CSF June 2023

(SIRACH 3:2)

The Lord sets a Father in honor over his children…

The Crisis of Fatherhood

BY ARCHBISHOP SALVATORE JOSEPH CORDILEONE

Many years ago – it must have been late 2008 or 2009, because it was in the wake of the “great recession” – I remember hearing a clinical psychologist share his reflections on the NPR “Morning Edition” program, “A Listener’s Perspective.” He was trying to give encouragement to any man who may have had their egos hurt because they were out of work, and their wives were now the main breadwinners in the family. He gave them assurance that what is most important is not that he be the one who brings home the most money, nor even that he be a superdad. He spoke of how the very presence of the father in the home makes such a great difference in the lives of his children. Even if he is not a great communicator, or even a great mentor, his simple presence makes all the difference.

The social consequences of the demise of fatherhood cannot be overestimated. For the past 50 years, one social science study after another has demonstrated this reality. We are experiencing so many crises today: homelessness, domestic abuse, drug addiction, mass shootings – the list goes on. We often hear community leaders speaking about getting to “the root of the problem,” but we don’t see them really wanting to get there. The problem is rebuilding fatherhood, which means rebuilding a healthy marriage culture. The studies show the point the clinical psychologist was talking about – the very presence of a father in the family makes all the difference.

In this month of June, then, as we celebrate Father’s Day and the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, we are focusing this issue of

Catholic San Francisco Magazine on the family, and specifically fatherhood. I am reminded of Pope Francis, who began his pontificate on March 19, 2013, on the feast of St. Joseph, our model for fatherhood.

In reflecting on St. Joseph, the Holy Father said in a 2022 interview with Vatican News that Joseph had an exceptional “ability to know how to listen to God speaking to his heart. Only someone who prays, who has an intense spiritual life, can have the capacity to know how to distinguish God’s voice in the midst of many other voices that dwell in us.”

In the same interview, Pope Francis said that “there is a great urgency, in this historical moment, for meaningful relationships that we could define as spiritual fatherhood.” He said many young people have “the inability to make big life decisions” and are “afraid to decide, to choose, to take a risk.”

It is abundantly clear that we are having trouble as a society raising boys to be good men. Many young men today are disconnected from their families and seduced by a culture that does not offer them a clear pathway to achieve a healthy masculine identity, one that is protective and productive. TV programs, video games, advertisements, movies and other venues are littered with examples that portray men as either powerful villains or immature imbeciles, but not as loving fathers.

The spiritual fatherhood that Pope Francis refers to is not just a metaphor. It is a process that all men must go through to rise above boyish temptations and become good men. To be good fathers requires first becoming spiritual fathers, which is much more meaningful than simply siring a child.

The image on the cover of this magazine is taken from a recent movie about St. Joseph titled “A Father’s Heart.” At the heart of honorable manhood is St. Joseph, who lived a life of sacrifice for the Holy Family. Like Joseph, men today are called to sacrifice lust to love, ambition to service, and strive to be the hero for the people in their lives. It also means serving and sacrificing in everyday ways, such as showing up for work, turning down a night with the boys to stay home with the family and turning off the video games.

Dr. Anthony Lilles, professor of spiritual theology at St. Patrick’s Seminary & University, reflects on page 8 about what it means to be a spiritual father. He opens a window into authentic fatherhood, allowing the reader to

rediscover that there is something very good about the world we live in when we recognize and protect the sacredness of family life.

On page 22, Father Cameron Faller, vocations director for the Archdiocese of San Francisco, shares wisdom from the wilderness when he draws spiritual insights from the secular TV series “Alone.” Ten men are sent out into the wilderness in British Columbia with limited supplies, and the audience gets to watch who can survive the longest. In describing how to survive in the wilderness, the contestant who ended up winning the competition said, “You can’t run against nature. You have to work with it, or it will run you over. Nature just is. You better understand what it is and get with the program or you will suffer.” In other words, we have a duty to recognize that we are created by God, the author of nature, and we have a responsibility to reverence and respect goodness as reflected in the laws of creation.

Let us take seriously the hard work we need to do to raise our boys to want to become good fathers who take on the responsibility to love and protect the most vulnerable. The ordinary way men make that spiritual transformation is through marriage. By committing to love a particular woman, to be faithful to her, to protect and provide, to care for the children they create (or adopt) together, boys become men worthy of the name. But when a marriage culture breaks down, even more heroism is required of a father to protect and provide for their children and their children’s mother. This means that in a society riven by family fragmentation, all of us men need to step up and become fathers to the fatherless.

As we turn to God to recognize the unfailing fatherly love we all need, let’s recommit to spiritual fatherhood within our families and in our communities. Let’s pledge to become the loving, protective fathers our world so desperately needs. ■

There is a great urgency, in this historical moment, for meaningful relationships that we could define as spiritual fatherhood.”

POPE FRANCIS

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Join

2023 Catholic Answers National Conference I BELIEVE IN GOD

SEPTEMBER 21-24

9th Annual Conference

Hyatt Regency La Jolla at Aventine featuring Scott Hahn

How well do you know the Catholic Faith?

The Ultimate Catholic Quiz by Catholic Answers’ founder, Karl Keating.

Excerpted with permission and available for purchase from

https://ignatius.com/the-ultimate-catholic-quiz-ucqp/

There 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 right, which may be “none of the above.” On average, most informed Catholics score 50%. How well did you do?

1. Who is the patron saint of altar servers?

a. Bruno Bettelheim

b. John Betjeman

c. John Berchmans

d. Loraine Boettner

e. none of the above

2. Hosts used for Communion

a. can be made of any kind of bread.

b. have to be shaped as small disks.

c. must be embossed with the letters IHS, which stand for “In His Service.”

d. may be made with additives such as sugar, salt, baking soda or honey.

e. none of the above

3. If the Holy Roman Empire were still in existence, who would be the Holy Roman Emperor today?

a. Pope Francis

b. the president of Italy

c. Archduke Karl of Austria

d. the heir to the German throne

e. none of the above

4. Human souls:

a. are composed of the lightest, most invisible material substance known to man.

b. are generated through the co-creative powers of their parents.

c. are emanations of the divine essence.

d. are recycled from people who have died.

e. none of the above

5. What sin can’t your spouse commit, even in theory?

a. Final impenitence

b. Fornication

c. Assassination

d. Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit

e. None of the above

Answer highlights can be found on page 48.

OPEN

Archbishop’s Circle members gather for annual Lenten retreat

BY ROD LINHARES Director

Members of the Archbishop’s Circle gathered on Saturday, March 25, for their annual Lenten Day of Reflection. Held at St. Mark Church in Belmont, the retreat helped deepen the attendees’ Lenten experience and provided the opportunity for socializing and fellowship.

The Archbishop’s Circle is comprised of people who donate funds to programs and initiatives identified by Archbishop Cordileone. These projects are generally outside the regular archdiocesan budget, so the Circle members’ support is especially critical.

The Circle currently consists of nearly 90 households (representing approximately 130 individuals) from throughout the Archdiocese and beyond. Circle members range in age from their 20s to more than 90 and come from a wide variety of backgrounds and professions, including law, technology, business and education. They meet a few times each year for retreats, social events and educational gatherings. “I travel more than 250 miles to attend the Archbishop’s Circle events for spiritual nourishment and to meet all the great people,” said Circle member Marcia Jervis.

At the March 25 retreat, Father Michael Mahoney, OFM Cap., pastor of Our Lady of Angels in Burlingame, and Father Cameron Faller, vocation director for the Archdiocese, offered thought-provoking reflections.

Archbishop Cordileone provided an update on several initiatives, and Father Nicholas Case, who is leading the Eucharistic Revival in our Archdiocese, and Peter Marlow,

the archdiocesan director of communications and media relations, highlighted the scope and significance of the revival. Attendees also learned more about the Restorative Justice ministry from its leader, Julio Escobar. Restorative Justice is one of the Circle’s areas of emphasis.

As Father Patrick Summerhays, vicar general and moderator of the Curia, notes, “The Circle projects are always a combination of ongoing efforts and new initiatives. Archbishop Cordileone is able to combine his long-term priorities and emphasize items that are more urgent at a particular time. Together, they advance the interests of the Archdiocese and evangelize within it. The Circle members’ support is instrumental in our ability to fund these vital endeavors.”

This year, the Circle has retained its ongoing focus on seminarians, marriage and family life, the Walk for Life and Rosary Rally, and it has added support for Restorative Justice, the Eucharistic Revival, a mental health ministry, the Life-Giving Wounds ministry (for adults with divorced parents) and several others.

Now in its sixth year, the Archbishop’s Circle has proven to be an excellent way to advance the priorities of Archbishop Cordileone, the Archdiocese and parishioners from throughout the Archdiocese to come together and make a difference. As Good Shepherd parishioners (Pacifica) Keith D’Souza and Leswin Dcunha stated, “We want to be part of having an impact on the Catholic Church in our community. We can do so through the Circle.” ■

To learn more about the Archbishop’s Circle, contact Rod Linhares at the Mission Advancement Office, (415) 614-5581 or linharesr@sfarch.org.

of Mission Advancement for the Archdiocese of San Francisco.

SPIRITUAL FATHERS Prophets in a technologized world

BY DR. ANTHONY LILLES

Ashield from the competitiveness of the world, a spiritual father sows seeds of hope, encourages forgiveness and teaches how to sacrifice in a way that only a father can do. He answers doubts and reproposes the faith when it is shaken. In this way, a spiritual father helps men and women answer the call of God and step into the greatness for which they are made. In a culture overtly hostile to the faith, such fathers gather islands of humanity and are needed more than ever.

In the midst of the crisis of fatherhood in the Church, a particular obstacle to Christian maturity is the unwillingness to be spiritually fathered. This is where a spiritual father is called to be a prophet today. God calls to awaken a sleepy Church, but an overly technologized ear does not recognize His voice. Many go back to sleep slightly annoyed that their faith has inconvenienced them somehow. Only after repeated instances do a few ask a priest what is going on. If the man is wise, he will instruct a soul to begin a conversation, “Speak, Lord, your servant listens.”

