CSF June 2026

JUNE 2026

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | JUNE 2026

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JUNE 2026 | CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO

TABLE OF CONTENTS

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Archbishop: Truth and love revealed in the kingship of Christ

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Canonization Candidates: Unique center holds nation’s first sainthood conference

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Communal Life: St. Francis and the missions part 3, Serra: Franciscan founder of the Mission of St. Francis

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Student Corner: Students lauded for religious freedom essays at Respect Life Awards ceremony

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Source of Grace: Enthroning Jesus as King of your heart and home

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Unsung Heroes: U.S. Army’s ‘Hello Girls’ honored at Holy Cross

Catholic Quiz: How well do you know the Catholic faith?

Open Arms: Parish outreach series Reflection: ‘Walking toward Him’

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Giving Life: A match made in heaven - Priests become blood brothers in lifesaving kidney transplant

Anniversary celebration: The Eucharistic foundation of Misión San Francisco de Asís

News Briefs, Local: Archbishop Cordileone ordains three men to the transitional diaconate and more

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ARCHBISHOP

Truth and love revealed in the kingship of Christ M BY ARCHBISHOP SALVATORE JOSEPH CORDILEONE

any years ago, I was visiting a seminary classmate of mine in another part of the country who had been the pastor of his parish for a few years. We were both still relatively early on in our priesthood but beginning to come into our own. He told me about the sermon he had given to his people as elections were approaching. Of course, we are always careful not to tell our people exactly which candidates to vote for, but we do try to help them form their conscience so that they can vote in accord with the values of our faith. He told me, though, that he said to his people: “I know I’m not supposed to tell you how to vote, but I’m going to do so anyway. I want you to vote to restore the monarchy.”

The shock hit me instantaneously and remained for a little bit until I realized what he meant. He wanted his people to vote with the conscience that restores the dominion of Christ’s Kingship over our lives and our society. But what really does it mean to acclaim Christ as our King?

THE WITNESS OF HISTORY First of all, we must look to where Christ reigns: at Mass and through other prayer services such as Salutations to the Holy Cross, which we recently did with our Greek Orthodox brothers and sisters.

We adorn His throne with our hymns, for it is on the cross where He reigns. This is where Christ is exalted, as St. John makes clear to us in his account of Christ’s teaching and Passion in his Gospel. Pilate had a sign affixed above Him on the cross which bears the witness of history that this is our King. Of course, that was not Pilate’s intention. Pilate was motivated by fear. He feared that this man really could be a threat to his power, even that He

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perhaps really did have some kind of divine power. As St. John tells us in his Gospel, when Jesus’ own people accused Him of making Himself the Son of God, “Pilate … was even more afraid” (19:8).

However, Pilate was also afraid of the crowd that was on the verge of rebellion. He knew that Jesus did not deserve the penalty of death, but he gave into the crowd for the sake of expediency. So, the sign that he affixed above Jesus on the cross: “Jesus the Nazarene, King of the Jews,” he put there more out of revenge than anything else.

Let us also consider, though, the reaction of the crowd. As the late Pope Benedict XVI explains in part two of his series on Jesus of Nazareth, “Holy Week: From the Entrance into Jerusalem to the Resurrection,” the people’s cry that “we have no king but Caesar” (Jn 19:15) “only appears to be a renunciation of Israel’s messianic hope.” What they are really saying is that they do not want this particular King; they want to do things their own way. This is the running theme throughout human history. As Benedict says: “Again and again, mankind will be faced with this same choice: to say yes to the God who works only through the power of truth and love, or to build on something tangible and concrete – on violence.”

TRUTH AND LOVE Violence is certainly an ugly reality that we are facing more acutely now than ever before in our lifetime: the eruption of multiple wars abroad and social conflict and civil strife at home. It is all due to the same mistake: crucify Him, we have no king but Caesar. It is a rejection of truth and love upon which a culture is built on the solid rock of God’s revelation.

Pilate asked Jesus the ultimate question: “What is truth?” (Jn 18:38). He could not recognize that Truth was standing in front of him, likely because that Truth seemed so helpless and powerless. But as Pope Benedict also says in his treatise on Jesus of Nazareth and Holy Week: Truth is outwardly powerless in the world, just as Christ is powerless by this world’s standards: He has no legion; He is crucified. Yet in

JUNE 2026 | CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO

His very powerlessness, He is powerful: only thus, again and again, does truth become power.…The center of His message, all the way to the cross – all the way to the inscription above the cross – is the kingdom of God, the new kingship represented by Jesus. And this kingship is centered on truth.

Centered on truth and love, that is. We are all yearning for peace, but peace cannot be established at the expense of truth. Pilate’s expeditious decision kept Jerusalem calm for a time, but it was not the answer to lasting peace. Only He who is the truth is that answer. And He makes Himself so by way of the cross. And He does so all out of love for us.

We could not reconcile ourselves to the Father by our own merits. We incurred the debt and so we owed Him, but it is not a debt that we could pay back by ourselves; only God could do that. So, God became one of us to do it for us. This is the incomprehensible love and mercy of God. St. Gregory the Theologian explains it well: “Is it not evident that the Father accepts Him, but neither asked for Him nor demanded Him; but on account of the Incarnation, and because humanity must be sanctified by the humanity of God, that He might deliver us Himself, and overcome the tyrant [i.e., the devil] and draw us to Himself by the mediation of His Son who also arranged this to the honor of the Father, whom it is manifest He obeys in all things.” (The Orthodox Faith – Volume I – Doctrine and Scripture – The Symbol of Faith – Redemption – Orthodox Church in America).

Unity was Christ’s dying wish for His followers, and peace was His first gift after He rose from the dead.”

UNITY We yearn for peace, but we also yearn for unity. The unity of God’s family is, ultimately, the work of God, not our own. Yet we must do our part, but we can only do so if we gather to worship the One who makes it possible, beholding our King hanging on the cross. It is clear how dear the themes of peace and unity are to Pope Leo XIV already early on in his pontificate.

Indeed, “peace” was the first word he uttered as Pope from the loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica the night of his election. Unity was Christ’s dying wish for His followers, and peace was His first gift after He rose from the dead. Both are possible only when we look to the cross; however, not only look to the cross, but also embrace it and live it in our lives, repeating the pattern of Jesus’ kenosis in our own lives.

This, too, is the very point of the fasting and other acts of penance we take on during Lent. It is meant to teach us to be less selfish, to stop thinking of ourselves before others. That is the death to self that our Lord ›

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teaches us and models for us. That is His kenosis, summed up so well in that ancient Christian hymn about Christ’s self-emptying that St. Paul quotes in his Letter to the Philippians: “Christ Jesus, though He was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, He emptied

Having willed to grant grace to men, Christ stretched His hands on the wood, and calls all the nations together, and grants the kingdom of heaven to all that worthily sing the hymn.”

Himself, taking the form of a slave … He humbled Himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Because of this, God greatly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name that is above every name” (2:5-9).

We rejoice to call on the cross to rejoice, the throne of our King who teaches us the

truth, who is the Truth, and who gives us this path to peace and unity in the world. And not only in this world, but forever in the next. The more we can be instruments of peace and builders of unity in the body of Christ, the more this world will reflect the truth, love, peace and unity of the kingdom of God. We do well to sing hymns to the holy cross, the cross which unites us and give us delight, such that we can acclaim: “Having willed to grant grace to men, Christ stretched His hands on the wood, and calls all the nations together, and grants the kingdom of heaven to all that worthily sing the hymn.” And so, we sing out with affection: “Rejoice, most noble jewel of truth. Rejoice, fairest haven of salvation. Rejoice, joyful splendor of all. Rejoice, lamp of purest light. Rejoice, you who are the gladness of my soul. Rejoice, O wood most blessed.”

To Him who reigns on the cross, and now reigns in glory in heaven, be all praise, honor and glory, now and ever and forever. Amen. ■ Adapted from his sermon for the Salutations to the Holy Cross with His Eminence, Metropolitan Gerasimos, Holy Cross Greek Orthodox Church, March 30, 2026.

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CATHOLIC QUIZ

How well do you know the Catholic faith?

Q&A excerpted with permission from

at https://catholicquestions.com Visit this website to submit your Catholic questions!

BY JIM BLACKBURN Founder and president, Catholic Questions Blackburn is a popular Catholic apologist, author and speaker.

T

here are no trick questions, but there are questions that will trip you up if you fail to read carefully. An answer is counted as wrong if any part of it — such as a date or name — is wrong. Your goal is not to find the answer that is least wrong, but the one answer that is wholly correct. On average, most informed Catholics score 50%. How well did you do?

1. May a Catholic plan a weekend camping trip to a location where Mass attendance is impossible?

a. Yes, provided he is not doing so for the purpose of avoiding Mass attendance. b. Yes, but he must get a dispensation from his pastor to miss Mass.p c. Yes, but he must confess missing Mass at his next confession. d. No, a Catholic must never do this.

2. When traveling outside his local diocese to another diocese in which a holy day Mass obligation differs (i.e., in one diocese the holy day Mass obligation exists; in the other diocese the holy day Mass obligation is suppressed), a Catholic is bound by the particular law of…

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a. his home diocese. b. the diocese he has traveled to. c. both dioceses. d. neither diocese.

3. When two Catholics get married, the wedding… a. may take place in any setting chosen by the couple (e.g., on the beach). b. may take place in any setting deemed suitable by the couple’s pastor. c. may take place in any Christian setting (e.g., in a nondenominational church). d. must take place in a Catholic setting (e.g., in their Catholic parish church).

4. The Catholic “form” of marriage requires how many witnesses (in addition to the presiding priest, deacon, etc.)? a. 0 b. 1 c. 2 d. 3

5. A Catholic may validly marry a nonChristian (i.e., a nonbaptized person)…

a. on his own authority without anyone else’s involvement. b. only with permission (of his pastor or someone his pastor delegates such authority to). c. only by dispensation (from his bishop or one with equivalent authority). d. never.

