priests:
young adults:
war hero:
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Praying for deceased brethren at Holy Cross Cemetery
First-ever conference was success
Military chaplain’s sainthood cause presented
CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO Newspaper of the Archdiocese of San Francisco
Serving San Francisco, Marin & San Mateo Counties
www.catholic-sf.org
November 12, 2015
$1.00 | VOL. 17 NO. 29
‘Amazing’ Hispanic Day draws 1,000plus to St. Mary’s Cathedral Lorena Rojas and Valerie Schmalz Catholic San Francisco
Hundreds of people, including many children and teenagers, packed St. Mary’s Cathedral for a day devoted to issues critical to Latino Catholics: family, immigration and vocations. “It was amazing,” said Father Moises Agudo, pastor of St. Peter and St. Anthony-Immaculate Conception in the Mission District as well as archdiocesan vicar for Spanish-speaking. He estimated 1,500 people attended the Oct. 31 event. “After this day I can only say thank you, thank you to all who made possible this day.” This was the fifth Dia de la Hispanidad or Hispanic Day but the first all-day event, and it drew people from all 34 of the Archdiocese of San Francisco’s parishes with Spanish Masses, Father Agudo said. see hispanic day, page 9
(Photo by Lorena Rojas/Catholic San Francisco)
Little girls from Our Lady of the Pillar in Half Moon Bay performed a Mexican dance during Hispanic Day. They were among more than 300 children and teenagers who participated.
Military chaplains of the archdiocese: Accompanying those who serve in the U.S. military Valerie Schmalz Catholic San Francisco
Holy Angels pastor Father Alex Legaspi is one of five brothers, and service in the military is what each of them did – so joining up as a Marine Corps chaplain was a natural for him. His uncles fought in the Philippines in World War II. Three of them were in the Bataan Death March, one escaped and all three survived it. “For me it’s being close to the young people and making them understand that there is a God who will always protect them and who always is there to answer their prayers,” said Father Legaspi, a Navy commander, who loves “the esprit de corps.” With an estimated 40 percent of Marines and Navy military Catholic, the need and the respect for the priests is great, Father Legaspi said. He noted that even women Protestant chaplains get called “Padre.” “I would say Mass in the field for the Marines.
(Photo by Valerie Schmalz/Catholic San Francisco)
Father Alex Legaspi and Msgr. Edward McTaggart at the priests retirement luncheon Oct. 31 at St. Mary’s Cathedral. Father Legaspi credits Msgr. McTaggart’s advice for his military chaplaincy vocation. I would say, ‘The Lord be with you,’” said Father Legaspi, who was 11 years a Marine Corps chaplain
and is now in his 12th year as a Navy chaplain, and the response would be ‘And also with you, sir!’” A handful of priests in the archdiocese are or were military chaplains, serving the men and women in uniform who defend our country in a “vocation within a vocation.” In a series of Catholic San Francisco interviews timed to coincide with Veterans Day Nov. 11, the priests said military chaplains are uniquely situated to accompany the young adults who make up most of the armed forces. “We’re dealing with young people during a critical time in their lives,” said Msgr. Edward P. McTaggart, a retired U.S. Army colonel now living at Serra Clergy House in San Mateo. Msgr. C. Michael Padazinski thought enlisting as a second lieutenant with the Air Force in 1984 was a short-term commitment, a summer job to make money while he was in the seminary. Thirty-two years later, the tall priest with the silver brush cut see chaplains, page 13
Saint Brigid School
Welcomes prospective families to an open house tour!
Saturday, November 14 from 9am-10am
Weekly tours are also available Thursdays 8:30-9:30am 2250 Franklin Street, San Francisco, CA 94109 Call 415-673-4523 to schedule tour or visit
www.saintbrigidsf.org
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