I Doubt If the San Francisco Archdiocese Has Anything to Worry About

2 years ago the City and County of San Francisco Board of Supervisors unanimously passed Resolution 168-08. This resolution "officially labeled the Catholic church's moral teachings on homosexuality as "insulting to all San Franciscans," "hateful," "defamatory," "insensitive" and "ignorant""

It"also accused the Vatican of being a "foreign country" meddling with and attempting to "negatively influence (San Francisco's) existing and established customs.""

On the Catholic Church's teaching on homosexuality: "Such hateful and discriminatory rhetoric is both insulting and callous, and shows a level of insensitivity and ignorance which has seldom been encountered by this Board of Supervisors."

"The board's resolution urged the city's local archbishop and the Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of San Francisco to defy the Vatican's instructions, concluding with a spiteful reminder that the church authority that issued the ban was known 100 years ago as "The Holy Office of the Inquisition.""

So much for liberal tolerance. Or free speech.

& just as expected, a California Court labelled the official resolution by the Board the fault of the Catholic Church. US District Court Judge Marilyn Hall Patel wrote "The Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith provoked this debate, indeed may have invited entanglement" for instructing Catholic politicians on how to vote. This court does not find that our case law requires political bodies to remain silent in the face of provocation."

Basically she is saying that the Catholic Church has no right to ask Catholic politicians to be faithful to the Church's teachings. But a government organization can interfere with the "free expression" of a faith when it doesn't like what the Church teaches. (Canada hasn't been much better. Catholicism - A Hate Crime in Canada?) & if you dare try to exercise your free speech rights as a reult of your faith. . . .

"Richard Thompson, president and chief counsel of the Thomas More Law Center, which is appealing the District Court decision on behalf of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights and two Catholic residents of San Francisco, disagrees with Patel's decision."

He said: "Sadly, the ruling itself clearly exhibited hostility toward the Catholic Church," he said in a statement. "The judge in her written decision held that the Church 'provoked the debate' by publicly expressing its moral teaching, and that by passing the resolution the City responded 'responsibly' to all of the 'terrible' things the Church was saying."

Thomas More attorney Robert Muise, who presented the arguements for the appeal before the (infamous) Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals said: "Our Constitution plainly forbids hostility toward any religion, including the Catholic faith. In total disregard for the Constitution, homosexual activists in positions of authority in San Francisco have abused their authority as government officials and misused the instruments of the government to attack the Catholic Church. Their egregious abuse of power has now the backing of a lower federal court. … Unfortunately, all too often we see a double standard being applied in Establishment Clause cases."

I suspect that the Archdiocese of San Francisco won't to have to worry about being included in that resolution, or being mistaken for being Catholic. The California Catholic Daily reported that: "The North American Interfaith Network will hold its NAINConnect 2008 conference in San Francisco next week. The July 24-28 conference, which will celebrate NAIN’s 20th anniversary, will feature a banquet hosted by the San Francisco Interfaith Council at St. Mary’s Cathedral in San Francisco on July 27. Workshops will be held at Fromm Center at the University of San Francisco, a Jesuit institution."

2 of the presenters, Susan Cook and Peter Laurence, are members of the Urantia Fellowship. They will be speaking from that persective. "The Fellowship promotes The Urantia Book, which, according to the Fellowship’s web site, “revitalizes the archetypes of Judeo-Christian religion by providing extensive accounts of the stories of Adam and Eve, the rebellion of Lucifer, the evolution of Judeo-Christian monotheism, and a spiritually compelling account of the life and teachings of Jesus.“"

"The Urantia Book offers a different twist to the Incarnation. Because God is infinite, says the Urantia Book, he “shuts him[self] off from all direct personal communication with finite material beings and other lowly created intelligences.” To make contact with his creatures, God uses intermediaries, such as the “Paradise Sons of God,” who can partake of the “very flesh and blood of the planetary races, becoming one of you and one with you; thus, as it were, God becomes man, as occurred in the bestowal of Michael, who was called interchangeably the Son of God and the Son of Man.” This “Michael” is “the God-man of Nebadon, Jesus of Nazareth and Michael of Salvington,” the sovereign of the universe to which Urantia belongs."

"Another workshop presenter will be William Swing, who, since his retirement as Episcopal bishop of California, has been directing the United Religions Initiative. The URI’s purpose, according to its charter, is "to promote enduring, daily interfaith cooperation" and to "end religiously motivated violence."" FYI: "URI has included Wiccans and Druids among its membership."

I would suggest that Papa Benedetto replace Archbishop George H. Niederauer with Archbishop John Clayton Nienstedt (Archdiocese of St. Paul & Minneapolis). The only problem. Archbishop Nienstedt just started cleaning up the messes in the St. Paul Archdiocese. He has a long way to go there before the Pope could even consider moving him.

Sources:

Major U.S. city officially condemns Catholic Church
Wiccans, Druids and Catholics (H/T for this source Catholic Caveman)