.

He’s got at least three more people lined up for executions during the ‘lame-duck’ period. Why did the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast grant Barr an award for ‘Christ-like Behavior?’”

Catholic Mobilizing Network is hosting virtual prayer vigils each day of these upcoming executions.

Participants can join by signing up at https://catholicsmobilizing.org/ virtual-vigils.

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Get started on your free will at FreeWill.com/SFArch

6 NATIONAL

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | DECEMBER 3, 2020

Where to find God: Advent conversion in 2020 DAVID GIBSON CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE

Long months of the vicious COVID-19 pandemic preceded the arrival of this year’s Advent season leading to Christmas. Neither Advent nor Christmas in 2020 will escape the pandemic’s shadow.

But Advent is a season for conversion, a hopeful, forward-looking period that keeps spiritual growth high in mind. The season asks where God is found.

Was God present despite the pandemic’s ravages? It entailed real pain and proved stunningly disruptive. Yet many attest that God-like developments occurred in all kinds of homes and communities during this time.

Conversion during Advent is, in particular, “a question of converting our idea of God,” Pope Francis says. It is a time “to welcome not a fairy-tale character, but the God who challenges us, involves us and before whom a choice is imposed,” he remarked Dec. 15, 2019.

How might a person’s idea of God need to grow? A speech Pope Francis gave in December 2018 described several ways the idea of God goes awry, “The Bible and the church’s history show clearly” how believers “can frequently come to think and act as if they were the owners of salvation and not its recipients,” Pope Francis explained. He cautioned: “Being Christian ... does not mean acting like an elite group who think they have God in their pocket but as people who know that they are loved by the Lord” despite their imperfections.

Clearly, disturbing events in our surrounding world can shake us and leave us asking once again who God is for us or, more simply, how life suddenly could become painfully frustrating and confusing. Has the 2020 pandemic often been such an event?

Early in Christian history a different kind of event, but also one stemming from the early Christians’ immediate world, shook believers and left them wondering if they had misunderstood a promise of God. We hear about this on Advent’s second Sunday in 2020.

A reading that Sunday from the Second Letter of Peter (3:8-14) describes a big issue that arose at that time and

(CNS ILLUSTRATION; PHOTO BY JACLYN LIPPELMANN, CATHOLIC STANDARD)

ultimately prompted many to refocus their understanding of God. The issue involved Christ’s second coming in glory at the end of time, which is a key Advent theme today.

Many early Christians apparently expected the second coming of Christ to occur quickly. But parents and grandparents died as time passed, and some Christians began to wonder if God had delayed the promise of the second coming.

Unsurprisingly, there were scoffers who began to suggest not only that God had delayed the second coming, but that there might be no second coming at all. Some insinuated that God no longer was intimately involved with this world’s life, according to a note in the New American Bible.

But God’s promise remained, the Second Letter of Peter affirmed. It advised the Christian community that “with the Lord one day is like a thousand years and a

thousand years like one day.” Moreover, “the Lord does not delay his promise, as some regard ‘delay,’ but he is patient with you” (3:8-9).

It was a disturbing moment in time among early Christians. It seems, though, that conversion and renewed faith followed in its wake, as the author of Second Peter urged Christians to turn to asking “what sort of persons” they ought to be and to focus their energies on conducting themselves “in holiness and devotion” (3:11).

To hear God’s voice, Christians pray, reflect, participate in worship or consult Scripture and the faith community, for example. But cannot an incarnate Lord also speak within the world and through its ongoing events?

Did this occur for the ancient Christian community or with today’s 2020 pandemic? Is God found and heard in the context of disturbing current events?

The pandemic threatened and changed human lives.

It did this in ways that felt painful. Nonetheless, doors somehow were left open for good outcomes.

Suffering was no stranger to the pandemic. But the online, virtual methods that emerged for fulfilling the demands of jobs, schoolwork or essential shopping frequently yielded surprising human rewards.

Then there was the simple fact that so many now spent much more time at home in the company of family members or friends. How many of them found during this time that they were developing a renewed appreciation of each other and of their relationships?

The pandemic “has enabled us, perhaps for the first time in our lives, to recognize the deeply interconnected relationship of all living things and the urgent need for us to repent and change our lives,” Franciscan Father Michael Perry, a U.S. priest who is minister general of the Order of Friars Minor, observed in an Aug. 1 homily in Assisi, Italy.

“The call to repentance, conversion, to open our minds, hearts and lives to a new way of living together on this planet is more urgent now than at any other moment in human history,” he said.

Christians are called, Father Perry stressed, “to seek the way back toward God, toward one another, toward ourselves and toward creation.”

Bishops say Advent during pandemic can be a time to draw closer to Jesus DENNIS SADOWSKI CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE

CLEVELAND – The global pandemic and new limits on daily activities present a special time for a renewal of faith and the opportunity to deepen appreciation for Jesus in daily life, bishops across the country said in messages for the Advent season.

This year as families are separated, several bishops said, Advent also can be a much-needed quiet time to recognize how the birth of an infant, Jesus, changed the world and his followers are invited to follow his example to help bring peace in a tumultuous era.

Likewise, bishops encouraged prayers for essential workers including those in health care, education and often overlooked service sectors as well as for those who died or became ill because of COVID-19 and the family members and friends caring for them.

In a bit of a twist, Bishop W. Shawn McKnight of Jefferson City, Missouri, wondered if God was using the effects of the pandemic to achieve good.

“What if we were able to take advantage of this shuttering of our busy lives to observe Advent as our church has always encouraged us to do: a time of reflection, a time of quieting, a time of stillness, to make room for Christ in our daily lives?” he asked in a message posted on the diocesan website.

He invited families to celebrate traditions such as lighting the candles of an Advent wreath at daily dinner, blessing the Christmas tree with prayer, and gathering to reflect in front of a Nativity scene to nurture their faith “as we look forward to the great feast of the Incarnation, the Son of God becoming one of us.”

Advent is a time to “experience the loving presence of God in a fresh and profound way,” Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted of Phoenix said in a recorded message on “The Bishop’s Hour” radio program that aired Nov. 21 on Relevant Radio.

The four-week period leading to Christmas Day can be a time during which God prepares “our heart to receive the beloved Son again,” Bishop Olmsted said.

“He may do so in little ways that we may hardly notice at the time.”

Bishop John E. Stowe of Lexington, Kentucky, echoed that message in a column in the December is-

(CNS PHOTO/NANCY WIECHEC)

Advent candles and a wreath help bring focus to the time before the coming of our Lord.

sue of Cross Roads, the diocesan magazine, saying that “while Christmas celebrations this year will be different, the event we celebrate remains the same.”

“Perhaps it is more meaningful than ever to remember, Emmanuel, God is with us – he never has and never will abandon us,” Bishop Stowe said.

Each Advent is an invitation to “ponder what it is that we still await,” he explained. Jesus, he said, “has come and shown us the way.”

Despite Jesus’ example of unity, the bishop said, “We have not always followed the ways indicated by the Messiah, especially as he demonstrates that we are one family with one Father in heaven.”

Bishop Stowe expressed regret that as the “terrible year” of 2020 ends, the times have been “made worse by ever-growing division over so many matters, even as a pandemic should have brought us in to the greater unity needed to survive.”

Pope Francis’ recent encyclical, “Fratelli Tutti, on Fraternity and Social Friendship,” offers inspiration to overcome divisiveness and “provides a particularly appropriate meditation for this time of watching and waiting,” he said.

“The pope knows that this darkness is passing and, as Christ’s representative, he is and must be a messenger of hope. Despite the bleakness around, God continues to sow seeds of goodness,” he said, crediting the work of those responding to the coronavirus pandemic.

The bishop also invited the faithful to practice charity during Advent which can open hearts to “greater awareness of the great worth of each human being” on the way to helping light the darkness.

A brief video message from Bishop Gregory L. Parkes of St. Petersburg, Florida, on the diocesan website focused on preparing for celebrating the birth of Jesus. He encouraged the faithful to receive the sacrament of reconciliation.

Bishop Parkes invited people to register on the site to receive a series of daily reflections, “Courageously Living the Gospel,” being offered by the diocese at www.dosp.org/courageouslyliving/be-courageousdaily-reflection. Bishop Parkes, the Benedictine Sisters of Florida and the Benedictine monks of St. Leo Abbey will be among those offering the reflections.

Meanwhile, a special Year of the Parish and the Eucharist will open in the Diocese of Birmingham, Alabama, as Advent begins.

Bishop Steven J. Raica said in announcing the observance that chancery offices will publish resources for parishes and other ministries for observing the year. The time is being designated so that the Catholic community is “united in the worship of God,’ he said.

“Amid the disorientation, distress and uncertainty, we need to rediscover the value of being together with the Lord, our sure hope,” he said in a Nov. 17 statement. “Like the early Christians, we say: ‘Sine dominico non possumus’ (cf. Martyrs of Abitinae) – ‘We cannot live without the Lord’s day.’

In Australia, Auxiliary Bishop Richard Umbers of Sydney in an Advent message to children said the birth of an infant, Jesus, changed the world and that everyone is called to celebrate such a special event.

“God is love and he showed us this great love through giving us his son at Christmas,” Bishop Umbers wrote. “Jesus is the greatest gift we could ever receive and we get to celebrate this every year when we gather with family and friends in small and big ways at Christmas.”

He asked children to recall the best gift they ever received and how the person who gave that gift gave it serious thought, “preparing for it, buying it or making it, wrapping it and delighting, also in seeing you open the gift.”

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CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | DECEMBER 3, 2020

Gregory: Report is ‘tragic chronicle’ of ‘devious’ churchman, church failures MARK ZIMMERMANN CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE

WASHINGTON – Cardinal-designate Wilton D. Gregory of Washington said the Vatican’s report on former cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick is a “tragic chronicle” about that churchman’s “unconscionable human violation.”

It also details, he said, church leaders’ “failures of competence, communications and culture.”

In a Nov. 16 statement issued as the nation’s Catholic bishops gathered for their annual fall meeting – held online this year due to the coronavirus pandemic – Cardinal-designate Gregory said he felt “deep sorrow” for those victimized by McCarrick. They “should have been able to rely on the ministers of Christ’s church to protect and respect them,” he said.

He said the report, issued Nov. 10, “demands to be viewed through the eyes of the survivors and their loved ones.”

“As has happened too often in recent history, it revealed to me and to you dark corners of our church of which I am deeply ashamed and profoundly angry – again, “Cardinal-designate Gregory said.

“It pushed into sunlight a culture that has too often served not to build up our cherished Catholic Church – Jesus Christ’s greatest gift to us – but to undermine it, far beyond the amoral ecclesiastical tenure of a single fallen cleric,” he added. “Those of us in leadership have too often failed to understand, to acknowledge, to respond to and to prevent the damage done to our innocent faithful – minors and adults.”

The Vatican’s 460-page report on McCarrick detailed how church leaders failed to believe and take action on allegations about sexual misconduct by McCarrick, who was named by St. John Paul II to be archbishop of Washington, where he was installed in January 2001 and made a cardinal by the pontiff the next month.

Then-Cardinal McCarrick retired as Washington’s archbishop in 2006. In 2018, he resigned from the College of Cardinals after the Archdiocese of New York determined that allegations the prelate had abused a minor decades earlier were credible.

In 2019, Pope Francis dismissed him from the priesthood, after a Vatican investigation found he had sexually abused minors and engaged in sexual misconduct with adults.

CHRISTMAS LITURGIES

(CNS PHOTO/NANCY WIECHEC)

Then-Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick of Washington greets then-Bishop Wilton D. Gregory of Belleville, Illinois, at the start of the U.S. bishops’ general meeting in Washington in this Nov. 15, 2004, file photo.

In his Nov. 16 statement, after he’d read the McCarrick report, Cardinal-designate Gregory didn’t mince words or hide his anger at what it revealed, decrying what he called the church’s mismanagement of a cleric, who while appearing “outwardly charming and gregarious,” was shown to be “a devious man” who victimized others.

“It (this report) is about unconscionable human violation and the pain that too many people endured at the hands of a deceitful man who only pretended to want what was best for them in order to get what he wanted for himself,” Cardinal-designate Gregory said.

“Further,” he continued, “it is about leaders – Catholic leaders – who upon their ordination promised our heavenly Father that they would always put his precious people first; yet, through failures of competence, communication and culture, they seem to have completely mismanaged what they came to know about this devious man.”

Cardinal-designate Gregory said the McCarrick report seemed to indicate that people who initially communicated allegations about that churchman anonymously “must have feared retribution from the structures and persons that shielded him.”

Please go to parish website to verify that information is current. Churches may adjust their plans due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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“When harm is being done in the name of the holy Catholic Church,” he said, “one must never again feel constrained to come forward and speak out.”

Washington’s archbishop noted how “Pope Francis has already put into place procedures designed to uncover the truth in such cases of clerical and hierarchical wrongdoing.”

In May 2019, Pope Francis issued “Vos Estis Lux Mundi” (“You Are the Light of the World”), his document on promoting bishops’ accountability and setting out procedures for handling accusations of abuse against bishops.

Cardinal-designate Gregory said the report did not have any revelations of sexual abuse by McCarrick during that prelate’s tenure in Washington.

“While I am of course grateful for that, it provides little comfort,” said Cardinal-designate Gregory, Washington’s archbishop since 2019.

“I promise you with all my heart that our vigilance in the Archdiocese of Washington will continue – we will support the healing of those who have been harmed, our protocols for reporting and responding to these crimes will continue unabated,” he said, “and with renewed vigor, our safe environment efforts on behalf of those of every age will reflect the very best practices available.”

Since 1986, the Archdiocese of Washington has had a Child Protection Policy. It has been updated several times over the years, including in 2019 to mandate protections for adults against sexual harassment and abuses of power by those in authority.

The policy includes mandatory reporting of credible abuse allegations to civil authorities, criminal background checks for those who work or volunteer with youth, and age-appropriate educational programs for youth to safeguard them against abuse.

