News Scrapbook 1985

San Francisco CA (San Francisc~ Co) Chronicle · (Cir. D. 537,621)

Ff B8 - 19851

.Jl.1/m iux Sister Mary ridget ecom s a Chancellor BY RUTHE STEIN P. C. B / ,,.

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f Wall<'r Mondale had rho en Sister Mary Bridget Flaherty ns h s runnrng mate mstt·ad of Geraldine F rr ro, he might have made it to the White Hou , I C'r Mary Brldg t, "ho this week became th country' fir t \\Om n bane llor of a Roman Catholic nrchdtoce , 15 so cnutlou about what she says that she cou\d hav h d another calltng a a politician. Words don t com tumbling out of her mouth; they are pro- c d n Ir throu h a computer. At her new office In the San Fran cl co Archdloce e tn..lldln SI t r "Mary B." a he Introduced herself with n firm h ndsh ke, made It clear that Catholic · "omen cone rncd bout what they f cl Is sexI mwith· In th church shouldn't c pcct her to perform any mlracl "I hope I can pr ent the concerns of women" said the 62-y ar-old nun, who respon lbilltlcs now !~elude dv1 Ing San Fraucl ·co Archbl hop John R. Quinn. "IJut I reel I would be doing a real disservice to "om n lfl w totally bl ed In thnt area lleel I can do th be t en1ce to worn n by being open nd fair and hnpart!al, but not try to ram \10111 n's I su down 1 1 opt s throat That do more to alienate people th n 11 do o d" h Wh I ck11ov.l d mg h r initial concern about <'In •Ju t a token v. oman" In the chancery office I t ! lary Bridget ha c me to view her hlstorl~ oppo1,ntme_nt as a sincere effort on the part of the church to mvolve o n In policy decl Ions. She als'> it refI ct th role or women In society Ing era!. Unlit 1983, wh n church law was changed the lion or chanc llor, roughly analogous to a' vice pr Id nt of a corporation v. Ith the hi hop being the chi f x ullve omcer, v.as re trlcted to priests - that I m n I.n a en e of y,hat could be con trued as reverse dtscrimlnallon, v. hen the chancellor's job opened up I t fall, Archblsh p Quinn announced his Intention to h re a "oman. The archbishop had been talking to women reli• g ou throughout the country as part of a papal Invest! g t10n of US religious orders. "He has been impressed by the d1ff rent per pectlve of women. That was one r on v.hy he y,anted o y,oman chancellor - to have that dlmcn Ion" said Si ter Mary Bridget. She was Int rvlewcd for the post after receiving a terhng recommendation from the Hev. Charles Dur, kin, pa tor of All , oul catholic Church in South San Fra,ncl co, where she had hcen a par! h sister since 1982. The day after the interview, Si ter Mary Bridget v. rote.a h t of the areas In which she f cit competent and tho c Ill which she felt less competent and sent it to the h1 , hop's office

San Diego, CA [San Diego Co.I San Diego Union [Cir. D. 217,324) !Cir. S. 339,788)

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~roduction shift on agenda Ee ~ . ononuc conversion has been de-

morrow during a panel discussion on "Different Views of U.S. Dependency on Military Expenditures." Other conference speakers include Seymour Melman, professor of indus- tnal engineering at Columbia Uni- versity, and retired Rear Adm. Eu- gene Carroll, deputy director for the Center for Defense Information and former director of U.S. Military Op- erations for all U.S. forces in Europe and thee Middle East. Also included are Ann Rudin, mayor of Sacramen- to, and Ted Williams, president of Bell Industries. Cost of the three-day conference and banquet is $125. Cost for the ban- quet alone is $25. For further infor- mation about conference registra- tion, call 293-3661 or 297-8437. /

version planning means planning in the event that there is a cut m de- fense spending, a freeze in defense bu_dget or a negotiated peace," Myers said. "Right now, employment and de- fense spending is so linked we literal- ly cannot afford any kind of peace. And Southern California is the most dependent part of the country on de- fense spending," sh said. Speakers will include Lio, d Dumas, professor of political econo- my at the Umvers1ty of Texas at Dal- las, and Crosby Milne, co-founder of North Island Association and author of Products without Production. Charles Ellington of the Depart- ment of Defense, Office of Economic Adjustment, is scheduled to speak to-

fined as the process through which military industries are transformed to civilian production. In San Diego this weekend, local labor, business and academic leaders plan to discuss that process with na- tional experts at the first economic conversion conference to be held on the West Coast. About 230 people are expected to attend the three-day San Diego Eco- nomic Conversion Conference, which begins today at the Uilivers1ty of San Dieg,:::o·:-..-- --sj}okeswoman Sara Myers said the goals are to educate people about economic conversion and begin plan- ning efforts for San Diego. ~in San Diego, economic con-

