News Around the Parish

Congratulations, Confirmandi – On Thursday, November 21 at 6 pm, Auxiliary Bishop of San Francisco, Most Rev. William Justice celebrated Confirmation with our parochial and non-parochial 8^th graders.  Do you remember your own Confirmation?  The promise of the gift of the Holy Spirit is real and can be life changing.  The challenge is to learn to listen and follow the promptings of the Holy Spirit in our lives. If we do so, even a little bit, it will change the course of our lives for the better.  Imagine if you’re standing and facing south.  If you change your life by even one degree, at the end of our lives, it would have taken us to a whole different destination.  One book that helped change the course of my life was “The Cross and the Switchblade,” by David Wilkerson.  It is a powerful account of someone who took the risk to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit in his life that not only transformed him, but those whom God has called him to serve.  On the occasion of the Parish’s Celebration of our youth accepting the faith for themselves, we give thanks to God for their “Yes,” and we pray that in the days and years ahead, the seed of faith planted at Baptism, will continue to grow and blossom throughout their lives.  And I’d like to thank their teachers, Mr. David Lopez, Sr. Angela Furia, Mrs. Mahgie Murphy, and their parents for helping them in their preparation.  Please remember our Confirmadi in your prayers.

Parish Thanksgiving Dinner Celebration – Each year, we gather as a parish community to celebrate our own Thanksgiving Dinner.  In a sense, we are like an extended family to each other, where both our children and adults encounter friendship, community and support.  And twice a year, at this event and at the feast of St. Brendan (May 16), we recognize and welcome new members who have joined our community.  We’re blessed that our community is still attracting others and I pray that they may experience in us, not only warmth and friendship, but faith to help them deepen their own relationship with God.  I’d like to recognize and thank our Welcome Committee Chairs, Paige Olson and Deborah Nysather, as well as the members of the Welcome Committee for planning, inviting, setting up, hosting and cleaning up for this event.  Their kindness and hard work, reminds us that truly, we have much to be thankful for.

Thanksgiving Masses – As Fr. Theo mentioned last week, the word we use for Eucharist, is a Greek word that means Thanksgiving.  So it’s certainly appropriate that we give thanks to God through our prayer at Mass.  We give thanks to God for His Words that give us hope, that guide us and that give us life.  As we bring to each mass our sacrifices, not of blood from animals, but from the efforts of our lives to walk faithfully and humbly with God, God in turn gives us Himself in the Eucharist.  In this holy exchange, we can never out give God as He is far more generous with us than we can ever hope.  So if you’re not travelling and in town, plan to join us. 

                                         Our Thanksgiving Masses are on:

              Wednesday, 11/27 at 11am with the School

                  Thursday, 11/28 at 7:30am & 9:30am

If you’re able, please plan to bring non-perishable food items to Mass as St. Vincent de Paul (SVDP) will be collecting for those in need.  At the recommendation of the Liturgy Committee and Parish Advisory Board, the tradition of the parish to provide bread for those who attend the Thanksgiving Mass will be discontinued.  In place, the funds used to purchase the bread ($150) will be donated to SVDP.

Fr. Dan

Reflections of our Parochial Vicar

IN JOYFUL THANKSGIVING

In a letter from “E.W.” (Edward Winslow) to a friend in England, he says: “And God be praised, we had a good increase…. Our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling that so we might after a special manner rejoice together….” Winslow continues, “These things I thought good to let you understand… that you might on our behalf give God thanks who hath dealt so favorably with us.”

This is the truest attitude of gratitude. An unexpressed gratitude remains a simple mental construct but when expressed it becomes a thanksgiving. This is the dominant spirit as we approach the Christmas Season and the end of this year.

In a couple of weeks, we as Americans will be celebrating Thanksgiving Day which is typically on the last Thursday in November. On this day, we express our gratitude to God, to our families and loved ones for what and who they have been to us in this year. This beautiful family of St. Brendan’s parish also has overwhelming reasons in this year to thank God.

A cursory look will remind us of God’s special gifts to us as individuals and as a community. And so we thank you , our very wonderful family of St. Brendan, for your many generous gifts to the church as we noted in the State of Parish and School Report (FY July 1, 2012 – June 30, 2013) that we recorded a net profit and not a deficit.

