www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life Parish Life & Evangelization Our Lady of Fatima Russian Greek Catholic Church SF moving nearby

I see our website and Facebook have posted the announcement that Our Lady of Fatima Russian Byzantine Catholic Church is moving. http://www.byzantinecatholic.org/AboutUs/index.html

Our last Divine Liturgy in our current site will be Pascha. We have already begun packing and preparing for our move. By the grace of God we are able to remain in the Russian neighborhood, a few blocks from our current location. We will be in the old convent of St. Monica's Latin Catholic Church. There are many advantages to the new physical location, including especially being right on the main bus line, central heating and on site parking, none of which have we had in our current location. We will be in the shadow of the glorious Holy Virgin Cathedral where many of us go for Vespers and Moleben services.

I've posted photos which were taken in Dec. when we had our first tour of the facility. The walls of this lovely chapel were being worked on then. We have two spectacular views from our roof-- the domes of Holy Virgin when first entering the roof, and the whole panorama of the Golden Gate bridge, the Bay, the Pacific Ocean and the Marin Headlands [flickr.com] when turning north.

This is a big move for our tiny community. We pray the Mother of God will continue her protection of us under her Holy Mantle.

The SF Archdiocese has been incredibly helpful to us during significant changes over the past 8 months. We were given a much needed parish pastor i.e. administrator, Fr. John Greene pastor of nearby St. Monica's parish. I have mentioned here before how generous and supportive he and his parishioners have been, including buying us beautiful, much needed, new signage for our church building, which can go with us to our new location. In addition to the huge help of his administrative skills he has also come a number of times to concelebrate with us, including our Panikhida 11/2 in Porziuncola Nuova. It's impossible to convey the gift his support and his kindness have been to our parish, including to our wonderful clergy in this transition. Msgr. James Tarantino from the Chancery has also concelebrated with us several times, bringing important messages of support to us from himself and Archbishop George.

The Archdiocese very much wants to see us survive and God willing flourish and grow. Please pray for our community in the very significant period of transition. We are quite excited about this move, still, it is a lot for such a tiny parish to take on!

MaryLouise,

As the time nears, please keep us informed as to the actual move date, so that I can update the directory entry appropriately - and, of course, I'll be hoping for new exterior and interior photos with which to illustrate the revised directory entry.

May Our Lady of Fatima parish be blessed in its new home.

Many years,

Neil

As you see I've posted an exterior shot of the former convent, as well as a larger shot encompassing the large Latin parish church to the east of the convent. I mistakenly said the parish school is East of us. It is to the West, or the left in the photos, across the parking lot/playground which not shown in the photos.

As to the temple interior, we may be "living there" for a while before we figure out what to do for the temple arrangement. The chapel is smaller, and notably narrower, than our current temple. A couple of interesting conversions of small former RC convent chapels are St. Nicholas Russian Catholic Church [facebook.com]Victoria, Australia, as seen on their Facebook, and recently relocated Holy Resurrection Monastery, [facebook.com] former convent chapel as seen on Fr. Moses' Facebook.

We're excited to be coming to what is a beautifully built space in which the good sisters prayed for many years. We hope to give glory to God in a new way within these lovely walls. Working out a conversion of the space is likely to take some time. All our energies for now are on sorting and packing, and of course our prayers and services of Great Lent.

What we know is the space is ours! We're not going to be moving icon stands and all the other components in and out of closets in someone else's space. Over time we will make a real home there.


Thank you, Neil.
Please remember us in your prayers. It's an exciting move, but we are a tiny flock and there is much to do. The constant stream of visitors we have had in our current location which is severely parking impaired keeps us confident that we have an important role in the Body of Christ especially to our Latin Church brother and sisters. We also have Orthodox visitors not infrequently, and the occasional protestant. Happily these never seem to be disgruntled folks escaping something but rather are simply desiring to share the sacrifice of praise we offer in our humble community. May having parking available and being a few steps from the MUNI bus bring more of these to worship with us.

Y'all are moving? That sounds like good news to me. Its just too long of a drive to make it through downtown SF for me that early in the morning . With your new location I'll be sure to make it out there more often!

Is that you, C? Would be great to have you join us! I'm afraid our Liturgy will still be at 10AM, a whole hour earlier than Immaculate Conception. LOL

And we will be 3 blocks further out Geary, but on Geary and with parking.

You don't need to go thru downtown. Once over the bridge take 101 "Golden Gate Bridge", exit Fell St. where the freeway ends. Fell is a one way street, and the lights are all timed. A straight shot to Stanyan at 30MPH. Rt on Stanyan a couple blocks to Fulton. Left on Fulton. Fulton is also one way, and 35 mph with the lights timed straight through to 25th Ave. Make a right on 25th Ave. which is also reasonably quick 4 blocks to Geary. Right on Geary. St. Monica's is there. Enter parking on Geary or on 23rd.

Meanwhile... we're still at 20th and Lake, and I use the same route to OLF now, but it's a few blocks further to 20th & Lake and then the search for the coveted parking place. :-)

See you at OCF/PAOI tonight? Hope so.

