2003 Little Notes
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Contents © 2003
by Jim Holman.
All rights reserved.

LITTLE NOTES
April 2003

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Spahr has earned notoriety for his support of the La Providencia retreat center in Alpine, run by two out-of-habit sisters, heavily influenced by the New Age movement and Matthew Fox's creation spirituality. While eulogizing Sisters Pat Hanson and Millie Peaslee in his homily at a Mass in their honor on April 25, 1999 at Queen of Angels, Spahr stated, "New forms of religious life are emerging, and perhaps as Church we must be willing to discern calls to priesthood in those who are not celibate males."

Spahr was elected as vice chairman of the diocesan Presbyteral Council in 2000, which assists the bishop in governing the diocese.

News Notes received the following letter from a visitor to Spahr's parish (see July/August 2002, Letters): "We attended Mass on Saturday at 5 pm at Queen of Angels, and Fr. Matthew Spahr was the celebrant. Boy, was that a shocker!! The words to the consecration for the bread were exact, but the words for the consecration of the wine got ad-libbed towards the end. So did the Our Father. The homily didn't really touch upon this special day of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ [Feast of Corpus Christi]."


NEW AUXILIARY BISHOP Salvatore Cordileone paid his first official visit to St. Ephrem's Maronite parish on Sunday, February 9, as the parish celebrated the feast of St. Maroun, father of the Maronite Catholic Church, to an overflow crowd. Bishop Cordileone was the principal celebrant of the liturgy, assisted by St. Ephrem's pastor, Father Nabil Mouannes. After the persecution of the Church's first three centuries, monastic spirituality developed, the bishop explained in his homily. Like the earliest martyrs, "they [monks] renounced their life in this world in order to receive union with God." He described St. Maroun as an outstanding example of the early monks.

Bishop Cordileone explained that there are signs around the world of hostility toward "those who seek to live an authentic Christian life. It seems to me it is becoming more and more difficult." He noted that, for many Maronite immigrants to the U.S., religious persecution was a factor in their decision to leave the Middle East. "Those who have handed this faith on to us have suffered for this faith. It would be truly a sin to squander their sacrifice, and I would say especially to this assembly, how important it is to nourish, love, and practice the faith in the Maronite tradition....

"And so this tradition must also flourish in this new land.... I give this message especially to the young people who are present here: that you learn your heritage and traditions, that you know your roots, that you love it, and that you identify with it, that your identity be that of a Maronite Catholic and that you seriously discern God's call for your life ... and this could involve a call to the priesthood or to religious life.... And for those who will be called to marriage ... seek out a spouse of the same tradition or at least a spouse who will worship with you in your tradition.

"How many Christians can say that they pray in the same language that Jesus spoke? How many Christians do not need a translation? What a precious gift this is for the whole Church and how important it is that it be preserved and that it thrives and that it continues so that it can be a treasure for the Church.... May all of the faithful remain steadfast in this faith which we have received, and may we likewise hand on that faith, so that we might be found worthy to receive the destiny that awaits us: life upon high in Christ Jesus, the life of eternal glory of His resurrection in His kingdom which has no end."


FROM CHERYL SULLENGER, Sunday, March 9: "This morning, a group of about 25 of us, including members of Survivors (Operation Rescue's youth branch), Open Eyes Ministry (a pro-life Christian outreach in North County), and various churches exposed Planned Parenthood of San Diego and Riverside Counties CEO Mark Salo during a talk he gave at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in Solana Beach. UUF members whizzed past the group into the parking lot, refusing to accept pro-life literature and, in some cases, flashing obscene gestures to the Christians who had gathered to show the truth to the UUF congregation. Some of the UUF members spoke with the pro-lifers before the services started. While many of the group lined the narrow street with large photos of aborted babies and other signs exposing Salo's child-killing business, eight of the Survivors quietly entered the service.

"Inside, once Salo began to speak, Survivor director Dan McCullough stood, removed his jacket revealing a photo of an aborted child, and began to loudly call out to Salo to repent. Dan was grabbed by several UUF members and escorted off the property, all the while shouting shame upon the congregation. A few minutes later, two female Survivors, Michelle and Katie, stood and revealed their shirts bearing the same picture of an aborted baby's head. They were grabbed by several men and roughly escorted off the grounds. The men were painfully twisting Michelle's arm the entire way. Jim McGuinn began to rebuke the men for hurting Michelle. One of the men told Jim, 'She wanted it.' Jim then called the man to repentance for perversion and pedophilia.

