Fr. Illo’s Parishioners Step Up

Supporters at Star of the Sea far outnumber opposition.
(An edited version of this story appeared in today's California Catholic Daily.)

On Thursday, March 26, the San Francisco Chronicle reported on a meeting at San Francisco’s Star of the Sea Parish. The meeting was between a group of parents and press and Star of the Sea's pastor, Fr. Joseph Illo, and parochial vicar, Fr. Patrick Driscoll. The article, titled “Parents ask S.F. Archdiocese to remove school’s leaders” began “In an emotional and at times angry meeting with representatives from the Archdiocese of San Francisco, more than 100 parents of Star of the Sea School children pleaded Wednesday night for the controversial leaders of their school’s church to be removed from their posts.” The brouhaha stemmed from Fr. Illo’s “boy’s only” policy for altar servers.

On March 29, Palm Sunday, parishioners at Star of the Sea responded. They overwhelmingly endorsed their pastor and parochial vicar. At all the Palm Sunday Masses, concerned parishioners collected signatures in support of Fr. Illo and Fr. Driscoll. Total signatories to the petition of support numbered nearly 500, which more than quadruples the number of the parents, press, and others who attended the March meeting, it far exceeds the total number of the parents of students at Star of the Sea. According to the school’s website, the student body consists of 233 children from 185 families, 42% of whom identify as Catholic. The signatures supporting Fr. Illo and Fr. Driscoll will be presented to Archbishop Cordileone this week. It is unlikely that the overwhelming show of support will make the pages of the Chronicle.

By quantifiable measures, Illo appears to be revitalizing the parish. He has certainly kept it in the news. Star of the Sea has not only met its Assessment for the 2015 Archbishop’s Annual Appeal in slightly over one week (something few, if any other parishes in the Archdiocese have done) it has exceeded the assessment. The Oratory of St. Philip Neri, which is hosted at the parish, has two seminarians studying for the priesthood—again, something few if any other parishes in the Archdiocese can say. The parish has been host to a number of parish missions with well-known priests. As CalCatholic reported, from March 1-3, Star of the Sea hosted noted Mariologist Msgr. Arthur Calkins for a three day parish mission. In June of 2014, the church hosted Father Paul Nicholson who has been “given the ecclesiastical office of Missionary Preacher” by his Bishop, Ronald Peter Fabbro CSB, of London, Ontario. Nicholson’s mission was on “The Eucharist: the Source and Summit of Catholic Life.” But as Fr. Illo has written, (see: ‘Sitting in an empty church’ CalCatholic, November 17, 2014) Catholicism in San Francisco’s Richmond District (and the city as a whole) seems to be dying. But that problem is not unique to Star of the Sea, it exits nationwide, and Illo, at least, faces the situation publicly.

Nor do the priests neglect the more homey side of the faith—what some people mean by the word ‘pastoral’. Fr. Illo has started a monthly parish barbecue open to all. The girls of the school are engaged in an ongoing project to collect toiletries for the elderly at the nearby St. Anne’s Home for the elderly, run by the Little Sisters of the Poor. On Palm Sunday, when the petition signature gatherers were waiting for Masses to end, they congregated in the school’s playground and parking lot, at tables hosted by the parish’s Legion of Mary. The tables are there each week, and the older ladies of the Legion provide coffee, donuts, and Chinese pork buns. After Masses ended Frs. Driscoll and Illo were in the parking lot, mingling with parishioners, and fulfilling requests. Fr. Driscoll went into the rectory and returned fully vested, carrying the aspergillum, to bless one family’s car and a lady parishioner’s dog.

Enemies of Archbishop Cordileone betray Bishop McElroy, fellow Priests

A week to the day before Holy Thursday, a priest or priests from the Archdiocese of San Francisco seems hellbent (we hope the term does not become literally true) on following Judas rather than Jesus.

Yesterday, the National Catholic Reporter published the confidential minutes of a "mid-February" meeting of the Council of Priests of the Archdiocese of San Francisco. The Reporter "obtained a copy of the minutes from an anonymous priest."

The priest who gave the minutes to the Reporter not only violated the confidentiality of his fellow priests at the meeting, but also that of Bishop Robert McElroy, who was there also.

The minutes appeared under the byline of the Reporter's Dan Morris-Young, who has authored a recent series of articles attacking the new policy of Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, which is designed to restore fidelity to the Catholic Church in the high schools of the Archdiocese.

The portions of the minutes the Reporter published dealt with Fr. Joseph Illo at Star of the Sea. One of the commenters to the story said:

"I've heard from several friends now about the parish where the pastor introduced the Archdiocesan Appeal a few weeks ago by noting that it's as likely to be successful 'as selling signed LA Dodgers photos to SF Giants fans.' Many people I know gave $1 to support our pastors' 'percentage contributing' targets, but no more."

Well, that certainly isn't Fr. Illo's parish. About a month into the Archbishop's (not 'Archdiocesan') Annual Appeal, Fr. Illo's parish has already exceeded their assessment, and a usually well-informed person told me they have exceeded it by about 25%.

Sacred Heart Chaplain Fr. Mark Doherty hits a Home Run on School Initiative Interview

KPCC Radio's Air Talk had a show on March 5 about the new Archdiocesan initiative to re-Catholicize the Archdiocesan High Schools. It's a must listen.

In the first minutes the host, Larry Mantle, interviewed Michael Vezzali, the Chairman of the English Department at Archbishop Riordan High School, who, opposes the Church's teaching. I don't think it's unfair to say he did not exactly make a great showing, but I invite you to listen.

He was followed (at about 6:16 into the interview) by Fr. Mark Doherty, the Chaplain of Sacred Heart Cathedral Prep, who absolutely hit it out of the park. Logical, educational, persuasive.

The final guest was Rick Garnett, Professor of Law and Political Science at the University of Notre Dame, specializing in freedom of speech, association, and religion, who was also excellent.

Archbishop Cordileone Evangelizes Editorial Board of SF Chronicle

Our great archbishop Cordileone continues the fight against what our Holy Father Pope Francis has called the 'new ideological colonization that tries to destroy the family.'

Last week, Archbishop Cordileone met with the editorial board of the San Francisco Chronicle, and discussed the new Archdiocesan school initiative. This is very important, not only because His Excellency does such a good job on the video, but because those reporters, who listened to the whole thing, are also part of the Archbishop's flock, and their souls are just as important to him as are yours and mine.

Supporting Archbishop Cordileone at tonight's anti-Catholic protest

Photo: Mike Koozmin, SF Examiner.
Thanks, Mike, but I'm praying in SUPPORT of the Archbishop
and real Catholic Education, not against him!

I went to the plaza in front of St. Mary's Cathedral tonight while the protest against Archbishop Cordileone's initiative to re-Catholicize Archdiocesan high schools was taking place. While the protesters posed for the cameras and encouraged passing motorists to honk their horns, I knelt on the hard stones for about 90 minutes praying the Rosary for our great Archbishop. You know Our Lady loves him!

One of the recent California Catholic Daily articles about the protests was headlined "Gays herd high schoolers to St. Mary's" and boy, were they being herded tonight. While I was praying someone with a megaphone announced (I don't claim this is verbatim--I was praying, not taking notes, but it is accurate) something like "the 6:00 news is here...we need signs for photos over here" and then, a little later "OK, now, we need signs over here."

Nothing's real with these guys--only how it looks. Counterfeit marriage, counterfeit "genders," deliberate misunderstanding of Pope Francis, counterfeits all the way down.

Anyway, I had a great time praying for His Excellency. The Good Lord knew what he was doing when he sent ABC to the city of St. Francis! What a blessing!