It was an eventful summer. Among the many ups and downs, one of the downs for me was losing a very dear friend and priest mentor of mine since my years in the seminary. Msgr. Joseph Carroll, affectionately known by all simply as “Father Joe,” was famous in San Diego and beyond for his wonderful work with the homeless and the poor.
I visited Father Joe in July shortly before his death, and our conversation brought back so many memories of our long friendship. He began with a one-block piece of property in downtown San Diego, and ended up building what is now a veritable empire for the homeless. I still remember him articulating his vision as he started out with the first building: a center of many levels to accommodate different types of programs. It had to be safe, and beautiful, he said, because the homeless have dignity, and they need to feel that dignity affirmed before there can be any hope of them escaping from the cycle of homelessness and poverty to self-sufficiency. And I still recall very clearly, one night in conversation with a few priests after an informal dinner, one of them challenging Father Joe on his ambitious vision: “You are never going to do that, Joe,” scoffed his brother priest.
But he did not know Father Joe like I did. That only inspired him to work all the harder. And he did it. With the help of thousands of San Diego Catholics and others of goodwill whom he prodded and inspired, Father Joe built what (over his protest) is now called “Father Joe’s Villages,” providing child care, housing, job training, meals, and a medical clinic. As of 2020, it is the largest service provider for homeless individuals in the city of San Diego. His passing was mourned by all in San Diego. Even those there who otherwise have no regard for the Catholic Church say, “But Father Joe is different.”
He based his vision on his philosophy that human beings have souls, as well as stomachs. We need truth, goodness, and beauty to be healed and flourish; all three are necessary to repair a broken society and build a flourishing civilization. This is because the human person is an integral whole: goodness feeds the body, truth feeds the mind, and beauty feeds the soul. Perhaps it is beauty that is most lacking in the world today. We must dedicate ourselves to the service of beauty, reclaiming its power to heal and unite.
This is the Catholic vision. And we see it in action in the lives of all of the saints and heroes of our faith throughout our history. I think in this regard of St. Mother Teresa, who walked the streets of Calcutta to care for the dying. She could not save their lives. She often could not stop their suffering. But she could love them, and she did. The Catholic vision of human dignity suffused her life and her work.
And I think of what is happening here in our own Archdiocese. I’m so proud of my fellow Catholics in San Francisco, San Mateo, and Marin counties who donate their time, talent, treasure, and hard work to be the hands and heart of Jesus Christ to those who otherwise would have no hope.
I think of our Catholic Charities workers, who, alone, did not abandon the homeless early on in the pandemic, but worked themselves to exhaustion to provide them food, and transportation. I think of the staff, volunteers and benefactors who make possible their invaluable work of running shelters for women, for those with addictions, for the sick, and so much more.
I think of St. Anthony’s Foundation in the heart of the Tenderloin, which preaches by example. Every volunteer learns of the Franciscan foundations of their mission: to serve clients with love, because, as one worker said, “we may not approve of all their life choices, but we recognize the worth of every human being.”
I think of the St. Vincent de Paul Society, whose goal is “to help anyone suffering from the cycles of homelessness have the chance to get back on their feet, not just so they can get by, but so they can truly thrive.” Every day they shelter, feed, and support hundreds of homeless men and women, providing clean beds, warm meals, medical and mental health care, education, job training, legal aid, shower and laundry facilities, and free weekly haircuts.
Then there are the countless parish ministries. The St. Vincent de Paul Society, for example, in addition to its centers, also operates in our parishes throughout the Archdiocese, preventing homelessness by providing rental assistance and addressing other material needs of families at risk, doing so through the culture of encounter to which Pope Francis consistently urges us: parishioners meeting parishioners, in their homes, assessing needs and sharing the love of Jesus Christ.
Every Wednesday Most Holy Redeemer Parish in the Castro offers a free supper to approximately 100 needy invited guests, assisted by numerous volunteers from outside the parish. They feed not just the body but the soul, seating them at tables in small groups and serving the meal, in order to create a sense of community. (Even during COVID they have continued to distribute food to needy people outside, until they can return to serving them again at table indoors.)
For nearly 50 years, St. Anthony’s Parish in Menlo Park has operated a dining room for the needy out of their parish hall six days a week; parishioners also operate a clothing distribution center, which provides the basic apparel needs of women, children, and men two days per week. Our parishes also work in collaboration with other faith communities in offering their facilities on a rotating basis to provide temporary shelter to the homeless, such as San Francisco’s Interfaith Winter Shelter and (for the 10 years it was in operation) the Rotating Emergency Shelter Team (REST) in Marin County….
Our solidarity with the homeless and poor also calls us to pray for them, and pray for their eternal repose. Pope Francis underscored the importance of this gift of solidarity last January, when he asked us all to pray for the homeless who died on the streets….
And so, this Nov. 6 at 10 a.m., we will heed Pope Francis’ call and gather together in St. Mary’s Cathedral to honor, remember, and pray for the souls of all those who died homeless on the streets of San Francisco. November, of course, is traditionally the month especially dedicated to praying for the souls of the deceased in purgatory, asking the Lord to ease their suffering and get them into Heaven with Him, in His infinite mercy. A Requiem Mass is an opportunity to do just that….
A new painting by Bernadette Carstensen of the Patron Saints of the Homeless will be set up as a shrine, creating a sacred space for prayer. We will pray a new Litany to the Patron Saints of the Homeless, written by noted poet James Matthew Wilson.
