good morning welcome to mosaic. i am glad you joined us today. we will be talking about people in northern california. the catholic perspective. catholics have played a big role in california society. jack burns. >> director of academy of san face can history. >> and you teach. >> synophrys can school of

theology. you are a published historian. i have a book you have edited here. i want to talk with you a little about north earn california and catholics in general. kevin star, the popular author described the archdiocese as a wonderful idea of its time. what do you think he was talking about? why did the archdiocese of san francisco, when it came into being, why was it a good idea? >> because at the time, all you had in california was the mission systems. 21 missions that went up and down the coast but then the united states when it took over from mexico in 1848, we had to create an american church that was very difficult to do. the thing that connects, basically we were an immigrant church then and continue today. it connects the two eras.

cosmopolitan, multiera, multiethnic. we face the same issues today. >> the ideas that connect the issue of archdiocese, catholic life in north earn california. immigrants is one. when bishop wall may any came to california to be archbishop of san francisco he found an eclectic group of people here, gold rush kays. >> everybody throughout the world came to the gold rush. he was an immigrant himself, spoke five different languages. my favorite story in that regard is that there are a lot of chinese in the bay area, and came over for the gold rush. he wanted some body to minister to them. most were not catholic. he got a priest from naples italy, by way of china, father thomas chan to minister to the people in the bay area and gold country. he didn't speak the same

dialect the chinese did in this area but trained in italy so he was fluent in italian. he was appointed as pastor to the italian people in san francisco. two can he canadian canadians later an -- two decades later an italian came and established the first chinese commission. st. peters and paul is now the italian and chinese national parish. >> the more things change the more they remain the same. >> yes. >> history, i was kidding you i said i didn't want to mention the word history because people nod off or turn away but i think history is such a rich topic, and so alive today. when you are a historian tell me why we should look back. >> it is interesting because my experience has been the older people get the more they appreciate history. younger people don't seem to have as much concern for

history. i think it is really important in times of trouble during this recession during the various problems in recent years because it lifts you out of the present. a professor of mine said it frees us from the tier knee of the present. when we look back at the church in earlier days we can see it wasn't perfect they had challenge, difficulties, scandals yet the people of that time pulled through and remained faithful to the church, gospel it is a lesson to us to remain faithful to the church and gospel as well. the church when it began, the majority of the building process, missions were in disrepair, people -- the population was growing a great deal. the first task was create a church, struck which are i guess for catholics. >> he did a tremendous amount of building. he began preparing for a cathedral, what is now old st.

mary's cathedral, constructed 1854. he said we want something people can look at and know we are here and a stable influence. because everything was very transient. couldn't keep people in san francisco because everyone was flying up to the gold country. this was a statement we are here and going to make a impact. the church followed people up to the gold country. >> that's right. >> some early churches are far afield. >> that's right. >> certainly, you will talk further about the nuns role. i remember seeing a picture of nuns in a wagon going out to grass valley. they were going out to the people in the fields. when the first nuns arrived there was nothing. daughters of charity got here in 1852 and the mother superior her report back to the congregation in maryland, she said this is a mess out here. it is just even worse than we

could have imagined. it was. a wild frontier sort of area and they were used to a more sedate life back in the east. these are young women, mother baptist russell was 24 years old when she came out to establish mercy work here in san francisco. they did a tremendous work. >> follow up on sisters and other people in history in just a moment. mosaic, we will take a break and be back in a moment

welcome back to mosaic. we are talking this morning with dr. jeff burns historian and archivist for arch die cease of san francisco and a deacon in the church, doctor, deacon, jeff, welcome back to

the program. we were talking before about the people who played sterling roles in the development of the catholic church in san francisco and really by that i mean the archdiocese of san francisco for so many years encompassed of north earn california. the reardon who succeeded archbishop allemany what was his role. he built st. patricks seminary which opened 1898. he tried to open a seminary because he wanted a native clergy but had great difficulty getting an order of priests to run the seminary. reardon succeeded and then also built the new cathedral down on gary and got dedicated in 1891. >> that is not there any more. >> it burned down in 1962 in a dramatic fire and that lead to our beautiful new modern