With the McCarrick report, Cardinal-designate Gregory said the church “has taken a step forward, albeit much delayed, in looking honestly at both this particular case and at the future of ecclesial accountability.”

The Catholic Church must continue to take meaningful steps to restore its integrity, he said, which “will require time and transparency, contrition and commitment, prayer and reconciliation, authenticity and humility.”

His statement concluded with the act of contrition Catholics recite during confession.

HOLY NAME OF JESUS PARISH HOLY NAME OF JESUS PARISH 1555 39th Ave. San Francisco, California 94122 1555 39th Ave. San Francisco, California 94122 (415) 664-8590 www.holynamesf.org (415) 664-8590 www.holynamesf.org CHRISTMAS NOVENA OF MASSES CHRISTMAS NOVENA OF MASSES December 16-24, 2020 December 16-24, 2020 9:00 AM 9:00 AM CHRISTMAS EVE MASSES CHRISTMAS EVE MASSES Thursday, December 24, 2020 Thursday, December 24, 2020 4:00 PM 4:00 PM Family/Children’s Mass Family/Children’s Mass 12:00 AM 12:00 AM Midnight Mass Midnight Mass CHRISTMAS DAY MASSES CHRISTMAS DAY MASSES Friday, December 25, 2020 Friday, December 25, 2020 9:30 AM and 11:30 AM 9:30 AM and 11:30 AM NEW YEAR’S DAY MASS NEW YEAR’S DAY MASS (The Solemnity of Mary, (The Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God) the Holy Mother of God) Friday, January 1, 2021 Friday, January 1, 2021 9:00 AM 9:00 AM

8 NATIONAL

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | DECEMBER 3, 2020

Working group formed to deal with conflicts between Biden policies, church teaching MARK PATTISON CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE

WASHINGTON – Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron of Detroit will head up a special working group of the U.S. bishops to address issues surrounding the election of a Catholic president and policies that may come about that would be in conflict with Catholic teaching and the bishops’ priorities.

Archbishop José H. Gomez of Los Angeles, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic bishops, announced the establishment of this working group at the end of the public portion of the bishops’ Nov. 16-17 meeting, held this year completely online.

Archbishop Vigneron is vice president of the USCCB. Other members of the working group will be USCCB committee chairmen in a number of areas where disagreement is expected between the church and President-elect Joe Biden.

“We are facing a unique moment in

Christmas At Saint Brendan Christmas At 2020 Schedule Of Services Saint Brendan St. Brendan Church

2020 Schedule Services 29 Rockaway Avenue, San Of Francisco CA 94127 (415) 681-4225

www.stbrendanparish.org

ST. BRENDAN CHURCH

SEE BIDEN, PAGE 9

CHRISTMAS LITURGIES

Please go to parish website to verify that information is current.

Churches may adjust their plans due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Saint Robert’s Church 1380 Crystal Springs Road, San Bruno, CA 94066 (650) 589-2800

ristmas Eve– Thursday,Avenue, December 24, 2020CA 94127 29 Rockaway San Francisco

00 pm, 6:00 pm, pm | www.stbrendanparish.org (415)10:00 681-4225

the history of our country” with the election of only the second Catholic as president, Archbishop Gomez said.

“This presents certain opportunities but also certain challenges.”

While “the president-elect has given us reason to believe his faith commitments will lead to certain policies that we favor,” Archbishop Gomez said, listing immigration, aid to refugees and the poor, racial justice, capital punishment and climate change among them, there also is the expectation that “he will support policies that are against some fundamental values we hold dear as Catholics,” the archbishop said. “This includes repeal of the Hyde Amendment and his support for Roe v.

Wade.”

The 1973 Supreme Court Roe v. Wade decision allowed legal abortion virtually on demand throughout the United States. The Hyde Amendment forbids the use of federal funds to be used for

MERRY CHRISTMAS CONFESSIONS Saturday, December 19th 3:00 - 4:15 pm

tivity of the Lord (Christmas Day)- Friday, December 25, 2020

Christmas Eve – CHRISTMAS MASSES Christmas Eve Thursday, December 24th Thursday, December 24, 2020 4:30 and 9:00 Midnight 4:00pm, pm, 8:00 6:00 pm pm and pm pm, 6:00 Christmas Day, lemnity of Mary,4:00 the Mother of pm, God–10:00 Friday,pm January 1, 2021

30 am, 9:30 am, 11:30 am

00 am, 6:00 pm

Nativity of the Lord (Christmas Day) – Friday, December 25, 2020 7:30 am, 9:30 am, 11:30 am Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God – Friday, January 1, 2021 9:00 am, 6:00 pm

Friday, December 25th 9:30 am & 11:30 am No Evening Mass

NEW YEAR’S DAY Friday, January 1, 2021 9:30 am

FEAST OF THE EPIPHANY Saturday, January 2nd 4:30 pm Sunday, January 3rd 9:30 am, 11:30 am,

All Masses will be livestreamed on www.Facebook.com/saintrobertssanbruno/live and Youtube.

CHRISTMAS EVE MASSES 3:00 PM • 5:00 PM

CHRISTMAS DAY MASSES 7:30 AM • 9:30 AM • 11:30 AM

LIVE BROADCAST: WWW.STCECILIA.COM

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CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | DECEMBER 3, 2020

BIDEN: Group to deal with conflicts between policies, church teaching FROM PAGE 8

abortions, with exceptions in cases of rape or incest or to save the life of the mother.

The USCCB’s quadrennial statement “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship,” Archbishop Gomez said, has “a preeminent priority of elimination of abortion.”

He also listed “unequal treatment of Catholic schools,” the Equality Act and the “restoration of the HHS mandate.”

In 2011, under the Obama administration, coverage of contraceptives was added by the federal Department of Health and Human Services to a list of preventive services covered by the Affordable Care Act that employers would cover in their employee health plans without requiring a copay.

“These policies pose a serious threat to the common good whenever any politician supports them. We have long opposed these policies strongly and we will continue to do so,” Archbishop Gomez said.

“When politicians who profess the Catholic faith support them there are … problems,” Archbishop Gomez added. “And one of the things it creates confusion among the faithful about

what the church actually teaches on these questions.”

The HHS mandate included an exception for houses of worship and offered an accommodation for religious employers whereby they could ask a third party to cover contraceptives.

In separate cases, the family-owned Hobby Lobby Chain and the Little Sisters of the Poor won the right from the Supreme Court to be exempt from the mandate.

But the Little Sisters were still in litigation over it for years. A Trump administration policy exempted them from the mandate. It was challenged again in the courts, and in July of this year, the Supreme Court again ruled in favor of the religious order.

Also serving on the working group announced by Archbishop Gomez will be the chairmen of the USCCB committees on doctrine and on communications.

Archbishop Gomez reminded his fellow bishops that after President Donald Trump was elected four years ago, there were “critical issues” that needed to be addressed. “Then as now, the committee existed to address those issues and the SEE BIDEN, PAGE 11

CHRISTMAS LITURGIES

Please go to parish website to verify that information is current.

Churches may adjust their plans due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

1111 Gough St., San Francisco • Tel: (415) 567-2020 www.smcsf.org

CATHEDRAL OF SAINT MARY OF THE ASSUMPTION ADVENT/CHRISTMAS SCHEDULE 2020 Guadalupana Pilgrimage Saturday, December 5, 2020

Virtual Pilgrimage starting at 8:00 AM More Information: cruzadaguadalupana.org 2:00 PM - Solemn Mass in the Cathedral

Immaculate Conception of Blessed Virgin Mary Tuesday, December 8, 2020

HOLY DAY OF OBLIGATION Mass Schedule: 8:00 AM, 12:10 PM and 6:30 PM (Bilingual)

Feast Day of Our Lady of Guadalupe Saturday, December 12, 2020

8:00 AM - English Mass 12:00 PM Noon - Bilingual Mass

Christmas Eve

Thursday, December 24, 2020

Cathedral Closed during the day 5:30 PM - Christmas Vigil Mass 11:30 PM Caroling by the Cathedral Choir 12:00 AM - Midnight Mass

MONDAY, DECEMBER 21, CHRISTMAS LESSONS & CAROLS* M7:30 ONDAY DECEMBER CHRISTMAS LESSONS pm,, St. Dominic’s21, Schola cantorum and lectors & CAROLS* 7:30 pm, St. Dominic’s Schola cantorum and lectors TUESDAY, DECEMBER 22 TUESDAY , DECEMBER 22 É DU SEIGNEUR * - Olivier Messiaen LA NATIVIT L A N ATIVIT É DU S EIGNEUR * - Olivier Messiaen 5:45 pm, Internationally acclaimed organist Jonathan Dimmock 5:45 pm, Internationally acclaimed organist Jonathan Dimmock performs nine meditations on the birth of Jesus performs nine meditations on the birth of Jesus ADVENT RECONCILIATION SERVICES* ADVENT RECONCILIATION SERVICES * OP, Pastor 12:00 & 7:30 pm, with Fr. Michael Hurley, 12:00 & 7:30 pm, with Fr. Michael Hurley, OP, Pastor THURSDAY, DECEMBER 24, CHRISTMAS EVE THURSDAY , Dpm ECEMBER CHRISTMAS VE 4:00 & 6:00 Masses; 24, 8:00* pm SolemnEMass 4:00 & 6:00 pm Masses; 8:00* pm Solemn Mass FRIDAY, DECEMBER 25, CHRISTMAS DAY FRIDAY , D11:00* ECEMBER 25, CHRISTMAS DAY 8:30* & am Masses 8:30* & 11:00* am Masses SUNDAY, DECEMBER 27, FEAST OF THE HOLY FAMILY SUNDAY ECEMBER 27, FEAST OF THE HOLY FAMILY 5:30 pm, D Vigil, (Saturday, December 26) 5:30 pm Vigil,11:30 (Saturday, December 26)Spanish), 5:30 pm 7:30, 9:30*, am and 1:30 (in 7:30, 9:30*, 11:30 am and 1:30 (in Spanish), 5:30 pm FRIDAY, JANUARY 1, 2021, MARY, THE HOLY MOTHER OF GOD FRIDAY, JANUARY 1, 2021, MARY, THE HOLY MOTHER OF GOD 9:30* am (One Parish Mass) 9:30* am (One Parish Mass) SUNDAY, JANUARY 3, 2021 - THE EPIPHANY OF THE LORD SUNDAY, JANUARY 3, 2021 - THE EPIPHANY OF THE LORD 5:30 pm Vigil (Saturday, January 2) 5:30 pm Vigil (Saturday, January 2) 7:30, 9:30*, 11:30 am and 1:30 (in Spanish), 5:30 pm 7:30, 9:30*, 11:30 am and 1:30 (in Spanish), 5:30 pm

Visit our website website www.stdominics.org www.stdominics.orgfor forany anyand andall allupdates updates. .

Visit our All liturgies liturgies and and events events subject subject to tochange. change.*livestream *livestream All

2390 Street at at Steiner, Steiner, San San Francisco, Francisco,CA CA94115, 94115,415.567.7824 415.567.7824 2390 Bush Bush Street

Christmas Day

Friday, December 25, 2020

No 7:30 AM Mass today 9:00 AM - Gregorian Chant Mass with Cathedral Schola Cantorum 11:00 AM - Solemn Mass with Cathedral Choir 1:00 PM - Misa en Español The Cathedral will close after the 1:00 PM Mass

New Year’s Eve

Thursday, December 31, 2020

Mass Schedule: 8:00 AM The Cathedral will close after the 8:00 AM Mass

New Year’s Day Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God Friday, January 1, 2021

HOLY DAY OF OBLIGATION Mass Schedule: 8:00 AM and 12:10 PM The Cathedral will close after the 12:10 PM Mass

The Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord Sunday, January 3, 2021

Saturday, January 2 - Vigil - 5:30 PM Sunday - 7:30 AM, 9:00 AM, 11:00 AM and 1:00 PM (Español) 4:00 PM - Epiphany Lessons and Carols featuring the St. Brigid School Honor Choir

10 NATIONAL

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | DECEMBER 3, 2020

‘We want God,’ Oregon protesters say, demanding expanded church attendance ED LANGLOIS CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE

SALEM, Ore. – More than 400 flagwaving, rosary-toting demonstrators huddled outside the Oregon Capitol Nov. 28 to press against state coronavirus limits on church attendance.

Despite a pewter sky and frigid temperatures, the largely Catholic crowd enthusiastically declared an even deeper mission: Stop marginalizing faith from public life.

“We will not surrender one more centimeter of religious freedom to any government,” said Father Theodore Lange, chaplain of the Oregon Knights of Columbus.

The Knights organized the rally after Gov. Kate Brown announced a 25-person limit in churches statewide. After protests from Archbishop Alexander K. Sample and other leaders, Brown on Nov. 25 expanded church attendance to 25% of capacity, or 100 people, whichever is less.

LadyHelp of Our Lady ofOur Perpetual Church and School Perpetual Help Church

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UPCOMING SERVICES UPCOMINGPARISH PARISH CELEBRATIONS CELEBRATIONS && SERVICES

SIMGANG GABI –– NOVENA NOVENAAND ANDMASSES MASSES SIMBANG GABI From Wednesday December 16 to Wednesday, December @ 5:30 From Wednesday December 16 to Thursday, December 24 24 @ 5:30 a.m.a.m.

SCHEDULE OF CHRISTMAS MASSES SCHEDULE OF CHRISTMAS MASSES Thursday December 24 – Christmas Eve Thursday December 24 – Christmas Eve 4:00 p.m.: Children’s Mass | 12:00 a.m. Midnight Mass 5:30 p.m.: Children’s Mass | 11:00 – 11:45 p.m.: Christmas Carols Friday December 25 – Christmas Day 12:00 a.m.: Midnight Mass 8:30, 10:00, 11:30 a.m. (English) | 1:00 p.m. (Spanish) 6:30pm Mass cancelled.