Answers can be found on page 46 SCAN THIS QR CODE FOR MORE CATHOLIC QUIZZES or visit http:// sfarch.org/catholic-quizzes JUNE 2026 | CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO

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OPEN ARMS

Parish outreach series

BY CHRISTINA GRAY

Lead writer, Catholic San Francisco grayc@sfarch.org

Parish outreach ministries serve dual purposes. They help meet tangible human needs and also offer opportunities for missionary encounter. Our continuing series shines a light on the best of them.

GROCERIES FOR SENIORS Old St. Mary’s Cathedral, San Francisco The church basement of Old St. Mary’s Cathedral in Chinatown is home base for Groceries for Seniors, a nonprofit program that organizes, sorts, packs and delivers more than 1,200 bags of groceries to local low-income seniors every week.

John Meehan, who grew up with hunger as the child of poor Irish immigrant parents, and Jesuit Brother Jack Graham of the University of San Francisco founded the Seniors Emergency Grocery Bag program in 1999. Today’s Groceries for Seniors partners with the San Francisco Marin Food Bank, the San Francisco Department of Disability and Aging Services, and local markets to fill the bags with fresh produce, beans, rice, pasta and shelfstable proteins.

While not a direct ministry of Old St. Mary’s, the parish supports the mission as if it was, according to Tim Thompson, GFS executive director. Since 2004, the Paulist Fathers have offered their facilities to Groceries for Seniors. Many of the volunteers who unload trucks of donated food, bag it, load it back onto trucks and hand it personally to elderly San Francisco residents are Old St. Mary’s parishioners, local families or students.

“It’s one of the reasons our organization thrives,” said Thompson.

ST. PATRICK’S THRIFT STORE St. Patrick’s Parish, Larkspur A large painting of St. Patrick looms above the display case at St. Patrick’s Thrift Store, where parish volunteer Jan Jobe helps a man inspect vintage jewelry. The bustling little after-market thrift store is a certified ministry of the parish, said store manager Barbara Santana Cronin.

“It is a ministry, it really is,” she said. Its 40-year legacy has greatly benefited from a volunteer workforce and a location only steps away from St. Patrick’s Church and School. Proceeds originally helped fund St. Patrick’s School scholarships but today help sustain the church and school.

The “inventory” looks as if it was once cherished, and likely it was. A dining table set with a full china service, table linens, paintings, vintage jewelry, clothing and more.

“A big part of what we do is help people decide what to do with family things after the death of a family member,” she said, an experience that can include a touch of grief ministry.

Gorgeous Catholic vintage books, artwork, prayer cards, Vatican memorabilia and keepsakes are a part of many displays.

“This is our mascot, Sister Mary,” Jobe said, holding a vintage nun doll in full habit. Sister Mary is not for sale but peers down from a height from the back of the room, “like everybody of a certain age’s teacher.”

Learn more at groceriesforseniors.org

Learn more at stpatricksparish.com. ■

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REFLECTION

‘Walking toward Him’

BY FRANCISCO VALDEZ

Reporter, Catholic San Francisco

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have walked through San Francisco many times, mostly quick trips on tight deadlines. But I had never walked it like I did on Feb. 20. This was my first slow walk, a prayerful walk taken step by step with purpose beyond just getting somewhere.

I found myself at the start of the first day of the Camino de San Francisco, a 24-mile pilgrimage route linking Miśion San Rafael Arcángel in Marin County to Miśion San Francisco de Asís (Mission Dolores) in San Francisco.

Inspired by the life and teachings of St. Francis of Assisi, the route offers participants an opportunity for reflection,

prayer and spiritual renewal while moving through a mix of urban and natural landscapes. Organizers describe the Camino not simply as a walk but as a pilgrimage centered on simplicity, encounter and attentiveness to God’s presence.

Miśion San Rafael Arcángel was cold and quiet as pilgrims made their way inside.

Some chatting, others in silence, a few already seeming to understand what the day would hold. Father Bobby Barbato, rector of the National Shrine of St. Francis of Assisi, stood before the group and offered not just a welcome, but a reminder of why they were there.

Photo by Francisco Valdez

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JUNE 2026 | CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO

“So, brothers and sisters, as you begin your journey today, we remember what the Scriptures tell us, that we are pilgrims and strangers in this world,” he said as he offered us his blessing. “As we walk through this pilgrimage, we think of what St. Augustine tells us, that when people are on a journey, it’s very nice for them to look at the countryside and all the beauty around them and appreciate those gifts, but also never forget where they’re going.”

That idea stayed with me as the walk began. The route quickly unfolded into a rhythm: city streets, hills that demanded attention, moments of silence, moments of conversation.

I continued reflecting on Father Barbato’s words. “As you walk as pilgrims, enjoy the beauty around you, but remember the Lord is your goal and keep walking toward Him,” he said. “Our journey in life is the same thing. Like the disciples on the road to Emmaus, Jesus walks with you, and He will open your minds to the Scriptures and to His love.”

For Andy Allen of San Luis Obispo, that slower pace is very meaningful. “Being part of a group is wonderful, but to get the most out of it and the deepest spiritual experience, you want to walk by yourself,” he said. “You can just listen to God as you move through your pilgrimage. You listen to yourself, your body, and you don’t have to be distracted by anything else beyond that.”

Even within a group, the Camino becomes something personal, a space to reflect, to pray and to carry intentions that may not be visible to others.

Allen is also part of an effort to connect the Camino de San Francisco to a broader tradition. “I’m here as part of a prelude walk where we can certify up to 30 kilometers of this Camino walk as credit toward the 100-kilometer walk on the Camino de Santiago,” he said. “At the end of the route today, everyone will receive a distance certificate that can be applied toward their pilgrimage in Spain.”

The effort marks a first for a Californiabased pilgrimage. Allen said organizers hope to expand the model along the Camino Real, eventually linking all 21 California missions into a network that mirrors the historic routes in Europe.

That vision is being led in part by CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | JUNE 2026

Photo by Francisco Valdez

Father Bobby Barbato offers a blessing for the pilgrims before starting the Camino.

As you walk as pilgrims, enjoy the beauty around you, but remember the Lord is your goal and keep walking toward Him.” FATHER BOBBY BARBATO, National Shrine of St. Francis of Assisi rector

Capuchin Franciscan Father Christopher Iwancio, one of the main organizers of the Camino. “There’s been mission walks before, but what we’re doing with the Camino de San Francisco is creating a route that provides more of a religious experience, more of a pilgrimage versus just a walk,” said Father Iwancio.

Unlike earlier mission routes that primarily connected sites, this Camino is designed to foster encounter. “We’ll visit historic churches, go through nature like the Marin Headlands, and give people an experience of what the Camino is like in Spain,” he said.

“Walking through places, meeting people, stopping to pray; it’s about that experience.”

Father Iwancio said pilgrimage creates space for people at all stages of faith. “You can be someone searching, someone very devout, or somewhere in between,” he said.

“Pilgrimage gives you a chance to encounter God in a unique way.”

He pointed to the Gospel story of the road to Emmaus as a model. “Sometimes Christ is present in our life but we don’t see it,” he said. “This gives us a break from our ordinary routine to reflect on life, on our relationship with God, and to think about how we can grow.”

The difference, he said, is often the pace.

“People drive past these places at 80 miles an hour on Highway 101,” he said. “Here, we’re ›

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Mission Mission San Rafael San Rafael Arcángel Arcángel

Route of the Camino de San Francisco. Inspired by the life and teachings of St. Francis of Assisi, this 24.5-mile route follows the path connecting Mission San Rafael Arcángel and Mission Dolores in San Francisco.

going two or three miles an hour. Life looks different when you slow down and walk.”

Walking alongside Andy Allen, his wife Debbie described the pilgrimage in more immediate terms. “You encounter God on pilgrimage,” she said. “It feeds our soul, our spirit. It keeps us going through thick and thin.”

She did not describe the walk as easy.

“This walk is hard, but the difficulty hides a blessing. We can join our sufferings to Jesus’ suffering on the cross so that it counts.”

During the walk, she said, those small physical challenges — fatigue, strain, even cramping – take on a different meaning. They can be offered in prayer for others. On this day, her thoughts were with a family member facing a medical emergency. “I can offer that up for the wisdom of the doctors and for her well-being,” she said. “We all know people that need prayer.”

Scan the QR code to get your pilgrim passport to plan your own pilgrimage or visit https:// caminosanfrancisco.org/

National National Shrine Shrine ofofSt. St.Francis Francis ofofAssisi Assisi

Cathedral Cathedralof of Saint SaintMary Maryof of the theAssumption Assumption

Mission Mission Dolores Basilica Dolores Basilica

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Pilgrims walk through Larkspur to their next stop at St. Patrick Church.

Map by Eduardo Banos???

Photos by Francisco Valdez

Pilgrims pose with Capuchin Franciscan Father Christopher Iwancio, Camino organizer, at the top of the Marin Headlands. Second from left: Billy Byrnes, director of campus ministry at Junípero Serra High School.

As the miles passed, the Camino settled into something both structured and open.

Pilgrims moved together at times, then drifted apart. Some talked. Others walked in silence. Some 13 miles into the pilgrimage, we reached the Marin Headlands.

By then, the walk had begun to take its toll – blisters on my feet, legs felt heavy – and the road ahead offered little relief. Only more inclines in front of us. “Keep moving forward,” I told myself. I paused briefly to take photos, trying to capture something that could hold the weight of the day. As I adjusted my camera, my thoughts drifted to Junípero Serra and his well-known acts of penance, placing thorns in his habit as he walked.

Then, in a moment of distraction, I lost my footing. I fell straight into a thorn bush just as the Golden Gate Bridge came into view. It was sudden, sharp and strangely fitting. The pain snapped me back into the present, but it also reframed the moment.

