We vote our values at the ballot box and with our wallets. That includes caring for Creation and for people impacted by the environmental crisis we are now experiencing here in California.These values are driving us to hold automakers accountable in the fight to protect the health of our most vulnerable citizens and our economy against attacks on life-saving state and federal clean car standards.

I want to share the wonderful news about nine volunteer singers from our own parish choirs that are in New York this weekend performing as part of a larger choir of over 200 singers in a concert at Carnegie Hall on Monday, Feb. 18th at 7 pm.

As you know, five parishioners from St. Ignatius, five parishioners with Fr. Ray from St. Agnes, and I are engaged in a discernment process guided by Fr. George Murphy, S.J., former rector and current professor and spiritual director at the Jesuit School of Theology in Berkeley.

Last fall, our Director of Faith Formation, Mark Diamond, and our Coordinator of Worship, Maggie Warner, spent some time with our Confirmation students discussing the Eucharist: what it is, their understanding of it, how we worship together and why we do it the way we do, and much more.  

Thank you.  Thank you.  Thank you. Five times in the last year, either one of your fellow parishioners or I stood before you and asked for your support toward the 2018 Archdiocesan Annual Appeal (AAA).  

Merry Christmas!  A special welcome to those who are visiting our church and worship with us this holiday. We are glad you are with us and thank you for helping us celebrate the Nativity of the Lord.

The third Sunday of Advent is called Gaudete Sunday.  The Latin word, Gaudete, means literally, “You rejoice!”  It comes from the first word of the Entrance Antiphon for this Sunday. St. Paul, writing to the Philippians, names the cause of this imperative to rejoice—“The Lord is near.”

Read news article about how the Benedict XVI Institute for Sacred Music and Divine Worship inspired the choir at St. Ignatius on page 5 of the December 13, 2018 issue in SF Catholic HERE.

Earlier today, I had an at-once delightful and uncomfortable conversation with a parishioner who challenged me on my pastoral letter from last week: “I was unsettled by what you said.  Advent isn’t that hard.

Read the San Francisco Chronicle article on the vigil held at St. Ignatius Church last Sunday HERE.

This weekend we begin a new liturgical year, and we do so with Advent, a brief four-week season of preparation to enter into the mystery of the Incarnation, of Emmanuel, of God with us.  An important season, many of us find it challenging, if not impossible, to enter into its spirit.  Why is that?

We’re experiencing some more transition in our offices these months. Sr. Theresa Moser, RSCJ, has been our Parish Office Administrator for nearly five years. Though tasked with a number of odds and ends as well, her primary responsibilities have been working with couples as they prepare for their weddings at St. Ignatius, with new parents to arrange the baptisms of their newborns, and with families as they prepare funeral liturgies for their loved ones who have gone home to God.

In reflecting on the canonization of St. Óscar Romero, I had an opportunity to read the last homily he delivered in the moments before he was killed.¹  St. Óscar was an outspoken critic of the civil war in El Salvador and a champion of those who suffered in that conflict during his three years as Archbishop of San Salvador, until his murder in 1980.  

Last week we had our Parish Picnic–and it was a glorious day for our faith community.  Our special guests at Mass were the family of refugees that we and St. Agnes Parish are accompanying as they make their way through the legal system’s process for asylum in the U.S.  The mother thanked us for the difference we are making in their lives through our emotional and practical support.

We have a few new faces joining us this semester: Father Lourdu Mummadi, Father Vincent Pereppadan, and Deacon Alex Llanera, all of the Society of Jesus.

View a slide show of the September 23rd Town Hall presentation of the Parish Annual Report & Financial Presentation by clicking HERE.

This weekend our beloved former pastor, Fr. Charlie Gagan, S.J., joins us for the 9:30 am Mass and hospitality afterwards.  We celebrate his golden jubilee of ordination, which was June 1, 1968.

What follows is a prose version of the homily I gave this past weekend along with links to the various letters I referred to. These past days I have looked forward to being with you.  Not to lead you in prayer, but to be with you as a member of this faith community.

To read Deacon Eddy's homily from September 2, 2018, please click HERE.

September?! Already?! It’s hard to believe that summer is–for most of us, anyway–in the rear-view mirror. We have a busy month here at SIP and I’d like to get a few things on your calendar.