WHAT would Jesus do?

The principal church of the San Francisco archdiocese, Saint Mary’s Cathedral, has been ordered to dismantle a watering system installed two years ago to deter homeless people from sleeping in the building.

Local TV station KCBS reported that the city ordered the system be taken down after sources revealed it was installed with the purpose of moving homeless people on.

The system would produce a shower of rain in alcove areas every 30 to 60 minutes for about 75 seconds each time, the station reported.

The Archdiocese office released a statement justifying and apologising for its actions, saying the system was widely used in buildings in the city’s financial district, “to avoid the situation where needles, faeces and other dangerous items were regularly being left in these hidden doorways.”

The sprinkler system was installed “after other ideas were tried and failed”, the statement said.

“The idea was not to remove those persons, but to encourage them to relocate to other areas of the Cathedral, which are protected and safer ... We are sorry that our intentions have been misunderstood and recognise that the method used was ill-­conceived.

“It actually has had the opposite effect from what it was intended to do, and for this we are very sorry.”

Homelessness has long been a major issue for the city, with a 2014 report noting that San Francisco “remains a destination for homeless persons from other areas”.

That report, detailing the results of a 10-year plan adopted in 2004 to end chronic homelessness, showed that the number of people identified as “chronic homeless” had decreased from 4039 in 2009 to 1977 in 2013.

“Chronic homelessness” refers to people who have been on the streets for over a year, or had had experienced at least four episodes of homelessness in the past three years.

KCBS spoke to a nearby resident who witnessed the water system in operation.

“I was just shocked, one because it’s inhumane to treat people that way. The second thing is that we are in this terrible drought,” the station quoted the neighbour as saying.

In its statement, the Archdiocese said the Church, along with the St Vincent de Paul Society, was “the largest supporter of services for the homeless in San Francisco”.

“Every year, (the Archdiocse) helps many thousands of people through food, housing, shelter programs for people at risk including homeless mothers and families, and in countless other ways. St Mary’s Cathedral is a huge part of that program, and does more than any other Catholic Church.”