MaryLouise,

That's a really nice exterior shot. The interior one also looks to be a good one (though I realize it will look different when the iconostasis is in place); however, I can't really visualize it well at the moment because the photo problem with the gallery is as yet unresolved (and probably won't be until John is back on his feet and can devote some effort to whatever needs fixing). I'll wait on the interior until that happens or the iconostasis is in place, whichever comes first.

Many years,

Neil

Neil-
Thanks for being so alert. But please don't post that interior. You'd give our dear deacon a heart attack. I just shared those shots as our first look at the chapel, and the exterior won't change at least from that vantage point. There is the teeniest bit of land, two pieces maybe a yard square each, which for sure our cleaver deacon will eventually transform in some way. Nothing as lovely as our garden at 20th. In those photos St. Monica's hadn't yet removed the altar or the statues and cruxifix from the chapel all of which are gone. Their crew is still in there making repairs.

We will still be at 20th & Lake through Pascha (old calendar). Nothing to change til then for our listing on "find a parish". As it turns out our altar won't fit in the chapel sanctuary there so we will have a new one built so we will be able to set that up in the chapel while still using the holy table in place at 20th Ave.

It's an adventure for sure.

The parishoners of St. Monica's are quite enthuiastic about us coming. It will be a totally unique situation for the Archdiocese to have two parishes, indeed to separate particular Churches, a Latin and a Russian Byzantine, on what is called a single "campus".

likethethief,

Are you at liberty to disclose the reason for the move? I love Our Lady of Fatima's and must admit to feeling a bid sad that you are moving, especially to what appears to be a smaller location for you guys.

I've loved the chapel ever since I first visited it many years ago. The last time I was there was for the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross 2010. (I miss though how the chapel originally looked before the remodeling.)

What are the plans for the current building? Will it be sold?

Will the beautiful outdoor shrine of OLF be set somewhere in the new location?

Hopefully, I'll get to visit again before the final move.

Be assured of my prayers and support for your community.

God bless,
GC

Congratulations!

My wife and I will always fondly remember our visit to the soon-to-be-former location, which I found to be quite beautiful. Your parish has remained in our prayers and it's so cool to see the answers unfold.

Once baseball season starts up again and I come to see my Giants we will definitely have to come see the new location.

Thanks to all for your prayers. We are very grateful them. Please continue to pray for us. We have MUCH work ahead.


We certainly have sadness at leaving the first home (but as we see not the final home!) of Our Lady of Fatima Russian Byzantine Catholic Church. Our temple is quite lovely. But the building itself does not well serve our purposes. Having no heat is not only illegal in the City of San Francisco but also often quite uncomfortable. I jokingly call us Our Lady of Sibera but seeing your breath form clouds when you chant is really not a joke. There are other major issues with the building making it inappropriate and in fact not possible to remain there.

Exaltation of the Cross 2010 may have been a large group, I don't remember. Such evening services usually are full of folks who have a Sunday commitment elsewhere. On a normal Sunday however we are lucky to have 8 parishioners "in the pews", often fewer, (as you know we have no pews" ) and another 7-9 in the kliros. Usually there are somewhere around 3-6 visitors.

There is plenty of room for us in the new chapel and room for "overflow" into the hall and entry hall with those three large arches on the right/south side of the chapel if we ever needed that for something like Pascha or some other really big occasion. The acoustics are great in the chapel and on into the halls. When you come visit you'll see!

We will dismantle the shrine and the icon, onion dome and lettering will go with us for future use. It is a piece of history coming to an end. I am often there on a weekday or Saturday and I can tell you people do come in to our garden and stand and pray at the shrine. It's too soon to know how we will use the dome and icon in the new site. The focus at the moment is a careful and prayerful dismantling and moving and temporary storage at the new site.


I can't stress enough how supportive the Archdiocese is being with us. They see us as a special gem and understand the unique place we have, teeny as we are in this huge Latin archdiocese, and indeed our unique place in the universal Church. As you know there are only 4 remaining Russian Greek Catholic parishes left here in north America. We take our history very seriously and we are committed to this parish which we all love very deeply. The Archdiocese continues to show us its commitment to helping us sustain our little Church.

I have been moved to tears many times by how the archdiocese has come forward to help us in this very critical time in our life. I already sound like a broken record when it comes to Fr. John Greene and his parishioners at St. Monica's, the significant care and kindness they have shown and continue to show us.

I hope you will come worship again with us before the move and after!!

And please do pray for us. This has been a very challenging time, but now that we know where we are going and have begun the process of moving, we are switching to exhilaration and ready to see how we will thrive in our new home, whatever new challenges await us there.

The change brings both great loss of something special but very great hope for a place we can actually sustain and in which with God's grace where we can grow.

I was glad to read what I think I read which was that your church would be moving after Pascha on the 'old calendar'. Does this mean that unlike the BCC and other Greek Catholics you follow the Julian Calendar for the Pascalion? How is this permitted by Rome as it puts the Russian Greek Catholics on a different cycle from the rest of the Catholic Church?

