The fate of St. Brigid's sede vacante

Many have thanked me for my posts on the sad fate of St. Brigid's and the sad operation of the Archdiocese of San Francisco.  This morning's news suggests that this may be my last, for the appalling reasons reported below.  A decade of efforts to save the place as a parish failed, and, you will recall, the Archdiocese expressed self-satisfaction at having at least saved the building (by selling to the U. of the Academy of Art).  Now the sometime "owners" of the church are looting the place. (I place quotation marks around owners because, of course, in some places at this very moment theories of ownership of this kind are being contested by ordinaries eager not to be forced to sell).  Would this be happening if Archbishop Levada were still in San Francisco?  At all events, imagine what would have happened had the Chancery Office had it in for St. Brigid's all along. I respectfully dissent.  The Church in San Francisco has been her own worst enemy.

Calling for your help!

October 23, 2005 Dear Friends: We’re going to court early next week to protect St. Brigid’s interior from demolition until the city’s Board of Supervisors can act to declare the entire building, both outside and in, as a city landmark. But because of delays required by the city’s charter, the Board cannot act to protect St. Brigid for at least two weeks. So this week, after selling St. Brigid Church to the Academy of Art University, the Archdiocese has had crews in the sanctuary, tearing out statues and otherwise wrecking the church’s interior, racing to finish their destruction before the formal landmark designation takes effect, hoping, we presume, that what is already destroyed cannot be protected. They have done this in defiance of no fewer than three “stop work” notices from the city’s Department of Building Inspection, for violations ranging from doing work without a permit to subjecting their workers to potential danger from the piles of fallen asbestos ceiling tiles in the sanctuary. They have continued to try to do this, even as members of our committee have sat in the doorway of the church to block them from loading their trucks. Friday afternoon the San Francisco Police stopped them, for the afternoon anyway, from removing the artwork. The church’s treasures are, at this moment, staged just inside the door of St. Brigid’s sacristy, ready for quick loading into trucks. We suspect that the Archdiocese will attempt to remove these statues (even though they are now prohibited by law from even entering the building) before a judge can act to protect them. So we are standing vigil, day and night, by the church’s doors, until a judge can issue a restraining order. In the past few weeks they have ignored the will of San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors, its Planning Commission and its Department of Building Inspection, but we hope the Archdiocese will respect the will of the state’s courts. We need your help in two things: We don’t yet know the exact time or date of the hearing, but we hope you’ll be able to come to the State courthouse to show support (on short notice) early next week. When we get the time and date of the hearing, we’ll send another e-mail. Help us stand vigil at the church to keep the Archdiocese from taking out the church’s artwork. Please call to volunteer: 415-364-1511 and leave a message with your number. Thanks very much, Joe Dignan Committee To Save St. Brigid Church P.O. Box 641318 San Francisco, CA 94164-1318 Voice Mail: (415)364-1511 Web: www.st-brigid.org e-Mail: [email protected]