We also have reason to thank God for our former parochial vicar Fr Mike Quinn, who from among us, was appointed and installed pastor of Star of the Sea Sausalito. In this same year, our pastoral and parish family has been strengthened by the duo of Sr. Angela Furia, FdCC and me , Fr. Theo Hwande, who joined the parish and has since started work. We are also blessed to have a knowledgeable and experienced priest, Fr. Vincent Ring, who has joined us and will be celebrating Sunday masses with us.  Prior to his retirement, he taught at SI and Sacred Heart, and was Pastor of St. Robert’s in San Bruno and St. Denis in Menlo Park. On November 9^th , our seminarian Roger Gustafson was raised to the diaconate at the Ordination Ceremony at St. Pius, which was attended by both Fr. Dan and me. This is an occasion of great joy that God has offered an invitation and there was a” yes” response to it. We ask God to bless Deacon Roger’s resolve to follow him.

We continue to thank God for our very kind, humane, gentle, humble and indefatigable pastor, Fr. Dan Nascimento for his dedication to the spiritual, pastoral and social life of this parish.

The word thanksgiving is from the Greek eukharistia which highlights gratefulness (eukharistos) and so it’s better expressed as communion which in a sense is the coming together of brothers and sisters, and in the early church it was precisely for the breaking of bread, sharing of the cup and the meal (cf. 1cor. 12;17-34). It is therefore ad-rem that as a family of God we should express our thanks to God to reflect these two ecclesial realities and so, we shall gather at the school gym on Saturday November 23^rd 2013 at 6pm for our annual parish thanksgiving dinner. The invitations were in last Sunday’s bulletin insert.

The school is our treasure and the students are the young church and so we join them in a thanksgiving mass on Wednesday November 27^th at 11 am.

And on Thanksgiving Day, Thursday November 28^th 2013, we shall have masses at 7:30 AM and 9:30 AM. At these masses we shall be collecting non-perishable items for the poor and so we’d like to remind you to bring your gifts.

As we joyfully thank God and one another, I pray that God will multiply our reasons for thanksgiving in the coming year. Amen.

Fr. Theo Hwande

State of the Parish and School Report – Hopefully you’ve seen our Annual State of the Parish and School Report which covers the period of July 1, 2012 to June 30, 2013.  It was published a few weeks ago and copies of it are still available in the Church.  For those of you who missed it, here’s a brief synopsis of it.  It’s our attempt to be transparent with you so you know how the parish and school are doing.

The report covers the ministry side of our mission, our finances, as well as our facilities report. Working with the Parish Advisory Board, we’ve identified 5 areas to improve in our Strategic Plan.  They are:  Spirituality, Stewardship, Leadership, Service and Hospitality. The report shows ways that we’ve attempted to help our parish grow spiritually by increasing our Religious Education to non-Catholic school students and celebrating our Year of Faith with guest speakers and faith sharing book clubs.  We expanded our Service project to allow adults and teens to serve the community through Habitat for Humanity and building a garden at Catholic Charities’ Center on Treasure Island that serves low income residents.  Fr. Mike and I have also expanded our service to the community beyond Juvenile Hall, to homicide victims in San Francisco, holding prayer services for the victims and their loved ones.

Financially, through your support, you helped turn a deficit of $26.9K from previous year to a gain of $21.7K last year. I want to THANK YOU for responding to my appeal.  Because from 2009-2012, we had a 25% loss in the Sunday collection.  Through the appeal, you not only halted the downward trend, but increased the Sunday collection by 10%.  Although a gain of $21.7K seems like a lot, however, to give you an example, when the school boiler broke down a couple of years ago causing a mini-flood, it took about $50K to replace it.  So it’s good that we do put money aside for those “rainy” days.  We were also fortunate, as the report showed, to have a generous bequest left for the parish for 2 consecutive years.  In 2011 was $41.6K and last year was $238.8K.  The finance committee suggested we set that money aside, with any money left over from the Capital Campaign, and put that into a Building/Maintenance Endowment Fund, where only the interest from the fund will be used and not the capital itself.  This will ensure that we will always have funds for the maintenance of our facilities to serve the mission of the Church and the Gospel.

The School also did very well in her mission.  In our accreditation review last year, by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) and the Western Catholic Educational Association (WCEA), they gave our school the highest possible rating.  I want to acknowledge Mrs. Carol Grewal, our principal, her faculty and staff for their hard work.  The visiting committee commended the school and parish for creating a community where “everyone is striving to provide a Catholic environment, where quality education is a priority, and where students are filled with the spirit of enthusiasm for learning.”  Our school counselor, Dr. Laura Nusbaum, has been teaching the Second Step curriculum to grades K-5, to help them develop social and emotional skills for social and academic success.  In addition, Spanish is part of our regular curriculum in grades 1-8 and besides sports, band and guitar classes are also offered after school.