What had felt like an inconvenience, fatigue, discomfort, the slow grind of the miles now felt like a small participation in something much older, something deeper. It brought to mind the words often attributed to St. Francis of Assisi: “Start by doing what’s ›

Inset: Andy and Debbie Allen.

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | JUNE 2026

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necessary; then do what’s possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.”

I got up, brushed myself off, and kept walking. The Camino has a way of doing that.

It takes the unexpected, even the painful, and folds it into the journey not as interruption, but as invitation.

Father Iwancio said that balance between solitude and encounter is part of what makes pilgrimage unique. “You can have moments of silence, but also moments of interaction,” he said. “It’s not like a retreat where everything is structured. You can pray the rosary, then grab a cup of coffee. It’s accessible.”

He added that pilgrimages can meet people in both ordinary and difficult moments of life.

“Sometimes people go on pilgrimage after something dramatic – loss, illness, major life changes,” he said. “But it’s good to have these moments before things get really tough, to know where that help is.”

The pace slows enough for reflection. The noise fades just enough to notice what might otherwise be missed. The act of walking becomes less about reaching the destination and more about what is encountered along the way. For Father Iwancio, that is at the

Photo by Francisco Valdez

Archbishop Cordileone offers the final blessing to pilgrims at the end of the Camino de San Francisco

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heart of the Camino. “To go on pilgrimage is an opportunity to encounter not just nature or your neighbor, but God as well,” he said.

For many, the purpose remains the same: to step away, to walk with intention and to notice. And perhaps, in the process, to realize that the journey is not only about moving forward, but about understanding where and toward whom one is going. In the words of Franciscan St. Junípero Serra, “Siempre adelante” (Always forward). ■

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GIVING LIFE

A match made in heaven Priests become blood brothers in lifesaving kidney transplant

BY CHRISTINA GRAY Lead writer, Catholic San Francisco grayc@sfarch.org

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y the time Father Raymund Reyes, the longtime pastor of St. Augustine Parish, publicly appealed for a kidney donor, he’d been living with chronic kidney disease for more than five years. Parishioners and fellow priests had taken notice of the beloved priest’s weight loss and wan complexion. Only a few knew about the crippling fatigue, shortness of breath, edema and infections he endured while fulfilling his pastoral duties.

“Would you consider being a donor for me?” the 62-year-old priest asked in a letter to the parish community last fall that was soon shared beyond its boundaries. It detailed his dire health outlook.

Diagnosed with stage 3 chronic kidney disease (of five stages) in 2019, Father Reyes was in end-stage renal failure when he, with the archbishop’s blessing, humbly asked for help finding a live organ donor. Two different forms of dialysis, a process that mechanically filters the blood for patients with impaired kidney function, had resulted in life-threatening infections.

Other interventions had failed to halt the disease’s progression, and by the summer of 2025 he was told there was only one “treatment” left that could save him.

“My doctors want me to consider getting a kidney transplant, which will give me my best chance of living a longer life to serve the people entrusted to me,” his letter read.

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JUNE 2026 | CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO

Father Ray Reyes, the recipient, and Father Francis Garbo, the donor, pictured the night before the Jan. 20 kidney transplant.

A PASTOR’S BLESSINGS AND BURDENS Raymund Reyes was born in the province of Pampanga on the outskirts of Manila in the Philippines and was ordained there in 1988. Ten years later he came to San Francisco to help serve at St. Patrick Parish where many Filipinos from his home province worshipped. After long-term pastoral roles at St. Isabella Parish in San Rafael and St. Anne of the Sunset Parish in San Francisco, Father Reyes was appointed as the vicar for clergy in 2014. Five years later in 2019 he became pastor of St. Augustine Parish in South San Francisco. That same year he was diagnosed with chronic kidney disease.

Father Ray carried a heavy cross quietly. Few knew that behind his steady presence at Mass and his thoughtful homilies were repeat hospitalizations, dialysis treatments, infections and profound physical suffering.”

VIVIAN RAVAL RAMOS St. Augustine parish council vice chair

Photo courtesy of Vivian Ramos

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | JUNE 2026

“Father Ray carried a heavy cross quietly,” St. Augustine parishioner and parish council vice chair Vivian Raval Ramos told Catholic San Francisco. He lived with the “full burden” of uremia, she said, a clinical description of the buildup of toxins in the blood that happens when the kidneys fail to do their job of filtering them. Untreated, it causes severe physical and mental symptoms and certain death.

Ramos was one member of a devoted parish care team that seemed to mystically materialize to support Father Reyes as his disease progressed. The team also included Ramos’ husband Glenn, a medical doctor from the Philippines; his sister Rochie Ramos Guintu, a nephrology nurse with decades of experience in dialysis care; and her husband Dennis. Also on the care team was Christmas Tiletile, a member of the parish choir who happened to be the live kidney transplant coordinator for California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco, and parishioners Joriz and Susan Madrid.

“Few others knew that behind his steady presence at Mass and his thoughtful homilies were repeat hospitalizations, dialysis treatments, infections and profound physical suffering,” said Ramos. ›

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Left, Father Reyes, center, with members of his parish care team. Front row, left to right: Vivian Raval Ramos, Christmas Tiletile, Father Ray Reyes, Marichu Madrid, Rochie Ramos Guintu. Back row, left to right: Joriz Madrid, Dennis Guintu, Glenn Ramos. Right, Father Reyes and Father Garbo pictured at the Sutter Health CPMC transplant center.

A kidney transplant can be done with an organ from either a living or a deceased donor. Father Reyes was one of nearly 90,000 people at that time on the waitlist for a kidney at the United Network for Organ Sharing, a national organ donor system. The wait time for an organ depends upon many factors, but Father Reyes was given an estimate of six to eight years.

“That is time that I obviously don’t have,” Father Reyes concluded.

A FRIEND FOR LIFE Father Francis Garbo and Father Reyes arrived in San Francisco separately from the Philippines in the late 1990s to minister to the Filipino Catholic community here. They met at St. Patrick Parish in San Francisco, which at the time was like an “Ellis Island for Filipino priests” coming to San Francisco, according to Father Garbo. He served at St. Andrew Parish in Daly City, Our Lady of Loretto in Novato, St. Charles Parish in San Carlos and St. Timothy Parish in San Mateo before being named pastor of Mission Dolores Basilica/Mision San Francisco de Asís in 2015.

Over the years and through their respective pastoral assignments, the two priests shared Mass and meals with other Filipino priests on their days off, golf games and birthdays, basketball scrimmages and memories of their shared homeland.

While many in the parish and larger local Catholic community stepped forward willing to be a donor for Father Reyes (including family members and four other priests), none proved to be a viable match.

Father Garbo privately explored the living donor application process online, but made no mention of it

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to Father Reyes, who one day asked him directly, “What about you? Have you signed up yet?” The questions were asked somewhat in jest, but what Father Garbo heard was not a joke as much as a plea.

DISCERNING DONATION Unwilling to let Father Reyes hold out hope for a kidney he was at that point unsure he’d be eligible to give, Father Garbo completed a rigorous and extended battery of medical tests and interviews without a word to anyone, all in between pastoral duties.

Father Garbo learned in the days before Christmas that he was not just a match, but an optimal one. Not only did he share Father Reyes’ blood type and have no medical conditions that would eliminate him as a donor, but his kidney function was better than what is considered “normal.”

This was just the kind of sign he had been looking for as he prayed for guidance: “Lord, if it is your will that I help Father Ray with the gift you have given me, my kidney, it is yours and I am willing.”

He hurried to the St. Augustine parish rectory to deliver the news to a stunned Father Reyes, who knew well the demands of being a pastor of a large parish. He asked why he was doing this for him. “Because you asked me,” Father Garbo said simply.

The transplant was scheduled for only a few weeks away on Jan. 20 at Sutter Health/CMPC in San Francisco. Father Garbo felt assured by God in his decision. But he admitted he had to resist his human impulses.

“I was ready; let’s do it now,” he said, smiling at the memory. “I wanted to give, but I also wanted it to take place immediately and according to my plan JUNE 2026 | CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO

and schedules.” He soon realized things were moving according to God’s plan, not his own.

Father Garbo likened being a donor awaiting the transplant date to being an expectant mother carrying another life.

“You begin to be very careful about what you eat and everything you do,” he said.

On the night before the transplant, Father Vito Perrone, pastor of Mater Dolorosa Parish, prayer for both priests and heard their confessions. That morning, Father Reyes and Father Garbo were wheeled into separate surgical arenas, the prayers of the local Catholic community going with them. Just one day later, tests showed that Father Reyes’ kidney function was already returning to normal levels.

Father Garbo left the hospital one day after the laparoscopic removal of one of his kidneys, an organ about the size of a clenched fist. He returned to his normal activities quickly. For Father Reyes, a required three-month period of isolation and monitoring was completed on April 20. On April 26 he celebrated his first Sunday Mass at St. Augustine, and has largely returned to his normal ministry.

CONVERTED BY CRISIS According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 14% of the population is estimated to have chronic kidney disease, many without knowing it.

After his initial diagnosis, a biopsy determined Father Reyes’ kidney failure was caused by Berger disease, a condition prevalent in people of Asian ancestry. Only three days after Father Reyes received a new kidney, his brother, “Ronnie” Macaplinlac Reyes, died of complications related to the treatment of his own kidney disease. › CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | JUNE 2026

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There will be a time in our lives where we can just be a recipient of the love of God, and the people he sends.”

FATHER RAYMUND REYES

Photo by Coleen Hera

Father Garbo and Father Reyes concelebrated a Mass for the first time after the surgery on Sunday, May 3.

Father Reyes said he kept his diagnosis to himself because “I didn’t want to talk about my struggles in public.” Nor did he want to add to the burden of the very people who looked to him for pastoral care and guidance.

Today, he believes that learning to share his struggles and accept the love of others has made him a better

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priest. Though it was a new kidney he received, he also looks at the priesthood through new eyes now.