I know some UGCCs are on the Julian Calendar. I don't know how common it is but I believe I had been told at one point that some of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Dioceses are like Johnstown in that there is a Mix of Gregorian and Julian.

OLF uses the "Revised Julian". I've never been able to find out if we began old calendar and then switched to revised Julian, or new calendar and switched the Revised Julian, or always Revised Julian. It would not surprise me if we were always old calendar for Pascha whatever that case was.

I go to an OCA parish for many festal vigils and Great Canon etc. which is also on the Revised Julian so it works perfectly for me. The Greek Orthodox around here have the same calendar, tho I haven't seen it called Revised Julian. The OCA in Berkeley, closer to my home, is on the old calendar as is the Holy Virgin Cathedral (ROCOR) in our neighborhood. Our parishoners who live in SF tend to go for Sat. Vespers etc. to Holy Virgin or to Holy Trinity Cathedral OCA, which I'm pretty sure is also Revised Julian.

I discovered because of a question asked on another forum that it seems OLF is the only one of our 4 Russian Greek Catholic parishes in the US which is on the Revised Julian. The other 3 Russian parishes are on the new calendar all year. I also see from some dates on their Facebook that St. Nicholas Russian Catholic Church in Australia is on the old calendar.

I can't see any reason why it would matter to Rome which calendar we are on, although the message from Rome since before the second Vatican Council and reinforced by V2 has been to return faithfully to your roots, which to me clearly would be to celebrate the Pascal season on the Julian calendar used by virtually all Orthodox for that.

It's more pronounced during pre Lent and forward, but in fact all year round we are on a different calendar from Rome because our saints days are totally different from the west about 99.9% of the time, and of course all the scripture readings in Mass are different from the readings in DL, and we have the whole Epiphany vs Theophany difference, and fasting year round which is unrelated to the Western praxis. I mean, we're different Churches... right? But in communion with each other. Throw in the Personal Ordinariate [usordinariate.org] which I assume will be using their Anglican feasts and saints, and orders like the Dominicans which may follow their own optional feasts and readings... The idea that some Catholics (and others) have the "everywhere in the world today in Mass you'll hear the same readings", for example, is simply not the case.

(I know that isn't what you're addressing DMD but it does come up, as if "Catholic" means everything the same, "universally", in all the world. It ain't. )

Job already has mentioned that some UGCCs are on the Julian Calendar. I know St. Elias [saintelias.com], Brampton ON is one that is.

I can't speak for any other ECC but in our case the Latin Archdiocese which we are "under" has said to us that they consider us "a self governing Church" and that they basically are there to help when asked, but otherwise have never come looking into our business.

Please remember us in your prayers as we continue to celebrate our final days of services at 20th and Lake. There are many recent photos up on our Facebook [facebook.com].

Last night, the reading of the 12 Gospels, was quite stormy weather. At the words "the veil of the temple was rent" there was a clap of thunder, unusual around here. There was more thunder and lightening at well timed moments in the remaining readings. I was hoping the electricity would go out and we'd be left only in candlelight. (I think our clergy who had already served over two hours St. Basil Divine Liturgy and aren't so young were I suspect glad to have good light for reading and navigating the narrow space. )

We were extremely blest to have all three priests and our beloved deacon for both these services yesterday. All three of our priests are Latin Church clergy, with faculties to serve us, so they have their own significant Latin Church duties which have kept them quite busy on that calendar as well. It's a profound testament to the gifts of the Holy Spirit that they receive in their priesthood, and to the great gifts of our Byzantine services, and to what special individuals each of them truly is, that they choose to come and celebrate with us in the course of such demanding schedules.

Our clergy have been a true beacon of hope and love in this very challenging time of transition.

After months of hard work we are probably 90% moved out of our location with just what is needed for services and our meals this week left inside the building. (We haven't begun unpacking at the other end, another huge amount of work ahead.) We continue to have visitors as we always have had. Our first Saturday DL this past Sat. I think we had 20 visitors for Liturgy and agape meal. They were still arriving during the consecration, so hard is it to find parking at our present location. With a parking lot, being right on the major MUNI bus line, and only two very easy steps at the parking lot entrance we are hopeful our new location will make us much more accessible for visitors, and for our own parishioners some of whom struggle with the many stairs at our current location.

I've been blest to have the time to be actively involved in the moving process. This has included some direct contact with various Russian Orthodox in our area. The response I've had has all been so positive. It's been very moving to have a number of them come to our location for the first time, and also to hear reflections by others of past, good, relations with our parish. The Mother of God in her protection of us has been so good to us. Being able to remain in the traditional Russian neighborhood with this move is a great gift. May we prove worthy of it.

Apropos the above description of the thunder coming at the words "the veil of the temple was rent", check this out: "San Franfrazzled: Once-in-a-lifetime picture of lightning striking iconic bridge [dailymail.co.uk]". No wonder the traffic on the bridge was so terrible when we drove home at around 10PM. The tunnel that goes through Yerba Buena island between the two spans of bridges was flooded.