California Catholic Exclusive.
On March 13, 14, and 15, San Francisco’s Star of the Sea parish will host its 2017 Lenten Mission. Church pastor Fr. Joseph Illo explained that the Lenten parish mission will be focused on adoration of the Blessed Sacrament in anticipation of a new adoration chapel opening.
The mission will be given by Fr. Victor Warkulwiz of the Missionary Priests of the Blessed Sacrament. Fr. Warkulwiz has brought the message of the vital importance of Perpetual Adoration to hundreds of parishes throughout the United States and Canada.
Work on Star of the Sea’s St. Joseph Adoration Chapel has been going on for months. The parish currently has about 48 hours of consecutive adoration scheduled on Fridays and Saturdays, and is moving towards Perpetual Adoration. The chapel will be consecrated by San Francisco’s Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone on Saturday, March 25, the Solemnity of the Annunciation. The consecration will be preceded by a procession with the Blessed Sacrament around the parish.
The Adoration Chapel is just the latest initiative from Fr. Illo. Under his leadership Star of the Sea has become as radical a parish as exists in the Archdiocese of San Francisco. Masses are celebrated daily in both the Ordinary and Extraordinary Form. On Sundays, there are three Ordinary and two Extraordinary Form Masses. Since Ash Wednesday, 2017, all Masses are celebrated Ad Orientem— and the Church webpage links to a video explaining to parishioners what it signifies. Parishioners help monthly in San Francisco’s soup kitchens, and provide food and clothing to the poor at the parish. Star is one of the strongest pro-life parishes in the city. It is also one of the few, if not only, San Francisco Catholic parishes whose parishioners are willing to go out into the streets of the city and proselytize.
More than once Fr. Illo has said that “Eucharistic Adoration causes vocations.” There are two young men from Star who have discerned religious vocations: one is studying at St. Patrick’s Seminary now and the second will begin there in September. In April of 2015, a group of “prominent Catholics” ran a full-page ad in The San Francisco Chronicle demanding Archbishop Cordileone’s ouster; the only other cleric attacked in the ad was Fr. Illo because of his decision that only boys be allowed to serve at Mass. His reasoning was that that serving at Mass leads to priestly vocations. While one fellow-cleric said Illo’s move had “no justification,” Star’s two young seminarians at St. Patrick’s would seem to be all the justification needed.
To learn more about Fr. Warkulwiz’s Lenten parish mission, click here.
To learn more about the Consecration of Star of the Sea’s new Adoration Chapel, click here.
Good for Eucharistic Adoration. I’m not sure why CCD want to sully this effort by reminding us of Father Illos’s prior bad judgements with respect to female servers.
No female should ever be an “altar server” (just as no female can be a priest or ordained deacon).
Your ad hominem attack on Fr. Illo is unseemly.
Apparently you didn’t read my post. And by the way you are wrong about female servers.
Sully? Good grief. And, btw, you’re just promoting your own view about female altar servers. I’m of the mind that one should begin as one plans to go. Women on the altar serving goes nowhere.
When you return to the Catholic Church, we’ll take into consideration your “mind”.
There you go again, promoting your own view instead of reality. That said, the only “we” you represent is a band of fifth columnists.
OK, Ann Malley, I want to thank you for expanding my vocabulary. I had to look up what a fifth columnist was. I shall now use it in a sentence, as I was taught to do when learning a new word. “SSPX is a band of fifth columnists to the Roman Catholic Church, as they deny the necessity of Papal approval for priestly and episcopal ordinations.”
A fifth column is any group of people who undermine a larger group from within, YFC.
So, while your understanding regarding Papal approval and the Society is still somewhat askew, I applaud your small progress. The Society is not outside the Church. You have said it!
Excellent! While I appreciate the EF, I’m a proponent of the OF. With that said, my only criticism of the OF is that everyone during the Liturgy of the Eucharist needs to be facing the same direction, preferably East
Hopefully Father Illo’s celebration of the OF catches on.
