2001 Little Notes
December
November
October
September
July/August
June
May
April
March
February
January

Letters

Confessions
Talk About Movies
Roamin' Catholic
Follow Me




Contents © 2001
by Jim Holman.
All rights reserved.

JANUARY 2001 LITTLE NOTES

---

EDWARD ALLRED'S ABORTION CLINIC, Family Planning Associates of La Mesa, on June 22, 2000, reached a settlement with the district attorney's office to pay $150,000 for "unauthorized waste disposal." Though this would normally be a criminal action, FPA was charged instead with a civil action by the economic fraud and environmental protection division of the DA's office. News Notes reporters were unable to obtain the investigator's affadavit or other evidence of what Allred's clinic had improperly disposed of. Assistant District Attorney Steve Davis, who handled the case, claimed that the search warrant request and affadavit were sealed at the request of the DA's office because, he said in a December, 2000 interview, they were unsure that the investigation would lead to a complaint and they wanted to protect the privacy of the parties involved. When asked if any products of conception were found in dumpsters, Davis replied, "minimal". When pressed as to the gestational age of what was found, Davis said that he had no information on that, then denied that they had found unborn fetuses. Although the DA's office asked to have the affadavit sealed before serving the search warrant, they did not agree to continue to have it sealed as part of the settlement. Davis would not speculate as to why the DA's office would object to unsealing the documents. Allred told the DA's office that he was unaware that the La Mesa clinic was engaged in such practices and they were contrary to company policy.


HARE KRISHNA AT SAN LUIS REY. From the Third Sunday of Advent, December 17, through December 22, a Hare Krishna Festival drew devotees to a world-renowned master teacher from India. The festival was held at the Mission San Luis Rey retreat center. The teacher, Srimad Bhaktivedanta Narayana Goswami Maharaja, is considered to be a "fully realized" master and priest. As such, Maharaja has devotees who believe that he has the ability to control God, to give the love of God, to grant that rare gift of God to another. Some of his followers believe he is a god. On Sunday evening, December 17, Maharaja was welcomed to the Mission San Luis Rey Retreat Center by a foot-washing ceremony and a little "puja" or worship ceremony.

The festival, hosted by the sect's temple, on10th Street in downtown San Diego, included talks and prayer ceremonies from 5 a.m. throughout the day. Every evening consisted of a main talk by Maharaja at 6 p.m., followed by a traditional Indian puja at 7 p.m., which included chanting, music with conch shells and drums, followed by a vegetarian feast.

A call to the Mission San Luis Rey Retreat Center found "Mel" answering the phone and questions about the festival. He explained that "we rent to anybody, we're open to humans." When asked if the center would rent to a coven, Mel replied that they wouldn't rent to anyone who was anti-Christ, and not to covens. The caller asked if he was a volunteer or a staff person? "Mel" replied that he was one of the friars.


THE TALLEST CHRIST IN THE WORLD. A non-profit group has been organized in Mexicali to raise money for construction of a 130-foot-high statue of Christ the King that sponsors say will be the largest of its kind in the world. Plans call for erecting the monument on top of a 5900-foot mountain peak along a winding road between Mexicali and Tecate called La Rumorosa. "This Christ is a call to peace, a symbol of unity for the inhabitants of the three Californias, a recognition of the work of missionaries and a symbol of hope for the immigrants who come here from all parts of Latin America in search of a better future," said Ricardo Sánchez Lugo, president of the Patronato Pro-Construcción del Cristo Rey de las Californias, which has been chartered as a charity under Mexican law. The statue will be fiberglass over a steel frame, with a 200-seat chapel below. Sánchez said the project will cost a little over a million dollars, and, when finished, will become the property of the diocese of Mexicali. Construction is scheduled to begin in March, and the project should be completed within a year, Sánchez said.

Contributions can be sent to: Cristo Rey de Las Californias, P.O. Box 5206, Calexico, CA 92232. For more information, the committee can be contacted by telephone in Mexicali at 566-4351 or 566-3914, or by email at cristoreycalifornia@hotmail.com.


