News - September 2026

For the past eight years I have worked with several organizations who use the arts to mitigate trauma in the veteran community. Since March 2020, I have offered over 250 free one-hour guided meditation sessions via Zoom, creating a secure space for people to share in community. I would now like to offer this practice to the St. Ignatius community. I was moved to create this series in response to the potential stress of the upcoming midterm elections and the trauma of seeing attacks on the lives and dignity of our immigrant siblings across the country. We are bearing witness to the daily suffering of strangers and in some cases, our friends and neighbors as they face injustice, intimidation and cruelty, resulting in our collective anxiety, depression, and hopelessness. Our collective nervous systems may be on high alert. In the guided meditation, we start with 'theatre as medicine” tools: grounding, breathing and observation without judgment. Next is a guided journey where imagination is stimulated, as it is one of the elements that goes offline when dealing with trauma. After returning the participants to the present moment, I offer a few minutes to jot down notes, and then anyone who wishes is invited to share their insights.

The Parish Finance Committee is pleased to share the approved budget for the 2026-2027 fiscal year. This year, we are reflecting on what it means to become ever more fully a Eucharistic People: a community that receives God's gifts with gratitude and, in turn, gives generously of ourselves to become a blessing to others. Our parish budget is one expression of that calling. We expect to invest $2.95 million in the mission and ministries of St. Ignatius Parish. These numbers represent much more than the cost of operating a church. They represent choices about the kind of parish we seek to become.

In joyous hope, on September 3, we celebrated the Feast of St. Phoebe. This was the start of St. Phoebe Fall, a time when we celebrate the renewal of discernment of opening our diaconate to women. Our new American pope, Pope Leo XIV, has encouraged us to reignite the discernment of women’s leadership and full participation in the Catholic Church. In a moving declaration of equal dignity of Catholic women he observed that “what the Holy Spirit started cannot be stopped”. It is my hope that the synodal discussion of opening the diaconate to women will continue, through all papacies, until women may begin serving Jesus Christ as diaconesses!

Perhaps the main difference between migrants and immigrants is that immigrants move—usually permanently—from one country to another. The other day I was enjoying latte and pastries, sitting in a coffee shop on 9th Street in San Francisco, run by people from Yemen. Sitting at the tables surrounding me were people from the neighborhood chatting with each other in what seemed like many different languages. That made me think about Rick's Cafe from the movie Casablanca. There were people from different backgrounds and situations just passing time with each other, enjoying each other's company, minding their own business. Many of the patrons in this cafe could have been immigrants to this country. Any of these people could be you or me. This scene brought to my mind immigrants of another time and era. I tho

A new frontispiece for the altar during Season of Creation! It has been my great privilege to create a frontispiece for the main altar in St. Ignatius Church to honor the Season of Creation, September 2026. This sacred space has been a part of my life since I was 13 when the interior was unpainted gray plaster and not yet adorned with the glorious stained glass and golden details.

This year, as an environmental activist, I’ve been thinking a lot about data centers. Data centers come up several times a week in discussions facilitated by some of the leading environmental groups, groups such as Food and Water Watch, Center for Biological Diversity, and Sierra Club. These groups tend to focus on the resource drain, in particular on water and energy, of hyperscale data centers.

This year, Yom Kippur is observed from sundown on Sunday, September 20, until nightfall on Monday, September 21. This holiest day of the Jewish year marks the final day of the Ten Days of Repentance on the Hebrew calendar date of 10 Tishrei 5787. Since childhood I have had what Ron Rollheiser called “the holy longing,” a longing for the infinite Grace of God that finite pleasures cannot satisfy. I’ve also long held the conviction that the world needed more fairness.

My family and I discovered St. Ignatius during the pandemic and have continued to drive in from deep in the East Bay. Our children, who are 7 and 13 years old, attend the religious education program through CFF. Our children are willing to drive all the way from the East Bay in part because they also feel the deep, authentic seeking of God in this community.

On September 5 and 6, we will join with congregations across the nation in lifting up and honoring the sacred link between work and human dignity through the initiative Labor in the Pulpit. This is an opportunity to educate ourselves about the issues that impact workers, especially those affected by unchecked technological change, and reflect on the true meaning of Labor Day. A guest speaker will join our Saturday Vigil and Sunday 8 am, 10 am, and 5 pm Masses to share a few words during our pulpit announcements on how to be in solidarity with workers.

As you know, I close my pastoral letters to you with the words Oremus pro invicem – “Let us pray for one another.” For me, it is more than a sign-off. Praying for one another is one of the ways we live our life together as a parish. Every week, people ask me, one of our associate pastors, or a member of our staff to pray for someone they love: a parent facing surgery, a child beginning college, a marriage going through a difficult time, someone who has died. Sometimes the request is simply, “Please pray for me.” It is a privilege to be entrusted with those prayers.