Thursday December 25 – Christmas Day 8:30, 10:00, 11:30 a.m. (English) | 1:00 p.m. (Spanish)

The concession did not seem to satisfy demonstrators.

“We want God!” they chanted, calling for churches to be open completely.

Most wore face masks but many stood shoulder to shoulder, disregarding organizers’ requests and state guidelines to help prevent spread of the virus.

Rallygoers felt the public gathering was essential. “It’s simple. I want us to go back to church,” said Patrick Rice, a Knight of Columbus and a member of St. Peter Parish in Newberg who held a sign reading, “Open our churches!”

The First Amendment protections of religious practice cannot be treated

lightly, Rice told the Catholic Sentinel, newspaper of the Portland Archdiocese.

Ray Prom, the Knights’ faith director, said the rally’s sole purpose was to allow “Oregon churchgoers to return to their pews.”

Hundreds of Vietnamese Catholics attended.

“We are here today to speak in one voice: Stop the religious repression,” said Young Tran, a refugee from Vietnam and a member of Our Lady of La Vang Parish in Happy Valley, Oregon.

“It happened in our former country, a SEE OREGON, PAGE 11

CHRISTMAS LITURGIES

Please go to parish website to verify that information is current.

Churches may adjust their plans due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Novena of Masses (Simbang Gabi) December 15-23 6:00PM & 7:30PM

CHRISTMAS DAY: December 25 8:00 AM, 10:00 AM, 12:00 PM There is no 5:30 PM Mass on Christmas Day.

December 16-24 6:00 AM

New Year’s Vigil – December 31st 5:30 PM

Christmas Vigil: December 24 4:30 PM Vigil Mass 8:00 PM Family Mass 12:00 AM Midnight Mass

New Year’s Day January 1, 2021 (Holy Mother of God/ Holy Day of Obligation) 8:00 AM, 10:00AM, 12:00PM There is no 5:30 PM Mass on New Year’s Day.

CHRISTMAS 2020

*All Masses Will be Held via Livestream*

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 24

4:00pm

Family Vigil Mass with Digital Pageant

Midnight Vigil Mass with organ,

instrumentalists, vocalists, creche

scene and holiday decorations

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 25 10:00 am Mass with organ, instrumentalists,

vocalists, creche scene and holiday decorations WWW.STIGNATIUSSF.ORG

St. Patrick Church, San Francisco Christmas Schedule 2020

Confession 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 pm Monday through Friday in the Rectory. By appointment or walk in.

December 16-24, 2020

6:00 a.m. Misa de Gallo Thursday, December 24, 2020

6:00 a.m. Misa de Gallo

12:00 p.m. Mass

8:00 p.m. Tradional “Mass at Midnight” Friday, December 25, 2020

Christmas Day- Holy Day of Obligation

8:00 a.m., 10:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m.

Thursday, December 31. 2020

8:00 a.m., 10:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m.

Friday, January 1, 2021

New Year’s Day- Holy Day of Obligation

8:00 a.m., 10:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m.

Pending Covid-19 restrictions, St. Ignatius Parish may offer scheduled visitations on December 24th between 5:30pm and 11:00 pm. Please see our website for details.

“Jesus…

He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High” Luke 1:32

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CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | DECEMBER 3, 2020

OREGON: Protesters demand expanded church attendance FROM PAGE 10

communist and a socialist country, and it’s starting to happen here now.”

The Vietnamese group sang a song of faith and freedom for the crowd, which applauded the offering with vigor.

“We never thought that when we escaped from Vietnam that we would be persecuted here in the United States,” said Father Ansgar Pham, pastor of Our Lady of La Vang. “That is really painful.”

Father Lange explained that the persecution in Oregon is not the violent sort suffered by Middle East Christians now or believers in Vietnam or Mexico in years past. But repression by public policy is still wrong, the priest said.

“We receive from you, Father, the duty to speak clearly and loudly that we are created by you and our right to worship you comes from you and no government can repress that,” Father Lange prayed.

He told the cheering crowd that governments should recognize divine presence and authority.

“We don’t do this for our own sake. We do this in

(CNS PHOTO/COURTESY B.J. BUXTON)

Rick Carrera prays in the adoration chapel at Sacred Heart Church in Medford, Oregon, March 20, 2020, amid the coronavirus pandemic.

solidarity with the millions of Christians who have lost their lives for Christ,” Father Lange said. “We do this for future generations. We do this because we love God, we love the United States and we love Oregon.”

Allegiance is owed to God, not governors, said Kevin Mannix, a Salem Catholic, philanthropist and Republican political leader. Reminding the crowd that the pandemic is serious and that health measures should be followed, he suggested churches should at least be afforded the same treatment as grocery stores, which are allowed 75% capacity.

Mannix contended that recent state policy amounts to too much government control over individuals, sending the crowd into shouts of assent. He cited a Nov. 25 U.S. Supreme Court case in which a 5-4 majority ruled that New York limits on worshippers tread too heavily on freedom of religion.

“We need to continue this,” said Ron Boyce, Oregon state deputy of the Knights of Columbus. “It just can’t be a one-day thing. It needs to be an everyday thing. We aren’t going to back down.”

The religious freedom crowd filled the area on the Capitol’s south side. On the north side, a different rally took place at the same time. About 100 people waved flags and chanted slogans in sympathy with President Donald Trump’s legal challenge to the results of the Nov. 3 presidential election.

BIDEN: Group to deal with conflicts between policies, church teaching FROM PAGE 9

goal was to emphasize our priorities and enhance collaboration.”

A Nov. 18 Associated Press article on the bishop’s initiative noted that Biden and Trump split the Catholic vote. The article quoted proponents and critics of the bishops’ move.

Biden’s approach “is incompatible

with the Catholic position on abortion and the protection of innocent human life,” the AP quoted Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the Susan B. Anthony List, a leading anti-abortion group.

But the article quoted David Gibson, director of Fordham University’s Center on Religion and Culture, as saying the USCCB leadership “simply can’t embrace the idea of engagement and

goodwill that Pope Francis has asked of them.

“That the pope called to congratulate Biden and discussed working together while the American bishops capped their meeting with plans to do battle with the incoming president says it all,” Gibson said in the article.

In a Nov. 11, 2016, statement, the bishops congratulated president-elect Trump pledging “support for all efforts to work together to promote the common good, especially those to protect the most vulnerable among us.”

Catholic San Francisco contributed.

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12 FAITH

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | DECEMBER 3, 2020

SUNDAY READINGS

Second Sunday of Advent ISAIAH 40:1-5, 9-11 Comfort, give comfort to my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem and proclaim to her that her service is at an end, her guilt is expiated; indeed, she has received from the hand of the Lord double for all her sins. A voice cries out: In the desert prepare the way of the Lord! Make straight in the wasteland a highway for our God! Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill shall be made low; the rugged land shall be made a plain, the rough country, a broad valley. Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken. Go up on to a high mountain, Zion, herald of glad tidings; cry out at the top of your voice, Jerusalem, herald of good news!

Fear not to cry out and say to the cities of Judah: Here is your God! Here comes with power the Lord God, who rules by his strong arm; here is his reward with him, his recompense before him. Like a shepherd he feeds his flock; in his arms he gathers the lambs, carrying them in his bosom, and leading the ewes with care.

PSALM 85:9-10-11-12, 13-14 Lord, let us see your kindness, and grant us your salvation.

I will hear what God proclaims; the Lord—for he proclaims peace to his people.

Near indeed is his salvation to those who fear him, glory dwelling in our land.

Lord, let us see your kindness, and grant us your salvation.

Kindness and truth shall meet; justice and peace shall kiss. Truth shall spring out of the earth, and justice shall look down from heaven.

Lord, let us see your kindness, and grant us your salvation.

The Lord himself will give his benefits; our land shall yield its increase. Justice shall walk before him and prepare the way of his steps.

Lord, let us see your kindness, and grant us your salvation.

2 PETER 3:8-14 Do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like one day. The Lord does not delay his promise, as some regard “delay,” but he is patient with you, not wishing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a mighty roar and the elements will be dissolved by fire, and the earth and everything done on it will be found out. Since everything is to be dissolved in this way, what sort of persons ought you to be, conducting yourselves in holiness and devotion,

‘Comfort my people’

O

ld Testament prophets often met with resistance because people didn’t like their calls to repentance. It’s possible that some of those who first heard Isaiah’s words in today’s first reading resisted for the opposite reason. They may not have liked his message of consolation.

About 40 years earlier, the Israelites’ last stronghold, Jerusalem, had been conquered and destroyed. The victors hauled the residents off to Babylon (in present-day Iraq). They weren’t held as slaves but were given land to farm. They settled down. Some went into business.

Now, when most of the original exiles had passed from the scene and a born-in-Babylon generation had taken their place, a prophet arose declaring that God was going to “comfort” KEVIN PERROTTA his people. They were going to return to Jerusalem.

“Return?” some of them must have said. “Jerusalem is where our grandparents were from. We live here now – and here we intend to stay.”

Others may have huffed, “The God who didn’t prevent our total defeat is all of a sudden wanting to help us? Give me a break!”

The prophet was announcing that God was moving

SCRIPTURE REFLECTION

on to the next stage of his plans for the people. On his own initiative, he told them, God had forgiven their sins. And he was going to show his love for them by restoring their life in the land he meant them to live in.

But this would involve wrenching changes. The Israelites in Babylon would “return” to a land they had never known. Family properties would have to be reclaimed, a city rebuilt. Were they willing to buy into this divine plan?

God hasn’t stopped unfolding unexpected plans for the human race. From time to time, we are confronted with his surprising offers to help us “return” to a better life. They challenge us, as they challenged the Israelites in Babylon.

An unplanned pregnancy (will we welcome this child?). A glimpse of someone in a moment of pain (will I act on my feeling of compassion?). A directive to leave the novitiate (will I go back into lay life with hope?). A marriage counselor’s insight into my hurtful behavior (will I have the humility to change?). An unexpected diagnosis (will I trust God in this illness?).

An opportunity to mend a broken relationship (will I acknowledge my responsibility?).

When the surprise comes, will you accept God’s challenging comfort?

PERROTTA is the editor and an author of the “Six Weeks With the Bible” series, teaches part time at Siena Heights University and leads Holy Land pilgrimages. He lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved in flames and the elements melted by fire.

But according to his promise we await new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

Therefore, beloved, since you await these things, be eager to be found without spot or blemish before him, at peace.

MARK 1:1-8 The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God. As it is written in Isaiah the prophet: Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you; he will prepare your way. A voice of one crying out in the desert: “Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.” John the Baptist appeared in the desert proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. People of the whole Judean countryside and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the Jordan River as they acknowledged their sins. John was clothed in camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist. He fed on locusts and wild honey. And this is what he proclaimed: “One mightier than I is coming after me. I am not worthy to stoop and loosen the thongs of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

POPE FRANCIS MEMORY, NOT NOSTALGIA, HELPS CHRISTIANS WORK FOR GOD’S KINGDOM, POPE SAYS

VATICAN CITY – For Christians, memory involves remembering God’s promises for the future; it’s not about “nostalgia, which is a real spiritual pathology,” Pope Francis said.

Nostalgia “blocks creativity and makes us rigid and ideological people even in the social, political and ecclesial spheres,” he said, while memory, which is “intrinsically linked to love and experience,” is an essential dimension of human life.

The pope sent a video message Nov. 26 to Italy’s national Festival of the Social Doctrine of the Church, a three-day online event focusing on the theme, “Memory of the Future.”

The title, Pope Francis said, is a call to hope.

“For us Christians, the future has a name and this name is hope,” he said. “Hope is the virtue of a heart that does not close in the dark, does not stop at the past, does not just get by in the present, but knows how to see tomorrow.”

If one has been baptized into Christ, the pope said, then one must remember the sacrifice that Christ made for the salvation of all and live a life that prepares for his promised coming again and for the establishment of his kingdom.

CINDY WOODEN, CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE

LITURGICAL CALENDAR, DAILY MASS READINGS MONDAY, DECEMBER 7: Memorial of St. Ambrose, bishop and doctor. IS 35:1-10. PS 85:9AB and 10, 1112, 13-14. LK 5:17-26.

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 11: Friday of the Second Week of Advent. Optional Memorial of St. Damasus I, pope.

IS 48:17-19. PS 1:1-2, 3, 4 and 6. MT 11:16-19.

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 8: Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. GN 3:9-15, 20. PS 98:1, 2-3AB, 3CD-4. EPH 1:3-6, 11-12. See LK 1:28. LK 1:26-38.

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 12: Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. ZEC 2:14-17 or Rv 11:19a; 12:1-6a, 10ab. JUDITH 13:18BCDE, 19. LK 1:26-38 or Lk 1:39-47.

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 9: Wednesday of the Second Week of Advent. Optional Memorial of St. Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin. Is 40:25-31. PS 103:1-2, 3-4, 8 and 10. Mt 11:28-30.

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 13: Third Sunday of Advent. IS 61:1-2A, 10-11. LK 1:46-48, 49-50, 53-54. 1 THES 5:1624. IS 61:1 (cited in LK 4:18). JN 1:6-8, 19-28.

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 10: Thursday of the Second Week of Advent. Optional Memorial of Our Lady of Loreto. IS 41:13-20. PS 145:1 and 9, 10-11, 12-13AB. IS 45:8. MT 11:11-15.

MONDAY, DECEMBER 14: Memorial of St. John of the Cross, priest and doctor. NM 24:2-7, 15-17A. PS 25:45AB, 6 and 7BC, 8-9. PS 85:8. MT 21:23-27.

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 15: Tuesday of the Third Week

of Advent. ZEP 3:1-2, 9-13. PS 34:2-3, 6-7, 17-18, 19 and 23. MT 21:28-32.

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 16: Wednesday of the Third Week of Advent. IS 45:6C-8, 18, 21C-25. PS 85:9AB and 10, 11-12, 13-14. See IS 40:9-10. LK 7:18B-23.

