Celebrating the Ordinary

 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time

  It is so good to be back at St. Brendan’s in San Francisco!!!!  I want you

  all to know that you were missed  by me, and as I reflected upon this fact, I 

  decided to take the Christian approach and to pray for you daily.  I further

  reflected that many of us, including myself, grow accustomed to the 

  wonderful people in our lives and perhaps become slower to

  appreciate them and to communicate this sense of  gratitude for 

  seemingly ordinary tasks, but when done in a spirit of brotherhood/

  sisterhood enrich us far beyond the apparent.

  In this Sunday’s Gospel the message is that the Lord nourishes and

  strengthens us, guiding us in right paths and exhorts a sense of peace

  between ourselves and the rest of humanity. We can achieve this

  peace by developing a greater aptitude to appreciate the present

  moment in our busy lives. We can further enhance this sense by actually

  thanking people for the seemingly mundane tasks they perform. 

  There are countless things to be thankful for and we must be sure

  to include God on our list of individuals we wish to begin a relationship

  with marked with ever greater gratitude.

  I believe we can even be grateful for accurate and well written Church

  bulletin announcements. I’d like to share portions of fractured

  announcements we do not receive because people make the extra effort

  to be careful that I received via email.

  These sentences (with all the BLOOPERS) actually appeared in church

  bulletins, NOT St. Brendan’s, or were announced in church services:

· The Fasting & Prayer Conference includes meals.

· The A.M. sermon: 'Jesus Walks on the Water.' The sermon tonight: 'Searching for Jesus.'

· Ladies, don't forget the rummage sale.It's a chance to get rid of those things not worth keeping around the house. Bring your husbands.

· Don't let worry kill you off - let the Church help.

· Next Thursday there will be tryouts for the choir. They need all the help they can get.

· Irving Benson and Jessie Carter were married on October 24th in the church. So ends a friendship that began in their school days.

· At the evening service tonight, the sermon topic will be 'What Is Hell?' Come early and listen to

      our choir practice.

· Low Self Esteem Support Group will meet Thursday at 7 PM . Please use the back door.

Fr. Mike

News Around the Parish

 Coming Soon to St. Brendan – an excellent spiritual resource.  Lighthouse Catholic Media makes available, in audio CDs and booklets, materials to help us grow in faith.  During the Easter break, I was down at Santa Cruz and dropped in at St. Joseph’s Church and gift shop.  There, I encountered these excellent materials.  As I drove back up along Highway 1, I began listening to a CD I had purchased and listened to Dr. Scott Hahn’s conversion story.  He was a Presbyterian pastor and militant anti-Catholic, who in following the promptings of the Holy Spirit and the Bible, found God leading him into the Catholic Church.  I soon discovered other titles and authors and was touched by their stories and teachings.  Pope Benedict has called upon the worldwide Church to make the coming year, beginning in October 2012, the Year of Faith.  A year where we will take the time to re-examine what many of us, perhaps, have taken for granted.  A time where we might seek to learn more about our spiritual treasure.  So I encourage you to try this for yourself.  As Lighthouse Media seeks to make this as available to as wide an audience as possible, the CDs are relatively inexpensive, only $3 each.  And they can be purchased in a bundle of 5 for $15.  They can be played on our CD players in the car or at home and I have found them uplifting in my own spiritual journey.  We have the material on order and hope to be able to kick it off in early August.  Look for it.  It will be worth your while. 

Welcome, Sr. Quiche Le – Sr. Le is Vietnamese and a member of the Congregation of the Lovers of the Cross.  They are a Vietnamese religious community founded in 1670.  They are both a contemplative order and an apostolic community, meaning they serve as both Martha and Mary.  They are at the same time attentive, sitting at the feet of Jesus and go about meeting the needs of the poor and less fortunate.  Although Sr. Le’s father was not Catholic, but her mother was and had her baptized when she was a baby.  And although Vietnam is a Communist country and the Church’s freedom is limited, however, the faith there is vibrant.  She wanted to love and serve Jesus, so she joined this community of religious women.  She was sent to France to learn theology so she could return and teach.  She has spent 6 years already in France studying Fundamental Theology and has 2 more years to go before she completes her study in Spirituality.  She is here on vacation from July 3 – September 3, and hopes to learn some English.  I, on the other hand, have had a refresher course in French, thanks to her and Google Translate.  So if you see a stranger around the convent and wish to practice your French, you can say hello to her. Welcome, Sr. Le.

