2010 articles
Archaeologist invites believers to Jordan
BETHANY BEYOND THE JORDAN, Jordan – The dignitaries drove through the underbrush in a caravan of 13 golf carts. In the third vehicle was Pope Benedict XVI. He was taking the path of countless pilgrims before him in coming [ more... ]San Francisco resolution is unconstitutional
A San Francisco Board of Supervisors resolution attacking the Catholic Church over adoption was illegal state interference in a religious matter, a Catholic advocacy group told a federal appeals court. The 2006 resolution was [ more... ]Women religious honored for ministry
Women Religious of San Mateo County’s Deanery 10 were honored at St. Matthew Parish in San Mateo Dec. 13, a date coinciding with the annual second collection for retired religious taken at most parishes across the nation. [ more... ]U.S. Franciscan detained on Cairo street
Franciscan Father Louis Vitale’s recent travel to the West Bank and Cairo was not a journey for the fainthearted. He was tear gassed outside a Palestinian olive grove and detained on the streets of Cairo, Egypt, by a [ more... ]Ministering to deaf Catholics
Father Paul Zirimenya is chaplain to the Deaf Community in the Archdiocese of San Francisco. The community consists of more than 3,000 families. Father Zirimenya describes his ministry, and the needs and concerns of Deaf [ more... ]Walk for Life expects 35,000 people
Walk for Life West Coast organizers expect 35,000 people from the San Francisco Bay Area and elsewhere in northern California and beyond to participate in the annual rally and walk set for Jan. 23. San Francisco Archbishop [ more... ]Born in tragedy
At the end of Mass on a Sunday last October in Haiti, something took place that I had never seen before on an altar. A few of the worshipers gathered for the 7 a.m. service at Notre Dame Cathedral in Cap-Hatien, Haiti’s [ more... ]Parents’ deportations divide parish family
Gilbert Mejia and his sister Helen thought the end of the world had arrived when they said goodbye to their parents and Dulce, their four-year-old sister, at San Francisco International Airport in November. The two [ more... ]New Sisters’ Council appointed
Archbishop George Niederauer recently approved appointments to the new Sisters’ Council headed by Presentation Sister Rosina Conrotto, director of the Archdiocesan Office for Women Religious. “The council will be a [ more... ]Walk for Life affirms dignity of life
Thousands of people gathered in San Francisco Jan. 23 for the 6th annual Walk for Life West Coast, a pro-life rally and walk that took place this year beneath grey clouds and intermittent rain. The cold and damp weather [ more... ]The Memory Project
Art students at Mercy High School, Burlingame, have joined the Memory Project, a nationwide initiative in which advanced high school art students create original portraits for children living in orphanages around the world. [ more... ]Inside the epic prep sports rivalry
When 4,500 screaming basketball fans instantly cut the cheers and the chatter as someone starts the traditional prayer of the Christian Brothers: “Let us remember we are in the holy presence of God,” it’s clear [ more... ]Testimony ends in same-sex marriage trial
The “rule of opposites” has been a virtually unwavering principle of marriage throughout human history, an expert witness defending California’s ban on same-sex marriage testified in federal court in San [ more... ]Volunteer shop with a big heart closes
The Primrose House of Values in Burlingame will be closing its doors Feb. 15, after a long run of 40 years. The facility has been a work of the Catholic Social Service Auxiliary of San Mateo County, now Catholic Charities [ more... ]Educators’ conference tackles teaching
An Archdiocesan Educators Conference, sponsored annually by the Department of Catholic Schools of the Archdiocese of San Francisco, was held at San Mateo’s Junipero Serra High School Feb. 5, with national speakers [ more... ]Baseball prospect trades in uniform
When top Oakland A’s baseball prospect Grant Desme capped off a stellar minor league season by announcing his January retirement to join the priesthood, head-scratching reporters across the country clamored to ask him why. [ more... ]Lent 2010
Following are guidelines for Lenten abstinence and fasting which began on Ash Wednesday. Everyone fourteen years of age and older is bound to abstain from meat on Ash Wednesday and the Fridays of Lent including Good Friday. [ more... ]Is repression on the rise in Vietnam?
