Angelus News | March 13, 2020 | Vol. 5 No. 10

ANGELUS 

AGAINST THE STREAM 

Keeping kids safe in the 

new digital world 

March 13, 2020 Vol. 5 No. 10

Join the Archdiocese of Los Angeles’ Official 

Pilgrimage to the Holy Land 

11 Days: October 26 to November 5, 2020 

Under the Spiritual 

Leadership of 

Archbishop José H. Gomez 

along with: 

Pilgrimage to the Holy Land 

including Bethlehem, Sea of Galilee, 

Nazareth, Jerusalem, and much more! 

$4,299 from Los Angeles (LAX) 

plus $195 in tips 

Bishop 

David 

O’Connell 

Msgr. 

Antonio 

Cacciapuoti 

Space is limited – sign up today! 

Fr. 

James 

Anguiano 

Fr. 

Parker 

Sandoval 

Download a brochure and registration form today at 

GoCatholicTravel.com/20033 

Contact: Mrs. Judy Brooks, Director 

Archbishop’s Office for Special Services 

(213) 637-7551 or pilgrimage@la-archdiocese.org 

CST#: 2018667–40

Contents 

Archbishop Gomez 3 

World, Nation, and Local News 4-6 

LA Catholic Events 7 

Scott Hahn on Scripture 8 

Father Rolheiser 9 

Kobe memorial gives Bishop Mora athletes surprise inspiration 14 

30 years later, an LMU star gets his statue 18 

Who’s missing on the Vatican’s new abuse task force 20 

Mike Aquilina on the worst of the ‘Four Last Things’ 22 

Why single-payer health care is a bad idea 24 

Why spiritual self-care is a good idea 26 

Heather King’s drive for Bach 28 

t 

3 

ON THE COVER 

With hundreds of streaming options available today, 

Catholic families are having a hard time making 

sure their media content stays clean. Angelus asked 

Sophia Martinson to survey the best help out there 

for parents. She reports on her results beginning on 

Page 10. 

IMAGE: 

Pope Francis is pictured on a video monitor in St. Peter’s Square as he leads 

the Angelus from his library in the Apostolic Palace at the Vatican March 8. As a 

precaution to avoid spreading the coronavirus, the pope’s Sunday Angelus was 

broadcast on television and displayed on monitors in St. Peter’s Square. After 

leading the Angelus through video, the pope said he wanted to see the crowd in 

“real time” and came to the window of his studio to greet people in the square. 

SHUTTERSTOCK 

CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE/PAUL HARING 

March 13, 2020 • ANGELUS • 1

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March 13, 2020 

Vol. 5 • No. 10 

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2 • ANGELUS • March 13, 2020 

POPE WATCH 

Laudato Si' Week 

Pope Francis is calling on Catholics 

to participate in Laudato Si' Week in 

May to encourage care for our common 

home. 

“I renew my urgent call to respond 

to the ecological crisis. The cry of the 

earth and the cry of the poor cannot 

wait anywhere,” Pope Francis said in a 

video message published March 3. 

The video shows young protesters 

yelling, “Climate justice, now” juxtaposed 

with images of wildlife in Africa 

and a beached whale. 

Laudato Si' Week, sponsored by the 

Dicastery for Integral Human Development, 

will take place May 16-24. 

The date marks the 5th anniversary 

of the publication of Pope Francis’ 

encyclical on integral human ecology. 

The Global Catholic Climate Movement 

and Renova + are facilitating 

the campaign. 

The Laudato Si' Week website 

recommends Catholics participate 

by engaging elected representatives, 

conducting an energy audit, or divesting 

in fossil fuels. It also recommends 

the option to “represent your commitment 

with a symbolic gesture,” 

such as planting a tree or attending a 

climate strike. 

Laudato Si', which means “Praise be 

to You,” was published June 18, 2015, 

and was dated May 24. Pope Francis 

took the name for the encyclical 

from St. Francis of Assisi’s medieval 

Italian prayer “Canticle of the Sun,” 

which praises God through elements 

of creation such as “Brother Sun,” 

“Sister Moon,” and “our sister Mother 

Earth.” 

The encyclical argues that it is not 

possible to effectively care for the 

environment without first working to 

defend human life. 

It states that it is “clearly inconsistent” 

to combat the trafficking of 

endangered species while remaining 

indifferent toward the trafficking 

of persons, to the poor, and to the 

decision of many “to destroy another 

human being deemed unwanted.” 

Pope Francis also highlighted that 

concern for the protection of nature is 

“incompatible with the justification of 

abortion.” 

“How can we genuinely teach the 

importance of concern for other vulnerable 

beings, however troublesome 

or inconvenient they may be, if we 

fail to protect a human embryo, even 

when its presence is uncomfortable 

and creates difficulties?” he asked. 

The pope also addressed the highly 

debated topic of population control, a 

proposed solution to problems stemming 

from poverty, and maintaining a 

sustainable consumption of the earth’s 

resources. 

“Instead of resolving the problems 

of the poor and thinking of how the 

world can be different, some can only 

propose a reduction in the birthrate,” 

Pope Francis lamented. 

He denounced the fact that developing 

countries often receive pressure 

from international organizations that 

make economic assistance “contingent 

on certain policies of ‘reproductive 

health.’ ” 

“In the face of the so-called culture 

of death, the family is the heart of the 

culture of life,” Pope Francis wrote in 

Laudato Si'. “The urgent challenge to 

protect our common home includes 

a concern to bring the whole human 

family together … for we know that 

things can change,” he said. 

Reporting courtesy of Catholic News 

Agency Rome correspondent Courtney 

Mares. 

Papal Prayer Intention for March: We pray that the Church in China may 

persevere in its faithfulness to the Gospel and grow in unity.

NEW WORLD 

OF FAITH 

BY ARCHBISHOP JOSÉ H. GOMEZ 

The virtue that confronts fear 

Jesus Christ never promised it would 

be easy to follow him. In fact, just the 

opposite. He said the path would be 

narrow, that he was sending us out 

like sheep among wolves. 

The first Christians took this teaching 

to heart. “It is necessary for us to 

undergo many hardships to enter the 

kingdom of God,” they would say. 

So far, during my columns in Lent, I 

have spoken about the cardinal virtues 

of prudence and justice. 

This week we turn to fortitude, the 

moral virtue that strengthens our souls 

so that we are capable of meeting our 

fears, overcoming our weariness, and 

making the sacrifices that must be 

made for us to carry out our Christian 

duties in the face of hardships and 

opposition. 

Several years ago I wrote a book 

about fortitude in the priesthood, 

called “Men of Brave Heart” (Our 

Sunday Visitor, 2009). I am convinced 

that this is a virtue that all of us 

must cultivate in a world that is often 

opposed to our Christian values. 

Jesus said that the world would hate 

Christians, just as the world hated 

him. 

Millions today still face hatred 

expressed in violence, persecution, 

martyrdom. 

In our secular society, hatred is less 

dramatic, but no less real. Our “martyrdom” 

can often take the form of 

being mocked or marginalized socially 

and politically. Christians cannot 

work in certain professions or carry 

out certain ministries without being 

intimidated or facing moral conflicts 

because of their beliefs. 

In our daily lives, we need fortitude 

to stand up for Jesus Christ and 

the values of his Gospel, to fight for 

what is true and good in society, to 

go against the grain of a culture that 

denies the sanctity and dignity of 

human life. 

Having fortitude does not mean that 

we have no fear. 

It is natural to be afraid when we 

are threatened with injury or evil, or 

“lesser” fears like the fear of being embarrassed 

or humiliated or losing our 

livelihoods or professional standing 

for living the Gospel. 

Fortitude does not take away these 

fears, but fortitude helps us not to be 

ruled by fear — not to allow fear to 

cause us to do something wrong or to 

prevent us from doing what is right. 

Through fortitude we can resist 

temptations and overcome our fears, 

and we can have the courage to seek 

God’s will before all else. 

We exercise fortitude by an act of the 

will. We may not think we have the 

strength. And that is absolutely true, 

we do not. 

To practice fortitude means we need 

humility, knowing that our strength 

lies in the Lord. Without him we can 

do nothing. But through his grace, he 

will empower us with the strength for 

everything. 

Jesus is our model in fortitude as he 

is in every other virtue. In his humanity 

he suffered agonizing fear in the 

Garden of Gethsemane, but he offered 

himself to God: “Father, if you are 

willing, take this cup away from me; 

but not my will, but yours be done.” 

Following our Lord’s example of 

fortitude means that when we face 

struggles and trials, we need to ask 

God for his grace and we need to 

make up our minds to do what is 

right, despite our fears. 

To grow in this virtue, the spiritual 

masters encourage us to reflect often 

on Jesus’ passion and on the sorrows 

of the Blessed Virgin Mary. These 

give us concrete examples and inspiration 

to draw from as we try to stay firm 

and resolved in seeking God’s will. 

As with all the virtues, fortitude 

grows by practice. 

If we think about it, we will find 

opportunities every day to make little 

acts of courage: defending the Church 

when we hear her being criticized or 

ridiculed, refusing to engage in gossip, 

speaking up when we see something 

that is unethical or not right in our 

workplace or in our communities. 

Of course, our acts of fortitude must 

always be informed by prudence. We 

want to show our bravery always in 

ways that are charitable and effective 

in bringing people closer to God. 

We grow in fortitude also through 

practicing self-denial and learning to 

accept the little irritations, inconveniences, 

and sufferings we experience 

every day, from aches and pains, to 

sickness and discomforts, to feelings of 

being insulted or not appreciated. 

God wants to purify and strengthen 

us through these experiences, so we 

need to pray for the grace to receive 

these little trials without complaining 

or bitterness. 

We need to pray every day that God 

will increase our courage and help us 

to be courageous in his service, especially 

when things are hard. If we do, 

in time, we can know what the saints 

know: that God’s grace is sufficient for 

us in our weakness, and that we can 

conquer through Jesus, who loves us. 

Pray for me and I will pray for you. 

And let us ask our Blessed Mother 

Mary to help us grow in virtue, as we 

continue on our Lenten journey. 

To read more columns by Archbishop José H. Gomez or to subscribe, visit www.angelusnews.com. 


WORLD 

CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE/FERNANDO LAVOZ, REUTERS 

Clerical abuse cleanup 

postponed in Mexico 

The Vatican announced it was dispatching its top clergy 

sex abuse investigators to Mexico, only to postpone 

the investigation a few days later due to concerns about 

the coronavirus. 

Archbishop Charles Scicluna and Msgr. Jordi Bertomeu 

investigated the Church in Chile in 2018, 

leading to a 2,600-page report that led all the bishops in 

Chile to submit their resignations. 

Their scheduled March 20-27 mission to Mexico was 

described as providing “assistance” to the Mexican 

bishops. 

In a March 6 statement, the Vatican said the mission 

had been “postponed” because the Holy See has “suspended 

all activity abroad” due to the coronavirus. 