Scandalized souls do not understand why they should make the sacrifices that the faith of their fathers requires. No one has loved them enough to make the case that demands of the Catholic faith are compelling in the face of secular culture. Whereas spiritual fatherhood teaches obedience to God in the face of trials, a nice but heartless “follow the science” promises salvation from all kinds of hardships. We need only conform ourselves to this age. No inconvenient spiritual worship. No suffering a renewed mind. No need for God’s will. Such going with the crowd promises much, but an Antichrist creates a whole new threat.

Nudged onto this path (very few actually choose it), a fatherless soul worships the work of his hands, and we become what we worship

(even if it is AI). A law written into the heart of things, the more power we grasp over the periphery of our being, the less embodied our spirits. We gain autonomy at the expense of love, safety at the price of genuine encounters. Recent social upheaval shows us that those who pursue this morgana lose themselves in resentment and anxiety. Life becomes the pursuit of escapes or a blame game. Such fatherlessness ends in boorishness.

A spiritual father is a man convinced that Jesus Christ is the only real answer to the complexities and challenges of life. He sees only sons and daughters, not cogs in the wheel of progress. Knowing the greatness of their dignity, his heart is pierced by their plight. He is a prophet who defends the heart against commercial nudging and the truth against the lack of faith that undermines the Church. These men father souls to encounter the risen Lord in a way that answers the deep questions of the heart. They evoke an obedient love because they have learned obedience through what they have suffered for the truth.

To be fathered spiritually is to enter into the horizons of the obedient love of Christ. This is connecting with others beyond competitive exigencies, to reconnect with those who came before us and to rediscover that there is something very good about the world we live in. This obedient reconnection with the sacred happens through the Church when spiritual fathers open these doors in a manner that helps people find where they belong.

Hans Urs von Balthasar was a true spiritual father. He described Christendom shipwrecked in a storm of secularism. He understood that we need to find a new way forward because, regardless of what has happened to Christian society, the Christian faith goes on, nonetheless, unto the end of time. We must find a way to be Christian in these post-Christian times. In the technocracy of modern life, we need spirit-filled men who can teach us how to embody the obedience of Christ and find communion with each other even in the face of our contemporary loneliness.

How to survive the shipwreck and pass on the truth for the next generation? He describes forming an island of humanity huddled around a spiritual father, a priest, who respects the tradition. Prophetically, his words speak to the terrible alienation we have come to know in the Church after COVID. He does not see an obstacle but an opportunity in these circumstances. He suggests that ›

As a professor of spiritual theology at St. Patrick’s Seminary & University, Dr. Lilles has assisted in the formation of clergy and seminarians since 1994

Photo courtesy of Goya Producciones

our loneliness can become a participation in the loneliness of Christ on the cross. Such obedience, such hearing of the Word, is the fruit of spiritual fatherhood.

All the same, I wonder whether forming an island of humanity gets to the task of a spiritual father today? Believers have more of a sense of being caught behind enemy lines. It seems time for fathers to man up and engage the fray. We need a Gandalf to defend against not just a storm but from enemies who are bent on killing us. Spiritual fathers are called to courage because sons and daughters need courage more than ever.

Matt Feeney is on to something in “Little Platoons: A Defense of Family in a Competitive Age.” A father and husband pits himself against the world to protect the sacredness of family life. He means all those intimate conversations, shared stories, jokes, mirthful memories (and also a fair share of difficult ones too). All of this needs to be protected against all encroaching competitiveness of the outside world. For there are forces in our culture that do want to breach the walls and make absolute claims over those we love. His point is that – as did Viking warriors – the time has come to fight for hearth and home.

Fatherhood is about this specific battle. Protected in this way, a household becomes a home, an enclave from the wild world, a place of belonging, a safe place to remember who we are and why we are. In the family, we enjoy, build up and bear with one another in this short time that we have together. Against outside interests and social forces, even good natural fatherhood shelters this frail passing instance of Eden so that all that is tender and good in the heart might flourish.

What is true of the father of a family is true of a spiritual father in the Church. If the warmth of the family hearth feeds the heart with hope, the sincerity of our relationships in Church can also open up a future for those who share our faith. For the contemporary family, this is about being smart about how the culture attempts to nudge us and putting up good boundaries. In the Church, this means fathering souls in hope, reconciliation and sacrifice.

The Church is a place for the sacred: tender-hearted devotion, true spiritual friendship and a haven for hope. A spiritual father is the builder and defender of this sacred place in the world. In priestly ministry, this is accomplished primarily in the liturgy and sacraments of the Church. In spiritual direction, what liturgical worship makes known is brought to bear in the real-life circumstances of spiritual sons and daughters. While women can offer souls spiritual motherhood, only a man can father another soul in this way. For each baptized soul newly expresses the mystery of the whole Church as a son and daughter

of God, and to a spiritual father it belongs to accompany such sons and daughters and to defend them against every attitude that might threaten their flourishing.

Last fall, a movie called “Prophet” hit our theaters here in the Bay Area. The story of Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski, primate of Poland who formed a platoon for the Church against the heartless idealism of his day. In many ways, he was a spiritual father for St. John Paul II. Powerful scenes referring to actual historical events depicted his spiritual fatherhood through sowing seeds, reconciliation and sacrifice.

While serving as chaplain for the Polish Underground in Warsaw, the movie depicts Wyszynski looking out on the battlefield as a poor farmer throws seed on his field in the middle of a firefight. In the midst of explosions, the priest tries to stop the farmer, “Why are you sowing seed in the midst of a battle?” The farmer replies, “If I do not sow, our fields will be barren.”

The exchange speaks to hope. Fathers sow seeds now even in the midst of danger for the sake of what comes later. If we allow it, this glimmers with the selflessness of the generations that have come before us. As an image of spiritual fatherhood, it speaks to preaching the Gospel in season and out of season.

How does a spiritual father sow seeds? To impart a truth, a father must listen to the heart. Listening plants seeds even in situations that seem completely helpless. A spiritual father performs this task because he knows that current circumstances will not last forever. Instead, he prepares for what comes after the current crisis no matter the cost to himself. This is the work of the lowly, and spiritual fathers are lowly.

Photo courtesy of Goya Producciones

To celebrate the 1,000-year jubilee of Christianity in Poland, the movie shows Wyszynski preparing the Polish Church for consecration to Our Lady. As part of the preparation, he asked the faithful to forgive the Germans during the Nazi occupation. Those in political power were furious and accused the episcopacy of betraying the rest of the country. Rather than reacting defensively, the Cardinal quietly promoted processions to Our Lady of Czestochowa. Indeed, devotion to Mary opens up new possibilities of peace when all else seems lost. As a spiritual father, he pushed for reconciliation at the cost of the very people he served misunderstanding his intentions. In the end, he renewed the consecration of Poland in a way that inspired a new generation of leaders, including the future John Paul II. This is the work of a peacemaker, and spiritual fathers are peacemakers. When government soldiers killed protesting workers, the movie shows one more dimension of spiritual fatherhood. Officials attempted to blame Wyszynski for stirring up fanaticism. He refused to take responsibility for something that he did not do. Instead, through the Mass, he would join the suffering of the Polish workers to Christ’s work of atonement. He would do so not only for the redemption of Poland, but also for the salvation of the world. A spiritual father offers sacrifice for the sake of the persecuted and so sanctifies their sacrifices in prayer. Through these depictions of spiritual fatherhood, we see a mystery of lowliness, peacemaking and persecution, the mystery of the beatitudes. Sowing seeds in the midst of war, leading spiritual sons and daughters in reconciliation, a spiritual father also joins in Eucharistic sacrifice the trials, hardships and gross injustices of life and joins them to Christ on the cross. Only there do these sorrows make sense. There, death becomes one’s finest moment — the great offering of something beautiful for God, a work that transforms the world. Wyszynski, dying of cancer during the protests, offered God his life in exchange for the life of John Paul II who had just been shot.

At a time when many are refusing to be fathered, there are still spiritual fathers who sow seeds of hope, fight for forgiveness and enter into the work of atonement. Such men lead us out of the profane and into the sacred. They help a soul rise above mediocrity and into the greatness of its calling. Undaunted by the threat of technocracy, these men see what is at stake and they know that it is worth the risk. They fight for the hope of a new generation, for the tenderness of all that is most dear to our hearts, for the future of humanity, and for the glory of our heavenly homeland. This is why they invite us to dare respond to the voice of God, “Here I am Lord, I come to do your will.” ■

A saving grace

Photo by Christina Gray

Pat H., foreground, a longtime parishioner of Our Lady of Angels Parish in Burlingame, comes several times a week to the adult day program run by Catholic Charities in San Carlos. She is pictured with Carmen Santoni, program director.

Adults with dementia and their families in San Mateo County find Catholic Charities adult day program a blessing

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

Not long after Grace Sakoda’s 96-yearold father came to live with her family in their San Carlos home, she began to notice changes in his temperament and memory.

“He would complain that no one fed him,” said Sakoda, who admits to being confused and a little hurt. “I had just cooked him a full meal.” It was her husband who eventually recognized it might be late-onset dementia.

She had moved her Japanese-born father, Tsuyoshi, out of an assisted care facility in Southern California near her brother because “he just wasn’t thriving there.” It didn’t help that he had lost his hearing in the Korean War and only spoke Japanese.

“I was luckily working from home, and so was my husband, so we kind of took turns with him,” she said.

Still, caring for her father, working from home and raising teenagers was overwhelming.

A Veterans Administration social worker told Sakoda about an affordable adult day care program run by Catholic Charities of San Francisco. Located on a leafy residential street in San Carlos only a mile from her home, the licensed adult day facility provides a safe, therapeutic environment for adults with the cognitive impairments of Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias, strokes, Parkinson’s diseases or traumatic brain injuries.

