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Contents © 2003
by Jim Holman.
All rights reserved.

LITTLE NOTES
September 2003

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Father Del Priore was not alone in encouraging the congregants to violate Mass norms at the Escondido parish. The deacon asked everyone to remain standing during the Eucharistic Prayer, and about two-thirds of the congregants did. He gave the homily and referred to the Holy Spirit as "it", making the analogy of the Holy Spirit being like "the energy in the electrical socket -- you only get something out of it if you put something into it." The music group included drums and a piano, and played what the parent called "a woefully off-key jumble of rhythm-and-blues combined with early 70s folksy-hippie music that was anything but conducive to worship."

For this parent, the last straw was an insert in the Sunday bulletin entitled, What Is the Gesture of Reverence for Communion and How Does It Take Place? by Dennis Smolarksi, S.J. "It was deliberately ambiguous and misleading, suggesting that genuflecting before the Eucharist or kneeling and receiving communion on the tongue is inappropriate while neglecting to mention that the bishops voted to retain those practices. If the author or our pastor had ever read Memoriale Domini from Vatican II, they either forgot or decided to leave out key parts of it."


LOCAL CATHOLICS who appreciate orthodoxy from their priests will be disappointed to learn that Our Lady of the Sacred Heart's pastor, Father Richard Perozich, will be leaving for a five-year tour with the Maryknoll missionaries. Besides his success in reviving an inner-city parish, Perozich was the first priest in the diocese to offer a ministry to homosexuals in keeping with the Magisterium, moderating a Courage group once a week.

The call to the missions came to Father Perozich on a visit to Latin America a few years ago. "When I saw the poverty, the filth in some of the inner cities of Latin America, I thought to myself, 'I never would want to come back here.' Never say never with God. What I saw faded away for a while, but the call stirred up the memories and the desire to bring the faith to these people. I don't know where I will be going. It may not be Latin America, but one of the many missions throughout the world where Maryknoll serves, be it Latin America, Asia or Africa."

Perozich is confident that the Courage ministry will continue in his absence. "Other priests are working with Courage for the redemption of men and women from the iniquity and effects of homosexuality."


SOUTH BAY PRO-ABORTION CONGRESSMAN Bob Filner (D-51) helped cut the ribbon for the grand opening of St. Vincent de Paul Village's newest affordable housing complex, Villa Harvey Mandel, on May 31.

According to the cover story in the Summer 2003 issue of Village News, the newsletter of Father Joe's Villages, "Close to 500 supporters, politicians, and staff members" attended the event. The story contained a photo of Filner cutting the ribbon, assisted by Harvey Mandel's widow Toby Mandel, and San Diego Housing Commission CEO Betsy Morris.

The Village News story also reported, "A representative for County Supervisor Ron Roberts presented Father Joe Carroll with a $50,000 check to help pay for furniture." Last October, Roberts was a guest at Planned Parenthood of San Diego and Riverside Counties' annual Margaret Sanger Party.


HOMOSEXUAL DISTRICT ATTORNEY Bonnie Dumanis of San Diego represented Log Cabin Republicans during San Francisco's "gay pride" parade on Sunday, June 29. Dumanis, who last November became the United States' first openly "gay" D.A., rode in a convertible with her sex partner, San Diego Union-Tribune columnist Denise Nelesen. The San Francisco parade and ensuing festival in front of City Hall featured open adult male and female frontal nudity, simulated sex acts, same-sex foreplay, and light sadomasochism performed in front of babies and very young children.

Marchers carried signs that said, "We All Deserve the Freedom to Marry" and "Support AB 205 Domestic Partner Rights" referring to California's "gay marriage" equivalent bill, which is currently headed toward Gov. Gray Davis' desk. Other signs said, "We had sodomy for breakfast" and "Sodomize me, it's legal!" referring to the Supreme Court decision, just three days earlier, that overturned Texas' and several other states' sodomy laws.

