SAN FRANCISCO (CA)
National Catholic Reporter
Dan Morris-Young | Mar. 26, 2015
During what one participant described as an “explosive” meeting, the San Francisco archdiocese’s Council of Priests in mid-February addressed Star of the Sea pastor Fr. Joseph Illo’s decision to phase out altar girls as well as the designation of the parish as an oratory-in-formation.
Retired Sulpician Fr. J. Michael Strange, who lives at St. Stephen Parish in San Francisco, “proposed this agenda item and raised the issue for discussion because many of his constituents and parishioners at St. Stephens and elsewhere have contacted him regarding Fr. Illo’s recently announced policy of admitting only altar boys at Star of the Sea Parish,” according to a draft of the Feb. 12 meeting’s minutes.
NCR obtained a copy of the minutes from an anonymous priest.
Strange told council members that “he found other aspects of Fr. Illo’s parish bulletin explanation [in regard to] this new policy troublesome, as was the fact that Fr. Illo did not consult his deanery to see if this was a wise and prudent move prior to implementing this policy, noting consultation is one of the purposes of a deanery.”
According to the minutes, Strange said he and other priests have had “to spend much time on the issue with parishioners.”
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