I will celebrate this Mass, and I hope you can come.
It will be beautiful, and it will be holy. Seating will be limited due to COVID restrictions. (To register for free tickets visit BenedictInstitute.org.) All the usual protocols will be observed….
The above comes from an Oct. 28 release from the Archdiocese of San Francisco.
As much as I like the good Archbishop he just lost me when he mentioned the notorious LGBT parish Most Holy Redeemer, it should have been closed years ago.
I am glad to hear so many Catholics are helping them.
I was at a Church in SF and there were homeless people sleeping in the pews.
I had to use the bathroom and the bathrooms were locked.
I had to walk a block and a half to a Starbucks and buy an expensive coffee to use the bathroom.
I think of this every time I hear there is feces on the streets of SF.
Have the Mass for the dead but consider the living, too.
Unlock the bathrooms.
If you choose to live in SF or if you choose to visit SF, then you just have to put up with it. I made my decision over a decade ago to leave and never return.
Many long years ago, a beautiful, prominent SF church, run by a famous religious order, was one of the churches inviting the homeless (most were men) to sleep in the church pews. At that time, I happened to be involved there. I was very concerned for the safety of parishioners– especially vulnerable elderly people, and families with young children. The homeless brought disease, mental illness, dope addiction, and disorderly, bad behavior, right into the holy church– and this should be prohibited. These homeless men all desperately needed good medical and psychiatric services, and drug/alcohol rehab. services– plus much, much more. Their cases were extremely serious. Grown men are old enough to know, a church is a place of respect, and worship of God. Never a place to irresponsibly sleep in, or to disrespectfully desecrate.
I went to see the Pastor, who became very angry with my concerns. Other priests agreed with me. Still, the “bleeding-heart, hippie-liberal” Pastor refused to listen. Next, an older man was brutally attacked one morning, when going to the Sacristy, to help a priest with a weekday morning Mass. The parishioner was taken to the hospital– but the Pastor still stupidly refused to change his policy on homeless pew-sleeping. So I left, and never returned. I have no idea how things are at this church, today. It is one of the most beautiful in SF, unfortunately.
I think that California’s political and other leaders, really have no intention of cleaning up this state’s great many problems. There are far too many extremely incompetent, far-left liberals, in political leadership. They actually despise good, virtuous, hard-working, traditional, decent and good people and their families, with common sense, who are good, responsible citizens, and also, devout, conservative church-goers. They sympathize with sin, rebellion, dysfunction, violence, crime, immorality, evil and disorder. They actually despise God, responsibility, righteousness, morality, traditional man-woman marriage and children, common sense, order, decency, and normalcy.
I am afraid things will only get worse here, out-of-control — until a major breakdown happens. Best to leave this state, relocate to a good and decent “red state,” which has a well- established, conservative political leadership with “common sense” good, conservative laws, decency, normalcy, morality, righteousness, and a good way of life, that supports good, responsible citizens, traditional man-woman marriage and children, and good, decent schools for children, and supports the needs of the elderly — and supports religious believers and their needs and interests, too. The new place won’t be perfect– but you may be surprised at the niceness, common sense, normalcy– and wonderful absence of typical “Californiacated problems.” Peace of mind, and normalcy.”Blessed relief.”
The bathroom situation is similar all over the Bay Area, but the bigger service stations and grocery stores let one use the rest rooms. Just finding where they are is a problem in unfamiliar areas.
San Francisco was a fun place to take ones family before it decay — colorful street fairs with musicians, arts and crafts, great restaurants, chocolate factories, an aquarium and zoo. Then some stores started to sell illegal drug paraphernalia right in the open, more porn stores opened, and it was downhill after that. The city leaders did not clean it up because many of them were into illegal activity themselves.
A long time ago, I enjoyed reading all about the work of “Father Joe,” Msgr. Joseph Carroll, in San Diego. He sounded like a Saint, and his work sounded very successful! When young, we were all taught to pray and “offer up” for the sick, the shut-ins, the crippled, disabled, and the suffering and dying, for those who are all alone, and for those with no one to pray for them. And for those who are all alone, in hopeless, desperate situations, and are in danger of violence or death. The Poor Souls all desperately need prayers, offerings, and Masses, after death. Tragically, the dead who were homeless, usually have no one to even claim their bodies, bury them, or pray for them, after death. They would have so much more, if California would prohibit homelessness, and bad behaviors, and make them all go live in good places, and get their needs properly attended to. And have some “Mother Teresa”-type of spiritual help and prayers, during their time of final suffering and death, inside a decent hospice. With a decent funeral and burial, and prayers.
This is because the human person is an integral whole: goodness feeds the body, truth feeds the mind, and beauty feeds the soul. Perhaps it is beauty that is most lacking in the world today. We must dedicate ourselves to the service of beauty, reclaiming its power to heal and unite.
I think goodness is what is most lacking in some people. Truth is lacking in others. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder but San Francisco is beautiful.
I think the idea of beauty is being corrupted. People are envious of the beautiful people but everybody is beautiful but not everybody is truthful and not everybody is good.
I think God would rather we serve Truth and Goodness then Beauty.
Mother Teresa was not beautiful but Hollywood standards yet she is admired by all.
Spiritual beauty is absolutely stunning! And Mother Teresa had stunningly beautiful spiritual beauty in her love for Jesus, her Divive Spouse.