“I fell in love with everybody there, the clients, the staff and the volunteers,” she said. “The moment they would see my father coming they would run out the door to greet him. It made him smile.”

On typical weekdays, she dropped him off at 9:30 a.m. and returned at 2 p.m. The schedule gave her a much-needed respite and her father a community outside the family home.

One volunteer who knew Japanese surprised her father by engaging him in his native tongue. “That was a real comfort to him,” said Sakoda. A year after her father’s death at 98, she and her two sons return regularly to the center, this time as volunteers.

Grace, a former auditor, helps with administrative work, including the production of the weekly activity schedule. Her eldest son plays the guitar for special event sing-alongs, and her youngest takes time out of his job as an emergency medical technician to lead once-aweek stretching exercises.

THE FAMILY IMPACT OF DEMENTIA

Dementia is an umbrella term for a variety of diseases and injuries that affect the brain, impairing one’s ability to remember, think or make decisions. Alzheimer’s disease is the most common type of dementia, which is the seventhleading cause of death and one of the major causes of disability and dependency in older ›

It really does take a village to raise our children, but it also takes a village to care for our elderly.”

PATTY CLEMENT, ASSOCIATE DEPUTY DIRECTOR, CATHOLIC CHARITIES OF SAN FRANCISCO

people worldwide, according to the World Health Organization.

Currently. more than 55 million people have dementia worldwide, and every year, there are nearly 10 million new cases.

A dementia diagnosis is life-changing news for any person. But it also particularly changes the physical, mental and often financial health of family caregivers, particularly women, to whom caregiving disproportionately falls. Hiring in-home caregivers is expensive — $45-$60 an hour in the Bay Area — as are local assisted living facilities, many of which cost more than $10,000 per month.

In a family with limited financial resources, caregiving often falls unfairly on the shoulders of one member who works 24/7, unpaid, to care for a family member, often on top of their regular job and/ or raising children.

More than 65 million people, or 29% of the U.S. population, provide care for family members, according to the National Alliance for Caregiving.

“It really does take a village to raise our children, but it also takes a village to care for our elderly,” said Patty Clement, associate deputy director for Catholic Charities of San Francisco and an aging and dementia expert.

Clement has worked for Catholic Charities of San Francisco for more than 30 years. She oversees its Aging Support Services, which includes the adult day care program in San Mateo County, and another in San Francisco, which has an Alzheimer’s Day Care Resources Center. Aging Services in San Francisco also include the OMI (Oceanview, Merced Heights, Ingleside) Senior Center, and Breaking Bread with Hope (formerly Handicapables), a monthly

Buena Vista Manor House

Grace Sakoda, left, was the primary caregiver for her father, Tsuyoshi, while also working full time and raising two teenagers. A social worker she turned to told her about the adult day program run by Catholic Charities in San Carlos.

Photo courtesy of Grace Sakoda

opportunity for disabled persons to share Mass, lunch and fellowship. Aging Case Management is offered in San Francisco County and will soon expand into San Mateo County.

Catholic Charities partners with city, county and state agencies to help make aging services possible in each of the archdiocese’s three counties. This currently includes the San Francisco Department of Disability and Aging Services, San Mateo County Health, Aging and Adult Services, and the support of local foundations, civic organizations and private donors.

“We are currently working on expansion of aging support services into Marin County,” said Dr. Ellen Hammerle, CEO of Catholic Charities of San Francisco.

Parishioners in all three counties of the Archdiocese of San Francisco were surveyed by Catholic Charities in 2021 to assess their top three social service needs, according to Jane Ferguson Flout, director of community and strategic partnerships. “Aging Support,” “Rental Assistance” and “Linkage and Referral” (being pointed to resources for help) were identified as the top three social service needs in that survey.

Having dealt with dementia both personally

and professionally, Clement is emotional when asked what message she wants to get across to local families trying to cope with a diagnosis of dementia.

“We want them to reach out and ask us for help. It’s OK to ask for help; you actually need to ask for help,” she said. “Nobody should have to make this journey alone. It’s too hard.”

DEMENTIA WITH DIGNITY

At its core, adult day centers are about helping clients age in place with dignity and preventing their premature placement into higher levels of care or assisted living facilities.

“We’re a smaller program by design,” said Clement. The smaller group size of no more than 25-28 clients means the staff can handle behaviors that come in later stages of dementia.

Carmen Santoni is the longtime program director for adult day care services in both San Mateo and San Francisco counties. She is a calm and comforting presence, and clients seem to bloom in her presence.

She is there well before the first clients arrive at 9:30 a.m., either dropped off by a family member or arriving by Redi-Wheels, the San Mateo County para-transit service. She’s there again when they depart by 3 p.m. Extended care is available for an additional hourly fee for working family members.

Each day is structured, but offers new activities that include light exercise and games, art projects, music, pet visits from the Peninsula Humane Society, intergenerational events with local schoolchildren and much more.

The full daily fee is roughly $100, with adjustments calculated ›

HELPLINES FOR CLERGY/CHURCH SEXUAL ABUSE VICTIMS

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

(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.

(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

individually on a sliding scale based on ability to pay, and a limited number of scholarships available at a reduced rate.

While the program is non-medical, Clement says staff members routinely apply their professional training and experience to observe physical, emotional or behavioral changes in participants that family may need to be aware of or may require immediate intervention.

SUPPORTING THE CAREGIVER AND THE COMMUNITY

Clement said Catholic Charities also provides community

education by showing the movie, “Too Soon To Forget,” to those interested in learning more about dementia.

“The goal is to show it to community groups and talk about it afterward,” she said. It was the impetus for Memory Cafe, a fun monthly social gathering at the Burlingame Parks and Recreation Center for clients with mild to moderate memory loss and their care partners.

Santoni also hosts and facilitates a Zoom caregiver support group in partnership with the Alzheimer’s Association. Here, family caregivers share feelings and experiences, coping mechanisms and relevant information with others while taking a break from their daily caregiving demands.

“Getting support so that you can still have a life of your own but know that your loved one is well taken care of is vital to family caregivers,” said Santoni. “That’s what we are here for.” ■

A client plays a game of horseshoes at the Catholic Charities adult day center in San Carlos.

Photo courtesy of Catholic Charities

Remembering Father Peter C. Yorke’s

‘large and loud’ defense of the faith and of immigrants

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

Nearly 100 years after his death, Irish-born Father Peter C. Yorke (1864-1925) is still remembered in the Archdiocese of San Francisco for his fierce and feisty defense of the Catholic faith, Irish patriotism and immigrant laborers.

“He was a very large and loud spokesman for the Catholic faith and the labor movement in San Francisco,” Vicar General Father Stephen Howell told Catholic San Francisco days ahead of an annual gravesite service held at Holy Cross Cemetery in Colma on April 2, Palm Sunday.

Father Yorke died on Palm Sunday, and the service has been held at Holy Cross Cemetery on Palm Sunday every year since then.

The Galway-born priest was an eloquent foe of antiimmigrant, anti-Catholic and anti-labor bigotry, said Father Howell, who as a student at the University of San Francisco wrote a paper on Father Yorke for a graduate seminar on California history. The priest was also a great supporter of Irish patriotism and of the Irish independence movement.

One of Father Howell’s instructors, Jesuit Father Joseph Brusher, had published a book in 1973 called “Consecrated Thunderbolt: The Life of Father Peter C. Yorke of San Francisco.” The moniker is an apt description of Father Yorke’s tireless, often confrontational zeal for the faith and his defense of local laborers oppressed for being Catholic foreigners.

Father Howell’s family roots are in San Francisco’s immigrantrich Mission District. His family parish, St. Anthony, a German-

An undated photo of Father Peter Yorke from the Archives of the Archdiocese of San Francisco.

national parish, was located not far from St. Peter Parish, the focal point of Father Yorke’s pastoral ministry to working-class Irish Catholics after the turn of the century. A block up Bernal Heights was Immaculate Conception Parish, an Italian national parish. All three served the working-class Catholic immigrant community.

“That was a time when there was still a fair amount of antiCatholic sentiment in our country,” said Father Howell.

According to Father Howell, Father Yorke battled the vestiges of the Know-Nothing Party, an anti-Catholic, anti-immigrant political movement of the mid-to late-1800s and its successor, the American Protective Association. Though these movements eventually died out as formal organizations, their influence was still seen in early 20th-century San Francisco, said Father Howell.

“One could still find help wanted signs that advised, ‘No Irish Need Apply,’” he said. “This was the same as saying No Catholics.”

MEMORIAL TO A ‘WARRIOR PRIEST’

When Father Yorke died in 1925, he was pastor of St. Peter Parish, where he also started thriving boys’ and girls’ high schools. The parish rectory was also the site of union meetings led by Father Yorke during one of the longest strikes in state history.

“It has been said that the funeral cortege for Father Yorke was arriving at the gates of Holy Cross Cemetery in Colma just as the last of the cortege was leaving St. Peter’s Church 10 miles away. There were that many people in the procession,” said Father Howell.

As Father Howell succinctly put it, “He was a priest of and for the people he served.”

According to Monica Williams, the director of cemeteries for the Archdiocese of San Francisco, the annual service is run under the auspices of the United Irish Societies and cosponsored by labor organizations, Carpenters Local Union 22 and United Here Local 2.

Officiants vary from year to year, she said, but it is nearly always a priest connected to the Irish community. Father Brendan McBride, liaison for the Irish community and head of the Irish Immigration Pastoral Center, led this year’s service.

According to Williams, in the years immediately after Father Yorke’s death, then-Irish President Eamon de Valera even traveled to Holy Cross for the memorial service.

This year, as in previous years, the Pearse and Connolly Fife and Drum Band and the San Francisco Irish Pipers Band play for a procession that typically includes the St. Patrick’s Day parade grand marshal and the Irish consul general. Occasionally, greatgreat-great-nieces and -nephews of Father Yorke are in attendance.

