News Scrapbook 1975-1977

Ministry institute at USD

t ordination, stressed for women

Pap 23

Thursday, July 21, 1977

This week's guest columnist From there to here [Editor's note: La Jollan Sara Finn is director of public

was surfacing. The new La Jolla's Center for the Study of the Person was being "watched." But I was intrigued. A jolting experience with a child ( "mine will never do that! ") ; a remark by Bill Coulson that was not meant to sting but did - "You're like a butterfly. Beautiful and always in motion, but never in one spot Jong enough for me to get to know you" • each turned me around. It was heavy, but I had to get to know myself. I worked at it, knowing that I had inwardly been searching for growth. It wasn't easy. To me, worthwhile efforts never are. The University of San Diego was going through its own search and metamorphosis. It, too, needed to grow. My friends Sister Sally Furay and Msgr. John Baer had invited me to work for USD. Thank you, no, say the carbons of letters in my file. A new layman president of the university is selected • Dr. Author Hughes. "Sister," I said, "I'll meet with Dr. Hughes for 20 minutes, but the answer is still-No!" That was six years ago. The 20 minutes never ended. From 50 cents a printed inch to director of public relations. Hard work, long hours, daily deadlines. But it was all tied together. Wife, homemaker, mother, civic involvement and career. "How do you do it all?" is the question I am asked most frequently. There isn't any one answer. It's a combination of many things and people. Whatever their order, I always begin with my self. An awareness of self, an honest statement to one's self. Reviewing. Honing. Honestly critiquing, but always in a positive way, is invaluable to me. It takes a lot of creative doing to successfully combine the life• style that I've described. I have been fortunate in that my husband and family have en- couraged and assisted me. My employers have always understood that family needs come first. University life often means weekend and night events that demand my presence. Home chores like the never-ending laundry are frequently done at midnight or - God forbid - Sundays. Just four years ago there were four teenagers in our house - ours ! a and they needed and received the hours - un• planned • for long discussions, carpools, laughs and problems. I wonder at the reader's response. Perhaps I have en- couraged some of you. Others may respond negatively. Some will wag that it's women's lib. To each her own style. Oh, yes - Allene, for you, I'll waive the fifty cents a printed inch!

relations at the University or San Diego. Her memberships include Public Relations Society of America, Public Relations Club of San Diego, San Diego Press Club, San Diego Chamber of Commerce, Women's Crusade for a Common Sense Economy and Council for the Advancement and Support of Education. She is one of the founders of The Women's Bank, and was recently elected to a two-year term as first vice- president of the Associated Alumnae of the Sacred Heart. Details of how she integrated a working career with those of housewife and mother are told in her column which follaws.J By SARA FINN What was supposed to be my last lazy day of summer vacation suddenly became pressurized. Deadline at the La Jolla Light! The reality is nothing new to me Indeed, my California career days began the same way - meeting deadlines at the old La Jolla Journal. "Fifty cents a printed inch and your own by-line," John Garland had declared from the editor's chair now occupied by Light editor Woody Lockard. I grabbed the opportunity. Printer's ink had been my adrenalin since my publisher's days at the age of 9 when Ohio neighbors paid a nickel a copy for my weekly tabloid. College was the same. Who remembers the drone of professors' lectures when the head pounds with editorial copy written at midnight for a weekly paper. The staff never worked during daylight hours. Classes met then . The real stuff of college happened at night. Fifty cents a printed inch! Reams of copy fell to the editor's cut, but no matter. Ten years of volunteer sen.ice on La Jolla committees had readit!d me for that new career. And I was ready I Wifehood and motherhood were my first preoccupations and happily so. We arrived here in February of '53, Navy pilot and bride. Thus began busy years of overseas duty for Tom, while I read Dr. Spock and called Dr. John Welsh for how-to courses on caring for newborns. Mine had been an easy life with many helping hands. And now this convent girl was on her own • and I thrived. New challenges, new people, new babies (four), btit it all fell into place. The energies once stifled by nuns who prayed that Sara Jane would be quiet in ranks, in class, in study hall - those energies were suddenly being encouraged. I felt totally alive. "You can do it!" became a ringing challenge . Anita Figueredo, friend, doctor, coworker, prodded me on. And who could question the wife- mother-<:areer combination of