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 17: Thursday of the Third Week of Advent. St. Jose Manyanet, priest. GN 49:2, 8-10. PS 72:1-2, 3-4AB, 7-8, 17. MT 1:1-17.

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 18: Friday of the Third Week of Advent. JER 23:5-8. PS 72:1-2, 12-13, 18-19. MT 1:18-25.

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 19: Saturday of the Third Week of Advent. JGS 13:2-7, 24-25A. PS 71:3-4A, 5-6AB, 16-17. LK 1:5-25.

OPINION 13

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | DECEMBER 3, 2020

Can the ground cry out?

D

oes the earth feel pain? Can it groan and cry out to God? Can the earth curse us for our crimes?

It would seem so, and not just because ecologists, moralists, and Pope Francis are saying so.

Scripture itself seems to say so.

There are some very revealing lines in the exchange between Cain and God, after Cain had murdered his brother Abel. Asked where his brother was, Cain tells God that he doesn’t know and that he’s not responsible for his brother.

But God says to him: “Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground. Now you FATHER RON are cursed from the ground ROLHEISER which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. When you will till the ground, it will no longer yield to you its strength.

Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground … and from now on the ground will curse you!”

Is this a metaphor or a literal truth? Is the ground we walk on, till and plant seeds in, build highways and parking lots over, and call “Mother Earth,” nothing other than simple, dumb, lifeless, speechless, brute matter which is totally immune to the suffering and pain that humans and other sentient beings feel or indeed to the violence we sometimes inflict on it?

Can the earth cry out to God in frustration and pain?

Can it curse us?

A recent, wonderfully provocative book by Mark L.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Life is the most fundamental right

I read with great interest and agreement Mel Figoni’s letter to the editor, “The right to life is preeminent,” (Nov. 19). It was very reassuring to read what I so believe and feel the Catholic Church has lost sight of when it comes to the issue of abortion. We are told to “unite together” and how Biden has attended the same Catholic Church for so long as if that alone is something to celebrate. Whether someone goes to church or not does not, in itself, make them a moral, ethical, practicing Catholic.

For me. as a human being who feels taking a life is fundamentally a crime and the worst kind of sin, I look at what anyone running for office supports, even pushes, and base my decision making on that.

Human life is precious and the most fundamental right. I believe it should be supported and preserved in every way possible. If we cave to ignoring the abortion issue, we have truly lost our moral compass as a church. This belief is not because I am a Catholic but because I am a human being. The Catholic Church’s unwillingness to stand up and address this issue openly when it comes to politics is causing a real crisis of faith for myself and many others.

Judy Karlsen Belmont

What is the plan for Christmas, Easter?

As I listen to Bishop Barron’s discussion of the McCarrick Report and the admissions that the right people were made aware, again and again, and that not only individuals failed but the whole system failed – I have a sinking feeling that we are witnessing the same unwieldy process at this moment, again, in another arena.

Our Catholic identity is presence, sacramental presence; can this be put on hold depending on circumstances beyond human control? Every homily, every call to prayer, even the call of the Gospel itself is mitigated by the absence of liturgy and sacraments. What might be a time of evangelization may only be perceived as a time of tentative uncertainty.

Once again it feels like the church (those of us in the pews) must wait on the slow cumbersome decision-making process of the hierarchy.

The next call from civil authorities to shutdown may come at any time. Do we have a plan, or will we simply have no Christmas as we had no Easter? Will anyone announce clearly and unequivocally that there will be Mass regardless, that there will be Eucharist and essential sacraments, regardless?

Wallace entitled “When God was a Bird – Christianity, Animism, and the Re-Enchantment of the Word” would say, yes, the world can and does feel pain and it can and does curse us for causing that pain. For Wallace, what God says to Cain about the earth crying out because it is soaked in murderous blood is more than a metaphor, more than just a spiritual teaching.

It also expresses an ontological truth in that there is a real causal link between moral degeneration and ecological degeneration. We’re not the only ones who bear the consequences of sin, so too does the earth.

Here’s how Wallace puts it: “The earth is not dumb matter, an inanimate object with no capacity of feeling and sentiment, but a spirited and vulnerable living being who experiences the terrible and catastrophic loss of Abel’s death. Its heart is broken and its mouth agape, Earth ‘swallows,’ in the text’s startling imagery, mouthfuls of Abel’s blood. … Bubbling up from the red earth, Abel’s cries signal not only that Cain had murdered his brother but that he has done lasting, perhaps irreparable, violence to the earth as well. … [Now] wounded and bloodied, Earth strikes back. Earth has its revenge. Earth does not passively acquiesce to Cain’s attacks and stand by and watch his gory rampage proceed with impunity.

On the contrary, Earth retaliates and ‘inflicts a curse’ on Cain by ‘withholding its bounty’ from this farmerkiller who now must roam the land unprotected and without security.” The earth now refuses to give its bounty to Cain.

What Wallace affirms here is predicated on two beliefs, both true. First, everyone and everything on this planet, sentient and non-sentient being alike, are all part of one and the same supreme living organism within which every part ultimately affects all the

other parts in a real way. Second, whenever we treat the earth (or each other) badly, the earth retaliates and withholds its strength and bounty from us, not just metaphorically but in a very real way.

Perhaps no one puts this more poignantly than John Steinbeck did some 80 years ago in “The Grapes of Wrath.” Describing how the soil which produces our food is now worked over by massive steel tractors and huge impersonal machines that, in effect, are the very antithesis of a woman or man lovingly coaxing a garden into growth, he writes: “And when that crop grew, and was harvested, no man had crumpled a hot clod in his fingers and let the earth sift past his fingertips. No man had touched the seed, or lusted for the growth. And men ate when they had not raised, had no connection with the bread. The land bore under iron, and under iron gradually died; for it was not loved or hated, it had not prayers or curses.”

When Jesus says that the measure we measure out is the measure that will be measured back to us, he’s not just speaking of a certain law of karma within human relationships where kindness will be met with kindness, generosity with generosity, pettiness with pettiness and violence with violence. He’s also speaking about our relationship to Mother Earth. The more our houses, cars, and factories continue to breathe out carbon monoxide, the more we will inhale carbon monoxide. And the more we continue to do violence to the earth and to each other, the more the earth will withhold its bounty and strength from us and we will feel the curse of Cain in violent storms, deadly viruses, and cataclysmic upheavals.

We have been very clearly and completely educated in masking, sanitizing and distancing. Please, let us not hear that you, our priests will celebrate Mass in private and pray for us!

Maureen O’Riordan Lundy San Francisco

can say we have respect for the good people we know are there.

Please seek reconciliation, not prosecution.

Dan Peter Bacot Rohnert Park

Restorative vs. punitive justice

In seeking a felony conviction for the destruction of a statue of St. Junipero Serra, has the archdiocese considered the serious, life-changing implication of a felony charge? What purpose does it serve to ask for this punitive charge? Will we be safer? Will we feel better? Will there be more understanding and respect for St. Junipero Serra and Catholicism? Perhaps folks could just sit down and talk. Restorative justice might bring about better results for all of us.

Tuty Lockhart San Francisco

Seek reconciliation, not prosecution

Re “Felony charges filed in Serra statue vandalism,” Nov. 19, 2020: I cannot fully accept vandalism from graffiti to outright destruction of private or public property. At the same time when symbols of oppression or hatred are presented in the public space, I have to seek to understand the feelings and rights of those affected by these not so distant atrocities. Many people clearly feel that Junipero Serra acted in a manner that is against moral values and against the native people of this nation.

I don’t think you should be seeking hate crimes against these people. I believe hate crimes are a real evil, but this is an honest reaction against hate and oppression. These people face consequences for civil disobedience, and that is a time-honored sacrifice.

The church should be seeking compassion, dialogue and understanding – or what is it about?

I respect your right to your faith, but what are you justifying with your symbols and statues? It is crucial that we respect your right to your beliefs, but we don’t have to respect your beliefs. Please help us see the good in the mission of the Catholic Church, so we

OBLATE FATHER RON ROLHEISER is president of the Oblate School of Theology, San Antonio, Texas.

One Catholic voter’s choice

I’d like to comment on a letter headed, “To salvage hope for all” (Nov. 19) by saying I’m in complete agreement. We can only pray for the intercession of our Blessed Virgin Mary and for St. Michael the archangel to defend us in battle. I’m afraid we are lost in our path to unity because Satan comes into our lives through our TV sets and other media. I encourage all to close off these purveyors of misinformation. Pray and do your own research. The choice for this election could not have been clearer for me. One side continues to commit the same sins and crimes of which it accuses the other side. That same side is more hateful and vitriolic than the side it accuses. To make matters worse, its leaders have given permission for this behavior and in fact, they and some of their “associates” have threatened the electorate on at least several occasions. While neither side is perfect I definitely do not find each side equally at fault.

The writer of the previous letter says she is afraid to reach out. This is an understandable fear as one side is completely irrational. As someone who is normally apolitical I choose not to even engage in discussion, yet I feel enraged nearly every day because I cannot leave my home without people bringing up politics and assuming that “their” candidate is “my” candidate. I am amazed that half of the population cannot see any of the aforementioned. The other day I saw a video replay of a “comedian” doing her act and encouraging her fans to marginalize family and friends who don’t vote “the way they should” and implying potential violence.

My choice is as a Catholic and a human being. The only choice, and a simple one. So, for anyone who recognizes me, I think you now know how I voted. And if you don’t, you need to pray for God to infuse you with wisdom.

Andrea Iida San Francisco

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

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14 OPINION

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | DECEMBER 3, 2020

A light shines in the darkness

O

ver these past nine months, I’ve been anxious and full of doubts. I’ve asked, “Are my people ever going to come back? If they are half as discouraged as I am, how can they sustain their faith?

Why do such things happen?”

People tend to doubt God when faced with hardships and I guess I am no different.

I asked God for an answer and I’m still asking. But I do believe that in every crisis God provides opportunities for growing in faith and renewal of hope. And I have not been disappointed in this. During this worrisome pandemic I’ve FATHER seen some light in the darkPETER ZHAI ness and experienced some unexpected joys and it has made all the difference.

Like other parish communities in this difficult time, my beloved Chinese ministry in the Archdiocese of San Francisco has suffered greatly – especially by being deprived of cherished communal activities. I too feel deprived. It is not easy for a priest to adapt to an absent congregation. Nevertheless, I gave it a try. Straight away I looked for ways

to offer spiritual comfort for my congregation and hold them together. I initiated an online evening prayer service and a program of bible studies. And, rather than postpone our two weekly RCIA classes for six candidates, I offered these online as well.

When San Francisco first mandated its COVID-19 regulations, and our churches were closed, I thought that everything would soon get back to normal. I prayed hard for this, but by Easter I knew we were in for something more serious. We celebrated Easter without even one parishioner. As I processed down the aisle with the two other priests past those empty pews, the darkened emptiness of the place closed in on me. By the time we reached the sanctuary and I raised my eyes to the crucifix, tears were rolling down my face. Suddenly I was with Jesus, alone in that darkened grove next to Calvary. I remained there in that darkened place quite numb until a flame flickered and, as the lighted candles began to dispel the gloom, my sadness lifted, and was replaced with the joy of renewed hope. The clear analogy to COVID’s long night suddenly clicked, and I began to pray for the suffering millions across the globe whose lives have also been darkened that their faith might be strengthened, their hope renewed, and that they may once again find joy in their lives.

The beginning of October the virus took a short break which enabled us to re-open our churches with limited occupancy. By this time our RCIA

group had progressed nicely and, by the second Sunday, they were baptized. With all the family and friends, catechists and community members celebrating together, it was almost like being back to normal. After our long exile we were deeply touched by this. The long wait, the hardships, and the sudden transition from darkness to light made it especially memorable. It was truly a sign of God’s loving embrace, an embrace that held the disciples together as they waited in darkness and uncertainty for three long days before the Lord’s resurrection.

I invited my “newly birthed” friends to write some reflections on their journey of faith. I was inspired by their gratitude for their new life in Christ and I thought that you might also be.

Here is the English translation of what they wrote: “The light I have received at my baptism warms my heart. I was deeply touched by the love of God in the celebration. May the Lord inside me continue to guide me to grow on the journey of faith, hope and love. I believe the Holy Spirit will enlighten me with his wisdom; and united with God’s family, may I dedicate myself to the service of others and brighten other lives around me. All glory be to God.” (Shirley) “On this beautiful day in San Francisco, I received SEE ZHAI, PAGE 15

CHRISTMAS LITURGIES Please go to parish website to verify that information is current. Churches may adjust their plans due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Saints Peter and Paul Church

Dec. 16-18, 21-23 5PM Christmas Novena (recited) Dec. 21: All Day Parish Advent Reconciliation (Call office for Confession by appointment 9am-9pm)

Christmas Eve 5:00 PM 11:00 PM

SIMBANG GABI AND CHRISTMAS SCHEDULE 2020 Our Lady of Mercy Parish

Vigil Mass Midnight Mass

Christmas Day Masses 7:30 AM 8:45 AM 10:15 AM 11:45 AM 1:00 PM

5 Elmwood Drive, Daly City, CA Between South Mayfair & Southgate Avenues with plenty of free parking!

Tuesday, December 15, to Wednesday December 23, 2020: G GABI ANDand CHRISTMAS SIMBANG GABI AND CHRISTMAS 5:30pm Rosary Confession (except Saturday @ 2:30pm) SIMBANG GABI AND CHRISTMAS 6:00pm Simbang Gabi Masses.

There will be no more fellowship SIMBANG GABI AND CHRISTMAS SCHEDULE 2020 SCHEDULE 2020 SCHEDULE 2020 after mass.

