I believe the church, the actual structure, is sacred and
holy. I believe this because of what I
was taught growing up. Hearing and
learning about my faith, and believing it, naturally led me to believe in the
strength of the church; and has now led me to my job at The Gubbio Project and
wholeheartedly believe in our mission. Since
being at The Gubbio Project I have seen that our guests also believe our church
is sacred and holy; but they believe it for different reasons.
The other day I was making my round around the church to
make sure everything was running smoothly.
I finished outside in front of the church. As I was walking back inside a man stopped me
and thanked me. He thanked me for being
here. I started talking to him and he
told me about himself. He told me that
since he has been in San Francisco, he feels the safest in our church. He explained that growing up in areas
suffering from the injustice of poverty, it is hard to find a place that gives
a peaceful and positive vibe. He said
“even when I tried to hang around people who were positive, addiction and crime
found its way through.” I responded by
saying “that’s what the church is here for, to help you get some rest from all
of that”. When I said that, I was solely
and unfortunately just talking about St. Boniface Church. My favorite part of our conversation was when
he explained when he feels the most peace here. He said “I like sitting on the
steps here. Seeing how people look at
the church as they walk by just proves how sacred this place is”. I sat with him for a minute to see what he
was talking about. He was referring to
the countless number of pedestrians and cars passing by, making the sign of the
cross on themselves as they passed. It
was amazing sitting there with him. All
the people that passed by and stopped to say a quick prayer or just made the
sign of the cross as they passed reminded me of when I was a child. My parents taught me to do the same; to acknowledge
the church and make the sign of the cross every time we passed by one. But in this moment it was different. It felt good to me and our guest because to
us they were acknowledging the place that lets people in and gives them rest
and basic supplies. It kind of felt like
our own special version of cheerleaders and fans.
Another guest I see every day has a little tradition he does
before he leaves for the day. He walks
around to all the statues to check for money.
Every now and then he finds a good handful of change. One day, as we were beginning to close up, I saw
him making his round to all the statues; I saw as he would find some change at
a statue here and there. I heard him
thanking each statue. He then came up to
me and said- “I found almost a dollar.
The church knew I needed it bad today.”
The church was proving itself to him; not a priest, not the bible, the
actual structure is what makes his faith grow every day.
We see this all the time.
People who aren't Catholic, who didn't grow up religious, who don’t care
about religion, ask me how to properly put on holy water, ask me the words to
prayers. All because the church is there
for them.
Our guests have grown to respect our church. I hear people say all the time: “man, I don’t
care who you are and what you do, but don’t do that in here.” This church is performing miracles every day
and they feel it. The church is at the
beginning of their faith; it is extraordinary.
At St. Boniface Church I am honored to consider myself Roman Catholic.
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