Msgr. Jordi Bertomeu Farnos and Archbishop Charles Scicluna pray 

at a church in Chile in 2018. 

Canada: A rush to ‘death on demand’ 

New health care legislation in Canada threatens patients’ 

lives, according to Cardinal Thomas Collins of Toronto. 

Bill C-7, introduced in Parliament earlier this month, 

would allow patients without a terminal illness to receive 

physician-administered death. It would also remove the 

currently required 10-day reflection period. 

In a March 2 op-ed, Cardinal Collins said the legislature 

was “rushing towards death on demand.” 

“We should be alarmed that those who have struggled for 

decades to be treated with equality may well be pressured 

… to ‘ease their burden’ and end their lives.” 

Cardinal Collins said that the bill attacks those with disabilities 

or any incurable illness that is not terminal. “Their 

lives matter. They should never be seen as a burden to 

our society. These people need assisted living, not assisted 

death.” 

Vatican official blasts UN 

gender equality report 

A new U.N. report on gender-based discrimination related 

to religious beliefs is drawing fire from the Vatican. 

The report does not protect human rights so much as it 

promotes “a sort of ‘ideological colonization’ on the part 

of some states and international institutions,” Archbishop 

Ivan Jurkovic, the Vatican’s observer to U.N. agencies, said 

March 2. 

According to the Vatican, the new report by the U.N.’s 

Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief, promotes 

a “gender ideology” that does not reflect the “reality” 

that gender is based on “the biological identity that is male 

and female.” 

“The report seems to focus less on the protection of men 

and women, of any faith or personal belief, that are persecuted 

or discriminated against — a still too vivid reality for 

millions of persons worldwide — and more on pushing a 

vision of human society that is not shared by all and does 

not reflect the social, cultural, and religious reality of many 

peoples,” Archbishop Jurkovic said. 

In addition to promoting gender ideology, the report 

criticized limits on abortion, contraception, and artificially 

assisted reproduction — policies the Catholic Church 

speaks out against in promoting the sanctity of life. 

France: Archbishop resigns after acquittal 

Cardinal Philippe Barbarin 

Pope Francis has accepted Cardinal Philippe Barbarin’s 

resignation as archbishop of Lyon, France, despite the 

fact that he was recently acquitted after appealing a 2019 

conviction for failing to report abuse. 

Last March, the 69-year-old cardinal received a six-month 

suspended sentence for allegedly not properly reporting 

abuse allegations against Father Bernard Preynat to judicial 

authorities. Father Preynat had been accused of abusing 

dozens of minors in the 1980s and 1990s. 

CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE/EMMANUEL FOUDROT, REUTERS 

4 • ANGELUS • March 13, 2020

NATION 

Priest rescues Blessed Sacrament during Nashville tornado 

As a tornado ripped through Nashville, Tennessee, 

March 3, it came dangerously close to the city’s historic 

Church of the Assumption. 

While the storm, which killed at least 25 people, destroyed 

the church’s north transept, sacristy, and rectory 

chimney, the Blessed Sacrament was unharmed, thanks 

to Father Bede Price. 

Father Price, the pastor of the parish, removed the 

sacred species from the tabernacle during the storm and 

managed to get away safely. 

The Church of the Assumption was built in 1858, and 

has been on the National Register of Historic Places 

since 1977. According to parishioner Mark Cassman, 

the parish has a long road to recovery. 

“Mass cannot be held here for a while,” Cassman told 

the National Catholic Register. “It’s bad.” 

People look over the damage to the Church of the Assumption 

following a tornado in Nashville, Tennessee, March 3. 

CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE/RICK MUSACCHIO, TENNESSEE REGISTER 

Seminar preps educators on 

gender-theory dilemma 

With gender theory as a hot-button issue, the Archdiocese 

of St. Paul and Minneapolis is seeking to equip Catholic 

educators with a response. 

In a two-day seminar in late February, Catholic school 

principals, pastors, and religious education directors came 

together to break down the Vatican’s recent document on 

confronting gender theory, “Male and Female He Created 

Them.” 

Mary Rice Hasson, a seminar speaker and fellow at the 

Ethics and Public Policy Center, said that a culture saturated 

with gender confusion poses serious challenges. 

“Parents are being kept in the dark,” said Hasson. “They’re 

being shut out of the conversation.” Catholic parents, she 

asserted, need strong parishes and schools to support them 

in teaching their children the truth. 

March for martyrs to remember persecuted Christians 

Mississippi bill fights 

abortion, discrimination 

A new bill that would prohibit abortion on the basis of 

race, sex, or genetic abnormality is one step closer to law. 

The Life Equality Act of 2020 was passed by the Mississippi 

House judiciary committee March 3. It is based on federal 

and state anti-discimination policy, and Justice Clarence 

Thomas’ concurring opinion in a 2019 Supreme Court 

case concerning abortion. 

In that case, Thomas asserted that the government has a 

“compelling interest in preventing abortion from becoming 

a tool of modern-day eugenics.” 

Judiciary chair Rep. Nick Bain said Mississippi has “a solid 

record of supporting pro-life measures, and we wanted to 

continue that.” 

The Life Equality Act must now receive approval from 

the state House of Representatives. 

When Gia Chacón realized how little 

Americans knew about persecuted 

Christians in 50 other countries, she 

knew she had to do something. 

On May 9, Chacón and her nonprofit 

organization, For the Martyrs, will 

lead the first public march in commemoration 

of persecuted Christians 

in Long Beach, California. 

“I wanted to do something in the 

United States for the people of the 

West,” Chacón told Catholic News 

Agency, “to not only wake them up to 

the reality of what’s going on around 

the world, but also connect them to 

know that we’re one body of Christ.” 

Chacón founded For the Martyrs 

after hearing stories from Iraqi and 

Syrian refugees about the abuse they 

suffered for their faith. The organization 

works to raise awareness and 

promote religious freedom. 

“The Lord placed a heavy burden on 

my heart for the persecuted Church,” 

Chacón said. 

Visit marchforthemartyrs.com. 

Gia Chacón, founder and president of For the 

Martyrs, is pictured with a Syrian refugee 

child. 

MARCH FOR THE MARTYRS 


LOCAL 

Archdiocese updates coronavirus guidelines 

As more coronavirus (COVID-19) cases are reported 

in the U.S., the Archdiocese of Los Angeles has updated 

precautionary guidelines, including placing certain 

restrictions on the celebration of the Mass. 

In a statement released March 6, the archdiocese has 

suspended the distribution of the Precious Blood, and 

recommended that all faithful receive holy Communion 

on the hand. 

Parishioners should refrain from shaking hands at the 

sign of peace and holding hands at the Lord’s Prayer, 

and holy water will be removed from all fonts that do not 

have filtration systems. 

The archdiocese also reminded the faithful that those 

who are ill should stay home from Sunday Masses, 

schools, and work. More information can be found at 

lacatholics.org/emergency. 

A man receives Communion at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the 

Angels on Ash Wednesday, 2019. 

VICTOR ALEMÁN 

Torrance decathlon team comes out on top 

On Sunday, March 1, students at 

St. Catherine Labouré School in 

Torrance competed against 93 other 

archdiocesan schools at the Academic 

Junior High Decathlon, held at Cal 

State Long Beach’s Walter Pyramid. 

The team won first place in the logic 

quiz, third in current events, and 

ranked among the top 10 in several 

other categories, earning enough 

points for a first-place win. 

The students will head to San Bernardino 

for the state competition on 

April 4. 

COURTESY ST. CATHERINE LABOURÉ SCHOOL 

Local GeoBee champ headed to States 

Charles, a seventh-grader at Good 

Shepherd Catholic School in Beverly 

Hills, has been named one of the semifinalists 

eligible to compete in the 

2020 National Geographic GeoBee 

State Competition March 27 at Cal 

State Fresno. 

State champions will receive $1,000 

in cash and a trip to Washington, 

D.C., to compete in the national 

championship. 

An estimated 2.4 million students 

The St. 

Catherine 

Labouré 

School 

Decathlon 

team with 

coach 

Eddie 

Ozawa. 

competed nationwide, and up to 100 

local winners per state were invited to 

compete in the State GeoBees. 

The 2020 GeoBee National Championship 

will take place May 18-21. 

The national champion will take 

home a variety of prizes, including a 

$25,000 college scholarship and an 

all-expenses-paid Lindblad expedition 

to the Galápagos Islands aboard 

the National Geographic Endeavour 

II. 

A WIN FOR THE BOOKS — Karina Moreno 

Corgan celebrates at the finish line of the Los 

Angeles Marathon Sunday, March 8. Corgan, 

president of Dolores Mission School in Boyle 

Heights, represented the Catholic Education 

Foundation (CEF) along with 46 others at this 

year’s marathon. Corgan is a graduate of 

Catholic schools, and most of the students at 

Dolores Mission School receive CEF tuition 

awards. As of race day, students, parents, and 

teachers had raised more than $62,000, and 

CEF will continue to accept donations through 

the rest of the month at cefrunsla.org. 

COURTESY CATHOLIC EDUCATION FOUNDATION 


LA Catholic Events 

Items for LA Catholic Events are due two weeks prior to the date of the event. They may be mailed to Angelus News (Attn: LA Catholic Events), 3424 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90010-2241; emailed to 

calendar@angelusnews.com; or faxed to 213-637-6360. All items must include the name, date, time, and address of the event, plus a phone number for additional information. 

Fri., March 13 

St. Clare’s Lenten Fish Fry. 19606 Calla Way, Santa 

Clarita, 4:30-8 p.m. Dinner: Beer-battered cod, coleslaw, 

choice of French Fries, rice pilaf, and beans. 

Fish tacos with rice and beans also available. Cost: 

$11/person for two-piece dinner, $12/person for 

three-piece dinner. Dine in or take out. Call 661-252- 

3353 or visit st-clare.org. 

Sat., March 14 

Drawing Closer to Jesus Retreat. Pauline Books 

and Media, 3908 Sepulveda Blvd., Culver City, 10 

a.m.-4 p.m. Led by Sister Kathryn Hermes, FSP, this 

retreat guides you on a journey to trust more in God’s 

love and his plan for you. Donation: $30/person and 

includes lunch. Call 310-397-8676 or email culvercity@paulinemedia.com. 

Divine Mercy and the Family in this Challenging 

Time: Lenten Retreat. Sacred Heart Church, Cavanagh 

Hall, 344 W. Workman St., Covina. Registration 

starts at 8 a.m. Featured speakers: Father Robert 

Spitzer, SJ, Ph.D., Father Ed Broom, OMV, Father Lou 

Cerruli, and Donna Lee. Cost: $35/person on-site. 

Lunch included. Call Estrella Mijares at 562-972- 

5675, or email angelstar73@earthlink.net, or call 

Ruby Gonzales at 626-482-1284, or email Lourdes 

Garrison at 714-585-9579. 