cathedral, dedicated 1970/71. >> i was trying to figure out a way of organizing this. certainly one of the largest events in the history of the area was 1906 earthquake. >> yes. >> how did the church respond to that? >> it was pretty devastated by that earthquake. many of the churches were just completely leveled particularly in the seminary. st. patricks, st. francis the two oldest were completely destroyed. the church did what a lot of other churches did they set up relief stations and assisted people to resettle a lot of charity work went out with them. the sisters took care of st. mary's hospital was completely destroyed. they had bought land out where st. mary's hospital is now so they transferred patients out there. there was a tremendous response on the part of the church to take care of those displaced by

the earthquake. >> this was not a unique role. the safety net of social services, very often relied on catholic entities. sisters in particular. >> yes. >> in the early days when there wasn't -- wasn't there a first provider of services to the city? >> they took over the county hospital or city hospital and then the city wasn't paying them so they started their own hospital, sisters of mercy started st. mary's hospital but then they established all sorts of agencies, a home for elderly now our lady's home now in oakland but originally in san francisco, employment bureaus, homes for working girls, magdalen asylums and institutions that took care of people because there wasn't a welfare system. the state was restricted in what it did. the sisters particularly daughters of charity,

presentation sisters, san jose dominicans, san raphael dominicans provided the work force that kept the populous going. >> just as you can look around in the city today but also out lying areas in the church steeples of catholic church, really are kind of a benchmark but underneath was a lot of social services going on. >> right. >> they didn't serve just catholics. >> no, that was one of the things catholic charities made it, open for whoever needed service. it was initially the response was to catholics but then they didn't just limit it to that. it was open to all. the first acumen call work it didn't make a distinction between catholic and protestant if you needed help they provided it. education, the sisters role and catholic role in education was phenomenal. kevin star himself is a product of catholic education.

>> they started catholic schools, higher education we had what became santa clara college started 1851 and university of san francisco, 1855. in our first six years we had two major institutions of learning then of course the grade schools and high schools which the sisters ran just a tremendous infrastructure built for the church. >> the amazing thing is, if you stop to think about it, the history becomes alive when you drive down allemany boulevard or see a sign that says archbishop reardon high school, or san ramon, san raphael, san jose, the presence of the catholic church in northern california, for the good, i think. the good of all was phenomenal. in the early years and even today. >> if you remember when pope john paul the second was here he said we were blessed because we had saints names for so many

things in california. >> that is a blessing. we will take a break but i want to thank you jeff in your role as historian, you are one of the few people i know who can really bring it alive because you talk about people it is not simply waves of thought or this and that but the people who really become part of life. >> many mm-hmm. >> we will take a break. in a moment when you jone us come back in a moment. we will be back shortly ok. what if i just had a small slice? i was good today, i deserve it! or, i could have a medium slice and some celery sticks and they would cancel each other out, right? or...ok. i could have one large slice

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we are talking with dr. jeff burns. i will hold up his book this is one of the ones published in 2003, it is a very eclectic collection of essays, published in the archdiocese of san francisco newspaper that year. where you know, really we have experienced the recession in the beginning of this year, and wanted to talk about the last historical depression. what was archbishop hanna's role in the 1930s? >> he became archbishop 1915 and was the most beloved of all the san francisco archbishops. people loved him as a personment now they are past that but before it was

archbishop hanna he was very good with the people so part of what he did was similar to roosevelt was to lift the spirits of the people, as sure them even though these were difficult times he would be there with them. he served in a number of capacities in a state level, state committee for unemployment and so forth but this last major act was he served as an arbitrator and a great general strike of 1934 long shore men went out on strike and shut down the city of san francisco for a period of several days. hanna was so trusted by em employeers and workers he was a key figure bringing that crisis to a close. >> he was prominent 1924, march san francisco. tell that story? >> in the early 1920s the ku klux klan made a revival in the united states and expanded their hate red to include catholics. they had a major march down

pennsylvania avenue, in washington dc robes and all so the catholic church responded holding counter rallies to that. when archbishop hanna was coming back from roam they said we will -- okay they said we will have a -- rome they said we will have a huge parade in honor of his return but it was a statement against the ku klux klan. a march of over 80,000 people and it was raining and then they had an outdoor mass, former gover of illinois give an address on catholic citizenship and one of my favorite editorials of the day said it was a great day and none of the marchers wore masks. it was clear what they were trying to do but archbishop hanna presided over that. >> and archbishop midi

