Changes in Assignment – There was a rumor out there that I was being transferred and that is not true. And neither is Fr. Mike. A pastor’s term is 6 years with the possibility of being renewed a 2nd term, making that a total of 12 years. An Associate Pastor, like Fr. Mike, in order to give them more experience in different parish settings and working with different communities and staff before becoming pastors themselves, is assigned usually a term of between 3-5 years. But the good news is, we are both staying and have not been asked to move. July 1 is usually when changes in priest assignments become effective, simply because it is a quieter time in the rhythm of the parish. The Associate Pastors in our neighboring parishes, St. Anne, St. Gabriel and Holy Name have been reassigned.
Closer to home, as you know, Sr. Rita has retired and it became effective June 30. Sr. Elizabeth Johnson of their community, who also lived in our convent and worked as a chaplain at Laguna Honda Hospital, is also being transferred. In their place, Sr. Herminia Cosico and Sr. Sharon Brannen have been assigned here. Sr. Herminia is from the Philippines. She is the first in her family to enter the convent. Afterwards, her two other sisters followed and entered the same religious community and a brother also became a priest. She studied nursing in England and returned to serve in the Philippines. In 1995, she studied at UCSF’s Hospital Chaplaincy program. Afterwards, she served at Holy Name parish. She will take over Sr. Rita’s responsibility and serve as the RCIA (Rite of
Christian Initiation of Adults) and Children’s baptism coordinator.
Sr. Sharon is a native of Boston. She entered the Canossian community in 1990. She has a degree in music, theology and Administration. She has been a missionary in Chihuahua, Mexico, and helped build a community center there. The missionary center there provides education for the youth, work for women and care for the sick. Although her responsibilities will not be here at the parish, she is currently interviewing for a position at one of our local universities, but she will nonetheless be part of our community.
Sr. Sharon is currently here in the summer, but along with Sr. Herminia, they will not be officially assigned here until September 1st. Their community in the U.S. gathers every year for a retreat in July at Albuquerque, NM. So we bid Sr. Elizabeth godspeed in her future assignment and we welcome to our community, Sr. Herminia and Sr. Sharon. “Mi casa es su casa.”
Fr. Dan
: )
