Our Franciscan Identity

San Damiano is part of the St. Barbara province of Franciscans. As Franciscans, everything we do is tied to our charisms and values:

Hospitality

“From a faith perspective, hospitality can be understood as the practice of God’s welcome embodied in our actions as we reach across difference to participate with God in bringing justice and healing to our world.” (Francis Dombrowski)

The above quote captures the essence of the Gospel and the spirit of St. Francis of Assisi. At San Damiano, the friars and staff look forward to serving each visitor with open arms and hearts. Here is what a recent visitor told us on their evaluation: “You did a great job welcoming us and making us comfortable.”  San Damiano is a  place  to be quiet, learn, pray, experience God and the gospel in a beautiful setting which reflects Franciscan care for creation.

Care for Creation

Our gardens are full of the magnificence of God’s creative power as recognized by St. Francis.  We are looking at deepening our care for creation by looking at our water usage, updating our spring-fed water tank, changing our watering system from spray to drip, capturing rain water, placing signs in guest rooms encouraging conservation of “sister water”, mulching more to keep the moisture in the ground, making plans to address sustainability and possibly growing food, and exploring the feasibility of putting in solar power. Also, we have flowers that are specifically attractive food sources to bees and butterflies, helping them have places to eat as they migrate and move.

New in 2016, we are hosting a series of gardening and ecology workshops.

Ecumenical

We are working at healing the “scandal of division” amongst the Christian Churches by offering ecumenical prayer services every Saturday with Morning Prayer at 8:45.  We also offer lenten Taize prayer services.

Embracing the Marginalized / Outreach to the Poor

We have agreed to be the last resort short-term placement for an established social service agency in the East Bay helping refugees as they arrive in this country.

Liturgy

We have added more Franciscan themed prayer and retreat experiences.  Each year we sponsor a Holy Week Retreat. During these holy days, we focus on the scripture and symbols of the liturgies.