Financially, our school also ended the year well.  Without the fundraising activities and your support, the school would operate at a loss of about $173K.  But with your help, the Mother’s Club success and grants, it put the school at a gain of $248.6K.  This enables the school to continually keep up with the pace of technology for our students, update the Science classrooms and bathrooms, as well as consider how to expand the Kindergarten program into a full day program.  Currently, it’s a half-day program.  This gain also helps us to keep tuition cost down.  The current tuition is $6K per student per year, but the actual cost to educate each child is $7,750.  So, thank you for your support to our parish and school.  We hope that you find through this report, that along with the staff and the Finance Committee, we are trying to be good stewards of the gifts you’ve entrusted to us.

Peace,

Fr. Dan

Saints Among Us – At the Saturday vigil Mass and at the Sunday’s 9:30am mass, Saints made their appearance at our Church.  Familiar saints like St. Francis, St. Anthony, St. Therese of the Little Flower and even Mother Mary came.  Lesser known saints like St. Isabella of Portugal, Blessed Kateri Tekawitha and the Archangel Gabriel were also present.  Over 30 students from the 3^rd grade as well as students in our CCD participated and came dressed for our annual parade of saints.  I want to thank the coordinators who have helped us celebrate this wonderful feast in a delightful way, they are:  Marie Detweiler, Stacey Simpson, Michele Armanino, our 3^rd grade teacher, Sr. Catherine Cappello, our Religious Education teacher and coordinator for the public school students, and Dianne Marquez, our Music Coordinator.  And to the parents who made saints out of their little ones, good job!  Hopefully they’ll all one day be true saints.

Pray for our Expectant Fathers – Please keep Bro. Roger Gustafson and his San Francisco classmates, Mark Doherty, Andrew Spyrow and Tony Vallecillo, in your prayers.  On November 9, 2013 @ 10am, they will be ordained as Transitional Deacons at St. Pius Church in Redwood City.  If all goes well, the 4 of them will be ordained as Priests for the Archdiocese of San Francisco on June 7, 2014, at St. Mary’s Cathedral.  Bro. Roger was a Lutheran growing up, drifted away from his church as a teen, but became a Catholic after college.  He has a Doctorate degree in Religion & Social Ethics as well as in law.  He practiced employment discrimination law in both Atlanta and San Francisco.  In August 2004, sensing that God was calling him to the priesthood, he discerned the call and after some guidance, applied and was accepted as a seminarian in August 2009.  This year, he is doing his pastoral field assignment with us at St. Brendan, and he has showed himself as an outstanding preacher that is both engaging and inspiring.  But hold him, his classmates studying for other dioceses, as well as all seminarians, that they may stay true to the movement of the Holy Spirit in their lives, and respond with generous hearts as our Blessed Mother did.  “Be it done to me according to your Word.”

San Dimas Ministry – Last 2 Saturdays, San Dimas Ministry held their training in our parish from 8am – 5pm.  Their ministry is to the incarcerated and 13 volunteers participated.  Besides Bro. Roger, our own Sr. Angela Furia and 2 other Seminarians from St. Patrick’s attended.  The coordinator who did the training for this ministry, Julio Escobar, said we had a good group this year.  The teens in Juvenile Hall need some positive good role models, and the volunteers who love them unconditionally give them a little bit of light that can be a ray of hope in their sometimes darkened world.  They can be  unruly and undisciplined during visits, especially the younger ones, but when it comes time to pray, they are among the most sincere and make the most heartfelt appeal to God.  Hold them too in your prayers because as the saying goes, “There, but the grace of God, goes I.”

All Souls – the parish will remember your beloved in a Novena of Masses for the dead.  But remember to hold them in prayer yourselves.  Perhaps you can gather as a family and say a rosary for 9 days for family and friends who have died.  But the prayer that is most effective is the offering of the mass for a loved one.  Whether you ask the priest to include your beloved in the intentions, or you hold the intentions in your own heart when you come to mass, God and our beloved hears our prayers.  St. Augustine wrote, “by the prayers of the Holy Church, and by the salvific sacrifice, and by the alms which are given for their spirits, there is no doubt that the dead are aided, that the Lord might deal more mercifully with them than their sins would deserve.”  So let us remember the souls of our faithful departed, that they may rest in peace.

