St. Vincent's was the only church in that area with a website:
January 28, 2003
St. Victor's Catholic Church is an urban community of faith located in the heart of a busy and heavily populated metropolis. We seek to follow the Lord and live the good news--the gospel--according to our ancient Catholic tradition. We welcome all, regardless of race, nationality, gender, socio-economic class or sexual orientation. We believe in the power of the gospel to transform our lives and society around us, even in the most cosmopolitan of settings. We are a city on a hill. We are the light of the world. We are the salt of the earth. We are located in West Hollywood and serve residents of that city and the surrounding areas of Los Angeles.
We are pleased to offer an outstanding music program to complement our liturgy. We provide more than 1,000 meals each month to the poor and homeless. We seek to serve the outcast of society, those marginalized through economic status, social disapproval or any kind of discrimination. God does not discriminate. We invite you to join us in our service to God and neighbor, especially those in our midst who are shunned by the rest of society. All are welcome at St. Victor's. Come home to St. Victor's.
Our society continually reinforces messages of exclusion and hatred toward gay and lesbian individuals. Unfortunately, this spirit of ridicule and judgment has also at times seeped into the Church. More than a few times we have heard shocking tales of gay and lesbian Catholics being excluded by priests, thrown out of their homes, fired for no cause and ridiculed in our Catholic schools. The pain caused by such ignorance can last a lifetime.
At St. Victor's, we extend an invitation to members of the gay and lesbian community to join us, just as they are, and to heal these wounds of shame. We encourage gay and lesbian Catholics to rediscover their birthright to membership in the People of God, a right bestowed by their baptism. Thus we all share in the dignity of being called sons and daughters of God
"We are subjected to every kind of hardship, but never distressed; we see no way out but we never despair; we are pursued but never cut off; knocked down, but still have some life in us; always we carry with us in our body the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus, too, may be visible in our body." —2 Cor. 4:8-10
visit the AIDS Memorial Chapel at St. Victor's
NEXT HIV MASS: SEPTEMBER 16, 2 p.m.
Q. If I decide to go to confession, do I have to confess things that I do not believe are sins?
A. You should only confess actions or lack of actions that your conscience tells you are wrong. If you are conflicted about something, talk to the priest about it. Tell him why you don't think it is wrong. He will help you work through your feelings and resolve any conflicts you may have. If you are not conflicted about something, or if your conscience is genuinely confortable with a perticular course of action, why should you bring it up, unless you are truly bothered by it? The confessional is not for debating; it is where you come with sincerity to reconcile yourself with God and the faith community.
Ah yes - Roger Taj Mahony. Now, there is a man who is more hypocritical than even Gray Davis. I have been wondering just when we would hear from the Reverend Roger on this matter. The silence has been deafening. Strange, one would have expected the Reverend Roger would be speaking up in support of his fellow bishop. You have to ask yourself where is the media in soliciting Roger's comments on this matter. Oh, I forgot. In LA, the LA Times is the media. Guess I won't hold my breath. Don't you just love it.
I have a feeling that more bishops are going to follow his lead. It wasn't too long ago that Catholics were happy to have Mahoney, because the guy he replaced was worse (hard to believe now). Well, it's time for Mahoney to move over and let the true apostles lead the Church against the culture of death. First step, cut away the dead wood!
There's more and notice how Davis has arrogantly rebuffed his Shepherd!!!
A price to pay, church has said
Ads to blast officials, like Gov. Davis, who back abortion rights.
http://www.sacbee.com/content/politics/story/5994653p-6951687c.html
By Jennifer Garza -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 a.m. PST Sunday, January 26, 2003
Bishop William K. Weigand last week gave Gov. Gray Davis a choice: Followthe teachings of the Roman Catholic Church or face religious consequences.
By doing so, the Sacramento-area bishop stepped to the forefront of an emerging national campaign to hold Catholic politicians accountable for their stance on abortion.
At a mass Wednesday commemorating the anniversary of Roe v. Wade -- the Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion in the United States -- Weigand called on the governor to "have the integrity" to stop receiving communion until he changes his position favoring abortion rights.
It's a challenge other Catholic politicians soon will face.
Over the next few months, the American Life League (www.all.org) one of the country's largest anti-abortion organizations, will target other Catholic politicians and make a similar ultimatum.
"A lot of Catholics have had it with these politicians," said Joe Giganti, director of media relations for the Virginia-based American Life League.
"They want to be Catholics on their own terms. They do not have the right or ability to do that. ... They are bringing scandal to the church."
In a campaign that Giganti says is the first of its kind in America, the group will sponsor ads in newspapers giving the names of Catholic politicians who favor abortion rights and their bishops. The group is calling on the bishops to deny these politicians communion until they change
their ways.
The first ad -- labeled the "Deadly Dozen" -- will focus on high-profile U.S. senators, including Ted Kennedy, Tom Daschle, John Kerry and Barbara Mikulski. The second phase of the campaign will target governors, and Davis will be at the top of that list, Giganti said.
Giganti's group had not contacted Weigand before his rebuke to Davis, but Giganti said "we were thrilled" with the bishop's remarks.
"We are very proud and very happy with what he's done. This is what we are asking bishops to do, to stand up for what is right," Giganti said. "By saying what he did, he became a leader on this issue ... a lot of people are watching to see what happens next."
Others, however, were not thrilled with the bishop's remarks.