Foster Care and Adoption Information Meeting. 

Children’s Bureau’s Carson office, 460 East Carson 

Plaza Dr., Ste. 102, Carson, or Andrew’s Plaza, 11335 

West Magnolia Blvd., Ste. 2C, North Hollywood, 10 

a.m.-12 p.m. Discover if you have the willingness, 

ability, and resources to take on the challenge of 

helping a child in need. RSVP or learn more by calling 

213-342-0162, toll free at 800-730-3933, or email 

RFrecruitment@all4kids.org. 

Ninth Annual St. Patrick’s Day Car Show. St. Louis 

de Montfort Church, 1190 E. Clark Ave., Orcutt, 10 

a.m.-3 p.m. More than 100 cars, live music, vendors, 

and food. Free event. Information at kofccarshow.com. 

Lenten Retreat. Incarnation School auditorium, 1001 

N. Brand Blvd., Glendale, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Cost: $15/ 

person and includes lunch and snacks. Call 818-242- 

2579 to register. 

St. Patrick’s Day Dinner: Knights of Columbus Council 

#13555. St. Timothy Church parish hall, 10425 W. 

Pico Blvd., Los Angeles, 6-10 p.m. Dinner served at 

7 p.m. and includes Irish corned beef, cabbage/veg- 

etables, dessert. No-host bar and live Irish-themed 

music. Cost: $35/person, $15/under 15, free under 5 

years old. For tickets or more information, email kmclean@parkerbrowninc.com 

or call 310-736-5714. 

Sun., March 15 

Italian Catholic Club of Santa Clarita Valley: Bingo 

Games. The Smokehouse Restaurant, 24255 Main 

St., Santa Clarita, 12 p.m. Cost: $25/person. Call Anna 

Riggs to RSVP at 661-645-7877, or email Italians@ 

iccscv.org, or visit www.iccscv.org. 

St. Camillus Center Annual Awards and Fundraising 

Luncheon. San Antonio Winery, 737 Lamar St., 

Los Angeles, 12:30-3:30 p.m. Honorees: Archbishop 

José H. Gomez, supervisor Hilda Solis, The Unihealth 

Foundation, and John Pappas, LCSW at Keck 

Medicine of USC. RSVP at https://stcamilluscenter. 

networkforgood.com/events/18564-san-antoniowinery-annual-awards-fundraising-luncheon-2019. 

Mon., March 16 

St. Padre Pio Healing Mass. St. Anne Church, 340 

10th St., Seal Beach, 1 p.m. Celebrant: Father Al 

Scott. Call 562-537-4526. 

Lenten Retreat: Three Night Interactive Word Services. 

St. Paul the Apostle Church, 10750 Ohio Ave., 

Los Angeles, 7-8:30 p.m. March 16-18. Father Dave 

Dwyer, CSP, hosts “The Busted Halo Show” on the 

Catholic Channel. Monday: “Who is Jesus?” Tuesday: 

“Where is Jesus?” Wednesday: “Why Jesus?” Freewill 

offering, parking available, refreshments after 

each service. 

Lenten Parish Mission. Assumption of the Blessed 

Virgin Church, 2640 E. Orange Grove Blvd., Pasadena. 

Retreat runs March 16-18, choice of two 

sessions per day: 9 a.m. or 7 p.m. Speaker: Father 

Francis Benedict, OSB, on the theme “Our Life in 

Christ.” Each day will feature new topics, with light 

refreshments to follow. Call 626-792-1343 or visit 

abvmpasadena.org. 

Mass with Healing Service. St. Linus Church, 

13915 Shoemaker Ave., Norwalk, 7 p.m. Celebrant: 

Father Adrian San Juan. Call 562-921-6649. 

Wed., March 18 

The Triduum Training. Nativity Church, 953 W. 

57th St., Los Angeles. Cost: $15/person. Register at 

http://store.la-archdiocese.org/el-triduo-pascualnativity-2020. 

Clearing Outstanding Tickets and Warrants: Free 

Legal Clinic for Veterans. Bob Hope Patriotic Hall, 

1816 S. Figueroa St., Los Angeles, 5:30-6:30 p.m. 

Self-help workshop, 6:30-7:45 p.m. Volunteer attorneys 

will be available to provide one-on-one assistance 

and consultation. RSVP required. Call 213-896- 

6537 or visit lacba.org/veterans. 

Fri., March 20 

St. Clare’s Lenten Fish Fry. 19606 Calla Way, Santa 

Clarita, 4:30-8 p.m. Dinner: Beer-battered cod, coleslaw, 

choice of French Fries, rice pilaf, and beans. 

Fish tacos with rice and beans also available. Cost: 

$11/person for two-piece dinner, $12/person for 

three-piece dinner. Dine in or take out. Call 661-252- 

3353 or visit st-clare.org. 

Sat., March 21 

“I Thirst” Lenten Retreat. St. Robert Bellarmine 

Church, 143 5th St., Burbank, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Presented 

by John Paul II Foundation for the New Evangelization 

and led by Tim Glemkowski, president and 

founder of L’Alto Catholic Institute. Cost: $25/person 

including lunch. Register at ithirstretreat.eventbrite.com. 

Foster Care and Adoption Information Meeting. 

Children’s Bureau, 27200 Tourney Rd., Ste. 175, 

Valencia, 10 a.m.-12 p.m. Discover if you have the 

willingness, ability, and resources to take on the challenge 

of helping a child in need. RSVP or learn more 

by calling 213-342-0162, toll free at 800-730-3933, 

or email RFrecruitment@all4kids.org. 

Day of St. Oscar Romero. St. Thomas Church, 2727 

W. Pico Blvd., Los Angeles, 7 a.m. Exhibit of the mural 

“The Life of St. Oscar A. Romero,” 4 p.m. procession, 

5 p.m. documentary: “San Romero,” 7 p.m. Mass. 

Special guest: Bishop Oswaldo E. Escobar, bishop of 

the Diocese of Chalatenango, El Salvador. Call 323- 

737-3325 for more information. 

Sun., March 22 

Italian Catholic Club of Santa Clarita Valley: St. 

Joseph’s Table. Our Lady of Perpetual Help, 23233 

Lyons Ave, Santa Clarita, 12-6 p.m. Free plate of spaghetti 

and roll for all guests. Feel free to donate baked 

items. Contact Anna Riggs at 661-645-7877 or italians@iccscv.org 

or visit www.iccscv.org. 

Mon., March 23 

Mass with Healing Service. St. Cornelius Church, 

5500 E. Wardlow Rd., Long Beach, 7:30 p.m. Celebrant: 

Father Joseph K. Santiago. 

Visit AngelusNews.com for these stories 

and more. Your source for complete, 

up-to-the-minute coverage of local news, 

sports and events in Catholic L.A. 

This Week at AngelusNews.com 

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• Pop star priest has traveled from hell to heaven 

• Movie review: “Emma” offers pretty picture but diluted plot 


SUNDAY 

READINGS 

BY SCOTT HAHN 

Ex. 17:3–7 / Ps. 95:1–2, 6–7, 8–9 / Rom. 5:1–2, 5–8 / Jn. 4:5–15, 19–26, 39–42 

The Israelites’ hearts were 

hardened by their hardships 

in the desert. Though they 

have seen his mighty deeds, 

in their thirst they grumble 

and put God to the test in 

today’s First Reading, a crisis 

point recalled also in today’s 

Psalm. 

Jesus is thirsty, too, in 

today’s Gospel. He thirsts for 

souls (see John 19:28). He 

longs to give the Samaritan 

woman the living waters that 

well up to eternal life. These 

waters couldn’t be drawn 

from the well of Jacob, 

father of the Israelites and 

the Samaritans, but Jesus 

was something greater than 

Jacob (see Luke 11:31–32). 

The Samaritans were 

Israelites who escaped exile 

when Assyria conquered the 

Northern Kingdom eight 

centuries before Christ (see 2 

Kings 17:6, 24–41). They were despised 

for intermarrying with non-Israelites 

and worshipping at Mount 

Gerazim, not Jerusalem. 

But Jesus tells the woman that the 

“hour” of true worship is coming, 

when all will worship God in Spirit 

and truth. Jesus’ “hour” is the “appointed 

time” that Paul speaks of in 

today’s Epistle. It is the hour when the 

Rock of our salvation was struck on 

the cross. Struck by the soldier’s lance, 

living waters flowed out from our 

Rock (see John 19:34–37). 

These waters are the Holy Spirit (see 

John 7:38–39), the gift of God (see 

Hebrews 6:4). By the living waters 

“Moses Striking the Rock,” by Pieter de Grebber, 

1600-1652/1653, English. 

the ancient enmities of Samaritans 

and Jews have been washed away, the 

dividing wall between Israel and the 

nations is broken down (see Ephesians 

2:12–14, 18). Since his hour, all may 

drink of the Spirit in baptism (see 1 

Corinthians 12:13). 

In this Eucharist, the Lord now is 

in our midst, as he was at the Rock 

of Horeb and at the well of Jacob. In 

the “today” of our liturgy, he calls us 

to believe: “I am He,” come to pour 

out the love of God into our hearts 

through the Holy Spirit. How can we 

continue to worship as if we don’t understand? 

How can our hearts remain 

hardened? 

Scott Scott Hahn is is founder of of the the St. St. Paul Paul Center for for Biblical Theology, stpaulcenter.com. 

WIKIMEDIA COMMONS 

8 • ANGELUS • March August 13, 16-23-30, 2020 2019

IN EXILE 

BY FATHER RONALD ROLHEISER, OMI 

Jean Vanier — revisited 

Like many others, I was deeply distressed 

to learn of the recent revelations 

concerning Jean Vanier. He was 

a person whom I much admired and 

about whom, on numerous occasions, 

I have written glowingly. So, the news 

about him shook me deeply. What’s to 

be said about Jean Vanier in the light 

of these revelations? 

First, that what he did was very 

wrong and deeply harmful, not least 

to the women he victimized. Without 

knowing the specifics of what happened 

(and without wanting to know), 

enough is known to know that this 

was serious abuse of trust. No cloak of 

justification can be placed around it. 

Second, what he did may not be 

linked to or identified with clerical 

sexual abuse. He was not a cleric, nor 

indeed a canonically vowed religious. 

He was a layman, a public celibate 

admittedly, but his betrayal of his 

commitment to celibacy may not be 

identified with clerical sexual abuse. 

He broke the sixth commandment, 

albeit in a way that merits a harsh 

judgment, given his public stature 

and the abuse of a particular kind of 

sacred trust. However, his breaking of 

his professed celibacy doesn’t put into 

question the legitimacy and fruitfulness 

of vowed celibacy itself, any more 

than a married man being unfaithful 

to his wife puts into question the legitimacy 

and fruitfulness of the vocation 

of marriage. 

