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Septmber
19th, 2002
Dear Sisters and Brothers:
I welcome you, Bishop Wester and Friends of the Future AlmaVia at
St. Thomas More, as the new pastor of STM. I represent the immediate
neighbor of the Alma Via, the Elder Care Alliance New assisted living and
dementia care program in San Francisco.
I welcome you in the name of our St. Thomas More Church, St. Thomas More
School, and the different ministries of our family parish. We assure you
this evening that we want to be your best neighbors, and we want you to be
our best neighbors. In fact, since July first, as I began my ministry as
pastor of St. Thomas More with my brother Fr. Francis Tiso, parochial
vicar and campus minister, we have appreciated the great work of Fr.
Jerome Foley, my predecessor at St. Thomas More, and we have put our best
energy into our relationship, and our relationship with the members of
this neighborhood, so that harmony reigns: today and tomorrow and for
years and years to come.
When the trees hiding the Church site were removed recently, many people
on Brotherhood Way and 19th Avenue told us that they discovered for the
first time that a Catholic church was situated here. In fact, our church
does look very beautiful. We want to illuminate the cross and the building
to make it a site of prayer for people entering and leaving San Francisco.
We are sure that the buildings would cover the church from the 280 and
19th Ave.
Our patron saint loved to work with the poor. He was a very important
person at the court of King Henry VII; Lord Chancellor Thomas More, in the
spirit of the poor of the Gospel, lived a very simple life, in a simple
house with his dear family. Our St. Thomas More family parish and school
want to conserve this legacy of our Patron, St. Thomas More, at the
service of the Poor. We believe with our dear Archdiocese that the
needy are the real spiritual treasure of our Catholic Church. The
experience of the Church has taught us for over 2000 years that when we
put ourselves at the service of the needy we are blessed and we will
prosper in our mission of love, care, and services for our dear Elderly.
In this spirit and with this prayer I renew my welcome to you in the name
of our St. Thomas More family and School..
May God bless your work and mission.
Fr. Labib Kobti
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