Quiet Heroes

Parishes thrive when parishioners step forward and take ownership. When this happens, in beautiful fidelity to Matthew 6:3, where we hear the command to not “let your left hand know what your right is doing,” the good people do is so often quiet and unnoticed. I’d like to point out some people who have made a wonderful difference, even though in a very quiet way.

It’s hard to notice an absence, I know, but have you noticed an absence of trash on the parish grounds, which are always so neat? There are no plastic bags blown around by the wind, no donut napkins on the ground, no candy wrappers or cigarette remains. The first person to arrive at the parish, early, early in the morning during the week, is Dane Henriksen. You’ve probably never met him. If our yards are neat, and trash is picked up and all looks orderly, it’s because of Dane. He has adopted the parish grounds as a place of beauty that needs constant attention so that it can be restful for people who bring their complicated lives onto this beautiful campus. His tools are rakes and blowers. He is a very quiet hero.

Terry Griffin, also an early riser on Sunday morning, walks from table to table in the courtyard, cleaning the accumulated dust from the decomposed granite. She brings a smile to this grungy work that always lights up my morning when I see her hard at work. Hospitality matters, and she makes it happen. For those who have come later to the parish, you might not know that Terry is an extraordinarily gifted artist. You can see an example of her work under the beautiful tabernacle. She designed the depictions of the California missions found on the marble slab of the tabernacle, to remind us of our founder, Padre Serra, and his many labors to bring the faith to this place. As one of the parish founders, among that generation of giants, she was part of the original environment team making the church beautiful. I have caught her with a can of paint and a brush, unobtrusively repairing the bases of the church columns. Ordinary bumps and bruises leave their marks on the columns, but Terry has taken ownership of our parish church, and the comfort of her fellow parishioners in the courtyard. She is an amazing, quiet, hero.

I don’t know if you can remember the two long white cloths that hung over the ambo during the Easter Season. They may have seemed simple in construction, but nothing could be further from the truth. The closer you get to the material, the more textured it looks, with gold flecks, and the more special you realize that they are. They rested this last weekend on the altar, just to bring them closer to our worship. A team of adults with diverse abilities and challenges spent months weaving them, not with an electric machine, but by the hand on a loom. They were an amazing work of art by weavers from Threadbender Textiles (www.threadbendertextiles.org) for the parish from people who are often in the background of society. Their handiwork of love blessed us every day in the Easter Season. They are our quiet heroes.

I’d also like to acknowledge the small but growing orchestra of talented musicians who have been making our Sunday mornings so very special. We have Kathleen MacAller on the flute, Lisa Barra on the synthesizer, David Cravens and Mike Garcia on the guitar. Mike Velasquez plays the base, Chris Kneisel and Naomi Bernardino plays the cello, Geri Lisanti-Levy plays the violin, Steve Burch plays the viola, and Karen Gatchel and Tom Romero play the clarinet. We have Butch Alandy and Ian Padolina on percussion, and young Sabas Guevara on the drums. Our amazing Dominic, often enough, writes their parts for them, where needed. All of their musical skills, so generously shared, their times at practice, offered so generously, are a sweet gift to us.
We get to live our lives with the soundtrack they provide us of sweet beauty. 

We have so much for which to be grateful in one another, don’t we?

​I hope you have found the place where you can add to ​the sweet music and beauty of Padre Serra Parish.

¡Siempre adelante!

Fr. Patrick Pastor