Third, Vanier’s transgressions do 

not negate the good work of L’Arche 

nor cast any negative shadow on the 

dedication and good work of the many 

women and men who work there and 

who have worked there. By their fruits 

you shall know them! 

Jesus taught that, and no one can 

deny or question the good work that 

L’Arche has done and continues to do 

in more than 30 countries. L’Arche is 

a work of God, of grace, of the Holy 

Spirit. It turns out now that its founder 

had some flaws. So be it. Jesus is the 

only founder who had no flaws. 

Indeed, the good work of L’Arche 

attests too to the fact that he is and 

was bigger than his sins. Nobody who 

is essentially duplicitous can leave 

behind such a grace-filled legacy. 

Finally, the disillusionment and 

anger we feel says as much about us as 

it says about him. In Luke’s Gospel, a 

young man comes up to Jesus and says 

to him, “Good teacher, what must I 

do to inherit eternal life?” (18:18–23). 

Jesus challenges the way he is being 

addressed by saying, “Don’t call me 

good! Only God is good.” 

That was our mistake with Vanier, 

just as it’s our mistake with other persons 

whom we cloak with divinity in 

an idealization that’s supposed to be 

reserved for God alone. And whenever 

we do that, and we did it to Vanier, we 

cannot not ultimately be disappointed 

and disillusioned. Nobody, except 

God, does God well; all the rest of us 

eventually disappoint. 

What Vanier did to us was unfair. 

We cannot not feel betrayed by his 

betrayal. Conversely, though, what we 

did to him was also unfair. We asked 

him to be God for us and that’s also 

not a fair request. 

When I was a 21-year-old seminarian, 

searching for mentors, one of 

my seminary teachers came back 

from a Vanier retreat gushing with 

superlatives as he described Vanier 

as the “holiest, most wonderful, most 

single-minded, spiritual man” he’d 

ever met. My critical faculties immediately 

put me on guard: “No one’s 

that good!” So, I deliberately didn’t 

look to Vanier for mentorship. 

However, in the 50 years since, I did 

look to him for mentorship. Though 

I never met him personally, I read 

his books, was much influenced by 

numerous persons who counted him 

as a formidable influence in their lives 

(including Henri Nouwen), I wrote a 

preface for one of his last books, and 

wrote a glowing tribute to him for the 

newspapers when he died. 

So, I was also enough besotted by 

him so that now I, too, felt dismayed 

and disillusioned when I learned of 

his moral lapses. 

However, disillusionment is a curious 

phenomenon. After the initial shock, 

you soon enough realize it’s a positive 

thing. It’s the dispelling of an 

illusion, and an illusion is always in 

the mind of the one who is doing the 

perceiving rather than on the part of 

the one being perceived. With Vanier, 

the illusion was on our part, not his. 

There was a certain falsity in his life, 

but there was one on our part, too. 

Yes, the revelations about Vanier 

shook me deeply, but not to my core 

because at our core, when we touch 

it, we know that no one, except God, 

is good, at least with a goodness that 

has no imperfections. Once we accept 

that, we can accept too that nobody’s 

perfect, even a Jean Vanier. At our 

core we can accept that, despite this 

betrayal, he did a lot of good and that 

L’Arche is clearly a graced reality. 

Father Ron Rolheiser is a theologian, teacher, award-winning author, and president of the Oblate School of Theology 

in San Antonio, Texas. Find him online at www.ronrolheiser.com and www.facebook.com/ronrolheiser. 


SHUTTERSTOCK 

Operation Movie Night 

How the difficulty in finding clean and 

quality films on streaming services is 

breeding innovation 

BY SOPHIA MARTINSON / ANGELUS 

10 • ANGELUS • March 13, 2020

SHUTTERSTOCK 

One Wednesday night in 

February, Kent Dodds wanted 

a movie recommendation. 

Logging on to Twitter, he posted his 

criteria for his nearly 90,000 followers. 

“Action/adventure,” he wrote. “Light 

on violence. No sex/nudity. Interesting 

plot and good execution is a 

bonus. What you got for me?” 

Recommendations poured in. But 

finding a film that met all those 

criteria was easier said than done. 

When one user suggested “District 9,” 

Dodds responded, “Looks interesting, 

but wow that movie sure does love 

the f-word!” 

Another recommended “Captain 

Fantastic.” “Interesting premise!” 

Dodds noted, before someone 

commented, “This would fail the no 

nudity test though.” 

While Dodds’ criteria yielded some 

good titles, they also blacklisted several 

that, minus the unwanted content, 

might have made for a great movie 

night. 

Then one reply had a different kind 

of suggestion. “I recommend VidAngel,” 

wrote Jamon Holmgren, “for 

watching movies and shows while 

filtering for just the stuff you want 

to see.” Holmgren added that he 

used VidAngel to watch “Game of 

Thrones” with his son, “and it did a 

good job of removing the gratuitous 

stuff without taking away from the 

story.” 

Holmgren learned about VidAngel, 

a subscription-based filtering service, 

through a social media ad. “I enjoy 

a wide variety of shows,” he told Angelus, 

“but there are aspects of some 

popular shows that I am not interested 

in — gory violence, gratuitous 

nudity, and excessive profanity. I liked 

the idea of being able to experience 

the show in a format that I chose.” 

Holmgren and Dodds are not alone 

in their search for quality yet clean 

entertainment. Across the country, 

various groups have voiced dissatisfaction 

with Hollywood’s content trends 

and seek alternative ways to enjoy 

media. 

FAMILY MOVIE-NIGHT DILEMMA 

The video-streaming industry seems 

to be taking over the nation’s TV 

screens. According to a 2020 report 

from the Consumer Intelligence 

Research Partners, an estimated 112 

million Americans — more than onethird 

of the U.S. population — have 

an Amazon Prime subscription. 

The data platform Statista reports 

that 18.5% of the U.S. population, 

or 61.04 million people, subscribe to 

Netflix. And Disney Plus, launched 

just this past November, has already 

acquired 28.6 million subscribers. 

It’s safe to say that these services 

make up a big part of American families’ 

means of entertainment. But to 

what extent are they family friendly? 

According to the Parents Television 

Council (PTC), the industry leaves a 

lot to be desired. 

In a 2017 report, the national advocacy 

group reviewed the most popular 

streaming services, including Netflix 

and Amazon Prime. The report found 

that among all of the streaming services, 

none of them allowed parents 

to block explicit titles and cover art 

across devices. 

“While Hulu and Netflix both 

provide the option of a separate user 

profile for child viewers,” the report 

states, “there is nothing to stop a 

child from switching over to an adult 

profile with either service. Amazon 

does not provide a separate child user 

profile option.” 

When it comes to original content, 

PTC found that very little of it is 

appropriate for children and families. 

After reviewing ratings of Netflix 

original content, the report found that 

65% of it was rated TV-MA, 8% was 

PG, and just 1% was G. 

“If your plans include family movie 

night,” wrote PTC, “in less than five 

hours — or three movie nights, tops 

— you will have exhausted Netflix’s 

entire inventory of original films rated 

PG or lower.” 

More recently, PTC described 

Disney Plus as an “80% streaming 

solution for families,” since it does 

not include any filtering or parental 

control systems. 

The bottom line: When it comes 

to movies and TV, good clean fun is 

hard to find, and when you do find 

it, it’s often mixed in with explicit 

content. This presents a real dilemma 

for those who try to weed out offensive 

language and behavior from their 

media diet, and especially for parents 

trying to guard the eyes of their 

children. 

FOR THEIR OWN HOMES 

Seven years ago in Provo, Utah, four 

brothers were facing this exact problem, 

and they were fed up. 

“We all have young children at 

home,” VidAngel co-founder and 

CEO Neal Harmon told Angelus. 

“We wanted to create something that 

we wanted for our own homes.” 

Tired of being bombarded with explicit 

material in their search for great 

films, the four Harmons wondered, 

Why not make something that allows 

you to skip over that content? So in 

2014, they launched VidAngel. 

The project posed a challenge: How 

would they execute a filtering service 

that would be consistent, efficient, 

and customizable? Their solution 

was to construct a series of categories 

(such as nudity, profanity, and graphic 

violence) and have multiple people 

watch each film to “tag” content 

in those categories, flagging it for 

filtering. 

Originally, VidAngel ripped movies 

from DVDs and redistributed filtered 

digital versions to customers. In 2016, 

a group of four studios, including 

Disney and Twentieth Century Fox, 

sued the company for copyright 

infringement. 

The studios won the case, and 

VidAngel was ordered to shut down 

its service. But soon after, the compa- 

Neal Harmon 

VIDANGEL 


VidAngel promotional image. 

ny introduced a new system, which 

works through subscriber streaming 

services. 

“You download the VidAngel app,” 

Harmon told Angelus, “and then all 

the titles that are available for filtering 

are inside that app. If you want to 

watch something that requires Netflix, 

then when you go to watch it, it’ll 

[prompt you to enter] your Netflix 

email and password. VidAngel will 

then connect to your Netflix account 

on your behalf.” 

If customers want to watch a movie 

that has not yet been filtered, they 

can still search for the title and request 

a filtered version on the app. 

According to Harmon, it takes 

about a day for a film to undergo the 

filtering process, although VidAngel 

is working on technology that will 

computerize the tagging system and 

reduce the wait time. Once a filtered 

movie lands in the app, customers 

can select which filters they would 

like to apply. 

Options range from broad to specific. 

Viewers can mute all profanity 

and blasphemy or just certain words. 

They can skip over anything marked 

as “sex, nudity, or immodesty” or 

opt to leave in “implied, not shown” 

intimacy. 

VidAngel even makes subcategory 

distinctions, such as “passionate” 

versus “normal” kissing. And for the 

ultra-efficient watcher, the option to 

skip credits is also there. 

For the most part, the filtering system 

seems to work well, though it still 

isn’t perfect. Watch “Marriage Story” 

with all “kissing” filtered out, for instance, 

and you’ll find that one brief 

yet intimate smooch was missed. But 

according to Harmon, such lapses are 

rare; he told Angelus that he recalls 

only two occasions when VidAngel 

has had to apologize to a customer for 

an oversight. 

Reviews for VidAngel have been 

mostly positive. It received 4.7 out of 

5 stars from more than 17,000 reviews 

on AppGrooves, and 2,100 reviews on 

Facebook gave it a 4.8 out of 5. But 

one of the service’s biggest handicaps 

is that movies owned by the studios 

that sued VidAngel are blocked. 

In an effort to change that, VidAngel 

has launched a campaign to support 

an update to the Family Movie Act, a 

federal bill that VidAngel argues gives 

legal backing to its service and should 

therefore allow more movies to be 

filtered. 

“Our customers have stuck with 

us and continue to support us,” said 

Harmon, “and they beg us not to give 

up.” 

‘NETFLIX FOR CHRISTIAN KIDS’ 

More than 1,600 miles east of Provo, 

in Nashville, Tennessee, Erick Goss 

took note of another underserved audience: 

Christian families with young 

children. 

