St. Brigid Church fights to reopen

by Emily Soares, The Independent, December 9, 1997

Three and a half years have passed since the doors of St. Brigid Church, on Van Ness Avenue and Broadway, were locked in July 1994. Amid the strident protests of more than 1,000 parishioners, St. Brigid was one of nine citywide casualties of the Archdiocese of San Francisco's 1993 decision to raise money by consolidating its parishes and selling church property.
     But while the church building is padlocked, the St. Brigid parish is still intact and hopes that the decision to close the church will be revoked.
     "They closed the building, but the parishioners are still there, and they're waiting for their church to open," said Robert Bryan, head of the Committee to Save St. Brigid and the attorney who has been fighting to get the church reopened. "We could open this church tomorrow and fill it," he said.
     Denise Nicco, a lifelong parishioner who graduated from St. Brigid Grammar School said community determination to reopen the church has not waned over the years. "We're well organized, well financed, and we're not going to go away," she said.

Keeping the faith
     The closure of St. Brigid was devastating for its 1,000-plus parishioners. "Some of them have gone on to parishes they were assigned to, some have stopped going to church." said Father John O' Connor, who conducts services in the St. Brigid School auditorium and whose uncle was once the pastor of St. Brigid.
     "People are still very angry about it. They feel betrayed," said Nicco.
     Parishioners are doing their best to keep the fight for the church in the public eye. Last July, donated banners reading "Save St. Brigid Church," were hung along Broadway. The Committee has its own newsletter and a web site that explains the plight and history of the church and posts upcoming events.
     St. Brigid members regularly join together for services in Fafayette Park and hold weekly meetings in the basement of the Russian Orthodox Trinity Church, at Green Street and Van Ness Avenue, which opened its doors to the displaced parishioners shortly after St. Brigid closed. Church members had been told they were not allowed to meet on St. Brigid property.
     Father Victor Sokolov of Holy Trinity Cathedral said he marveled at the determination of the St. Brigid parishioners. "It's so sad that they have to meet in the basement of another church. ... To shut down a living and vital community ... is blasphemous," he said.

Still no good reason
     In 1993, the archdiocese of San Francisco deemed St. Brigid to be a church that needed $4 million to $5 million of retrofitting in a parish it said wasn't bringing in enough money or worshippers.
     But parishioners conducted and independent seismic survey in 1994 and came in with a much smaller figure for repairs. Evenso, they offered Archbishop John Quinn, head of the San Francisco Catholic Archdiocese at the time, to not only raise money for a poorer church. But, they were told by Quinn that it was too much trouble.
     "My suspicion is that there was always another agenda that we couldn't see," said Nicco. Some speculated that the nine churches, including St. Brigid, were closed to cover the legal costs of a barrage of nationwide suits facing the church at the time, involving charges against priests for pedophilia.
     "It became cleat to all of us that it was all about the money," she said. "[The archdiocese] has lost credibility all the way through this process," said Nicco.
     Members of the church took their case all the way to the Vatican, but their efforts were only partially successful. In June, the Supreme Tribunal of the apostolic Signatura declined the parishioner's appeal, handling the case back to the local archdiocese with a surprise recommendation that Quinn's successor, Archbishop William Levada, review St. Brigid's situation.
     Maurice Healy, spokesperson for the city archdiocese, confirmed that any decision on the church would come from the city archdiocese, through he declined to say what that decision might be.

Salvation ahead
     However, parishioners take last year's reopening of three of the nine closed churches as a positive sign, hoping that it's just a matter of time before the decision to close their church is also reversed.
     "If this man can come in and reopen these churches, that tells your right there [that] there was something wrong [with the original decision]," said Mary Baynes, a member of the Committee to Save St. Brigid who moved to the parish with her family from Ireland 11 years ago.
     But time is of the essence. Many worry about the condition of the church and whether it is being properly maintained. Crews of parishioners regularly clean up around the building. "St. Brigid is a jewel in the crown of the archdiocese, and I don't want to see that jewel tarnished," said Bryan.
     Despite the lingering hurt, Nicco said she is confident that St. Brigid will reopen some day. "Three and a half years for some people is a long time," she said. "For a church, it's a blink. These things take time."
     On Friday, December 12, 1997, the Committee to Save St. Brigid Church will host a holiday banquet at the San Francisco Italian Athletic Club. A no-host cocktail reception will begin at 6:30 p.m., and dinner and dancing will begin at 7:30 p.m. The cost is $29 for adults and $12 for children. For more information, call 776-9492.