Sara Finn this magnificent role model. The first day all four children were in school, my spirits sank to a heavy low. Tears blurred my vision as I trudged from Safeway to dishes to making beds. "I can do more than this!" my inner self screamed silently. I began to pray for my own miracle. John Burke on the phone from San Diego magazine: "Now Sara, you understand the job is for only two months, no more, and you're assigned to East County." The advertising sales I had done for Children's Hospital, Stella Maris Academy and the Mardi Gras Ball were about to pay off. From fifty cents a printed inch to 15 per cent commission for advertising fees! The year was 1965. La Mesa Boulevard never made much money for this advertising representative, but the once dormant adrenalin was churning. My two-month assignment lasted seven years. Deadlines became a way of life. I was launched as a staffer _when I naively but deter- minedly asked Editor Ed Self if he wanted advertising from Budweis r Beer. A doubting, patronizing publisher's smile, ("poor kid"), became one of surprised ad• miration when my school friend's father, August Busch, came through with two full pages. La Jolla then became my beat. Is there any better world'/ New challenges, new people, new rewards . It all tied together. During release time from the magazine, it was possible for me to continue serving on the board of the Alumnae of the Sacred Heart at San Diego College for Women and as a lecturer at the University of San Diego. The three classes I taught each week at USD on marriage demanded that I read the list of books provided for the students. My own interest in psychology, communication, and human relations was enhanced. Teacher became student of self. I had realized as my life- style changed and broadened rather rapidly, that a need to become acquainted with my self

Women extr•ordinary ministers participate in celebration of Eucharist at St. Pius X parish, Chula Vi ta-SC photo

whether the vocation of women might be to a ministry outside clencal1sm, with widened and deepened roles in a variety of fields. She anticipated many changes would have to be made prior to any ordination of women to priesthood, possibly including a rethtnking of the traditional model of the priesthood itself CALLING FOR an "un-learning" of traditional ideas of spirituality, Sister Brennan believes that we need to " re-learn the spirituality of Jesus, which 1s creative, centered in our world and tncarnat1onal- the spirituality of Jesus for whom to be spiritual meant to be fully alive It is a very positive approach ." Sister Carol Quigley who , with Sister Juliana Casey, completed the faculty of the institute, commented on the tendency to perceive ministry as mainly liturgical and sacramental and referred to evangehzation as the " only ministry " "I would not mean to suggest that one ministry is su perior to another," she explained "That would be as foolish as saying that one spmlual gift 1s superior to .inother " Evangelization is related to the mission of Jesus, to proclaim the Kingdom and bring the world to reconciliation , she added SHE FELT STRONGLY that the liturgy-the ministry of celebration-has been strengthened by the re-birth of the movement of evangeluat1on since the Vatican Council . On the sub1ect of the scriptural foundations of m,mstry, Sister Casey suggested that 1t 1s important to have some knm, ledge of the historical development of the Church to understand the growth and value oi its organizational structur , and the st<1b1lity this lends to the Churc.l> She pomted out that th~ Church has always rC't.imed authentic ministry despite the changes of the vears In the final sessions S ster Brennan \".arnPd ol the lonelinc5s tnherent in real comMitment Presenting lonel1n ~s as a positive rather than negati\e { e!T'ent m the grov.th tov.ards ind" 1dual1ty freedom and comm1trT"ent, she noted that to want to ehm1nate 1t enureh would be to deny our humar cond1t1on SELF-ACCEPTANCE and sell-knowledge arc- indispensable in mm1stry. she continued ' To say yes' to myself 1s to say yes' to God-but it ,s a daily struggle to accept our limitations The moment of sell-acceptance is the moment of faith ' "Because faith 1s an openness to a gift constantly real1Led, I cannot rest on the level of the answers I have now Faith 1s to live not only with what I have today but v.hat I am called to be tomorrm, " The institute sponsored by the University of San Diego, wa, the first on 'Women in Ministry" offered on a nauoral level It attract d part1c1pants from across the country, including Sister Helen Flaherty a Sister of Charity from the Denver diocese who 1s the first woman V,car for Rel g1ous in the United States.

per on were called to the same holiness -what did th,1t say dbout their ov.n hie?" Sister Brennan , who, with two other members of th• te,,m, holds a doctorate 1n sacred theology, made a plea for some signs of formal awarness of the mini try of women by tht> clergy and hierarchy. "THERE IS A need for an off1c1al statement on the pr sent pos1t1on of wom n in the Church in gen ral and with regard to specifi c ministries," she sa,d "We need to de-mytholog1Le the ' token woman' syndrome foo much emphasis is still being piJced on the ' first ever' woman appointed to a c rtain role or function, or to the 'only woman ' serving 1n some capacity " the development of pt rsonal spirituality, Sister Mary Ellen Sheehan, another member of the team, traced the roots of ministry in the hie of Jesus " M1n1stry 1s an expression of the deeper sense of rm, s1on and m1, s1on is the awareness of the need to procl.i,m the gospel in words , preaching , in action, giving and rece1vmg Any woman entering ministry mu st bP prep,irt>d for that kind of service." CLUES FOR d1rett1on today can be found in hi story and in theological reflection on the h1stoncal situJt1on of women, she ddded From the ea rliest days of the Chu rch, women h.ive been part of the off c1 I organizational structure of the Church and for the fir t 600 yPars pratticed a mtn1stry that was p rce ve