“The reality is there’s not a lot of 

Christian content out there,” said 

Goss, former Amazon executive and 

CEO of Minno, a media company 

launched this past fall. 

That scarcity concerned Goss, given 

Erick Goss 

VIDANGEL MINNO 


Minno promotional image. 

MINNO 

the portion of churchgoing Christians 

in America. According to the Pew 

Research Center, about 102 million 

(62%) Christian adults go to church 

at least monthly, and 72 million 

(44%) go at least weekly. 

Minno reports that about 48 million 

Christian families with children in 

prekindergarten through fifth grade 

attend church weekly or monthly. 

Like Harmon, Goss was dissatisfied 

with the dearth of wholesome content 

on popular streaming services. So in 

November 2019, he and his colleague 

Dan Raines launched Minno for 

Christian families. 

The online platform, whose title 

comes from the Greek word meaning 

“to abide” (a reference to the Gospel 

of John), includes a Netflix-like media 

library, an online bookstore, and a 

parental guidance blog. 

“What we’re trying to do is come 

alongside parents and solve the 

media and technology problems 

parents face,” Goss told Angelus. He 

explained that while many Christian 

parents are eager to help their kids 

grow in the faith, they’re often at a 

loss about where to begin, especially 

when it comes to navigating media in 

a secularized world. 

Minno Kids, which Goss described 

as “sort of like Netflix for Christian 

kids,” offers a variety of faith-based 

children’s shows, including “the 

world’s largest collection of Classic 

VeggieTales.” Currently, Minno offers 

128 shows and more than 2,000 episodes, 

but Goss said they’re continually 

working to add more. 

Three people review each potential 

show to determine whether it 

is wholesome, well-written, and 

entertaining. “We really want parents 

to trust us, [since] they’re inviting us 

into their homes,” said Goss. 

According to Goss, Minno has 

reached more than 20,000 subscribers 

in more than 40 countries worldwide. 

Some subscribers have made it their 

only household streaming service, 

relieved that they no longer have to 

worry about what their kids search for 

and watch. 

Others use Minno as a supplement 

to their media diet. Regardless, Goss 

is happy with the results so far. “It’s 

exceeding expectations,” he told 

Angelus. 

‘A CULTURE INFUSED BY CHRIST’ 

Given the prosperity of the streaming 

giants and the types of films 

honored at the Emmys and Oscars, 

it still seems that graphic and explicit 

content comes part and parcel with 

the film industry. But according to 

Harmon and Goss, that need not be 

the case. 

“We hope we can change the conversation 

and the business of media,” 

Harmon told Angelus. He believes 

that as VidAngel’s audience grows, 

it could compel others in the film 

industry to cater more directly to a 

family-friendly crowd. 

Goss also sees his work as an opportunity 

to uplift not only families, 

but also the culture more broadly. 

He told Angelus that in launching 

Minno, he hopes to promote professional 

excellence as well as “a culture 

infused by Christ.” 

“The mission of Minno is to help 

people experience the goodness of 

God,” he told Angelus. “We really 

want Minno to be a platform that 

helps people imagine what a Christian 

life can be.” 

VidAngel and Minno are still young, 

and it’s hard to project their future 

success or impact. Nevertheless, 

they highlight the importance of 

family and Christian values. These 

are values that are fading in today’s 

media world, but as these companies 

demonstrate, they have not disappeared 

completely. 

Sophia Martinson is a writer living in 

New York City. 

March 13, 2020 • ANGELUS • 13

Some 50 members of the Bishop Mora 

Salesian basketball family were invited 

to experience the memorial service from 

a suite at Staples Center arranged by 

Lakers executive Tim Harris. 

COURTESY BISHOP MORA SALESIAN HIGH SCHOOL 

Embodying KOBE 

How the Bishop Mora basketball 

team’s experience at the Lakers 

legend’s memorial service is 

pushing this group of boys to 

greater things — both on and 

off the court 

BY TOM HOFFARTH / ANGELUS 

Profound sadness and bittersweet hope filtered through 

song and testimony during the recent Kobe and 

Gianna Bryant Celebration of Life event at Staples 

Center. Yet as they experienced all that firsthand, a group 

of students, coaches, and faculty at Bishop Mora Salesian 

High School appear to have harnessed that energy to propel 

its boys basketball team on a historic run. 

Some 50 members of the Salesian basketball family were 

invited to attend the Bryant memorial on Feb. 24, a fruit of 

the relationship forged by the college-prep school of some 

400 boys with Lakers executive Tim Harris, the team’s 

chief operating officer and senior vice president of business 

operations. 

Harris arranged for a Staples Center suite so the group 

could experience the two-hour service that was less than 

four miles from their east LA campus. 

The media attention given to Bryant’s Catholic roots — 

especially the story of his visit to his local parish in Newport 

Beach the morning that he, his daughter Gianna, and seven 

others died in a Jan. 26 helicopter crash — made an impact 

at Salesian, as many students wore Bryant jerseys to school 

on the following Monday. 


Now, the inspiration the group of boys took away from the 

memorial is something team members are crediting with 

uniting their focus on the basketball court: the small but defensive-minded 

roster captured the CIF-Southern Section 

3AA championship on Feb. 29, four days after the memorial. 

It’s the first title in the school’s 60-plus-year history. 

“I can feel Kobe’s messages relate to Salesian and Christianity,” 

said Alex Moriarty, a junior starter on the team. “It’s 

been about giving it your all, never giving up. That embodied 

Kobe. That has brought everyone together.” 

Salesian president Alex Chacon, a class of ’94 alum, 

explained how Harris was invited to the school by head basketball 

coach Jack Mai to speak at a school assembly about 

ways of overcoming adversity. The appearance was about 10 

days before the Bryant helicopter crash. 

Harris, in addition to donating some supplies to the team, 

reconnected during the team’s CIF quarterfinal game, delivering 

a pre- and post-game locker room talk. Harris said 

it was natural for him to invite members of the school to 

the memorial because of how so many have said they were 

huge fans of Bryant’s career. 

Chacon said the team’s unprecedented run, combined 

with the impact of the Bryant memorial on the boys, has 

made him feel a deeper connection with the students. 

“We’re a very loving community around here, and hugs 

are very common, so it was inspiring to see the range of 

emotions with the staff and students as they reflected on 

that entire experience,” said Chacon. 

“We are blessed with the opportunities we receive. We’re 

a very intentional community. Part of our ‘Salesianity’ is to 

accompany the young and show them they are loved. This 

particular moment has also allowed me to reflect about how 

much these students are part of my own personal journey.” 

Salesian principal Mark Johnson noted the moment when 

the memorial service’s host, Jimmy Kimmel, referred to 

how the Catholic faith offers a sign of peace at Mass before 

Kobe and Gianna Bryant’s Celebration of Life event at Staples Center Feb. 24 included several moving testimonies from family and friends, such as 

Michael Jordan. 



The Bishop Mora Salesian basketball team captured the CIF-Southern Section 3AA championship on 

Feb. 29, four days after the Bryant memorial. It’s the first title in the school’s 60-plus-year history. 

asking the 20,000 in attendance to take a moment to make 

a similar gesture with those around them. 

“He made the observation that it’s often at sports events 

and also at church when we turn to people who might be 

complete strangers and offer our shared humanity,” said 

Johnson. “That moment in the arena, we appreciated the 

moment to connect with each other.” 

This principal hopes the boys took away more from the 

service than just the inspiration to carry on Bryant’s famed 

“Mamba Mentality.” 

“As an all-boys school with a male-dominant culture, that’s 

even more reason for us to pay heed to that message about 

female empowerment and the importance of girls sports 

and in terms of lifting up women in our culture and society. 

We’d hope our young men recognize the importance of 

that. 

“The common connection for us, that Catholic connection, 

is important to be in support of Vanessa Bryant and 

their daughters as well, so our prayers and our faith in what 

we can do to bring them peace is important as well.” 

Adrian Lopez, Salesian’s director of admissions, said the 

service spoke to him in a special way as the new father of a 

baby girl. 

“I saw part of the grandeur that was Kobe was the fact 

he was a consummate ‘girl-dad.’ We try to instill into our 

students that they’ll be fathers someday,” he said. 

Lopez said the school’s staff often ask the boys, “What 

morals and ideals will you strive to pass on?” 

Hector Santiago, a junior at Salesian who is the basketball 

team’s videographer, said he was most inspired by the words 

of Bryant directed toward his daughters that were printed on 

the back of the memorial program. 

“When I left the arena, I said I’m going to make a promise 


today that I’m going to be a great father 

to my kids someday,” said Santiago. 

“I’ll do what Kobe did. My mission 

in life, and hopefully my peers, is to be 

a great father, and I felt Kobe was an 

amazing presenter of what Jesus did. 

He moved everyone in Los Angeles. 

Who is able to do that?” 

Max Lopez, a freshman basketball 

player at Salesian, said his previous 

impression of Bryant simply as a hardnosed, 

driven player changed when he 

heard all the tributes to his fatherhood. 

He recalled how one of Bryant’s last 

acts, as described by his agent, was a 

text to see if he could help someone 

get an internship at a Southern California 

sports agency. 

“Kobe used his platform to help 

others,” said Lopez, “and I believe, as 

Salesians, we can also use our platform 

to help people around us who are 

connected to us.” 

Jesus Martin, the Salesian senior class 

president and a soccer player, called 

the Bryant memorial “an eye-opening 

experience. There were moments of solemnity but we were 

joyful to be there. It was a beautiful moment. We all say 

we’re united through our faith, and to know someone like 

Kobe, the kind of influencer he was, we shared the same religion 

and belief. It shows how we can take upon his values 

and morals and incorporate it in our everyday life.” 

Salesian’s narrow 56-55 win over Hillcrest of Riverside in 

the CIF-3AA title game in Santa Ana gave the Mustangs a 

28-4 record, winning their last 11 in a row and 18 of their 

last 19. Moriarty tied with teammate Kenji Pallares for a 

game-high 16 points. 

As a bonus, Salesian was given entry into the Southern 

California Regional tournament for a shot at a state title, 

but also boosted into the Division II bracket. As a No. 14 

seed in the 16-team division, the Mustangs upset No. 3 

Foothills Christian of El Cajon, 53-50, in the first game on 

March 3. But in the regional semifinals, they lost to No. 6 

Roosevelt of Eastvale, 49-38. Salesian came up two wins 

short of going to the state title game against the Northern 

California winners, set for March 14 in Sacramento. 

“(Former Lakers coach) Phil Jackson would always talk 

about the journey instead of the destination and, for basketball 

in general for our team at Salesian, I feel like that 

encapsulates our season,” said Moriarty, who had a teambest 

17 points in Salesian’s 45-25 CIF semifinal victory over 

Keppel on Feb. 21. 

