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Most Holy Redeemer Church, Castro District
The Most Holy Redeemer Church was built in 1901 as a Catholic church serving the neighborhood's mostly Irish, Italian and German population. But starting in the 1970s the neighborhood began to change and the congregation turned from families to single gay parishioners. During the 1980s AIDS crisis the funeral services quadrupled and the average age of those passing dropped by 40 years. The church embraced its new community, established the MHR AIDS Support Group and in 1986 turned its convent into the Coming Home Hospice, a care facility for the terminally ill, with a focus on persons dying from AIDS-related illnesses. During the late 1980s Elizabeth Taylor dropped in unannounced at the hospice to visit the patients.

Then Archbishop, John R. Quinn regularly visited MHR Church, especially during the annual 40 Hours Vigil held throughout the 1980s in support of those who were HIV+ and their caregivers. The efforts of the MHR Church attracted much attention and discussion within Catholic Church. But much of the criticism evaporated during a 1987 visit by Pope John Paul II to San Francisco when a photo of him embracing a four-year old boy with AIDS was widely published. Today the Most Holy Redeemer Church describes itself as "an inclusive Catholic community – embracing all people of good faith – Catholics as well as those people interested in learning about the Catholic experience, regardless of their background, gender, race, social status or sexual orientation."
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