By Sharon Abercrombie
Staff writer

On the morning of his installation as fourth spiritual shepherd of the Oakland Diocese, Bishop Salvatore Cordileone’s younger sister recalled how she and “Sam” used to play Mass when they were children.

“We’d use our mom’s half slips as chasubles. For Communion, we’d take thimbles and cut little hosts from Wonder Bread. Then we’d smash the hosts down,” said Theresa Webster of Boise, Idaho, who had come to Oakland with her children for the festivities.

Bishop Salvatore Cordileone greets his mother, Mary, after his installation as fourth bishop of Oakland. GREG TARCZYNSKI PHOTO

Neither Webster nor her mother, Mary Cordileone, anticipated that those childish games might have set the stage for Sam’s future vocation as priest, canon lawyer, auxiliary bishop, and finally, bishop.

Mrs. Cordileone recalls how surprised she was when her son came home after a semester at San Diego State University to announce he was going into the seminary to explore becoming a priest.

“Sam had his heart set on playing saxophone with the Naval Academy band ever since he was 10 years old,” she recalled. Between ages 10 and 12, he played in two marching bands so he could get lots of experience. But several years later, his longtime dream was crushed when the Navy turned him down because he was color blind. “And God had other ideas,” she said.

She credits Father Jim Poulsen, an associate pastor at their parish church in San Diego, for inspiring her son to explore the priesthood. Father Poulsen couldn’t be at Bishop Cordileone’s installation May 5 because he was vacationing in Italy.

However, a large contingent of relatives, including the bishop’s three aunts, sister, and several nieces and nephews were in Oakland for the celebration. His aunt, Angie La Rosa of El Cajon, said her godson’s appointment to Oakland is “our loss, your gain. You’re very fortunate to have him. He’s a real people person. When he was a paper boy, he wouldn’t just collect the money and run. He’d stay and talk.”

Leon Webster and his two sisters, Melissa and Jessica, praised their uncle for his culinary skills, family devotion, and spiritual caring.

Leon, 26, a graduate student in applied physics at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, likes to cook for his friends and often uses one of his uncle’s recipes. “Last week I made one of his anchovy, olive and caper tomato sauces.” It was a hit, he said.

Melissa, 18, a senior at Timberline High School in Boise, Idaho, remembers when her uncle squeezed a one-day visit there into his busy schedule as an auxiliary bishop so he could confirm her and her Confirmation class.

Her older sister, Jessica, 23, said that Oakland will be getting a bishop who is “a lover of small things — food, laughter, and everyday experiences.” She worries, however, whether her uncle will “be able to stay free of stress, as he handles a lot of obligations and problems, such as the lack of family values which is sweeping both the nation and Oakland. This is what stays in my prayers for him.”

In the long run, she predicts her uncle, the bishop, “will make a difference in the community.”

“He doesn’t leave things half done, added his aunt Connie Borsellino. And “he is extremely honest and sincere.”

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