Mary:
Mission:
Advent:
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Guadalupana crusade marks 25th year
Novato parish outreach reaches thousands
‘No Santa stuff’ at parish Advent workshop
CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO Newspaper of the Archdiocese of San Francisco
www.catholic-sf.org
Serving San Francisco, Marin & San Mateo Counties
December 6, 2018
$1.00 | VOL. 20 NO. 24
Disaffiliation: Session explores church’s woe in handing on faith Nicholas Wolfram Smith Catholic San Francisco
To find Catholics who have left the church, start looking at the faces in the pews, according to a recent report. A 2018 study on young adults leaving the Catholic Church found people stopped identifying as Catholics at a median age of 13 years old, long before they ceased attending a parish. The report adds to the picture of a church that more people are leaving and that fewer ever want to return to. At a Nov. 29 symposium prior to the start of the Santa Clara Faith Formation Conference, researchers from St. Mary’s Press discussed the findings from their study. Titled “Going, Going, Gone: the Dynamics of Catholic Disaffiliation,” the report presented an in-depth look at stories of the men and women who left Catholicism. Robert J. McCarty, one of the study authors, told see disaffiliation, page 8
(Photo by Christina Gray/Catholic San Francisco)
Nativity’s gift to Paradise fire survivors
Jim Collins, right, and Greg Wright are pictured with a bounty of new backpacks that arrived Nov. 29 for fellow parishioners at St. Thomas More Parish in Paradise, where 640 of 800 community members lost their homes in the Camp Fire last month. The packs filled with toiletries, warm clothes and small luxuries were donated by Deacon Dominic Peloso and his wife Mary Ann Peloso of the Church of the Nativity in Menlo Park and included $9,000 in gift cards. The scene took place at the Newman Center in Chico, where initial recovery efforts for Paradise parishioners were organized. See Page 6 for more coverage.
Consolation ministers help the grieving navigate season of joy Christina Gray Catholic San Francisco
It is the most wonderful time of the year, as the iconic Christmas song tells it. But the season can be painfully less than merry if someone with whom you’ve shared a lifetime of Christmas joy has recently died. Trained consolation ministers offering holiday-focused grief support workshops, seminars and groups at parishes throughout the Archdiocese of San Francisco told Catholic San Francisco why the holiday season is so difficult for those mourning a loss and what they can do to manage and move through the grief process in the season of celebration. “The holidays are all about relationships,” said Mercy Sister Toni Lynn Gallagher, coordinator for the ministry of consolation for the archdiocese. “When you don’t have the opportunity to be with a person that you love, it changes the way you are, the way you ‘be’ in the holiday.” Sister Gallagher helps parishes in all three coun-
grief support Holiday grief support St. Dominic Parish, San Francisco: Holiday gathering for the grieving, Dec. 16, 3:30-5:30. RSVP Deacon Chuck McNeil, (415) 567-7824. St. Dominic: Eight-week grief support group begins Jan. 13. Deacon Chuck McNeil, (415) 567-7824. St. Gabriel Parish, San Francisco: Dec. 19. Sister Bernadette Hart, RSM, (415) 731-6161.
ties of the archdiocese respond to the grieving in their parish communities year-round by providing training, support and resources to staff and volunteers. She’s also a regular speaker on topics such as “The Upside of Loss” and more recently on “Death by Suicide.” During the Christmas season, she said, the five senses are activated. Sights, sounds, and smells connected to the memories of seasons past “remind you of the things you don’t have any more and the way you used to live in the world and the way you are living now.” The grieving typically don’t want to play and “make merry,” she said. Yet they can feel pressured to take part of the holiday social scene or to maintain traditions they have no energy for. Allow yourself to be in this “place of change,” advised Sister Gallagher, and the freedom to go through the holidays in a way that’s comfortable for you.
“Avenue of Flags”
Year-round parish grief support groups throughout the Archdiocese of San Francisco can be found at the ministry of consolation webpage at A personal way to honor your loved one’s patriotism to our country. sfarchdiocese.org/grief.
If you have received a flag honoring your loved one's military service and would like to it seedonate consolation, page 3 to the cemetery to be flown as part of an “Avenue of Flags" on Memorial Day, 4th of July and Veterans' Day, please contact our office for more details on our Flag Donation Program. This program is open to everyone. If you do not have a flag to donate, you may make a $125 contribution to the “Avenue of Flags” program to purchase a flag.
For an appointmentHoly - 650.756.2060 | www.holycrosscemteries.com | CA Cross Catholic Cemetery, 1500 Mission Road, Colma, 650-756-2060
A Tradition of Faith Throughout Our Lives.
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