Gone Fishing – As Fr. Mike returns from vacation, I will also take some time off before school starts.  I will be away from July 16 to August 17.  Where the sheep go, the shepherd must follow.  So I will take some time off to visit a priest friend up near Lake Tahoe and will also take some time off to be with family and friends.  See you next month.

Fr. Dan

News Around the Parish

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 2^nd 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

: )

News Around the Parish

Farewell Celebration for Sr. Rita – The thanksgiving celebration last Sunday for Sr. Rita’s retirement was very nice.  In attendance were not only parishioners of St. Brendan and her family members, but also parishioners from Holy Name and St. Cecilia Churches where she had ministered before.  At both the 9:30 and 11:30am masses, she shared about how much she enjoyed ministering here among us.  Even though she had been a principal in a prestigious Catholic school in Hong Kong of 1,300 students, she said, it could not compare with what she found here.  She said, teaching the faith to adult inquirers “re-evangelized” her and gave her a deeper appreciation for the gift of faith.  For those of you who were away and could not be there, she too wanted you to know of her gratitude and privilege for the opportunity to serve here.  On Thursday, June 28, she will return to Hong Kong.  Already, several families who will be travelling there this Summer said they‘d be going to visit her.  Together as a community, we prayed for her and wished her God’s blessing as she continues the next chapter of her life of service to the Lord.

Missionary Speaker, Fr. Lee Havey – After preaching at all our Sunday masses last week, Fr. Lee stayed an extra day and got to see more of our fair city in perfect weather.  As I showed him around, I learned that prior to becoming a Passionist Order priest, he had worked in an interesting business sector.  His office was the liaison between foreign governments, US corporations and interacted with State Department, White House, Think Tanks, Defense Department, Humanitarian organizations to promote trade and cooperation with Southeast Asian Nations.  After High School, he thought about becoming an attorney.  However, in College, he discovered that that was the last thing he wanted to be.  So he graduated with a degree in English.  Not sure what he wanted to do still, he took a year off to travel around the world.  He began in New York, and after a year, returned back to New York.  The Australian Aborigines, he said, had a term called the walkabout, in order to discover yourself.  And this “little” walkabout he did around the world, landed him in the perfect position as the liaison between foreign governments, US corporations and our own government.  He describes that it is like diplomatic work.  He also could not see himself doing this for the rest of his life, as it was high stress work.  In his travels, however, he had met a priest in Rome, Msgr. Charles Elmer, who saw something in him and asked him to consider the priesthood.  Nothing happened until 8 years later.  Then, when he shared his decision to become a priest with his family and friends, they all said they saw it coming.  He shared that the journey towards priesthood was not a sudden decision he had made, but one that was gradual and that was a part of his life for many years.  He was surprised himself, as he thought he would marry one day and settle and live somewhere with his wife in Asia.  However, the Lord had other plans.  He became a Passionist priest in 2004.  He has done 2 years of retreat work, 3 years as a parish priest, and the last couple of years, he has been an itinerant preacher, offering missions to different parishes around the U.S.  I inquired about his availability to do a parish mission for us during Lent, and he said that he is booked until 2015.  So he is a much sought after speaker.  We certainly wish him well and thank him for saying “Yes” to God.  Hopefully we will still be able to have him come out and do a parish mission for us someday soon.