“It converted me,” said Father Reyes of his experience. “I owed it to my parishioners to let them know what was going on in my life,” he said. “They ask me to pray for them, why can’t I ask them to pray for me?”

During one of his difficult hospitalizations, he said he did question why God “would let me go through this” when he was needed by so many.

A priest friend reminded him that a priest’s lifespan includes not just service but also witness.

Priests are called first to “diaconia,” the Greek word for service, his friend said. But the time will come when serving is difficult or impossible because of old age or illness. The next stage of ministry is “marturia,” he said, rooted in the Greek word for witness.

“There will be a time in our lives where we can just be a recipient of the love of God, and the people He sends,” he said. ■

JUNE 2026 | CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO

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CANONIZATION CANDIDATES

Unique center holds nation’s first sainthood conference

BY LIDIA WASOWICZ Award-winning journalist Wasowicz, former West Coast science editor and senior science writer for United Press International, has been writing for Catholic San Francisco since 2011.

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dvocates longing for a future filled with contemporary American saints heard the Holy Spirit whisper, “If you build it, they will come.”

So they built their “field of dreams,” opening the nation’s first Center for Sainthood Studies — the only such resource and training facility outside the Vatican — on the campus of St. Patrick’s Seminary and University in Menlo Park in June 2025.

And they came.

Forty registrants — twice as many as hoped for — arrived for the center’s Feb. 15-21, 2026, inaugural offering of an annual certificate program that teaches the ins and outs of advancing candidates for canonization.

The group hailed from 20 states and comprised 12 priests, three religious sisters and 25 lay women and men of varying ages — from their 30s to their 80s — and from diverse walks of life. From a canon lawyer for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to the head of the world’s police psychologists.

They came for different reasons and with disparate levels of experience.

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Some wanted to learn from scratch, some to fill in gaps in what they already knew, some to delve deeply into the complicated, complex process they hope to use to augment the number of saints, which currently tops 10,000.

Thirty came with a specific modern-day man, woman or child in mind for that holy honor, including: –A former Navy pilot who took an unhesitating, fatal leap into a septic tank on the family farm to save his 20-year-old son with Down syndrome who had fallen into the sewage.

– A Beverly Hills mother of seven who renounced her considerable worldly possessions to live in a 10-foot-by10-foot cell and minister to inmates at one of Mexico’s most notorious prisons for 36 years.

–A teen three days shy of high school graduation who lunged at a gun-wielding assailant to spare his classmates at the cost of his own life.

Exemplary as they may have been, they still face a long and winding road to sainthood.

“We don’t want sentiment: we want scrutiny; we want surety, … we want a secure saint, not a fake one,” said Msgr. Brian Taylor, who holds a doctorate in canon law and is judicial vicar and head of the Metropolitan Tribunal in the Archdiocese of New York.

“Even Pope St. John Paul II, as good as he was, had to be put through the whole process of canonization,” he reminded the class.

That process — which can begin no sooner than five JUNE 2026 | CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO

Photo by Travis Degheri

Students listen intently as Dr. Waldery Hilgeman and Dr. Emanuele Spedicato teach one of the Certificate Program’s 18 sessions.

years after death and in the parish where the person died — involves intense inquiry and investigation into the candidate’s life, writings and reputation for holiness at each of the following general steps: 1. A postulator (case guide and overseer versed in canon law) or some other appropriate party petitions the local bishop to open a cause.

2. If the prelate finds sufficient evidence to do so and the Dicastery (Vatican department) for the Causes of Saints — which currently is reviewing more than 1,500 cases — has no objections and issues a “nihil obstat” (which literally means “nothing hinders” and grants formal permission for further examination), the candidate receives and moves on to the Roman phase of examinations.

3. If the Vatican experts corroborate the diocesan findings of “heroic virtue” and the pope affirms, the servant of God is elevated to “venerable.”

4. Confirmation by diocesan and Vatican authorities of a miracle attributable to the venerable’s intercession moves the case to beatification and the designation of “blessed.”

Martyrs are exempt from this requirement.

5. Upon verification in the diocese and Rome of a second miracle, the Pope has the final authority to canonize a saint, proposed as an intercessor and held up as a model of holiness worthy of imitation and veneration.

The length, demand and rigor of the painstaking process become evident when one considers that Thomas Vander Woude, the Vietnam War veteran who jumped into the toxic tank to rescue the youngest of his seven sons, Joseph, in 2008; Mother Antonia Brenner, nee Mary Clarke and aptly dubbed “the prison angel,” who died in CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | JUNE 2026

2013; and Kendrick Castillo, the 18-year-old who thwarted a potential school massacre in 2019, are still awaiting initiation.

“I wanted to encourage everybody, whatever stage you’re at in this process, that our Lord wants this work to happen,” said Michael McDevitt, the sainthood center’s co-founder and communications director.

Sharing the hardships he overcame over decades of promoting Servant of God Cora Evans, a U.S. housewife and convert from Mormonism whose case now rests in Roman hands, he declared: “You can just feel the Holy Spirit at work!”

Feeling the Spirit, promoters are proceeding with their causes.

Keith Henderson, a former financial adviser from Lake Frederick, Virginia, first heard about Vander Woude over lunch with his new pastor.

Driving home, “as God would have it,” he happened upon a radio discussion of Venerable Jérôme Lejeune’s regrets over his 1958 discovery of the chromosome associated with Down syndrome because it led to the unintended consequence of boosting abortion rates.

“I was thinking, ‘Here’s a man who died saving this boy with Down’s, while others were killing such babies,’” said Henderson, a Catholic convert, in an interview.

Unfazed by the initial official rejection of his proposal, he sought more information, met with Joseph and others who had known his father well, founded a nonprofit, set up a website, gave talks and waded through a flood of invitations and reports of prayer favors attributed to the man reputed for selfless acts and charitable works. ›

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With bundles of new material, he made a second appeal.

“I told the vicar general of our diocese that an old retired priest and three converts are starting this cause, and he said, ‘Make that four converts!’ I didn’t realize he had converted in college,” Henderson related. “It didn’t take him long to understand this is something that needed to be done.”

Henderson signed up for the conference at the bucolic 60-bedroom Vallombrosa Retreat Center in Menlo Park to find out exactly what needs to be done and how.

Father Patrick DiLoreto, associate vocations director for the Diocese of Colorado Springs, has recognized the Holy Spirit is guiding him to champion Kendrick’s cause.

The parochial vicar at St. Mark Catholic Church in Highlands Ranch, Colorado, was a seminarian in Denver when news broke of the high school senior’s heroic deed.

“I thought to myself, ‘I wonder if he’ll be a saint someday,’” he said.

Six years later, the thought recurred as he drove on the newly minted Kendrick Castillo Way to St. Mark, two miles from the site of the shooting.

Not wanting to appear “rash,” he prayed for two months before broaching the topic with his pastor only to find they were of like minds.

“The two of us took it as a sign that it’s something the Holy Spirit has been telling both of us to consider,” Father DiLoreto said.

From his preliminary research, a picture emerged of a young man with a passion for robotics, a devout, pro-life Catholic active in the Knights of Columbus, who enjoyed spending time in adoration and at Mass.

If he saw a poorly attended funeral, he would go in to pray for the deceased. If a friend suffered a setback, he would jump in his Jeep and buy him ice cream. He prayed aloud before every meal, even in public places.

“Kendrick was not a soldier; he was not a police officer; he was not a firefighter,” Father DiLoreto noted. “He was just a kid, just a high school student who loved his neighbor and throughout his life showed charity for that neighbor.”

At his funeral, Bishop Jorge Rodríguez, the auxiliary bishop of Denver, cited John 15:13: “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”

Young, contemporary and thrust into a 21st-century student’s worst nightmare, Kendrick provides a remarkable yet relatable model of how to answer the universal call to holiness.

“It’s easier for us to pursue holiness when we have a tangible example of somebody closer to our age and struggling with the same issues we have in America,” Father DiLoreto said. “It would be great if Kendrick was somebody the Lord wished to raise to the altar.”

Since this is a first for the archdiocese, his bishop sent him to the conference to gain insights into how to proceed through the preliminary investigations to initiate the cause.

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I feel completely unqualified to even come here, uncertain I can retain what I learn, but I remember the saying that God doesn’t choose the qualified, he qualifies the chosen. I’m going to do whatever the Holy Spirit guides me to do.”

SISTER ANNE MARIE MAXFIELD The conference provided numerous tools to that end: the curriculum; study materials taken from the Vatican’s website; “The Handbook on the Causes of Saints: The Diocesan Phase,” translated into English by the sainthood center and co-authored by Emanuele Spedicato and Waldery Hilgeman, two esteemed postulators versed in canon law and proficient in case presentation who flew in from Rome to teach the course, and fellow students more experienced and further along on the sainthood trail.

The California facility provides training in the canonization process previously available only in Italian and solely at the Holy See, leaving out anyone who didn’t speak the language or couldn’t get to Rome, observed Siobhan Verbeek of Potomac, Maryland, director of canonical services for the U. S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

A post-event survey of participants realized the organizers’ hopes.

“The inaugural certificate program was an overwhelming success,” said Travis Degheri, the center’s executive director who has worked on causes, including JUNE 2026 | CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO

Congratulations to our Men’s Lacrosse Team 2026 Catholic Cup Champions!

Photo by Travis Degheri

Students Father Dale Nau and Sister Ann Gertrude Djuidje smile during a certificate program lecture.

that of Cora Evans, for a decade. “I heard nothing but good things from everyone who talked about their experience.”

Thus, he plans few changes for the next session, scheduled for Jan. 31-Feb. 6, 2027.

Pressed to be both affordable and sustainable and currently operating at a significant loss, the leadership is considering increasing the all-inclusive fee of $2,500 for the course, room, board and certificate of “achievement and readiness” issued to graduates and signed by the archbishop.