FROM AN EARLY DECEMBER MEMO from Dana Serrano of Women's Resource Network:

"Pro-life television ads are currently airing in Tulare, Chico, and Marysville in California. we are currently raising the needed funds for San Diego, Sacramento, SF and LA. We pray San Diego will be airing the soonest -- pending funding. The parishes are once again raising the funds at every level. We learned that California, and especially San Diego, is more resistant to our message than previously thought. In fact, 3 out of 4 people believe abortion should be a matter of 'personal choice.' It is going to take a persistent presence in the media to change hearts and minds.

"Recently new footage was shot for commercials and informational videos to educate the churches and parishioners. Those spots should be available late in December. The exciting news is that even other states are noticing our efforts and starting to pull together to accomplish a common goal. The new footage will be used for these efforts around the country as well. A new national toll free number has volunteered its time and costs to our efforts, as well. All that we are waiting for is funding for the actual cost of the time airing in San Diego. Planned Parenthood and other pro-abortion coalitions spent over $10 million in advertising in California in the weeks before the election. We must make our presence known to reach women in crisis and educate our region. The ads are the most effective tool we have seen in the pro-life movement to date.

"A study was done on graphic material and protesting outside clinics, and it showed that they are effective, but not nearly effective as TV ads . We need to meet the public where they are at, and where they are most receptive to our message ... in their living room one on one.

"'I saw an ad on TV late at night. I cried because I felt so alone. I had an appointment for an abortion, but I called the number on the commercial. I didn't have the abortion. Thank you to everyone, you saved my baby,' said a woman in Colorado.

"'When I saw the ad on TV, the one where a lady gets up and it says something about you'll hear a child's cry, I knew immediately what it was about. I had an abortion 20 years ago. I knew I couldn't go to church anymore. At one time I even wanted to be a nun.I called the number, and it really surprised me that the Catholic Church offered help for this.' She brought her husband into the healing process and they both have found their way back to the church,' said a woman in San Diego with Rachel's Hope." To contact Serrano, write: Women's Resource Network, 2319 E. Valley Parkway, #174, Escondido, CA 92027 or call 760-741-4010. Website: www.womensresourcenetwork.org


FROM THE SAME MEMO: "On Sunday January 21st at First Assembly of God on Phyllis Place at 6pm there will be a county-wide memorial service for the unborn. The Catholic Mass is scheduled in the afternoon so parishioners may attend and then join the memorial service. The memorial service is put on by the Association for Life which includes the diocesan office of social ministry. The speaker will be pastor HB London from Focus on the Family. "The memorial Service has been especially touching these past few years, " says Rosemary Benefield of Rachel's Hope, "40 volunteers, one representing one million abortions since Roe v. Wade, walk the procession with a candle and a rose. The candle is blown out and placed in a cradle for the babies and the rose is placed in an empty rocker for the mothers. It is a graphic reminder to us all what our nation has lost." Music will be performed by Project Grace. For more information (760) 741-4010."


THE ST. KILIAN'S RESPECT LIFE COMMITTEE is not your average parish pro-life group. This group, based in Mission Viejo, has become a nationwide outreach. Its ministry confronts a problem that even some Catholic pro-lifers are afraid to touch -- contraception. Two years ago, Brian Murphy, a St. Kilian's parishioner, was moved to start the parish's Respect Life Committee when Father Tom Cusack of Los Angeles, a Columban priest, gave a pro-life mission at the parish one Sunday. Murphy was involved in several parish ministries, so he tried to curtail other activities and delegate some pro-life tasks. "It just didn't work. " he reflected. "It became clear that God wanted me to do it [the pro-life work]."

Murphy chairs the Respect Life Committee, which is composed of ten active members. "The interesting thing about our committee is that they do as much work with their prayers as they do with their hands and feet," he commented. Murphy observed that permanent committee members "lived the values of Humanæ Vitæ: they had a generous attitude toward children; they had four or five children and they never practiced artificial contraception, and those are the ones that, under God's coincidence, ended up becoming the permanent members of the committee." The pastor, Father James Dunning, has approved all of the committee's activities.

