The following comes from a February 8 SF Gate article by Kevin Fagan:
In a dingy little Tenderloin kitchen, two French-speaking nuns have devoted the past eight years to feeding the homeless, with their only income being what they eke out from selling handmade pastries at farmers’ markets.
The sisters of the Fraternite Notre Dame Mary of Nazareth Soup Kitchen sleep in a tiny room in the back and do nothing but sell their baked goods and feed the needy. But that’s about to change.
The nuns are in danger of becoming as homeless as the downtrodden folks they help — the landlord, Nick Patel, is evicting them. He raised their rent by more than 50 percent, they can’t afford it, and the lawyers are fighting it out.
It looks like the nuns have about one month before they must hit the bricks. And practically everyone whose lives they have touched is incensed, from the hungry homeless to those who run other nonprofits.
“This is just crazy — I can’t believe it,” said Douglas Fennell, 60, who was waiting in line Monday with about 30 people for a lunch of sausage, mixed salad and cherry-topped cake. “Maybe someone is just trying to drive us homeless people away. I don’t understand.”
Since founding their soup kitchen in one of the scruffiest stretches of the poorest neighborhood in town, the sisters have expanded to feeding lunch to 300 people three times a week, and dinner to 500 people twice a week.
“We don’t look for — what do you say? — publicity,” said Mary of the Angels. “We are only here to serve.”
The sisters’ lawyer, Daniel Fitzpatrick, said the building’s owner wants the nuns to pay the higher rent or leave. Fitzpatrick is fighting the eviction, pro bono, on the grounds that the soup kitchen is also the nuns’ residence because they sleep in the back.
Fitzpatrick said the rent was raised from $3,465 to $5,500 a month as of Jan. 15, and he advised the nuns to fight it. As it is now, he said, they can barely meet the lower rent by selling their pastries.
How can one provide some financial support to these very good women?
John Soldati started a Go Fund Me page:
https://www.gofundme.com/hy84m3ju
This is pathetic. Leave the good holy nuns alone, you liberals from Hades. If they were Moslems, you would be turning over backwards in order to help them. But because they are truly Catholic, you wish to destroy them. It just shows the holy sisters are doing God’s work. But, where is the voice of the Catholic hierarchy? As usual, it is silent.
Father Karl, YOU are pathetic. Liberels are not evicting these nuns. Liberals are trying to keep people in their homes and trying to keep them from being evicted. You are pathetic in that you think it is liberals who want to evict low income people and people like these nuns who want to promote life. Pathetic, yes you are.
Ah, YFC, scratch a liberal and you’ll find a fascist. And an uncouth one at that.
AH YFC the mask comes off….Liberals are the worst creatures ever to infect humanity with their presence..When every last tolerant liberal is made to pay for their crimes it will be a great day in history….
ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF GREED THAT IS TAKING OVER THE CITY AND THE ENTIRE BAY AREA!!! SHAME ON MR. PATEL,
I WOULD LIIKE TO SEE THE ARCHDIOCESE COME TO THE RESCUE!!!
One could reduce one’s weekly parish contribution, if one lives in San Francisco, and remit the difference to the Nuns. The difference in rent is only $1,465 per month. So it would not take a huge number of parishoners to cover that. Or perhaps the good Archbishop has a piggy bank he can raid.
Archbishop’s hands are tied due to the fact that these “nuns'” order, Fraternite of Notre Dame, based in Chicago, is not sanctioned by Vatican, not a legitimate
Roman Catholic religious order. They are lead by a French “bishop” and do in fact have many successful outreach programs helping the poor around the world. Most dedicated and faithful, a very admirable group of nuns nevertheless. They deserve all the help we can offer, Catholic or not.
The problem is that without a lease the landlord can raise the rent almost anytime he feels like it. I’ve looked up Mr. Fitzpatrick. He is an experienced real estate lawyer. I think they’re in good hands.
Maybe Our Lord wants them to leave; a coming chastisement upon San Francisco?
Send them my way. We need them.
May God our Lord in His infinite and supreme goodness be pleased to give us His abundant grace, that we may know His most holy will, and entirely fulfill it.
*
How can we help these good sisters? Does anyone know how to start a GO FUND ME Page?
Is this a fair rent in San Fran? It seems outrageous to me.
It is outrageous for this part of the city. Drug infested, gun fights on the street. The neighborhood police do take special care of these nuns. God bless them.
Commercial rent is whatever the market will bear. Fairness has nothing to do with it.
Ask Trump or Romney. I’m thankful the kitchen I work out of is leased from a deli where the owner’s family owns the building.
Isn’t rent control supposed to prevent this??
Rent control only applies to residential. This is zoned commercial but their lawyer argues that because they seep there it’s really residnetial.
Actually, rent control causes shortages.
These women may be doing wonderful work. Has anyone bothered to determine if they are Roman Catholic nuns? Their website says “traditional Catholic” but if you check wiki, they are not under canon law nor recognized by the Vatican.
