According to notices in Sacramento’s St. Francis parish bulletin, parishioners have been meeting “to create a new direction for strengthening the Catholic community of Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual, Transgender, Queer/Questioning parishioners.”

A two-hour meeting is to be held on Saturday afternoon, January 12, from 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm in the St. Francis Parish Center, formerly the church convent.  Parishioners wishing more information were advised to call Jan Seaman at the phone number 873-4844 shown on the parish bulletin.

Jan Seaman is employed by the Sacramento Gay and Lesbian Center in an executive and professional capacity.  She is a retired faculty member of California State University Los Angeles.  Her faculty biography on the Cal State website states that her marital status is domestic partner.  Her partner’s name is shown as Mary.Marks.

Mary Marks is the chair of the St. Francis parish council.

Seaman is the grants and education coordinator of the Sacramento Gay and Lesbian Center. The center has among its activities programs that attempt to affirm the “gay lifestyle” for young people (ages 13 and up).  The executive director of the center boasts that it is developing to “shepherd future generations through self-discovery and self-acceptance”.

St. Francis parish has been known as a parish whose influence reaches far and wide. The Welcome page of the St. Francis Parish website notes the parish has members from over 100 ZIP codes, coming from 60 miles or more to attend liturgies.

The parish celebrated Dignity Masses for homosexuals and large funeral services for homosexuals. The Dignity group went underground some years ago; it was replaced by the Gay and Lesbian Journey.

Information about the Saturday program at St. Francis was brought to Sacramento Bishop Jaime Soto’s attention on December 28 via email, fax, and a hand-delivered letter to him.

This communication urged him to cancel the event at St. Francis, noting that there was sufficient time to place a cancellation notice in the Epiphany Sunday, January 6 St. Francis parish bulletin.

Another notice promoting the event did appear in the St. Francis parish bulletin for January 6, Epiphany Sunday.