Harbor House is being ended. We are humbly petitioning St. Philip School & Parish and our very busy Archdiocese that’s involved in countless holy faithful projects to please help us continue our mission, in however form that may look like, whether that's continuing the community at Harbor House or whatever new form God’s providence may provide. Our hope is not tied to a building, but to the continuation of a community and mission that has fostered vocations, Eucharistic devotion, and brotherhood in the Holy Faith.

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Harbor House was founded in March 2020 as an intentional Catholic men's living community to help young men discern their vocation in life, centering on daily prayers of the Liturgy of the Hours and the adoration of the Eucharist.

Days before the Pandemic, we moved into the vacant convent at St. Philip's Church in the Archdiocese of San Francisco. As the world descended into chaos, we found safe harbor in the midst of uncertainties and despair, and Harbor House quickly became a close knit community of devout men living, cooking, co-working, and praying together.

As we started to move beyond the Pandemic, Harbor House grew to be an anchor of the young adult community of San Francisco, a house of hospitality hosting feasts on liturgical feast days, weekly book groups on faith and philosophy, and weekly Eucharistic Adoration at the nearby St. Philip's Church.

Our annual Pentecost Feast always featured a full roasted pig that we roast ourselves. Our Día de los Muertos Feast featured piñatas for kids in our community. Our Las Posadas Feast reenacted Joseph and Mary's journey to Bethlehem looking for an inn with a procession, singing the traditional Spanish song "Pedir Posada". We hosted hundreds of young adults and brought the community together to celebrate the Feast Days of the Universal Church with each of our feasts, run solely on the generosity of our house members.

Our Love and Responsibility book group guided young adults through deep philosophical underpinnings of often hard-to-discuss topics. Our Book of Job book group over Lent discussed the meaning of pain and suffering. Our Divine Comedy book group journeyed with Dante from the depths of Hell to the prayers of Purgatory into the glory of Heaven. Our Rerum Novarum book group explored the often misunderstood Catholic Social Teaching and its development through the modern times. Our current Confessions book group examines the life and sins of St. Augustine and their resonance with ours.

Over the course of 5 years, we have introduced countless young adults to the Liturgy of the Hours. I have learned to altar serve at adoration and committed to heart the beautiful chant of Salve Regina at the end of the Rosary. We have produced 3 vocations to the priesthood, in addition to 4 vocations to holy matrimony, with one more on the way.

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At this critical moment when the young adult community is thriving in San Francisco, when young adults are returning to our Ancient Faith in droves and are seeking community, our ability to continue as a House is being ended. 

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Dear friends, Harbor House, St. Philip's Parish, and the Archdiocese need your prayers. If you have enjoyed our feasts, if you have prayed the Liturgy of the Hours for the first time at Harbor House like me, if you have gained something from the many ministries that come out of Harbor House, including the Grapevine newsletter, I encourage you to pray for us and pray with us, first of all a prayer of thanksgiving for the gift of the Eucharist and for the thriving young adults ministry that was Harbor House, one that brought young adults together as a visible body of the Catholic Faith here in San Francisco. I encourage you to sign this petition to ask Fr. Tom Martin, pastor of St. Phillip’s Parish, Mary McKeever, principal of St. Phillip’s School, and John Christian, Director of the Archdiocese of San Francisco Real Property Support Corp, to support the continuation of a community and mission that has fostered vocations, Eucharistic devotion, and brotherhood in the Holy Faith.

I could not have come out of the dark and lonely times of the Pandemic without Harbor House, let alone grow in my faith and discern God’s voice. I would not have met Emma who started the Grapevine newsletter had it not been for the Eucharistic Adoration run by Harbor House hosted at St. Philip’s Church, the newsletter through which I was introduced to the community of young adults. The men of Harbor and I will continue to serve the young adults and the Body of Christ here in the Archdiocese of San Francisco and beyond. Please keep us in your prayers.