“We need to find a good balance while also exploring the possibility of identifying donors that could help offset costs of the program,” Degheri said.

To Ellen Hogarty, director of Our Lady’s Youth Center in Vado, New Mexico, the course proved invaluable.

“We hear these wonderful stories (about) very ordinary people, and they’re not all mystics; they’re moms, they’re husbands, they’re farmers, so it’s encouraging to the normal Catholic, the Catholic in the pew that, yes, we’re all called to holiness,” said Hogarty, promoter of the cause of Servant of God Richard Thomas, a Jesuit priest dedicated to the poor. “The universal call to holiness is something we can all respond to.”

And if we do, we just might find ourselves coming to the field of dreams God has built for us in heaven. ■ SCAN HERE TO READ MORE ABOUT THE CENTER FOR SAINTHOOD STUDIES CERTIFICATION PROGRAM or visit https:// sfarch.org/center-for-sainthood-studies/ CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | JUNE 2026

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COM MUNAL LIFE

St. Francis and the missions, part 3

Franciscan founder of the Mission of St. Francis

the connection between the Church on earth and the Church in heaven. St. Junípero and his friars sought the help of heavenly patrons for their work. Among the nine missions Serra founded, five were named after Franciscan saints: San Diego de Alcalá (St. Didacus), San Antonio (St. Anthony of Padua), San Francisco, San Buenaventura (St. Bonaventure), and St. Francis’ friend and early disciple, Santa Clara (St. Clare of Assisi). Serra obviously wanted the help of those who had lived the Franciscan life. It is therefore no surprise that he named one of the missions after the founder of the whole order, St. Francis of Assisi. He hoped that St. Francis’ example and fame would help the native peoples come more readily to accept the faith that had transformed Francis’ own life so dramatically.

t. Junipero Serra is the name most closely connected with the California missions.

While he founded only nine of these missions, he laid the groundwork for the work of the friars and the Church in California that endures today. In this final reflection on the saint from Mallorca and the celebration of the 250th anniversary of the founding of the mission whose name our city and archdiocese bear, I want to highlight certain aspects of the founding of the missions, particularly the Mision San Francisco de Asís, also known as Mission Dolores.

As a young man, Miguel Serra of Petra, Mallorca, entered the Order of Friars Minor on his home island and spent much of his time there before becoming a missionary to Nueva España. He brought to his missionary endeavors the attitudes and approaches he had learned as a follower of the saint of Assisi. These principles influenced the life of the missions, including Mision San Francisco de Asís.

AN EAGERNESS FOR THE SALVATION OF OTHERS, BY WORD AND EXAMPLE The Spanish crown may have had the goal of the missions creating good Spanish citizens out of the native people of California. St. Junípero Serra had another goal in mind, one he considered much more important: to make them good citizens of heaven.

As a Franciscan, Serra believed in the dignity of each person Jesus came to ransom with His blood.

Serra remembered that St. Francis had gone into the presence of the Sultan of Egypt aware that he might be killed but with the hope of converting him. The sultan did not convert but was impressed that Francis came before him with no weapons, no armor, and no letters of protection. Serra wanted to approach the natives of California with the same attitude.

Serra knew that if he wanted to convince the natives of California of the truth and power of the Christian faith, he had to live it faithfully himself. He lived a very simple and humble life. One only has to visit the cell where he died to see how simply he lived. Serra showed those around him the true joy in his heart ›

SERRA

BY FATHER BOBBY BARBATO, OFM CAP. Rector, National Shrine of St. Francis

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THE IMPORTANCE OF THE HEAVENLY CHURCH IN ITS EARTHLY COUNTERPART Perhaps we take it for granted that the missions are mostly named for saints, (like our mission of San Francisco). Importantly, the names given to the missions emphasize

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JUNE 2026 | CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO

The nine original California Catholic missions founded by St. Junipero Serra are the earliest in the chain of 21 missions established by the Franciscan Friars. Row one from left, Mission San Francisco de Asís (1776); Gabriel Arcángel (1771); Mission San Diego de Alcalá (1769).

Row two from left, Mission Santa Clara de Asís (1777); Mission San Juan Capistrano (1776); Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa (1772).

Row three from left, Mission San Antonio de Padua (1771); Mission San Buenaventura (1782). Pictured below, Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo (1770).

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | JUNE 2026

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In picking locations for the missions Serra searched for places with sufficient natural resources to sustain them.

However, he also chose sites of great natural beauty (it must be said that this was not hard to do in California).” that God’s grace brought to him and hoped all his friar missionaries would do the same.

Serra recognized that God was already present among the people, even if in a hidden and unknown way. When he saw the simplicity of the natives, he felt that the way to Gospel life would perhaps be easier for them than for those who had grown up in the complex and often very worldly societies of Europe.

THE IMPORTANCE OF COMMUNITY/COMMUNICATION Among Franciscans, there has always been an emphasis on communal life, living out their vocation through mutual support and mutual challenge. Like Francis, Serra knew it was easy to love others from a distance. Francis’ encounter with the leper had taught him that to really love a person, one has to rub shoulders with others and share their lives.

Serra hoped to bring this important aspect of community to the missions.

The idea that the recent converts should live together at the missions was not meant as a means of control, so much as a recognition that the new members of the Church needed a solid community life to understand and practice the faith. In a way, the structure of mission life was meant to implement the vision given in the Acts of the Apostles: “The community of believers was of one heart and mind, and no one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they had everything in common....There was no needy person among them, for those who owned property or houses would sell them, bring the proceeds of the sale, and put them at the feet of the apostles, and they were distributed to each according to need.” (4:32-35) This is one reason why the missions were founded as a “chain.” Though not strictly a day’s ride apart, the missions were close enough to lend one another help and mutual support. This is perhaps why Mission San Francisco was the end of the chain for many years. Getting farther north was not easy. Serra hoped each mission might be selfsufficient in some respects, but he didn’t want any one of them to become isolated from the others.

APPRECIATION FOR BEAUTY If we consider the places Serra chose to locate the missions he founded, we see that he had a great appreciation for natural beauty. As St. Bonaventure says of St. Francis: “In beautiful things he saw beauty itself.”

Serra had grown up on what is considered one of the most

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Statue of St. Junípero Serra at Mission Santa Barbara.

beautiful isles in the Mediterranean. In picking locations for the missions, Serra searched for places with sufficient natural resources to sustain them. However, he also chose sites of great natural beauty. It must be said that this was not hard to do in California.

Perhaps this was why when he heard of the beautiful bay discovered by Seargeant José Ortega not long before, he decided it would be the perfect place to locate a mission named after St. Francis. The bay, which would also be named after the saint, was a locale of exquisite beauty.

Serra was pleased by the abundance and variety of wildlife, and since it was said that St. Francis preached to the birds, the variety of these brothers and sisters was a sign to Serra that this was where the saint wanted the mission named after him to be.

FREEDOM FROM FEAR AND WANT Although some would assert that the growth of the missions was due to forced conversions, there is no evidence that St. Junípero or any of his brothers considered this an option. While it is true that once a native person was baptized, he or she was expected to spend most of their time at the mission (it is interesting to note that these neophytes, or new converts, were allowed time away from the mission to visit family as long they promised to return).

Serra was concerned that the presence of soldiers would be intimidating to the new converts. He knew that soldiers posted far from home without families could be raucous and even violent, setting a bad example. While he accepted that the presence of the military was a mandate of the king of Spain and so to be tolerated, he never wanted JUNE 2026 | CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO

the missions to be too close to the military headquarters.

That is why the Presidio of San Francisco is so far away from the site of the mission. Because of the need to watch the comings and goings from the sea, the presidio site in San Francisco is more picturesque than the mission. The reverse is true in Monterrey, where the site of Misson Carmel is more tranquil and beautiful.

One of the controversial aspects of mission life introduced by Serra and the Spaniards was the establishment of agriculture and animal husbandry. While the natives of California had learned a rhythm of life that meant they survived on the ecology of what would become the Golden State, Serra and the others felt that a stable agriculture would provide them with a more reliable source of sustenance. This did change the traditional ways of the native peoples, but Serra felt it also gave them the benefits of civilization as he and his compatriots knew it. I know this is controversial, and I don’t defend what might be seen as cultural imperialism, but I do think the motives of Serra and the friars were to benefit the people they were sent to serve. That we would do things differently today does not mean their motives were evil.

SPIRIT OF FORGIVENESS One of Serra’s goals was to not only to preach but also to demonstrate the goodness of gospel principles. He was able to show this in a dramatic way several months after the founding of Mission San Francisco. Hundreds of miles to the south at the first mission, San Diego de Alcalá, there was an attack on the missionaries, and one of them, Fray Luis Jayme, was killed. Serra visited that mission, and one of his first acts was to make a plea to the authorities for those who committed the crime to be pardoned. While he felt the pain of the death of his brother, whom he considered a martyr, he did not want a spirit of vengeance to take root in the still very new Church of California. St. Francis had sung in his Canticle of Brother Sun: “Praised be You, my Lord, for those who forgive.” This was the spirit of the gospel that the Franciscan Junípero Serra hoped to import to the new missions, especially the one named after the poor man of Assisi himself.

In founding Mission San Francisco de Asís, St. Junípero Serra hoped to implant in California the same powerful Gospel vision that St. Francis had brought to the Church of the 13th century and beyond. Serra felt this vision was worth travelling thousands of miles, many on foot, far from his beloved home in Mallorca. Serra was willing to go to “the ends of the earth” if only he could serve God and his brothers and sisters in a concrete way.

We know, of course, that things did not work out totally as Serra had hoped. But the spirit of joy, service and an appreciation of God’s beauty lived beyond him and still exists among those who live in the city named after the Saint of Assisi and beyond. ■ CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | JUNE 2026

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Students lauded for religious freedom essays at Respect Life Awards ceremony Perspectives from Catholic school students on topics of faith

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he pastor and rector of the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption, Father Kevin Kennedy, praised the children, their parents and teachers for their commitment to faith in the Lord and their stellar work at the 37th annual Respect Life Essay awards ceremony on Sunday, April 26.