Last May, parishioners at rural Dong Chiem Parish in Vietnam raised a tall, concrete cross on a nearby hilltop long revered as a cemetery. The local civil authorities weren’t pleased. On Jan. 6, at three in the [ more... ]Spirituality for Life
The philosopher, David Hume, once made a distinction between something he called as genuine virtues and something he termed monkish virtues. Genuine virtues, he said, were those qualities inside us that are useful to others and [ more... ]Parishes adopt Operation Rice Bowl
Spurred by Lent and daily cries of hunger from the poor in countries around the world, more than two dozen parishes, schools and religious education programs in the Archdiocese of San Francisco have signed on to participate in [ more... ]Construction begins for school and center
Construction of the new St. Mary Chinese School in San Francisco began to take solid form in February with the arrival of a large steel shipment and the raising of columns and beams. St. Mary’s Chinese School and Center [ more... ]The Catholic way of sports
From the beginning, athletics and sports have been intertwined with Catholic culture and thought. Think of St. Paul’s letters, or former Polish high school soccer goalie Karol Wojtyla’s – Pope John Paul [ more... ]Anglicans entering Church should blend well
KINGSTON, Ontario (CNS) – Groups of Anglicans entering into communion with the Catholic Church will not absorbed the way “a teaspoon of sugar would be lost in a gallon of coffee,” said Cardinal William Levada, [ more... ]Young Men’s Institute hopes for resurgence
The clean, crisp ads have been showing up in Catholic San Francisco and Catholic diocesan papers across the state. “The YMI … Join the Brotherhood,” the ad proclaims, reminding readers of the 127 years [ more... ]Vatican defends efforts to curb abuse
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Amid new disclosures of priestly sex abuse cases in Europe, including one in the German archdiocese formerly headed by Pope Benedict XVI, the Vatican strongly defended the Church’s response to [ more... ]Mercy Sister reflects on her 30 years in spiritual direction
A man came to see Sister Mary Ann Scofield in her office at Mercy Center in Burlingame one recent afternoon with a puzzled expression. A frequent visitor, he sat down on the chair opposite her and said, “Something odd [ more... ]Archdiocese joins other faiths in efforts to end global poverty
Giving just $10 to buy a mosquito bed net and rudimentary health care education for a family of four in Mali is one of four easy ways that youth and young adults can help reduce poverty and disease in developing countries, say [ more... ]April high school musicals
The April high school musical line-up features both classic and freshly written music and choreography centered around universal themes: love and death, revenge, the lust for power, dissolution and despair. All three of [ more... ]Pope's Urbi et Orbi Message
For Spanish please click here Dear Brothers and Sisters, I bring you the Easter proclamation in these words of the Liturgy, which echo the ancient hymn of praise sung by the Israelites after crossing the Red Sea. It is [ more... ]San Mateo parishes form jobs net
When a group of Peninsula parishes started a job support network for their unemployed neighbors, they didn’t think they’d be working with their neighbors’ children, too. The volunteer network opened for [ more... ]Ways to encourage children to pray
The little ones at Ecole Notre Dame des Victoires ask for a “chapel pass” to visit the downtown San Francisco elementary school’s chapel during lunch and recess. The chapel, converted in 2008 from the old [ more... ]Holy Names Sister leaves legacy of service
God opened the door to service as an educator and Holy Names Sister Marianne Viani is happy to admit she walked right through it. “God called me to this and I listened and responded,” said Sister Marianne, a [ more... ]Women religious, archbishop and bishop meet for prayer
San Francisco Archbishop George Niederauer and Auxiliary Bishop William Justice met with 131 women religious representing 27 congregations for an afternoon of prayer and conversation March 30 at St. Paul Parish in San Francisco. [ more... ]A parish first Communion class, 500-strong
Saturday morning first Communion instruction at St. Francis of Assisi Parish in East Palo Alto is too big by far to fit into one room. It takes up the sanctuary, the parish hall, a room off the entrance, the choir loft and a [ more... ]A conversation with Bishop González
José Leopoldo González, is the auxiliary bishop of Guadalajara and the current secretary general of the Latin American Council of Bishops (CELAM). The 55-year-old prelate visited the Bay Area this past April 18 to [ more... ]The California Cannabis Initiative
