‘We shouldn’t be shut out of church’: Large Catholic demonstration in S.F. demands reopening - San Francisco Chronicle

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More than 1,000 people gathered at Civic Center Plaza in San Francisco on Sunday, converging from Catholic parishes throughout the city and then marching to the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption on Gough Street in a protest that demanded the immediate reopening of indoor services.

Places of worship were closed in the city for almost six months after the mid-March shelter-in-place order. Even though the state has said San Francisco can reopen churches at 25% capacity, Mayor London Breed announced last week that one person would be allowed inside churches at a time for prayer.

“Does that make sense to you: one person indoors at a time in a church? ... Is there a rational basis? Nobody has given me a rational basis for that,” said Archbishop of San Francisco Salvatore J. Cordileone before leading a Eucharistic procession to City Hall and uphill to the cathedral. “We can worship safely inside of church. We want to do it responsibly. We don’t want to be reckless. We’ll follow safety protocols that work and are effective. We shouldn’t be shut out of church. It’s a natural right protected by the First Amendment.”

The right to worship indoors has become a flashpoint between the church and the city, which has reprimanded the Archdiocese of San Francisco at least twice since the pandemic began for violating coronavirus health orders. In July, as The Chronicle previously reported, the SS Peter and Paul Church hosted an estimated 100 people for an attempted indoor wedding, but a city attorney representative arrived and the ceremony was moved out of doors, with fewer people in attendance. Both bride and groom, as well as multiple guests, later tested positive for the coronavirus.

Cordileone called for people to participate in Sunday’s demonstration during a Sept. 13 homily on the Cathedral Hill Plaza.

And they showed up in large numbers.

Fifty-person groups from St. Patrick Church on Mission Street and St. Dominic’s Catholic Church on Bush Street made it to Civic Center Plaza before 10 a.m., having navigated scaffolding and onlookers as they prayed aloud.

As the St. Patrick group approached City Hall, hymns could already be heard from three blocks away. The groups merged into a 500-person gathering that held signs saying “We are essential. Free the Mass” and filling the plaza more than halfway.

Another group marched from the Mission District behind a truck that blared the same message in English and Spanish. That group more than doubled the size of the crowd.

Cordileone prayed over the crowd and started walking toward the cathedral in a procession that needed police escorts as it shut down traffic due to its size. Mostly masked and somewhat distanced, the group prayed, sang and discussed their demands during the nearly mile-long hike.

“If we can’t be inside the church, it’s just not the same. There’s no sense of being in a sacred place and sharing a community. The house of worship is irreplaceable,” said Vincent Desbieys, who drove from Santa Clara to join the demonstration and has worshiped in the parking lot of Our Lady of Peace since mid-March. “We’ve been very patient and civilized. But now, it’s time to open.”

Among the group’s gripes is that liquor stores have remained open during the pandemic and retail is now allowed to operate at 50% capacity. Breed is allowing outdoor religious services for 50 people and has said that the city hopes to allow indoor worship services of 25 people by Oct. 1.

Twenty-five people is less than 1% of St. Mary’s capacity, and the assembly there Sunday filled every plaza, veranda and courtyard before stretching across Geary Street.

Taking a moment to look at the crowd while standing in the middle of Geary Street, John Cigavic of San Francisco said: “I think it’s obvious with this showing. People go to church for socialization, and they also go to church because that’s where they send their kids to school. The kids need to go to school.”

Cigavic, whose children are enrolled at the St. Cecilia School, said going to church or school virtually shouldn’t be confused with in-person socialization and fellowship.

“What needs to happen is to respect everybody’s views, and not just some,” he said. “If we can do that, and recognize that some people want to go to church and school and play sports, and take a reasonable approach to what needs to be done, then I think it would be acceptable. But what’s potentially unreasonable are decisions that are not fair to the children or anyone.”

A message requesting comment from Mayor London Breed or Director of Health Dr. Grant Colfax was not returned on Sunday.

California’s church service limits were challenged earlier this year by a Pentecostal church, which argued that houses of worship were being treated more strictly than secular operations.

In May, the U.S. Supreme Court sided with the state in a 5-4 decision. Chief Justice John Roberts said that the court shouldn’t second-guess elected officials when it comes to public health decisions.

“I don’t know why we’re being picked on,” Cordileone said. “We’re here serving our people. We want to be good neighbors and partners, so I don’t understand why they’re imposing these restrictions on us.”

Rusty Simmons is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: rsimmons@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Rusty_SFChron

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