Serving like Mary – This month we celebrated the feasts of the Assumption (8/15) and of the Queenship of Mary (8/22).  Mary is the first and model disciple.  What she received, is also what each of us is promised to receive at the end of our earthly life, as we imitate her service to God and neighbor.  The Marian Servers, which was formed 2 years ago in our parish under the guidance of Sr. Catherine and Fr. Mike, imitate Mary’s “Yes” through prayer, adoration and service.  As Dr. Lourdes Scheerer, coordinator of this ministry describes it, “Marian Servers sometimes lead, sometimes organize and many times participate in the many prayer services of our parish.  These services includes Holy Mass, adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, community rosary, retreats, Lenten and Advent services.  The Marian Servers assist in the decoration of the altar and church and help maintain a neat and clean environment.  Our service is focused on the homebound.  Many of the homebound are sick, temporarily or longer.  Some are disabled by age or injury.  We visit the homebound, assist in their receiving the sacraments.  Some of us are Eucharistic ministers.  As we serve the homebound, the homebound serve us through their prayer and sacrifice of acceptance, through their stories, their humor, sometimes with a cup of coffee.  Many of us become lifelong friends.  Like Elizabeth and Mary in the Visitation, we unite the state of our lives and give praise and thanks to God.  We also help organize masses for the homebound.  Friends, family or volunteers can bring the homebound to a special mass followed by a reception.”  So we invite you to consider becoming a Marian Server.  There are many who already attend daily mass, pray the rosary daily, partake in Eucharistic Adoration.  There are many who clean up after mass or bring flowers for the altar.  There are many who visit their grandparents, parents or neighbors in the hospital or at home.  These acts, when guided and performed with our Mother Mary, can become more meaningful.  Dr. Scheerer (or everyone simply calls her Lou), shared that “I became aware that at this time in my life, given good health and circumstances, I can be an active member of the Marian Servers.”  If you’d like to be a prayer warrior, help decorate the altar, or visit the homebound, give Sr. Catherine a call at 681-4225 x 205 for more information.

Where in the World is Fr. Theo? – Fr. Theophilus Hwande, a missionary priest from the Via Christi Society in Nigeria and who will be our next Associate Pastor, would like to thank you for your thoughts and prayers.  Although his Visa to come work in the U.S. has already been approved, but the paperwork process has been slow.  He did receive the paperwork in his hands on Aug 15 and went to the U.S. Embassy to schedule a meeting the following day.  He’ll be having an interview on September 4 and if all goes well, he should receive a Visa on the 8^th.  Then he should be able to depart for San Francisco on September 10.  God willing, he’ll be celebrating Sunday mass with us on September 15.  As a religious priest vowed to poverty, he’ll come with very little.  As his community is also a young community and currently has 29 seminarians, they have little to spend on him.  The parish will certainly provide Fr. Theo with the basic necessities of life, such as a used car, GPS, cell phone and a warm jacket.  But if you’d like to make a contribution to welcome him to a new country, you can make a check out to St. Brendan Church, and in the memo line, write Fr. Theo and we’ll spend it on him.

Back to Work – the past few weeks I took Monday to Fridays off to be with family and friends and returned back to work on Saturdays and Sundays.  It was a nice time away, and I was thinking one morning, as I was lying in bed in my parents’ home, how nice it is to be loved unconditionally, and not to have to worry about shopping and cooking.  But I’m back in preparation for school, which will start next Monday, Aug 26.  Welcome back Students, Parents and Staff.

Fr. Dan

Dear Parishioners,

Summer vacation is a great time for parents and school children alike. There is plenty of time to do fun things and experience life at a slower pace. Although the children have not been present for the past seven weeks, there has still been plenty of activity occurring at the school. The school is never on vacation!

The bathrooms are undergoing a face-lift, and the science classroom is being remodeled. We are installing handicap accessible stalls, new partitions and fixtures, resurfacing the walls and ceilings, and painting the bathrooms. The science classroom walls and ceilings are being resurfaced and painted also. New lighting, desks, and cabinets are also being installed in this classroom. I am most appreciative of the work of Bryan Birmingham, Peter Zepponi, Paul Eggert, David Major, Lynne Dowdy, Bill Kelly, Bryn Brugioni and Sean Ferry. These wonderful people are to the forefront in overseeing the completion of the project. I also wish to extend my deepest gratitude to St. Brendan’s Mothers’ Club, St. Brendan’s Men’s Club, the School Advisory Board’s building committee, and the parishioners of this wonderful parish who so generously provided the funding (through the auction and annual fund campaigns) for the projects.

