Nazareth Home San Rafael prepares to shut in 2021 – Catholic San Francisco

Nazareth House resident Nadine Calliguiri is pictured outside her room at the San Rafael Catholic care facility, which announced on October 27 that it will close in 2021, in part due to staffing problems that have worsened due to the coronavirus pandemic. Calliguiri, 82, of San Francisco founded Handicapables, an adult nonprofit service. (Photo by Christina Gray / San Francisco Catholic)
November 10, 2020
Christina Gray
Catholic San Francisco
After caring for Bay Area seniors, including dozens of priests from the Archdiocese of San Francisco, for nearly 60 years, the Sisters of Nazareth are closing the doors of the Nazareth home in San Rafael.
Surprised residents, families, and staff learned from community leaders on October 27 that the Marin County facility – one of the Order’s four supervised care facilities in California – is down and will be closed in early 2021.
A press release released on the same day said the coronavirus pandemic has dealt a fatal blow to Nazareth House, which has not been able to accept new residents for eight months.
“As with so many affected by the global pandemic, Nazareth House simply cannot sustain the financial, human and health challenges of the current circumstances,” said Barbara Ann Crowley, community executive director.
Sisters of Nazareth American Superior Sister Rose Hoye, CSN, told Catholic San Francisco on November 4th that the closure of the Nazareth House in San Rafael was not something for the sisters or their board of directors.
“It took us a long time to make this decision,” she says. “Even if it sounds like a quick decision, it wasn’t.”
The same staffing issues that other Marin County companies are facing became “the straw that broke the camel’s back,” said Sister Hoye this year amid the pandemic.
The Sisters of Nazareth own and operate four Nazareth House locations in California: Fresno, Los Angeles, San Diego and San Rafael. Only the latter closes.
The lack of affordable housing in or even near Marin County was not an issue when the Sisters of Nazareth opened the San Rafael facility in 1962, she said. However, over the past 20 years it has become a critical barrier to finding and retaining skilled workers.
Nazareth House employs more than 75 nurses, home nurses, catering staff, maintenance workers, and others who cannot afford to live where the average home rents at $ 2,700 a month.
“It has always been a challenge, but when the coronavirus hit, a challenge turned into a crisis,” said Sister Hoye.
Employees came from Vallejo or Richmond or further to work in relatively low-paying jobs. Those who lived in San Rafael typically lived in the low-income Canal neighborhood that became the hotbed of the Marin County’s virus case.
Sister Hoye confirmed that there had been a coronavirus outbreak in the building that year but declined to elaborate.
During a visit to the facility, which is approved for up to 125 residents, the Catholic San Francisco noticed the number of obviously unoccupied rooms that bordered a beautiful courtyard.
“We haven’t been able to take pictures since March,” said Sister Hoye. “That is not financially viable.”
Nazareth House just completed a $ 3.5 million renovation project of the nursing ward and added a new roof, she said. Another major home fitout renovation project in the planning stages was drawn when the sisters saw where the journey was going.
Sister Hoye said the response to the closure announcement was “a great sadness” from residents and staff.
“We are very sad ourselves,” she said. “It’s a tragic, tragic decision that we have to make.”
Crowley said the sisters will work with each resident to help them transition into a new community.
The San Franciscan Nadine Calliguiri, 82, moved to Nazareth House seven years ago.
“I was happy here from the first day I moved here,” said Calliguiri, who was born with cerebral palsy and started Handicapables, a nearly 60-year-old Catholic ministry for adults with disabilities. “Here you can feel the joy of the Holy Spirit,” she said.
The San Francisco Chapter of the now national organization is now run by Catholic charities and was renamed Breaking Bread with Hope earlier this year.
Calliguiri said she has friends who will help her find an apartment, hopefully in Petaluma, but added, “I’m not sure where I’m going.”
Claire Miller volunteered at Nazareth House for 15 years before moving there with her late husband Don three years ago.
“This peaceful and joyful home gave us a home to be together in during the final days of his journey here on earth,” she said. “I felt safe and supported when I needed it most.”
Nazareth House has been favored by many retired priests, and its closure will leave a void for the future, said Rachel Avelais, care manager for retired and aging priests for the Archdiocese of San Francisco.
She said the community of priests who live in the house of Nazareth grew a few years ago after some priests chose to live there.
“For many years there was quite a group there with their own table to gather at for dinner,” Alvelais told San Francisco Catholic. “The community that arose there became an attraction in its own right.”
Past residents include the late Father Ray Zohlen, former pastor of St. James and St. Raymond Parishes, the late Father Kirk Ullery, former pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes in San Francisco, and Father Bernie Brennan and Father Kevin Gaffey, both pastors from several parishes in the Archdiocese of San Francisco and now deceased.
Archbishop of San Francisco, George H. Niederauer, lived at Nazareth House before his death in 2017, aged 80. According to Avelais, only three priests currently live there.
The “full Catholic” living environment of Nazareth House with its high levels of community and care will not be easy to replace, she said. The closure “further restricts our choices” for priests, certainly, but for all residents who appreciated it.
“People will have to make more compromises,” she said, including leaving the area or swapping a Catholic-run congregation for a secular, nonprofit or for-profit organization.
Sister Hoye said that despite the losses that are not easy to replace, the sisters believe they made the right decision.
“We believe that God is in that choice and that our mission never dies, just takes a turn,” she said.