With prayers and blessings,
Fr. Dan

Candidates for Confirmation – I want to congratulate our 8^th graders who will celebrate their enrollment as Candidates for Confirmation at this Sunday’s 8 am mass.  Do you remember your own Confirmation?  Did anything special happen to you when the Bishop prayed that you may eceive the gift of the Holy Spirit?  At the first Pentecost, St. Luke the evangelist reported that they (the apostles) “were all in one place together. ² And suddenly there came from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind, and it filled the entire house in which they were. ³ Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire, which parted and came to rest on each one of them. ⁴ And they were all filled with the holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim” (Acts 2:1-4). 

That was certainly not my experience.  In fact I felt a little disappointed that I did not feel anything special.  But just because I didn’t feel anything different, it doesn’t mean that something special didn’t happen.  For example, just because we didn’t feel anything different when we celebrated a birthday milestone, like our 5^th or 13^th or 21^st or 50^th, it doesn’t mean something special didn’t happen.  In fact, as I grow in age, I’m coming to a greater appreciation of the gift of the Holy Spirit that I received in my teens.  So often in life, we have to face some difficult decisions.  My earliest struggle was to choose the direction of my life in College.  What to major in?  Which direction to take in life, to stay with a certain field of studies or to choose a different one?  As I took these questions to God, I found that the Holy Spirit speaks through the ordinariness of human events and life.  It is the guidance from family, school counselors, friends and the still voice inside that helped me to find my way.  The prophet Elijah, when he was looking for God’s guidance, he didn’t find it in the strong and violent wind, nor in the earthquake or fire, but in a “light silent sound” (1 Kings 19:11-12).

The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) teaches us that God speaks to us in the depths of our hearts, through our conscience:  “Deep within his conscience man discovers a law which he has not laid upon himself but which he must obey. Its voice, ever calling him to love and to do what is good and to avoid evil, sounds in his heart at the right moment.... For man has in his heart a law inscribed by God.... His conscience is man’s most secret core and his sanctuary. There he is alone with God whose voice echoes in his depths” (CCC #1776).  So although at my Confirmation I didn’t experience anything extraordinary, but very subtly, I’ve grown to open my heart to learn to listen to the small quiet voice inside of me.  As one person beautifully summarized the difference between praying and meditating, praying he said is us talking to God.  Meditating is learning to listen to God. As we learn to listen to that still small voice of God’s Spirit calling out to us and obey it, our lives will be richly blessed.  And so my prayer for all of us and for our teens in particular, is that as they prepare for the Sacrament of Confirmation, they may learn to listen and obey God’s Spirit, who desires to lead them to the fullness of life.  Congratulations 8^th graders.  Choosing to follow and serve God is the best choice I’ve ever made in life and I’m sure it will be the same for you and for all of us.

With prayers and blessings,
Fr. Dan

Installation of Advisory Board Members and Ministry Officers and Coordinators

I want to express my gratitude to the men and women who volunteer to serve on the Parish Advisory Board as well as Coordinators or Officers of the various parish ministries.  Members of the Advisory Board serve as a cross section of our community and help me in the strategic planning and implementation of various programs to help our parish be effective in her ministry.  In our survey of the parish done a couple of years ago, the Advisory Board helped identify 5 areas that we needed to focus:

Spirituality – to help the parish grow spiritually

Leadership – to give parishioners the opportunity to serve in leadership capacity within the parish

Stewardship – to create opportunities for parishioners to use their time, talent and treasure in the service of God and neighbor.

Social Ministry – to serve not only the needs of parishioners, but the community at large

Hospitality – to welcome not only new parishioners, but to help long time parishioners feel welcomed and appreciated as well.

They have helped our Pastoral Staff stay on course.  For example, in the area of Spirituality, Sr. Catherine Cappello has developed a Religious Education program for non-parochial students.  The Sunday Children’s Liturgy of the Word continues to grow.  We’ve used the opportunity of the Year of Faith to welcome speakers, form a faith sharing Book Club and even plan a pilgrimage to help deepen our spiritual lives.  And we continue to look into how we can help our teens deepen and practice their faith.  In the areas of Leadership and Stewardship, we’ve used the Ministry Fair to help parishioners know of possible areas they can use their time, talent or treasure.  From past fairs, we’ve been able to help connect a ministry need with an interested volunteer.  Some volunteers who serve in the Advisory Board, or Finance Committee, or as Lectors were “recruited” through their sign-ups.

