NORTH COAST CATHOLIC The newspaper of the Diocese of Santa Rosa • www.srdiocese.org • OCTOBER 2015 Diocesan Educators Gather Noticias en español, pgs. 20-21 to Form Catholic Identity Santa Rosa—On August 28, as they have for a number of remember three saints: St. Augustine, whose feast it was; St. years, Catholic teachers from around the diocese gathered Monica, whose feast fell the day before; and St. Ambrose, at Cardinal Newman High School for a diocesan in-service Augustine’s teacher. day. Once again the theme was Catholic identity and how The three words were influence, responsibility, and to better express that on our parochial campuses. prayer. Approximately 300 attendees came from parishes as far Teachers, he noted, are among the top five most influen- away as Ukiah and St. Helena, representing 15 schools. tial of professions. He said, “you touch the lives of young The annual event opened as always with a Mass celebrat- people in ways that others” don’t. ed by Bishop Robert F. Vasa. The Divine Liturgy was con- And because you are so influential—particularly in a celebrated by CNHS chaplain Fr. S. Moses Brown, CNHS Catholic school regarding the Catholic faith—that carries theology teacher Fr. Abel Mena, and Fr. Jaime Robledo, a with it a tremendous responsibility. You cannot have the A Short Report professor at St. Patrick Seminary in Menlo Park who gave influence and eschew the responsibility.” the day’s second talk. And because of that responsibility, “in order to meet— In his homily, His Excellency encouraged teachers to even remotely, adequately—the weight of that respon- from the World make three words the foundation of their work and to (see Catholic Identity, p. 11) Meeting of Families Pope Reforms by Brian O’Neel Philadelphia—I write this on the eve of the Pope’s coming the United States. People here are very excited about his arrival. “Get your Pope on!” proclaimed the marquee of a Annulment Process nursery. The band that performed at the fall festival at the Vatican City (Vatican Radio)—Pope Francis issued two In comments published in the National Catholic Regis- Methodist church next to where my family lives played an apostolic letters motu proprio (i.e., “on his own initiative;” ter, well-respected Catholic apologist and blogger Jimmy original song. Its lyrics were in total: “The Pope, the Pope, these types of documents have the full force of law) on Aikin wrote, “He did so out of a desire to make the annul- the Pope is coming to town.” People are selling “Pope on September 8, by which he introduced reforms to the ment process more efficient. In many parts of the world, a rope” soap. (No, I didn’t buy one.) They’re also selling legal structures of the Church that deal with questions the process has been notoriously slow and difficult. In Francis bobblehead dolls. (Of course I bought one! Are of marital nullity. One of the motu proprios, known by its some countries, it could be practically impossible to get you kidding?) Every newspaper has wall-to-wall coverage Latin title, Mitis Iudex Dominus Iesus (“The Lord Jesus, a Church court to even hear one’s case, and if they did of the papal visit. Clement Judge”) reforms the Code of Canon Law (CIC) take it, it could take many years to get a ruling. (see World Meeting, p. 4) governing the Latin Church, while the other, Mitis et “The new documents seek to make the annulment Misericors Iesus (“Clement and Merciful Jesus”) reforms process more accessible and less time-consuming. the Code of Canon Law for Oriental Churches (CCEO). “They do not require the process to be free of charge The changes become effective on December 8, 2015. (dioceses need to pay the people who work on these cases, According to the prefatory remarks attached to both and in some cases that means paying a fee to partially Letters, the reforms are the result of an expert group cover the costs), but the procedural norms attached to Valley Fire appointed to study the current state of law and practice in the documents do call for the costs to be minimized.” the Church as far as marriage law is concerned. The Holy Among the major changes, as listed in the introduction Father goes on in the preface to explain that the reforms to Mitis Iudex Dominus Iesus, are as follows: Devastates are guided by seven specific criteria. (see Annulment Process, p. 23) Lives, Fr. Devereaux Honored Not Hope or Faith Special to NCC by Rich Lamm for Promoting Affordable Housing, Social Justice The news of another fire in the county left me frustrated, by NCC Staff