HIGH SCHOOL 1ST PRIZE WINNER: MARTA SAINZ 11th grade, Seton Home Study School “The state cannot claim authority, direct or indirect, over a person’s religious convictions.

It cannot arrogate to itself the right to impose or to impede the profession or public practice of religion by a person or a community.” The words of Pope St. John Paul Il speak clearly and powerfully on the Catholic Church’s teaching regarding religious freedom. Although much of what the Church supports today is scorned by modern culture, religious freedom is something that the Church and most of the world agrees upon. That is why so many governments have the right to religious freedom embedded in their laws, from the United States’ Constitution today, to the Roman Empire’s Edict of Milan over a millennia ago.

However, not all countries respect the human rights and inherent dignity of their citizens. Nicaragua is a prime example of a nation that inhibits the religious freedom of its citizens. It virtually criminalizes religious practices within its borders, which both violates the Church’s laws and facilitates the violation of many other human rights tenets.

The current Ortega-Murillo regime in Nicaragua has been escalating religious persecution since 2018, when Nicaraguan Church leaders spoke out in support of the people’s right to peacefully protest government policy.

Since then, the oppression has only gotten worse, especially in regard to the persecution of priests and religious. Many clergy are surveilled, and even personally followed in

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their day-to-day lives. When clergy meetings are held, the government takes photos and videos of those who attend, and insists on being fully informed of everything discussed at the meeting.

In one of Nicaragua’s worst offenses, priests are denied access to prisons and thus are unable to give the sacraments to incarcerated individuals who badly need them. Some sources say that as many as 97 priests and religious were expelled from Nicaragua, and the number rises to over 200 when including those imprisoned. This shortage of priests directly impacts the faithful’s ability to practice their religion. President Ortega and Vice President Murillo also frequently engage in hate speech against their Christian citizens, once again with an emphasis on priests. Ortega called the clergy a “mafia” for supposedly “embezzling millions.” Although this led to the freezing of the Church’s bank accounts, no conclusive proof has been found to back the president’s statement.

Acts of oppression against all the faithful include the closing of nine religious radio stations, counting the shutdown of Radio Hermanos with a display of force involving tear gas and shots fired into the air. Holy Week processions, one of the most beautiful ways Catholics publicly display their faith and honor Our Lord, were banned in 2023, 2024 and 2025. Additionally, 23 human rights violations were documented during the Holy Week of 2024 alone. Later that year, the regime ordered all nuns to leave Nicaragua by December. In the past, the regime had expelled 18 Missionaries of Charity, expulsions which particularly displayed blatant intolerance because the Missionaries of Charity simply give aid to the needy.

The most devastating harassment of all, however, is the desecration of the most holy Eucharist. The Nicaraguan persecutors are not only disrespecting Catholics, as they might think, but are desecrating the body of Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, one of the gravest possible sins.

One of the chief outrages committed by the Nicaraguan government is the arrest and exile of Bishop Rolando Alvarez of Matagalpa, Nicaragua. Bishop Alvarez was a vocal opponent of the government’s religious oppression, which led to him being arrested on Aug. 4, 2022. After several months of house arrest, he was sentenced to 26 years in jail.

Although he was offered the opportunity to join 222 JUNE 2026 | CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO

Photo by Saul Perez/Archdiocese of San Francisco

Religious freedom is a right inseparable from our humanity. It is not a right to be given, or simply “allowed” by the state; it is a right that was bestowed on us by God from the moment of our creation.” other political prisoners in exile to the United States, he said, “Let others be free. I will endure their punishment.”

He wanted to offer his people an example, to prove to them that their bishop was standing firm and not giving in to the Ortega regime’s bullying. The charges against him included treason and “spreading false news,” unjust allegations against a bishop who was simply doing God’s work of guarding his flock against injustice. He was sent to the maximum security “La Modelo” prison, a place with the reputation of being “the worst dungeon” in the country. A year later, he was sent to the Vatican as part of negotiations between the Vatican and Nicaragua. In his own words, he is still “the visible head of Matagalpa and apostolic administrator of Esteli, and I will continue to be so until God wills it.”

These are just a few of the atrocities that Nicaragua has committed on its people of faith. Martha Patricia Molina, a Nicaraguan researcher and the publisher of an extensive report on the Nicaraguan persecution, told CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | JUNE 2026

Winners of the Archdiocese of San Francisco Respect Life Essay Contest with Father Kevin Kennedy.

EWTN that many incidents cannot be officially counted as part of the persecution because of the fear of those who report the incidents. Nicaragua is proving the words of Pope St. John Paul II when he said, “In a certain sense, the source and synthesis of these rights [human rights] is religious freedom, understood as the right to live in the truth of one’s faith and in conformity with one’s transcendent dignity as a person.”

Without religious freedom, Nicaraguans are swiftly losing their other rights as well. People have been arrested for as little as posting a prayer on social media, and there is a lack of any independent media in the country. Priests are surveilled, and citizens mysteriously go missing.

Nicaragua, just like other authoritarian or totalitarian regimes, is using persecution of religion as a way to tighten the noose around the throats of their people. What these nations either do not see, or do not care about, is that they are violating the dignity of every human person that they are supposed to serve and protect. When a government ends religious freedom, it also kills the last of any true freedom within its borders. But why has Nicaragua cracked down on the Catholic Church so severely? Because the Church has been one of the most vocal opponents of the current oppressive regime. The Church has provided “sanctuary to demonstrators” and clergy have spoken ›

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out against government injustices. According to Bishop Alvarez, they are sending a message to the Catholic Church to be silent. But, as the bishop finished, “They won’t silence the word of God.” The governments of the world call religious freedom violations “human rights abuses.” That is true, but where do these human rights derive from? They come from God, who made us all in His image and likeness and willed us all for our own sakes. As “Dignitas Humanae” proclaims, “The right to religious freedom has its foundation in the very dignity of the human person as this dignity is known through the revealed word of God and by reason itself.”

What this means is simply that religious freedom is a right inseparable from our humanity. It is not a right to be given, or simply “allowed” by the state; it is a right that was bestowed on us by God from the moment of our creation.

Nicaragua has violated this right in all aspects of it, treating the right to worship like something that can just be taken away. Nicaragua is wrong. They underestimate the need of the people of God for justice. Let us not forget the sufferings of the Nicaraguan faithful, and pray to Our Lady of Guadalupe to wrap her mantle around her children in need. ■ SCAN HERE FOR MORE EXAMPLES OF THE STUDENT’S WORK or visit https://sfarch. org/religious-freedom-projects

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SOURCE OF GRACE

Enthroning Jesus as King of your heart and home

BY MARY POWERS

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Assistant director of communications and media relations. Office of Communications, Archdiocese of San Francisco

he image of the Sacred Heart has long been a refuge of hope for many—a physical reminder of the great love of God. Originally made after Jesus appeared to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, a 17th century French Visitation nun, the image is found in places such as churches, schools, homes, offices, and hospitals.

THE IMAGE AND PROMISES At the time of the apparitions, the heresy of Jansenism was spreading throughout France and western Europe portraying God as angry, harsh and distant. Jesus’ message to St. Margaret Mary was the opposite. It reminded mankind of the deep and abiding love of God for each person.

Jesus revealed the Sacred Heart devotion to St. Margaret Mary in several mystical visions between 1673 and 1675.

On July 2, 1674, Jesus appeared to St. Margaret Mary for a second time with His heart set as a throne of flames with His wound from the cross. It was surrounded by a crown of thorns and a cross above it. Jesus revealed to her that the manifestation of the passion of His heart (the cross, crown of thorns, etc.) was present from the moment of His conception.

“My Divine Master revealed to me that it was His ardent desire to be known, loved, and honored by men, and His eager desire to draw them back from the road to perdition, along which Satan is driving them in countless numbers, that induced Him to manifest His Heart to men with all the treasures of love, mercy, grace, sanctification and salvation that it contains,” St. Margaret Mary wrote in her autobiography.

Jesus told St. Margaret Mary that His heart must be honored under the form of a heart of flesh, desiring that the image be exposed and venerated so that He can pour out “all of the gifts it contains in its fullness.”

“Everywhere this holy image was exposed to be honored, He would pour forth His graces and blessings,” wrote St. Margaret Mary. “This blessing was, as it were, a final effort of His love. He wanted to bestow upon men during these final centuries such loving redemption in order to snatch them from the control of Satan, whom He intended to destroy.”

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Photo by Mary Powers

Mosaic of Jesus appearing to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque in St. Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City

A CHANNEL FOR THE GRACES More than 230 years later, Father Mateo CrawleyBoevey, a priest of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, would create the structure to make this promise a reality in homes across the world through the Enthronement of the Sacred Heart.

In 1907, after his health deteriorated, he traveled from his home in Chile to Europe. He visited Paray-le-Monial in France where the Sacred Heart apparitions took place.

While there, he was inspired to start an apostolate for the social reign of the Sacred Heart, enthroning the image of the Sacred Heart in the home, which is the basis for all civilization. Upon receiving the blessing of Pope Pius X, he went back to pray at Paray-le-Monial for the strength and graces necessary to achieve his mission. In response to his prayer, he received a miraculous healing before JUNE 2026 | CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO

returning to Chile, setting him on fire to conquer every heart, home and the world for the Sacred Heart.

From that small chapel in France, countless families have put Jesus at the center of their home, bringing His great love and protection to reign in their families amid the sorrows and joys of life.

CONSECRATING THE UNITED STATES Providentially, the founding of the United States of America has a connection with the Sacred Heart of Jesus. More than 100 years after Jesus revealed His heart to St. Margaret Mary, the founding fathers signed the Declaration of Independence on July 2, 1776 (promulgated on July 4, 1776).