succeeded him. >> he was a great administrator, money man he had a great ability to purchase real estate. there are stories about him, that he would go down the peninsula and see plats of land and say buy that land. so the concept he had he bought up a lot of land which would provide a strike for a parish. he had to know the demographic trends. where would they need a pir rush. he had a great -- parish he had a great sense of that. he centralized the administrative offices, made the financial arrangements tighter and more efficient. >> great foresight and just pope prius the ninth, established the archdiocese, looked forward to this being a thriving area, midis role was foresight carrying us into the 21st century. >> that's right.

>> yeah. we will get to the archdiocese, all of northern california but 1962, catholic population rose such a degree and more administrative units were needed to get the church closer to the people and they split off, what diocese were formed in 62? >> stockton, santa rosa and oakland were broken off and the county of solano was given to sacramento. the archdiocese at the time was 13 counties, wide ranging archdiocese including rural as well as urban areas. so they split it apart. >> at that point in time probably a larger population than it did 20 years earlier. when we come back we will take a break on mow sighic, talking with -- mosaic, talking with dr. jeff burns. thank you for joining us

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welcome back to mosaic on kpix channel 5. we are talking with dr. jeff burns about people, people in history. we will look at some of those pictures now, just a quick role through about a dozen photographs of moments in the history of the archdiocese of san francisco including all of california. jeff. >> father peyton at the 1961 rosary crusade more than a half million catholics got together at golden gate park to pray the rosary. largest gathering of catholics in history of the united states up to that point. >> there is peter c york the great labor priest, great educator one of the dominant priests of his era. the great priest who led the 1901 teamsters strike and put the church squarely on the side

of labor. rosary -- holy name parade we talked about archbishop hanna there with the mayor in front of city hall after the mass and you can see of course it was raining on that day. >> this is an earthquake picture, way down there, that is actually i think st. peters and pauls or st. francis down at the end of the street destroyed by fire and earthquake. that is old st. marries, the church that was build by archbishop allameny in 1964, dedicated christmas over 1864. pope john paul the second hugging the little boy who had aids and that was during the papal visit 1987. a great moment as miles riley said the pope embraced the boy and the world at the same time. st. mary's cathedral destroyed by fire in 1962 and

that is the fire blazing away. there is the destruction, the wrecking ball going to destroy the old st. mary's cathedral and prepare the way. bishop james oh doud a popular auxiliary bishop, superintendent of schools he died tragically at a very young age and one of the most sad moments in the history of the archdiocese. blessing of the bay bridge that is the cardinal who later becomes pope prius the 12th, that is midi next to him. that is the jubilee celebration in 2000 the first major event at pack bell park, former pack bell park. a great event for the archdiocese. and that is bishop sheen the great catholic preacher and

later on tv star coming to address the opening of the united nations which opened in san francisco 1945. there he is speaking to this gathering, on elements of peace. >> the 1906 earthquake picture reminds me of the 1987 earthquake not quite the same destruction but a number of catholic churches along with other buildings and churches and commercial buildings and residences were destroyed after that some churches were closed and more movement took place but certainly even today in san francisco there is 50 churches, some great treasures of history, like old st. mary's, st. dominics, notre dame, bush street. st. patricks, mission street, looking around history is still with us, are the ideas still

with us? the catholic ideas still with us? >> basic ideas don't change much. service of the people trying to follow in the steps of jesus. people who arrived in the early days struggled with that. how do we live out the gospel in this precenter a. you can be inspired by people in the past who give us examples how the live the gospel, how the live holiness. in the book i tell the story of a mexican priest who came up and worked with the native american populations lived like them and was thought to be crazy. >> great stories, if i urge you to call or e-mail for the book, proclaiming the good news for all creation. thank you for joining us on mosaic and thank you dr. burns for joining us. join us next time on mosaic, a catholic perspective. have a good day. god bless you [ kid 1 ] wanna know some of our favorite things?

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