St. Brendan Parish Pastor

Farewell Sr. Herminia – There comes a time in all of our lives when the active part of our service comes to an end.  Even then, however, St. Paul says that we continue to belong to God and we continue to serve Him, except in a different capacity (Rom 14:7-8).  Sr. Herminia Cosico, who has been with us for only a year, is retiring.  And being the humble person that she is, she does not wish a fanfare, but nonetheless, we have to acknowledge all the good she has done, and the service she’s given to God and to His people.  Here’s a brief biography of her life:

Born the 3^rd of 7 children in the Philippines, she read about St. Teresa, the Little Flower, and wished to make Jesus known.

At the age of 10, she desired to be a missionary.

She entered the Canossian sisters at the age of 18 and made her final vows at 23.

She studied nursing in England and throughout her years of ministry, she served not only as a nurse, but also as a hospital chaplain and a teacher.

She has worked in the Philippines, Hong Kong, Milan, Sicily, Vancouver, Albuquerque and San Francisco.

At St. Brendan, besides working with Sr. Catherine in children’s catechesis, adult faith formation programs and visiting the homebound, she also helped around the office.  She was always kind to those she met and her gentle friendly presence reflected the gentleness and kindness of God.

 She will be greatly missed.  Although she experienced the sudden loss of her brother earlier in the year, yet her faith in God’s goodness and mercy remains constant.  In her retirement, she will be living in Vancouver, Canada.  Fare thee well, Sr. Herminia.  And thank you for your “Yes” to God and for your love and service to us. 

Thank you Sr. Sharon – Although Sr. Sharon Brannen will continue to live in the Convent and help us at Sunday liturgies, however, she has a full time job now at St. Ignatius High School in their Campus Ministry Department.  We were able to have her briefly in the past year to help us improve the use of technology in our parish, so working with other technology professionals, she put us on Facebook.  She also helped us develop one of our Strategic Goals of service to the community.  After exploring the different needs in the community with St. Vincent de Paul, Catholic Charities and Habitat for Humanity, she led “build days” at Habitat and last month, with other adults and teens, helped create an organic vegetable garden in Treasure Island for low income residents there.  Although she won’t be working at our office, and I’ll miss her energy and humor, but she promised to lead us on “build days” at Habitat and any event that requires the use of power tools.  And she’ll continue to use her musical talents at our Sunday liturgies.  So thank you Sr. Sharon for your energetic spirit throughout the past year and we wish you every blessing as you begin a new ministry at St. Ignatius High School.

Welcome Sr. Angela – Sr. Angela Furia was originally from the Diocese of Verona in Italy.  She has both a degree in Teaching and in Pastoral Theology.  She also has a brother who is a Salesian priest.  She first came to the United States in 1971 and worked in pastoral ministry in the Diocese of Sacramento.  Afterwards, she served in Mexico for 20 years, developing outreach programs for the poor and the youth.  She will be joining our staff and will assist us not only in Catechesis for our public school students, but also in our Strategic goal of serving the community.  Welcome Sr. Angela!

With love and prayers,

Fr. Dan.