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Contents © 2002
by Jim Holman.
All rights reserved.

LITTLE NOTES
October 2002

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Even with some moves toward a pro-life culture, "I can't say there's a huge community of people like me. The other faculty pretty much just leaves me alone. I can't say that I have a lot of support, but I'm tenured. It doesn't take any courage when you know that you're tenured. That's why I think there's a certain moral obligation to speak out. But at faculty gatherings we don't talk about life issues at all. A few years ago, Father Paul Marx (founder of Human Life International) came -- a man who is huge in the pro-life community -- and there were about three people in the audience who came to see him. It was very revealing to me. It was before the Students for Life was organized." When it was suggested that a better crowd might turn out to hear an excommunicated Jesuit speak on Liberation Theology, she laughed, "Then it would be required that you go!"


ON APRIL 20, THE LA PROVIDENCIA retreat center in Alpine held a "Greening of Spring" festival. According to the group's Summer 2002 "Awakenings" newsletter, "Thirty-eight people gathered inside the house around the beautifully set tables laden with four salads, bread, beverages and desserts representing different cultures around the world.... A focus table, created by Karen Holmgren, was adorned with myriad colored pieces of material and objects depicting various cultures. Among them was the 'wheel of life', carved out of wood by John Danz for La Providencia, representing nine of the world religions, with a symbol on each of the nine spokes. All religions come together at the center here the One Source is met. The wheel now hangs above the table in our chapel, reminding us of our solidarity with all people of faith."

On June 21, La Providencia hosted a "Birthday and Summer Solstice Celebration." The newsletter described it as "A liturgy of thanksgiving [that] will celebrate 24 years since our beginning, 12 of these years in Alpine. What a beautiful evening to also celebrate Summer Solstice, the longest day of light of the year. Fr. Bill Rowland will be the presider. Bring a memory to share, a little festive food and a playful spirit." Readers were also advised that "Anyone who wishes may walk the labyrinth before or after the celebration."

When asked in an August 5 telephone conversation about the "liturgy," Fr. Rowland, pastor of Blessed Sacrament parish in San Diego, said "It was their anniversary celebration." When asked if he celebrated a regular Mass there, he said "Yes."


PLANNED PARENTHOOD of San Diego and Riverside Counties has received a $1 million grant from the State of California for "facility improvements" to expand its child killing services throughout Southern California. Writing in the Summer 2002 issue of the PP newsletter, president and CEO Mark Salo discussed how the money will be used to help the abortion provider achieve its strategic initiative of "regionalization." "A significant portion of the grant money," said Salo, funded a new clinic in Moreno Valley (Riverside County), which will be opening this summer. Moreno Valley is one of the fastest growing areas in the country, and seventy percent of its residents who qualify for state-funded family planning services can't get them because there are no clinics nearby. In San Diego, PP used the grant and an additional gift from the Parker Foundation to convert its 20-year-old Pacific Beach clinic to a walk-in "express clinic" and to open a new 2,400-square foot Mission Bay clinic in May. The grant, along with "two anonymous donations totaling $600,000" enabled PP to purchase "a building in Banker's Hill (near downtown) which will house both our surgical site and a family planning center." PP plans to move from its current headquarters in Mission Valley to the new site. According to a public records search, the new site is located at 2017 First Avenue and carries a mortgage loan price tag of over $1.4 million.


"MEL GIBSON LAUNCHES SCATHING ATTACK on the Vatican" was the headline in The Times of London on September 13. Excerpts from the story: "Mel Gibson, a Roman Catholic who is to play Christ in a new film, has attacked the Vatican, saying that he does not believe in the Church as an institution. The actor, who says that he is an 'old fashioned Catholic' who rigorously supports the Latin Mass, is shooting Passion in Rome and in the southern Italian town of Matera. He says that he is happy that his only daughter has decided to become a nun.

"Gibson, 46, had a Catholic upbringing and attended a Catholic boys' school in Australia. He is scathing about the Church's hierarchy, saying that the Vatican was 'a wolf in sheep's clothing.' 'I believe in God,' he told the newspaper Il Giornale. 'My love for religion was transmitted to me by my father. But I do not believe in the Church as an institution.' Gibson has a private chapel at his home in Malibu, California, at which the service is conducted every Sunday in Latin.