As one of the events marking the 250th birthday of America, the bishops of the United States consecrated the country to the Sacred Heart of Jesus on June 11, the eve of the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The consecration places our country under the protection of His great love and places Him at the center of our hearts and nation. In a way, it’s a more prominent version of Father Mateo’s “home enthronement.”

CONSECRATE YOUR OWN HOME As the bishops consecrate the country to the Sacred Heart, consider enthroning your own home this year. Begin by setting a date to have a priest bless your home and lead the enthronement. Prepare with your family by learning more about the Sacred Heart devotion and praying a novena leading up to the enthronement. Traditionally, a Prayer of Consecration is said in the home by the priest and family, inviting Jesus to reign in their hearts. An image of the Sacred Heart is blessed with holy water by the priest along with the entire home.

“Deign, O Divine Heart, to preside over our meetings, to bless our undertakings both spiritual and temporal, to banish all worry and care, to sanctify our joys and soothe our sorrows,” reads the prayer. “If any of us should ever have the misfortune to grieve Thy Sacred Heart, remind him of Thy goodness and mercy towards the repentant sinner.”

The priest blesses the family, and a certificate of enthronement can be signed by the priest and family. ■ For more information about the USCCB consecration of the United States of America to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, visit: https://www. usccb.org/weholdthesetruths For more information on the Home Enthronement to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, visit: https://www. catholiccompany.com/pages/sacred-heartjesus-enthronement-ceremony or https:// welcomehisheart.com/ CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | JUNE 2026

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AN N IVE RSARY CE LE BRATION

The Eucharistic foundation of Misión San Francisco de Asís Intoíbo ad altáre Dei./ ad Deum qui laetíficat juventútem meam.”

“I will go to the altar of God./ To God, who gives joy to my youth.”

BY MARY POWERS Assistant director of communications and media relations. Office of Communications, Archdiocese of San Francisco

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hese opening words of the Mass would have been said by Franciscan Father Francisco Palóu on June 29, 1776, at the first Mass in the little chapel at Misión San Francisco de Asís.

From a secular perspective, this first recorded Mass sets the location of the mission, beginning the mission period of San Francisco history and setting the stage for the future city and archdiocese.

From a spiritual perspective, the Mass sets off a revolution—providing a home for the sacramental life of the local Church, fulfilling Christ’s command to the apostles to preach the Gospel to all nations.

The Mass is the source and summit of our lives as Catholics. It makes the sacrifice of Calvary truly present on the altar. It makes Jesus present to us—body, blood, soul and divinity—allowing us to come into full communion with Him, participating in His divine life through grace.

The liturgy is also the key to evangelization.

It conforms us into an image of Christ, giving thanks to the Father. This new home base for the missionaries provided the opportunity for the liturgy to be celebrated and lived.

Robert Cardinal Sarah, in a talk delivered to the Fons et Culmen Liturgy Summit at St. Patrick’s Seminary in July 2025, said, “The heart of the Eucharist is the sacrifice offered by Christ to His Father with His whole being, which for us becomes the sacrifice of whole being.”

Through the liturgy, we participate in our telos, or final end, as human beings, entering into the trinitarian life, becoming, like Jesus, a continual offering to the Father in thanksgiving.

“Ontologically, the human worship of God consists in a deifying inclusion in trinitarian life to the extent that the Father sees the form of His Son in the worshiping human being,” said Cardinal Sarah.

The action within the liturgy then continues after the Mass ends, transforming the world around us.

“The deeper we, members of the Church, partake of the sacrifice of thanksgiving, the more our own life becomes Eucharistic, the more our attitude is that of Christ….Those transformed by the Eucharist…learn to see life with the mind of Christ, and understand that sincere thanksgiving is the only path to peace,” said the cardinal.

The self-sacrificial love and constant thanksgiving of the Father that we then embody in the Mass leads to service of others, acts of mercy, and a desire and effort to work toward peace and unity. The joy and zeal of those truly transformed into Christ attracts those who do not know Him and desire to live a life of freedom.

The Franciscan friars brought the liturgy with them in their evangelization of the New World converting souls through their own transformation into Christ. ■ JUNE 2026 | CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO

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Veteran’s groups, a local theatre production, descendants, and Holy Cross Cemetery joined forces to celebrate the contributions of the U.S. Army’s ‘Hello Girls’ to the Allied Powers victory in WWI.

U.S. Army’s ‘Hello Girls’ honored at Holy Cross

BY CHRISTINA GRAY Lead writer, Catholic San Francisco grayc@sfarch.org

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ore than 50 years after she died and was buried in an unmarked grave at Holy Cross Cemetery in Colma, Irma Rameline Armanet received a military headstone in a ceremony earlier this year. The event honored her service and that of other “Hello Girls” for their contributions to the allied powers victory in World War I. “What a privilege and pleasure it has been for our entire staff to be involved in telling the stories of The Hello Girls who are here at Holy Cross, and especially to be able to honor Irma Armanet with the placement of a veterans headstone,

which is long overdue,” Monica Williams, director of cemeteries, said in her introductions on Feb. 7.

The crowd included descendants of some of the eight Hello Girls buried at Holy Cross as well as cast members of a local musical production about the bilingual telephone operators who served in the United States Army Signal Corp during World War I. They became colloquially known as The Hello Girls.

COULD SERVE BUT NOT VOTE Two hundred and twenty-three women served as critically needed bilingual telephone operators during World War I at the request of General John J. Pershing.

The U.S. military needed skilled operators fluent in English and French to improve communications between the leaders of American and French armies. The elite corps of operators supported combat operations in France, JUNE 2026 | CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO

Holy Cross Cemetery’s Hello Girls IRMA RAMEKIN ARMANET (1892-1975) Armanet was born in France and moved to the United States in 1912. She was selected in 1918 among thousands of applicants to join the Fourth Group of Signal Corp telephone operators for the U.S. Army.

She would serve in the American Expeditionary Forces until 1919 after which she returned to San Francisco, became a U.S. citizen and started a successful business here.

Other Hello Girls veterans buried at Holy Cross include:

Jeanne Bouchet (1894-1970) Martha Mary Carroul (1896-1965) Jeanne Catherine Victoire Legallet (1896-1984) Marguerite “Rita” Mahoney (1877-1969) Margaret Genevieve Olker (1891-1985) Lawrence Helen Pechin (1887-1934) Marie Louise Catherine Ruffe (1892-1975)

connecting more than 26 million calls between 1917 and 1919 as part of the Signal Corps Telephone Operator Unit.

The young women volunteered to serve their country even before they had the right to vote.

Despite consequential responsibilities, serving under commissioned officers, wearing dog tags, rank insignia, uniforms, swearing the Army oath, and being subject to courts-martial, The Hello Girls were told after the war ended that they had served as “civilian contractors,” not soldiers.

LONG JOURNEY FOR RECOGNITION Surviving unit members petitioned Congress for the same recognition afforded to their male colleagues and female Army nurses for nearly 60 years, according to The Hello Girls Military Honors and Remembrance Project.

It was not until 2024 after The Hello Girls had been lost to decades of oblivion, that the women received the Congressional Medal of Honor. The Hello Girls were recognized as full military veterans in 1977.

Director of Cemeteries Monica Williams told Catholic San Francisco that the cemetery became a collaborative partner in honoring The Hello Girls buried at Holy Cross.

The Holy Cross partnership included a descendent of › CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | JUNE 2026

39

Photo by Maeve Smith

The director and cast of a concurrent Marin County musical about the Hello Girls attended the Holy Cross service.

one of The Hello Girls, The Hello Girls Military Honors and Remembrance Project, the Doughboy Foundation, and Maeve Smith, director of a local musical production of The Hello Girls.

The granddaughter of Chief Operator Grace Banker had ambitions to visit as many of the servicewomen’s gravesites as she could find, according to Williams. She discovered that while Irma had been buried at Holy Cross, her grave was unmarked for reasons unknown. She contacted the Veteran’s Administration which arranged for a military headstone to be made and shipped to Colma for the honors.

Two years earlier, Maeve Smith’s first production of The Hello Girls was playing in the town of Sonoma.

She discovered that veteran Hello Girl, Juliette Courtial Smith, had also been buried without a marker at the town’s St. Francis Solano Cemetery. She petitioned the American Legion to have a marker made for her.

Smith had another run of The Hello Girls in March at The Ross Valley Players, a theater group in Kentfield.

Holy Cross timed the ceremony to coincide with it. Some of the cast traveled to the cemetery for the ceremony and even sang for it.

Father Tom Martin, then-pastor of St. Pius Parish, blessed Armanet’s headstone. Williams accepted the folded American flag on her behalf.

Armanet did not marry or have children. “We stand in for her family now,” Williams said. ■

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Archbishop Cordileone ordains three men to the transitional diaconate

BY MARY POWERS Assistant director of communications and media relations. Office of Communications, Archdiocese of San Francisco

On May 9, the Archdiocese of San Francisco joyfully welcomed three new transitional deacons: Dereck Delgado, Camreon Song Sellers, and Jimmy Velasco. They were ordained at St. Patrick’s Seminary by Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone.

Though they come from diverse backgrounds, each of these men shares a common desire: to serve the people of the archdiocese.

Deacon Delgado, originally from Guam, has been studying as a seminarian for the Archdiocese of San Francisco since 2020. Reflecting on his ordination, he said, “This ordination is about being configured to Christ in a special way as a servant.

Knowing that, I am deeply moved that in anticipation of the highest calling to the priesthood, I must first begin in the lowliest place in the same way as our Lord. I look forward

Photo by Ramón Camacho, Archdiocese of Portland

Transitional deacons with Archbishop Cordileone from left to right: Camreon Song Sellers, Jimmy Velasco, and Dereck Delgado.

to mirroring His own heart in love and service for the Church!”

