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Contents © 1999
by Jim Holman.
All rights reserved.

October 1995

"In the Denver archdiocese, Archbishop J. Francis Stafford is seeking support for a capital campaign aimed at opening a new center for theological education...

"In the St. Louis archdiocese, meanwhile, new diocesan administrators at Kenrick/Glennon Seminary, recently appointed by Archbishop Justin F. Rigali, are preparing for a fall season in which the Peoria, Ill., diocese, headed by the ultraconservative Bishop John J. Myers, will enroll three of its 28 graduate seminarians. That decision marks a policy change for Peoria, which has not sent men to Kenrick since 1988...

"Denver's vice chancellor and director of planning, Fr. Edward Buelt, said Stafford envisions a new seminary rooted in the theology of Pope John Paul II and Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who heads the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith...

"Peoria's decision to renew its ties to Kenrick, which serves about 12 Midwestern dioceses, coincides with Rigali's recent appointment of Myers and another conservative bishop to Kenrick's board of trustees...

"The other recent Rigali appointment is Archbishop Elden Curtiss of Omaha, Neb..."


WHOSE SIDE IS THE PRO-CHOICE MOVEMENT ON? Recounting how abortionist David Benjamin misjudged the duration of a pregnancy, and thereby fatally wounded his client, the August 15 issue of New York's Village Voice says, "That is exactly what happened to Guadalupe Negron, a 33-year-old Honduran immigrant, when she visited the office of Dr. David Benjamin on July 9, 1993. After handing $800 in cash to the receptionist, Negron slipped off her clothes and went into the examining room. She was 20 weeks pregnant. But Benjamin misdiagnosed her and performed a first-trimester abortion. The result: a punctured uterus and a torrent of blood. According to the prosecution, the doctor did not check on her in the recovery room until an hour and half had passed. A few minutes later, she was dead.

"Benjamin, 58, is now on trial. Queens District Attorney Richard Brown claims he 'exhibited a depraved indifference to human life' in his treatment of Negron and has slapped Benjamin with a second-degree murder charge...

"Outside the courthouse stands a man with a placard. 'Abortion and malpractice is not murder. Free David Benjamin.' Bill Baird, 63, wears black Reeboks, a blue striped shirt, and a red-dotted tie. His mission, he says, is nothing less than to 'fight to the death for women's right to choose...'

"Baird even goes so far as to claim that Benjamin did an 'incredibly good' abortion because, when the medical examiner checked Negron's uterus, 'there was not one residual amount of [fetal] tissue remaining.'

'Benjamin's trial is expected to end this week. If convicted, he faces 25 years to life in prison. None of this, however, is much solace to Guadalupe Negron's family. None of this, says Marcy Wilder, NARAL legal director, changes the fact that 'what happened in this case sounds like what happened before Roe vs. Wade when abortion was still illegal.'"


CATHOLIC HOME EDUCATOR, Michaelmas '95, features an article on a new catechesis. "Now Director of Catechesis for the Diocese of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, [Michael] Mazza has just published a new religion text, The Truth Will Set You Free, aimed at grades eight through ten, providing a concise presentation of basic theology and incorporating apologetics and the Catechism of the Catholic Church...

"The Truth Will Set You Free is written at or slightly above the reading level of the target audience (most catechetical texts are written two to three grades below the students' levels)."

(Text is $6.95 plus $3 shipping; contact Veritas Press, Box 89502, Sioux Falls, SD 57105, phone 800-705-3367.)


"WOMAN, WHERE ARE THEY? Has no one condemned you?" Norma McCorvey's (alias Jane Roe) miraculous conversion is the featured editorial for the National Right To Life News, August 22: "McCorvey unburdened herself in an interview with Nightline's Ted Koppel. Midway through McCorvey declared, 'I've been shunned by quite a few of the national leaders in the pro-choice movement. Sometimes I get this really strong hint that people think I'm totally stupid, and I'm not. I mean I've got brains and I have ideas and I just don't really feel like they hear me.'

