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by Jim Holman.
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LITTLE NOTES
November/December 2006
CATHOLIC PRO-LIFE PRAYER VIGILS may have been instrumental in an abortion mill recently moving out of Chula Vista. In the fall of 2005, the diocesan office for social ministry notified pro-life coordinator at Saint Rose of Lima in Chula Vista that they had learned of an abortion mill operating at 261 Church Street, about a mile from the parish, in a quiet area consisting of apartment buildings and small medical and dental offices. Although the mill was listed in the telephone directory as My Choice Women's Medical Clinic, the office sign read simply, "Women's Medical Clinic." The abortionist was Dr. Lali Reddy. The only ob-gyn service that Reddy provided is abortion, up to 13 weeks, for $325. The clinic was open Monday to Friday, initially from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Later, the schedule on the clinic door indicated that it closed at 1 p.m.
Saint Rose's Gospel of Life committee organized weekly prayer vigils at the mill, starting the fall of that year. During the first few weeks of praying at the mill, business appeared fairly brisk. The pro-life group observed at least two or three couples arriving or leaving during the hour that they prayed there, and they were able to provide sidewalk counseling literature to some of the patients. Occasionally, a few parishioners came to pray at the clinic slightly later than the larger group. They held Life Chain signs and images of Our Lady of Guadalupe and prayed the rosary and Divine Mercy chaplet.
After a few months of praying regularly on Wednesday mornings at the mill, the pro-lifers realized that there were no patients while they were there, so they switched to Thursday mornings. They observed patients during their first few Thursdays there, but soon it appeared that the mill had stopped scheduling patients at that time. After several months, the pro-lifers returned to praying on Wednesday mornings, but rarely saw patients while they were there. Public and neighborhood response to the pro-life prayer vigils was overwhelmingly positive.
The pro-lifers never saw Reddy except for one occasion, when two Spanish-speaking Saint Rose parishioners arrived at the mill to pray after the larger group had left. They reported that a woman they believed to be the doctor came out of the office and began yelling at them and threatening to call the police. One answered her in English, "Don't kill!" They continued praying and there were no further incidents. The Saint Rose parishioners were further inspired to continue their vigils after Father Giacomo Capoverdi of Priests for Life visited Saint Rose and accompanied them on February 2.
In early September, 2006, the pro-lifers arrived to find that Reddy was moving out of the Church Street office. A tenant in the apartment building behind the mill told them that one of the abortion clinic's employees had commented that they hadn't been getting much business. Saint Rose's pro-life group now joins other local Catholics praying on Friday mornings at the Clinica Medica abortion mill located at 1550 Broadway in Chula Vista. Abortions are currently performed there on Wednesdays and Fridays and Catholics pray there on both mornings.
Reddy moved her abortion business to 3633 Camino Del Rio South, Suite 103, in Mission Valley. The sign on her office door and the directory in the building lobby at that location both read "Perfect Skin Medical Spa." Abortions can be scheduled on weekday and Saturday mornings there, at 8:00 or 9:00. By mid-September, Catholic pro-life activist Sue Lopez had organized Saturday morning pro-life prayer vigils there. She reported the group's first turnaround of an expectant mother on Saturday, October 7, the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. Lopez also reported that on October 7, "the abortionist opened much earlier in an attempt to avoid us. Hopefully, that means that our prayerful presence is having a negative impact on her business."
A check of the Mission Valley building on Saturday, October 14, revealed that most of the other businesses there are closed on Saturdays, and that Reddy's office had taped a handmade sign stating, "Ob-Gyn Office, Suite 103" to the building directory. Another check of the building on Tuesday, October 17, during normal business hours revealed that Reddy's office was closed and no such sign was taped onto the directory. Reddy recently opened a skin care business in the Chula Vista Mall, located on Broadway, between H and I Streets. Her clinic there is also called "Perfect Skin Medical Spa" and signs announce its grand opening. The clinic brochure states that Perfect Skin's hours are Tuesday through Sunday, 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
AUXILIARY BISHOP SALVATORE CORDILEONE gave a talk titled "Natural Family Planning: A Priest's Perspective," at the Diocesan Pastoral Center on September 21. The event was sponsored by the office for marriage and family life. Many young couples were in the audience of about 80 people. "This is a topic that has been very near and dear to my heart for a very long time," Bishop Cordileone said. "The experience of our society ever since [Humanae Vitae was issued in 1968] and everything I've experienced in these years only continues to confirm for me the wisdom of the Church."
Bishop Cordileone said that he once heard a radio talk show host lament the horrors of partial-birth abortion and then ask, "How did we get here?" "I know how we got here," the bishop responded. "We got here by separating the procreative meaning of conjugal love from its unitive meaning. That is what the contraceptive mentality is. It separates procreation from the sexual act and so reduces it to something that is simply for pleasure. So it's logical that the proper place for the sexual act is not exclusively within marriage if it's something that's done for pleasure. And in fact, it means that all means are allowable for avoiding the consequences of unintended pregnancy, if that's what its main purpose is."
