Hundreds Stand with Cordileone at Archbishop Family Support Day

Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco is greeted by supporters at the “Archbishop Family Support Picnic” (Photo: Lisa Hamrick)

Hundreds Stand with Cordileone at Archbishop Family Support Day | Gibbons J. Cooney | CWR blog

The picnic event was unusual for San Francisco: normal, multi-generational families, gathered together to honor God, the Church, and the leader who is promoting those truths in the face of virulent opposition 

On Saturday, May 16th, approximately 500 joyful Catholics of every age and ethnic group came together in San Francisco’s Sue Bierman Park to show support for the City’s fighting Archbishop, Salvatore Cordileone. The faithful were there to back the Archbishop’s ongoing efforts to ensure that the high schools under his jurisdiction affirm and proclaim the truth of the Catholic Church.

The day began at 9:30am with High Mass in the Extraordinary Form celebrated by Canon Olivier Menes of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest at the Shrine of St. Francis of Assisi. At least 100 of the faithful were in the Church as Mass began, and one attendee later told us that by the time Mass ended practically every seat in the church was filled.

At Sue Bierman Park, the faithful began to arrive even before the 11:30am scheduled start time. The event was called the “Archbishop Family Support Picnic” and that is exactly what it turned out to be: a big joyful family picnic. The grass of Sue Bierman Park was a checkerboard of blankets and picnic hampers, through which scores of children happily chased one another, holding helium filled blue balloons emblazoned with the motto “Thank You ABC!” 

Blue was the color of the day. Organizers had encouraged those attending to wear blue as a sign of solidarity, and even got special blue M & M’s printed with the Archbishop’s motto “In Verbo Tuo” (“At Your Word”). The faithful were of all ages: from infants in arms to grandmas and grandpas. The picnic was unusual for San Francisco: normal, multi-generational families, gathered together to honor God, the Church, and the leader who is promoting those truths in the face of virulent opposition. A number of the children were even seen running up to and hugging some of the police officers on duty. In a telling juxtaposition, the Archbishop Family Support Picnic was followed today by the City’s annual “Bay to Breakers”--ostensibly a race, but in reality an opportunity for hundreds of thousands of people to engage in drunkenness, drug use, and debauchery.

Although the event had the intimacy of a parish picnic--at one point a small group started singing Happy Birthday to one of their fellow-parishioners and all the surrounding Catholics joined in--it was a parish picnic with many parishes. 

Continue reading at www.CatholicWorldReport.com.