SCHEDULE 2020 Our Lady of Mercy Parish Our Lady of Mercy Parish Our Lady of Mercy Parish Lady of Mercy Parish Thursday, December 24: 7:00am, 9:00am, 5 Elmwood Drive, Daly City, CA 5 Elmwood Drive, Daly City, CA 5 Elmwood Drive, Daly City, CA Between South Mayfair && Southgate with plenty of free parking!

Between South Mayfair Southgate Avenues Avenues with plenty of free parking!

In In In In In

English English Cantonese/English Italian/English English

No 5:00 PM Mass on Christmas Day

660 Filbert Street San Francisco 415.421.0809

Merry Christmas

mwood Drive, Daly City, 4:00pm, Christmas Eve VigilCA Mass Between South Mayfair & Southgate Avenues with plenty of free parking!

Tuesday, December 15, Wednesday December 2020: Tuesday, December 15, totoWednesday December 23, 2020: 6:00pm, Christmas Eve Vigil Mass of & Southgate Avenues with plenty free@ 23, parking!

5:30pm Rosary and Confession (except (except Saturday 2:30pm) 5:30pm Rosary and Confession Saturday @ 2:30pm) Due to the Covid-19 Pandemic, weThere cancel the midnight mass will be no more fellowship 6:00pm Simbang Gabi Masses.

Tuesday, December 15, to Wednesday 6:00pm Simbang Gabi Masses.

There will be no more fellowshipDecember 23, 2020: after mass. mass. Rosary December 15, toafter Wednesday 23, (except 2020:Saturday @ 2:30pm) 5:30pm and Confession Thursday, December 24: 7:00am, 9:00am, Thursday, December 24: 7:00am, 4:00pm, Christmas Eve Vigil Mass9:00am, 6:00pm Simbang Gabi Masses.

There will be no more fellowship Confession (except Saturday @ 2:30pm) 4:00pm, Christmas Eve 6:00pm, Christmas EveVigil Vigil Mass Mass . after mass Due to the Covid-19 Pandemic, the midnight mass 6:00pm, Christmas Eve Vigil Mass bi Masses.

There will be we nocancel more fellowship Due to the Covid-19 Pandemic, we cancel theChristmas midnight mass Friday, December 25: Day

8:00am & 10:00am Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God 6:00pm , Vigil Mass for New Year's Day 8:00am & 10:00am

Friday, January 1, 2021 - New Year's Day Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God Friday, December 8:00am & 10:00am

ost Holy R M

7:00am, 9:00amMasses @ 8:00am and 10:00am & 12:00pm EveFriday, VigilJanuary Mass1,Mass 2021 New Year's 6:00pm , Vigil for New Year's Day Day Thursday, December 31: Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God andemic, we cancel the midnight mass Friday, January 1, 2021 - New Year's Day 7:00am, 9:00am

ic Church ol

Thursday,Masses December 24: @ 8:00am and7:00am, 10:00am &9:00am, 12:00pm 4:00pm, Christmas Eve Vigil Mass Thursday, December Friday, 31: December 25: Christmas Day r 24: 7:00am, 6:00pm,9:00am, Christmas Eve Vigil Mass 7:00am, 9:00am Masses @ 8:00am and 10:00am & 12:00pm r CA Eve6:00pm Vigil Mass eememass Due to the Covid-19 Pandemic, we cancel the midnight th Friday, December 25: Christmas Day ,Thursday, Vigil Mass for New December 31: Year's Day ed

Sa n F est. 1900 ca rancisco,

God’s inclusive love proclaimed here!

25: Christmas Day Masses @ 8:00am and 10:00am & 12:00pm

Mass Schedules: December 24th December 24th(Monday) (Thursday) Christmas Eve Christmas EveMass Mass 9:30 PM Carols | 10:00 PM 10:00pm

100 Diamond St. @ 18th, San Francisco, CA 94114 (415) 863-6259 | mhr.org

Thursday, December 31:

day, December 25: Christmas Day 7:00am, 9:00am

December December25th 25th(Friday) (Tuesday) Christmas Day Christmas DayMass Mass 8:00 AM | | 10:00am 10:00 AM 8:00am

OPINION 15

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | DECEMBER 3, 2020

Safe, effective, ethical vaccines

D

rug makers Pfizer Inc., BioNtechSE and Moderna Therapeutics have announced a 90%-plus rate of efficiency for vaccines effective against COVID-19. Top infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci said that vaccinations could begin as soon as late December. Roughly one in 100 Americans are contagious with COVID-19, meaning that about 3 million Americans have active infections. In the last 10 months, COVID-19 has killed more than 250,000 people in the United States, FATHER GERALD and over 1 million people worldwide.

D. COLEMAN, PSS The Catholic Church supports safe, effective, and ethically scientific research into the development of vaccines that will mitigate and end the spread of COVID-19. Many Catholics are raising ethical concerns about vaccine development and testing that makes use of cell lines derived from either the tissue of aborted fetuses or destroyed human embryos.

The moral dilemma arises between, on the one hand, an acknowledgement that widespread vaccination is a public health imperative and, on the other hand, fear that receiving the COVID-19 vaccine would render a person complicit in the evil of abortion.

The critical moral question that emerges is whether it is permissible to receive a vaccine that has been produced unethically? In June 2005, the Vatican Pontifical Academy for Life issued a document “Moral Reflections on Vaccines Produced from Cells Derived from Aborted Human Fetuses” (www.immunize.org/talking-about-vaccines/vaticandocument.htm).

This document was approved by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

This document differentiates among various degrees of the moral gravity of cooperation in evil in the act of abortion: the original abortion, the derivation of cell lines, the process of vaccine development using these cell lines, the subsequent production and sale, and finally the use of such a vaccine.

Each step involves some level of cooperation with evil but in a progressively diminishing degree.

The document teaches that the connection of someone choosing to receive an ethically compro-

ZHAI: A light shines in the darkness FROM PAGE 14

new life in baptism, and with God’s immense love I became a member of God’s family. A cascade of heavenly light warmed my heart, and filled me with light, hope and joy. I give thanks to all who accompanied me on this journey, and all who participated in this celebration and prayed with me. I have received bountiful blessings from the Lord, and for this I praise and thank him. May Lord grant me perseverance in faith to follow him and be a true witness to the Gospel. Jesus Christ, I believe in you; I love you.” (Carol) As Divine Word Missionaries, we don’t look for

CHRISTMAS LITURGIES

our reward in the usual places such as wealth, honor, power and prestige. We seek the most satisfying reward of all in actions that go directly to the source – our God. We are there with him in joyful transformations like the baptismal new birth of an adult. Such founts of light as these dispel the terrible dark that afflicts us and carry us through difficult times like COVID. I pray that you may use his light to find your way. May the Lord enkindle his fire of love in our ever-hungry, insatiable hearts.

DIVINE WORD FATHER PETER ZHAI is director of Chinese Ministries, Archdiocese of San Francisco

Please go to parish website to verify that information is current. Churches may adjust their plans due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

mised vaccine is so remote that its use “does not signify some sort of cooperation with voluntary abortion.” When there exists a proportionately grave reason to receive the vaccine, such as the current need to halt the COVID-19 pandemic, then it is morally permissible for Catholics to receive the vaccine for the good of personal and public health.

This prudent and moral judgment must not obscure the seriousness of the evil of abortion that is the source of cell lines used in some vaccines, nor to excuse those who directly work in research or development of these cell lines from human embryonic tissue. It remains imperative that we make clear the moral objection to vaccine development derived from abortion, and to advocate for ethically produced vaccines. Those who work in the biopharmaceutical industry must be encouraged to respect the dignity and sanctity of human life from conception and find ways that lead to the replacement of morally illicit cell lines with ethically sourced ones.

SULPICIAN FATHER GERALD COLEMAN is adjunct professor, Graduate Department of Pastoral Ministries, Santa Clara University.

FEAST OF IMMACULATE CONCEPTION

Dec. 8, 2020, the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, is a holy day of obligation. Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone will celebrate the 12:10 p.m. Mass at St. Mary’s Cathedral.

The Mass will be livestreamed. For information and reading about the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception of Mary and livestreaming, visit www.youtube. com/watch?v=TNcxjm5inEM&feature=youtu.be.

ARCHBISHOP’S PODCAST

Thanksgiving, COVID, racism listening sessions are discussed in the latest episode of Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone’s “At Your Word” podcast.

The archbishop discusses the current situation of the church in relative to COVID-19 and then Advent and Christmas. Subscribe to the podcast on your favorite platform.

Visit https://archdiocesesf.libsyn.com/at-yourword-episode-3-112520.

SAINT MONICA - SAINT THOMAS THE APOSTLE PARISH

CHRISTMAS SCHEDULE 2020

SAINT MONICA

SAINT THOMAS THE APOSTLE

Church of the Immaculate Heart of Mary

ADVENT: 4TH WEEK SATURDAY, DECEMBER 19TH Confessions: 4:00 pm, Mass 5:00 pm

ADVENT: 4th WEEK SATURDAY, DECEMBER 19TH Confessions: 3:00 pm, Mass 4:00 pm

THE SACRAMENT OF RECONCILIATION Individual Confession Opportunities Tuesday, December 15th 7-8 pm Tuesday, December 22nd 7-8 pm

Geary Boulevard at 23rd Ave., San Francisco

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 20TH Mass: 8:00 am, 9:00 am Cantonese, 11:00 am CHRISTMAS EVE THURSDAY, DECEMBER 24TH 5:00 pm Family Mass featuring the St. Monica Honors Choir & Nativity Play 8:00 pm Vietnamese Mass 11:45 pm Christmas Choir Music &12:00 am Solemn Midnight Mass CHRISTMAS DAY FRIDAY, DECEMBER 25TH 8:00 am & 11:00 am Christmas Mass SATURDAY, DECEMBER 26TH Confessions: 4:00 pm, Mass: 5:00 pm SUNDAY, DECEMBER 27TH Mass: 8:00 am, 9:00 am Cantonese, 11:00 am NEW YEAR’S DAY FRIDAY, JANUARY 1ST, 2021 9:00 am

3835 Balboa Street, San Francisco

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 20TH Mass: 9:30 am, 6:00 pm Vietnamese

1040 Alameda de las Pulgas, Belmont, CA 94002 (650) 593-6157 | www.ihmbelmont.org

CHRISTMAS EVE MASSES Vigil, December 24th 5pm Latin Midnight Mass 12:00 am

CHRISTMAS EVE THURSDAY, DECEMBER 24TH 4:00 pm Children’s Mass, 8:30 pm Christmas Carols with the STA Adult Choir, 9:00 pm Christmas Mass

CHRISTMAS DAY MASSES December 25th 9:30 am and 11:30 am

CHRISTMAS DAY FRIDAY, DECEMBER 25TH 9:30 am Christmas Mass

FEAST OF THE HOLY FAMILY Vigil, December 26th 5:00 pm December 27th 9:30am

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 27TH Confessions: 3:00 pm, Mass 4:00 pm

SOLEMNITY OF MARY, MOTHER OF GOD Vigil, December 31st 5:00 pm | January 1st 9:00 am

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 31ST Mass: 9:30 am, 6:00 pm Vietnamese

THE EPIPHANY OF THE LORD Vigil, January 2nd 5:00 pm | January 3rd 9:30 am

NEW YEAR’S DAY FRIDAY, JANUARY 1ST, 2021 Mass: 10:00 am

THE BAPTISM OF THE LORD Vigil, January 9th 5:00 pm January 10th 9:30 am

16 NATIONAL

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | DECEMBER 3, 2020

Black Catholics express joy at elevation of first African American cardinal MARK ZIMMERMANN CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE

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(CNS PHOTO/GREGORIO BORGIA, REUTERS POOL)

New Cardinal Wilton D. Gregory of Washington attends a Mass celebrated by Pope Francis with new cardinals in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican Nov. 29, 2020.

what Cardinal Gregory’s elevation means to them and to the church as a whole.

A native of Lake Charles, Louisiana, Father Boxie was ordained in 2016 and began serving this summer as the chaplain at Howard, one of the nation’s historically Black colleges and universities.

“This is a long time coming. We will be witnessing and experiencing something in the church that has never happened before, an African American cardinal. In the church’s 2,000 years this has never happened, and we have the great gift, the great privilege to witness this,” Father Boxie said.

The priest noted that Cardinal Gregory’s elevation “puts the stamp of approval on the ministry, the service, the pastoral leadership that Archbishop Gregory himself has done for our church in the United States, all of his accomplishments and his contributions individually.”

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WASHINGTON – To Father Robert Boxie III, the Catholic chaplain at Howard University in Washington, the naming of Washington’s archbishop “as a cardinal is huge, it’s historic.”

On Nov. 28, Pope Francis elevated 13 new cardinals from around the world to the College of Cardinals at a consistory in Rome. Cardinal Wilton D. Gregory, who has been Washington’s archbishop since 2019, was among them. The pope had announced the new cardinals Oct. 25.

“The fact that it comes in this month of November, Black Catholic History Month, is also very symbolic,” said Father Boxie.

A priest of the Archdiocese of Washington, he was one of several Black Catholics who spoke to the Catholic Standard, Washington’s archdiocesan newspaper, about

It also “is a stamp of approval for the community that he represents, the community that he comes from and the community that formed him, African American Black Catholics,” Father Boxie added.

“It says that the faith, the contributions, the witness, the experience of Black Catholics truly do matter, and that’s an important voice and an important gift to the church universal,” he said. “The voice of Black Catholics will be now that much closer to the Holy Father.”

The elevation of Cardinal Gregory makes Father Boxie feel “extremely excited and proud, especially as an African American priest, I hold my head up a little bit higher, I stick out my chest a little bit more, because one of our own, from our community is now a prince of the church, especially when for so long in our country, Black men were denied the opportunity to even enter into seminary here.”

Washington Auxiliary Bishop Roy E. Campbell Jr., who serves as the president of the National Black Catholic Congress, said Cardinal Gregory’s elevation “is significant because there’s so many different firsts” for the churchman.

