By Christina Gray
With bagpipes and lumpia, Irish soda bread and pupusas, hymns and hip hop, St. Finn Barr Parish celebrated its 100th anniversary Sept. 27 with a liturgy and festival that reflected the parish’s history of serving immigrant families in San Francisco.
“Over the past 100 years, this parish has developed into a remarkably diverse community,” said Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone, who celebrated the Centennial Mass at St. Finn Barr with five concelebrating priests, including current pastor Father Armando Gutierrez, and Msgr. John Rodriguez, pastor from 1987-1991.
On the first Sunday of Advent in 1926, St. Finn Barr Parish gathered for its first Mass held in a vacant store. The current Spanish architecture church located at the corner of Edna St. and Hearst Ave. was completed less than a year later on Oct. 16, 1927. Its founding pastor was Father Michael McLaughlin. A dozen pastors or administrators have served St. Finn Barr since, including Father Larry Goode, Father William McCain and Father Thomas Seagrave, the latter two now deceased.
The early parishioners were mainly Irish and Italian immigrants, the archbishop said, but has grown over the past century to include San Francisco’s new immigrant communities.
“All we have to do is look around now,” he said, taking stock of the community overflowing the pews. Some members wore the traditional garments of the parish’s Filipino, Latino and Myanmar communities; others wore hats and shirts affixed with a shamrock, symbol of Ireland, the homeland of the parish’s patron saint.
Parishioners and guests arrived to the sight and sound of a sole bagpiper at the entrance of the church named for St. Finn Barr, the first Bishop of Cork, Ireland. His feast day was Sept. 25. The bilingual liturgy included joyous Spanish-language processional and recessional songs, an offertory hymn in Burmese (the language of Myanmar), and a communion song in English. A girl’s choir from St. Finn Barr School also took part in the liturgy.
In his homily, Archbishop Cordileone talked about the legacy of St. Finn Barr, circa 550-623, who founded a monastery and school from which the modern city of Cork arose.
St. Finn Barr lived a long time ago, he said, but there is still a lot we can learn from him. Monasteries are centers of spiritual and pastoral care, preserving and developing learning throughout different periods in history and passing on the faith though education.
“We are the spiritual inheritors of this great legacy,” the archbishop said, paying special tribute to St. Finn Barr School, (K-8), which opened in 1962. The school was run by the Irish Sisters of Mercy until 1997, then by the Dominican Sisters of the Most Holy Rosary of the Philippines until 2003. Today, the Catholic school is under the leadership of lay administrators.
“How appropriate then, that spiritual education has left such a strong mark on the life of this parish,” said the archbishop. “For the past 64 years, this school has formed school children to live Gospel values according to the Catholic vision of engagement, which seeks to form the whole person, the spiritual, academic, physical and emotional dimensions of every child.”
Mgsr. Rodriguez, who at age 94 remains an active priest at St. Peter Parish, told congregants about his joy at being able to pay off a long-standing debt of $7,000 hanging over the school and parish during the early 1990s. “My memories of St. Finn Barr Parish are beyond wonderful,” he said.
Archbishop Cordileone said that an anniversary is also a time to look forward.
The work at St. Finn Barr is not finished, he said. “The vineyards still need workers” who will make disciples of all nations.
“There are still people in our neighborhoods that are seeking peace,” he said. “There are still newcomers who need to see they have a place at the table.”
A multicultural food festival followed the Mass in the Father Lawrence Goode Parish Hall with ethnic foods, dance performances, and a raffle.
Longtime parishioner and parish council member Alice Guidry said like many St. Finn Barr parishioners, the parish is embedded in their family history.
“As we celebrate 100 years, I’m grateful to all those who came before us and built the parish we have today,” she said. “My hope is that we continue to keep that same spirit of faith, family and community alive for generations to come.”
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