Dignity, San Francisco November 1999
Co-Chairs’ Report
Gilbert Gonzalez and Gino Ramos
"The Spirit of 2000"
Peace and Joy to all! The Spirit of the Jubilee Year is upon us and we are called to Action! Now is the acceptable time for renewed commitment to equality and justice for all of God’s people! As Dignitarians, we are called to seek ways and means to reach out and be counted. To be visible more than ever and to be the voice of change! Yes, we can effect change! But only if we start from within. Change within ourselves, within our families, within our communities and even within our Catholic hierarchy. We are being presented with multiple opportunities for change. It is up to us to act and respond.
COMMUNITY HEALING FORUM
On Sunday, November 7, 1999, our community will have an opportunity to gather, discuss and resolve issues revolving around the loss and circumstances of the loss of our own pastoral leader, Father William. It has been very difficult and possibly intimidating or even embarassing for some of us to voice our feelings on the subject of sexual abuse but most especially of a minor. However, for true healing to occur, we need to be able to confront the issue head (and heart) on! Please join us in the sanctuary at 3:00 pm as we heal ourselves and our community. The forum will be facilitated by Empower Perspectives and Fr. Ted.
FUTURE SEARCH CONFERENCE
"Searching and Sharing: Growing and Caring — Quo Vadis?" This will be the theme of this innovative and inspirational gathering slated for November 19-21, 1999. Friends and allies, together with various Dignity members, both past and present, will convene to review our collective pasts, look at the present, and work together to build our future! Renato Almanzor and his colleagues from Empower Perspectives will facilitate the conference, using the Future Search method developed by Welsbord and Janoff, scholars in the field of organizational development.
Please note that due to the Future Search Conference, our regular Sunday liturgy will be moved from Sunday, November 21, to Saturday, November 20 at 4:30 pm, followed by our annual Thanksgiving community dinner. (This will take the place of the regular Second Sunday supper this month). If you are planning to participate in the three-day conference, please confirm your registration with Emily Weaver (you can leave a message on the Dignity voice mail at 415-681-2491).
OUR RESPONSE TO CATHOLIC HIERARCHY’S HOMOPHOBIA
The Catholic GLBT community has received another setback with the recent California Catholic Bishops’ financial support of the hateful and bigoted Knight Initiative. With the grief, anger and pain that all of us have experienced with the recent silencing of Grammick and Nugent, it is disheartening that our Catholic hierarchy seems intent on compounding our misery with their support of the Knight Initiative (Defense of Marriage Act). It is our moral obligation to respond in a Christ-like fashion: that of a loving, forgiving manner, and yet still getting the message across in opposition to their narrow views.
With this in mind, we are planning an appropriate Community Action to show our commitment to equality and social justice. We are looking at Sunday, November 28, 1999 as a possible date since this marks the beginning of the New Year on the church calendar, the First Sunday of Advent, and the beginning of the church’s Jubilee Year in celebration of the new Millennium! Our proposed action is to hold a peaceful rally either in front of the Cathedral or the Diocesan office and to invite fellow minded Christian friends to pray and witness with us. We have just heard that the Interfaith Alliance is in the planning stages of a similar response to the Catholic Archbishops’ action. It is possible we may be able to integrate these two efforts; we will keep you posted as details are finalized.
Kudos to Fr. Zachary Shore of Most Holy Redeemer Parish for speaking against the bishops’ action in his homily. Ray Turner, husband of Ellen Turner, the local chair of Call to Action, wrote a poignant letter to The Valley Catholic, from which we provide the following excerpt:
Jesus accepted everyone and ministered to them. State Senator Pete Knight's son is living in a committed gay relationship. Sen. Knight is in so much personal pain over this he wants to cause pain to those he blames. That's why this has been called a "mean-spirited" campaign— Sen. Knight wants to hurt people back. Sadly, our bishops are going to help him. Ostensibly this is about saving the name "marriage" from being co-opted. But "marriage" has already been co-opted by our secular society to mean a "temporarily committed relationship". (The real co-option that should concern us today is the word "Christian". This word has been used by fundamentalists to justify the most un-Christ-like behavior towards other people.)
CHALLENGE GRANT
One of our longtime member is willing to endow Dignity/USA with a generous $1000 grant provided that our San Francisco membership matches the donation. This offer expires on December 31, 1999. We believe in the mission and vision of our beloved parent organization and the need for financial support to keep us all going strong in the new milennium. I encourage you to partake in this project by sending your tax-deductible contribution (please write "ATTN: Dignity/USA Challenge Grant" on the memo portion of your check).
STEWARDSHIP 2000
It’s the time of year to plan our chapter’s 2000 activities via our Stewardship Program. We’d like to thank each and everyone of you for your generosity of Time, Talent and Treasure during the past year. We have made great strides but our work is not over yet. Please consider prayerfully (and generously) what you can give as we approach the new year. Your stewardship of time, talent and treasure is much needed to enable us to continue with our unique and much needed mission. Please approach your co-chairs if there is anything we can do to facilitate your stewardship offering.
Hugs and kisses to all!