HOMEPAGENEWSPAPER ARCHIVE
They are the "wandering Catholics" of San Francisco, thousands of displaced parishioners who are resisting last year's closure of nine Roman Catholic churches and continuing to celebrate holidays such as Easter on their own.
For parishioners from the predominantly Croatian and Slovenian Nativity Church, their first Easter in exile will be bittersweet.
Instead of dividing up and going to other churches, they will gather at the Slavonic Cultural Center in San Francisco, where their priest will celebrate Mass and bless traditional Slavic Easter baskets of rolled pastry, bitter horseradish root and eggs - symbols for Christ's crown, the nails of the cross and the Resurrection.
"We felt that if we don't do anything, all the future generations would lack the warmth and the cultural connections we had in the church," said Ivo Ravnik, who helped prepare an appeal with the Vatican to reopen the Hayes Valley church.
Coping with the diaspora
San Francisco's Roman Catholic Archdiocese closed nine churches in The City last summer in a controversial cost-cutting measure that has embittered followers and driven some to stop attending church regularly.
"We never expected it. Terrible. Terrible. We're supposed to take what comes," said Antonia Udovch, who had worshiped at Nativity since arriving 26 years ago from what was then Yugoslavia.
"Our ancestors, my grandparents, even the recent immigrants put a lot of money into the church. They built it," said Ann Sustarich who, like many parishioners, does not believe the closures were necessary.
All displaced parishioners have been invited to join other houses of worship. However, last Christmas - and now at Easter - the Nativity parishioners wanted to observe their own rituals together.
Parishioners used to teach language classes to children at their old church and collect donations of clothes for Bosnian war orphans. They are still trying to conduct those activities outside the church.
David Joy, who belonged to St. Edward the Confessor in Presidio Heights, said he had been "wandering" among six or seven parishes since his church closed.
He knows of only two St. Edward families who have joined new churches. More than 400 displaced households keep in touch through a monthly newsletter, Monday to Monday: For Catholics in Exile.
Last Wednesday, 120 St. Edward parishioners celebrated Holy Week at the Star of the Sea Church, where they have gathered for funeral Masses and other occasions since their church closed. But they were unable to book the church for Easter Sunday.
"It takes a little bit of chutzpah, I guess, to ask another priest to share his altar," said Joy, who will spend Easter at Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Mill Valley, where his former pastor, the Rev. Edward Dullea, has been reassigned.
Joy, who is leading the drive to appeal to the Vatican to reopen St. Edward, belongs to the Catacombs Group, a network of dissident parishioners from the nine churches.
They chose the name, Joy said, because they felt a kinship with early Christians in the Roman Empire who worshiped underground - literally - to avoid persecution.
The archdiocese said it had been forced to close the parishes because of declining attendance and the prohibitive cost of seismic upgrades some churches needed.
"We still have some 45 churches in the city of San Francisco, so people do not have a problem finding a place to worship," said Deacon Bill Mitchell, archdiocese spokesman.
"People were assigned to churches, and those churches have made a real effort to reach out to those people, with full understanding that they grieve for their churches," he said.
The other closed churches are St. Brigid's, St. Joseph's, St. Benedict, St. Francis of Assisi, St. Thomas More, All Hallows and Holy Cross.
Too sad to start again
Dolores Williams, a former member of All Hallows in the Bayview District, said some parishioners would be going to a tiny chapel still open at the closed church, where a priest celebrates Mass.
"I'm very comfortable there," Williams said. But she added that she wouldn't be joining another church because she was so hurt by the closure of All Hallows, where five of her six children celebrated their First Communion, a daughter was married, and five grandchildren were baptized.
Williams said All Hallows was distinguished by a "unity of ethnic groups" she doubted she could find elsewhere.
"It would tear my heart to pieces to see that church torn down," she said, fighting back tears. "The windows are brand new. Thirty-three families paid $2,500 each for those windows, and the last one had just barely been in a month before the church was closed."
Linda Shah, of St. Thomas More, said fellow parishioners didn't plan to celebrate Easter together, although they usually meet every third Sunday for "tailgate hospitality" parties outside the locked church in the Lake Merced District.
While they await word from the Vatican on their appeal, they clean the grounds and catch up on news over coffee and doughnuts.
"I haven't really made up my mind yet where I'll go (for Easter)," Shah said. "A lot of people I've talked to aren't going anywhere."
HOMEPAGE