Churches Celebrate Easter with Local Flair

By Bill Sywak

Although not famous for its ecclesiastic institutions, the Castro neighborhood is home to a number of long-standing churches that fervently celebrate Easter, each with their own panache.

A quick survey of neighborhood centers that celebrate this most Christian of events revealed a surprising number of churches closed, moved, in reorganization or otherwise currently out of business. What remain are the Catholic parish of the Most Holy Redeemer, the Lutheran church of St. Francis, and the “home for queer spirituality,” the Metropolitan Community Church (MCC).

To celebrate Easter at these churches is to participate in the traditional biblical story but with different interpretations and understanding. At St. Francis Lutheran, the church with the red brick steeple across from Castro Safeway, Pastor Robert Goldstein sees the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ as affirming every living thing as precious and wondrous and “strengthening people to live their lives to the fullest.”

For Father Steve Meriwether of Most Holy Redeemer, the main Easter event is bringing adults into the church and baptizing them, prior to completing this “sacrament of initiation” with confirmation and communion. He traces this Christian initiation of adults in the Castro back to Vatican II and credits the liturgical innovation developed here as coming from the spouses, partners, friends and family of Catholic parishioners, approximately 85 percent of whom are gay.

The focus on the gay community finds its centricity in the MCC, which strives to be a “house of prayer for all people and a home for queer spirituality,” ministering primarily to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered community. According to Reverend Lea Brown, senior pastor, the MCC is more unique than just any welcoming church.

“While people come to us from many diverse religious traditions and faiths, they are attracted by and share our common values,” she said. “At the church, there is a belief that we can transform the world, and we celebrate this transformation.”

To realize their missions and visions, these churches utilize varied and innovative programs, from a “Big Gay Tupperware Party,” poker night, and knitting club at the MCC, to free community meals at St. Francis and Most Holy Redeemer. More people are participating at MCC now that construction work is over and word has gotten out that MCC is “back home” at its Eureka Street location.

For Most Holy Redeemer, success in building the parish has come from a six-week “reconnecting program” for people who have been away from the church for a while and are thinking about coming back, and for those, back or not, who would like an update on church teachings and may have some issues they want to work on. A total of eleven of these programs have been run and between three and four attendees at each have decided to reconnect with the church.

When asked what their one wish for the Castro community was, the three pastors replied similarly. Having experienced the pain of a parishioner who was recently violently attacked, Father Meriwether wants to see a lessening of violence in the community.

Pastor Goldstein expressed his concern for the “religiously abused” members of the Castro LGBTQ community, “That they hear there are Christians who love them for who they are because God created them as they are.”

In the same vein, Reverend Lea Brown wishes that regardless of differences, “We realize we are all connected one to another,” and that we care for and take mutual responsibility for each other.

Copyright 2010 Castro Courier