IYMJUMAIONH Sister Mary Bridget Flaherty: 'I hope I can present the concerns of women' The administrative responsibilities didn't faze her b('cause they "ere similar to what she had done as treasurer an~ assistant business manager of the Univer- sity of nJ;>J o and as a Catholic school principal She was also confident that she could handle being the .only woman among the archbishop's advisers, since for sev- e_ral years she was the only woman to belong to associa- uons of college business managers. "I felt the area of my greatest disadvantage is speaking, because I am not terribly articulate. I'm not so sure I think so fast on my feet " said Sister Mar Bridget. ' Y . Apparently Monsignor Francis Lacey, y,ho inter- viewed her for the position, disagreed. (The monsignor Is moderator of the curia, o position that was created in 1983 at the same time that the doors were opened to women to be chancellor. The moderator is higher than chancellor within the diocese and ls limited to priests.) Sister Mary Bridget said that she was offered the Job of chancellor in December but took a month to make up her mind ~o that ~he could discuss the job with her family and friends. 'Not one person felt that I should not accept It," she added. . When all the media attention subsides, Sister ary Bridget will move her belongings Into her office which she has not yet had time to do, and answer 'an the congratulatory letters that she has been receiving. 'Tm sure there must be people out there who are not so enthusiastic, but I haven't heard from them."

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p c. B F.,, Docent ousted in issue over mission project ?- q_c-~ By Maria' ~ente "The council decided that it would be in the best interests of with her church and her faith. Tribune Staff Writer the parish that she not serve because she didn't first discuss "1 expected cold shoulders but I never expected something AMission San Diego de Alcala parishioner has been kicked with us lier concerns about the dig and the building," Eagen this blatantly petty," she said. "(Being a docent) is something out of the church's volunteer docent program after she publicly said. "It's better that she not be giving tours when she's on one really meaningful to me and I don't want that to be taken away complained about plans to bulldoze an archaeological site for a side of the controversy." from me." new church building. Eagen said the decision to remove Higginbotham would rt- Higginbotham incurred the wrath of church officials and Joy Higginbotham had been leading tours of the historic ma.m in effect until the fate of the proposed $800,000 building is other parishioners after she went to city planners with ques- rnis.tjon about once a week since the docent program started resolved Although the council bad considered taking stronger tions about the mission's plans to construct a 10,000-square-foot last spring. measures against Higginbotham - such as voting to censure building over an archaeological site that University of San But Monsignor I. Brent Eagen, pastor of the mission, said her - Eagen said he advised the council to "be temperate and Diego students had excavated over a period of nearly 20 years. yesterday that Higginbotham was temporarily removed from act as Christians." In an article in The Tribune two weeks ago, Higginbotham the program by a vote of the 21-member Parish Council last Higginbotham said yesterday that she was "crushed" by her said she became concerned about the building after learning week. He said members of the Mission Historical Society, which removal from the program, adding that she had not expected that the architects on the project intended to destroy the exca- runs t!Y; docent program, concurred with the decision to re- such a reaction from church officials. She said she views her vation site - even th?l,lgh preservation of the site had been a move~gginbotham. volunteer work as a way to forge an important personal link Please see DOCENT, f'-8

*Do~t; ComiJ;!j,From B-1 condition of the orig· al approval of he project granted 1 1979. As a result of Higginbotham's questions, city planning official, de- cided to take a closer look at the current plans for the building, which as supposed to have been started this month. Now the project has been put on hold until the city's Historic Site oard has a chance to review the archaeological work and determine whether preservation of the site should remain a condition of final ap- proval of the building. City planning officials have re- quested that the USD archaeologists

who supervised the digging at the mission produce a report of their findings. The report will be distribut- ed to state and local archaeologists for review, and will be used by the Historic Site Board to decide what, if any, preservation techniques should be applied to the excavation site. Eagen and Dr Ray Brandes, dean of the USD graduate school and the man who initiated digging at the site in 1965, have argued that the excava- tion project has been completed and there is nothing left at the site to preserve. In addition, the architects on the project say the excavation site must be bulldozed to reach solid

In a letter delivered to city plan- ning officials last week, Brandes said that any further delays in construe• tion of the building are "unnecessary, unconscionable and beyond the bounds of reasonableness." Allen Jones, deputy director of the f city's environment~l quality division, said Brandes' three-page letter out- lining the history of the archaeologi- cal work is not an adequate response to the request for a formal scientific Jones said he and other officials from the planning department and the city attorney's office are sched- uled to meet with Eagen, Brandes and projec~ architects today, report on the diggings.

ground to build on.