"Another consequence of this mentality is the erosion of the very meaning of marriage, beginning with the no-fault divorce laws eroding the understanding of marriage as a permanent commitment of life. And now people even want to redefine marriage.... If marriage can mean anything you want it to mean, it doesn't mean anything. So, not surprisingly, the contraceptive mentality also results in thwarting the unitive purpose of conjugal love. Paul VI saw this coming back in 1968 when he issued Humanae Vitae." In this document, Pope Paul VI warned that contraception could lead to men viewing women merely as sexual objects to be exploited.
Bishop Cordileone went on to present key concepts in Love and Responsibility (1960), written by Pope John Paul II when he was an archbishop. He elaborated on how love and marriage entail goodwill, selflessness, reciprocity and chastity.
"Chastity is what makes love possible," he said. "For the sake of their happiness, they [young people] need to know that they'll never be happy if they cannot live chastely."
The Bishop received a standing ovation.
MORE CORDILEONE. The auxiliary has recorded a statement in support of Proposition 85, which was mailed out to all pastors on October 16. On October 17, he led a "Culture of Life Holy Hour of Adoration" at the Pastoral Center chapel, organized by the diocesan office for social ministry and attended by about 130 people. "Everybody there was so into it and so fervently praying and singing," one organizer reported. "It was the most incredible thing I've ever heard."
AFTER THE SUNDAY, OCTOBER 4 LIFE CHAIN in Clairemont, organizer Sue Lopez reported in one of her local pro-life email newsletters, "A Gideon's Army of 300 people attended, traveling from as far as Valley Center, Alpine and Chula Vista. We were blessed with four priests -- Father Bill Kernan, Father Jim Boyd, Father Nabil Mouaness, Father Anthony Saroki -- along with Pastor Adlai Mack of Christians United in the Word of God.
"When the Life Chain began, a man who was selling newspapers in the center island saw us start the chain. He had 15 minutes before being picked up and wanted to spend it holding a sign. He took off his work shirt and joined us. Husband and wife members of Bound for Life, Eddie and April, wore their red t-shirts with "Life" spelled across the front. Eight or nine students from the newly opened John Paul the Great University attended as well as Kent Peters and Joseph Horejs from the office of social ministries of the diocese. Phil Magnan of Biblical Family Advocates with his wife Diane were participants along with many stalwart pro-life activists from around the county. The Life Chain was filled with children of all ages.... One family attended specifically because Grace Dulaney, a spokeswoman for Proposition 85, gave 'the most inspiring pro-life talk they'd ever heard" at their parish Sunday morning.'
"Life Chainers formed a cross at the intersection of Balboa and Genesee and spent the time in prayer. This was a very powerful witness to the public.... Most of all it was a powerful time of repentance and petition, begging God for an end to this horror, in communion with the other Life Chain participants in cities across the U.S. and Canada.
"About 80 people gathered at a nearby park for pizza donated by Jenny Rodriquez, parishioner of Saint Rose of Lima, and mother of five. We are very grateful to her for her generosity that made the afternoon so enjoyable for everyone!
"At the park, Pastor Mack led the group in a beautiful prayer and hymns. [He] urged us to live lives of holiness and follow the law of God -- the Ten Commandments. He was encouraged that Americans seem to be having a change of heart by the increase in the number of positive responses we received from the public during this year's Life Chain. He remembered that back when abortion was first legalized, the pro-lifers were complaining that there were no older people in the fight. Now he's one of the older ones and greatly encouraged to see all the youth involved. He warned us of the need for religious revival in this country to end abortion and ward off the judgment of God on our nation for this continued holocaust of the unborn.
"Bound 4 Life members Eddie and April connected with John Paul the Great University students who were interested in praying with them at abortion clinics. The Bound 4 Life prayer warriors put red tape over their mouths with the word LIFE written across it and pray silently in front of abortion clinics and the Federal Courthouse to represent voiceless unborn children. You probably saw Bound 4 Lifers on news reports of prayer vigils outside Terri Schiavo's room while she was being starved to death.
"Thank you to all who attended and to all who prayed at home. Thank you to God for 300 re-energized and recommitted pro-lifers in San Diego! If you have 2007 calendars, mark October 7th for next year."
IT'S DISSENT AS USUAL at the University of San Diego, where the Monsignor John R. Portman Chair in religious studies and theology department was filled, beginning this Fall semester, by Father Thomas O'Meara, a Dominican and professor emeritus at the University of Notre Dame.
