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Nazareth House resident Nadine Calliguiri is pictured outside her room at the Catholic assisted care facility in San Rafael which announced Oct. 27 it will close in 2021 due in part to staffing issues made more serious amid the coronavirus pandemic. San Francisco native Calliguiri, 82, founded Handicapables, a nonprofit ministry for adults. (Photo by Christina Gray/Catholic San Francisco)
Nov. 10, 2020
Christina Gray
Catholic San FranciscoAfter caring for Bay Area seniors including dozens of priests of the Archdiocese of San Francisco for almost 60 years, the Sisters of Nazareth are closing the doors of Nazareth House in San Rafael.
Surprised residents, families and staff learned from the congregation’s leadership Oct. 27 that the Marin County facility — one of four assisted care facilities run by the order in California — is unable to sustain operations and will close in early 2021.
A press release issued the same day said the coronavirus pandemic helped deal a fatal blow to Nazareth House, which has been unable to take in new residents for eight months.
“As is the case with so many affected by the global pandemic, Nazareth House simply can no longer sustain the financial, staffing and health care-related challenges presented by current circumstances,” said Barbara Ann Crowley, the congregation’s chief executive officer.
Sisters of Nazareth American Superior Sister Rose Hoye, CSN, told Catholic San Francisco Nov. 4 that closing Nazareth House in San Rafael was not something the sisters or their board took lightly.
“It took us a long time to make this decision,” she said. “Even though it sounds like a quick decision it wasn’t."
The same kind of staffing issues that other Marin County businesses face became "the straw that broke the camel’s back" this year amid the pandemic, according to Sister Hoye.
The Sisters of Nazareth own and operate four Nazareth House locations in California: Fresno, Los Angeles, San Diego and San Rafael. Only the latter is closing.
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. But over the past 20 years it has become a critical obstacle to finding and retaining qualified staffing.
Nazareth House employs a staff of more than 75 nurses, nursing aids, food services staff, maintenance workers and others who can’t afford to live where the average apartment rents for $2,700 a month.
“It’s always been a challenge, but when the coronavirus hit, what was a challenge became a crisis,” said Sister Hoye.
Staff traveled from Vallejo or Richmond, or further to come to work at relatively low-paying jobs. Those that lived in San Rafael tended to live in the low-income Canal neighborhood which became Marin County’s virus case hotbed.
Sister Hoye confirmed there was a coronavirus outbreak in the building this year but declined to elaborate.
On a visit to the facility licensed to house up to 125 residents, the number of obviously unoccupied rooms bordering a lovely courtyard was striking to Catholic San Francisco.
“We haven’t been able to do any admissions since March,” said Sister Hoye. “That’s not financially sustainable.”
Nazareth House had just completed a $3.5 million renovation project of the nursing unit and added a new roof, she said. Another major renovation project for residential upgrades in the planning stages was pulled when the sisters saw where things were heading.
Sister Hoye said the reaction to the closure announcement is one of “great sadness” among residents and staff.
“We are extremely sad ourselves,” she said. “It’s a tragic, tragic decision to have to make.”
Crowley said the sisters will be working with each resident to help them transition to a new community.
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 founded Handicapables, an almost 60-year Catholic ministry for adults with disabilities. “You sense the joy of the Holy Spirit here,” she said.
The San Francisco chapter of the now-national organization is run now by Catholic Charities and was renamed Breaking Bread with Hope earlier this year.
Calliguiri said she has friends helping her find a place to live, hopefully in Petaluma but, added: “I don’t know really where I’m going for sure.”
Claire Miller was a volunteer at Nazareth House for 15 years before moving there with her late husband, Don, three years ago.
“This peaceful and joyful house provided us with a home where we could be together during the last days of his journey here on earth,” she said. “I felt secure and supported at a time that I needed it most.”
Nazareth House was favored by many retiring priests, and its closure will leave a void for those in the future said Rachel Avelais, care manager for retiring and aging priests for the Archdiocese of San Francisco.
She said the community of priest-residents at Nazareth House grew some years ago after a few priests chose to live there.
“There was quite a group there for many years, with a dedicated table for them to gather at for meals,” Alvelais told Catholic San Francisco. “The community that developed there became its own attraction.”
Former 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 of multiple parishes in the Archdiocese of San Francisco and now deceased.
San Francisco Archbishop George H. Niederauer lived at Nazareth House before his death in 2017 at age 80. Only three priests are currently living there according to Avelais.
Nazareth House’s “fully-Catholic” living environment with its high level of community and care will not be easy to replace, she said. Its closure “places one more limit on our choices” for priests, certainly, but for all residents who valued that.
“People will have to make more compromises,” she said, including leaving the area or exchanging a Catholic-run community for a secular nonprofit or for-profit facility.
Sister Hoye said that despite the all the losses that will not easily be replaced, the Sisters believe they made the right decision.
“We believe God is in this decision and that our mission never dies, it just takes a turn in the road,” she said.