News - September 2024

I love being an altar server at St. Ignatius because of our community and how it helps me deepen my engagement with Mass. I started serving when I was 9 years old in Malaysia. Especially because I was so young, it drew me as a very special way to help contribute to a meaningful weekly event that my entire community looked forward to. The kind way of how adults and the Pastors would recognize me, made me feel like my gifts and time were a part of something bigger. Almost 30 years later, I still find myself learning and helping out in any way I can as an altar server. I've learned more about our beautiful Christian traditions when we ask why is liturgy structured a particular way. It stirs respect for the incredible men and women who have served over the past 2000 years in shaping our weekly gatherings of praise and worship. I've found myself gaining a deeper appreciation for the different roles that friends at church have during weekly Mass. As a server, I've gained a perspective for how I can get involved with other ministries at St. Ignatius. You really get to know a lot of people! At the end of the day, as a server, I've found myself growing spiritually closer in my faith to God. That feeling alone is worth everything. Spending Mass serving in the sanctuary and singing the hymns in unity with the choir is an incredible experience I invite you to try once. All ages are welcome. I feel grateful for how wonderfully diverse our server community is. No prior experience needed. We serve together as you learn the ropes. Matthew Lee, Altar Server at St. Ignatius Parish

It’s been such an honor to serve as a liturgical minister for the past year and a half! I answered the call to serve for two reasons. I was ready to give back to a loving community that enriched my spiritual and personal wellbeing, and I wanted to practice public speaking. Serving is very easy and worked wonderfully with my schedule. I attended a brief training session that helped me to understand the process and I also learned a valuable skill — read a lot slower than you would think! There is an online system where I specified the dates and times I was available. On average, I was selected to read once a month and I have the option to swap with someone or request a sub if something last minute comes up. To prepare, I spend about 10 minutes on the day of Mass to look over the reading, connect with its meaning, and practice reading a couple of times out loud. I encourage you to consider being a liturgical minister and sign up! Not only was I able to fulfill my goals, but I soon recognized that this was an amazing opportunity to connect on a personal level to the Word, connect with the community in reading the Word, and connect with my fellow ministers! Thank you! Ermine Teves, Lector at St. Ignatius Parish

When I moved to San Francisco in 2018, the stars aligned just so that I landed a block away from a church quite similar to the one I had grown up in. I was recruited for the choir within my first weeks in town and that small, tight-knit community supported me with familiarity and comfort. But, a pandemic and a move across the city left me searching for a new church to call my home. It was just about then that my dear friend Sofia said something to the extent of “You must come to St. Ignatius with me, it is truly special.” And at this point, I may be biased, but who couldn’t agree with that statement? Each homily beautifully proclaimed, the sweet hospitality offered each week, a gorgeous physical space, affable parishioners; but my favorite part of all - the music; and the amiable musicians whom I am so grateful to sing with each week. Singing in the choir at St. Ignatius feeds me in a way that is different from any other church choir I’ve been a part of. The warmth of the community feels familiar; all are welcome and encouraged and uplifted, whether this is your first time singing in a choir or the umteenth time. What stands out is the wide, varied, and carefully selected repertoire, the elegant instrumentation, and high level of musicianship to which our beloved conductor, Maggie, holds us accountable to. Music here at St. Ignatius is such a beautiful, intentional, and integral part of worship; it feels really meaningful to be a part of. In life, it seems as though there are always barriers to making a commitment and trying the new thing. We are tired, we are busy, we are so, very busy. But I’m here to tell you that this ministry is a flexible one. So if you’ve been noticing even a whisper of curiosity about getting involved as a music minister at St. Ignatius, I urge you, please come check it out! Talk to Maggie, come to the open house, join us for a rehearsal, you won’t regret it, and we will be so happy to have you. Andrea Donahoe, Music Minister at St. Ignatius Parish

On behalf of the Community Commision, I invite you to consider serving as a greeter. A number of years ago there was an invitation to become more involved in our parish, and I became a greeter because it is important to me to make our parish community a welcoming one. I appreciate receiving a welcome as I enter the church. As a greeter, there is an opportunity to meet parishioners and offer a welcoming experience for all people, celebrating the parish community that makes up the living body of Christ. It is a small but important commitment. I have gained so much more than I have put into it. This is our parish, and we are called to serve. Please consider being a greeter.Sign up on the website, today! Michelle Tapia, Greeter at St. Ignatius Parish

In my homily last weekend, I shared one of the primary lessons my extended family taught me at the dinner table when I was a child. Whether it was around my Sicilian grandmother’s dining room table, or at the kids’ table when we gathered with the aunts, uncles and cousins on my mother’s side of the family, it was important – essential, actually – to regularly get everyone together as a family. It was monthly with Nana and Grandpa and more or less quarterly with the Sparrys. And all those dinners were command performances! It was around those tables we learned what it is to be family and that, while we were bound by blood and a common ancestry, those alone would not make us family in a deep way. It was while eating THE BEST Italian food in the world that I watched family members with different deeply held convictions forcefully argue with one another, not change their minds, and move onto other topics where their respect and affection for one another were evident. It was there that I learned that I could peacefully live with the frustration of a cousin who always tried to cheat at card games, because he was so dear to me. These lessons were only possible because of the time we spent together at those tables. And those dinners were magical, in a way. The smell of good food permeated the houses. The warmth of laughter and shared stories filled the rooms. As a kid, I know my parents heard me say too often, “Do I hafta go?” But as the years went by, like my siblings and cousins, I came to treasure those dinners. Nana was not a theologian, but she knew intuitively why Jesus asked his disciples to remember him with a meal. And the Sparrys didn’t have theology degrees, but they understood the importance of gathering the whole family together – to be a more tightly woven family, to be a family rooted in love, a family that belonged to one another. Last weekend, I recalled an experience I had while presiding at a special Mass on Pentecost Sunday five years ago. Because we had a special celebration that day, many people who usually attended other Masses came to the 10 am. The church was packed, and the singing filled both the great space above us and our hearts. Joy and the Holy Spirit were palpable. Then we adjourned to a great feast out on USF’s Gleason Library plaza. That experience helped me to understand at a “felt” level why the women in my family required those dinners so long ago. That was the inspiration for St. Ignatius Parish’s Home4Dinner events. That Pentecost Sunday was extraordinary. I also believe deeply that God enjoyed being with us in that special way that day, and enjoyed that we were together in that special way. In order that the experience would not be a one-off, I extended Nana’s “warm obligation” to all parishioners to come Home4Dinner once a month for four months in the fall and winter of 2019-20. Those Masses and “dinners” provided God the opportunity to bind us more deeply into a parish faith community. I believe that God wants to do the same with us now. Though we are bound by our common baptism and our faith in Jesus, just as my relatives needed time together to become family, so we need to spend time together to become the Body of Christ in the world. I am asking all St. Ignatius parishioners to join us for Home4Dinner four times this year. The first one is next week. There will be only one Mass that weekend, at 10 am, followed by “dinner” in McLaren Hall on the USF campus. Please plan to join us. In order that we have enough food, please sign up using the QR code or find the link on the website and in our email newsletter.. The event is free, but if you would like, you may make a donation to offset the costs of the meal. Also, we need your help to make Home4Dinner happen, so please sign up to help this week or on the day itself. And bring a friend! I look forward to seeing you there. In the meantime, oremus pro invicem.