CALIFORNIA
San Francisco Chronicle
By C.W. Nevius
April 16, 2015
Ever since he arrived in San Francisco more than two years ago, Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone has courted controversy. He attended rallies against anti-same sex marriage unapologetically, imposed “morality classes” on teachers at local Catholic schools and supported the extreme views of Star of the Sea pastor Joseph Illo.
Through it all Cordileone has maintained a serene equanimity. Illo, his surrogate, said in a January interview with Catholic World Report that when there was a backlash to Illo’s decision to ban girls from becoming altar servers the Archbishop told him, “the negative press coverage was par for the course for this kind of announcement, and we expect it to just be a flash in the pan.”
It’s now clear that was a naive miscalculation. Thursday’s full page ad in The Chronicle, signed by over 100 prominent Catholics, that called on the Vatican to replace Cordileone was just the latest volley. These people aren’t going away.
It is important to note that these aren’t cliché San Francisco radical activists — who, by the way, have been conspicuous by their absence in this discussion. These are parents, teachers and families. These are everyday people galvanized to action.
It can be said that Cordileone has gotten exactly what he wanted. As Illo gleefully said in the January interview, courting controversy with extreme views serves as “a poke in the eye of the liberal culture of San Francisco.”
So if the archbishop wanted a fight — mission accomplished.
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