"In a keen insight into the class division which has always rent the pro-abortion movement, McCorvey added, sarcastically, 'I'm just a street kid...So I wasn't their chosen one to be their special Jane Roe. But what I'm saying is that they just never gave me the respect that I thought I deserved.'"


THE HAYES PRIORITIES. University of San Diego has a new president, Alice B. Hayes. The September 9 Union-Tribune described the campus, "It's an institution that places crosses at the entrances to most classrooms and requires under-graduates to complete nine units of religious studies, but also offers courses and forums with material contrary to Catholic doctrine..." Then the reporter quoted president Hayes: "'I see the Catholic identity as being a source of values, an opportunity for our students for spiritual development, but I don't see that spiritual development as being restricted to only Roman Catholicism.'

"...But she said USD has not responded to computer-age opportunities. Fairly computer-literate herself, Hayes wants to see a fully wired campus with all faculty members connected to one another, their students and the library.


ECCE SACERDOS MAGNUS. On the recent replacement of Archbishop John Quinn with Archbishop William Levada, the Sept. 3 San Francisco Examiner quotes Fr. Patrick Brennan, a priest of Levada's previous diocese saying, "'He's a frightening driver,' said Brennan laughing. 'He's very impatient, wants to give you directions when you're behind the wheel. If you don't go the route he feels is fastest, he starts directing you, turn here, turn there.'"

The article continues, "Quinn was candid, writing: 'From the outset, San Francisco has been a very difficult place, and the difficulties and pressures are increasing.'"

Catholic author Tim Unsworth observes, "'The pope is looking at his own mortality. What he's looking for is a rubber stamp: someone conservative theologically, very pastoral.'"

A homosexual Catholic in Portland reflects, "'He will not use the word gay, he always says homosexual,' Deas said. 'Archbishop Levada was given a plum in San Francisco, but if his record in Portland means anything, he will produce a prune.'"

Dignity co-chairman Mario Torrigino says, "'We will have to see how Archbishop Levada reacts to people in a place where they have minds of their own to a greater degree than in other places.'

Complaining that, while in Portland, Levada had a preference of using retired priests and young priests from foreign countries in place of women and the laity for parish functions, the article unintentionally compliments the new man, "During Levada's tenure, the number of seminarians from Portland has doubled to 20 at Mount Angel Seminary south of Portland. In fact, enrollment at the institution is at a 15-year high with 130."

Fr. Jeffrey Sobosan, a theology professor at the University of Portland remarks, "'He has the shyness of a lot of scholars,' says Sobosan. 'This is a scholarly man whose druthers are to spend time in study or research, but because of his talents he is thrown into the public spotlight. Scholarly people don't tend to be good at public relations.'"


RAVING FOR GOD. The Sunday Times, August 27, reports the Church of England's reaction to recent events concerning Rev. Chris Brain. "Brain, 38, was yesterday receiving psychiatric treatment in a Manchester hospital after being accused of sexually molesting women who flocked to the Nine O'Clock Service (NOS), a self-styled rave worship in Sheffield that attracted legions of young followers.

"Yet despite the enormous damage to the church's spiritual integrity and fears that Brain has demonised alternative forms of worship, there is an unwillingness to dismantle the cult he set up...He was embraced by the church because he produced results: he was singled out as a brilliant example of modern youth ministry, a man able to reach young people on their home turf of dance culture, fashion and rebellion.

"Senior church figures, anxious to keep the movement within its ranks, overlooked reports of scantily clad dancers, of altars strewn with condoms and Brain's exhortation to 'Enjoy God in your face' and 'Eat God.'

"His 'Planetary Mass' became increasingly bizarre, incorporating a 5,000-watt sound system, dancing and strobe lights."

Pointing out the decline in the attendance of C of E services, the report goes on, "The need to attract and keep the young in the Christian faith has never been more desperate. But as the church widens its net, getting ever more involved in social affairs, politics and novel worships, the dangers of diluting faith into meaningless catch-all increases."

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