San Francisco Saint Mary’s Cathedral Drenches Homeless With Water To Keep Them Away

CBS ^ | March 18, 2015

[DaveMSmith]

SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) — KCBS has learned that Saint Mary’s Cathedral, the principal church of the Archdiocese of San Francisco, has installed a watering system to keep the homeless from sleeping in the cathedral’s doorways.

The cathedral, at Geary and Gough, is the home church of the Archbishop. There are four tall side doors, with sheltered alcoves, that attract homeless people at night.

“They actually have signs in there that say, ‘No Trespassing,’” said a homeless man named Robert. But there are no signs warning the homeless about what happens in these doorways, at various times, all through the night. Water pours from a hole in the ceiling, about 30 feet above, drenching the alcove and anyone in it. The shower ran for about 75 seconds, every 30 to 60 minutes while we were there, starting before sunset, simultaneously in all four doorways. KCBS witnessed it soak homeless people, and their belongings.

[DaveMSmith]

The Pope is really hands on with the poor and homeless problem locally. One would think he hit the roof seeing this, as he should.

My solution would be to hire some of those homeless to keep the doorways clean. At the same time, they can talk to those camped out there to get them help - a ride to a NA meeting or help with other church services.

[Timber Rattler]

Nonsense like this gives the left ammo for "Government is the solution"

How so? Do you actually believe that Jesus supports spraying cold water on the poor and destitute?

[PAR35]

Probably the first shower some of those hippies have had since they showed up in 1968.

[DaveMSmith]

I mean this "solution" by the church can be pointed to by the left as "see? there is no real charity there - WE care"

Very damaging.

[sitetest]

Dear Mrs. Don-o,

By the way, glad to see you on the road to recovery.

“What would you do if people were camping out in front of your door, using illegal drugs n front of your kids, and urinating and defecating on your front steps?”

Do what the Kenyan anti-Christ does to people who get in the way: Drone him.

sitetest

[RetiredTexasVet]

“...The Archdiocese of San Francisco supports overnight shelters, food pantries, soup kitchens, substance abuse programs; all they ask is that the homeless don’t piss on the doors and leave human waste, trash and needles at the entrances.....”

Damn, taking all the fun out of being homeless!

[Mrs. Don-o]

That's neither kind nor just to the homeless themselves, who are sleeping in their own urine, nor to the congregants, many of them kids and many elderly, who have to step through piles of stinking rubbish and human waste to get into or out of church for weekday masses.

Having lived in SF awhile back, I can also testify that many of the homeless are frighteningly aggressive, and can get quite menacing (as mentally ill and drug-addicted people do) when attempting to intimidate old ladies into giving them cash.

The "water sprinkler" question is almost moot, since they have now all been removed: but what now? Forcible removal? Cops at the doors every day?

Nobody wants a "solution" involving barbed wire, dogs or handcuffs. So seriously, as a caring person: what do you say?

[Mrs. Don-o]

I think we should bring back involuntary admissions to residential drug and mental health treatment facilities.

But I don't think the legal systems allows that anymore.

[RobbyS]

his sprinkler system in alcoves near our back doorways was installed approximately two years ago, after learning from city resources that this kind of system was being commonly used in the Financial District, as a safety, security and cleanliness measure to avoid the situation where needles, feces and other dangerous items were regularly being left in these hidden doorways. The problem was particularly dangerous because students and elderly people regularly pass these locations on their way to school and mass every day. ------------------------------------------------------------------- In other word, the business guys can do this but the Church cannot.

[RobbyS]

Those people are vagrants. The cops needs to make them vacate. Let them go to shelters.

[DaveMSmith]

but what now? Forcible removal? Cops at the doors every day?

Ummm.... MINISTER to them?

Pope Francis builds public showers and a barbershop for the homeless of Rome

[Bigg Red]

Deceptive headline. Propagandists try to make it sound like the homeless are not welcome in the the church itself.

[RobbyS]

One of those “feel-good” reforms that also saved the state money. The mentally ill used to live in Asylums, and similar institutions. But in the ‘70s, these were closed and the mentally-ill were left to roam and self-medicate.

[latina4dubya]

Bus tickets to somewhere that they can find shelter or even a job? More creative efforts to help these people get off the streets?

there are some who do not want this kind of help...

[Timber Rattler]

So seriously, as a caring person: what do you say?

Luke 14:12-14

Then Jesus said to his host, "When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous."

[ansel12]

I'm pretty sure Jesus would say, "Come with me to one of the homeless shelters available to serve your needs."

I'm sure many Catholic churches do that, but this one spent a lot of money to install a plumbing system with timers, avoiding the required permits, and deliberately avoided putting up warning signs, to dump masses of water onto the homeless and their sleeping materials and winter gear.

They evidently didn't hear what you think Jesus would have said, evidently a little evil crept into their hearts.

[ansel12]

The mentally ill used to live in Asylums, and similar institutions. But in the ‘70s, these were closed and the mentally-ill were left to roam and self-medicate.

They were closed by the last bill that JFK signed in 1963, he emptied the mental hospitals, although it took a few years for people to start seeing the results on the streets.

[ansel12]

“”San Francisco Saint Mary’s Cathedral Drenches Homeless With Water To Keep Them Away””

There is nothing deceptive in that headline, it is spot on, and the church admits it.

[stboz]

The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco.

- Mark Twain

[Mrs. Don-o]

They already have free public showers and barber shops in SF. How do you get the homeless to use them? There are restrooms inside the Cathedral they can use, and they won't even do that! So, more to the point, how do you get them not to urinate on the doors?

Is it just or kind to subject the school children and old people who attend weekday masses, to face these unsafe and unsanitary conditions caused by drug-addicted and mentally ill people who will not move? Is it fair to the homeless themselves, to allow them to live in this kind of squalor?

As I said before, I think we should bring back involuntary admissions to residential drug and mental health treatment facilities. That might succeed as truly ministering to their needs.

But I don't think the legal systems allows that anymore