As this issue of News Notes goes to press, Dumanis is listed as grand marshal for the San Diego "gay pride" parade to be held Saturday, July 26, according to the San Diego Pride website. The University of San Diego "Pride" student group also plans to march in the parade. A mass commitment ceremony for same-sex couples will be held the following day, Sunday, July 27, at Marston Point in Balboa Park. According to a July 10 announcement from San Diego "pride" media coordinator Frank Sabatini Jr., "The 20-minute ceremony, which attracts dozens of LGBT couples each year, will be presented by Metropolitan Community Church of San Diego and Dignity of San Diego -- a chapter of the nation's oldest and largest organization of LGBT Catholics. The ceremony will be officiated by Rev. Houston Burnside and Minister Kaki Johnson, both of MCC, and Father Joe Palumbo of Dignity." Sponsors include Hewlett Packard, United Airlines, Avis Rent-a-Car, Wells Fargo Bank, Bank of America, Dean's Photo, Domino's Pizza, Simmons Mattress Gallery, Miller Lite, Peet's Coffee and Tea, San Diego Balloons, Smooth Jazz 98.1, Showtime, and San Diego Stage and Lighting.


THE PRODUCERS OF PUNTO Y APARTE (Critical Point), a pro-life movie released in Mexico last year, have launched plans to bring the film to the United States. The Spanish-language movie (subtitles in English) is the story of two young couples -- one wealthy, one poor -- and unwanted pregnancy.

"It was a great victory -- a 12-week run is a record," said Carmen Bautista of Armagedon Films, the company that produced the film. "Even top movies don't usually last more than five weeks. Many priests in Mexico recommended that parents take their older children to the movies to see Punto y Aparte right from the pulpit."

Private screenings of the movie have been held over the summer in U.S. cities including Los Angeles and San Diego areas. "Punto y Aparte is a good film for adolescents and young adults to watch as it presents the issue of chastity and abortion with its consequences in a context they can relate to," said Astrid Bennet of Hispanics for Life, who attended one of the screenings. "The characters and their situations present the pro-life message in bold and powerful ways that have perhaps never been seen before in film."

Details on when and where the movie can be seen in the United States will be released after the private screenings have been held, the film's producers said.


MARK SALO, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of San Diego and Riverside Counties, crowed about his organization's "nonstop" growth despite "constant political jousting and other kinds of threats" in a June 16 fundraising letter.

Wrote Salo: "This past month visually emphasized what I already knew: Planned Parenthood affiliate has become a substantial organization! A month ago, when speaking at our 40th Anniversary Dinner, before me was a sea of about 1,200 people, all loyal Planned Parenthood supporters. And a couple of weeks ago, at our staff training 'in-service,' I found myself speaking to our staff -- now numbering over 400 employees.

"The amazing thing is this: Though we're growing nonstop, with close to 200,000 annual patient visits, we still can't keep up with the demand for our services! We're scrambling to open facilities, enlarge facilities, find medical staff in a tight job market, and offer our patients easier access to using our services."

Salo continued, "I am often asked: 'What are the biggest challenges faced by Planned Parenthood?' I agree with those who presume that our external political threats are significant. Legal abortion and family planning services are a political football, with myriad attempts to make abortion unavailable, as well as attempts to de-fund low-income family planning services and eliminate sex education programs for young people. But the fact is -- despite constant political jousting and other kinds of threats -- our Planned Parenthood affiliate in San Diego and Riverside Counties remains relatively unhampered in providing services at this point. And because we offer a full range of reproductive healthcare services, the many women in our region who are uninsured -- one out of four, and almost half of Latina women -- often depend on us for services now."

But just what is Salo's "biggest challenge"?

His answer: "Our internal structure and capacity! In just the past year, our budget grew by $5 million, which translates in vastly expanded family planning services for the residents in our local communities. We are busy opening new facilities (we're now up to twenty medical centers), training and hiring program and medical staff, reconfiguring administration.... Meeting the demands of a region where the population will increase by 1.1 million people in the next decade is a huge challenge, particularly with many who are uninsured and desperately needing reproductive and family planning healthcare.... These are the kinds of challenges we must face."


INCOMING TORREY PINES HIGH SCHOOL freshman Brian Beals, 13, got his first taste of pro-abortion intimidation tactics when Planned Parenthood visited his "Life Skills" summer school class. On Wednesday, July 3, it was announced during class that the Planned Parenthood speaker, Susan Henry, would be coming in the following Monday, July 7. No notice was sent home to parents. The class was co-taught by Torrey Pines High School life skills department chairman Sam Posner.

Brian said, "When I heard that Planned Parenthood was going to be speaking, I just thought, 'Oh no.' I figured that they were going to glorify abortion.

Brian and his mother called Life Resource Network that afternoon to request brochures. "That's when we found out that Life Resource was not invited to the presentation. (Usually Life Resource is invited during the regular school year.)