At the gravesite this year, a poem called “Warrior Priest,” ›

The Galway-born priest was an eloquent foe of anti-immigrant, anti-Catholic and anti-labor bigotry.”

VICAR GENERAL FATHER STEPHEN HOWELL

author unknown, was read, according to Williams, and a wreath placed on the tomb. A reception at Molloy’s, an Irish pub up the block from Holy Cross in Colma, followed.

A SHORT BIOGRAPHY

In his “Encyclopedia of California Catholic Heritage, 1769-1999,” Father Francis J. Weber describes the trajectory of Father Yorke’s 38-year priestly ministry and its lasting impact.

Peter Christopher Yorke was born in coastal Galway, Ireland. After completing his seminary formation in Baltimore, he was ordained for the Archdiocese of San Francisco in 1887. Archbishop Patrick W. Riordan soon recognized his potential and named him chancellor and editor of the archdiocesan newspaper, “The Monitor.”

Young Father Yorke took up his pen in defense of the Church against several anti-Catholic publications. His fiery conviction and skill as a writer made “The Monitor” the best known and most widely read Catholic weekly in America.

His editorial voice sounded a death-knell to the American Protective Association, an anti-Catholic, anti-immigrant secret society founded in 1887 as a successor in spirit and outlook to the pre-Civil War Know-Nothing Party.

However, said Father Howell, the Irish priest could also be bull-headed and abrasive. He often found himself at odds with Archbishop Riordan and was eventually removed as editor of the newspaper. Father Yorke started his own newspaper, “The Leader,” dedicated to the cause of labor and Irish independence, shortly thereafter.

Father Brusher, the biographer who dubbed Father Yorke a “consecrated thunderbolt,” surmised that despite very different leadership styles, there seemed to have been a mutual respect, even affection, between the two churchmen. “San Francisco was just too small for two such forceful personalities,” Father Brusher wrote.

CONTRIBUTIONS TO CATHOLIC WORKERS, EDUCATION

Archbishop Riordan assigned Father Yorke to St. Peter Church in 1903. His catechisms on Christian doctrine were already being used in much of the nation’s Catholic school system by that time. He eventually founded the National Catholic Educational Association.

With a parishioner base made up almost entirely of working-class immigrants, Father Yorke took up the cause of the Catholic worker. He challenged the local titans of industry with the teachings in Pope Leo XIII’s encyclical, “Rerum Novarum: The Rights and Duties of Capital and Labor,” written in 1891.

The St. Peter rectory served as a gathering place for strike leaders, and the priest took out full-page advertisements quoting Pope Leo in saying unions were the “most important means” by which workers could better their conditions.

In 1901, Father Yorke became an active union spokesman and leader in one of the longest strikes in state history at that point – the three-month-long City Front Federation Strike, representing 15,000 men from San Francisco’s waterfront and longshoremen unions. Today, his portrait still hangs in the Teamsters Union Hall in San Francisco.

Archbishop Edward J. Hanna eulogized Father Yorke at his funeral at St. Peter Church, April 8, 1925. He said, in part:

“He has imposed upon us a task that we must follow even unto the end. Like him, we must battle for the rights of Catholic men in this land to which we have consecrated our energy; like him, we must stand for the poor and the downtrodden; like him we must uphold the banner of Christian education, for in it, and in it alone, is our hope of salvation.” ■

A framed photo of Father Peter Yorke is seen at his burial site at Holy Cross Cemetery in Colma on April 2 during an annual memorial service.

Photo courtesy of Holy Cross Cemetery

Wisdom from the wilderness

BY FATHER CAMERON FALLER Director of Vocations for the Archdiocese of San Francisco

Afew months ago, my older brother recommended that I watch the TV series, “Alone,” on the History Channel. The premise of the first season of the series is rather simple. Ten men are sent out into the wilderness in British Columbia with a limited amount of supplies, and the audience gets to watch who can survive the longest. On the surface, watching the show might not seem like the best use of time, nor does there appear to be much religious, or spiritual, significance to the series, and yet I was often surprised and moved by the deep spiritual insights of the men in the series. In one episode, the eventual winner of season one, Alan Kay, had this to say in describing how to survive in the wilderness, “You can’t run against nature. You have to work with it or it will run you over. Nature just is…. You better understand what it is and get with the program or you will suffer.”

Surprisingly, a connection can actually be drawn here between Kay’s words and God’s command to our first parents in the Garden of Eden not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (cf. Gn 2:17). Upon first reading the creation story and this command, one might think that God is holding something back from humanity and authoritatively giving us some arbitrary commandment to follow. However, what this commandment of God is actually doing is protecting humanity from the harm

we can and will cause ourselves. Since we are limited creatures, we don’t have the “authority to determine what is good and evil.” This belongs to God the Creator alone. To be sure, “by using (our) reason and following (our) conscience we are able to discern what is good and what is evil, but (we) cannot make something good or evil. So, God’s command to our first parents implies that they have a duty to recognize they are creatures and have a duty to reverence and respect goodness as reflected in the laws of creation” (Navarre Bible Commentary). Or put in a similar way by Alan Kay, “You can’t run against nature. You have to work with it….(and) you better understand what it is.”

“Working against nature,” i.e., living against God’s design for creation and deciding for ourselves what is good and evil, is ultimately the essence of the first sin, and all future sin for that matter. As the late Pope Benedict XVI put it, “the heart of sin lies (in) human beings’ denial of their creatureliness, inasmuch as they refuse to accept the standard and the limitations that are implicit in it. They do not want to be creatures; do not want to be subject to a standard; do not want to be dependent.… Thus, human beings themselves want to be God.” This sinful tendency of humanity is as present and prominent now as it was at the dawn of human existence. We can see it clearly expressed in the words of the former Supreme

Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, when he declared in Casey v. Planned Parenthood, “at the heart of liberty is the right to define one’s own concept of existence, of meaning, of the universe, and of the mystery of human life.”

Unfortunately, this viewpoint, while popular and seemingly attractive, is not only the root of sin, but it is also the root of much of the pain and suffering we face in society today. Or, once again, as put by Alan Kay, “you better understand what [nature] is and get with the program or you will suffer.” When we go against God’s design of human nature in our individual actions or in the lifestyle we choose to live, we will bring suffering and pain upon ourselves and others. Now, this will not always occur immediately. At first, doing things our way and according to our design may bring an instant sense of pleasure or gratification, but in the long run, nature will always “bite back.”

This is precisely why the Church feels the need and must speak out boldly, albeit charitably and prudently, on contemporary hotbutton issues such as gender, human sexuality and marriage. People in our modern society are experiencing a great deal of suffering caused by a lack of desire to conform to natural law and God’s design for us. The Church consistently declares that certain culturally acceptable actions and lifestyles are in fact wrong, not simply because God or the Church arbitrarily

says they are wrong, but because their very actions and lifestyles are contrary to the Creator’s design for humanity and creation.

While the world condemns the Church as “out of touch,” “hateful” or “bigoted,” she speaks with a tender and motherly love on these controversial issues because of the consequences for the individual and society when we refuse to conform to God’s plan. This responsibility of the Church is also a task for each individual Christian. At times we must all be willing, with prudence and charity, to stand up for and share God’s teachings on these pertinent topics. To be sure, this will lead at times to criticism and rejection, but it is the essence of true love.

To love is not to tell people what they want to hear, or to always support the opinions of others, or to go silent because of the fear of possibly offending others. To truly love is to desire the good of the other, as St. Thomas Aquinas would say. Therefore, if we are going to follow Christ’s great commandment of love, it will require speaking on these difficult issues and helping people understand the truth, goodness and beauty of God’s plan for creation and their lives. The goal, as always, is not to impose our beliefs on others; it is to propose the truth and invite others to live this truth so that they can find the freedom (cf. Jn 8:32) and life (cf. Jn 10:10) desired for them by Christ. ■

YOUNG SPIRITS

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

The Redwood City native was hired in late 2022 as the new coordinator of youth and young adult ministry for the Archdiocese of San Francisco. Informed by his own circuitous faith journey, Gonzalo Alvarado is on a mission to galvanize the faith of young local Catholics from adolescence through early adulthood.

Alvarado is visiting parishes as he wraps his arms around his new job, offering a compelling tale of spiritual estrangement and reconciliation — his own.

“When you share about your own life and how God has worked miracles in it, I think that story is a way to reach youth and young adults,” he told Catholic San Francisco. You can talk all about God’s goodness and love, he said, and about how He sent His Son to die on the cross so that we could have eternal life. “But if they don’t hear something concrete from someone they can relate to, it might not get through,” he said.

Alvarado is responsible for organizing or facilitating confirmation retreats, catechetical events, speaker series, pilgrimages (such as to World Youth Day), mission trips, special liturgical opportunities, leadership training and more.

A priority, he said, is helping establish parish-based ministries for youth and young adults where none exist and reviving those that disappeared during the pandemic.

“Less than one-half of the parishes in the Archdiocese have active youth or young adult ministries,” said Alvarado. Many existing ministries went dormant in or after 2020, and some have “simply failed to come back.”

THE “NOW OF GOD”

In 2016, Pope Francis proposed a synod process to help the Church respond to the realities of young people in matters of faith, Church and vocational calling. A year after the 2018 Synod of Bishops, Pope Francis issued a post-synodal apostolic exhortation in which he called young Catholics the “now of God.”

“We cannot just say that young people are the future of the world. They are its present. Even now, they are helping to enrich it.” (“Christus Vivit,” 67)

For pastoral purposes, young Catholics fall into two separate demographic groups, according to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. “Youth” includes middle and high school students ages 13-18; “young adults” are

Photo by Christina Gray/Catholic San Francisco

Gonzalo Alvarado is the new youth and young adult ministry coordinator for the Archdiocese of San Francisco.

Gonzalo Alvarado understands youthful rebellion, anger, self-doubt, peer pressure and the misbegotten promises of secular culture

college students, singles, married couples and young parents ages 18-39.