“The support for our team here has been outrageous. I feel 

we have earned it. From Day One, we knew if we had the 

talent and worked hard enough we could reach our goal of 

a [CIF-Southern Section] championship. I feel like Kobe’s 

mantra.” 

Tom Hoffarth is an award-winning journalist based in Los Angeles. 

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The gift of Hank 

LMU paid special tribute to the ‘walking thunderbolt,’ 

whose on-court death 30 years ago still echoes 

BY STEVE LOWERY / ANGELUS 

A statue of basketball legend Hank Gathers, located just outside of Loyola Marymount’s Gersten Pavilion, was unveiled Feb. 29. 

COURTESY LOYOLA MARYMOUNT UNIVERSITY 

It was just a moment. It came after the blousy material 

dropped to reveal a statue of basketball legend Hank 

Gathers, located just outside of Loyola Marymount University’s 

Gersten Pavilion Feb. 29. It came after the faintest 

beat of a gasp was immediately followed by applause and 

cheers, broad smiles and — this being 2020 — selfies. 

Still, there was a moment when, Chris Knight said, amid 

the laughter and hugs he shared with former teammates who 

played with Gathers, that he suddenly, in a fleeting space of 

silence, “could hear Hank’s mother crying above it all.” 

Lucille Gathers was at the dedication of her son’s statue, 

accepting and giving as many hugs as anyone present. The 

statue is magnificent, which is not a given in the sports 

world. More than a few have been found lacking when it 

comes to representing their subjects accurately in visage, 

temperament, or action. 

But the Gathers statue not only looks like Gathers, it 

depicts him perfectly. Created by the Fine Art Studio of 


Rotblatt-Amrany — the same outfit that created statues of 

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, and Jerry West at 

Staples Center and Michael Jordan inside Chicago’s United 

Center — it shows Gathers in all his basketball glory, at 

the point of takeoff, about to slam a defenseless basketball, 

which he palms like a loaf of bread, his jersey rippling from 

the ferocious hallmarks of his game: speed and power. 

It was those hallmarks that moved his LMU coach, Paul 

Westhead, to say, “There was nothing ordinary about Hank 

Gathers. He was a walking thunderbolt.” 

Westhead’s words were so apropos that they are inscribed 

on the statue’s base. It was those hallmarks that made Gathers’ 

death on court during a game in 1990 incomprehensible; 

that someone so young, so strong, so able, so beloved, 

could be taken so suddenly. 

It was something that Gathers’ 

former teammates grappled 

with when he passed. They 

were young men, then. For 

many, this was the first time 

they had encountered death 

with someone close to them, 

certainly with someone their 

own age. 

That wasn’t true of Knight. 

Raised in South Central LA, 

he said he was no stranger to 

young men dying. But, he said, 

“It was always for people who 

were doing things they should 

not have been doing. Hank did 

nothing wrong. Nothing. He 

didn’t even drink.” 

Like Knight, who replaced 

Gathers in the LMU lineup, a Loyola’s Bo Kimble, Hank Gathers, and Jeff Fryer. 

lot of the players spoke about 

Gathers’ passing as teaching them that life and death, often 

referred to as opposites, actually exist intertwined and in constant 

relation to each other. 

Most of them are approaching or in their 50s now, and 

seeing the Gathers statue in all of its strength and vitality 

reminded them also of life’s quicksilver nature and why it 

must be cherished. 

More than one mentioned Kobe Bryant’s recent passing 

as another reminder of that. Tom Peabody, a guard on the 

1989-90 team, said that learning of Bryant’s death gave him 

the same feeling as when his friend passed. “It’s the first time 

I’ve felt like that in 30 years,” he told the Los Angeles Times. 

Jeff Fryer, a record-setting shooting guard on the team, had 

a 10-year professional basketball career, but it was one that 

gave him very little joy. Suffering from depression and anxiety, 

he had gone to a place of darkness, he said, one he wasn’t 

sure he wanted to ever leave. It was thinking about Hank, he 

said, that eventually moved him to “get down on my knees 

and commit myself to God. That was from thinking about 

Hank; about life and death.” 

Fryer said it was thinking about how his teammate and 

friend had embraced life that made him think about what he 

was doing with his own. He figured most of his teammates 

felt the same, which is why, he said, he wasn’t the least bit 

surprised to see the reaction to Gathers’ statue be so joyful, 

what Westhead called “unmistakably celebratory.” 

“I’ve had a couple people ask me that, if I thought people 

might be sad or cry, but I knew this is how it would be,” 

Fryer said. “We’re all so grateful for him, for that time. We’re 

grateful about the effect it’s had on the rest of our lives. Look 

at me. If it wasn’t for Hank Gathers, I’m pretty sure I’d be 

dead.” 

Fryer and his teammates were not only present to celebrate 

Gathers’ statue, but to celebrate the accomplishments of the 

1989-90 LMU team that made perhaps the most magical 

run through the NCAA tournament in the basketball program’s 

history. 

After Gathers’ death, Westhead 

left it up to his players 

whether they wanted to compete 

in the tournament. They 

said they did, and advanced to 

the Elite Eight, defeating along 

the way defending champion 

Michigan, a game in which 

Fryer made a record 11 3-point 

shots, yet eventually losing to 

UNLV, a team considered one 

of the greatest in NCAA history. 

Perhaps the lasting image of 

IMAGE VIA FACEBOOK @LMULIONS 

that tournament run is of Bo 

Kimble shooting free throws 

left-handed as his best friend 

Hank Gathers had. Kimble 

attended the ceremony and 

spoke during a halftime ceremony 

honoring the team. 

Kimble was effusive and 

joyous in his remarks, telling 

funny stories and inside jokes. But he made sure to recognize 

Lucille Gathers sitting courtside, thanking her for the 

gift of Gathers. 

A video released by LMU prior to the unveiling showed 

Lucille after seeing the statue for the first time. Overcome 

with emotion, she thanked those who created the statue and 

those who commissioned it. 

“I think about him often,” she said of her son through gentle 

sobs, “because he was my baby.” 

Later in the evening, after LMU had lost a close game to 

University of San Francisco, people once again gathered 

around the statue. 

The mood this time, in the dark, a spotlight casting long 

shadows of the statue across nearby buildings, was a bit more 

somber, one might say contemplative, as people seemed to 

consider the lessons of Gathers’ life, memories held in the 

perpetual flash of a thunderbolt. 

Steve Lowery began his journalism career at the Los Angeles 

Times, and he has since written for The National, the Los 

Angeles Daily News, the Press-Telegram, New Times LA, the 

District, and the OC Weekly. He is the arts and culture editor 

for the Post, overseeing the Hi-lo. He has two grown children. 


Missing a mother’s touch 

Women offer a unique perspective 

and urgency to the abuse crisis. 

Why aren’t they on the 

Vatican’s new task force? 

BY INÉS SAN MARTÍN / ANGELUS 

ROME — Recently, the Vatican 

announced Pope Francis has 

created a task force to help bishops’ 

conferences around the world address 

the clerical sex abuse crisis. The 

lineup is impressive, but much like a 

high-profile February 2019 summit on 

child protection, laypeople — women 

in particular — are the missing link. 

The eight-man lineup for the task 

force includes seven clerics, two of 

whom are regarded by all sides as part 

of the solution to the abuse crisis: 

Maltese Archbishop Charles Scicluna, 

once the Vatican’s top prosecutor on 

priestly abuse of minors; and German 

Father Hans Zollner, SJ, a member of 

the Pontifical Commission for the Protection 

of Minors and director of the 

Center for Child Protection of Rome’s 

Gregorian University. 

The list also includes the Vatican’s 

version of a chief of staff, Venezuelan 

Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra; Cardinal 

Blase Cupich of Chicago; Cardinal 

Oswald Gracias of Mumbai, who 

sits on the council of cardinals that advises 

the pope on reform of the Roman 

Curia; Spanish Bishop Juan Ignacio 

Arrieta of the Pontifical Council for 

Legislative Texts; and Father Federico 

Lombardi, SJ, former papal spokesman 

for both Pope Benedict XVI and Pope 

Francis and the moderator of last year’s 

summit. 

Last but not least is layman Andrew 

Azzopardi, who teaches in the Department 

of Youth and Community Studies 

at the University of Malta and also 

serves on the Safeguarding Commission 

of the Ecclesiastical Province of 

Malta, making him a protégé of Archbishop 

Scicluna. He’s been described 

to Crux as a “highly competent man,” 

and is the father of three children. 

At first glance, there’s little to object 

to about the group. 

Not one of the members of the task 


Andrew Azzopardi 

SHUTTERSTOCK 

SCREENSHOT VIA YOUTUBE @MALTAKSU 

force is just ballast in what seems an 

honest attempt to answer a real request 

from around the world to provide 

advice, guidance, help, particularly in 

countries where the clerical abuse crisis 

hasn’t yet really exploded. The fact 

that virtually all are clerics may be a 

help in many parts of the world where 

clergy still enjoy strong respect. 

Even in countries such as Iraq, where 

just being a Christian can be dangerous, 

on better days priests still can 

roam almost freely with no need of a 

visa or passport; their clerical clothing, 

in itself, is all the authorization they 

need. 

Yet there are also questions worth 

asking about the composition of the 

task force. 

First, all the people appointed have 

highly demanding jobs already, and 

they’re not giving them up anytime 

soon. Further, even those who are outsiders 

have strong ties with the Roman 

Curia, meaning the Church’s central 

government. 

Given that the Vatican often is seen 

as a barrier to reform and not the 

solution, several observers, including 

abuse survivors, have questioned the 

credibility of the task force. 

Despite the fact that an estimated 

40 percent of cases of clerical abuse 

currently being studied in the Vatican’s 

Congregation for the Doctrine of the 

Faith come from Latin America, it’s 

valid to wonder why only one member 

comes from this part of the world, and 

he’s the highest ranking curial official, 

arguably one of the busiest men in the 

Vatican already. 

It’s also valid to wonder why, even 

though Africa is the region where the 

Catholic Church is growing most rapidly, 

there are no Africans on the team. 

That’s especially relevant, since many 

African bishops and other Church 

leaders say the abuse problem plays 

out differently there, involving fewer 

cases of priests preying on boys and 

more of priests engaging in abusive 

relationships with women. 

Few omissions, however, are as glaringly 

obvious as the lack of women. 

Pointing this out is not about female 

empowerment or gender equality. 

It’s not about appointing women in 

leadership positions or making sure 

they have a seat at the decision-making 

table, goals Pope Francis has spoken 

about but only spottily accomplished. 

Having women at the forefront is 

about protecting children, nothing 

more, nothing less. 

It’s often argued that women and 

men have different sensitivities, and 

on few topics is that truth as obvious: 

No one has a more urgent reason to 

protect children than a mother who 

fears her children aren’t safe. 