During the speech, I had my tape recorder out so they could see the red light and tell that I was recording it. There was no problem until I asked the question, 'How many women die each year from botched abortions?'"

Henry's reaction was one of "awkward silence," said Brian.

"She was flustered, and the room was silent. First she said, 'No one died,' then she said, 'Very few.' She said, 'I'm not the person to be [answering] that; ask the professionals.'"

"After that, the teachers came up to me and said, 'We're going to need your tape because you can't tape record this.'

"I said 'Okay' and gave the speaker the tape. She had her hand out. I was kind of scared. Then I came home and I told my parents. I was kind of worried, but my parents said 'It's okay.' They were proud that I did it. The pastor at my church, Father Louis Solcia of Our Lady of the Rosary, said, 'That's okay. You're not in trouble with God.'"

Beals continued, "My parents spoke to Planned Parenthood about getting the tape back, but they said that since there were students' voices on the tape, they had to take the tape and couldn't give it back. They offered to replace the tape with a new blank one.

"Then we talked to the American Center for Law and Justice, and they said, 'Well, how come Planned Parenthood can have the tape when there are students' voice on it, but not you?'"

Beals said that during her talk, Henry called pro-lifers "anti-choicers". "She compared us to the Communists in China. She said that anti-choice is one end of the spectrum, Chinese Communists are the other end, and that 'We (pro-aborts) are the happy medium between the two.'

"She also talked about how in the late 1960s and early 1970s, she helped smuggle people into Mexico to get illegal abortions. Well, abortion is still illegal in Mexico. She admitted that she broke the law in two countries to our entire class."

When asked during a July 22 telephone conversation if it is her normal practice to take tapes away from students, Henry replied, "I'll have to have somebody else call you back about that." When asked whose call to expect, Henry said she didn't know.


PLANNED PARENTHOOD of San Diego and Riverside Counties has announced the following 2002-03 donors:


NAMED FUNDS
(bequests of $100,000 or more):

Mildred and Burnett C. Wohlford
Carol Ash Selby
Edward O'Toole
Carolyn Ann Ahiers
Josephine Carey
Murray and Dorothy Leiffer
Annie Titlebaum Schwartz
Maureen Baerwald
Sandra Jeffers


ESTATE GIFTS:
Lorenzo Dell'Armo
Martha Ann Klimo
Jon Olson
Norma Sullivan


LEGACY CIRCLE:
Anonymous (12)
Muriel Adams
Dr. Grai Andreason
Laura Berend and Bill Zeigler
Joan Bernstein
Beverly Boggs
Billie Bowen
Lorraine and William Boyce
Elisabeth and Albert Boyer
William M. Bristow
Ruth Campbell
Cynthia Carpenter
Richard and Julia Carson
David and Pamela Carton
Eileen Clause
Don and Betty Copp
Patricia Ann Cornelius
Darlee Crockett
Joan Cudhea
Joan Davis
Judith deNooy
Charles Dicken
Joan Dixon
Marion and Frank Dixon
Marlene Ebert
Elisabeth (Jinx) Ecke
Margaret Elliot
Anne D. Ewing
Vaughdean Forbes
Kay and Phillip Harry
Kae Hensey
Cindy Hill
Rosanne and Joel Holliday
David and Corrine Hollings
Ruth Ireland
Maria and John Jensen
Louisa Kassler
Philip Klauber
Frances Klipper
Alva Lane
Betty and Ed Law
Dorothy Lindberg
George and Karen Longstreth
Yolanda Luney
Mary Lou Swift Mantle
Terry Marsh
Alice McCauley
Joseph and Betty McCosker
Courtenay McGowan
Ree and Maurice Miller
Sally Miller
Ruth and Donald Milliken
Mary L. Minshall
Victoria Moody and Richard Geissler
Jane Mullins
Curt Nelson and Annette Seppanen
Donald Orahood
Dewey Ostrom
Len Pellettiri
Helen Pendleton
Dr. Patricia Peterson
Elizabeth Porter
Dr. Harold Rand
Judith Reynard
Anine Rohrer
Drs. Beatrice and Leonard Rose
Nancy and Donald Ross
Andrea Schell
Anna and Mario Scipione
Elizabeth Sherry
Helen Simmons
Sara Standerford
Terri Stearns
Dorothy Stein
Marjorie Tess
Verna Tinker Turner
Barbara Wolter


TWO UNIVERSITY OF SAN DIEGO religious studies professors were among donors to the Lesbian and Gay Men's Community Center in Hillcrest during 2002. According to the February, 2003 issue of the Center's newsletter, "Centerpiece," Dr. Joseph Colombo, chairman of USD's Theology and Religious Studies department, donated $1000+, while associate professor Evelyn Kirkley donated $250+.