I esu,

more profound exp••nenre of

tyh• of voc,1tional life in th

•

uchar1st to the sick at a San Diego convalescent center.- SC photo

Restorers Scan History For Authenticity Mission's Future Depends Upon The Past By BETH MOHR beauty of Mission San Otego de Alcal eom from the ground upon which 1t stand . nie adobe of th basilica's gist, and Whlteomb, art hlstorlan and professor In the Art Department, Universi- ty of San Diego. ground from native minerals.

_ "The same decorative process was used at other missions. That is why you find a natural environmental deviation between the palettes used from one to the other. The tonal palette at Carmel, for Instance, is much more lavender and mauvey that San Diego's." Most features in the decorative designs were imported, however. "When the padres came to California over 200 years ago, their aim was to bring European culture as well as Christianity to the Indians," Whiteomb said. "Most of the original designs are based on the baroque florlate patterns found in art objects in existence then to which the padres had access. "Tiley found patterns in the embroidery on their vestments, the binding and Illumi- nation on pages of their books, leather tooling, carving on furniture, etching on sacred vessels and designs on crystal brought from Mexico, South America, Spain, the Philippines, England and France." Tile method of transferring designs to walls removed some of the grace of the UCCI! IJG:»cu uu 11e1u.1,;,W1AJJ15 •~""-""''-' -l1Uu1 fully reproduced. Tile result 1s a feeling of serenity fostered by the softness of the eolors and the stmplfcity of the designs. The outside walls of the mission are so white that they dazzle against the colorful tiles, green foliage d bright blossoms. "Tile adobe walls lso are part of our

original creations. "TIie designs were duplicated in rawhide stencils and applied to walls," Whitcomb said. "In making the transfers, the pat- terns became stiffer and more elemental." TIie padres also added motifs inspired by methods they used in teaching the Indians, Whiteomb explained. "Tilere was a great emphasis on visual- ization in teaching basic doctrines," she said. "The shell symbolized baptism; the butterfly, renewal; the pineapple, wel• come, and the pepper tree, San Diego. The rope motif represents the unity, simplicity and penitence of the Franciscan order." TIie rope ls repeated frequently, shell designs have been painted over the side niches and a pineapple design centers the pulpit. Indians who helped with stencils occa- sionally added touches of their own, thus giving a unique California mission quality to the decor. . "Geometric designs, the diamonds and straight bars, are contributions by the Indians," Whitcomb said. "It is the juxta- (ConUnaed OD D-3, Col. 4) Today, it stands as a parish church and a vital part of San Diego·s history oper. to visitors of every faith. "This Is where California was born," Jane Guymon sald. "Tile mission Is part of our heritage and a place we all should make a part of our Itves." G. Legler Benbough and Guymon are

Whiteomb planned the decoration for the interior walls of the church and did most of the actual art work. Color dominates the sanctuary of the white-walled church. Flowers linked In vmes frame niches holding figures of St. Joseph on the right of the altar and the Blessed Mother and Child on the left. ~1oral motifs and blocks of color enhance the reredos, dominated by the crucifixion In the main panel with a statue of God the Father looking down from the upper tier. tatuary stands in elaborately bordered slde niches. Warm shades, Crom terracotta to clear and dusty orang ; cool green, and golden_ tones of bright and soft yellows make up the major color scheme, with blue as the accent. "The golden and russet tones are from San Diego soil,'' Wh1teomb said. "Old Invoices show that a few pigments were imported from Spain, but records substan- tiate that most of the original colors used in the m Ion were mad with pigments

structure and the pigments used in the original paints for outside walls and Interi- or d ration came Crom Mission Valley earth. Materials now lx'Ing used to restore th m on are ba d on old substances veri- fied by r archers striving for auth nticl• ty, Teresa Whitcomb, a m mber of th restoration committee, sald 'Prt'l('.P.,i'd~ from the first d nner planned by Los Patron d Alcala Committee In 1973 m d possibl the rt of th re tora- Uon ncouraged by th Rt. Rev. Msgr I. Brent Eag n, pastor of the Old 1 on Parish TI1 fltth annual dinner n t Sunday will help continu the work A fl sta them Is planned for th event to lnclud a recep- tion at 7 p m. In the cnmpanario patio and dinner In La Sala. Working on the restoration from the rt hav been Dr Raymond Brand , hlstorl n, Dr. Jam orlarlty, arch lo-

,

-·