De Young Museum - San Francisco, California

 (Photo/www.missionandshrine.org)

Destination: The de Young Museum in San Francisco is hosting the first exhibit outside the Vatican dedicated solely to the Catholic Church’s collection of indigenous art and artifacts.
“Objects of Belief from the Vatican: Art of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas” runs through Sept. 8 at the museum in Golden Gate Park.
To fit a Mass into your trip, check http://www.masstimes.org.
Why to go: From the Vatican Museums’ collection of 80,000 Vatican ethnographic objects, Ethnological Museum director Jesuit Father Nicola Mapelli chose 39 that represent the collection’s breadth. All are unique pieces and most have never left the Vatican before, he said.
“What is important for us is that these objects are cultural ambassadors. They can tell the story of the people who gave the objects to the pope,” said Father Mapelli, who since 2009 has traveled to Tierra del Fuego at the tip of South America, Australia and elsewhere to find descendants of the artists who sent objects to Rome.
The exhibit “will show to the people of California the love and appreciation that the Catholic Church has for the cultures and religions from all over the world,” Antonio Paolucci, director of Vatican Museums, wrote in a Jan. 22 letter to San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone.
The Ethnological Museum sent many of its best known and treasured pieces to San Francisco. Access: Depending on where you go on the grounds, there are some stairs to manuever.
Accessibility: The de Young is wheel chair accesible and a few are available to borrow at the museum. Parking is limited. Public transportation might be a good idea.
Amenities: There are a cafe and a store at the museum.
Admission: There is a $10 admission fee for adults ($7 for 65 and older) and $6 for college students and children 13 and older. There may be additional costs for some exibits or programs.
(Grand) Kid friendly: Check the website’s Education tab for activies for children and families.
Info: Address: de Young Museum, Golden Gate Park, 50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Dr., San Francisco, CA 94118. Phone: 415/750-3600. Web: http://deyoung.famsf.org

- By Valerie Schmalz (CNS) and Sharon Boehlefeld

Send your Catholic destinations ideas to seasonedobserver@rockforddiocese.org

Editor's note: This exhibit is closed, so we have removed the images that illustrate the collection described. Check the museum website when you plan your trip to see if there are other exhibits of interest to you.

National Shrine of St. Francis of Assisi - San Francisco, California

(CNS photo/Dan Morris-Young,

Catholic San Francisco)

Destination: The National Shrine of St. Francis of Assisi was the first parish established in San Francisco, in 1849. The church, which was closed for a time after the 1989 earthquake, was declared a national shrine in 1999.
Masses at the shrine are held daily at 12:15 p.m. Monday through Saturday, there  is an 11 a.m. rosary, noon Angelus, and 3 p.m. Chaplet of Divine Mercy. There is also Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament after Mass on Friday, and Benediction at 3:15 p.m.
Why to go: The shine, which is “located in San Francisco’s historic North Beach district, bears witness to Christ at the heart of the beautiful city named for the Poverello of Assisi,” according to its Web site.
Although Father Junipero Serra had already established a mission at the spot that would become San Francisco, by the time of the California Gold Rush, it was serving mostly Spanish-speaking Catholics from Mexico and Spain. U.S. Army and Navy officials “appealed to the bishops in Hawaii and Oregon, and to the Archbishop of Baltimore. The bishop of Portland in Oregon sent two priests from the Pacific Northwest, and U.S. troops stationed at the Presidio built a small shanty to serve as a church,” the Web site explains. The first Mass was held June 17, 1849.
Most recently, the church has opened a 78-percent scale, rock-for-rock, stone-for-stone, fresco-for-fresco replica of St. Francis of Assisi’s tiny Porziuncola church near Assisi, Italy. A rare rock from Assisi, Italy (see photo on page 1), which was used more than 800 years ago when St. Francis and his followers built the church where the Franciscan order was born, was installed on the altar of the replica.
Ammenities: The Franciscan Centre Gift Shop is open Tuesday through Saturday, 11 a.m.– 5 p.m.
Access: Visitors will find that busses stop within a block of the church, and there are several city parking lots within  a six-block radius of the church. It is San Francisco, so parking is at a premium. And the church is near the financial district, so walking in the area is safe.
(Grand) Kid friendly: If yours is a family trip, children should behave as they would in any church. 
Info: Address: 610 Vallejo St., San Francisco, CA 94133 Phone: 415/983-0405. Web: www.shrinesf.org

- Compiled by Sharon Boehlefeld 

Send your Catholic destinations ideas to SeasonedObserver@RockfordDiocese.org.