“This is a man, who as a boy, embraced the faith that he was not baptized into and reared into until he chose to follow it,” explained Bishop Campbell, who also is pastor of St. Joseph Parish in Largo, in Largo, Maryland. “And then to go on to become a priest and to do wonderful things as a bishop of Belleville (Illinois) and then to lead the U.S. Catholic Conference of Bishops (as president), especially when we had to deal with the outbreak in 2002 of the clergy sexual abuse scandal throughout the country, and as archbishop of Atlanta and then coming here.”

He’s the first Black archbishop in Washington, “the seat of democratic power and importance in the world,” the bishop said, and now “to be named a cardinal, the first Black cardinal from the United States – that’s significant.”

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FROM THE FRONT 17

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | DECEMBER 3, 2020

POPE: Warns new cardinals against worldliness FROM PAGE 1

who were able to travel to Rome concelebrated the Mass with Pope Francis. Cardinals Jose F. Advincula of Capiz, Philippines, and Cornelius Sim, apostolic vicar of Brunei, did not attend the consistory because of COVID-19 travel restrictions.

The congregation at the Altar of the Chair of St. Peter included a number of Rome-based cardinals, 12 pastors or rectors of the 13 Rome churches to which the new cardinals were associated and about 100 others who had been invited by the new cardinals.

In his homily, Pope Francis said the two key phrases for the Advent season were God’s closeness and people’s vigilance against indifference and mediocrity.

Advent reminds people that God came down “to dwell in our midst” and that they must always call for his assistance, he said.

“The first step of faith is to tell God that we need him” and to ask that he “come close to us once more,” the pope said. “God wants to draw close to us, but he will not impose himself; it is up to us to keep saying to him, ‘Come!’”

People should repeat this short prayer frequently throughout the day – “before our meetings, our studies and our work, before making decisions, in every important or difficult moment of our lives – ‘Come, Lord Jesus!’” the pope said.

People must be watchful and focused on what is essential in life, the pope said, because “one great mistake in life is to get absorbed in a thousand things and not to notice God.” People must not let themselves “be overcome by discouragement,” but live in hope, he said.

“If we are awaited in heaven, why should we be caught up with earthly concerns?” he asked. “Why should we be anxious about money, fame, success, all of which will fade away?”

Waiting and being watchful are difficult, though, he said, and everyone is vulnerable to dangerous kinds of “drowsiness.”

There is the “slumber of mediocrity,” he said, “when we forget our

CHRISTMAS: Vatican tells young people to ask for ‘words of wisdom’ FROM PAGE 1

(CNS PHOTO/GREGORIO BORGIA, REUTERS POOL)

Pope Francis arrives to celebrate a Mass with new cardinals in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican Nov. 29, 2020. first love and grow satisfied with indifference, concerned only for an untroubled existence,” This “lukewarm, worldly” life slowly eats away at faith, which must not be lukewarm, but a fire that burns, “a desire for God, a bold effort to change, the courage to love, constant progress,” he said.

Faith “is not a tranquilizer for people under stress, it is a love story for people in love!”

Another danger is “the slumber of indifference” when people show no concern for those around them and “everything revolves around us and our needs,” he said.

“We immediately begin to complain about everything and everyone; we start to feel victimized by everyone” and then end up believing everything is part of a conspiracy, he said.

Instead, Pope Francis said, people must stay awake and remain vigilant through charity and compassionate service to others.

“When the church worships God and serves our neighbor, it does not live in the night. However weak and weary, she journeys toward the Lord,” he said.

Before praying the Angelus at noon

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with people in St. Peter’s Square, the pope again spoke of the importance of believing in a God who comes to dwell among his people.

“We are well aware that life is made up of highs and lows, of lights and shadows,” and life has been especially difficult for so many because of the pandemic, he said.

The worry, fear and discouragement so many people feel actually risk turning into “pessimism, closure and apathy.”

People should remember the Lord “is our help and our shield,” the pope said; he is “present in history to lead it to its ultimate goal and to its fullness, which is the Lord Jesus Christ.”

For Christians, God is the “Godwith-us,” who “walks beside us to support us” and to help people discover the meaning of life, “to give us courage when we are under duress or when we suffer,” he said. “In the midst of life’s storms, God always extends his hand to us and frees us from threats.”

The pope asked that people use this time of great difficulty to pray simply as a family, live more moderately and to reach out to help their neighbors in a way that is respectful and discreet.

health regulations in force, visiting can only take place remotely, via telephone, video calls and messaging. But it is possible to participate in this campaign” by sharing “the wise words of grandparents and the elderly on social media,” it added.

The latest campaign follows a similar effort the dicastery launched in July in which it “collected virtual hugs sent by many young people to both their own grandparents and to ‘adopted grandparents,’” it said.

The effort was meant to encourage young people to show kindness and affection to older people who may be feeling lonely.

For other ideas and guidance, the dicastery has posted on its website, laityfamilylife. va, a free e-book, “The Richness of Many Years of Life,” which offers a toolkit in multiple languages “for the development of a true pastoral ministry that reaches out” and involves the elderly as active participants in the church.

The e-book includes the proceedings of the first international conference on the pastoral care of the elderly the dicastery held in January 2020 to promote a “renewed concern for the pastoral care of the elderly in every ecclesial community.”

The latest campaign follows a similar effort the dicastery launched in July in which it ‘collected virtual hugs’ for elders.

This month we would have celebrated our 18th Annual Service of Remembrance to remember all those we have served at Duggan’s Serra from October 2019 through September 2020.

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18 NATIONAL

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | DECEMBER 3, 2020

EXTENSION’S ‘ADVENT ALMS’ PROGRAM AIMS TO HELP POOR COMMUNITIES

CHICAGO – To support poor faith communities hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, Catholic Extension is launching “Advent Alms for America,” a program that aims to match poor parishes in one part of the U.S. with parishes that have more resources in another part of the country.

The initiative is seeking 1,000 faith communities to raise $1,000 each during the Advent season. Such monies “would be transformative to the parishes” supported by Catholic Extension, which “were barely surviving economically prior to the pandemic,” according to the Chicago-based organization.

“These are areas where a $1,000 gift is the equivalent of 10 weeks of Sunday collections,” Extension said in announcing the program. The funds will allow pastoral leaders to do the core spiritual work of the church among the poor as well as share the corporal works of mercy with those who are suffering.”

Visit www.catholicextension.org/ advent-alms-across-america.

STUDY LEADS TO BENCHMARKS FOR SEXUAL MISCONDUCT POLICIES AT SEMINARIES

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Policy benchmarks developed from a study of sexual harassment and misconduct at seminaries and religious houses of formation in the United States are being promoted as a way to stem the abuses that came to light recently about former cardinal Theodore McCarrick.

The study was conducted in spring 2019 by the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend and the Center for Applied

ni’s trust in divine providence flowed throughout her work with immigrants, schoolchildren and the poor and it should be an example to Chicago’s three new auxiliary bishops, Cardinal Blase J. Cupich said in his homily at their episcopal ordination Mass.

The cardinal invoked the saint, best known as Mother Cabrini, because the Mass at Holy Name Cathedral was being celebrated on her feast day, Nov. 13. He ordained as auxiliaries Bishops Kevin M. Birmingham, Jeffrey S. Grob and Robert J. Lombardo, who were appointed Sept. 11 by Pope Francis. With restrictions on the size of the congregation due to COVID-19, the two-hour Mass was attended by 20 bishops and archbishops, a few dozen priests, deacons and seminarians and a small number of friends and family of the newly ordained bishops.

LAWSUIT ALLEGES BUFFALO ABUSE COVER-UP

(CNS PHOTO/PAUL RATJE, REUTERS)

Family’s COVID vigil

Jose Garcia’s family members wait by his hospital window at Memorial Medical Center in Las Cruces, New Mexixo, Nov. 29, 2020, during his intubation and sedation for COVID-19.

Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University in Washington. Seminarians were surveyed anonymously about incidents of sexual misconduct at their schools of formation.

The study found that, even though sexual misconduct is uncommon, there is low awareness among students of protocols for reporting such infractions.

Following the study’s completion, a group of bishops, seminary rectors, fac-

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ulty and lay consultants was formed to develop policy benchmarks: systematic training of seminarians, faculty and staff regarding harassment policies; internal and external reporting and investigation procedures; victim support; periodic assessment of internal policies; and consistency and portability of standards to suit local conditions. The study’s full report can be viewed at https://news.nd.edu/assets/335261/micl_cara_report_1_.pdf.

MOTHER CABRINI’S LIFE HELD UP AS MODEL FOR CHICAGO’S NEW AUXILIARIES

ALBANY, N.Y. – New York State Attorney General Letitia James filed a lawsuit Nov. 23 against the Diocese of Buffalo and Bishop Richard J. Malone, who headed the diocese from 2012 to 2019, and newly retired Auxiliary Bishop Edward M. Grosz.

The suit alleges a two-decades-long cover-up of how the diocese failed to deal with numerous priests accused of alleged sexual abuse. The goal of the 218-page lawsuit aims to establish an “independent review” of the diocese’s “response to alleged sexual abuse; require reporting to the attorney general for a period of five years; and mandate external oversight of “an appropriate remedial and compliance plan.” It seeks to ban Bishops Malone and Grosz from working in “future service in a secular role as a director or officer of any charitable organization” in New York.

CHICAGO – St. Frances Xavier Cabri-

CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE

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ARCHDIOCESE OF SAN FRANCISCO CONTROLLER

ARCHDIOCESE OF SAN FRANCISCO

Reports to the Chief Financial Officer ARCHDIOCESE OF SAN FRANCISCO

CONTROLLER CONTROLLER

Primary Objective of this Position:

Reports to the Chief Financial Officer

Reports to the Chief Financial Officer

Primary Objective of this Position: Manage the financial activities of the Central Administrative Primary Attributes of the Successful Candidate: Strong mentor and Manager who is detail oriented.

Finance with respect accounting functions, cash management and services provided to Must beOffice comfortable with all to: types of systems; Excel, PowerPoint and GL packages.

Strong four Archdiocesan high schools Seminary. understanding of Non-Profit, Fundand Accounting and GAAP. Effective presenter and communicator.

Primary Attributes of the Successful Candidate: Strong mentor and Manager who is detail oriented.

MAJOR RESPONSIBILITIES Must be comfortable with all types of systems; Excel, PowerPoint and GL packages. Strong understanding of Accounting Non-Profit, Fund and GAAP. Effective presenter and communicator.  Financial andAccounting Reporting:  Responsible for the maintenance, completeness and accuracy of the financials of the Chancery.

MAJOR RESPONSIBILITIES  Cash Management:  Financial Accounting and Reporting:  Manage cash flow of all operations, driving predictability and cash forecasting activities  Responsible for the maintenance, completeness and accuracy of the financials of the Chancery.  Annual Budget Process and Preparation/Expense Management  Cash Management:  Manage High cash flow of alland operations, driving predictability cash forecasting activities policies  Archdiocesan Schools Seminary; development andand deployment of Accounting Ensure Budget adequate Controls Policies are developed and maintained   Annual Process andand Preparation/Expense Management Drive Efficiency, Automation andSeminary; enhanced development Chancery services to other functions   Archdiocesan High Schools and and deployment of Accounting policies Management and Mentoring through goal setting ensuring and customer commitments are achieved adequate Controls and Policies are developed maintained   Ensure Other; SupportAutomation Finance Council and Sub-committee reporting   Drive Efficiency, and enhanced Chancery services to other functions Basic Skills, Knowledge and/or Abilities   Management and Mentoring through goal setting ensuring customer commitments are achieved  B.S. Degree in Accounting or Finance Ability to perform complex financial analyses and projectreporting planning  Support  Other; Finance Council and Sub-committee  Experience and aptitude in the area of IT/IS applications.  Basic Skills, Knowledge and/or Abilities  B.S. Degree in Accounting or Finance Please submit resume and cover letterfinancial to: to perform complex analyses and project planning  Ability of and San aptitude Francisco Archdiocese Experience in the area of IT/IS applications.

Office of Human Resources c/o Christine Escobar One Peter Yorke Way Please submit resume and cover letter to: San Francisco, Ca 94109 Archdiocese of San Francisco Office of Human Resources c/o Christine Escobar One Peter Yorke Way San Francisco, Ca 94109 Statement of Non-Discrimination “Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records. We are an Equal Opportunity Employer.”

Statement of Non-Discrimination “Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants

19 The Most Requested Funeral Directors in the Archdiocese of San Francisco

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | DECEMBER 3, 2020

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO

CLASSIFIEDS help wanted OPERATIONS/FINANCE MANAGER

St. Paul of the Shipwreck Church, San Francisco WORK SCHEDULE: 24 hour position, three days per week DUTIES INCLUDE: Under the direction of the Pastor, position is responsible for budget maintenance, financial reports, bill payments, office management, calendar maintenance, and all other office-related activities.

QUALIFICATIONS: • Proficiency in WORD and Excel software and other Microsoft applications • Excellent verbal and written communication skills • Good interpersonal skills and ability to work well with others • Ability to set priorities and organize work effectively • Ability to work independently • Ability to maintain confidentiality • At least 5 years of business experience SALARY: Salary is commensurate with level of experience and Archdiocesan Salary Guidelines

Please submit Resume, cover letter & references to: Pastoral Office-Fr. Daniel Carter St. Paul of the Shipwreck Church 1122 Jamestown Ave., San Francisco, CA 94124 Phone: 415-860-3238 | Fax: 415-468-1400 email: SPSWoffice@aol.com All employees of the Archdiocese of San Francisco shall be employed without regard to race, color, sex, ethnic or national origin and pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, will consider for employment qualified applicants with criminal history.

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Duggan's Serra Mortuary, Daly City and Sullivan's & Duggan's Serra Funeral Services, San Francisco

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EMPLOYER: Duggan’s Serra Mortuary, 500 Westlake Avenue, Daly City, CA 94014 500 Westlake Avenue, Duggan’s Serra MortuaryDaly followsCity strict Covid 19 guidelines and protocol while working with the public and office staff in our day toFD1098 day operations and use the option of email/docusign during some of our arrangement services during Covid 19.

