THE ACTIVIST ARCHBISHOP

Archbishop Roger M. Mahony last week appeared before the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, successfully urging passage of a resolution calling for creation of a task force to combat what Mahony called “the single most dangerous and destructive product threatening our society today . . . the social, ethical cancer of pornography.” The appearance was very much in character for Mahony, who has not been hesitant to speak his mind on many issues since his installment as leader of the three-county Los Angeles Roman Catholic Archdiocese in September, 1985. Some examples:

DATE: May 29, 1986

ISSUE: Sexually oriented magazines. Asking the 2.6 million Catholics in the archdiocese to boycott magazines such as Playboy that “demean human dignity” and to avoid stores that sell the magazines:

QUOTE: “Families and parents are getting sick and tired of the increasingly deviant materials available to children . . . . There is no such thing as safe and harmless pornography.”

DATE: May 31, 1986

ISSUE: Pregnant teen-agers. Departing from previous archdiocese policy and allowing Lisa Martinez, an honor student at Mary Star of the Sea High School in San Pedro, to graduate despite being six months’ pregnant and unmarried:

QUOTE: “Each one of us is a sinner. . . . She has chosen to respect the dignity of the human life she now carries and nurtures. She is now a participant with God in the creation of a new and unique human person.”

DATE: Aug. 23, 1986

ISSUE: Democracy and the Church. On the Vatican’s disciplining of theologian Charles Curran, of Catholic University, for disputing church teachings:

QUOTE: “The Church is not a democracy, but many tend to see the church as valid only when if reflects the American democratic experiment. Freedom of speech and academic freedom in the American college or university tradition is supposed to be the criterion for how the American Catholic Church is to teach. But that is not the beginning for the Church . . . . It’s been formed in a different context.”

DATE: Sept. 5, 1986

ISSUE: New prison. Opposing Gov. George Deukmejian’s proposal to build a prison in East Los Angeles:

QUOTE: “I think the governor and his staff need to understand how overwhelmingly opposed the people are to this. The impact of another huge prison population upon this community is something that simply cries out for attention, review and concern.”

DATE: Nov. 7, 1986

ISSUE: School health clinics. On the dispensing of birth control devices:

QUOTE: “School birth control clinics send a message to students legitimizing behavior contradicting our Judeo-Christian ethic. Clinics will reduce human sexuality, fertility and pregnancy to expressions of our humanity which can be controverted by pills or devices, and ultimately abortion.”

DATE: April 9, 1987

ISSUE: New immigration law. Opposing provisions that can make one family member eligible for legal residency, but not another:

QUOTE: “If one family member were to qualify for legalization, other family members should also receive derivative eligibility under the law.”

DATE: July 12, 1987

ISSUE: X-rated videos. Announcing a boycott of stores that carry such videos:

QUOTE: “Pornography does not fulfill any of the purposes for which we protect free speech. It is not a constitutional right, but a civil wrong.”

DATE: July 13, 1987

ISSUE: Minimum wage. Calling for an increase in the current minimum:

QUOTE: “No one should be forced to live on $3.35 an hour . . . . No wage should be so low that it denies to a family the basics for a decent human existence.”

DATE: Sept. 10, 1987

ISSUE: Gang violence. Calling for a truce in light of the Pope’s September visit:

QUOTE: “There could be no greater gift that all young people could give themselves and to Pope John Paul as he walks and moves among us than a halting of the youth gang violence which continues to maim and kill so many . . . . Lay down your weapons.”