Fr. Dan

News Around the Parish

Retirement of Sr. Rita Chen – I came to know Sr. Rita when I was assigned by Archbishop Levada to minister to the Chinese community.  Although I was given the opportunity to study Cantonese in Hong Kong for a year, but mastering a language takes more than a year.  So when I returned, I continued to need the help of a native speaker to help me in my Chinese homily preparation.  Sr. Rita was one of my tutors.  As life unfolded, we ended up serving together here at St. Brendan.  Many parishioners have shared with me how thorough Sr. Rita was in both the Baptismal Preparation class and in the RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults) program.  She was always prepared for class and after Sunday masses, she was always present to greet the people.  She was good about welcoming new members into our community, especially non-Catholics.  She would extend an invitation to them to explore the Catholic faith with her.  Looking back 13 years from our baptismal registry, she had prepared approximately 838 baptisms from children to adults.  Sr. Rita, thank you for your faithfulness and dedicated service to us.  We will miss you.  Below, is her letter to us: 

Dear Parishioners,

    Grace and Peace!  I praise and thank the Lord for giving me the grace to serve happily the people of St. Brendan Parish for the last thirteen years.  It is hard to leave the people whom I have loved and served for so many years.  As Isaiah said, “God’s thoughts are not our thoughts and God’s ways are not our ways.”  I believe the Lord of our life has a creative and salvific plan for each of us.  He is leading us closer to Him in His own time and sometimes in a mysterious way.  At St. Brendan’s I have had the privilege to help Catechumens and Candidates on their journey of faith.  I shared with them, that faith is to discover God’s will manifested to us through persons and events in our lives.  This can be applied to my present situation.  In the past two years, my health has not been as good as before, especially in the last two months.  It seems that it is time to leave my current ministry and retire.  I will be leaving San Francisco for Hong Kong by the end of June.  I believe that nothing happens by chance.  God is leading me onward.

As RCIA and Infant Baptism Coordinator, I would not have been able to carry out my duties without the help of many volunteers, especially our dedicated and highly qualified team:  Guy de Primo, Eileen Miller, and Avelina Accad.  I am grateful to each of them.  To Fr. Dan, Fr. Parenti, Fr. Mike, Fr. Te, Bro. Dat, Sr. Catherine, Sr. Elizabeth, and the staff, I wish to express my sincere gratitude for their prayers, trust, and support.  To all the parishioners and friends a big “Thank You” and God’s blessings.  Be assured that you and your families will be in my prayers always.  My address will be: Canossian Convent, 34 Caine Road, Hong Kong, China.

Sr. Rita Chen, FdCC

P.S - It is certainly our wish to celebrate her retirement and thank her for her years of faithful service with a party on a Sunday before she leaves.  Hopefully her health will allow us to do that.  I will keep you informed.

   Fr. Dan

News Around the Parish

   End of Year Events – As we near the end of the school year, these past couple of weeks have been filled   with many memorable events.  Both the Mother’s and the Men’s Club had their last gathering of the year, reflected upon their accomplishments, and bid farewell to those parents whose children will be leaving our school.  Some have been parents “in” our school for as many as 18 years, as they have had multiple children go through the school.  I want to thank the Mother’s Club officers 2011-2012, Collette O’Brien, President, Fiona Connelly, VP and the Men’s Club officers 2011-2012, Glen Fama, President, Jim Anderer and Kevin Morrison, VPs, and their staff and members for the fundraising efforts that supported the school and the sports program.  I know that our Principal, Mrs. Carol Grewal, and I share the same feeling when I say that they’re a blessing to our students, staff, school and parish.  Thank you for your outstanding efforts that raise not only funds for our community, but fun and fellowship as well.  The Men’s Club also sponsored an end of the year dinner for our volunteer coaches on Wednesday, May 16.  The Sports program plays an important part in the development of our children, because through it, they learn not only teamwork, but they learn about themselves.  So, thank you coaches for making the time to mentor our young athletes.

Last week, on Wednesday, May 30, our 8^th graders had their graduation dinner with their own classmates at the school library, and afterwards, met their parents outside the church hall and entered together for their graduation dance.  The graduates had the opportunity to dance with each other as well as with their parents.  The following morning, the parish treated the Altar Servers, from Grades 6-8, to a day off from school and fun at Raging Waters in San Jose.  We thank them for serving mass each day of the year, including Summer, Christmas and Easter holidays.  Without a doubt, our Altar Servers are among the best in the Archdiocese.  At our first Friday school mass on June 1, the school celebrated mass and prayed for our 8^th graders.  That evening, was their commencement ceremony.  Auxiliary Bishop of San Jose, Tom Daly, who confirmed this class, was their commencement speaker.  Congratulations Graduates!  As the Mexicans say, “Vaya con Dios,” “Go with God.”