The California Cannabis Initiative (CCI), also known as Tax Cannabis 2010, has qualified for the November ballot in California. If passed, CCI would decriminalize certain marijuana offenses which currently generate a fine, [ more... ]Abortion in U.S. a $1 billion industry
Abortion in the United States has become a $1 billion-a-year industry quietly fostered over 40 years by a climate that is allowing related, morally suspect commercial offshoots to develop in pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and life [ more... ]Anger prevails despite changes
WASHINGTON (CNS) – There is a distinctly different level of anger from the public directed toward the Catholic Church over the sexual abuse of minors than toward other organizations whose leaders commit similar crimes, [ more... ]Unity doesn't mean artificial harmony
NOTRE DAME, Ind. (CNS) – Unlike efforts at national unity in the United States, Church unity does not depend on “bringing people’s diversity into something of an artificial harmony that seeks to minimize the [ more... ]Sisters live their faith through sign language
Fridays are the happiest days for Jazmín and Nancy López, two sisters from Mexico ages 12 and 9 respectively, who live in Menlo Park. Not only because it’s the beginning of the weekend but because they [ more... ]Seminarian gave up success to answer call
The call, when it came, was unmistakable. Transitional Deacon Wade Bjerke had to leave Hollywood to follow Christ. Today, about a decade later, Bjerke, at age 54, is about to become one of the newest priests of the [ more... ]Intellectual tradition topic of seminar
What does the Catholic faith have to do with teaching physics or English? The Vatican’s astronomer will be one of those speaking to the question at the Substantially Catholic seminar June 8-10 at Marin Catholic High [ more... ]A call inspired and nourished by faith
David Schunk was a sophomore at the University of Northern Colorado when the example of a parish priest first led him to consider the priesthood. “Just seeing Father Greg Ames’ influence in the lives of the [ more... ]What is faithful Catholic media?
On June 3 at the Catholic Media Association convention in New Orleans, Bishop Gabino Zavala, auxiliary bishop of Los Angeles and chairman of the U.S. Bishops' Communications Committee, gave the following talk on what it means to [ more... ]Catholic SF garners honors once again
For the 11th consecutive year, Catholic San Francisco won honors in the annual Catholic Press Association awards competition announced June 4 at the annual Catholic Media Convocation, held this year in New Orleans. The 2010 [ more... ]Faithful invited to priesthood ordination
Archbishop George H. Niederauer will ordain transitional Deacons Wade Bjerke and David Shunk to the priesthood June 26 at St. Mary’s Cathedral, Gough St. at Geary Blvd. in San Francisco at 10 a.m. Archbishop Niederauer has [ more... ]Msgr. Harry Schlitt retires
On June 30, Msgr. Harry Schlitt completes a 12-year term as Vicar for Administration and Moderator of the Curia for the Archdiocese of San Francisco as he turns over the assignment to his successor, Father James Tarantino, [ more... ]Decision pending on future of marriage
The message delivered to Federal District Judge Vaughn Walker by Prop 8 proponents during the closing arguments at the trial to redefine marriage in San Francisco was clear. The voters have overwhelming authority and rational [ more... ]Saying Yes to the Lord’s Call
San Francisco Archbishop George H. Niederauer delivered the following homily at the Mass of Ordination to the Priesthood at St. Mary’s Cathedral June 26, 2010. In the Gospel reading that Wade and David have chosen for [ more... ]ICA reports progress
Catholic families who had ruled out a Catholic high school education for their daughters are coming back to Immaculate Conception Academy this year – drawn by the new Cristo Rey jobs-based financial model, school officials [ more... ]2010 Respect Life essay contest
The Archdiocese of San Francisco’s annual Respect Life Essay Contest has gone green! With ecology and all things “green” constantly in the news, we felt it was time to ask our students to look at the [ more... ]Schools must meet new standards
Catholic elementary and secondary schools will be required to meet new and more detailed standards showing they are educating students in the Catholic faith and tradition, as well as nurturing the faith of the total school [ more... ]Pro-lifers fear censorship
One of the most high profile pro-abortion groups in California is taking aim at California’s pro-life crisis pregnancy centers, issuing a report that accuses them of “deceptive practices.” The group, [ more... ]
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