"Every few minutes, two more Survivors stood, revealed the graphic truth about what their invited speaker does for a living, and were escorted off the property. Before the last Survivor, Jonathan O'Toole, came out, sheriffs arrived in three squad cars. Suddenly we heard screams and saw several church members and all the officers dash to the auditorium. Jonathan was escorted out by the sheriffs but was not placed under arrest. Once he explained to them what had happened, they let him go. As Jonathan had been quietly seated in the service, two UUF members accused him of carrying a weapon. Jonathan denied this and allowed himself to be frisked. The members threatened to do bodily harm to him if he stood up. At last, Jonathan did stand and reveal his shirt. He was then pounced upon by one of the men who put him in a choke-hold. Others helped slam him to the pavement. It was at that time that the sheriffs ran up. Once the church members saw the officers, they quickly released Jonathan. All the while, pro-lifers on the street were rebuking and admonishing the UUF members for supporting the shedding of innocent blood, then mistreating those who bore the biblical message of the sanctity of human life.

"The service was soon over, and I have to wonder how much of Salo's prepared remarks actually were delivered. As all the pro-lifers lined the streets, Salo was given a police escort off the premises amid shouts of shame and calls to repentance."


THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH is not the only Protestant group seeking to lure away Hispanic Catholics. Members of Iglesia Mission De Dios, an evangelical church in Logan Heights have been handing out tracts at Southeast San Diego grocery stores that use the Blessed Mother as an image to convince Catholics they should leave the Church. The Spanish-language flyer entitled El Mandato De Maria Para Los Catolicos (Mary's Mandate for Catholics) has a blue picture of Mary on the cover, certain to get the attention of any faithful Catholic. Inside, it speaks of Mary's words at the wedding in Cana, "Do Whatever He Tells You" and attempts to convince the reader by quoting what Jesus said in the gospels juxtaposed against what Jesus did not say, which includes following tradition, papal authority, or venerating Mary. After exhorting the reader to accept Jesus as Lord and Savior, it apologizes if it sounds anti-Catholic, but warns the reader by quoting Jesus' words, "He that is not with me is against me." The tract is published by The Fellowship Tract League in Lebanon, Ohio.


SUE LOPEZ, a Catholic homeschooling parent alarmed by recent reports of See's Candy's link to abortion, wrote to their corporate headquarters on February 21st. In her letter, Lopez wrote: "I just want to let you know that since hearing the Mr. Buffet donates millions of dollars per year to the International Population Fund, Planned Parenthood and NARAL, I am boycotting all See's candies. I have also informed at least 75 friends and acquaintances who are also boycotting See's products. We are extremely disappointed and disturbed to hear that profits from See's candies go to the purchase of suction pumps for THIRD TRIMESTER ABORTIONS in Third World Countries."

See's responded immediately: "For the past several years we have received inquiries such as yours stemming from the belief that See's, as a Berkshire Hathaway company, supports Planned Parenthood. Here at See's, we make our own decisions related to the communities in which we do business regarding corporate contributions to not-for-profit groups. We have no record of having ever made a monetary donation to Planned Parenthood...."

After doing further research, Lopez begs to differ with this See's letter; she found information on See's at Wechooselife.com. The website provides links to corporate reports for the companies listed including Berkshire Hathaway. Lopez found that the Buffet foundation, with assets of nearly $23 million, gave away nearly $4.8 million to various Planned Parenthood affiliates between 1990 and 1995.

"Warren Buffett single-handedly funded at least two-thirds of all costs associated with the first year's U.S. trials of RU-486. In 1994 the Buffett Foundation gave $2 million to the Population Council "to fund clinical trials of mifepristone [RU-486]." Buffett also gave $176,518 to the University of California School of Medicine in San Francisco for RU-486 "clinical trials." Another 1994 contribution of $437,209 to the Magee Women's Hospital in Pittsburgh, was earmarked for "clinical trials" (almost certainly for the RU-486 study). Besides the $2 million grant to The Population Council, Buffett also gave the Council five other grants totaling $772,174, one of which was designated for "clinical trials."