And, to think, that this sort of thing was commonplace just a couple of generations ago (pre-Vatican II). Instead, I recall being chased out of a parish church, with the local priest saying, “go to a soup kitchen” if you wanted to do something holy. And, instead of the beautiful handiwork of true workers creating churches like, Queen of All Saints (Concord), the local clergy decided to “wreckovate” its traditional interior structure (to be more in keeping with the “spirit” of VII, presumably). An altar boy from long ago remembers what it was once, and the processions that were held. Watch your back, Fr. Illo; you are a good man and priest, but those in power will not like you (or your good Archbishop, either).
I have been blessed with knowing Fr. Illo. He is a Holy Priest living the Summorum Pontificum motu proprio ideal. Daily Mass in both forms daily, and 3 vs. 2 on Sundays. God was good to San Francisco.
Perhaps a gift to balance the heresies coming from Most Holy Redeemer Church.
So much different than when I lived there.
Every SF parish, though, should be like Star of the Sea. There is no reason to husband all Traditional resources and attitudes in one parish. Archbishop Cordileone, please Excellency, reach out to all other parishes; have them conform to true Catholic worship. Time to move out.
How I would love to be a parishioner at Star! It is a true Catholic parish and Fr. I’ll is a true shepherd.
I am going to remember Thoma Edward Miles in my prayers — may he convert his heart to the Catholic Church.
“Peggy”: You can, I believe, become an affiliate member. Contact the Church directly.
God Bless Fr.Illo and all he has done and is doing for Star of the Sea Parish. Yes, St. Boniface does feed
the hungry, clothe the naked, etc. but so does Fr. Illo. Also, St. Boniface does get financial aid from so many people. Without the money they continually receive, they would not be able to continue their charitable work.
The Franciscans do a wonderful job but many others do also.
A few years ago II heard an interview with someone about what they are doing at St. Boniface. While it is certainly commendable, the person being interviewed seemed to be of the opinion that what they were doing–feeding the hungry and letting them sleep in the pews–was more important than a Mass that was going on in the church. (I am in NO WAY saying they should not be caring for these people and even allowing them to have a “safe space” during the day inside the church.)
I think it’s unfortunate that Catholics are of the opinion that the helping of the needy is more important than our worship of Our Lord.
I hope they also have Adoration hours at St. Boniface.
Could it be, Audrey, that feeding the poor, etc. is a way to worship Our Lord? I once heard a very wise Priest say that you could worship God in your car, kitchen, etc. But you went to Mass to adore God in communion with your fellow Christians. The Mass is a communal rite, not an individual rite. Don’t you think that it is possible to save our sols by helping our fellow man, at least in part?
Could it be, Audrey, that feeding the poor, etc. is a way to worship Our Lord? No Bob One, atheist can feed the poor.
Sadly, many who sleep in church pews, in San Francisco, need State-provided permanent beds, in either mental hospitals, or drug rehabilitation centers. They need good care, and guidance to make a decent life, if possible! They should not be out on the streets, abandoned, eventually dying of terrible diseases, or dope-related causes, without proper medical intervention and care. Families, children, and the elderly, should not come to a church that is full of potential diseases— either from insect or rodent infestations– or human beings!! Where is the local County Heath Dept???
I hope that Eucharistic adorers who sacrifice their time, for love of Christ, and come to adore Him in late night or early morning hours, will have adequate protection, from any possible criminal activity! Sadly, I have known devout Catholics (especially women, or the elderly) who were brutally murdered, in these situations– and the police also have warned, that going to early Masses in San Francisco, especially on public transit, or walking– is unsafe!! Hope there will be adequate protection, somehow!! The East Bay churches have the same problem!! Scary!!
Adoration chapels led to a stunning drop in the murder rate in Ciudad Juarez Mexico. 3766 in 2010 to 256 in 2015, a local priest credits adoration. “When a parish worships God day and night, a city is transformed”, said Fr. Patricio Hileman.
God bless Fr. Illo and the work he is doing. Prepare for many vocations, San Francisco.