but not surprised. Lake County had just gotten over two horrendous On August 20 at the fires, the Rocky and Jerusalem Fires. Both had scorched Vintners Inn in Santa thousands of acres and displaced hundreds of people. Rosa, the Rev. Dr. Sir Once these fires were contained there was a glimmer of Thomas Devereaux a hope that the fire season in Lake County was over, which Michigan native who has is why the news of a new fire on Cobb Mountain pushed served here all his priest- a sigh out of my chest with the words, “Not again.” The ly life, received recogni- optimist in me thought it would be contained quickly, but tion for 47 years of social the realist knew that the dry conditions and high winds ministry within diocese were going to push the fire. and the Bay Area. Unfortunately the latter came true. The evening was The fire in Cobb, quickly named the Valley Fire, spread Fr. Devereaux with friends and EAH Housing staff (left to hosted by EAH, a non- at an incredible rate. As the winds grew stronger, the right): Mary Murtagh, Juan Chavez, Fr. Thomas Devereaux, profit housing corpora- blue skies over Cobb, Kelseyville, and Lakeport quickly Al Bonnett, Felix AuYeung tion based in Marin. Its darkened with a twilight of brownish-orange plumes (see Fr. Devereaux Honored, p. 10) (see Valley Fire, p. 24) It’s About Family Bad Break for As the World Meeting of Families just concluded in Phila- feasts such as Christmas, New Year’s, Ash Wednesday, Holy delphia, it is good for each of us to reflect upon the impor- Week, and Easter were always centered on attendance at Baker from tance of striving to live a faith filled family life. The cat- Holy Mass. Prayer was always said prior to every meal. The echesis on the family Pope Francis has given at his weekly family Rosary, though admittedly not always rejoiced in by audiences, his visit to the East Coast to participate in the impatient children, was a nightly event. Coupled with the World Meeting of Families, and the upcoming Synod on Rosary was the nightly prayer for vocations as scripted by Colorado Court the Family are all signs to us of the centrality of the family. the Serra Club. I can assure you my family would never qualify as In those days we regularly went to Saturday night Bene- Denver (CNA/EWTN News)—A Colorado baker has the Family of the Year. And yet in the diction and Confession, and so I grew lamented the Colorado Court of Appeals’ ruling handed context of family, I was provided an up with a lived appreciation for both. down August 13 that he illegally discriminated when he environment that aided me to hear and These things were so much a part of declined to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple. respond to God’s call to become a priest. life that we children did not see them Jack Phillips of Masterpiece Cakeshop said he believes It is because of this setting that I am as additions or adjuncts to life but as the ruling means the Court created an exception to the First sometimes tempted to respond to the part and parcel of life itself. Despite this Amendment that wrongly affects his family-run bakery. question about “my” vocation by simply immersion in faith, our family would “You’re entitled to believe, but not entitled to act on those saying, “I did not choose it, it chose me.” never be described as exceedingly pious beliefs,” he said in a statement. While that may sound a little too pas- or even holy. Again, faith was so deeply “You’re not free if your beliefs are confined to your sive, it conveys the truth. integrated into the fabric of life that it mind,” Phillips objected. “What makes America unique is I can recall very early in my religious was not seen or even noticed as some- our freedom to peacefully live out these beliefs.” upbringing the utilization of a post- From the Bishop thing extraordinary. He had appealed the decision of Colorado’s Civil Rights Communion prayer in the old Missals. Sadly it is no longer the norm for Commission that he violated the state’s anti-discrimination I later discovered it was a variation on a children to grow up in stable two-parent law when he declined to create a wedding cake for a same- section of Psalm 116: “How shall I repay Bishop Robert F. Vasa is homes. It is not enough for us to stand sex couple. the Lord for all that He has given to me? I the sixth bishop of the by and express our sadness over the pro- In 2012, he had declined a request from two men who Diocese of Santa Rosa. will take up the cup of salvation and I will gressive demise of the family.