"I think the church is trying to distract from its own problems," said Bob Mulholland, a senior adviser to the state Democratic Party. Mulholland, a Catholic, said Weigand and other church leaders should not start
reprimanding anyone publicly.
"The church has lost credibility with me," he said.
Weigand is leader of the 500,000 Catholics in a diocese that stretches from Solano County to the Oregon border. His remarks drew both praise and criticism from area Catholics.
"The bishop is doing what is right. We are very lucky to have him," said Mary Felton of Cameron Park, one of many who e-mailed The Bee applauding Weigand.
"I think the bishop should stop making moral judgments about other people and look at (the church's) own problems," wrote Sam Harrington of Sacramento, referring to the sex abuse scandal that has rocked the church the past year.
Some people felt the issue of communion is too personal to raise in public.
"This is something that should have been done between the bishop and the governor," said Mary Larkin of Clarksburg.
Communion is one of the most sacred rites in the Catholic faith. Catholic doctrine holds that the bread and wine received during the sacrament literally are changed into the body and the blood of Christ during the Mass.
Only those who are "free of sin" or at peace with God and themselves are to receive communion. In practice, parishioners generally are allowed to follow their own conscience in deciding whether to receive the sacrament.
"Cutting someone off from the sacraments is pretty drastic," said Ted Jalen, chair of the political science department at the University of Nevada, Las
Vegas, who has written extensively on religion and the politics of abortion.
"What you are essentially saying is that you are no longer a full-fledged member of the church."
Giganti's group is calling on bishops to deny the sacrament to Catholics who favor abortion rights. Weigand, however, did not go that far. He said he would not deny communion to Davis but instead wants the governor to abstain from receiving communion "of his own volition."
In an interview, Weigand said two incidents prompted him to challenge the governor during last week's Mass at the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament in downtown Sacramento.
The first was a run-in between Davis and Monsignor Edward Kavanagh, who oversees St. Patrick's orphanage in Sacramento. Shortly before Christmas, Kavanagh refused to let the governor distribute gifts to the children of St.
Patrick's unless he changed his views on abortion. Davis refused and the gifts later were given to the children at the Capitol. Weigand said he wanted to publicly show his support for Kavanagh.
A 19-page document from the Vatican, released Jan. 16, also influenced the bishop's decision to rebuke the governor. In the "Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith," the pope stated that Catholic politicians must uphold church teachings on bioethics and other issues guided by moral law,
such as euthanasia and abortion.
Weigand said one of the most important reasons he spoke out is that he wanted to address recent questions from parishioners about the Davis-Kavanagh incident. As the shepherd of the diocese, Weigand said, he needed to deal with these concerns.
"People wanted to know how the governor could remain a Catholic in good standing and still have those policies," said Weigand. "I said he can't be."
Weigand also said he has tried repeatedly over the past four years to talk to the governor about his abortion-rights policies but has been rebuffed. "I just want to sit down and talk with him and explain the teachings of the
church."
Longtime church watchers say Weigand's remarks to Davis are in accordance with church law but wonder how effective a national campaign challenging Catholic politicians will be.
"Bishops can tell people they're not living up to the requirements of their faith," said James Walter, director of the Bio-Ethics Institute at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. "But I think they stand a chance of a
backlash. ... People may think they crossed the line between separation of church and state."
This is what happened in 1989 after a San Diego bishop banned an assemblywoman from taking communion because she favored abortion rights.
Many disagreed with the bishop's action, and Democrat Lucy Killea went on to win an upset victory that has been credited to that reaction.
There may also be a difference of opinion about the governor within the Catholic Church. Davis and his wife regularly attend Good Shepherd Church in Beverly Hills. Good Shepherd pastor Colm O'Ryan did not return calls from
The Bee requesting an interview, nor did his bishop, Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony.
However, in an interview with San Francisco's Faith, a Catholic publication, O'Ryan said he was not bothered by Davis' abortion rights stance.
"Oh, no," he was quoted as saying in Faith's February 2003 edition. "He's a very private person. He's a very faithful Catholic. He and his wife come to Mass very faithfully when they are in town."
O'Ryan said that his own stance toward the governor was "judge not and you shall not be judged."
[Please note the following reasons why public excummunication is necessary and good:
Excommunication of 7 Women for Mock Ordination Is Confirmed
Move Necessary to Protect Doctrine and Guide Consciences, Says Vatican
zenit.org ZE03012703
Moreover, the Holy See considers that the "refusal to comply with the penal precept established by the Church" is "further aggravated by the fact that some of the above-mentioned women have been gathering round them members of the faithful, in open and divisive disobedience to the Roman Pontiff and diocesan bishops."
It adds: "In view of the gravity of this contumacy (cf. can. 1347 CIC), the penalty imposed is not only just, but also necessary, in order to protect true doctrine, to safeguard the communion and unity of the Church, and to guide consciences of the faithful." ]
you can write/call Father Colm O'Ryan, Davis' misguided pastor, and Cardinal Mahoney at:
Good Shepherd Catholic Church
Our Lady of the Angels Pastoral Region, Deanery 13
505 North Bedford Drive
Beverly Hills, CA 90210-3298
Voice phone: (310) 285-5425
Fax phone: (310) 285-5433
Website: NoParishURL.htm
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Mailing address and telephone number
Archdiocese of Los Angeles
3424 Wilshire Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90010-2241
213 637 7000
info@la-archdiocese.org