I find it strange to refer to Star of the Sea Parish as “radical”. I find that to be an extremely harsh word to use for such a blessed parish and pastor. Fr. Illo has turned the parish around and is doing an amazing job as pastor. He deserves to be praised.
Exactly why that word was used, I imagine. “Radical” is not negative. It connotes extreme change from the status quo.
As a native San Franciscan for many generations, I find it rather sad as Veronica stated that it is considered
‘radical’. I have news for the late arrivals…..San Francisco was always ‘radical’ for many decades when I grew up and before! With all due respect to people whom are ‘newcomers…. we were doing very well before the
real RADICALS came and hijacked the City of St. Francis!!!!!! My deceased family would be saddened to what has become the ‘norm’ in the City that they helped build!!
May God oneday defeat the Devil, and may Christ reign, in the City of St. Francis!
We in the Archdiocese are so blest to have a priest like Fr. Illo. Surely there is room for both forms of celebrating the Holy Sacrifice of the mass. Quit complaining and find the parish that suits your needs. And there is no better form of praising and adoring our Blessed Lord than at Eucharistic Adoration. Every parish that has EA has vocations. Praise be to the good Lord for pastors who foster Eucharistic Adoration.
Veronica I too wondered what was meant when Star of the Sea Parish was described as radical. Let us all pray for Star of the Sea Parish and Father Illo to continue the path that they have taken. Any Church that has Eucharistic Adoration or Perpetual Adoration will bring only goodness and faith abundantly to that area. May Eucharistic Adoration especially Perpetual Adoration spread across the the country to defeat the culture of death. Jesus Christ King of Kings Lord of Lords True God and True Man have mercy on this lost world. Pray America Pray!
I think in this context, “radical’ has a positive meaning. In this day and age, faithful Catholics have a need to be countercultural. Just look around at society, especially in San Francisco! This means being radically different!
Words like “radical” and “discrimination” (and even “gay”) have taken on unfortunate meanings in today’s world.
Given its Latin derivation [radix, or root], a literally correct translation of a “radical” is someone “going back to his roots”. Nothing wrong with that.
Well, OK, “radical” with its original ME and Latin root in “radix”, “root” is technically true, but it is a word example of transmogrification–something changing into a completely different meaning, esp. in political use and development.
Etymologyonline.com gives a condensed context: “Radical” (def). “Political sense of ‘reformist’ (via notion of ‘change FROM the roots’) is first recorded 1802 (n.), 1817 (adj.), of the extreme section of the British Liberal party.”
Or: It was once that conservatives were de rigeur labeled as “reactionary” in preserving the status quo: Now, it is exactly the opposite, that leftists are the true reactionaries, trying to preserve their faux revolution.
i attended a daily Mass at this Church and this priest said the Mass. He had a great solution to the “problem” of kneeling for communion. He invited all those who wished to receive kneeling to come to the altar rail first. Then those who receive standing came up and did the standard OF communion line. My parish does not have a communion rail but they could put a kneeler at the priests line and he could move in front of it or have a altar server remove it when those who wanted to kneel were finished. It would encourage kneeling but not make anyone feel coerced to kneel.
Should you ever invite Fr. Illo into your home, as we once did, he won’t leave until he has convinced you to pray a Rosary. A holy and good man. We helped with a small contribution to the Star of the Sea Adoration Chapel. A wise investment it seems.
After a Mass at another location in San Francisco I was standing outside talking to people when I noticed Fr. Illo (who had been assisting at the Mass) at the curb by a motor scooter. He slipped out of the cassock he wore over his black pants and clerical shirt, donned a leather (or leather look) jacket and a helmet, hopped on the motor scooter and headed back to Star of the Sea. What a great way to get around the city!
I, too, have supported the Adoration Chapel as well as the Oratory (that is now on hold). Much needed in the missionary territory of the now pagan city of St. Francis.
when I heard Fr. Illo was given a parish in “The City”
I thought “Agh – talk about pushing a Rock uphill.”
Today, it sounds like the headline should read:
“Sisyphus TRIUMPHS !!! “