Initially the committee concentrated on supporting pro-life political candidates by distributing pro-life voter guides. "But when we looked at the results, we saw that Catholics were not voting pro-life," Murphy lamented. In California's 1998 gubernatorial race, 58 percent of Catholic voters supported Gray Davis, the pro-abortion, Democrat. According to exit polls, in the 2000 election, 50 percent of Catholic voters nationwide supported Al Gore, the pro-abortion, Democrat. In California, the figure was 56 percent. "We finally concluded that we had to face up to the fact that the contraceptive mentality had totally invaded the Church and had choked the awe for children out of the life of the Church, so that people just did not consider it to be an important issue," Murphy said. It is estimated that 70 to 90 percent of Catholic couples are contracepting. Moreover, the divorce rate among Catholics is about the same as that of the general population: 50 to 60 percent. The divorce rate among couples who practice natural family planning is three percent.

"We further concluded that the pulpit needed to be renewed and restored with the teachings of Humanæ Vitæ," Murphy continued. Pope Paul VI issued the encyclical Humanæ Vitæ in 1968 to reaffirm the Church's constant teaching that marriage must be open to new life and that contraception is therefore gravely sinful. The committee sought advice from Human Life International, which suggested conferences for clergy and religious on Humanæ Vitæ. The committee agreed, and the pastor agreed to sign conference invitation letters. It sent out 1,000 invitations to priests for the first conference, held in October of 1999 at Prince of Peace Abbey in Oceanside. Ten priests attended, all from the Orange and San Diego dioceses. In response to 1,200 invitations, fifteen persons showed up at the second conference, held in May of this year. Twenty attended the third, in October, after 1,700 invitations were sent, which included deacons and religious. The diocese of San Diego granted permission for all three conferences and recommended the third. Immediately after this conference, the conference speakers gave a talk to seminarians at St. Francis Seminary in San Diego, presented a Humanæ Vitæ conference for pro-life laity in Orange County and were guests on St. Joseph's Catholic Radio program, where Murphy volunteers.

The local conferences are being held at the abbey at six-month intervals. They feature three speakers: Father Matthew Habiger, speaking on "The Role of Conscience"; Father Daniel McCaffrey, speaking on "Challenges at the Pulpit"; and Murphy himself, speaking on "God's Plan for Life." Conference attendees receive a compact disc of three sample homilies on Humanæ Vitæ by Father Anthony Kopp and an audiotape of Janet Smith's talk, "Contraception: Why Not?" As the conference ends, attendees are invited to commit to giving at least four homilies per year on Humanæ Vitæ. At the last conference, all but one attendee made the commitment.

Father Habiger holds a doctorate in moral theology and is Human Life International's president and chairman of the board. Father McCaffrey, of the diocese of Oklahoma City, holds a doctorate in sacred theology and has established successful natural family planning programs and preached numerous parish missions on Humanæ Vitæ nationwide. Murphy holds a master's degree in experimental medicine and a doctorate in physiology, works as a biomedical engineer, and teaches adult confirmation classes at St. Kilian's, in addition to his work with the Respect Life Committee. He and his wife Louise have five children and have taught NFP classes. Murphy believes the three speakers have a special charism: "We know exactly the passion that the other one has, and we give the message in three completely different ways and they're all complementary."

When describing Father Habiger's talks on conscience, Murphy explained, "There are so many Catholics in this country that believe that you listen to the Word of God, and then you make up your mind about what you want to do. They believe that their conscience is the author of moral truth. And the Church teaches the contrary: your conscience is never an author of moral truth; it's always a pupil.... Your conscience first of all has to be informed with the truth, and the truth comes from God, and it comes from God through the Church."

Father McCaffrey provides examples, drawn from his experience, of how to preach on Humanæ Vitæ from the pulpit. Murphy said that he reports that only one person has walked out during his Humanæ Vitæ homilies.

In his presentations Murphy discusses Genesis. He emphasizes that God's commands to be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth and subdue it are necessary for human prosperity, and he highlights the Onan account's condemnation of contraception. This approach requires a debunking of overpopulation myths; he points out that the U.S., the world's third most populous nation, is the world's most prosperous nation. "Population doesn't cause poverty; it causes prosperity. The first thing you need, to have prosperity, is human integrity (human redemption by Christ); the second thing you need is population; the third thing you need is free markets, with freedom from government interference."

