Posted on 08/20/2017 5:46:44 PM PDT by marshmallow
Father Joseph Illo came to be in charge of the Star of the Sea Church in San Francisco three years ago. He has revitalized the ailing parish with his powerful commitment to traditional Catholic practices. "I was fading from the faith and now I am back," said Mariella Zevallos, the new stewardship coordinator for the parish.
SAN FRANCISCO - On the solemnity of the Annunciation this past spring, San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone dedicated the Star of the Sea Church’s renovated St. Joseph Adoration Chapel, calling it “a pivotal moment in the history of the parish.” “We want to base the renewal of our parish around the holy Eucharist,” said Father Joseph Illo. “Our mission statement is to evangelize God’s people beginning with the gift of the holy Eucharist. That means putting a lot of energy into our music, our preaching, our Sunday Mass.”
Three years after Illo was appointed parish administrator in August 2014, bringing his powerful commitment to traditional Catholic practices to the famously progressive city, Mass attendance and number of parishioners registered have increased about 10 percent each year.
“For the first time in my life, I feel I belong to a parish, I mean really belong,” said Eva Muntean, Walk for Life West Coast co-chair, who organizes street evangelization twice a month at a farmers’ market not far from the church.
One of Illo’s first actions was to open the Romanesque-style church from 6:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. daily, improve the lighting and turn on the heat. “Now people can stop in, light a candle,” Illo told Catholic San Francisco, the archdiocese’s newspaper.
When he arrived, the parish founded in 1887 in the city’s Richmond District was struggling. Despite its location facing a busy boulevard, its doors were closed most of the day except for Mass times.
(Excerpt) Read more at cruxnow.com ...
Is Star of the Sea the original name of the church? If so, it might have been inspired by a popular song of the same name, written by Amanda Kennedy in 1883.
This is true of the religious orders, too. The modernist orders are all sending begging letters out to the faithful to support their retired members because there are so many of them compared to the numbers of entrants to the orders. The traditional orders and the contemplative orders are having to send out begging letters to raise funds to build new capacity to handle all the postulants.
Deo gratia!
Ping. They use the 1962 missal daily.
Well sure! There are a ton of nut jobs out there who only need a “safe space” to be comfortable nut jobs.
If the Jesuits were running the place it would be called the Star of Sodomy.
You can always tell the health a good, Catholic parish church by how often it offers the Sacrament of Confession.
Confessions are available before every Mass. “That’s brought a lot of people in,” Illo said.
Very good point.
Shortly after his appointment, Illo ignited controversy when he decided to train only boys and men for altar service going forward, coming at the time Cordileone was receiving negative publicity associated with Catholic high school teachers’ contract talks.
“Serving as an altar server is a feeder for the male-only priesthood, and helpful in forming boys in leadership, much as girls-only programs at many of our schools,” Illo said in an interview. Today the negative publicity has abated, and he said as many as 10 altar servers serve at extraordinary form Latin Masses.
Agreed: Servant-leadership along the path toward discernment of a (priestly) vocation: It shouldn’t seem like rocket science, but such common sense is a breath of fresh air!
Mary, Star of the Sea, is a very, very old title applied to the Mother of God. There are many Catholic Churches that bear this name.
https://www.trinitystores.com/store/read-more/mary-star-sea
Shortly after his appointment, Illo ignited controversy when he decided to train only boys and men for altar service going forward....
((
That alone is enough to make me love this priest. We now have adult women serving as altar boys in my church. ~~sigh~~
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