It is pathetic when nuns are forced out of the buildings where they pray, live and work. It is also a shame that this web sight does not screen the vicious attacks made by YFC and other liberals. Whenever they disagree with what someone writes, they use mean and nasty words which are scandalous and un Catholic. To write scurrilous things about a priest is terrible, and just shows who coarse mainstream Catholicism has become.
Oh calm down Pilar. All I said was that this is not liberals doing this, and to suggest otherwise is a lie. Do you promote the telling of lies? Is the telling of lies “Catholic”? No, the telling of lies is pathetic, at the very least.
As a self-admitted practicing homosexual, YFC, you are not a true guide to what the Catholic Church teaches and has always taught. Your slant on things (and it is obvious) makes you an untrustworthy guide.
A lie is a lie is a lie. And if that lie comes from a heterosexual, it is still a lie, and just as much an intrinsic evil as any other.
If a person, in this case it seems to come from a priest, makes a claim that is completely made up and has no basis in fact, it is a lie. Decide for yourselves. My own sexuality is irrelevant in this case. A priest who lies is an untrustworthy guide, IMHO.
Let’s see if I’ve got this: Catholics here seek to allocate resources created by Mr. Gupta to their own interests and they dare call it Charity. Mr. Gupta seeks to allocate resources that he himself created and they dare call it Greed. How interesting, how sad, how Vain!
[The above should read “Mr. Patel” not “Gupta.” My apologies, Mr. Gupta(s), old friend(s), I was responding from memory.]
Let’s see if I’ve got this straight [this time]: Catholics here seek to allocate resources created by Mr. Patel for their own interests and they dare call it Charity. Mr. Patel seeks to allocate resources that he himself created and they dare call it Greed. How interesting, how sad, how Vain.
The banks and Wall Street are backing the liberals. Many landlords are liberal, and only want to see profits. If one is conservative, and a real Catholic, the liberals desire to destroy what is traditional. These nuns, even they are just under one bishop, have a right to exist. They are doing great charitable work, but are targeted because they are Roman Catholic. This would not happen to a Moslem group, so you liberals who are light in the loafers, quit attacking priests and others with whom you do not agree.
Herman – We know nothing about Mr. Patel. Is he liberal , conservative or apolitical? He likely just wants to maximize his profit. It would be nice to know if the nuns had a lease and it expired. I think a Moslem charity would get the same treatment.
Derp.
A blogger named ‘Andre’ has written about the Patel Real Estate group – mostly one extended family. Does Anyone Know why the ‘nuns’ aren’t official. and if the same extended Patel Group is evicting the ‘nuns’?
SEE
“Patel “Monopoly” in San Francisco?
https://patelmonopoly.blogspot.com/p/research.html
The following data is research on the Patel family in San Francisco and their properties. It documents relations between the various hotel owners with the surname “Patel”. I compiled this information entirely by myself using publicly accessible resources such as whitepages and google…
To view a table of confirmed monetary contributions to politicians by the Patel family visit the online spreadsheet here.
(Updated…
The nuns aren’t “official” because they follow a conservative splinter bishop who was ordained without the permission of Rome.
The only thing we need to know about Mr. Patel is that this is his property.
That said, Patel is a common surname in the hospitality industry, but they’re not the same family a la the Hiltons.
Moslems and sodomites are treated much better than Catholics. The persecution of Christians in the United States has begun. Let us see how many will stand up and fight against the godless masonic government to ensure more of our God given rights are not taken away.
I am sick and tired of liberal sodomites, who write silly comments and put down those who have shared a conservative/traditional opinion. These burned out wackos from the hippie movement get their jollies attacking those with whom they disagree. They are Pharisees who are quick to point out the ideas of others, but put themselves up as Keeper of the Keys. If you can’t say something without attacking the messenger, then do us a favor and cease your ad hominem attacks.
Liberals abhor the truth, especially ‘Catholic’ ones. They are trying to remake the Church in their own image. When they see a traditional nun, they go nuclear and ballistic. They think the state should be taking care of the poor, and not the Bride of Christ. The liberals are the ones running Wall Street, because wealth and power are their gods. Because they are addicted to mortal sin, their reasoning is flawed.
Liberals are mean and nasty. All they are concerned about is mammon, power and fame. They are proud, and they praise themselves for being sinners, with no intention of conversion. Having no contrition, they mock those who struggle in this valley of tears. They judge all those who politely admonish them for the sins they openly confess to committing often. You know who you are as you use this site often to try and destroy the Catholic Church. Ave Maria Purrissima !
Jesusita, my “liberal” friends say the same thing about conservative republicans, and that is the trouble with our country right now. Half the people hate the other half. We need to get to the point where we accept the fact that others have different opinions and we need to get together to discuss the issues without ranker, rather that with charity and mercy;.