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August 28, 2015
Tom BurkeHaving not stepped far from Catholic schools her entire life, Natalie Cirigliano is staying her path as new principal of Holy Name of Jesus School, San Francisco.
Natalie is a graduate of St. Catherine of Siena School, Burlingame and Mercy High School, Burlingame.
“I believe that giving your child the gift of a Catholic education is one of the greatest things you can give your child, and one that continues to give your entire life,” Natalie told me via email. “I will forever be thankful to my parents for investing in the Catholic school system and me!”
Natalie holds a graduate degree in Catholic educational leadership from the University of San Francisco. She completed undergraduate work at UCLA.
“I am very excited to be joining the Holy Name community which is very rich in tradition and history,” Natalie said. “I look forward to continuing to strengthen this community while building on the already strong and impressive academic program it offers.”
Natalie looks to have all Holy Name students feel supported and encouraged. “I want all of my students to be resilient and hardworking young adults whose daily actions reflect values of faith, compassion, empathy, and confidence.”
Natalie not only attended St. Catherine’s and Mercy, Burlingame she has taught at both. She was assistant principal and dean for student life at Mercy as well as History Department chair. She taught junior high grades at St. Catherine’s where she is also an active parishioner.
HALLOWED SPACE: San Francisco’s St. Dominic Church is on ground picked especially by Archbishop Joseph Sadoc Alemany, himself a Dominican, in 1863. Churches were built on the site in 1872, 1887 and the current structure in 1928. “It is a Dominican hallmark because it is committed to Dominican spirituality and was founded by the Dominican Order,” Elizabeth Skelton, director of the St. Dominic Docent Program told me in an email.
Docents became a part of the parish landscape in the mid-1980s during the first phase of St. Dominic’s seismic rehabilitation project “as a way of bringing people to see the beautiful interior treasures such as magnificent stone and wood carvings and stained glass windows,” Elizabeth said. Docents from already existing programs at St. Mary’s Cathedral, Grace Cathedral, and Temple Emanu-El were great helps in getting things going, Elizabeth said.
“We provide docent led tours of the church’s interior and exterior with thorough explanations of all of the sacred art,” Elizabeth said noting all docents are well trained for the work. “Membership allows us to support in a specific manner what we all designate as our spiritual home.”
Docents seek to acknowledge the remarkable artistry in the church among its wood carvings, stone carvings and stained glass. They try also “to honor the architects and engineers who brought into being the ancient ‘flying buttress’ remedy for the highly acclaimed neo-Gothic building and the invisible to the eye, steel rods encircling the interior of the church.”
St. Dominic’s pipe organ was built in Boston in 1909. Not far from the console is a room nearly four stories tall that contains almost 4,000 pipes ranging in size from 32 feet long to smaller than a pencil.
“This love of the work itself, of the materials, of the process of creation is the glory of St. Dominic’s Church,” the parish website says. “Each piece of art is an individual treasure. Together they form this exquisite offering of prayer and praise.” St. Dominic Church has been called “a sermon in stone.” Visit www.stdominics.org.
IN IT TOGETHER: Concern for creation and the poor with Mary Evelyn Tucker and Jesuit Father John Coleman on Pope Francis’ new encyclical, Sept. 3, 7 p.m., Xavier Hall, University of San Francisco. Mary Evelyn unpacks the invitations and challenges of the encyclical with response from Father Coleman followed by questions and small group discussion. RSVP to um@usfca.edu; (415) 422-4463; visit www.interfaithpower.org/usfclimateevents; parking in the Koret parking structure, southwest corner of Turk Boulevard and Parker Avenue.
Email items and electronic pictures – jpegs at no less than 300 dpi to burket@sfarchdiocese.org or mail to Street, One Peter Yorke Way, San Francisco 94109. Include a follow-up phone number. Street is toll-free. My phone number is (415) 614-5634.