Moreover, Church officials routinely 

acknowledge the critical role of women 

in the transmission of the faith. 

Without mothers dragging their kids 

out of bed on Sundays, or patiently 

rocking a crying baby during Mass 

while trying to remain inconspicuous, 

there would be no new generations of 

Catholics. 

In the words of Argentine abuse 

prevention expert Ines Frank, women 

— really, laity in general — are 

“fundamental” to the cleanup because 

they usually have skills priests don’t. 

Beyond that, there’s also a question 

of perception: “Those who are being 

questioned for their actions are priests. 

The majority of the accused and 

condemned are men, they are clerics; 

so here women also have a central, 

particular role. We have a different 

sensitivity to the world, so our contribution 

to resolve the problem from its 

root is important.” 

For any task force to have a trickle-up 

effect, people will have to be 

convinced that this time reform is for 

real. Parents will need to see serious, 

definitive steps being taken, to guarantee 

that simply saying “never again” is 

more than a slogan. 

Inés San Martín is an Argentinian 

journalist and Rome bureau chief for 

Crux. She is a frequent contributor to 

Angelus. 


A permanent 

parting 

This year’s Lenten journey should 

include serious reflection on the 

harshest of the ‘Four Last Things’: hell 

BY MIKE AQUILINA / ANGELUS 


During this year’s liturgical season 

of Lent, Angelus is featuring 

a four-part series of interviews 

with Catholic scholars on the “Four Last 

Things” in Christian eschatology: death, 

judgment, heaven, and hell. 

Scott Hahn is arguably the most widely 

influential Catholic layman of the 

last half-century. An ordained Presbyterian 

minister, he entered full communion 

with the Catholic Church in 

1986 and pursued an academic career. 

Since 1990 he has taught at Franciscan 

University of Steubenville. By the 

mid-1990s, his audio and video audience 

had reached millions. He is the 

author or co-author of dozens of books 

and has hosted or co-hosted dozens of 

television series. He spoke to Angelus 

about the third of the “Four Last 

Things”: hell. 

Hell, it seems, is under attack, at 

least as a Christian doctrine. Even 

The New York Times recently published 

an essay inveighing against 

traditional beliefs about damnation. 

Does hell even exist? 

Well, we should all take that up with 

Jesus, since he told us 80% of what we 

know about hell. Taken together, they 

describe a state that is permanent and 

painful. And it’s not as if his statements 

are vague or ambiguous. 

Consider the one I find most chilling: 

“Woe to that man by whom the 

Son of man is betrayed! It would have 

been better for that man if he had not 

been born” (Matthew 26:24; Mark 

14:21). What Jesus said about Judas 

would be unthinkable for one person 

to say about another, if there were no 

hell. “Better not to have been born”? 

There’s no way to make sense of that 

if Judas got to enjoy the beatific vision. 

Why would a merciful and good 

God create hell? 

Step away from the traditional 

imagery for a minute. Concerning the 

“Last Things,” Scripture says, “What 

no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor 

the heart of man conceived, what God 

has prepared for those who love him” 

(1 Corinthians 2:9). 

What we have in the Bible then are 

terms that strain the limits of language. 

Hell’s endless fire and deathless 

worm are metaphors, just like 

heaven’s white robes and harps. But 

they’re extremely significant metaphors, 

because they tell us all we can 

know, given our current limitations. 

Emily Dickinson was on to something 

when she said the parting is all 

we need to know about hell. Hell is 

a permanent parting from God. It’s 


“The Tempest of Hell,” from Gustave Doré’s 1857 illustrations of Dante’s “Inferno.” 


the permanent choice for something 

other than God. That should be, for a 

Christian, the worst thing imaginable 

— worse than a fire that burns you or 

a worm that eats at you. 

It’s a natural thing for a human being 

to crave love. It’s part of being human. 

To have that craving and yet repel its 

satisfaction would be hellish. 

So you’re saying that hell is a 

choice? 

It’s more than that. It’s the proof of 

our freedom to choose. It’s the guarantor 

of our freedom, because love 

cannot be compelled or coerced. God 

wants our love, but he will not force 

us to love him. 

I think it’s fearfully possible to refuse 

God’s love. We see such refusals all 

too often, and sometimes they’re 

sustained over the course of a long 

lifetime. People make themselves 

miserable by their choices, but they 

dig in. They take their stand and 

plant their flag. Popular culture even 

celebrates that kind of rebellion. My 

friend Peter Kreeft once joked that the 

national anthem of hell is “I Did It 

My Way.” 

St. Catherine of Siena said that a 

drop of contrition could empty hell. 

But there is no such drop. The souls 

in hell despise their lot, but they’d despise 

heaven more. God’s love would 

be hellish for those who do not want 

it. It would burn them more than hell 

does. 

So where does the denial of hell 

come from? 

I understand the desire to disbelieve 

in it. And I understand why there are 

so few people in the Church standing 

up for it. Who wants to be known as 

hell’s great defender? But, again, the 

big problem here is Jesus. 

Is he the only problem? 

No! There are many others. I already 

mention that to deny hell is to negate 

our freedom. Freedom is illusory if it 

will be trumped by a supposed mercy 

that negates deliberate rebellion 

against God and his grace. 

But it also negates God’s justice. I’m 

not saying that God needs to extract 

his vengeful payback, his proverbial 

pound of flesh. I’m saying that the 

objectivity of the moral order is itself 

erased if sin has no real consequences. 

Think of what sin visits upon the 

world. It’s not just broken laws; it’s 

broken lives, broken homes, broken 

relationships. It would be a false justice 

that merely accepted the wrongs 

in the same way as the rights. It would 

make God at once a relativist and a 

dictator, and his heaven a dictatorship 

of relativism. 

So what is hell? 

It’s a train that jumped the tracks to 

exercise its freedom. It’s a fish that 

jumped the bowl to be free of the 

water. Hell is where you go to unite 

self-assertion and self-deception with 

its original source. On this side of 

death we can experience the consequences 

of sin in a remedial way. We 

can let them purify us and restore us. 

I’ll bet that many of the wisest and holiest 

people you know are the people 

who have suffered the most. 

The consequences of sin can be an 

occasion of healing. You’ll learn that if 

you attend an AA meeting. People hit 

bottom, and some of them recognize 

that they need to climb up and out. 

But they need to make that decision. 

We can refuse to be healed, and we 

can refuse this repeatedly, obstinately, 

and even permanently, at the hour of 

our death. It’s a surplus of pride, not 

a lack of mercy, that keeps humans 

from obtaining heavenly glory. 

But, again, it’s our choice. It’s because 

we have sinned against the light 

that we become willfully darkened. 

How should belief in hell affect our 

day-to-day lives? 

Fear of hell is the lower part of contrition. 

It’s better for us to be motivated 

by pure love. But it’s OK if we’re 

motivated by pure fear! It’s a start. 

Even Scripture tells us to work out 

our salvation in fear and trembling. 

In the traditional act of contrition, 

we say that we’re sorry because we 

“dread the loss of heaven and the 

pains of hell.” That’s the beginning of 

conversion. 

Eventually, what we want is a right 

ordering of loves and a right ordering 

of fears. We want to love God more 

than any created thing we’ve formerly 

preferred through sin. We want to fear 

the loss of God more than the pains 

of hell. 

What we don’t want is to be like the 

damned, who, according to Jesus, just 

wail and gnash their teeth. They don’t 

repent. They recognize their failure, 

but they’re still too proud to do anything 

about it. 

Mike Aquilina is a contributing editor 

to Angelus and the author of many 

books, including “How Christianity 

Saved Civilization … And Must Do So 

Again” (Sophia Institute Press, $18.95). 


WITH GRACE 

BY DR. GRAZIE POZO CHRISTIE 

The Catholic case 

against single-payer 

Sen. Bernie Sanders appears at a California Nurses Association Union rally in 2017 to show his support for SB 562, S. 1804, and Medicare for All. 

CHRIS ALLAN/SHUTTERSTOCK 

As we roll rapidly through the 

election year, the remaining two 

Democrats vying for the nomination 

have backed expensive and 

radical changes to health care policy. 

Whether the frontrunners’ plans 

directly abolish private medicine (Sen. 

Bernie Sanders) or do so slowly but 

inexorably through a “public option” 

(Joe Biden), voters should consider 

that there is more at stake than losing 

the considerable advantage we Americans 

enjoy over our British cousins in 

cancer survival rates. 

Also at stake is freedom. 

Today in the U.S., private-sector 

medicine provides a varied landscape 

of health care styles and choices, in 

contrast to the sclerotic uniformity and 

government micromanagement of a 

socialist, single-payer system. 

With private medicine, health care 

workers and hospitals can opt out of 

ethically problematic “treatments” like 

suicide, abortion, and amputations of 

healthy organs. And patients have the 

freedom to choose oases of sanity and 

Hippocratic medicine, like Catholic 

hospitals, where they will receive care 

in accordance with the highest concepts 

of human flourishing, and not 

just those that happen to be currently 

in vogue with social engineers. 

If these fears seem the result of a 

fevered imagination, a close reading of 

former candidate Elizabeth Warren’s 

Medicare for All plan illustrates how 

one-size-fits-all-medicine can and will 

be harnessed to the cart of a radical 

social agenda. 

From Warren’s bill: “Items and 

services to eligible persons shall be 

furnished by the provider without discrimination.” 

This is not an innocuous 

phrase meant to protect against age or 

race discrimination by providers and 

institutions. Formulations like this are 

currently being used to wield the accu- 

T 


sation of “discrimination” as a cudgel 

enforcing progressive aims. 

For an example, look no further than 

a lawsuit brought against a Catholic 

hospital network in California for 

refusing to perform a hysterectomy on 

a healthy woman who identifies as a 

man. 

The state’s Court of Appeals ruled 

in September that under California’s 

Unruh Civil Rights Act, the hospital, 

which performs hysterectomies only on 

women with cancer or other medical 

necessity, was discriminating against 

the plaintiff for being a “trans man.” 

Like the Medicare for All bill, the 

state’s civil rights act guarantees “full 

and equal accommodations, … privileges 

or services.” Under Medicare 

for All, every hospital in the country 

would be held to be discriminating 

against healthy women who were 

denied a hysterectomy, whether they 

refused for ethical, medical, or religious 

reasons. 

Discrimination will also be alleged 

when a medical worker refuses to perform 

or participate in an abortion. A 

woman who seeks a late-term abortion 

because her fetus has Down syndrome 

and is made to wait because the nurse 

on duty refuses to assist for religious 

reasons can claim to be a victim. 

Ditto for a man who is trying to fill 

his prescription for suicide pills and is 

told to go to the pharmacy next door. 

Under Medicare for All, any burden 

placed on the exercise of religion will 

be justified by the federal government’s 

compelling interest in ensuring equal 

access to medical treatment for all 

residents. 