The bishops have long recognized the value of youth and young adults as a means of “advancing the Gospel with every generation.”

“Young people inject a contagious energy into their societal and ecclesial communities and set hearts on fire,” the bishops collectively write at usccb.org. “The Church cannot ignore youth and young adults, for they are active witnesses to the love of Jesus Christ in the world.”

In two separate pastoral plans, “Renewing the Vision” issued in 1997, and “Sons and Daughters of the Light” issued in 1996, the bishops offer dioceses a general framework for ministry to youth and young adults.

For adolescents, the emphasis is on helping them see themselves as disciples of Christ, drawing them into Church participation and fostering personal and spiritual growth.

For young adults, ministry is aimed at maturation in one’s personal relationship with Jesus Christ, participation in the life of a local Catholic community, connection to the mission of the global Church, and development of faith-sustaining peer relationships.

DISILLUSIONMENT TO DISCERNMENT

As a boy, Alvarado, 50, was an altar server at St. Anthony of Padua Parish in Menlo Park, his family’s home parish. That ended in high school after he grew increasingly “attracted by the culture and what I thought it offered me.”

As a college student, he rejected the Church teachings he was raised with, and for all practical purposes, adopted peer beliefs on sex, abortion, marriage and more.

“I would still try to go to Mass every Sunday,” Alvarado said. But his life was a loop of sexual “hookups,” parties and porn that continued well into his 20s.

“I was thinking this would bring me happiness or that it would fulfill me,” he said. “But I was still empty.”

Alvarado said anger was another reason he strayed from the Church. He was angry at his violent, alcoholic father, but angrier at God for his family situation.

“At some point I decided I was going to be the god of my own life,” he said.

That’s pretty much what he did until the day a friend from St. Anthony’s invited him to a meeting of the parish’s Neocatechumenal Way. Founded in Spain in 1964, “The Way,” as it has been approved by the Holy See, is a “post-baptismal catechumenate at the service of the bishops.” St. Anthony is one of more than 20,000 parishes worldwide with a Neocatechumenal Way community.

“For some reason, I listened,” Alvarado said. “God lured me back with His love. I came back to the Church and turned away from the life I was living.” In time, he ›

World Youth Day 2023

Aug. 1-6, Lisbon, Portugal

Having attended the past five World Youth Day events with young people from his parish, Gonzalo Alvarado is a World Youth Day veteran. “I’m planning on going to this one too, God willing,” he said.

WYD 2023 will take place this summer from Aug. 1-6 in Lisbon, Portugal.

St. John Paul II instituted WYD in 1985 as a worldwide encounter of youth and young adults with the Pope. It takes place about every three years in a different host country.

The Archdiocese of San Francisco will not have a delegation of youth and young adults traveling to Portugal this year, said Alvarado. By the time he came on board at the end of last year, it was too late for a coordinated pilgrimage.

He’s connecting local young people interested in going to WYD to other organizations with space in their delegations.

For more information on World Youth Day visit Lisboa2023.org.

became the parish confirmation teacher and the young adult coordinator, and he continues to serve as its prolife coordinator. Alvarado’s reconcilation with God the Father helped him reconcile with his own father.

In 2021, after 20 years as a social worker for the County of San Mateo, Alvarado left a comfortable lifestyle to serve as a lay missionary.

The year he spent in service to a parish in Queens, New York, was in one way an opportunity for discernment. He had always wanted to get married, but it had not happened.

“I wanted to know what my vocation was,” said Alvarado. He abandoned his desires and listened for God’s voice.

“It gave me a true freedom that I’ve never had before,” he said. “It allowed me to be in this intimate relationship with Christ and trust Him more.”

With his year of service complete, he returned to the Bay Area but without confirmation of a vocation to the priesthood. Soon after, he was offered the job as youth and young adult coordinator.

Alvarado feels he has real hope he can offer young people at a time when suicide is an increasingly common solution to depression, isolation and anxiety.

“I firmly believe that most young people do not want to end their lives,” he said. They want to end their suffering, but they don’t know how. “Storms are going to come in life, but if you have Christ, you will not sink.” ■

SCAN TO SEE A VIDEO FROM POPE FRANCIS TO YOUNG PEOPLE AHEAD OF WORLD YOUTH DAY 2023 or visit https://qrfy.com/p/8QdB_bp9oc

Gonzalo Alvarado has been to World Youth Day five times and expects to attend WYD 2023 in Lisbon, Portugal in August 2023. Here, Alvarado, center, is pictured with two Brazilian friends at WYD in Krakow, Poland, in 2016.

BY SAM MERAW Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory, ‘25

Reflecting on Laudato Si’

Perspectives from Catholic school students on topics of faith

Without water, devastating effects can occur such as the death and decline of plants, animals, agriculture and humans. Not only is water a necessity but it is also a human right just like access to food and housing. Catholic social teachings teach members of the Church about the importance of loving your neighbor and caring for others while “Laudato Si’” preaches caring for the earth and creation. Both “Laudato Si” and Catholic social teachings can help people to better understand the importance of helping others, the earth and people in need, and how to do so.

In the video, “Americans Without Water,” the daily struggles of Americans lacking access to water are explained so that others can better understand their struggle. One woman named Hattie Avery talks about her struggle with the water shortage in West Virginia. She shares her frustrations, saying that her state and town are neglected even though they have done nothing wrong to deserve this treatment. When asked about why she thinks no lawmakers have helped her town, she pauses and says her town is the town that “time has forgotten” (3:17) and that “we (the town) don’t matter enough” (3:20).

Catholic social teachings teach to stand in solidarity with those who are struggling

and to care for God’s creation, whether that is people, animals, plants or other aspects of nature. Catholic social teachings also preach standing up for human rights. If governors or politicians were able to make laws that could help Hattie and so many others, Hattie as well as other Americans would feel at peace because they wouldn’t need to struggle and fight for the basic human right of clean water. Not only that, but politicians would be fulfilling the Catholic social teachings of protecting human rights and protecting God’s creation.

The “Laudato Si’” document focuses on how we as common people can care for the environment and God’s creation. Hattie and so many other Americans in battles for their human rights are not being taken care of or even listened to. In paragraph 14 of the “Laudato Si’” document by Pope Francis, he explains that all of us are capable of caring for creation. The document reads, “All of us can cooperate as instruments of God for the care of creation, each according to his or her own culture, experience, involvements and talents.” Standing in solidarity is an action that the common people could take as well. By standing in solidarity with Hattie, she could see that she has not been forgotten and her town does matter. Writing letters to lawmakers in West Virginia, voting for clean

water bills and speaking on the news are just a few actions that can be taken to stand up for Hattie and her community. Not only is 73-year-old Hattie struggling for clean water, but so are people with families to take care of.

Families in West Virginia are fighting for clean water as well. In Keystone, Tori Sato shares what her daily life looks like without water. She has a 2-year-old daughter, Iris, who needs water just as much as any other kid. Tori’s water goes out, often for weeks without any warning. It is a rarity that she has time to prepare for the taps turning off and a luxury to be able to shower with no hassle. Tori travels miles to nearby muddy streams to collect water for the week, often in cold weather or snow. Sometimes her water source is muddy or unreliable, but the most reliable source of water she has is a small trickle from a pipe near an abandoned mine.

Not only do Tori and Hattie collect water, but so do thousands of other Americans in West Virginia. At the roadside near a pipe of flowing water, citizens of Keystone were seen pulling over and gathering water for the week or month. On World Water Day in 2019, Pope Francis wrote a letter titled “Message of His Holiness Pope Francis on the Occasion of World Water Day 2019.” In paragraph 4, he says that leaving nobody behind means “being aware of the need to respond with concrete actions; not only with the maintenance or improvement of water facilities, but also by investing in the future, educating new generations in the use and care of water.” Right now, Hattie, Tori and so many others without access to water are being left behind in the dust. Clearly, action needs to be taken in order to not leave anyone behind or leave anyone out. Advancements in the government, support from communities and leaders taking action are essential to change.

Last but certainly not least is the perspective of a politician, Ed Evans. Ed, a delegate working in the state capital, expresses his worries about the water shortage as well as the policies failing to be made around water accessibility. Ed expresses his concerns for the locals but he explains that there is not much “political will” to change anything regarding the accessibility of water in West Virginia. He describes his ideas around the availability of water, saying that some money in the government needs to be set aside to implement safe and easily accessible water systems, but it is difficult to do so due to the lack of urgency in the state government.

