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October 8, 2019 | The Valley Catholic
COMMUNITY
Catholic Cemeteries: The Breath of Our Life
By Candee Lucas, Outreach
Job 33:4 “The Spirit of God hath made
me, And the breath of the Almighty giveth
me life.”
From our first breath until our last,
the spark of God’s love informs and
shapes our lives. We breathe so au-
tomatically that we are barely aware
of the process. Yoga teachers have to
‘train’ us to breathe mindfully. Yet, if
breath does not come, we cease to be.
Our next moment is not.
In time with hospice patients, in
their last moments, I breathed with
them to monitor if their breath was
slowing. Inevitably, it slowed, then
ceased. Sometimes there was one final
breath. Separate from the last one--a
final sigh of farewell.
At home with my mother when she
died, we were unable to rouse her for
a day as she lay on the sofa in the den.
Family came to sit vigil and wandered
off to sleep. In the early hours of the
morning, I was watching her breathe
and then she exhaled. There was no in-
hale that followed. She was gone from
us. God was there in the room with my
mother, taking her into His arms, en-
folding her, leaving her cancer behind.
Likewise, to see an infant take its
first breath is to watch the spark of God
animate a new life. I felt my son’s first
cry before he had fully left my body.
In a way, we shared that first breath.
I felt God’s spark enter my son’s body.
Felt God animate him. He was there in
the delivery room as my son was born,
being coaxed and animated into this
world and into my arms.
The two experiences are one half
each of a life whole. The abiding truth
was the experiential presence of God
at both events. Two events so similar
that we tend to mark them in a similar
way. Families gather to wait the ‘mo-
ment’. The moment comes in its own
time (without medical intervention).
Each is a confounding and profound
event that we tend to mark with ritual
and pageantry. One rejoiced, the other
mourned.
God has given us the miracle of
both events. There is the welcoming
ritual of baptism on one hand. He gives
the breath of life so that we may love
and seek Him all of our lives. Breath
to experience the world, to love Him
and others; to serve Him and others.
And, one day He sits with our loved
ones at the bedside of those who are
near death and watches with us as that
breath ceases. He waits to take that
person home.
Catholic Cemeteries is here to walk
with you and your family when that
time comes. We hope we can assist you
through the time when ritual is most
important, as it can offer both solace to
those left behind; and the recognition
of your loved one’s life and meaning.
We continue to offer support through
the grieving process. For more infor-
mation, contact us at (833) 677-9644 or
[email protected] .
Upcoming Workshops
Celebrating a Life -
Planning a Funeral Liturgy
Join us on October 12 from 10 a.m.
– 12 p.m. at Saint Nicholas Church,
473 Lincoln Ave., Los Altos, CA 94022.
Presenter: Carol Thornton, Director of
Liturgy and Pastoral Care. Learn the
basic elements on planning a funeral
or memorial mass liturgy for yourself
and your loved ones. We’ll consider
scripture, song, and liturgical elements
that celebrate the unique life of each
person. A worship aid template and
basic resource guides will be provided.
Death Café Monthly Drop-in Group
A safe space to talk about death,
dying, what it means. October 16 from
7 – 9 p.m. (3 rd Wednesday each month),
at 890 Benton Street, Santa Clara (off La-
fayette). Facilitator: Candee Lucas, M.A.
Pastoral Ministries. Space provided
by Santa Clara University Graduate
Program in Pastoral Ministries. For
more information: www.deathcafe.
com/deathcafe. Endorsed by Catholic
Cemeteries
For more information or to schedule
a free workshop in your parish, contact
Catholic Cemeteries at (833) 677-9644 or
[email protected].
U.S. Cardinal William Levada, Former Doctrinal Head, Dies in Rome
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- U.S. Car-
dinal William J. Levada, former head
of the Vatican’s doctrinal congregation
and retired archbishop of San Francisco
and Portland, Oregon, died September
26 in Rome. He was 83.
When Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger
was elected Pope Benedict XVI in 2005,
he named then-Archbishop Levada to
replace him as head of the Congrega-
tion for the Doctrine of the Faith, the
Vatican agency charged with protect-
ing and promoting the church’s teach-
ings on faith and morals. It was the
first time a U.S. prelate had headed the
congregation, and Cardinal Levada
served in that position until 2012.
Before his Vatican appointment, he
had served as archbishop of San Fran-
cisco since 1995; archbishop of Port-
land, Oregon, 1986-95, and an auxiliary
bishop of Los Angeles, 1983-86.
For decades, he was a frequent col-
laborator with the Vatican and with the
future Pope Benedict. He was a doctri-
nal congregation staff member from
1976 to 1982 and was a bishop-member
of the congregation beginning in 2000.
In the 1980s, he worked with then-
Cardinal Ratzinger as one of a small
group of bishops appointed to write the
“Catechism of the Catholic Church.”
Cardinal Levada was a key figure in
the church’s efforts to eliminate priestly
sexual abuse. He headed the Vatican
agency that oversaw the handling of
priestly sexual abuse cases; in 2002, he
was a member of the U.S.-Vatican com-
mission that made final revisions to the
sex abuse norms in the United States,
which laid out a strict policy on priestly
sex abuse and provided for removal
from ministry or laicization of priests.
As archbishop of San Francisco,
Cardinal Levada dealt with the is-
sue of same-sex marriage. In 2004,
he helped lead a prayer rally for the
defense and promotion of marriage
after the city decided to issue same-sex
marriage licenses.
In 1997, he opposed a city ordinance
requiring all agencies contracting with
the city to provide spousal benefits to
domestic partners of their employees.
Noncompliance could have jeopar-
dized the church’s social service con-
tracts with the city.
At the archbishop’s urging, the city
changed the ordinance so that employ-
ees of church agencies could designate
any legally domiciled member of their
household for spousal benefits.
William Joseph Levada was born
June 15, 1936, in Long Beach, Califor-
nia. His great-grandparents had im-
migrated to California from Portugal
and Ireland in the 1860s.
After seminary studies in California,
he was sent to Rome’s Pontifical North
American College, earning a doctorate
in theology at the Pontifical Gregorian
University. He was ordained a priest in
St. Peter’s Basilica Dec. 20, 1961.
He returned to the Archdiocese of
Los Angeles and worked as an associ-
ate pastor, teacher and campus min-
istry chaplain. In 1976, he returned to
Rome as a staff official of the doctrinal
congregation. During his six years of
service there, he continued teaching
theology part-time at Gregorian Uni-
versity.
He returned to California in 1982
and was named secretary of the Cali-
fornia Catholic Conference, a public
policy agency of the state’s bishops.
He was named an auxiliary bishop of
Los Angeles in 1983 and was ordained
a bishop March 25 of that year.
Pope Benedict elevated him to car-
dinal in 2006.
Pope Francis presided over the rite of
commendation during the cardinal’s fu-
neral in St. Peter’s Basilica September 27.
Rest in Peace,
Father Thomas W.
Foster, S.J.
Father Thomas Foster, S.J., died
on September 20 at Regis Infir-
mary in Los Gatos. He was born
on January 1, 1938 in Rawalpindi,
Pakistan, entered the Society of
Jesus on September 7, 1962, and
was ordained on June 10, 1972. He
pronounced his final vows on April
22, 1977 at Holy Family Parish in
San José, where he served as pastor
from 1976-1988.
Father Foster, S.J. was a Jesuit for
57 years. Father Foster is survived
by his niece, Christine Foster Li
of Los Gatos and James Foster of
Truckee, California. Burial was at
Santa Clara Mission Cemetery.
Notes of condolence may be sent
to the following: Mrs. Christine
Foster Li (niece) 15615 El Gato Lane,
Los Gatos, CA, 95032.