San Francisco's Archdiocese issued an apology Wednesday after receiving backlash over sprinklers used to spray homeless people to deter them from sleeping in one of its church doorways.
For nearly two years, St. Mary's Cathedral in San Francisco has doused the homeless who took refuge on the wide steps of the church's four doorways, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
Roman Catholic officials said the sprinklers - made of pipe holes high up in the ceiling - were meant to keep the area safe and clean from dangerous trash, excrement, needles and other drug paraphernalia usually strewn around the area.
Homeless advocate Paul Boden said the church was inhumane in its treatment of those in need.
"It's trickle-down economics from the head of the sprinkler," he told the Chronicle. "These are human beings, man. It reminds me of how people treat dogs if they're in heat, spraying them with hoses.
"It's just symbolic of how dehumanizing we've become as a society about homeless people," Boden said.
The archdiocese admitted the solution, though decided upon when other methods failed, was a bad idea.
"We are very sorry that our intentions have been misunderstood and recognize that the method was ill-conceived," said Bishop William Justice, the cathedral's rector, according to the newspaper.
The archdiocese installed the sprinkler system after learning the city's financial district did the same to keep the area clean. Anyone sleeping in the doorway was warned in advance before the water was turned on, church officials said, according to the San Francisco Examiner.
But warning or no warning, Steve Johnson said he did not appreciate being treated thusly by the church, a traditional safe haven for the homeless.
"Hosing us down like that was totally wrong, telling us we were not blessed, that we were the devil's child," Johnson, who was forced to relocate due to the sprinklers, told the Chronicle.
By 2 p.m. Wednesday the cathedral removed the makeshift sprinklers from the alcoves outside. The scene that day, however, was still filled with litter, cigarettes and crack pipes, the newspaper reported.
"The problem is persistent," church spokesman Larry Kamer said. "The first priority today was to turn the sprinklers off. But now we'll have to figure out what to do next."