ABORTION MILL UPDATE: The California Life Coalition has reported that Planned Parenthood is no longer performing abortions at its Mission Valley office (1075 Camino del Rio South). That location now houses only its administrative offices and an "express" clinic that does not perform abortions. PP's new abortion mill is now located at 2017 First Avenue, Suite 100, San Diego (619-881-4578). The CLC has also discovered a new abortion mill in South Bay that it believes has opened within the past year: My Choice Women's Medical Clinic, 336 Oxford Street, Suite 205, Chula Vista (619-427-2422); it is staffed by a female abortionist known as Dr. Reddy. Abortions are performed up to 13 weeks; the fee is $295, with cash only being accepted. Thus far, the CLC has verified that abortion days are Monday and Friday, although it believes the mill may be performing abortions on additional days as well. Dr. Philip Rand, who was previously the abortionist at the now-closed Clinica Medica on H Street in downtown Chula Vista, is now performing abortions at 1550 Broadway, Suite C, Chula Vista, CA 91911 (619-425-3700). One church group is picketing there on Wednesdays, 3:30 to 4:30 pm. Over 30 personal injury and malpractice lawsuits have been filed against him and he was disciplined by the state Medical Board in 1999. The California Life Coalition invites all pro-lifers to help provide a pro-life presence at these mills. For more information, please contact the California Life Coalition at 619-562-3519.


CHARLES HARVEY, known to many Catholics in the San Diego, Los Angeles and San Francisco areas, died of a sudden heart attack in San Francisco on February 28. He was 59. He began working for Catholic Answers, the San Diego-based Catholic apologetics organization, in the late 1980s. There he became friends with Mark Brumley and Jack Gergurich. At Catholic Answers, Charlie oversaw the shipping department, assisted at seminars, proofread written materials, assisted with taping speakers, edited audiotapes. Charlie left Catholic Answers in 1993.

From 1994 to 1995 he worked under Mark Brumley at the San Diego diocesan Office of Social Ministry as an administrative assistant. In the mid-1990s Charlie worked for about a year with Gergurich at Canticle Communications and spent about two years at St. Joseph Communications in the Los Angeles. He went to work at Ignatius Press in 1998, assisting Brumley with magazine promotion and editing. He became the full-time managing editor of Homiletic & Pastoral Review in 2001, one of the two magazines currently published by Ignatius Press (the other is Catholic World Report).

Brumley began working at Catholic Answers in 1989 as a full-time apologist. In 1991 he was tapped by Bishop Brom to run the diocesan Office of Social Ministry. He later became the diocesan communications director and assistant publisher of the Southern Cross. In 1995 Brumley began working full-time for the San Francisco-based Ignatius Press as managing editor for its magazines while still in San Diego. The Brumleys moved to Napa in 1996. By 2002 he was the chief executive officer of Guadalupe Associates, the umbrella organization for Ignatius Press and Catholic World Report and Homiletic & Pastoral Review. Brumley oversees daily operations of Ignatius Press, since Ignatius founder Father Joseph Fessio is working in Florida with Ave Maria College. Brumley is also vice president of Campion College, a two-year college with an integrated Catholic liberal arts, great books curriculum. It was founded in 2002 by a group of faculty members, administrators, and alumni of the now closed St. Ignatius Institute of the University of San Francisco.

Brumley's comments on Charlie: "He seemed like a very simple fellow, and yet he was very intelligent, very well read, very knowledgeable, an extremely humorous and funny fellow and always a source of good ideas. I have already begun to hold him to a promise he made to me long ago, that if he should precede me in death, he would in the next life intercede for me as he had in this life so often done."

Jack Gergurich came to work at Catholic Answers in 1990, as the controller; he left in 1995 to run Canticle Communications, selling Catholic books, tapes, and software. He moved to San Francisco in September of 2002, to work at Ignatius Press as an accountant. Reminiscing about Charlie. "He had friends all over; he made so many friends over the years.... He attended the University of Dallas for a couple of years, and his mentor down there was Catholic philosopher Frederick Wilhelmsen; they became very good friends.... "He was one of the funniest people I ever met; he could do just about any accent.... Charlie was a very courtly Catholic gentleman. He treated women with the utmost respect ... as sort of a reference to the Blessed Virgin. And the women up here [at Ignatius Press] just loved him." Charlie never married; however, when Ignatius Press employee Roxanne Lum eulogized him, she identified herself by saying "I'm one of Charlie's widows."

The wake for Charlie was held on March 6 in San Francisco and attended by approximately 80 people. At the wake, Karl Keating, founder of Catholic Answers, eulogized him. His funeral Mass was held on March 7 at St. Dominic's Church in San Francisco, where Charlie was a parishioner. The main celebrant was Father Fessio, who came from Florida for the occasion. Among the two concelebrants was Father Frank Filice, familiar to some News Notes readers for his work in the San Diego and Tijuana areas in the 1990s. Approximately 100 people attended the Novus Ordo Mass. Charlie is survived by his brothers Stephen and Robert Harvey. Cards may be addressed to Stephen Harvey, 1115 E. Greenfield Dr., Wake Village, TX 75501.

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