St. Francis Shrine reopens
One of the first executive decisions that Capuchin friar Father Gregory Coiro made when he was named rector of The National Shrine of St. Francis of Assisi was to order letterhead envelopes that declared the devotional church in North Beach “The Heart of San Francisco.”
Who could argue with him? It had been formed as St. Francis Parish on June 12, 1849, and Catholics gathered five days later for the first Mass said at the church, the city’s second parish after Mission Dolores. The Gold Rush was giving shape and personality to the nascent city, a year before it was formally incorporated and California joined the Union.
San Francisco is named for St. Francis and St. Francis is the patron saint of the Archdiocese of San Francisco. The present Norman Gothic church that bears his name, distinguished by handsome twin campanile, was dedicated March 17, 1860 at the same site at Columbus Avenue and Vallejo Street where the original humble church was built. It opens its doors to a broad demographic mix of locals and tourists as diverse as the city itself, and every day a parade of city workers and merrymakers passes by.
“What could be more San Francisco than that?” asks Father Coiro.
Closed for nearly a year for a seismic retrofit necessitated by the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake and re-opened on Aug. 10, Catholics of the Archdiocese gathered on Sept. 17 not only to mark the completion of the church’s strengthening and re-opening, but to rededicate themselves as the people of God.
“That is part of our calling, and something Francis always accentuated – the need for constant conversion,” said Father Coiro.
San Francisco Archbishop George Niederauer celebrated a 9 a.m. Mass – it was also the Feast of the Stigmata of St. Francis – and in his homily he noted that Francis was a rich young man, the son of a wealthy cloth merchant, who had said yes to Jesus.
“He followed in the steps of Jesus,”Archbishop Niederauer said. “Now, if you follow in the steps of Jesus they will lead you where they led him.”
He spoke of the “paradox of giving away in order to have” – something that did not escape Oscar Hammerstein II who wrote these words in “The Sound of Music”:
“A bell’s not a bell ‘til you ring it, A song’s not a song ‘til you sing it, Love in your heart wasn’t put there to stay, Love isn’t love ‘til you give it away.”
The archbishop added, “If we are generous to God with our days and our months and our years, He will be generous with us in eternal life.”
The congregation of the old St. Francis Church was multi-lingual, with preaching in English, Spanish, French and Italian. The rapidly growing congregation required a larger structure, and the cornerstone of a new church was laid Oct. 2, 1859, and the church rose over the original structure. St. Francis Church survived the 1906 earthquake, but the fire that resulted gutted the facility – although the brick walls, now made stronger, and towers stood. The restored church was rededicated March 2, 1919.
St. Francis Church was closed briefly after the 1989 earthquake, and its mission as a parish was discontinued. On Feb. 22, 1998, Archbishop William Levada re-opened St. Francis of Assisi Church as the City Shrine Church. In September of 1999, the National Conference of Catholic Bishops granted the church the title of the National Shrine of St. Francis of Assisi.
Father Coiro, 57, became rector on July 1 – he made a point of thanking Archbishop Niederauer at the Mass “for giving me a job” – after working for years as a high school teacher and counselor and for 10 years as a media relations specialist in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.
A native of the New York Borough of Queens and reared in Orange County, he said he is energized by his new role and the shrine.
“It is more than iconic. It is right smack-dab in one of the most vibrant neighborhoods in San Francisco,” he said. “There is a brass market on the sidewalk identifying this as part of the Barbary Coast. The church was founded for the 49ers. It really is in many ways the heart of San Francisco.”
Father Coiro added, “It is a place of peace and tranquility in an area that can be somewhat chaotic, in a city that can be somewhat chaotic. People come in all day and they look at the beauty of the building and the stained glass windows, they light a candle, they say a prayer. And I hope that after people have been here for a liturgy or just a private visit they leave with a sense of God’s presence and peace.”
The shrine is open every day from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and often later, “because people come straggling in and I don’t have the heart to turn them away,” said Father Coiro.
“We are all called to be converted, and part of that process is to become ambassadors for Christ, to become living examples of the Gospel,” Father Coiro said. After all, he said, one of St. Francis’ favorite expressions was this: “Preach the gospel always. Use words only if necessary.”
By George Raine
From September 24, 2010 issue of Catholic San Francisco.