We continue to look for ways to serve our Community.  Sr. Sharon, last year, met with Catholic Charities and St. Vincent de Paul, and recruited many youth of our parish to work on a garden on Treasure Island so the low income residents there would have access to healthy organic vegetables.  She also led a group to work with Habitat for Humanity.  We serve the teens at Juvenile Hall and Fr. Mike and I have been praying for homicide victims and their families in the City.  In different ways, we try to serve beyond the immediate needs of the parish.  Through various community events, such as Parish Picnic and Thanksgiving Dinner, we strive to foster within our community a welcoming spirit for the “new” and the “old.”  So the Advisory Board Members have been invaluable to me.  They are:

Deidre O’Bryan (Chair) - Donna Mohr (Vice-Chair) * - Jose Farran

Amy Feasy - Molly Magnano - Neal McGettigan

Ann Marie Miller - Paul O’Leary - John Powers *

Angie Riordan - Jim Sangiacomo * - Jim Wollak *

The names with an asterisk denote they are new members to the Board.  New Officers or Coordinators this year in different parish ministries include:  Kevin Morrison, President of Men’s Club, Karen Pierotti,

President of Mother’s Club, Michelle Browning and Megan Golinveaux as Chairs for the Under 5 Group and Paige Olson and Deborah Nysather as Chairs of the Welcome Committee.  At this Sunday’s 11:30am Mass, they and the other officers or coordinators of the various parish ministries will be installed and in some cases, reinstalled.  I want to thank them for their time, talent and treasure that make our St. Brendan community strong and vibrant.

Gratefully,

Fr. Dan

Dear Parishioners,

As a Catholic school, St. Brendan Parish School has made significant efforts to form generations of caring, committed, educated Catholics. While facing challenges in continuing this role of passing on Catholic Identity, St Brendan Parish School has done an exemplary job by providing programs and services to enrich the academic program and support the development of student and family life.  In this document I would like to cite ways the school administration, faculty, and parish have helped to make faith come alive for members of the school community and to reinforce its Catholic Identity.

During Back-to-School Parent Conferences the faculty directly asked each parent how they were fostering the faith formation of their children. This partnership of faculty and parents working directly and cooperatively to form the Catholic faith is a ministry for both to the benefit of the students.

The school recognizes that parents, faculty and students must work together to effectively form Catholic faith within the student body. In cultivating the faith formation of St. Brendan Parish School families, a family prayer is now included in the weekly letter from the principal. Mrs. Grewal recognizes that parents are the most significant people in a child’s life and the primary educators. By praying with their children and helping them grow in their love and knowledge of God, the parents are gifting their children in the traditions of the church. The old adage, “A family that prays together, stays together” is appropriate here.

Modeling Christ-like living is another value that is important to the St. Brendan Parish School community. Our parents are extraordinary models of volunteerism in their support of the parish and school.  It was evident that the older students have caught this value and have seen how it has made their lives more meaningful. A number of students volunteered many hours at a CYO Treasure Island Nursery School. They cut and nailed boards to make planters, and installed an irrigation system at the nursery school for underprivileged students.  These children now enjoy freshly grown crops that they planted, watched grow, and harvested. Our St. Brendan Parish School students came away with good feelings that they have made the world a better place and the lives of others much happier. Giving IS better than receiving!

On a Sunday morning in September, a large number of students were commissioned as altar servers. The school worked cooperatively with the priests in preparing these students. In committing to serve the Church the families and students carry out service to the Church, and a dedication to Christ-like living.

When the Men’s Club sponsored a pancake breakfast for the parish, the Youth Ministry Students from the sixth, seventh, and eighth grade served as altar servers, readers, and ministers at Mass. Then they served food and stayed to clean up after the breakfast. Many people at the breakfast complimented the students for their efforts. Research indicates that children adopt the values not only of their parents but also of groups to which they belong. Our students involved in school and parish service are planting seeds. As they grow older, their Catholic faith will lead them to service to those in need in the world community.

St. Brendan Parish School continues to reflect and plan on how best to foster faith formation for the 21st Century. It is an ongoing process and requires that parents work in tandem with the school and the parish to bring the message of Christ and the teachings of the Church to our students.

Rosaleen Adams, School Advisory Board member