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Jimmy Alvarado, Archbishop Cordileone and Liam McInerney are pictured Feb. 8 at St. Mary’s Cathedral during a special World Day of the Sick celebration dedicated to special needs children and adults. Jimmy and Liam served on the altar at Mass alongside the archbishop and concelebrants. (Photos by Dennis Callahan/Catholic San Francisco)
Feb. 10, 2020
Clare Deignan
Lourdes is the “quintessential true icon” of Christian love, where Christ appears in the faces of those the world would ignore and discard, Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone said during his homily on Feb. 8 at a special Mass dedicated to special needs children and adults.
The liturgy at St. Mary’s Cathedral was the first “Celebration of God’s Special People” Mass in honor of World Day of the Sick. It was hosted by the Order of Malta.
The significance of Lourdes is not “simply in the sense of the geographical place but in the sense of the spiritual place when we bring Lourdes into our everyday life,” the archbishop said.
Celebrated on the feast day of Our Lady of Lourdes, Feb. 11, St. John Paul II instituted World Day of the Sick in 1992, one year after he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.
Special needs children and adults, members of the Order of Malta and Catholics from all over the Bay Area joined in the cathedral celebration. Catholic students in uniform and heads of school from Marin Catholic, Mercy Burlingame and Archbishop Riordan high schools were also in attendance.
This Mass was a new take on past World Day of the Sick celebrations at the cathedral.
“We are still celebrating the World Day of the Sick but we wanted to broaden our net to include disabled people,” said Anne Ryan, president of the Order of Malta in San Francisco.
As one of the driving forces behind the Mass, Ryan pointed to Pope Francis’ call for Catholic communities to welcome and include the disabled and those with special needs. But the inspiration for this expansion on World Day of the Sick is the Handicapped Children’s Pilgrimage Trust, a U.K. organization that brings disabled and special needs children from all over Europe to the healing water of the Marian shrine at Lourdes, France.
Order of Malta member Charlotte Kiesel, who has been traveling to Lourdes annually since 1987, described her experience of the pilgrimage.
“In Lourdes, there’s the love that’s shown to these children, it’s contagious and the children are happy,” she said. “There is a sense of joy that permeates the week.”
During the pilgrimage in the underground basilica at Lourdes, 25,000 pilgrims, including thousands of special needs children, hundreds of priests and dozens of bishops gather for a week of Masses and celebrations.
“It’s the most magnificent, inclusive experience I have ever had, especially for our special needs children and families,” Kiesel said. “Hopefully, this Mass will bring that sense of inclusiveness to our archdiocese, our church and our faith.”
To mark the special event, the Order of Malta invited those with special needs to take part in the Mass. Two young men with Down syndrome, Jimmy Alvarado and Liam McInerney, served on the altar alongside Archbishop Cordileone and concelebrants.
With his family to cheer him on and his mother as one of the cantors, Liam McInerney under the tutelage of Father Cameron Faller served Mass for the first time. An Oakland Technical High School student and one of six children, Liam said one of his favorite things to do besides eating pizza and playing video games is “to be an awesome man for this church.”
Liam’s father, Tim McInerney, said, “It’s exciting for our family. It means a lot that Liam can be part of the Mass.”
Soon Liam will be learning to serve at the McInerneys’ parish, St. Theresa of the Infant Jesus in Oakland.
Also serving at the Mass was graduate of Sequoia High School, Jimmy Alvarado, who is the sacristan at St. Francis of Assisi Parish in East Palo Alto and a paid employee for five years.
“He is in charge of the sacristy but then his responsibilities have been getting bigger and bigger,” St. Francis pastor Father Larry Goode said.
Some of Jimmy’s duties at St. Francis include caring for the parish’s soccer field and parking lot, acting in the Stations of the Cross and managing the sign-up for the Walk for Life West Coast.
Mercy Burlingame head of school Natalie Cirigliano Brosnan read the first reading at Mass, accompanied by her aunt Michelle Cirigliano. The youngest of 10 children, Michelle has Down syndrome.
“It was so much more special than I could have imagined,” Natalie said after Mass. “I don’t think I realized how much special people have been ignored. I’ve always been a firm believer that if every family had an Auntie Michelle the world would be a better place.”
During the offertory, Joey and Lisa Nevin carried their 6-month-old baby Grace, who has Down syndrome, to the altar. Grace received a blessing from Archbishop Cordileone.
“I was clearly asked (by) God to be more and do more,” said Grace’s mother, Lisa Nevin. “For my husband and I to welcome Grace and make sure she is cared for just as every other child.”
In concluding his homily, Archbishop Cordileone captured the spirit of the Mass while addressing the Order of Malta.
“You bring Lourdes here,” he said. “It’s not just a physical place over in Europe. It exists when we make room for it putting the love of Christ into action where we can actually see his face for those whom the world would ignore and discard. Thank you for your love of God’s special people. Thank you for helping us to see the face of His Son.”
Members of the assembly at the Mass, where the archbishop said the power of Lourdes exists anywhere we can see the face of Christ for those the world would ignore and discard.
Michelle Cirigliano, Mercy Burlingame head of school Natalie Cirigliano Brosnan, Archbishop Cordileone and Genevieve Curran are pictured Feb. 8 at St. Mary’s Cathedral during a special World Day of the Sick celebration dedicated to special needs children and adults.