Mrs. Donovan, Mrs. McHugh, Ms. Proehl, Mrs. Dowdy and I spent three days this past week at a conference in Watsonville entitled Education in a Changing World-Transforming the Classroom. The face of education as we know it is rapidly changing. We got to learn about powerful technology tools, heard first–hand from the pioneers of the tablet movement, explored new trends in education and developed professional relationships with over 400 other educators from around the nation. We are now exploring ways to implement some of the ideas into our school’s program.

Some of the teachers will be attending a religion workshop day entitled “Love for Wisdom and Passion For Faith” next Friday. They will be attending workshops in the areas of pedagogy, spirituality, morality, social justice, prayer and Christology. All teachers of religion maintain their Catechetical Certification by attending courses every three years in each of the afore mentioned areas.

In addition to attending professional development courses, and reviewing/revising their curricula, teachers are busy getting their classrooms ready for the students. As principal, it is exciting to watch the teachers go about their preparations for the new school year. There is an air of anticipation and excitement.

Meanwhile, as school personnel continue to prepare for the start of the school year, I hope that the students and their parents, and you continue to enjoy these relaxing and rejuvenating summer days.

Blessings,

Carol Grewal

Principal

Continued Appreciation for St. Brendan Parish Community and Experience

Greetings from Sausalito!!  As I began my new assignment, I have renewed and improved appreciation for every aspect of my St. Brendan's Assignment experience. On my very first day, I called Fr. Dan and asked if he would mind dropping by so that I could reflect upon initial impressions with him. I missed my buddy and mentor!!!

Fr. Dan came right away, and I will be always grateful for that act of generosity.

As you might expect, it is a much smaller parish , serving 425 families with about 180 attendance at the weekend Masses.  As with St. Brendan's, the people are the finest aspect of the assignment.  Some people from St. Brendan's have been a surprising and welcome sight at Masses so far. I have yet to take up residence in the rectory, owing to my allergy of pet dander and the late July reassignment of the retired priest’s two dogs. Fr. Parenti left with his dog, Dante, on 6/30/2013.

Since it is a smaller parish there are fewer office staff and I confess to missing Flora and Michelle who knew my peculiarities and are such a well-functioning administrative effort at St. Brendan's. I have been blessed by visits from teachers from the school. I expect to prepare the rectory for living by mid- August. Fr. Dan has again been most generous allowing me to stay at St. Brendan's during the BART strike, ( thereby reducing my commute to 25 minutes one-way versus 1.0- 1.75 hours from Novato during that period).

I have also finally ended the "Victory Tour" of offered dinners from generous St. Brendan parishioners and have announced that I will make a contribution to the Star of the Sea parish AAA at the rate of $5.00 per pound lost, having already contributed to St. Brendan.  I could become the biggest contributor in the new parish !!!

Thanks to all who made my St. Brendan experience so wonderful and to Fr. Dan and staff who are great!

  Fr. Mike, aka "“the old guy"

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.

 

Have you read any good books lately that lift the heart and soul?  Would you like to share them with fellow parishioners?  Let me know what you’ve found uplifting and I’ll share them with others in the coming weeks.  Earlier in the year, our Faith Sharing book club read:

“Full of Grace” by Christine Watkins.  We found this book heartwarming and hopeful, that God continues to be at work in miraculous and ordinary ways in our world.

“Rediscovering Catholicism.”  We found this book inspirational as it helped us to relook at the faith, many of us might have taken for granted.  It’s both a spiritual and an educational book.

I also recommend:

“Tattoos on the Heart,” by Fr. Peter Boyle.  He works with teens involved with gangs down in LA.  His warmth, humor and the lives he’s able to touch and change simply because he loves and accepts them from where they’re at, is a wonderful lesson of how to live out the gospel in our times.

“Catholicism” by Fr. Robert Barron is also another faith filled book for our times.  Available also in video and shown on PBS, it revisits God’s love for humanity, his self-revelation and the Church he left behind.

