Special Announcement...

Last photo op! Thursday July 29th!! 

Lifetouch Church Directories and Portraits is preparing the QAS Photo Directory! We encourage all parish families and individuals to sign-up online (click on the link below) to schedule a photo session. Thanks for participating!

 Click on this button...

http://www.appointment-plus3.com/ap/queenofallsaintscatholicconcord/index.php?page=10   

What's happening at our parish...

Our weekly Parish Bulletin is 7 pages long -- the first half is in English, and the second half is in Spanish.  Find useful information about the forthcoming week's services, regular and special events, bible readings, scripture explanation and more...

Please note that you must have ADOBE ACROBAT viewer software to look at the ".PDF" file.  Download the PDF Reader at: get.adobe.com/reader/. A new bulletin is published weekly and posted here before Sunday. Print copies can be picked up at Mass on Sundays.

ARCHIVED BULLETINS: Email your request to webmanager@qaschurch.org.  

Contra Costa Times Cancellation Letter

To: The Editorial Staff of the Contra Costa Times
Re: Cancellation of Subscription
From: Fr. Michael Cunningham
Pastor of Queen of All Saints Church

I am sharing with the people of Queen of All Saints Church our decision to cancel our subscription to your paper.

I have felt for awhile that the only way the Catholic Church is ever mentioned in your paper is always in reference to abuse scandal. In case someone should forget what happened thirty or forty years ago a thorough review of the history of these tragic events is provided. Recently a letter came to light which you decided was front page news.

Information about this horrendous tragedy has brought about such a thorough reform that even ‘older ladies and gentlemen’ who have no more contact with children than the distribution of Eucharist in a Communion line must go through ‘safe children workshops’. We have been made painfully aware of what happened in the past, what ‘signs’ to look for in the present, as well as who and how to report it immediately.

I feel confident that our awareness is going to shed light on a problem that runs far deeper in our American culture than anyone is now willing to acknowledge, and beyond us the world, at least if you have seen the recent documentary on the ‘Dancing Boys of Afghanistan’. There are over 42,000 of us priests who work very hard with the nearly 70,000,000 in this country. When you compare our numbers with the now ‘former priests’ guilty of these statistics the percentage is very low. If the statistics quoted by Sam Miller*, the Jewish businessman, are reliable, our share in a much bigger issue is relatively small. We for our part are going to make sure this never happens again to the Body of Christ, and if it should happen, the ‘criminals’ involved will be dealt with swiftly.

You need not investigate the source of your anti-Catholic bias. Whether it comes from former Catholics who never knew the mystery of the cross of Jesus Christ or people of other persuasions who were raised on a diet of anti-Catholic rhetoric or people who are of no persuasion at all, who really cares? The moral standards of the church are in direct opposition to the standards of the world. This has always been the case and will no doubt continue.

So keep your staff and keep your paper far away from our front door. As far as what the Catholics who read this open letter will do, it is as in ‘all things catholic’, up to their own consciences to decide.

Sincerely yours,

Fr. Michael Cunningham

* Excerpts of an article written by non-Catholic Sam Miller - a prominent Cleveland Jewish businessman:

"Why would newspapers carry on a vendetta on one of the most important institutions that we have today in the United States, namely the Catholic Church?

Do you know - the Catholic Church educates 2.6 million students everyday at the cost to that Church of 10 billion dollars, and a savings on the other hand to the American taxpayer of 18 billion dollars? The graduates go on to graduate studies at the rate of 92%. The Church has 230 colleges and universities in the U.S. with an enrollment of 700,000 students.

The Catholic Church has a non-profit hospital system of 637 hospitals, which account for hospital treatment of 1 out of every 5 people - not just Catholics - in the United States today . . . But the press is vindictive and trying to totally denigrate in every way the Catholic Church in this country. They have blamed the disease of pedophilia on the Catholic Church, which is as irresponsible as blaming adultery on the institution of marriage.

Let me give you some figures that Catholics should know and remember. For example, 12% of the 300 Protestant clergy surveyed admitted at sexual intercourse with a parishioner; 38% acknowledged other inappropriate sexual contact in a study by the United Methodist Church, 41.8% of clergy women reported unwanted sexual behavior; 17% of laywomen have been sexually harassed.

Meanwhile, 1.7% of the Catholic clergy has been found guilty of pedophilia. 10% of the Protestant ministers have been found guilty of pedophilia. This is not a Catholic Problem. A study of American priests showed that most are happy in the priesthood and find it even better than they had expected, and that most, if given the choice, would choose to be priests again in face of all this obnoxious PR the church has been receiving.

The Catholic Church is bleeding from self-inflicted wounds. The agony that Catholics have felt and suffered is not necessarily the fault of the Church. You have been hurt by a small number of wayward priest that have probably been totally weeded out by now.

Walk with your shoulders high and your head higher. Be a proud member of the most important non-governmental agency in the United States. Then remember what Jeremiah said: ‘Stand by the roads, and look and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is and walk in it, and find rest for your souls’. Be proud to speak up for your faith with pride and reverence and learn what your Church does for all other religious.

Be proud that you’re a Catholic."

THE CATHOLIC VOICE PUBLICATION - WEB EDITION
Published by the Oakland Catholic Diocese 

Hot link:
http://www.catholicvoiceoakland.org
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