Fare thee well – As schools wrap up their academic year, Bro. Dat’s assignment with us has also come to an end.  I know many of you have enjoyed his presence, so it will be difficult to bid him farewell.  While he has many admirable qualities, he has not been recommended for ordination at this time.  He asked me to thank you for all the love and support you have shown him while he was here.  His last day with us was Tuesday, May 29.  He wanted me to share with you that he still hopes, someday, to be a priest.  Our prayer for him as he leaves us would be that the Lord would continue to guide him and show him His plans.  As the prophet Jeremiah, speaking for God, said “I know well the plans I have in mind for you. Plans for your welfare and not misfortune, plans that will give you a future full of hope” (Jer. 29:11).  So hold him in your prayers, as I am sure he will remember you in his.  If you would like to leave him a note, you may leave it with us at the rectory and we will ensure that he will receive it.  Thank you for your love, prayers and support for Bro. Dat.  I also want to thank him for all the time, love and efforts he put into this discernment and formation process.  “Vaya con Dios.”

   Fr. Dan

News Around the Parish

Welcoming New Parishioners – Last Sunday at the 9:30am mass, we formally welcomed five (5) families to our community.  Twice a year, one around Thanksgiving and the other around the Feast of St. Brendan

(May 16), we formally recognize and welcome new parishioners to our community.  I believe our community continues to draw people into our midst, first of all because of our excellent school, but also because there’s a real sense of community and warmth that attracts others to us.  The Under 5 Ministry, coordinated by Sr. Catherine Cappello and chaired by Kim DeLucchi and Nika Terjesen, provides an atmosphere where parents with children under 5, are able to come and meet other parents like themselves and find friendship and support.  The Ministry to New Parishioners (aka - Welcome Committee) also extends this warmth to incoming parishioners.  And the Sunday Children’s Liturgy of the Word as well as Vacation Bible School, and more recently, the School of Religion (for non-parochial students) continue to provide meaningful, faith filled and fun filled opportunities for children and adults to participate in our community.  Once again, I’d like to thank Gina Eggert and Kristi Warner, chairs of the Welcome Committee and its members for planning and organizing last Sunday’s welcoming event.

Welcoming our New Music Coordinator – As many of you know, Kristine Sinajon has resigned her position as Music Director to explore opportunities in the music industry.  Although we can never replace her, however, Dianne Marquez graciously accepted the position of Music Coordinator for the Sunday 9:30 & 11:30 am masses.  Ms. Marquez is currently a nursing student at the University of San Francisco set to graduate next year.  She took private piano lessons at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music as a young girl.  She comes from a musical family.  Her mother is Music Director at Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Daly City and her brother, Angelo Marquez, is both a Music Director at St. Dunstan in Millbrae and plays at our 8am Sunday mass.  She had substituted for Kristine while she was on sabbatical, and the choir so loved her, that they asked her to stay.  I’m glad they did and she accepted our invitation to remain with us.  We’re blessed!

Good News – As you know, we as priests take a vow of obedience to our Bishop.  This oath of obedience is not one way, us doing what we’re told.  But it is a collaboration, a partnership, with the Bishop to serve the needs of the community.  The word “obey” comes from the Latin “to hear,” or to listen.  So the listening is not just one sided.  We listen to the Bishop in regards to what he sees the needs of the Church to be, but the Bishop also listens to us, our own needs, our preferences as well as the needs of the local parish.  When Fr. Mike Quinn was appointed as Parochial Vicar, his term of assignment was 3-5 years.  He was concerned that at the end of June, his 3 years with us would be complete and he would be moved.  Fortunately, he is not scheduled to move this year.  So we can at least enjoy him for another year.  Needless to say, he’s ecstatic as am I that we will be able to work another year together.  But that’s the life of a priest.  Nothing is certain, except that our lives are in God’s hands.  And as our Blessed Mother modeled for us, “I am a servant of the Lord.  May it be done to me according to your Word.”

Fr. Dan

: )