For younger and older readers, Fr. Joseph Girzone wrote a series of “Joshua” books.  In it, the author reimagines what it would be like, if Jesus returned and walked in our streets.  How would he deal with the different faiths, inner city life, tensions in the Middle East, etc?  Some “Joshua” titles are:

Joshua: A Parable for Today (1995) -Joshua in the Holy Land (1995)

Joshua and the City (1996)-Joshua in a Troubled World (2006)

For the serious reader, Pope Benedict invites Catholics in the Year of Faith to read the Catechism of the Catholic Church or the documents of Vatican II (they can be found on http://www.ewtn.com/library/COUNCILS/V2ALL.HTM).  Last year we celebrated the 50^th anniversary of the start of the 2^nd Vatican Council.  It brought about such a change in the Church, not just in how we celebrate Mass, but also in how we view the world, other faiths, Mother Mary and the Bible.  It was quite revolutionary.  Some of the documents of Vatican II include:

The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, 1963

Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, 1964

Decree on Ecumenism, 1964

Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, 1965

Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation, 1965

Relevant books addressing current topics include:

“What is Marriage?  Man and Woman: A Defense,” by Girgis, Anderson & George

“Getting the Marriage Conversation Right: a guide for effective Dialogue,” by May

What books have stretched your mind and lifted your soul?  Share them with us.  You can let me know by writing to me at frdan@stbrendanparish.org.  Happy reading.

Fr. Dan

Lending a Hand, Living the Call

What a joy to be part of this summer's St. Brendan Work Camp! Twenty-three St. Brendan youth and twelve adults truly did live the call to serve others by building a vegetable garden on Treasure Island for the Catholic Charities Child Development Center. This is a project that has been in the works for months, and countless members of our faith community have contributed to making it a reality through planning, fundraising, organizing, volunteering, and praying. Thanks especially to Beth O'Leary for such a great job organizing the troops for each day, to Paul Eggert for his building expertise and supervision, to the staff at CCCYO -TI for welcoming us so warmly, and to Fr. Dan for his support and visit! (He did manage to time his trip to TI to coincide with our lunch break....:))

As this project winds down, so does my time as a Pastoral Associate at St. Brendan Parish. I look forward to working directly with many from our faith community as I begin Campus Ministry at St. Ignatius Preparatory College. And you'll still see me around at liturgies, in the knitting group (my mother is so proud of me for that!), and wherever a parish activity requires the use of power tools. (Stay tuned for future project updates and opportunities.)

Have  a great and blessed summer!

Sr. Sharon

Farewell to St. Brendan’s!

It is a bittersweet moment that I bid farewell to St. Brendan’s as my spiritual home and the community I have truly grown to love these last few years. I would like to share with you wonderful moments that have touched my heart.

 St. Brendan’s schoolchildren prepared BOTH birthday cards and farewell cards for me this year, treasures forever. ( I have already re-read the birthday cards a few times.  As a team, the St. Brendan’s staff and volunteer organizations helped us to restore the parish to the wonderful physical and financial status I remember as a child, ( my grandmother lived further up Rockaway and my aunt and uncle and cousins lived less than a block away on Ulloa St.). I remember throughout my life referring to St. Brendan’s parish community and facilities as the “Crown jewels of the Archdiocese”.

I will miss the shouts from very young children as I both proceeded into Church or recessed out, asking for a “high five”. Some of the smallest children had quite a whack! I will miss the school boys and girls playing on the lawn and the tree in front of Church, alternatively referred to as the “boy tree” or the “girl tree” depending upon who was highest in the branches. (It was never called the Fr. Mike tree!).

I will miss the impressive results of both the St. Brendan’s Mothers’ Club and the St. Brendan’s Men’s Club. They have very different styles. I still believe the Mothers’ club could end world hunger! I remain impressed at the cheerful sense of community and camaraderie that are ever present in the Men’s Club as they work to edify the St. Brendan community in visible and behind-the – scenes service jobs, always with cheerful enthusiasm and success.

I will miss a community with whom I have shared many joys, seasons and even sorrows as we have collaboratively worked to keep God in our lives and keep our faith strong. I will miss the joyful shouts of the kindergarten children as they receive a retrieved ball that has fallen outside the fence and I toss it back. You’d think they were made of gold!

I will miss the very intimate moments of being invited into people’s lives in moments of illness or hospitalization and even sharing the last precious minutes of a person’s life. Believe it or not, I remember each of these special moments. I will miss the opportunity to promote Riordan High School, although if one were to ask the children I always thank a Catholic School child/ high-schooler for “wearing their colors”. I believe it means more than the colors; it speaks of pride in faith! I will miss being invited to special moments with families. But most of all, I WILL MISS EACH and EVERY ONE OF YOU! Please consider St. Mary, Star of the Sea another “home”. My cell phone number is 415-246-5535 and personal email address is frmquinn@gmail.com.  Feel free to contact me.

Thank you for the best years of my life.

With All my Love,    
Fr. Mike Quinn

 

P.S. Thank you, Fr. Dan, and all the volunteers for a wonderful send-off.