S.F. Archbishop Cordileone wields controversy to promote agenda

San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone is a curious case. Ever since he arrived in July, 2012, he’s hit one hot button after another.

He traveled across the country to appear at a March for Marriage in Washington, D.C., in June to speak out against same-sex marriage. Recently, he’s stirred up a firestorm of controversy, including a vigil on Ash Wednesday — to protest what local Catholic school teachers say are “morality clauses” he wants to include in their handbook and labor contract.

And a priest in the archdiocese, the Rev. Joseph Illo, pastor at Star of the Sea Church in the Richmond District, decreed three weeks ago that he would only allow boys to serve as altar servers, rather than both boys and girls, as has been the practice. Earlier, in December, the school handed out a bizarre — and some parents say inappropriate — pamphlet that asked elementary school students about their sexual practices.

None of this is an accident. The idea that Cordileone is unaware that his views are way out of step with the city is ridiculous. Not that he’s letting on. Cordileone, who declined an interview request, has perfected the long, complicated, eye-glazing response that basically boils down to “What’s the big fuss?”

His justifications: He’s just providing “clarity” in the teachers’ contract. Male altar servers have been a long-standing tradition. And, he said in his March for Marriage speech, that while the LGBT community is “misdirected ... they are people of good will, and we must love them.”

What nonsense. While he pretends to take the high road, he also told the Catholic Herald in 2013 that Catholics should only use the term “gay marriage” sparingly because “we might fool ourselves into thinking it is an authentic reality.”

“Legislating for the right for the people of the same sex to marry,” he said, “is like legalizing male breastfeeding.”

Cordileone hasn’t said anything like that lately, presumably because it undermines his supposed thoughtful message. But Star of the Sea pastor Illo, who arrived here in August and says he has Cordileone’s full support, isn’t so diplomatic. The opinions expressed in Illo’s media interviews and personal blog make it clear he’s out to incite.

“An altar boy-only policy is a poke in the eye of the liberal culture of San Francisco,” he told the Catholic World Report on Jan. 29. “The media and liberal Catholics are on edge because of the new archbishop. And I think it’s great that we’re getting all the media attention. It helps us define the mind of the church.”

OK, now we’re getting to it.

Illo’s views are extreme by any measure. In fact, earlier this month he had to write a “statement of apology” to the parents, children and faculty of Star of the Sea School after saying the anger and upset over the altar boy controversy was creating “a necessary purging.”

On Wednesday, he issued another apology, this one for the pamphlet: “Among the 70 items for reflection, some were not age appropriate for schoolchildren,” Illo said. “It is an oversight and we apologize to faculty, parents and students.”

The pamphlet was not his only controversial message to parishioners: As he wrote on his blog in October: “There is a reason they call it 'birth control.’ It is an attempt to control human generation, to control our species at its very core, to control nature at its essential genesis.”

So let’s drop the facade of how thoughtful people of faith can disagree. That’s not what is going on here.

This is the model from the Walk for Life (which Cordileone and Illo enthusiastically support). Each year, the antiabortion group buses in thousands of people and uses the streets of the city to stage a traffic-stopping march, hoping to draw outrage and counterdemonstrations.

Early on, some gullible reporters — raises hand sheepishly — took the bait and railed against the charade. Finally we realized that this was the idea — rile up the media, get lots of press attention and play to the red-meat true believers.

Although WFL organizers were well aware that the typical San Francisco Chronicle columnist wouldn’t support them, this year I got a personal e-mail asking how it was possible that I wasn’t going to write something about the walk. They didn’t care if it was negative. In fact, it looks like they saw that as a positive.

Frankly, three years ago the average San Franciscan probably couldn’t have named the archbishop. Now he and the archdiocese are constantly in the news, both here and nationally. Cordileone is using San Francisco as a backdrop to play to his real constituency — extremely conservative Catholics who are shocked by changing values in the country.

And that’s fine. If that’s what he wants to do, go right ahead. But let’s make it clear, Cordileone isn’t representing San Francisco. He’s not even trying.

C.W. Nevius is a San Francisco Chronicle columnist. His columns appear Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. E-mail: cwnevius@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @cwnevius