PEACEMAKERS: St. James School celebrates peace Mass
PAGE 4
’24 HOURS FOR THE LORD’:
‘SIMPLE, NOT SILLY’:
Mission District church to open doors
PAGE 7 POPE’S LENTEN MESSAGE: PAGE 12
Children’s questions become book by pope
PAGE 16
CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO Newspaper of the Archdiocese of San Francisco
SERVING SAN FRANCISCO, MARIN & SAN MATEO COUNTIES
www.catholic-sf.org
FEBRUARY 4, 2016
$1.00 | VOL. 18 NO. 3
Revamped diaconate formation program led by Dominican priest VALERIE SCHMALZ CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO
(CNS PHOTO/PAUL HARING)
Pope concludes Year of Consecrated Life
Dominican Father Michael Sweeney brings an evangelizing spirit and academic credentials to his new role as director of the Archdiocese of San Francisco’s revamped diaconate formation program. The preparation to be ordained a deacon was altered beginning last fall and now includes more academic rigor, including five hours Dominican of biweekly Saturday courses at Father Michael St. Patrick Seminary & University Sweeney taught by seminary professors and another 2 ½ hours “to process it, focus it” each month at the archdiocesan pastoral center, Father Sweeney said. “Jesus shows us things we wouldn’t know SEE DIACONATE, PAGE 18
Pope Francis arrives at the Vatican Feb. 1 for an audience with religious, marking the end of the Year of Consecrated Life Feb. 2.
Most Holy Redeemer helps bring ‘mobile hygiene’ to homeless CHRISTINA GRAY CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO
A hot shower can’t wash away their troubles, but the homeless men and women who took one inside a big blue bus at Most Holy Redeemer Parish on Jan. 28 told Catholic San Francisco it can help them feel human again. Being clean changes everything said a 24-yearold man named Ricky as he exited the pristine bus parked at the front doors of the Castro neighborhood church with wet hair and a weary smile. “Yeah, it’s a blessing,” he said. “It helps my confidence,” he said. The unemployed painter said it had been “a couple weeks” since his last shower. “That was the first time I relaxed in weeks,” said Ashley, a soft-spoken middle-aged woman who said she preferred not to give her last name or be photographed. She said she’d been homeless for about a year after the rent on her San Francisco apartment doubled. Her days now revolve around finding food, warmth and work.
Last fall, Most Holy Redeemer became a partner with a local nonprofit called Lava Mae (loosely translated to “wash me” in Spanish), whose founders transformed a fleet of decommissioned transit buses donated by the city into mobile showers and toilets for the city’s homeless. The parish is one of five regular host locations in San Francisco. Access to sanitation and water is a basic human right according to the United Nations and World Health Organization, but Lava Mae founders saw that huge numbers of people in one of the world’s most sophisticated cities lived without it. The inability to take care of one’s personal hygiene carries huge personal consequences including social isolation, unemployment and illness. Lava Mae knows that showers on wheels won’t solve homelessness or the reasons behind it, but they do fill a massive gap in available services. According to the Lava Mae website, San Francisco’s homeless population of 6,500, half of whom sleep on the streets, are underserved by the availability of SEE LAVA MAE, PAGE 3
Duggan’s Serra Catholic Family Mortuaries Duggan’s Serra Mortuary Driscoll’s Valencia Street Serra Mortuary Sullivan’s Funeral Home & Cremation
(PHOTO BY DENNIS CALLAHAN/CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO)
Most Holy Redeemer pastor Father Matthew Link, right, is pictured with a guest named Jimmy at the Lava Mae bus that parks in front of the church each Wednesday afternoon to offer “mobile hygiene” to the homeless.
650/756-4500 415/970-8801 415/621-4567
www.duggansserra.com
INDEX On the Street . . . . . . . . 4 National . . . . . . . . . . . . .8 World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Opinion . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Faith . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Calendar . . . . . . . . . . . 23