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Divine Word Father Henry Noga, pastor, blessing the St. Kevin Archives in ceremonies June 10, 2017, at St. Kevin Parish. (Courtesy photo)
Jan. 17, 2020
Tom Burke
Catholic San Francisco
It might be a few years away but San Francisco’s St. Kevin Parish has already started getting ready for its 100 th anniversary in 2022.
“No date has been set but it looks like it will be in November the month in 1922 when Father Holohan received his letter of appointment as first pastor,” Catalino Echiverri, chairman of the St. Kevin Pastoral Council, told Catholic San Francisco. Father Thomas W. Holohan would serve until 1926 and be succeeded by 13 priests as pastor up until the present day.
The current pastor is Divine Word Father Henry Noga, who came to small neighborhood parish in the Bernal Heights district in 2016 and has joined in with the centennial planning.
“When Father Noga heard about the centennial he gave us a room at the parish to serve as a centennial archives,” Echiverri said. “We are using it to gather pictures and other memorabilia for the celebration.”
The preserve was blessed by Father Noga in ceremonies June 10, 2017, and is dedicated to “the memory of all those who through their time, generosity and talent, built and sustained the church, its facilities, and its programs and to future generations on whose shoulders the vitality and success of St. Kevin Parish rest,” says a plaque remembering the day.
Much of the video and pictures already on hand were collected for the funeral and other rites that marked the death of Msgr. James E. O’Malley, pastor of St. Kevin from 1967-93. Father O’Malley died May 28, 2012.
“After Father O'Malley died, we had a good collection of material gathered that should be preserved,” Echiverri said. “We didn't know who would be in charge of the parish in a decade or what they would want to do so we just continued collecting information.”
Another celebration bringing pictures and footage to the centennial roll is from the 90 th birthday of Marie Annuzzi who served as St. Kevin parish secretary for more than 50 years retiring in 2017. Both Marie Annuzzi and Catalino Echiverri are lifelong St. Kevin parishioners.
The video and audio from Msgr. O’Malley’s funeral includes events from years gone by and tributes including remarks from Suzanne Hockel, a longtime St. Kevin staffer who died Dec. 24. Parish halls at St. Kevin are named for Msgr. O’Malley and Marie Annuzzi.
St. Kevin today is a community of 140 households. “Back in the day we had about 600,” Echiverri said.
More recently, a band of St. Kevin folk went to visit retired Father Jack O’Neill who served at St. Kevin as a parochial vicar and is now living in San Rafael. “It was a fantastic visit sharing many, many fond memories,” Echiverri, who was on the mission, said.
Father O’Neill celebrates his 53 rd year as a priest in 2020. He is former pastor of parishes including St. James, San Francisco; Sacred Heart, Olema; Our Lady of Loretto, Novato.
Good news for holders of relevant St. Kevin footage in dated formats: “We can digitize Super 8 movies and VHS or other analog records,” Echiverri said. “There are parishioners who have long since lost their ability to view their old movies because their machines are broken or obsolete. Digitizing can be pricey, but we do it for free if they let us use a copy for the archives. There's some great footage that we've collected that way.”
Visit www.facebook.com/stkevin2022. Pictures and memories of St. Kevin are welcome, email stkevins2022@gmail.com.