Because changes are not taking place in the government, something clearly needs to be ›

Mercy High School

Marissa Abaya

Maya Allen

Ariel Alvarez

Sophia Avenido

Shelby Bongi

Raquel Calderon

Katherine Callagy

Sofia Carcamo

Claire Carrasco

Nicole Castagna

Zoe Chow

Carolina Cistaro

Sabrina Collaco

Allison Cook

Niamh Dawes

Janina Beatrice De Jesus

Eva Denten

Carina DeRanieri

Danielle Marie Donato

Sophia Dugoni

Sarah Eschen

Jaimee Fabula

Samantha Fahey

Madison Fetisoff

Hanako Fick

Ashling Filippi

Taylor Fox

Flora Gamba

Gracie Gavin

Marrien Gomez

Mia Antoinette Gonzalez

Mia Dolci Gregory

Jasmine Grogg

Priscilla Guerrero

Emma Hanson

Madison Hong

Kyra Howell

Fiona Jensen

Sophia Knapp

Ashlyn Ko

Kaitlyn Koenig

Dana Lai

Tristan Lamina Lee

Emma Landaverde

Olivia Langridge

Samantha Lynch

Charlotte Magoolaghan

Mikayla Massucco

Summer McGuire

Shreyaa Mehta

Sydney Meinerth

Nicole Meiswinkel

Ava Metkus

Karly Miller

Astrid Moorhead Clarke

Cecelia Murray

Maricarmen Napoles

Mikayla Oamil

Ana Carolina Oliveira

Reese Parker

Avery Pera

Kelly Philpott

Erika Piedra

Lillie Pierce

Natalie Quock

Kate Reeve

Sofia Reynolds

Amanda Reynoso

Rebecca Rocha

Hailey Rossi

Constance Rutherford

Kiley Sabins

Gurleen Samra

Isabella Sandino

Giselle Sandoval

Paloma Sangervasi

Maxine Schaffner

Avery Schnitt

Priya Sciacero

Olivia Sim

Esther Smith

Anna Snigorenko

Stephanie Soto Perez

Rachael Taillon

Brenna Taverna

Maria Tobar

Naomi Torres

Elise Trinidad

Rebeca Valdes

Lizbeth Vargas Rodales

Dara Vasquez

Dominique (Atlas) Velazquez

Sophia Villalobos

Claire Wagner

Sophie Wagner

changed. Whether you are 70, 50, 20 or even 10, there are a plethora of actions you can take to support those in West Virginia with a lack of access to water. First, if you are of voting age, support bills that promote clean drinking water for everyone. Second, if you can’t vote yet, you can write letters to Congress encouraging them to consider passing a bill so that people in West Virginia and elsewhere have access to clean water. Not only that, but you can start petitions with friends or family in your neighborhood, schools or work in order to support those in West Virginia and all over the world. Furthermore, you can also make a difference simply by taking showers that are shorter or turning off the tap when you’re brushing your teeth.

Little actions like this make a huge difference even if you can’t see the shift right away. For example, when I turn off the tap while I am brushing my teeth, I save about four cups of water every day, but that adds up. In a month, four cups will become 120 cups. In a year, 120 will become 1,440 cups of water. That’s about 90 gallons a year! If your family, neighborhood, friends or even town participates by making little changes like these, the effects can be monumental in the long run.

A pastoral statement by the California Catholic Conference, titled “God Calls Us All to Care for Our Common Home,” explains how humans also deserve to live without a struggle for basic necessities. The statement reads, “Human beings too are creatures of this world, enjoying a right

to life and happiness, and endowed with unique dignity.” Humans of all races, religions and levels of wealth deserve happiness, but it becomes so much harder to live happily when you feel like Hattie or Tori when their human rights are taken away. Nobody deserves to struggle for human rights, especially if they live in a society where they contribute and make the world a better place. Through the firsthand experiences and stories of people struggling without water, the “Laudato Si’” document and Catholic social teachings, people who are a part of the church as well as nonreligious communities are able to better understand the effects that occur when communities don’t have access to clean water. After listening to Ed, Hattie and Tori, others can use Catholic social teachings to better support them. They can stand in solidarity with them, care for creation and protect the human rights being threatened using Catholic social teachings. Not only do we need to stand up for those lacking access to water, but we also need to stand up for those facing a myriad of other social injustices. Spreading the message that we all need to stand up for those struggling, either using Catholic social teachings or other methods, ultimately makes the world a better place and helps others to lead happier and healthier lives. ■

Sam Meraw is the recipient of the 2023 high school grand prize in the Archdiocese of San Francisco's Laudato Si' Essay Contest.

Making a Home

BY CARRIE GRESS

We have lived in our home for 11 years. It’s nothing glamorous, but it has served us very well. Four of us moved in and three more have joined us since.

With each new arrival, rooms and furniture have been shuffled and rearranged to make space for everyone. There have been other changes here and there — an added 1,000 feet to accommodate our growing brood, a woodburning fireplace insert to take the edge off winter’s chill, a kitchen refresh, a renovated bathroom. Trees have been felled, raised beds constructed and piles of wood stacked.

Recently, the family who had lived in this home for many years approached us about visiting the house. The parents and their six adult children were making a pilgrimage of sorts from around the world to be together for a few days. Could they come see the house? Of course.

As the date of their arrival drew near, I noted the runny noses of a few of my children. They were just colds but in the age of COVID, I could hear the nervousness in the eldest

daughter’s voice as we confirmed the visit details. She told me they would cautiously enter the home one by one, peek around, and then make a swift departure. It sounded fine with me; whatever they wanted to do, I was happy to accommodate.

The day finally came, and they arrived with a beautiful bouquet of flowers. But suddenly, as they stood in the doorway, the script we had planned was tossed out the window. All eight (with one grandson in tow) were in the house and wandering about from place to place — each on their own journey of memories. Their faces were serious as they reconciled the rooms they had inhabited so many years ago with the new rooms we now inhabit, followed by surprise, joy and delight. There were questions about what had happened to this wall or the odd vent that had been a great place to hide tiny treasures. “The garage still smells exactly the same!” one sibling announced to another. Their visit lasted probably not much more than a half hour, but it was clear this visit would stay with them for decades to come.

Gress is a fellow at the Washingtonbased think tank Ethics and Public Policy Center and a scholarat the Institute for Human Ecology at Catholic University of America (CUA). She has a doctorate in philosophy from CUA and is the editor at the online women’s magazine Theology of Home.

Photo by Alexander Andrews on Unsplash

Surprisingly, I received thank you cards from all of them, which were sweet and poignant. Each letter, in its unique way, expressed how much the visit meant to the family members.

One paragraph from a son in the military who was living abroad was particularly touching. He had undoubtedly moved frequently, so the notion of a family home was clearly alive in his memory and came through loud and clear. He wrote: “What time wouldn’t permit that day to share was the flood of beautiful memories that flashed back — dinners spent together under the warm glow of candlelight that my mother insisted upon each Sunday meal. Most memories were tied to seasons. After blizzards, tall well-formed snowmen sat upon our front lawn and snow forts stood as citadels protecting us from a barrage of snowballs. The thrill of watching the daffodils press up like a miracle each spring next to the driveway. The endless games of touch football in the backyard with brothers in the fall and raking a seemingly unlimited supply of leaves each Saturday from October to November. Summer’s memories of catching fireflies and the scent of honeysuckle. I could fill pages but these are my precious moments all linked back to our home.”

As I read these lines, my eyes wet with tears, I marveled at how similar our lives were, although 20 years different in time: the endless leaves, the daffodils that greeted us as we first arrived at our new home that spring so long ago and have ever since, the snow forts and the cozy dinners together as a family. Memories, I realized, aren’t just a part of bricks and mortar, but are shaped by weather, the renderings of the earth, the lay of the land and meals shared. Our houses are part of a much bigger picture, animated by love, sacrifice, ritual and seasons that make up what it truly means to be home. ■

This article was first published in The Epoch Times.

Memories, I realized, aren’t just a part of bricks and mortar, but are shaped by weather, the renderings of the earth, the lay of the land and meals shared. Our houses are part of a much bigger picture, animated by love, sacrifice, ritual and seasons that make up what it truly means to be home.”

Sin and Suffering

This is the fourth in a series of seven meditations examining the Christian meaning of suffering according to the thought of Pope St. John Paul II in his 1984 apostolic letter “Salvifici Doloris.”

BY SIMONE RIZKALLAH Director of Program Growth at Endow Groups

Pope St. John Paul II continues his meditation on suffering by discussing one of the causes of suffering — evil in the form of personal sin. He writes: “The conscious and free violation of this good by man is not only a transgression of the law but at the same time an offense against the Creator, who is the first Lawgiver.”

The Catechism of the Catholic Church (quoting the great St. Augustine of Hippo and St. Thomas Aquinas in paragraph 1849) defines sin as “an offense against reason, truth and right conscience.” Therefore, despite what we often hear it is not human to sin. To sin is an act of inhumanity (this is why we refer to serial killers as “animals” because they are acting beneath the dignity of human nature). The original sin ushered in suffering in the first place and as inheritors of concupiscence

(“the aftereffect”), we cause suffering for ourselves and others when we commit sins. At the same time, this should not lead us to believe that every suffering we must bear is punishment for our own personal sins. This incomplete answer is the mistake Job’s friends make in trying to make sense out of their friend’s suffering.

In the generosity of His creating us with gifts beyond nature, God never intended evil and therefore he never intended us to suffer. However, this

is the place we find ourselves either due to the evil caused by the original sin or the personal sins of ourselves or our neighbors. What is so incredible about Jesus’ words recorded in Matthew 26:39, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt,” is that he first asks to be relieved of the suffering. We too should do everything in our power to avoid unreasonable and unnecessary suffering.

John Paul continues, “Christ goes toward his own suffering, aware of its saving power; he goes forward in obedience to the Father, but primarily he is united to the Father in this love with which he has loved the world and man in the world.” Ultimately, Christ’s salvific suffering and death gave us the gift of sanctifying grace and eternal life.

Sanctifying grace (given to us first at our Baptism and then maintained in all the sacraments) — without which we are unable to be in a supernatural relationship with God — is a participation in God’s divine life here and now as a foretaste of the complete union of eternity.

Although sin merited death, Christ’s suffering and ours in union with His means our bodies will not remain in death but will enjoy restoration and resurrection. The experience of perfection manifested in the resurrected body, as St. Thomas Aquinas illuminates, will be radiant (Mt 13:43), agile (1 Cor 15:43), subtle (1 Cor 15:44) and impassible (1 Cor 15:42). In other words, our bodies will have the qualities of clarity and the ability to move easily, will be perfected in form and be incapable of suffering! ■

Simone Rizkallah is the director of program growth at Endow Groups, a Catholic women’s apostolate that calls women together to study important documents of the Catholic Church. Endow exists to cultivate the intellectual life of women to unleash the power of the feminine genius in the world.

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HOW BASEBALL IMITATES THE SPIRITUAL LIFE

Keep sacrificing. Keep praying. And when you fall, pick yourself up and get back in the box.

BY JOHN CLARK

Clark is an onlinehomeschool course developer for Seton Home Study School, a speechwriter and the author of two books, “Who’s Got You?” and “How to Be a Superman Dad in a Kryptonite World, Even When You Can’t Afford A Decent Cape.” He has written hundreds of articles and blogs about Catholic family life and apologetics in such places as Magis Center, Seton Magazine and Catholic Digest. John and his wife Lisa have nine children and live in Florida.