Deacon Sellers, a U.S. Army veteran, converted to Catholicism and discerned a call to a different kind of service—that of the priesthood. When asked why he chose the Archdiocese of San Francisco, he responded, “This is where the battle is. I want to help heal and save souls in the Bay Area!”

A San Francisco native, Deacon Velasco grew up at Epiphany Parish and attended Archbishop Riordan

High School. “It is very exciting after so many years of study and formation to reach this point of ordination,” he said. “It is truly an honor and a blessing to make it to this stage.”

Before their priestly ordination in December, each will serve in a parish within the archdiocese: Deacon Delgado at St. Catherine of Siena Catholic Church in Burlingame; Deacon Sellers at the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption in San Francisco; and Deacon Velasco at St. Patrick Catholic Church in Larkspur.

Father Tom Martin installed as pastor of the Noe Valley cluster The spiritual, social and cultural heart of Noe Valley in San Francisco is the three-parish cluster of Saint Paul, Saint Philip the Apostle, and Saint James. The centerpiece of the cluster, St. Paul, is an iconic church with breathtaking English Gothic Revival architecture where on Sunday, March 22, the Most Reverend Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone celebrated a Mass of Installation for Father Tom Martin as the second

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pastor of the Noe Valley Cluster.

Concelebrating with Archbishop Cordileone was the Most Reverend Michael J. Barber, S.J., Bishop of Oakland, along with several other priests of the Archdiocese of San Francisco. The Rite of Installation for Father Martin included a reading of the archbishop’s appointment letter by the Very Reverend Patrick J. Summerhays, Vicar General and Moderator of the Curia.

At the conclusion of his homily, Archbishop Cordileone directed a special message to Fr. Tom Martin.

“I am grateful to Father Tom for his generous pastoral care of God’s people,” said the archbishop. “He has a spirit of service that is always ready to serve. He is a key collaborator in the archdiocese, and I never cease to be amazed by his capacity for work— in the kitchen as well as in the office and in church!”

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N EWS BRI E FS: GLOBAL

Archbishop Cordileone meets with Pope Leo XIV

Photo by © Vatican Media

Pope Leo XIV Issues First Encyclical on AI and Human Dignity Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical, “Magnifica Humanitas,” was published May 25. The document addresses artificial intelligence and the protection of human dignity. The Holy Father signed the encyclical May 15, the 135th anniversary of Rerum Novarum, Pope Leo XIII’s 1891 encyclical on labor and capital written during the Industrial Revolution, which laid the foundation for Catholic social teaching.

Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical was publicly released at a press conference May 25, which included remarks from the pope. The release also included a panel discussion on AI featuring San Francisco-based Anthropic founder Christopher Olah; Anna Rowlands, a British theologian specializing in Catholic social teaching; and Léocadie Lushombo, a professor of theological ethics at the Jesuit School of Theology at Santa Clara University.

Read more: https://www.vatican.va/content/ leo-xiv/en/encyclicals/documents/20260515magnifica-humanitas.html

Eastern Catholic bishops issue “cry for peace and justice” as global conflicts rage

BY GINA CHRISTIAN

(OSV News) — The bishops of the Eastern Catholic Churches in the United States have issued “a cry for peace and justice,” as they are “anguished” by atrocities and suffering in the nations where their respective communities originated.

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Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone met with Pope Leo XIV in a private, 30-minute conversation at the Vatican on April 29, 2026. Their meeting occurred after the pope’s recent apostolic journey to Africa.

Several topics were raised by the archbishop including a proposal on artificial intelligence and background and vision for the Mass of the Americas, a Marian unity Mass. In the days leading up to the meeting, Archbishop Cordileone issued a statement praising the pope as a “credible and valuable voice for peace.”

The prelates — representing several of the 23 Eastern Catholic Churches that with the Latin Catholic Church comprise the universal Catholic Church, headed by the pope — assembled March 17-19 for their annual spring meeting.

Following a longstanding custom, the gathering was hosted by Bishop A. Elias Zaidan of the St. Louis-based Maronite Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon of Los Angeles.

Amid the sessions, the bishops reflected on the current situation in their various ecclesial homelands, many of which are experiencing war and related violence.

In particular, Eastern Catholics in Ukraine and the Middle East have been in the crosshairs of conflict.

Russia’s war on Ukraine — which continues attacks launched in 2014, and which was accelerated by a 2022 full-scale invasion — has been assessed as a genocide in several joint reports from the New Lines Institute and the Raoul Wallenberg Center for Human Rights. Russian occupation officials have formally banned the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in at least one region, and occupied regions of Ukraine no longer have any priests.

Lebanon, the ancient home of Maronite Catholics, and several other Middle East nations have come under attack since the U.S.-Israel war on Iran was launched Feb. 28 and has been met with counterattacks.

Read more: https://www.osvnews.com/easterncatholic-bishops-issue-cry-for-peace-andjustice-as-global-conflicts-rage/ JUNE 2026 | CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO

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Iziah Singleton

CATHOLIC QUIZ ANSWERS SCAN THIS QR CODE FOR MORE CATHOLIC QUIZZES or visit http:// sfarch.org/catholic-quizzes 1. May a Catholic plan a weekend camping trip to a location where Mass attendance is impossible? a. Yes, provided he is not doing so for the purpose of avoiding Mass attendance.

Note: Canon 1245 of the Code of Canon Law indicates “a pastor can grant in individual cases a dispensation from the obligation” (to attend Mass), but the “New Commentary on the Code of Canon Law” states, “Those who find it impossible, or impossible without serious inconvenience, to attend Mass in individual instances are morally excused from the observance of the obligation and need not seek a dispensation” (p. 1445).

2. When traveling outside his local diocese to another diocese in which a holy day Mass obligation differs (i.e., in one diocese the holy day Mass obligation exists; in the other diocese the holy day Mass obligation is suppressed), a Catholic is bound by the particular law of… d. neither diocese. The Code of Canon Law states: “Travelers are not bound: 1. by the particular laws of their own territory as long as they are absent from it unless either the transgression of those laws causes harm in their own territory or the laws are personal; 2. by the laws of the territory in which they are present, with the exception of those laws which provide for public order, which determine the formalities of acts, or which regard immovable goods located in the territory.” (Can. 13.2) 3. When two Catholics get married, the wedding… d. must take place in a Catholic setting (e.g., in their Catholic parish church). The Code of Canon Law states: “A marriage between Catholics… is to be celebrated in a parish church. It can be celebrated in another church or oratory with the permission of the local ordinary or pastor.”

(Can. 1118.1) In this context, “another church or oratory” means a Catholic church or oratory.

Note: Can. 1118.2 states, “The local ordinary (i.e., the bishop) can permit a marriage to be celebrated in another suitable place.”

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4. The Catholic “form” of marriage requires how many witnesses (in addition to the presiding priest, deacon, etc.)? c. 2. The Code of Canon Law states: “Only those marriages are valid which are contracted before the local ordinary, pastor, or a priest or deacon delegated by either of them, who assist, and before two witnesses.”(Can. 1108.1).

5. A Catholic may validly marry a non-Christian (i.e., a nonbaptized person)… c. only with a dispensation (from his bishop or one with equivalent authority). The Code of Canon Law states: “A marriage between two persons, one of whom was baptized in the Catholic Church or received into it, and the other of whom is not baptized, is invalid.” (Can. 1086.1) “A person is not to be dispensed from this impediment unless the conditions mentioned in canons 1125 and 1126 have been fulfilled.” (Can. 1086.2)

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HELPLINES FOR CLERGY/CHURCH SEXUAL ABUSE VICTIMS

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(415) 614-5506 This number is answered by Rocio Rodriguez, LMFT, Archdiocesan Pastoral Outreach Coordinator. This is a secured line and is answered only

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(415) 614-5503 If you wish to speak to a non-archdiocesan employee please call this number.

This is also a secured line and is answered only by a victim survivor.

Contact PHILLIP MONARES 415.614.5644 monaresp@sfarch.org CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO | JUNE 2026

(800) 276-1562 Report sexual abuse by a bishop or a bishop’s interference in a sexual abuse investigation to a confidential third party. www.reportbishopabuse.org

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U PCOMING EVE NTS

SAVE THE DATES! Come out and join us SCAN TO SEE THE COMPREHENSIVE CALENDAR OF EVENTS or visit sfarch.org/events June 13: Adventures in Marriage Workshop St. Mark Catholic Church in Belmont will host the next Adventures in Marriage Workshop from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. This award-winning, skills-based, evidence-informed workshop has been offered to thousands of couples throughout the country.

Registration fee includes lunch, snacks, and all materials. Register at https://sfarch.org/event/ adventures-in-marriage-learnhow-to-be-married/.

June 18: Deliver Father’s Day cards to the San Francisco County jails Join the archdiocesan Restorative Justice Ministry in helping deliver 1,400 Father’s Day cards to incarcerated men in the San

ensure that no one is forgotten on this meaningful day. More information: https://sfarch.org/ event/deliver-fathers-day-cardsin-san-francisco-county-jails/

June 27: 250th anniversary of the first Mass at Misión San Francisco de Asís Join Mission Dolores for the 250th anniversary Mass in honor of the first Mass at the mission. The Mass will be at 11 a.m. and will include an opportunity to view the Misión San Francisco de Asís historical exhibit.

Francisco County jails, including youth at the San Francisco Juvenile Justice Center. Your presence helps

June 23: The Cristero Counterrevolution Join the Office of Human Life and Dignity for a talk on the Cristero War during Religious Freedom Week led by Father Javier Olivera Ravasi. More information: https:// sfarch.org/event/the-cristero-war/.

August 25: Sacred Voices Concert The Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption will host the Cardinal Bartolucci Foundation Choir including singers from Roman and Vatican choirs.

The concert will take place at 7 p.m. More information can be found at: https://www. eventbrite.com/e/sacredvoices-concert-with-romanand-vatican-singers-tickets1985915412458?aff=oddtdtcreator

Celebrating Fidelity Month!

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