In his talks Murphy predicts that "the culture of death will not be defeated until there's repentance from contraception." Dissenters from Humanæ Vitæ have given up on chastity, he observes. "God's plan for life essentially comes down to chastity for everybody," Murphy said, explaining that chastity is possible with the Holy Spirit's help. Just as it took over 150 years to stamp out the Arian heresy in the Church, he believes it will take that long to stamp out the contraceptive heresy. "It will eventually be stamped out when people keep realizing that it's so important," Murphy stated. "Rome is making sure that all of their appointments for bishop are people who approve of Humanæ Vitæ. Slowly over time, some of these old diehards are just going to die off."

St. Kilian's Respect Life Committee has scheduled a Humanæ Vitæ conference for the Chicago archdiocese in March and has conferences pending in Rome; Los Angeles; San Francisco; Ann Arbor, Michigan; Belleville, Illinois; Atlanta, Georgia; and El Paso, Texas. The possibility of conferences in two Canadian cities as well as Japan is being investigated. The next local Humanæ Vitæ conference will be held for the Dioceses of Orange, San Bernardino and San Diego on May 15-16, 2001 at Prince of Peace Abbey in Oceanside. In Rome, two conferences are tentatively planned for March: one in English and one in Spanish, both for seminarians, with Father Ignacio Barreiro, of HLI's Rome office, and Murphy as speakers, since both men are bilingual. The committee is seeking two Spanish-speaking priests to join its team of presenters, as it hopes to start holding Humanæ Vitæ conferences in Mexico.

Murphy explained the importance of holding Humanæ Vitæ conferences in Rome: "Seminarians who go to Rome tend to be the brighter, more promising young men for the priesthood.... They also tend to be the ones who eventually become bishops."

A major obstacle in persuading clergy and religious to preach about Humanæ Vitæ is a reflex many have when natural family planning is mentioned. "They immediately ... put it aside and say, 'Okay, that's for the diocesan marriage program; that's for the couple who are NFP teachers; that's not for me; I don't talk about NFP,'" Murphy related. "But what we want to do is say, 'Humanæ Vitæ is what you've got to talk about; you've got to talk about God's plan for life, about the generosity that we're called to in accepting God's plan for life, about the evils of contraception.' You've got to clearly divide the subject into two separate issues: the spiritual (from the pulpit) and the practical (NFP classes)...."

For more information, contact St. Kilian's Respect Life Committee, 25262 Chrisanta, Mission Viejo, California 92691 / (949) 586-4440 or (949) 855-8649 / webmaster@godsplanforlife.org or bgmurphy@home.com.


SHE'S BACK ... ALMOST. She is Connie Youngkin, former San Diego County resident, heroine to local pro-life activists and bane of local abortionists. During the 1980s and 1990s, she joined and led pro-life rallies, demonstrations, pickets and rescues, ran for public office, helped start a crisis pregnancy center, placed pro-life ads in local newspapers, distributed pro-life information in Operation Rescue's "Show the Truth" campaign. She spent nine weeks in jail for rescues at abortion clinics.. Wayne Wilson, in charge of Operation Rescue's local branch for a period in the early 1990's, noted, "Connie was seen as such a threat that [after being arrested in a rescue], several years ago a judge in El Cajon set her bail at $375,000, because of who she was."

Youngkin and her husband, Dr. Tyler Youngkin, a pathologist, left San Diego in early 1999 to work as volunteers with Children of Promise, an international, nonprofit orphanage organization. After training and studying Spanish in Costa Rica for two years, they will start working in Tijuana's Zona Norte red-light district. There they plan to open a center to aid destitute children and provide a Christian outreach to prostitutes and their children. Tyler plans to work two day per week in pathology in San Diego, to cover living expenses. After opening the center they hope to build a home for abandoned and abused girls. The Youngkins can be e-mailed at tycon_mx@yahoo.com.

TOP