What will be lost in the calculation, 

and quite purposefully, are the rights of 

doctors, nurses, and others to step aside 

and let someone else do the job they 

can’t in good conscience bring themselves 

to do: because it ends a human 

life, or irreparably harms a young and 

healthy body. 

This, of course, is the worst kind of 

discrimination, because it would prevent 

these good people from working 

for what would be the only medical 

employer in the country: the government. 

Americans who love their private 

health insurance were famously upset 

when President Barack Obama’s 

promise that, “If you like your health 

plan, you can keep it” turned out to be 

a gross mischaracterization. 

Medicare for All comes with lots of 

promises that will turn out to be false: 

of cost containment, no tax hikes for 

the middle class, and the preservation 

of cancer cure rates that are the envy 

of the developed world. It also comes 

with assurances that promise to be true, 

like the fact that no one gets to keep 

their plan. 

If that is not enough to scare voters 

away from presidential candidates who 

espouse single-payer medicine, the end 

of freedom of conscience in medicine 

should do the trick. 

Dr. Grazie Pozo Christie grew up in 

Guadalajara, Mexico, coming to the 

U.S. at the age of 11. She has written 

for USA TODAY, National Review, The 

Washington Post, and The New York 

Times, and has appeared on CNN, 

Telemundo, Fox News, and EWTN. 

She practices radiology in the Miami 

area, where she lives with her husband 

and five children. 

Target loyal customers who share your faith 

Contact Jim Garcia at 213.637.7590 or jagarcia@angelusnews.com

INSIDE 

THE PAGES 

By KRIS MCGREGOR 

Self-care that’s not selfish 

A Catholic therapist makes the 

case for the spiritual value of 

taking care of ourselves 

Self-care is a buzzword in our world today. Podcasts, 

ads, Instagram influencers: They all say if we find 

enough “me time,” we’ll be able to truly enjoy our 

lives. However, so much of what is being pitched to us only 

offers surface-level fulfilment and are at best temporary 

fixes. 

In “It’s Okay to Start with You” (Our Sunday Visitor, $13), 

Catholic therapist and speaker Julia Marie Hogan presents 

some ideas about the importance of authentic self-care, and 

what that looks like in a Catholic life. 

Kris McGregor: Do we realize we’re stressed out? That 

may seem like a silly question, but most people I know 

loath to admit they can’t handle things or that things are out 

of control. And yet they are demonstrating the classic signs 

of burnout. 

Julia Marie Hogan: There was an article in The New York 

Times years ago called “The Busy Trap.” The author talked 

about how being busy is equated with being important. If 

people need us, then we have value in the world, but that 

comes at a cost if we’re constantly busy, and that’s stress. 

If we see being busy as our source of value, to admit that 

we can’t handle it all feels like failure. A common excuse 

for not practicing self-care is, “I’ll sleep when I’m dead.” I 

don’t need to take time for myself. 

The reality is we’re mind and body, and both of those 

things are not meant to handle sustained stress for long periods 

of time. Practicing self-care is a way of giving yourself 

that chance to see what it’s like to not be stressed. 

McGregor: What is authentic self-care? 

Hogan: Think about what it means to be rooted in your 

knowledge of God’s love for you and to use that as motivation 

for taking care of yourself. 

Self-care is actually a discipline. It’s not self-indulgent or 

Julia Marie Hogan 

lazy, or trying to get out of responsibilities. It can be hard to 

practice — think about getting enough sleep! I’m tempted 

to get as much done as I possibly can, so going to sleep 

sometimes feels like, “Oh no, I didn’t get everything done 

that I wanted to do today.” 

McGregor: Because of the lightbulb and the other electronic 

devices we’ve created, such as television and smartphones, 

we’ve pushed ourselves to stay up so much later 

than what our bodies were designed to handle. 

Hogan: Because we’re constantly connected through the 

internet and social media, it can be hard to break yourself 

from that connectivity. Ultimately, it goes back to self-care 

being a discipline. It’s hard to avoid screen time. It’s hard 

to go to bed on time and get those seven to eight hours of 

sleep. 

McGregor: How much does your self-care depend on 

where you are in the season of your life? 

Hogan: The life of a new mom is very different than some- 

JULIAMARIEHOGAN.COM 

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one in the corporate world working an 80-hour week. They 

can both practice self-care, but it’s going to look different for 

both of them. 

With self-care, you need to take care of yourself mentally, 

emotionally, spiritually, physically, all of those things. It’s 

not about being perfect, it’s a continual process. 

I wrote about making an effort not to skip meals when I’m 

at work, because sometimes it’s tempting to fill my lunchhour 

slot with another client. And the past couple of weeks 

have been really busy, and I found myself skipping lunch 

here and there, so I have to remind myself, you wrote about 

this! 

McGregor: Where can a busy person start? 

Hogan: The idea is to start with something really small 

in each area: physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual. 

Research shows that when we take small, concrete, easily 

defined steps, we’re more likely to be successful at sustaining 

them in the long term. 

If my goal is to exercise more, if I say I haven’t been to 

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increasing slowly, that is much more sustainable. You’re 

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THE CRUX 

BY HEATHER KING 

A ‘Laid-Bach’ 

experience 

Renowned pianist Angela 

Hewitt includes a stop in Beverly 

Hills as part of her global tribute 

to the German composer 

Angela Hewitt 

RICHARD TERMINE 

People think Angelenos are “laid 

back,” but the fact is, a simple trip 

to a music concert requires nerves 

of steel, an encyclopedic memory for 

geographical layout, and a longing for 

transcendence that needs to trump all 

manner of danger and discomfort. 

I refer in this case to a recent trip to 

the Wallis Annenberg Center for the 

Performing Arts, which is located on 

“Little” Santa Monica Boulevard in 

Beverly Hills. 

As you may know, this two-lane artery, 

lined with ritzy restaurants, upscale 

boutiques, dentists’ offices, and plastic 

surgeons, has absolutely no shoulder or 

curb, is criss-crossed by one-way streets, 

has narrow, if at all, left-hand turn 

lanes, and is therefore basically suicidal 

to slow down or stop. 

It’s bad enough during the day, but 

try driving it at night. Palm trees were 

swathed in disconcertingly blinking 

fairy lights. Teslas, Porsches, Lamborghinis 

whizzed past at warp speed. 

The GPS went haywire and started 

giving directions even I knew were 

wrong. Gripping the wheel and frantically 

“navigating,” I realized I would 

have done just as well to close my eyes. 

Somehow I found my way and realized 

that in order to enter the parking lot, 

I had to stop on a dime — mid-block 

and with no turn lane — and make a 

sharp turn to the left and down. 

Having arrived, however, I discovered 

that the Wallis is stunning: a 

70,000-square-foot prime piece of real 

estate between Canon and Crescent. 

The restored building, designed by 

Zoltan E. Pali of SPF:architects, has 

won major architectural awards. 

The original 1933 Beverly Hills Post 

Office serves as its lobby. Beyond that, 

it’s all airy ceilings, hushed carpet, 

chi-chi bathrooms, spacious courtyards, 

upscale “waterfalls,” and bartenders 

surrounded by shelves of fancy liquors: 

all very spacious and tasteful and classy, 

LA-style. 

The center opened in 2013 and has 

been known since for its eclectic and 

sophisticated programming which, to 

date, includes more than 275 dance, 

theater, opera, classical music, cinema, 

and family programs. 

Its programming has been nominated 

for 57 Ovation Awards and seven Los 

Angeles Drama Critics Circle Awards. 

A sampling of upcoming productions 

includes an experimental staging of 

Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein,” Al 

Pacino in a benefit-staged reading of 


Hewitt 

RICHARD TERMINE 

David Rabe’s “The Basic Training of 

Pavlo Hummel,” and the documentary 

“Violins of Hope: Strings of the 

Holocaust.” 

The 500-seat Bram Goldsmith 

Theater in which the concert took 

place, all sculptural wood and copper 

tones, is gorgeous. A lot of people in 

attendance looked vaguely like movie 

stars. A 20-something beauty in the 

seat in front of me greeted a friend and 

exclaimed: “Guess what I did today! I 

bought a condo in Century City!” 

The concert was in honor of Scott 

Timberg, 

longtime LA 

Times music 

and culture 

critic, who 

died tragically 

at 50 last 

December. 

The musician 

was 

world-renowned 

pianist Angela 

Hewitt (b. 

1958). Hewitt 

is on what she 

calls a “Bach 

Odyssey,” a 

series of concerts 

live-recording 

every 

single piece 

of music that 

Johann Sebastian 

Bach 

ever wrote. 

We were near the end of the cycle, as 

she started in September 2016, and 

plans to conclude on June 2, 2020, at 

Wigmore Hall in London. 

Bach (1685-1750) is, of course, the 

Baroque-era composer and church 

organist universally considered to have 

written, among other things, some of 

the greatest choral and sacred works of 

all time (“Mass in B Minor,” “Christmas 

Oratorio,” and the universally 

known cantata excerpt “Jesu, Joy of 

Man’s Desiring”). 

The evening’s repertoire consisted 

of “Four Duets,” “Eighteen Little 

Preludes” (some of which Bach 

composed as lessons for his children), 

and the “Fantasia and Fugue in A 

Minor” (none of which are terribly 

The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts. 

well-known), followed by the “French 

Overture in B minor” and the “Italian 

Concerto in F Major” (which are). 

Hewitt is deeply likable. She’s humble, 

she’s accessible, she seemed to be 

enjoying herself. Each piece of Bach’s, 

she told us before starting, was like a 

puzzle that needed solving. 

She began her piano studies at the 

age of 3, has been associated with 

Bach since winning first prize in the 

Toronto International Bach Piano 

Competition in 1985, and describes 

his compositions as “the most beautiful 

and concentrated 

music 

that exists. … 

Something in 

it speaks to all 

humanity.” 

She has 

spent 11 years 

performing 

and recording 

all of Bach’s 

major keyboard 

works 

Heather King is a blogger, speaker, and the author of several books. 

© WALLIS ANNENBERG CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS 

— a total of 

17 CDs — for 

Hyperion. 

“One of the 

record glories 

of our age,” 

Britain’s The 

Sunday Times 

called them, 

and Hewitt 

herself has 

been heralded 

as “one of the 

reliably mesmerising musicians of the 

day,” “the priestess of Bach,” and “the 

purring engine of a Rolls-Royce in 

motion.” 

She has played Bach in London’s 

Royal Festival Hall, knowing that her 

mother had died a few hours before. 

She once played a Bach fugue in the 

Château de Chillon on Lake Geneva 

while a beetle slowly climbed up her 

bare arm. 

And on Feb. 23, she played for us 

graced Angelenos who had braved 

traffic, found our way to this glittering 

theater, and were stunned into silence 

by her virtuosity. 

As for return traffic? I didn’t notice. 

I didn’t drive home that night: I 

floated. 

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Angelus News | March 13, 2020 | Vol. 5 No. 10

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