During the question-and-answer period of a March 2003 lecture on lay and ordained ministries he gave at Newman Theological College in Edmonton, O'Meara said, "Looking at the world scene, I really think it's difficult to imagine that we won't have the ordination of married men or that we won't have the ordination of women to the deaconate,"
At the same lecture, O'Meara lamented the Vatican's 2001 kibosh of the feminine ordination discussion, and he opined that the shortage of vocations in the church necessitated the ordination of women. "But I have been wrong in the past," O'Meara said.
BETTER NEWS FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF SAN DIEGO. For the first time in more than 35 years, a traditional Latin Mass was offered in Founders Chapel on campus. Norbertine priest, Father Victor Szczurek offered the nuptial Mass and officiated the vows uniting Christen Tedrow and Colin Harrison.
Carl Horst, of the Latin Mass community at Holy Cross Mausoleum, attended the wedding and was overjoyed to see the traditional Mass return to the ornate Spanish Renaissance chapel. "The music for the Nuptial Solemn High Mass," he reported, "was a combination of polyphony and Gregorian chant. The Mass ordinary featured the surviving portions of the 'Missa Puer Natus Est' by Thomas Tallis. At communion, the polyphonic choir sang the motet 'O Sacrum Convivium' by William Byrd, and for the bride's visit to Our Lady, 'Ave Maria' by Robert Parsons."
After expressing gratitude toward Bishop Brom for his "gracious permission," to have the traditional Mass at Founders Chapel, Horst described the Mass as "both an edifying and sanctifying experience for all who attended."
BOB FILNER'S PRO-LIFE REPUBLICAN CHALLENGER in the November election is Blake Miles, an El Centro businessman and college math and statistics instructor. Long waits at the six ports of entry in the 51st congressional district were a key factor in Miles' decision to run. Miles portrays Filner as being ineffective in reducing the border wait and believes that long border waits adversely affect the family life and economic wellbeing of many constituents.
"I don't like having Bob Filner for a congressman," Miles added. "I don't like having somebody that believes in partial-birth abortion, that believes in homosexual marriage, representing me in Congress and representing this district. This district doesnvote that way. In 2000, 65 percent of his district in San Diego County voted for Proposition 22, for the protection of marriage, and 74 percent of his district in Imperial County did. Just last November, 60.3 percent of the district voted for Proposition 73, parental notification for a minor's abortion. Out of this state's 53 congressional districts, that makes it the ninth most conservative."
Miles describes himself as a pro-life, pro-family candidate. On the Family Values Voter Guide, his responses indicated that he supports school vouchers, legislation to protect the life of the unborn during all nine months of pregnancy, parental consent for abortions performed on minors, and restricting access to pornography in public libraries. He opposes abortion, with exceptions for rape, incest, and the life of the mother, human cloning, and he opposes embryonic and fetal stem cell tissue research.
Miles opposes homosexual marriage, granting domestic partnership benefits, homosexual adoptions, and legislation that could force organizations that oppose homosexuality to hire homosexuals. He did extensive precinct walking to help pass Proposition 22 in 2000, and he volunteered for 25 years with the Boy Scouts. Miles' only political experience is having run (unsuccessfully) for the 80th Assembly District in 2002. The California Pro-Life Council and pro-life Democrat Danny Ramirez, who ran against Filner and Assemblyman Juan Vargas in the June Democratic primary election, have endorsed him.
Miles' campaign flyer contrasts his positions with Filner's on preserving the Mount Soledad cross, keeping "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance, preserving the traditional definition of marriage and parental notification of a minor's abortion, all of which Filner has opposed. Filner's 14-year congressional voting record is rated very highly by pro-abortion and radical pro-homosexual advocacy organizations. On July 19, Filner voted against the transfer of the Mount Soledad Veterans Memorial to the federal government, a move intended to preserve the memorial's cross. "Bob was showing his true colors," Miles opined. "He wants to remove God from our society," Miles asserted.
Miles sees Filner as vulnerable because, in his primary battle with Vargas, Filner won only 51.4 percent. Asked why Vargas, who has a pro-abortion and pro-homosexual voting record similar to Filner's, got as many votes as he did, Miles reported, "On the streets of Imperial County, Juan was telling people at the door that he was pro-life. In his literature, he had a picture of himself when he was in [the seminary]."
The 51st congressional district is 53 percent Hispanic. Miles has lived in a mostly Hispanic community in the Imperial Valley for over 30 years. In 1992, he married into a family from Mexicali, speaks Spanish, has attended a Spanish-speaking congregation for 14 years, and currently runs his church's home visitation program for Spanish-speaking members. "I claim to be culturally Hispanic," Miles stated.
The Miles campaign has concentrated on distributing his flyers to households that usually vote Democratic. Miles reported that many local Democrats have expressed surprise when enlightened about Filner's voting record. By mid-October, his campaign had canvassed all of the district's Imperial County portion, and San Ysidro. He planned to cover the entire district by election time. To assist the campaign, call 760-353-4663, e-mail Blake_Miles@SBCGlobal.net, or visit blakemiles.com.