DuggansSerra.com POSITION: Family Funeral Service Arranger (full-time position) 650-756-4500 No funeral experience necessary. Candidate must enjoy working with the public. Excellent people and

communication skills, Candidate will be trained to meet with families, to plan services and assist on funeral services.

Duggan’s Serra Mortuary has been serving families with kindness and compassion in the San Francisco Bay Area at their location for over 50 years. Duggan’s is a family owned and operated.

WORK SCHEDULE: Schedule depends on need, will discuss open schedules with applicants.

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JOB DESCRIPTION, SOME DUTIES AND SKILLS: Requirements: Clear communication is very important in our business. Applicants must have excellent EnglishSan (speaking, reading, and writing); must be able to work well with public and co-workers in a 6201command Geary of Blvd., Francisco kind, respectful and compassionate manner. Intermediate computer skills (WORD, EXCEL), excellent telephone skills FD228 and have an ability to work well under pressure, ability to multi-task, attention to detail a must. Candidates should Sullivansfh.com 415-621-4567 have experience working in an office environment and/or busy service oriented customer service business.

Language Skills: Clear communication is very important with the families we serve. Applicants must have My Funeral, My Cremation, My Way excellent command of English (speaking, reading,(R) and writing).

Matt, Bill, Dan and Joey Duggan

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS & SPECIAL SKILLS: Duggan’s Serra Mortuary is searching for someone who is extremely kind, efficient, detailed oriented, works well with others,Reasonable enjoys workingCosts with the public and helping Family Owned/Operated * Unlimited Parking * Most * World-Wide Shipping * families in their time of need.

Multilingual Staff * 3 Indoor Reception Rooms * Kind Knowledgeable Staff * Free Pre-Arrangement Info Required Education: Some college, A.A. or B.A. College graduate preferred and at least 5 years full-time office/ customer service experience preferred.

BENEFITS: **For Full-Time Employment: Health, Dental, Vision, 401K, Vacation, Holidays, Sick Time.

TO APPLY: Please mail (or personally deliver M-F between 9:30am - 5pm)

The Most Requested Funeral Directors in the Archdiocese of San Francisco your resume and cover letter to: Duggan’s Serra Mortuary,

Duggan's Serra Mortuary, Daly City and Sullivan's & Duggan's Serra Funeral Services, San 500Francisco Westlake Avenue, Daly City CA 94014. ATTN: JOB OPENING

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EMPLOYER: Duggan’s Serra Mortuary, 500 Westlake Avenue, Daly City, CA 94014 500 Westlake Avenue, Daly City Duggan’s Serra Mortuary follows strict Covid 19 guidelines and protocol while working FD1098 with the public and office staff in our day to day operations and use the DuggansSerra.com option of email/docusign during some of our arrangement services during Covid 19.

650-756-4500

POSITION: Receptionist (part-time position) Duggan’s Serra Mortuary has been serving families with kindness and compassion in the San Francisco Bay Area at their location for over 50 years. Duggan’s is a family owned and operated.

WORK SCHEDULE: Schedule depends on need, will discuss open schedules with applicants.

JOB DESCRIPTION, SOME DUTIES AND SKILLS:

6201Requirements: Geary Blvd., Clear San communication Francisco is very important in our business. Applicants FD228command of English (speaking, reading, and writing); must be must have excellent Sullivansfh.com 415-621-4567 able to work well with public and co-workers in a kind, respectful and compassionate

Catholic Elementary Principals Sought for Archdiocesan Schools The Department of Catholic Schools of the Archdiocese of San Francisco, is seeking elementary principal candidates for the 2021-2022 school year. Candidates must be a practicing Roman Catholic in good standing with the Church, possess a Valid California Standard Teaching Credential or the equivalent from another State, a Master’s Degree in an educational field and/or California administrative credential or the Certificate in Catholic School Administration from Loyola Marymount University *, be certified as a catechist at the basic level** and have five years of experience in teaching and/or in administration with Catholic school experience. *Principals who are not in possession of both educational qualifications, must complete the requirement within a three year period of time from date of hire. ** Principals who are not in possession of basic certification in religion at the time of

manner. Intermediate computer skills (WORD, EXCEL), excellent telephone skills and hire, must complete the process before they start their position. have an ability to work well under pressure, attention My Funeral, My Cremation, My Way (R) to detail a must. Candidates materials may be downloaded from the official DCS website by clicking on should have experience working in an office environment and/or busy service oriented Matt, Bill, DanApplication and Joey Duggan the following link: www.sfarchdiocese.org/employment. customer service business.

Family Owned/Operated * Unlimited * Most Reasonable Shipping * Receptionist position: Candidate will need Parking excellent telephones, kindly greet Costs * World-Wide The requested material plus a letter of interest should be submitted before February 15 to: Multilingual Staff clerical * 3 Indoor Reception Rooms * Kind Knowledgeable Staff * Free Pre-Arrangement Info visitors, excellent skills, light bookkeeping; computer skills; other duties Christine Escobar assigned by supervisor as needed.

Human Resources Manager Language Skills: Clear communication is very important with the families we serve.

Department of Catholic Schools Applicants must have excellent command of English (speaking, reading, and writing).

One Peter Yorke Way San Francisco, CA 94109-6602 REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS & SPECIAL SKILLS: Duggan’s Serra Mortuary is searching for someone who is extremely kind, efficient, detailed oriented, works well Salary will be determined according to Archdiocesan guidelines based upon with others, enjoys working with the public and helping families in their time of need. experience as a teacher or administrator and graduate education. Medical, Required Education: Some college, A.A. or B.A. College graduate preferred and at dental, and retirement benefits are included. least 5 years full-time office/customer service experience preferred.

TO APPLY: Please mail (or personally deliver M-F between 9:30am - 5pm) your resume and cover letter to: Duggan’s Serra Mortuary, 500 Westlake Avenue, Daly City CA 94014. ATTN: JOB OPENING

ARCHDIOCESAN STATEMENT OF NON-DISCRIMINATION

The Archdiocese of San Francisco adheres to the following policy: “All school staff of Catholic schools of the Archdiocese of San Francisco shall be employed without regard to race, color, sex, ethnic or national origin and will consider for employment, qualified applicants with criminal histories.” (Administrative Handbook #4111.4)

20 WORLD

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | DECEMBER 3, 2020

COLLECTION TO FUND SEMINARY WHOSE RECTOR WAS KILLED

CHALATENANGO, El Salvador – Among the projects approved during an early November meeting of U.S. bishops was aid to a seminary in El Salvador whose rector was killed execution style in August on the side of a road as he headed to his home diocese to celebrate Mass.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Subcommittee for the Church in Latin America approved a $60,000 request for funding for the St. Óscar Arnulfo Romero seminary from a grant request written by its rector, Father Ricardo Antonio Cortez Martínez, whose body was dragged into a grassy area after he was fatally shot Aug. 6. No one has been arrested for the crime.

“The seminary was one of his great loves,” Bishop William Iraheta of the Diocese of Santiago de Maria in eastern El Salvador told Catholic News Service in a Nov. 26 interview in Chalatenango.

ENGLISH CHURCH CONTINUES PROTECTION EFFORTS; U.K. ORDERS SCHOOL CLOSED

MANCHESTER, England – Priests must never “friend” children or vulnerable adults on Facebook or other forms of social media, the bishops of England and Wales said.

In safeguarding guidance issued in mid-July and made public in midNovember, all clergy were told they must “never invite children or adults at risk, or accept invitations from them, to be ‘friends’ or contacts on any personal social media sites we use, or otherwise interact with them on those sites.”

The guidance came to light after release of a Nov. 10 report on sexual abuse in the Catholic Church in England and Wales by the Independent Inquiry on Child Sex Abuse, which was established by the government in 2015.

Among the institutions to have been criticized by the inquiry were Ample-

president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, delivered the message to the patriarch in Istanbul Nov. 30 during services to mark the feast of St. Andrew the Apostle, the patriarchate’s patron saint. The cardinal led a Vatican delegation to Istanbul to take part in the Divine Liturgy presided over by the patriarch.

COMMUNITIES THAT TAKE THEIR OWN ‘PATH’ LACK HOLY SPIRIT, POPE SAYS

(CNS PHOTO/MOHAMED NURELDIN ABDALLAH, REUTERS)

Pope appeals for peace in Ethiopia

Ethiopian women who fled the ongoing fighting in the Tigray region of Ethiopia are pictured in Sudan Nov. 22, 2020. Pope Francis appealed for peace in Ethiopia Nov. 27 after fighting broke out in the Tigray region between government forces and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front. Hundreds of people were killed and tens of thousands of people fled to neighboring South Sudan.

forth Abbey and the adjacent Ampleforth College, one of the most illustrious Catholic independent schools in the U.K. On Nov. 27 the government announced it has ordered the St. Laurence Education Trust, owner of Ampleforth College, to stop admitting new students after an emergency inspection in September found it continued to fail to meet new safeguarding and leadership standards. The trust said it would appeal.

RELIGIOUS LEADERS MUST OFFER EXAMPLE OF RESPECT, COOPERATION, POPE SAYS

VATICAN CITY – Conflict and violence in the world will never end

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if people do not fully understand their responsibility to each other as members of one human family, Pope Francis said in a written message.

“In light of this, the Christian churches, together with other religious traditions, have a primary duty to offer an example of dialogue, mutual respect and practical cooperation,” he said in the message to Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople.

“With profound gratitude to God, I have experienced this fraternity at first hand in the various encounters we have shared,” he told the Orthodox patriarch. Cardinal Kurt Koch,

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VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis said he was dismayed by Catholic communities and groups that claim to be working to improve church life, but attempt to do so without prayer, the Eucharist and unity with the rest of the church.

“At times, I feel a great sadness when I see a community that, with goodwill, takes a wrong path because it thinks it is making the church through gatherings, as if it were a political party: the majority, the minority, what this one thinks of this or that or the other, (saying), ‘This is like a synod, a synodal path that we must take,’” the pope said Nov. 25 during his weekly general audience.

“I ask myself, ‘Where is the Holy Spirit there? Where is prayer? Where is the community’s love? Where is the Eucharist?’ Without these four coordinates, the church becomes a human society, a political party,” he said.

“But there is no Holy Spirit.”

While the pope did not mention a specific country or situation, already in June 2019, he had written a letter to Catholics in Germany urging them to ensure that their “synodal path” was guided by the Holy Spirit with patience and was not simply a “search for immediate results that generate quick and immediate consequences but are ephemeral due to the lack of maturity or because they do not respond to the vocation to which we are called.”

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CALENDAR 21

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | DECEMBER 3, 2020

FORMATION MONDAY, DEC. 7: Meetings for men discerning priesthood: First Monday of each month, 6:15-8:30 p.m. Currently on Zoom led by Father Thomas Martin.

Register at sfpriest.org/events.

SATURDAY, DEC. 5: 27th Annual Cruzada Guadalupana Pilgrimage: 8 a.m.-5 p.m. This year’s event is online only, ending with a Mass at St. Mary’s Cathedral. Organized locally in 1993 to ask for Mary’s intercession for immigrants and their legal status. It takes place a week before the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe Dec. 12. Visit cruzadaguadalupana. org for complete details.

MONDAY, DEC. 21: Meetings for men discerning priesthood: Third Monday of each month, currently on Zoom led by Father Cameron Faller. Register at sfpriest. org/events.

THURSDAY-SATURDAY, JAN. 15-17, 2021: Virtual ‘Come and See Day’ with the Dominican Nuns of Corpus Christi Monastery: It may be a new year like no others, but God is still calling perhaps more than ever. For Catholic women ages 18-38. Information and registration at opnunsmenlo.org/come-and-see-virtual-retreat.

LEARNING MONDAYS, NOV. 30, DEC. 14, JAN. 4, 18: Only Amazement Knows, online Zoom course with Dr. Maria Elena Monzani: A Stanford astrophysicist, Dr. Monzani, Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone and others will examine how together, science and faith paint a coherent picture of humanity’s relationship with the cosmos. Sponsored by the School of Pastoral Leadership and the Benedict XVI Institute. Register sfarch.org/ wonder.

WEDNESDAY, DEC. 2: Fourth Annual Women Shaping the Catholic Social Tradition: 12-1 p.m. Zoom webinar hosted by the Joan and Ralph Lane Center at USF. Carolyn Yauyan Woo, who served as president and CEO of Catholic Relief Services (CRS), the official international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the United States will lead the lecture. Visit usfca.edu and search for Lane Center events.

SUNDAY, DEC. 6: The Riches of Christmas-the 12 days and more of Christmas: 5:30 a.m. on Mosaic TV. Laura Bertone, director of the office of worship, reminds us that our holidays of the Christmas season offer a rich array of feasts and remembrances. KPIX television Channel 5, CBS Bay Area. Visit sfarch.org/ mosaic-tv.

TUESDAY, JAN. 19, 2020: Free Zoom film discussion on the PBS documentary, ‘ReconstructionAmerica After the Civil War’: Linda Carter Pete provides a study guide to all registrants in order to facilitate study, reflection, and conversation. 7:15-8 p.m. Hosted by the Dominican Sisters of San Rafael. Register event-

RETREATS

PRAYER & LITURGY

FRIDAY, DEC. 4: Advent Waiting with Mary: A virtual retreat for women and men hosted by the Jesuit Retreat Center of Los Altos. 9 a.m.-noon. We Catholics have a special gift in the season of Advent. $30. Register at jrc. retreatportal.com/events.

SATURDAY, DEC. 5: Project Rachel Hope and Healing After Abortion Retreat: A one-day, in-person retreat at a confidential location in the Archdiocese of San Francisco. Led by Father Vito Perrone, COSJ, with Father George Schultze, SJ. Register sfarch.org/events/ womens-retreat or call 415-614 5567.

