By Valerie Schmalz
From face painting to balloon ball bouncing to sheer just running around, the Archdiocese of San Francisco Restorative Justice Ministry’s Christmas Angels party was a resounding success Sunday.
Just days before Christmas, 300 children and their parents were welcomed to a special party out of the rain and cold of an unseasonably wintery day to a cozy wonderland with music, pictures with Santa, pizza, lemonade – oh and presents!—at the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption Event Center.
The buoyant spirits included a group singalong of Silent Night with the Mater Dolorosa Children’s Choir, led by Restorative Justice Ministry coordinator Julio Escobar who rallied the crowd with a wave of his arm like a conductor, saying: “We’re going to sing this song in honor of Baby Jesus. We are going to do it on a count of three!”
“God gave us the greatest gift possible,” Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone told those gathered. “He gave us the gift of his son. What is important to God is that we give him the gift of our love. What pleases him most is spreading his love to others.”
The Christmas Angels party is particularly geared to children who have experienced some kind of trauma, whether violence via homicide of a family member or domestic violence or a parent or close family member who is incarcerated, Escobar said.
Some of the children’s fathers have been deported in the last year, Escobar said, and many of the children live in dangerous neighborhoods such as the Tenderloin, which makes the event particularly valuable to their parents who can bring them somewhere safe and welcoming and child oriented.
Both the Archbishop and Escobar spoke in Spanish and in English. Generous individual donations and a grant from the Archbishop’s Circle make the party possible. The many volunteers who set up in advance and worked on the day of the event come from local parishes and from the Restorative Justice Excell Program, a mentorship and scholarship program for formerly incarcerated.
In his remarks, Archbishop Cordileone thanked Julio and the volunteers, who he said were truly “Christmas Angels.”
