St. Paul of the Shipwreck Catholic Church has served the Bayview Hunters Point neighborhood of San Francisco since 1915. The Conventual Franciscans of California are the Western United States Province of the Catholic Religious order founded in 1229 in Italy by St. Francis of Assisi. The Franciscans have been especially known to serve the poor. In the California province, the friars have pledged themselves to minister to California's diverse ethnic communities. In accord with this mission and history, the California Province of the Conventual Franciscans accepted the ministry at St. Paul of the Shipwreck Parish in the Bayview Hunters Point area of San Francisco city in 1998.