It seems that when we truly love things, our heart struggles to find similarities between those things. Perhaps that is why I am often struck by how much baseball resembles the Catholic spiritual life. I thought about this again recently when I saw an interview that confirmed my perspective. The interview was with Sean Casey, a former first baseman for the Cincinnati Reds and my all-time favorite player. Casey was interviewed about his mental approach to hitting, and he mentioned four main points. It immediately struck me that these points are entirely relevant to the spiritual life.

1 PROCESS OVER RESULTS

Casey explains that when he was a rookie, he was intimidated facing the toughest pitchers in the game. But after struggling for his first few at-bats, he said to himself, “No more! If I’m going to stick around in the big leagues and I’m going to do well, I have to find

a way to hit those guys.” For Casey, that meant focusing on the process, not the results.

In the spiritual life, it is easy to become discouraged. But discouragement is often the result of focusing too much on the results. We’ve offered up our physical sufferings in a prayerful effort to convert an atheist friend, but he’s still an atheist. We’ve fought to overcome temptation, yet we fall into sin again — and wind up back in Confession, sorry for the same sins as the previous month. We’ve endeavored to forgive a brother 70 times seven, but thoughts of unforgiveness still tug at our souls. If we focus on the results, it just seems like a series of strikeouts.

But what if we focus on the process? The process of the person I’ve just described is that of a major-league Catholic. This is a man or woman who suffers for a friend for the sake of God, who repeatedly reconciles himself with the Father of Mercies and keeps trying to improve, and who battles against the

Sean Casey

dark powers of unforgiveness. That’s the process of a saint. The world might see a strikeout, but heaven knows better.

Focus on the process.

Keep sacrificing.

Keep praying.

Keep forgiving.

Keep reconciling.

Keep giving to the poor.

And when you fall, pick yourself up and get back in the box.

WATCH ONLY POSITIVE VIDEO OF YOURSELF

Catholics are often tempted to look back on their lives and hyperfocus on their sins — even though those sins have been confessed and forgiven by God. That’s not only a depressing and discouraging mistake; it is a lie. Hyperfocusing on past sins trains your mind to believe that this is who you are; but it is not. Those were the sins of an old man, but you have put on the “new man.” Stop replaying the life of an old man in your head.

Many players habitually watch videos of themselves striking out — that is, videos of what they did wrong. What did Casey (a lifetime .302 hitter) do instead? He watched videos of his hits. He repeatedly watched DVDs of his best at-bats — a steady diet of line drives. By the time he arrived at the ballpark for a game, he had tremendous confidence. He knew he was a good hitter. After all, he had just seen the evidence to prove it.

Years ago, I explained to my spiritual adviser that I felt like I had let God down in so many ways. Problem was, in baseball terms, I had been watching the video of an old man. My spiritual adviser gave me this advice that changed my life. He said: “At the end of the day, think of all the good you have done today, and think of all the good that God is calling you to do tomorrow.” Especially when you are discouraged, run the video of the great good you have done by God’s grace in your life. And when you arrive at the “ballpark,” be assured of this: the same man or woman who did those great goods can do more by God’s grace today and tomorrow.

YOU’RE HERE FOR A REASON

Casey points out that nobody is called up to the major leagues by accident. Someone saw how good ›

you were and believed in you. It’s vital for a baseball player to remember why he is there. The same is true for each one of us. We believe and profess that “God loves us,” but simply saying it that way can be too generic. To be more specific, God loves John Clark. Am I bragging? Absolutely! And you should be bragging about it, too. Fill in the blank and say the words out loud with your name. Remind yourself every day. Remind the world. You’re here to love God and to be loved by God — to follow and serve him and to share eternal and total happiness with him in heaven.

4 KEEP IT SIMPLE

Casey says that he kept a note card in the back pocket of his uniform. He says he read the card every time he arrived in the on-deck circle. It read: “See the Ball. Be Easy. Hammer it.”

Even great saints have temptations of the flesh, the world and the devil. It’s not easy to live a virtuous life in a vicious world. But the faith is not complex; it is simple. Casey had three things to read, but we can narrow it down to two: “Do good. Avoid evil.” When you are facing a challenge in life — when it’s time for you to go to bat against some pretty tough temptations or difficulties — think about those two simple things: Do good; avoid evil. Amid a chaotic world, maybe it’s time you and I wrote that simple advice on a card, put it in our pockets, and looked at it throughout the day.

Simply follow that advice, and you’ll be called up to real major leagues. ■

This blog originally appeared in the National Catholic Register.

At the end of the day, think of all the good you have done today, and think of all the good that God is calling you to do tomorrow.”

Blessed Carlo Acutis

Inspiring teenager knew Eucharist is the ‘highway to heaven’

Editor’s Note: The following excerpt on Blessed Carlo Acutis (1991-2006) is from “Inspired by the Eucharist” by Michael R. Heinlein from Our Sunday Visitor’s periodical supplement. This is one of many articles that will be published by Catholic San Francisco Magazine as part of the U.S. Catholic Church’s Eucharistic Revival (eucharisticrevival.org) that began on June 19, 2022, on the feast of Corpus Christi, and continues through Pentecost 2025.

The Italian teenager Blessed Carlo Acutis has captivated Catholics young and old in recent years, especially since his 2020 beatification. Although only 15 when he died of leukemia, Carlo was resolved to prioritize his life around the Eucharist. Each day found him attending Mass and spending time in prayer before the Eucharistic Lord. He believed, as he put it, “the Eucharist is my highway to heaven.” And he endeavored to share this reality with others, with a focus on Eucharistic miracles, through his virtual and online apostleship.

Born in London to wealthy Italian parents, Carlo returned to his family’s native Italy not long after his birth. Although his family was not very active in the practice of the faith, Carlo was fascinated by it. He found in his Polish babysitter a helpful guide to his growing interest in Catholicism. As a boy, Carlo’s recently deceased grandfather appeared to him in a dream asking for prayers on his behalf. After receiving his first Holy Communion at age 7, Carlo made it a point to spend time in contemplation before the tabernacle. Carlo’s guides in the spiritual life, among others, included St. Francis of Assisi, St.

Dominic Savio and St. Bernadette Soubirous. And he reflected their respective love for the poor, virtuous living and piety.

Although he might have been somewhat unusual in his youthful zeal for the faith, Carlo was also very much interested in things of his peers, such as his love for video games and films. He was by all accounts a “computer geek” who studied college textbooks on the subject as early as age 9. But Carlo recognized that his talents and interests in the field must be used for good. He set limits to his use of media for personal enjoyment. Carlo’s mother has said, “Carlo was the light answer to the dark side of the web. My son’s life can show how the Internet can be used for good – to spread good things.”

This meant Carlo was resolved to make use of his tech savviness for the good of others. From age 9, he was reading college texts on computer coding. He developed websites for his high school and nearby parishes. He also created a website that cataloged all the major Eucharistic miracles ever recorded.

Carlo’s generous spirit also could be seen in how he offered up his last suffering from

leukemia for others, telling doctors that he knew others were suffering more than he. He said, “I offer to the Lord the sufferings that I will have to undergo for the Pope and for the Church.” Although he wanted to make a pilgrimage to the sites of the Eucharistic miracles he helped others come to learn about, his declining health made it an impossibility. But having loved to make pilgrimages to Assisi, Carlo’s body made one last pilgrimage there for burial after his death on Oct. 12, 2006.

Many began calling for his canonization not long after his death. On the fourth anniversary of his death, Carlo’s mother delivered twin babies at age 44, and she believed Carlo was interceding for her. She also claimed Carlo appeared to her in a dream and informed his mother of his upcoming beatification and that he would be canonized soon thereafter. ›

Jesuit Institute for Family Life

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Is your marriage what you want it to be? Are you struggling to express your need for your spouse? Are your children suffering from lack of communication with your partner? Has your spouse left you emotionally? Have you tried to solve problems like these and found you could not do it alone? This need has given rise to the Jesuit Institute for Family Life; a staff of competently prepared and professionally skilled marriage counselors who are Catholic in religious orientation perceiving marriage as a sacrament and whose training and interest is in dealing with the above questions and areas of growth in family living.

The Jesuit Institute for Family Life provides marriage counseling, individual and couples, family counseling, and group counseling for married couples as a means to meet the need within families to value the presence of individual family members and to improve the quality of intra-family relationships. To want to value one’s spouse and family members is often quite different from actually performing in a way that effectually expresses such value. We find that new skills are often needed and old obstacles to growth must be understood and worked through before effective human relating can be realized. When we do this we relate to Christ as He said, “In you give to these brothers and sisters of mine you give to Me.” (Matthew 25:40)

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*The mediation spots available include: Lourdes, Fatima, St. Joseph, St. Mother Teresa, St. Francis, Spiritual Works, Corporal Works, Adoration Chapel, and (coming @ September ‘23), a large (50’ x 12’) crucifixion scene by Timothy Schmaiz.

I’m happy to die, because I’ve lived my life without wasting even a minute of it doing things that wouldn’t have pleased God.”

CARLO ACUTIS

Just before his death at 15, Carlo said, “I’m happy to die, because I’ve lived my life without wasting even a minute of it doing things that wouldn’t have pleased God.” Although he died at a young age, Carlo’s personal holiness and discipleship left a lasting legacy. And his renown continues to grow. “To always be close to Jesus, that’s my life plan,” he was known to say. Now, through

CONGRATULATIONS

CLASS OF 2023

his witness, he inspires old and young alike to do the same. ■

SCAN TO VISIT CARLO’S WEBSITE FEATURING EUCHARISTIC MIRACLES OF THE WORLD or visit www. miracolieucaristici.org/en/liste/list.html

The entire Riordan community commends and admires your talents, skills, grit, and perseverance. We know you will go forth and do great things!

