News Briefs: New S.F. archbishop apologizes after drunken driving arrest

OAKLAND (CNS) — Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, to be installed in October as archbishop of San Francisco, was arrested in San Diego early Aug. 26 for driving under the influence.

In an Aug. 27 statement issued by the Diocese of Oakland, which Archbishop Cordileone has led for the past three years, the prelate apologized "for my error in judgment" and said he felt "shame for the disgrace I have brought upon the church and myself. I will repay my debt to society and I ask forgiveness from my family and my friends and co-workers at the Diocese of Oakland and the Archdiocese of San Francisco. I pray that God, in his inscrutable wisdom, will bring some good out of this."

According to the archbishop's statement, he was driving his mother to her home after dinner at the home of some friends, "along with a priest friend visiting from outside the country." Archbishop Cordileone's mother lives near the campus of San Diego State University, where police had set up a DUI checkpoint.

He admitted in his statement that he was found to be over California's legal blood alcohol level, which is 0.08 percent. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Archbishop Cordileone spent the night in jail, and was released shortly before noon once he posted a $2,500 bond.

He is scheduled to be arraigned on the misdemeanor charge Oct. 9 — five days after his scheduled installation as San Francisco's archbishop. If convicted, Archbishop Cordileone faces penalties of up to three years of probation, two days in jail, an $1,800 fine and sobriety counseling.

According to the California Department of Motor Vehicles, the only other traffic infraction committed by the archbishop was for failure to stop at a stop sign two days before Christmas last year.

Mark McCullough, the police officer making the arrest, told the Chronicle that Archbishop Cordileone appeared intoxicated but was amiable. "He was very calm, somewhat apologetic at the time," McCullough said. "He said he'd been drinking. But he wasn't a stumbling, falling-down drunk."

Appeals panel OKs federal funding of embryonic stem-cell research
WASHINGTON (CNS) — A three-judge federal appeals panel has affirmed a lower court ruling that the U.S. government can fund embryonic stem-cell research despite a federal ban on funding any research that harms or destroys human embryos. Chief Judge David B. Sentelle of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia said the National Institutes of Health's interpretation of the Dickey-Wicker amendment was "reasonable" in permitting funding of embryonic stem-cell research using cells derived using private funds. The amendment, approved annually by Congress since 1996, bars the use of federal monies for "the creation of a human embryo or embryos for research purposes" or "research in which a human embryo or embryos are destroyed, discarded or knowingly subjected to risk of injury or death greater than that allowed for research on fetuses in utero." Sentelle said the funding guidelines promulgated by NIH in 2009 correctly and legally allowed funding only on stem cells derived from embryos created for artificial insemination and donated to scientists after the parents decided to discard them. Embryonic stem cells are also known as "ESCs." He wrote: "'Research' as used in Dickey-Wicker may reasonably be understood to mean a 'discrete endeavor' that excludes the initial derivation of ESCs. Under that interpretation, Dickey-Wicker permits federal funding of research projects that utilize already derived ESCs — which are not themselves embryos — because no 'human embryo or embryos are destroyed' in such projects." Circuit Judges Karen LeCraft Henderson and Janice Rogers Brown concurred with Sentelle's conclusion but each wrote separate opinions. The Catholic Church opposes any research that harms the human embryo and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops had backed the goals of the lawsuit against federal funding of embryonic stem-cell research.

Midwest drought expected to impact altar bread prices
GREENVILLE, R.I. (CNS) — Manufacturers of altar bread are preparing to face rising costs of wheat flour as grain prices fluctuate in the wake of a severe drought that continues to plague the Midwest and Western Canada. But they expect to pass along only a minimal price increase to their customers. In Clyde, Mo., Benedictine Sister Rita Claire Dohn, manager of the altar bread ministry of the Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, has witnessed a 25 percent increase in the price of wheat flour since the convent last received a delivery two months ago. "That's pretty steep when there isn't a large profit margin," Sister Dohn emphasized, adding that the convent is the largest religious producer of altar breads in the world. The sisters offer their altar breads wholesale to many smaller convents that resell the life-giving breads to support their community. "You have to be competitive," she continued, noting that the sisters are being cautious and have yet to increase the prices of their goods. She added that the sisters will "hold off as long as possible," on passing on to their customers any price increases. In addition to making altar bread, the 52-member community is supported by the sale of liturgical vestments and gourmet popcorn. Sister Dohn said the Clyde monastery produces about 125 million altar breads per year, from whole wheat or white bread. A package containing 500 hosts costs $5. A farmer in Kansas produces the whole-wheat flour they use, and the white flour comes from a commercial miller in Missouri. Because of contractual obligations, the sisters would not release specific information regarding wheat prices or their suppliers. Sister Dohn said the prolonged drought has already taken a toll on the monastery grounds, where new landscaping has withered and died. "The trees are totally burned," she said. "It looks like fall; the leaves are falling off the trees."

Ex-CFO in Philadelphia gets two to seven years for stealing $900,000
PHILADELPHIA (CNS) — The former chief financial officer of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia will spend the next two to seven years in state prison for embezzling more than $900,000 from the church over seven years. Common Pleas Court Judge Ellen Ceisler sentenced Anita Guzzardi, 44, to prison at a hearing Aug. 24 in Philadelphia on her third-degree felony conviction of theft by deception. Guzzardi will also serve seven years' probation on two other convictions, forgery and unlawful use of a computer. She had pleaded guilty to the three charges July 29. Guzzardi sat downcast in a black business suit as Assistant District Attorney Lisa Caulfield described what she called the "lavish lifestyle" Guzzardi fueled through funds she embezzled in her work as a trusted senior financial officer of the archdiocese. Beginning in late 2004, Caulfield said, Guzzardi began to write archdiocesan checks to cover her expenses on her American Express credit card. The deception grew to a second Amex card and a Chase card, expenses for which she covered by cutting more than 300 checks over time totaling $906,000. Those expenses included frequent business trips in which she included family and friends, plus vacations to Hawaii, Las Vegas, the Bahamas and other locales, together with shopping sprees for clothes, gifts and flowers for herself, family and friends. After her promotion from archdiocesan controller to CFO in 2011, Guzzardi was fired by the archdiocese as a result of a joint probe by American Express, the Philadelphia district attorney and archdiocesan investigators. Caulfield rejected the contention of defense lawyer Louis R. Busica that Guzzardi's diagnosed gambling addiction — she frequently racked up bills from casinos in Atlantic City, N.J. — somehow clouded her judgment and was to blame for the embezzlement, or because of financial need. Caulfield pointed out that Guzzardi earned a six-figure salary as archdiocesan controller and later CFO, and with her husband's income, the couple, who have no children, were well off.