Our ninth archbishop in San Francisco

Brian Cahill
San Francisco Chronicle
Oct. 3, 2012

Salvatore Cordileone will be installed as the new Roman Catholic archbishop of San Francisco Thursday at St. Mary's Cathedral on the feast of the city's patron saint, Francis of Assisi, a 13th-century Italian radical known for his love of all God's children and his passion for bringing Jesus' message of love to the poor and marginalized - so much so that he was always on the receiving end of criticism from Italian bishops.

What does Cordileone's appointment mean for those Catholics who disagree with church teaching and who are discouraged with flawed church leadership, but remain committed to the church and want the church to be relevant in their lives?

The archbishop is the new head of our church family - admittedly, a family that is at times dysfunctional and riddled with conflict and tension, but from a faith perspective, a family nonetheless. How the new head of our family gathers information, how he makes decisions, how he communicates, how he teaches, how he leads, are all important to our community.

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His apparent obliviousness to the disrespect felt by many gay and lesbian Catholics is disturbing. His continued insistence that same-sex marriage is unjust to children ignores the reality of the 70,000 children placed in the California foster care system by the abuse and neglect of their heterosexual parents, and ignores that the only significant cohort of adoptive parents for the most vulnerable of these children are gay and lesbian couples who want to form a family. His recent statement that Catholic gay and lesbian couples should not be allowed to receive Communion is distressing.

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Our new archbishop can be our leader and our shepherd and the head of our family, or he can join the growing list of heavy-handed, ineffective bishops who have forfeited their credibility as teachers and lost their moral authority as leaders. We hope and pray he chooses the former.

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