Other donors include Darl E. Edwards, owner of the Club San Diego bath house, in the $25,000+ category; Vulcan Steam and Sauna bath house in the $10,000+ category; and abortionist Diana Barrows and San Diego City Schools superintendent Alan Bersin in the $250+ category.


BOTH HOMILIES at the morning Masses at the 13th annual Catholic Family Conference in Anaheim were noteworthy. On Saturday, July 12, Very Reverend William Casey, superior general of the rapidly growing Fathers of Mercy, discussed the Holy Father's recent apostolic letter on the rosary, Rosarium Virginis Mariae. "Our Holy Father, Pope John Paul II is calling on ... all of the faithful to come to the aid of the Church, and he calls upon us with a real sense of urgency ... to do that by getting back to the prayer of the Gospel, by putting new emphasis on the holy rosary, because we know that her [Mary's] maternal intercession can obtain all things from the Sacred Heart of her Son. The saints have said that every prayer, every sacrifice, every penny that you offer to God through Mary's hands is changed into pure spiritual gold."

Father Casey commented on opposition from some traditionalists to Pope John Paul II's five new Mysteries of Light: "We have been hearing about certain people saying, 'What does the pope think he's doing changing the rosary after all these centuries?' Our response to that is that John Paul is Mary's pope [applause], and you can count on Mary's pope to do what Mary wants done with Mary's rosary, it's as simple as that [applause].... The rosary ... has been expanded, enriched and ... revitalized at a time when we need the rosary more than ever."

Another Father of Mercy, Father Shannon Collins, gave the homily on Sunday, July 13. A verse from the Gospel reading ("Whatever place does not welcome you or listen to you, leave there and shake the dust off your feet in testimony against them" -- Mark 7:11) served as his theme.

"It is time to shake off the dust; it is time to proclaim the Gospel; it is time to confront the world [loud applause].... It is not time to find common ground; it is time to take ground and to conquer men for Christ [applause].... I can begin to note a change in the air, to note the signs of the times. A springtime is coming because spring does follow winter.... Warm fronts are beginning to confront cold fronts. Just ask Governor Gray Davis [loud applause]. Ask Senator Tom Daschle [more applause] and all other nominally Catholic politicians. They are being confronted, finally, and their defilement is beginning slowly to be shaken from the feet of Holy Mother Church.

"Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, a true Catholic [loud applause], has entered into the fray; spring is coming. He has confronted the culture of death, including its pro-homosexual agenda. He said ... recently in a talk at Christendom College, that in every society, the definition of marriage has never included homosexuality.... There is no future in those sorts of unions. And that is why it is actually the perfect sexual expression of a culture of death: fruitless and sterile.... Let us support that Constitutional amendment ... to protect the holy institution of marriage from any further defilement [loud applause], especially protecting that institution after the diabolical assaults upon it by our Supreme Court.

"Cardinal Arinze has entered into the fray as well.... He proclaimed the truth recently at Georgetown University, again defending marriage, family, society.... Some walked out of Georgetown University.... Seventy members of the faculty of that Catholic college signed a letter of protest because of his 'insensitive' remarks.... Cardinal Arinze, you proclaimed the truth, and for those who would not receive you ... shake the dust from your feet as a testimony against them and move on. It seems that the ... dialogue model has begun to lose favor and once again, individuals are beginning to preach Christ and Him crucified.

"Dear people, reform-minded individuals like Saint Francis of old are needed, who love Holy Mother Church, who love the successor of Saint Peter, the bishop of Rome.... But such reform begins always at home, always remembering the line of the famous [Catholic] journalist G.K. Chesterton, of the late 19th and early 20th century. He once asked the question, 'You know what's wrong with the Church?' His answer: 'I am. I am what's wrong with the Church. It's my spot upon that spotless bride of Christ; that is the problem.' We must remove the grime of habitual sin.... We want to remove that defilement in our own home, our domestic churches, which the spirit of the world may have left upon our families, and shake off the dust of bad habits. And if we do that, we will hear those words and the voice coming into our hearts, saying to us [as Christ said to St. Francis of Assisi], 'Now go forth and rebuild my Church, for it is nearly falling down.'"

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