PRAYER & LITURGY

(PHOTO BY DENNIS CALLAHAN/ CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO)

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SUNDAY, DEC. 6 AND 13: St. Mary’s Cathedral Musical Meditations: Afternoon concert live streamed at 4 p.m. from the cathedral. Dec. 6, Dana Robinson, organ.

Dec. 13, August Lee, cello; Jin Kyung Lim, organ.Visit sfarch.org/events/livestream-cathedral-music.

FRIDAY, DEC. 11 – DEADLINE: Christmas cards and treats for the incarcerated: Support the Restorative Justice Ministry’s holiday activities for the nearly 800 people housed in SF County Jail. Donate cards for inmates to send their families or treats personally or by offering financial support. Send or deliver cards, checks or cash to Julio Escobar, coordinator, One Peter Yorke Way, SF, 94019. Or call (415) 614-5572.

THURSDAY, DEC. 10: St. Ignatius Virtual Virtuoso Concert Series: ‘A Christmas Carol,’ with Kevin Navarro on piano with Franca Garguilo narrating. 7:30 p.m.

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SUNDAY, DEC. 13: Mission Dolores Basilica Second Sunday Organ Concert: Jerome Lenk, (415) 621-8203, music@missiondolores.org or facebook.com/missiondoloressf.

THURSDAY, DEC. 17: St. Ignatius Virtual Virtuoso Concert Series: ‘Beethoven’s 250th Worldwide Birthday Celebration,’ with Kevin Navarro on piano. 7:30 p.m. YouTube.com/c/stignatiusparishsf.

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SUNDAY, DEC. 6: Dominican Sisters of San Rafael 170th Anniversary: Mother Mary Goemaere arrived in California from France in 1850 and formed a community of women becoming the first congregation of women religious in the Golden State. Join a 4 p.m. Zoom celebration including prayer and a video presentation featuring some special guests. Register at sanrafaelop. org/events/170th-anniversary-celebration/.

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Visit sfarch.org/events/simbang-gabi-2020 for details.

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Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery 1500 Mission Road, Colma | 650-756-2060 Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery Santa Cruz Ave. @ Avy Ave., Menlo Park | 650-323-6375 Tomales Catholic Cemetery 1400 Dillon Beach Road, Tomales | 415-479-9021 St. Anthony Cemetery Stage Road, Pescadero | 650-752-1679 Mt. Olivet Catholic Cemetery 270 Los Ranchitos Road, San Rafael | 415-479-9020 Our Lady of the Pillar Cemetery Miramontes St., Half Moon Bay | 650-712-1679 St. Mary Magdalene Cemetery 16 Horseshoe Hill Road, Bolinas | 415-479-9021

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22 SAN FRANCISCO CATÓLICO

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | DECEMBER 3, 2020

Salud mental en parroquias de la arquidiócesis SAN FRANCISCO CATÓLICO

La creación del ministerio de salud mental comenzó en la Arquidiócesis de San Francisco el año pasado, antes de la pandemia y se instaló a principios del 2020 en las parroquias que le han abierto las puertas y ya están formando comités.

Este ministerio es una iniciativa de la conferencia de obispos de California como respuesta a las necesidades espirituales y enfermedades mentales que padecen muchos fieles.

La iglesia San Mateo en San Mateo es una de las parroquias de la Arquidiócesis de San Francisco que ya tiene el ministerio de salud mental en inglés y español, con un comité listo para ofrecer ayuda.

Los esposos Gabriela y Fabián Sacchi y María son miembros del comité de salud metal de San Mateo para trabajar con los hispanos. Otros tres miembros integran el equipo de ayuda a los fieles que hablan inglés.

Los Sacchi aclararon que no son especialistas en salud mental, pero han recibido un entrenamiento para atender a las personas que buscan ayuda, y están listos para comenzar.

El programa ofrece ayuda uno a uno a través de reuniones en algún lugar seguro en la iglesia San Mateo.

Las personas que necesitan ayuda deben comunicarse primero con la parroquia y el sacerdote les ofrece la oportunidad de asistir a sesiones con los miembros de salud mental.

Gabriela Sacchi es quien habla directamente con las personas que buscan ayuda y su esposo Fabián ora mientras las personas están en las sesiones, María quien es trabajadora social busca recursos profesionales.

Fabián Sacchi dijo que con la pandemia hay muchas personas sufriendo por la soledad o por la pérdida de un ser querido y en el ministerio de salud mental se les escucha y se les transfiere a algún especialista si lo necesitan.

Los Sacchi están dispuestos a poner en práctica todo lo aprendido en el entrenamiento para este programa.

Ellos, sirven con compasión ya que entienden a las personas que están sufriendo, debido a que pasaron por una experiencia dolorosa que afectó su salud mental, perdieron a su hijo menor de 18 años en un accidente la noche de Acción de Gracias del 2016.

(FOTO LORENA ROJAS/SAN FRANCISCO CATÓLICO)

(FOTO DE CORTESÍA)

Gabriela y Fabián Sacchi, miembros del comité de salud mental de la iglesia San Mateo posan en una foto sin fecha.

Monseñor John Talesfore, párroco de la iglesia San Mateo escribió en un artículo que publicó con motivo del Mes de Concientización de la Salud Mental en mayo, “mucho antes de esta pandemia, los miembros de la comunidad sufrían aislamiento debido al estigma, muertes por adicción y suicidios a tasas nunca antes vistas, afectando a todas las generaciones y a todos los grupos étnicos y socioeconómicos con diferentes niveles de gravedad”. Él agregó que “la Conferencia de Obispos de California publicó Hope and Healing hace dos años, (Este documento es) un llamado a todos los católicos y personas de buena voluntad a abogar por el apoyo a la salud mental en todos los lugares donde las personas presentan necesidades”.

Mencionó en su escrito que “según un informe reciente de la Revista de la Asociación Médica Estadounidense, (JAMA por sus siglas en inglés), se espera que haya un desbordamiento de enfermedades mentales que inevitablemente emergerán de esta pandemia y que las estructuras no están en su lugar para responder”.

Ese desbordamiento ya ha comenzado, las enfermedades

Zulma Téllez, directora espiritual y coordinadora del grupo de oración en el Tenderloin en San Francisco opina que el programa informático Sister Hope puede ayudar sobre todo a los jóvenes y jóvenes adultos que son más abiertos a la tecnología.

mentales se ha intensificado en los últimos meses por el distanciamiento social, el desempleo, temor al contagio y exceso de información negativa en los medios de comunicación y en general en las redes sociales, por estas razones la arquidiócesis está impulsando el programa informático de ayuda espiritual Sister Hope para ofrecer esta opción de ayuda que responde inmediatamente a los usuarios.

Una encuesta de AlcoholRehab. com a 2.445 hombres estadounidenses muestra el impacto del distanciamiento social en ellos. Uno de cada 10 de los entrevistados dijo haber experimentado sentimientos de depresión y ansiedad a diario, pero menos de la mitad, un 41% ha buscado ayuda de salud mental.

En California, más de la mitad de los encuestados, un 53% reveló que se han sentido deprimidos por las limitaciones de contacto con los amigos.

Zulma Téllez, directora espiritual certificada por el Centro de la Misericordia de Burlingame, coordinadora del grupo de oración de la iglesia San Bonifacio en el barrio Tenderloin en San Francisco, lleva dos años ofreciendo ayuda espiritual a los miembros de la comunidad.

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Uno de los mayores problemas que experimentan las personas que han hablado con Téllez es el intento de suicidio.

“Una persona que atendí recientemente, es un veterano con traumas post guerra, muy deprimido, con pensamientos de que Dios no lo va perdonar por haber intentado quitarse la vida”, narró Téllez.

Ella explicó que estos casos los refiere a un especialista de salud mental y luego continúan la ayuda espiritual.

Téllez, quien estará recibiendo un curso sobre exorcismo y liberación en el Vaticano el próximo verano, comentó que en el Tenderloin, los jóvenes y jóvenes adultos son los dos grupos más afectados. “Y esta época de las fiestas de fin de año es cuando sufren más estas personas”, dijo.

“Pienso que este grupo de jóvenes y jóvenes adultos es más abierto a la tecnología y Sister Hope, el programa de ayuda espiritual que ofrece la Arquidiócesis de San Francisco, a través de mensajes de texto les puede ayudar mucho. Sin embargo los papás y otros adultos también necesitan ayuda porque muchos de los casos de violencia y drogas va pasando de van pasando de los adultos a los niños y a los jóvenes”, dijo.

NÚMEROS DE AYUDA PARA VÍCTIMAS DE ABUSO SEXUAL DE PARTE DEL CLERO 0 MIEMBROS DE LA IGLESIA Este número 415-614-5506 es confidencial y Ie atiende Rocio Rodríguez, LMFT, Coordinadora de la oficina arquidiocesana de ayuda a las víctimas de abuso sexual.

Si usted prefiere hablar con una persona que no está empleada por la arquidiócesis por favor marque este número: 415-614-5503; es también confidencial y usted será atendido solamente por una persona que ha superado la experiencia traumática del abuso sexual.

Reporte el abuso sexual de un obispo o su interferencia en una investigación de abuso sexual a un tercero confidencial: 800-276-1562. www.reportbishopabuse.org

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CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | DECEMBER 3, 2020

Arquidiócesis de San Francisco lanza programa de ayuda para tiempos difíciles LORENA ROJAS SAN FRANCISCO CATÓLICO

Sister Hope o Hermana Esperanza es el nombre del programa informático que lanzó la Arquidiócesis de San Francisco el 30 de noviembre. Se trata de una aplicación de conversación a través de mensajes de texto que responde a preguntas de personas que necesitan ayuda espiritual en momentos de tristeza, ansiedad, depresión o cualquier otro síntoma relacionado a la salud mental.

El programa es una herramienta que ayuda tanto en español como en inglés, de fácil acceso y sin costo para el usuario. La Arquidiócesis de San Francisco compró este programa para que sus parroquianos tengan más opciones de ayuda en momentos difíciles.

Sister Hope es parte del ministerio de salud mental arquidiocesano, un ministerio de ayuda pastoral que comenzó a funcionar este año en las iglesias San Mateo, Nuestra Señora de los Ángeles, Todas las Almas y San Bruno en el condado de San Mateo, en las iglesias San Rafael, Santa Hilaria y San Anselmo en el condado de Marín y en la iglesia Epifanía en el condado de San Francisco.

Los fieles que deseen usar Sister Hope pueden

hacerlo en Sister Hope.org al abrirlo encontrará un botón para comenzar la conversación por texto, responde tan pronto le escriba cualquier texto, por ejemplo hola. También puede enviar un mensaje al número de teléfono 1-478-999-1080.

Sister Hope, es un robot programado a través de una inteligencia artificial, con información de sicólogos y otros profesionales de la salud para responder a una serie de preguntas relacionadas a la salud mental de las personas.

Este programa es conveniente para toda persona que desee usarlo. En algunos casos ayuda especialmente a quienes no se sienten cómodos de hablar de su enfermedad mental, ya sea adicción al alcohol, otras drogas, depresión, ansiedad, violencia o pérdida de un embarazo, entre otras.

La versión católica de Sister Hope que ha lanzado la arquidiócesis incluye en sus respuestas mensajes de fe, a diferencia de la versión secular de Sister Hope que no usa la religión en sus conversaciones.

El gerente del ministerio de Salud Mental de la Arquidiócesis de San Francisco Richard Collyer afirma que “este programa es seguro y la información que el usuario escribe en los mensajes es confidencial”.

(FOTO ZAC WITTMER/SAN FRANCISCO CATÓLICO)

EPIFANÍA CELEBRA PRIMER DOMINGO DE ADVIENTO A PESAR DE RESTRICCIONES POR COVID-19

El padre Rolando Caverte, de la iglesia Epifanía en San Francisco bendice la guirlanda, el primer Domingo de Adviento, el 29 de noviembre durante la misa en español a las 11:30 de la mañana. La primera vela que se enciende es de color púrpura y representa la esperanza.

Este domingo también comenzó de nuevo la prohibición para celebra misas adentro del templo debido al aumento de casos de COVID-19. La última misa en la iglesia fue a las 11:30, la misa de la 1 de la tarde se celebró afuera, frente a la iglesia.

CONCERTS

St. Mary’s Cathedral

1111 Gough St. at Geary, San Francisco 415-456-2020, ext. 213

www.smcsf.org

MEDITACIONES MUSICALES DOMINGO POR LA TARDE: Por el momento todas las presentaciones se transmiten en vivo en el canal de YouTube de la Arquidiócesis de San Francisco, youtube.com/ archdioceseofsanfrancisco Domingo 6 de diciembre, órgano con Dana Robinson, (Universidad de Illinois, Urbana-Champaign).

Domingo 13 de diciembre, Violonchelo con August Lee, y órgano con Jin Kyung Lim. Domingo 20 de diciembre, órgano y piano con Jin Kyung Lim, y el tenor Kyle Jones. Música para Adviento y Navidad.

Domingo 27 de diciembre, órgano con Pierre Zevort (Francia).

Domingo 3 de enero a las 4 pm: Epifanía y villancicos cantados por el Coro de Honor de la Escuela St. Brigid (Escuela del Coro de la Catedral), dirigido por Christoph Tietze.

Domingo 10 de enero, órgano con Christoph Tietze.

Domingo 17 de enero, órgano con Justan Foster.

Domingo 24 de enero, NO HABRÁ RECITAL Domingo 31 de enero, música de cámara con la Sociedad Musical Cavatina.

LIBRERÍA CATÓLICA

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Libros, Biblias, Regalos y Más ¡ Tenemos materiales en inglés y español!

10am-5:30pm de lunes a viernes. 10am-5pm los sábados.

3250 Middlefield Rd • Menlo Park • CA 94025 en la esquina de la avenida 6

650.562.7060

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CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | DECEMBER 3, 2020