CALIFORNIA
National Catholic Reporter
SAN FRANCISCO The signees of an open letter to Pope Francis in today’s San Francisco Chronicle are the “bedrock of the archdiocese,” said one of them at a press conference this morning.
The full-page ad asking the pope to replace Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone “was intended to speak for itself,” said Michael Kelly, president of Walkup Melodia Kelly & Schoenberger, a prominent law firm in San Francisco. But when the archdiocese released a statement Wednesday that the 112 Catholics whose names appeared on the ad do not speak for the Catholic community, the signees announced a press conference Thursday morning in the city’s financial district.
The signees, Kelly said, “are the hardworking men and women, moms and dads of the archdiocese.” Noting that many of them have received awards from the archdiocese, he added, “The notion that the signees of this document are a fringe group … is complete folly and balderdash.” He added that since the ad appeared, dozens more Catholics have contacted him in support.
The ad, which ran in the main section of the paper and reportedly cost in the tens of thousands of dollars, is titled “A Respectful Appeal to Pope Francis from the Catholic Community of San Francisco.”
“Holy Father,” it reads. “Please Replace Archbishop Cordileone.” It goes on to list complaints with Cordileone, including a morality code required for high school teachers, isolation from the community and use of the words “gravely evil” to describe the behavior of parishioners.
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