#WeR #CrusaderStrong

Sharing his passion for the Eucharist, Carlo created this impressive website featuring Eucharistic miracles from around the world.

Archbishop Cordileone visits Riordan and Junipero Serra high schools

On Wednesday, April 5, Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone visited Archbishop Riordan High School to celebrate Mass with more than 1,100 students, faculty, and staff. Father Gregory Heidenblut, chaplain at Riordan, and Father Michael Quinn, former chaplain, concelebrated the Mass. A reception was sponsored by the Campus Ministry Team following the liturgy, and the Archbishop visited an honors class.

Archbishop Cordileone also spent the day at Junipero Serra High School on May 1, where he blessed the new Stinson Center for Learning and Innovation, spoke with students, toured classrooms, and met with theology teachers and campus ministers. Students gathered to witness the blessing and were treated to light refreshments following prayer. Serra’s Men’s Choir sang at the end of the blessing.

The Archbishop also met with teachers from Serra’s theology department and Campus Ministry. He toured other parts of the campus with Serra chaplain Father Nicholas Case and President Barry Thornton. ■

Riordan campus ministry team serves Mass with Archbishop

Three Crusaders joined the liturgical team of Archbishop Cordileone in March when the Archbishop celebrated Mass at the Cathedral for the Archdiocesan High School Convocation. Bishop Daly of Spokane was the keynote speaker at convocation. He is currently the chair of the USCCB committee on education. ■

SCAN TO READ BISHOP DALY’S MESSAGE AT CONVOCATION or visit www.sfarch.org/catholic-sf/

Archdiocese of San Francisco to welcome hundreds of faithful to Cathedral for Eucharistic Congress

Editors Note: Due to the publishing schedule, the printing of the June magazine took place just as the June 10 Eucharistic Congress was scheduled. Go to www.sfarch.org/catholic-sf/ to read about the event! ■

Pictured are seminarian alumnus Jimmy Velasco ‘17, Jameson Datoc ‘23 and Zachary Reburiano ‘24.

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a Nazi prison camp

20 A sacrament is an outward ___

21 The root of all evils is the love of this

23 NT epistle

24 Forty ___

26 Liturgical season

27 Biblical tooth action?

30 She appeared in “Where the Boys Are” before becoming a nun

32 One of the Magi

34 Diocese in British Columbia

37 “Blessed are ___ among women”

38 ____ presence

39 Religious ceremonies

40 Sinai is one

DOWN

1 Christmas stocking disappointment

2 OT book that precedes Ruth

11 The Feast of Lots is also called this

12 “He has shown might with his ___…” (Magnificat)

14 The Archdiocese of Niamey is found in this African country

16 Letter by which a priest is released from one diocese and accepted into another

18 Church instrument, sometimes

19 Church sounders

20 One of the seven deadly sins

22 Alpha and ___

25 In Job, it says he roamed and patrolled the earth

27 Actor and convert Cooper

28 Month of the Feast of the Assumption

29 This belongs to your parents, according to the Commandments

ACROSS

3 Crucifix

6 Thomas Merton’s university

8 Mary, ___-Virgin

9 “___ Great Thou Art”

11 Frogs or locust

www.wordgamesforcatholics.com

13 Chant, as a monk

15 Priscilla and Aquila left here because the Jews were ordered out

17 Saintly priest who offered his life for another’s in

3 Catholic author of How the Irish Saved Civilization

4 Noon prayer time

5 “Light from light, ___ God from…”

7 “Let us ___ bread together on our knees”

10 Leah, to Jacob

31 Jesus entered Jerusalem this type of animal

32 ___ of Ars, title by which the patron saint of priests is known

33 Deborah sat under this tree

35 Grandmother of Timothy

36 Biblical measure

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Bishop Patrick Joseph McGrath (1945 - 2023)

The Archdiocese of San Francisco mourns the loss of Bishop Patrick Joseph McGrath. A native of Dublin, Bishop McGrath was ordained in 1970 in Waterford, Ireland, to serve in the Archdiocese of San Francisco. Bishop McGrath served at St. Anne of the Sunset Church and as rector and pastor of St. Mary of the Assumption Cathedral. He also served in the Archdiocesan Tribunal Office, as Moderator of the Curia and Vicar for Clergy.

He was consecrated a bishop by Archbishop John Quinn and served as auxiliary bishop of San Francisco from 1989 until 1999.

In June 1998, Pope St. John Paul II appointed Bishop McGrath to be the second bishop of the Diocese of San Jose. ■

Father Kieran McCormick (1938 - 2023)

Father Kieran James McCormick died on May 4, after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease.

Father McCormick was born in Great Falls, Montana, on June 17, 1938. He was one of three children and raised in San Mateo in St. Matthew’s Catholic parish.

Father McCormick entered St. Patrick’s Seminary School in Menlo Park at the age of 14 and was ordained a priest in 1964. He first served at St. Thomas More in San Francisco, then in various parishes in the San Francisco diocese including St. Monica, St. Gabriel, Holy Angels, St. James, St. Timothy and St. Charles.

Father McCormick selflessly served people with compassion

‘Capuchin Family Kitchen’ food truck comes to San Francisco

The “Capuchin Family Kitchen” food truck made its debut on Palm Sunday weekend in San Francisco. Based in Los Angeles, the food truck visited the city to prepare for a version that will operate out of the National Shrine of St. Francis in North Beach. The April 1-2 tour helped to test and set the infrastructure for the new van, making a stop first at the National Shrine and then visiting Our Lady of Angels in Burlingame. The new van will help the friars distribute religious items as well as food, water and clothing. ■

SCAN TO LEARN MORE or visit www. sfarchdiocese. org/capuchinfamily-kitchen-food-truckcomes-to-san-francisco/

Archbishop leads Holy Hours for persecuted Catholics

and kindness, inspiring those around him to do the same. Known for his warmth, wit and down-to-earth nature, friends related that he was a “people’s priest.” ■

Archbishop Cordileone led two Holy Hours recently for Catholics facing religious persecution in Hong Kong and Nicaragua saying, “They need to know that we love them, support them, and that they have our prayers and devotion.” The Archbishop offered a Holy Hour for Hong Kong, especially for His Eminence Joseph Cardinal Zen and Jimmy Lai on Monday, April 3, at St. Anne of the Sunset Church. He was also scheduled to lead a Holy Hour for Nicaragua and Bishop Rolando Alvarez on Friday, June 2, at St. Peter Church in San Francisco. ■

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June 11: Parish Year of the Eucharistic Revival Begins!

The second year of the National Eucharistic Revival began on June 11, the Solemnity of Corpus Christi. During this year, parishes will organize events and activities to deepen the appreciation of the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist.

JUNE 22-29: RELIGIOUS FREEDOM WEEK

June 22: Parental Rights and Religious Freedom Talk

Mark your calendars for a talk on parental rights and religious freedom with Lance Christensen, vice president, Education Policy &

COME OUT AND JOIN US!

Government Affairs at the California Policy Center and Ryan Mayer, director of the Office of Catholic Identity Formation & Assessment for the Archdiocese of San Francisco. The event will take place at Mater Dolorosa Catholic Church in South San Francisco at 6 p.m.

June 23: Vespers and Presentation on ‘The Maronite Church, the Heartbeat of the Christians in the Middle East: History and Importance’

Join us at 6 p.m. at St Dunstan Church in Millbrae for Vespers with Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone and Our Lady of Lebanon Maronite Community. Maronite Father

Armando Khoury will present on “The Maronite Church, the Heartbeat of the Christians in the Middle East: History and Importance.”

June 25: Launch of Jubilee Holy Door at St. Dominic’s Church

For the 150th anniversary of St. Dominic’s Church, the Vatican approved a plenary indulgence for those who visit St. Dominic’s beginning June 25. Learn more at: https://stdominics.org/.

July 28-29: Northern California Renewal Coalition Annual Catholic Charismatic Conference

The Northern California Renewal Coalition will hold its annual Catholic Charismatic Conference at the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption. The theme for the conference is “I am the living bread.” https://ncrcspirit.org/

Aug. 15: Solemnity of the Assumption Holy Day of Obligation

b. Answer b is correct. Fornication is a sexual sin that can be committed only by two unmarried people. If one or both are married (but not to each other, of course), the sin is adultery. Thus, neither you nor your spouse is capable of committing fornication. G. K. Chesterton’s fictional detective-priest, Father Brown, said that any man is capable of committing any crime. That may be true for crimes, but it isn’t true for sins.

5. What sin can’t your spouse commit, even in theory?

4. Human souls

c. The right answer is c. Archduke Karl of Austria (Karl von Habsburg) is the head of the House of Habsburg and is the grandson of the last emperor of the Austro-Hungarian Empire (also called Karl of Austria [1887—1922]). The latter man’s imperial ancestor Francis II was the last Holy Roman Emperor.

3. If the Holy Roman Empire were still in existence, who would be the Holy Roman Emperor today?

e. Answer e is correct.

2. Hosts used for Communion

b. Answer b is correct. The soul is infused into the body at the instant of conception. Since conception occurs through the action of the parents, it is proper to call their action cocreative, in the sense of “cooperating with creation”. The creation that they cooperate with is the instantaneous creation of the soul by God. Without their cooperation, He would not create the soul of their child.

c. Yes, John Berchmans (1599—1621) is the answer. He was born in Diest, Belgium, died in Rome at age twentytwo, and was canonized in 1888. He was a Jesuit scholastic. There is a surprising American connection. Mary Wilson was a novice at the Academy of the Sacred Heart in Grand Coteau, Louisiana. In 1866, a year after Berchmans was beatified, he appeared to her. Seriously ill, Wilson had been unable to consume anything but liquids for forty days. At Berchmans’ appearance she was immediately healed. This is the miracle that led to his canonization.

1. Who is the patron saint of altar servers?

ANSWERS TO How well do you know the Catholic Faith?

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