Church community growing
Framed in stained glass at Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church in Windsor, a parishioner prays during early morning Mass. (Kent Porter / Press Democrat)
By DIANA GILBERT / Windsor Correspondent
News across the country, and the globe, might make you think that the Catholic church is on a slow march toward extinction. But one local parish has done nothing but grow.
On a weekly basis, 2,500 people attend Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic church, worshipping at one of four masses offered each weekend in English and Spanish.
And that number isn’t shrinking, says Pastor Angelito Peries, who has served at the church for 12 years.
“Our faith community continues to grow,” he said. “I like to call it a good problem when we need to find more rooms for our children’s classes, for example.”
The congregation is about 60% white and 40% of Hispanic descent, primarily from Mexico, El Salvador and Guatemala. But on on the feast day for Our Lady of Guadalupe, Peries said, “the whole congregation becomes Mexican.”
During early morning hours on Dec. 12, between 500 and 600 parishioners began a pilgrimage in Santa Rosa and arrived at the church about 4 a.m.
The annual procession commemorates the day in 1531 when Juan Diego, a recently converted peasant, saw the Virgin in a night-blue cloak studded with stars.
“It’s a very special day to those of Mexican origin,” Peries said. “People pray the rosary as they walk, or engage in call and response prayers. The tone is supposed to be solemn and contemplative, but sometimes becomes joyful and jubilant.
“Our sincere apologies go out to anyone whose sleep we may have disturbed along the way.”
Observances like the pilgrimage attract immigrants who are new to Windsor and help them find community. Peries cites the congregation’s appeal to these newcomers as one reason for its growth. The second is that many young families have relocated to Windsor and have decided to raise their children in the church.
“I understand both sides of the issue of undocumented immigrants,” Peries said, “but as a religious leader, my role is to be compassionate and supportive. To come to this church, you do not need a passport.”
The wide variety of programs and services the church provides may also help explain its size.
A weekly Feed the Hungry program, the Prayer Shawl ladies’ group, catechism classes and musical and art programs for children are just a few.
The church also welcomes non-religious groups for addiction recovery, weight-loss and community service, to name a few. For larger crowds, individuals or organizations staging parties, celebrations and dances can rent the Mary Agatha Furth Center.
Given the number of people who come to the church either as parishioners or as guests, beneficiaries of community services or those providing them, it’s no wonder that the church is such a visual and social landmark.
Our Lady of Guadalupe wasn’t always the mammoth organization it is today.
“In 1968, a few dedicated leaders for the English- and Spanish-speaking communities in Windsor approached the bishop and asked if he would take care of this community’s spiritual needs by establishing a mission here,” said Peries.
“At that time, the property on Old Redwood Highway was mostly park and garden with blueberry and blackberry bushes. There were only one or two restaurants here.
“The Church responded by establishing the Guadalupe Apostolic Mission, which began with fewer than 100 people. We became a parish only 18 years ago.”
The impressive church buildings followed shortly after receiving the parish designation. The sanctuary was completed in 1994 and open in 1995, originally intended to hold 450 people but now regularly seating 700.
“Fred and Peggy Furth were responsible for completing the sanctuary,” Peries said. “They gave millions of dollars to complete the buildings, so we named the Mary Agatha Furth center after Fred’s mother when it was completed in 2001. They blessed us with nice buildings to complete the mission of the church.”
That mission is broad and ambitious.
“Our vision is to reach out and make a difference in the local community by witnessing God’s love and being there for the poor and the needy. We are tied together with all the others who do that work as well.
“We also have a mission to be patriotic and promote American values of democracy, freedom of speech, concern for one another. Those are really very spiritual things. We don’t like to be isolated from that. We like to be part of it.”
Peries emigrated from Sri Lanka and was visiting his newlywed brother in Montreal in 1977 when he met Bishop Trienem of Boise, Idaho. Trienem invited him to join the youth and family ministries there, which he did for two and a half years.
Later he studied communication arts at Loyola Marymount and UCLA, with the idea of using film within the church. After a brief return to Sri Lanka when the country was engaged in civil war, Peries’ religious superiors in the Redemptorist Order gave him the choice to work in Singapore, Australia or the United States.
He returned to Los Angeles, then came north to Oakland, Hayward and Sebastopol before settling at Our Lady of Guadalupe in 1999.
Despite his unique origins, Peries has no trouble communicating with anyone in his congregation.
“I learned Spanish in the 80s from Salvadoran refugees in Oakland,” he said. “I also know Italian, French, English, Sinhalese and Tamil, my home language.”
Certainly his skill with languages is an asset in this diverse congregation, and bridging the gap between English- and Spanish-speaking parishioners is one of Peries’ on-going goals.
“It’s important that language barriers don’t isolate our congregation into distinct groups, which can be a challenge logistically,” he said. “We have to have the sacraments available in both languages so that everyone understands what they mean.
“If it were left to me, I would have only one mass but in both languages. However our sanctuary simply won’t accommodate everyone.”
During community events, “our whole church comes together, and there is no English/Spanish division,” Peries said. “Everyone is included, and all are welcome.”
Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church is at 8400 Old Redwood Hwy., 837-8962, olgwindsor.org.
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This is worrying because it’s an illegal alien church. So it’s growing because more illegals are coming in.
Great, the Catholic Church delivering delusion and pedophilia to the masses for centuries
That is Sooo dumb of “Hmmm” to suggest that the church is an illegal alien church. You need to get an education before you shoot comments like that about people you probably have never met or even know. As for “West Man”, your generalizations border on defamation of character as most of the church leaders are noble and caring people who do a lot for the communities they serve. The growth of the Catholic Church community demonstrates that there a growing number of Anglos and Hispanics that originated in many countries who are loving and caring people in this community who share one faith. It is good that our church is bringing these communities together rather than separating them through prejudice and racism. We are all immigrants and we need to be proud of our histories. We need to continue to welcome people who want to be part of positive community. So don’t worry, be happy!