CALIFORNIA
Seasons of Grace

April 17, 2015 by Kathy Schiffer

When Fr. Joseph Illo, the pastor at San Francisco’s Star of the Sea Catholic Church, announced his decision to train only boys to be altar servers, some parishioners and others protested. Amidst the hullabaloo, the media jumped at the chance to criticize both Fr. Illo and his beleaguered bishop, Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone. …

Some of the outrage directed toward Fr. Illo and Archbishop Cordileone is a straw man argument, intended to discredit the archbishop for his defense of marriage as between one man and one woman. I reported yesterday about an open letter to Pope Francis, demanding Archbishop Cordileone’s replacement as archbishop.

Here’s the thing: One may argue whether Father Illo’s reasoning is correct. One cannot, however, dispute that he is within his rights as pastor to make that decision for the good of his flock. His archbishop approved…