"Gibson, whose latest film, Signs, is released today, is said by friends to have become more conservative in his religious views in middle age. He has been married to his wife, Robyn, for more than 20 years, unusually long by Hollywood standards, and says that his faith enabled him to survive as a family man despite the drinking binges and infidelities that accompanied his early success. He protects the privacy of his seven children (six of them sons) fiercely, but he said that his "adventuresome" daughter Hannah wanted to be a nun, and he was very happy about it. She was "healthy, smart and well-travelled" and he did not have to worry about her.

"Gibson, who is renowned for his swashbuckling heroics in action films such as Braveheart, Mad Max and Lethal Weapon, said that portraying Christ during his final earthly hours would be the most difficult role of his life....'

"He said that he had chosen Matera, noted for its palaeolithic caves, or "Sassi", because it had formed the backdrop to Pier Paolo Pasolini's Gospel According to St Matthew (1964), which he greatly admired. He would not need any special effects because Matera provided a "photocopy of the landscape you travel through as a Christian pilgrim in Israel." Catholic sources said that Gibson, who sought the advice of theologians and prelates in Rome for his film, had strong views on divorce, abortion and contraception that would appeal to Vatican conservatives. It remains to be seen whether Passion will join the list of Vatican-approved films on the life of Christ, which include Nicholas Ray's King of Kings (1961) and Franco Zeffirelli's Jesus of Nazareth (1977) starring Robert Powell."


DESPITE HAVING HOSTED the Courage conference in early August to help people with same-sex attraction live chastely, the University of San Diego continues its promotion of homosexuality as classes get underway this fall.

On August 29, USD senior staff psychologist Erinn Tozer announced in a message to the "Pride-Law" list that USD, for the second year in a row, will again offer special counseling services to homosexual students.

On September 6, USD "Pride" president Melissa Espinal sent the following schedule of fall pro-homosexual campus events: Weekly meetings every Wednesday, 7:30-8:30 PM, Salomon Hall (Maher 240); 10/7-11 Coming Out Awareness Week; 10/8 Nooner in front of UC, 12-2 PM; 10/9 Coming Out Panel, UC 107, 7:30-8:30 PM; 10/10 Coming Out Rally in front of UC, 12-2 PM; 10/10 Keynote: James Dale, UC Forum, 7-8:30 PM; 10/11 National Coming Out Day; 11/12 Poetry Slam, Aromas, 7-9 PM; 12/5 AIDS Awareness Movie/ Panel Discussion, TBA, 7-10 PM.

In a September 14 e-mail message, USD professor of theology and religious studies Dr. Evelyn Kirkley -- who also teaches "gender studies" courses and is the current campus advisor to the "Pride" group -- exhorted "Rainbow Educators, Women's Center Leadership Team, Gender Studies Directors, & other Fabulous Colleagues" to "publicize & participate in PRIDE events this fall 2002."

Kirkley encouraged readers to attend the October 10 "Gay & Lesbian History Month" keynote speech by James Dale, an assistant Boy Scout scoutmaster who was expelled after he publicly declared he was homosexual, on October 10 from 7-8:30 P.M. in UC Forum. "Several years ago, Mr. Dale sued the Boy Scouts of America for their policy of discrimination against gay members & leaders. The case went to the U.S. Supreme Court, which determined the BSA has the right to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation."

In fact, the United States Supreme Court ruled that the Boy Scouts have a First Amendment right to "freedom of association" with others who share their views banning avowed, open homosexuals and atheists.


THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES is scheduled to vote on September 25 or 26 on legislation that would provide greater protections for doctors, nurses and hospitals to avoid involvement in abortions. HR 4691, known as the Abortion Non-Discrimination Act was written by Michael Bilirakis (R-FL) and is a response to the national effort of pro-abortion groups to force health care providers to participate in abortions. Although the 1996 Coats-Snowe Amendment protects the rights of health care providers to decline participation in abortions, Bilirakis' bill would clarify the definition of "health care entity" to mean any participants involved in health care, including physicians, nurses, health insurance plans, HMOs, hospitals, and other health facilities.

This could bring some relief to pro-life physicians in California since Governor Davis signed SB 2194 on September 5, requiring that all residency programs in obstetrics and gynecology include abortion training.

San Diego's congressional delegation is mixed on the bill. Republicans Duncan Hunter and Randy "Duke" Cunningham are listed as co-sponsors. At Democrat Susan Davis' local office, Patricia, a legislative assistant, was not familiar with the bill. After reading it, she said, "I don't know about this legislation, but as you probably know, Congresswoman Davis is very pro-choice." At Bob Filner's Chula Vista and Washington D.C. offices, no one could speak on behalf of Filner on any issue. An email request for his position was not returned.

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