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Contents © 1998
by Jim Holman.
All rights reserved.

April 1998 LITTLE NOTES

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But Lenore Haack of Birthline, a pro-life pregnancy support center in Chula Vista, says, "Someone from the Birthplace called us because they heard we were giving away free bassinets to expecting mothers. I asked where she was calling from and when she told me I almost fell off my chair. She told me they had just moved from their San Ysidro location to Beyer Boulevard near Montgomery High School."

According to Bush, no abortions have been performed at the new location "as of yet, but the practice does perform all gynecological care. So within the system, they are available but it's a very, very small percentage of what we do....In fact, the majority of people who need abortions who come to our practice are referred to Planned Parenthood, which is not to say we're against people having access to abortions but we do a hell of a lot of work to see that they don't need them."

One pro-lifer who picketed and counseled outside the old Birthplace location told News Notes, "We stopped sidewalk counseling at their old clinic because their volume of abortions was too low, but we're keeping an eye on the new place." -- E.G.


"IF THIS IS A PRAYER," said one participant at the February 14 parish leadership day workshop at Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Lakeside, "it sure doesn't sound like one. There is no evidence of the formula that our Lord taught us to pray by, as exemplified by the Lord's prayer, what I think of as the 'ACTS' formula: adoration, contrition, thanksgiving, and supplication. God is not even mentioned until stanza five. In stanzas seven and eight, the us-against-them references of the first six stanzas become clear: 'us' are liberal Catholics and 'them' are traditional Catholics."

The prayer is part of the "New Exodus" series designed to foster parish leadership formation. At the OLPH workshop, the New Exodus materials included a video and two group exercises, one of which was designed to help participants determine which of four types of Catholics they are. A partial handout of the American bishops' document "Go and Make Disciples: A National Plan and Strategy for Catholic Evangelization in the United States" was also distributed.

To whom are the first several stanzas addressed? When contacted by phone, OLPH director of religious education, Carol Lane, who coordinated the workshop, said, "We don't care to comment on that right now. We haven't been treated fairly by your paper in the past and we don't want to go through that again. But thanks for your interest."

Lane is a graduate of the University of San Diego's religious studies master's program. OLPH pastor Monsignor Neal Dolan and associate Father Barry Vinyard were also in attendance at the workshop. -- D.T.


IN THE 78TH ASSEMBLY district, attorney Richard Wildman's name has been mentioned in pro-life circles as a pro-life candidate. But the 54-year-old La Jollan told News Notes in a phone interview, "I'm pro-choice, and my personal choice is to choose life." "I don't think there's that much difference in the [pro-life and pro-choice] positions," Wildman explained, "I think this is an area where there is room for compromise, not in terms of people's beliefs but in terms of the process of dealing with the problem."

Wildman, who smuggled bibles into the Soviet Union and China during 1987 and 1988, is against partial-birth abortion and believes more dialogue between pro-life and pro-abortion forces is the answer to the issue. "I think pro-life people need to sit down with pro-choice people," he said, "and try to see the issue their way. I would like to be able to help, through my running for office, bring people together; people who disagree on what the choices are so they can make the right choice." -- E.G.


DISNEY STOPS FLOGGING A DEAD HORSE. After months of ignoring Catholic protest and lost advertisers, dismal ratings finally prompted the company in late March to can the ABC television series Nothing Sacred.

It depicted an inner-city parish of "progressive" priests and a nun who disparaged Catholic doctrine and questioned their own faith. Many Catholics saw the show's treatment of subjects such as the existence of God, priestly celibacy, and abortion as an attack on the Church. The Catholic League for Civil and Religious Rights led a boycott of Walt Disney and its subsidiary ABC, as well as the show's sponsors.

"ABC stood by this failed show longer than any other program," Catholic League president William Donohoe said in a March 24 Catholic World News dispatch. "Never before has such a loser of a show been given more hype and more preferential treatment....Had there not been a political agenda at work, the marketplace would have spelled the fate of Nothing long ago." -- D.T.


PRO-LIFE VOTERS IN THE 76TH ASSEMBLY DISTRICT have a candidate in Republican Duane Admire of University City. Admire, 31, is an attorney who also helps run his wife's optometry practice. His opponents are incumbent Democrat Susan Davis and Republican Linda Escher-Davis, both pro-aborts. Admire says his main issue is "the family." "The way it is right now, you drop your daughter off at her high school and, under the law, although they can't give her an aspirin without your written consent, they can give her birth control pills, they can give her condoms, and they can take her and arrange an abortion for her all without your knowledge or consent. I've heard stories of parents hearing for the first time that the daughter was even pregnant when the abortion clinic calls them and asks them to make arrangements for the morgue because something has gone wrong and the daughter is dead.... Although that's certainly an abortion issue, it's also a family rights issue."

Though he is fuzzy on abortion in case of rape and the life of the mother, Admire says he would definitely vote for a bill making abortion illegal in California. The source of his pro-life views? "I'm a Christian and I've always been pro-life. When I started my campaign I wanted to make it [abortion] an issue because I thought it was ridiculous having a Republican woman running on a pro-abortion stance. My idea of the Republican party in the past has been to protect the unborn." -- E.G.

Contributors: Ernie Grimm, Dan Trimly

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