Two clergymen have been let go. A pair of church autos offered. About 20 lay employees have been terminated. It’s all of the Rev. John Ardis can do to maintain the lights on at Outdated St. Mary’s Cathedral, the primary cathedral in California and as soon as the tallest constructing in San Francisco.
It burned down a day after the 1906 earthquake in a hearth so sizzling it melted the church bells and altar, and now the historic church on the sting of Chinatown faces one more risk to its existence — the coronavirus pandemic. Donations have virtually fully dried up, and the Paulist Fathers, a Roman Catholic order of clergymen who’ve run the cathedral for properly over a century, owe $250,000 in insurance coverage funds to the Archdiocese of San Francisco.
“My associates, our beloved church is as soon as once more on the very fringe of survival,” Ardis wrote in a Christmas Day plea to the church’s dwindling variety of parishioners. “This time the adversary will not be fireplace however funds. If Outdated Saint Mary’s is to proceed to mild the best way for future generations, we who worth it right now should now turn into its front-line employees. We should discover the resiliency and willpower wanted to assist California’s oldest Cathedral survive these attempting occasions.”
It received’t be simple.
Pre-pandemic, the parish acquired about $3,500 every weekend in donations, about half from vacationers who sought out the 167-year-old church. That dropped to about $1,000 every of the eight weekends through the pandemic when Outdated St. Mary’s was capable of open to decreased companies. Donations all however dried up fully with the government-ordered shutdown of indoor worship.
The church will maintain its first in-person Mass in months Saturday night, after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that such companies might resume at 25% capability. However Ardis will not be assured the church can recoup the misplaced income or that its onetime regulars will return.
And Outdated St. Mary’s simply may be the canary within the cathedral, as different clergymen warn of wider monetary issues among the many archdiocese’s almost 100 parishes in San Francisco, Marin and San Mateo counties.
“A lot of our parishes are failing and can in all probability shut over the following 10 years,” the Rev. Joseph Illo of Star of the Sea Church within the Inside Richmond District wrote in his parish newsletter Jan. 31. “I feel lots of those that have stopped attending Mass through the pandemic won’t return.”
The archdiocese instructed The Chronicle that parishes are not any completely different from different companies going through monetary struggles due to the pandemic, however mentioned there have been no plans to shut any church, together with Outdated St Mary’s.
Nonetheless, mentioned spokesperson Jan Potts, “a number of of the downtown parishes are experiencing a great deal of monetary ache as a result of absence of vacationers and the native workforce that’s now sheltering at residence as a substitute of coming into San Francisco.”
Potts mentioned the pandemic has induced many church buildings to put off or furlough staff.
“The way in which the church is structured, parishes are anticipated to be self-sufficient,” she mentioned. “The archdiocese helps with centralized companies reminiscent of payroll and (human assets), and does have methods to assist parishes get by tough occasions.”
Prior to now, struggling parishes have been consolidated with others, retaining the bodily church buildings open however saving cash on decreased staffing.
The archdiocese seems wholesome general, with the central chancery reporting virtually $288 million in property final fiscal yr versus about $111 million in liabilities. However donations at parishes plunged 20% for the final 9 months of 2020 from the identical interval the yr earlier than, Potts mentioned, and the archdiocese has minimize the salaries of chancery staffers by a like quantity.
For almost a yr, the archdiocese and Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone have clashed with the town over COVID-19 restrictions stopping in-person spiritual companies. However even with the favorable court docket choice opening locations of worship, there’s little optimism parishioners will return quickly.
“Whereas the choice acknowledges our proper to return to in-person worship, the truth is that many individuals aren’t but snug doing that,” Potts mentioned. “Till COVID is underneath management we don’t count on to see a restoration to pre-pandemic standing, and we count on that can be fairly a while but.”
In April, the archdiocese acquired $1.87 million from the federal Paycheck Safety Program to assist hit payroll at its parishes. Outdated St. Mary’s acquired a few of that, which allowed it to pay staff by August, however then many had been positioned on furlough. That didn’t final lengthy.
“I’ve needed to terminate many of the employees and in the reduction of hours for others,” Ardis mentioned.
The church preschool, which as soon as had 35 youngsters, had simply 5 by October when it closed. 13 folks misplaced their jobs. Various 12-step applications utilizing the church’s assembly rooms shuttered, additional chopping into income. Solely a Chinese language-language faculty continues, remotely.
This week, the reward and e book store slashed costs by 25% to attempt to increase sagging gross sales. The employees already was minimize to only two folks working decreased hours. The church has half as many Plenty as earlier than, and the web connection is so poor the church has been recording companies on Saturdays and streaming them on-line the following day.
Ardis got here to Outdated St. Mary’s in July 2018. He created the primary on-line donor choice for the parish a yr in the past, however it hasn’t taken together with his flock of about 300, most of whom are over 70. The parish used to additionally get businesspeople filtering in from downtown who would usually donate.
“Will folks ever be working once more downtown like they used to do?” Ardis requested. “I’m undecided.”
The cathedral was inbuilt 1854 at what’s now the nook of California Road and Grant Avenue. The facade and bell tower survived the hearth that destroyed the remainder of the church the day after the 1906 quake, and companies started once more in 1910.
“It’s been 111 years because it was restored, and it wants tons and many ongoing capital enhancements,” Ardis mentioned.
A donor’s current reward was earmarked for the restore of a three-panel stained glass depicting the conversion of St. Paul. It possible will price over $100,000. The church has 78 stained glass home windows, many with holes and cracks from rocks and pellet weapons.
Paint contained in the church is peeling and chipped, and the moisture of the town has worn the brick facade and its mortar. Fixes may be costly as a result of constructing’s historic designation. When thieves stole the copper downspouts in 2018, the church wanted to seek the advice of the town’s Historic Preservation Fee for steerage on replacements. It took a yr.
Ardis has been balancing monetary considerations with the well being of his employees. The six remaining clergymen vary between ages 66 and 78. He minimize brief an interview to drive two of the oldest clergymen to the Moscone Center vaccine clinic to get their first coronavirus photographs. An 86-year-old priest died of COVID-19 in October.
Now the pastor spends his days in an empty church, reminding his brothers to show off lights when not in use. He’s not counting on a bailout from the archdiocese.
“The hope is that they don’t need to see us shut,” he mentioned. “They finally count on every parish to lift cash and function on their very own.”
The Rev. Michael Evernden, who teaches a category for drifting “B- Catholics,” got here to Outdated St. Mary’s from Portland, Ore. He loves being close to Chinatown — the church’s full title is Outdated St. Mary’s Cathedral and Chinese language Mission, and a few Plenty are mentioned in each English and Cantonese.
“I’d like to only keep put proper right here,” Evernden mentioned. “We hope to make it viable, however it may not be attainable.”
Ardis has reached out to the archdiocese. He hopes to search out potential donors who’re drawn to Outdated St. Mary’s for historic and non secular causes.
“My hope is we’ll have an extended future right here,” he mentioned.
Matthias Gafni is a San Francisco Chronicle employees author. E-mail: matthias.gafni@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @mgafni
