Prologue I don’t remember why, but many years ago I sat down and wrote a history of our Catholic community here in Gualala. Now as the 10th anniversary of the building of Mary, Star of the Sea Church approaches, I thought it would be fun to share it with everyone. Since my memories are limited, I decided to invite others to write their memories and stories, to be woven together into one history. The result is the little booklet you have now. Hopefully it has been woven together neatly and will provide us with something to cherish throughout the coming years. The first part, Ancient History, was taken from the Blessed Sacrament Church in Elk website. A large section of the history up to The Dream of Building a Church, was written by me. Each contribution is proceeded by the author’s name. I hope you enjoy it! Cindy Wesley 2005 Ed Serres: My wife, Jacquie, and I first came to Sea Ranch in 1970 and have been weekenders fairly regularly since ‘1972. In those early days, to attend Sunday Mass you had to go to Point Arena. Soon after, I don’t remember when, Saint Aloysius’s pastor drove down to celebrate Mass at the Sea Ranch There were two locations for Mass. One was in a private home. Bob and Pat Boguski volunteered their home and we met there on Sunday mornings. Allan and Carol Doble, then Sea Ranch residents, tried to get others to volunteer their places but habits are hard to change and the Boguski residence remained the venue. Another place we celebrated Mass was in the “trophy room” at the rear of the Sea Ranch Stable. This was a convenient location with plenty of parking. I remember Bishop Maher, then bishop of Santa Rosa, coming there one Sunday when Saint Aloysius’s pastor couldn’t make it. The stable, however, was pretty much in its original state, not yet having been “stable”ized. This raised safety concerns and resulted in a shift of Sunday Mass to Gualala. Cindy Wesley: In the late 1 970s on Sundays, Father traveled to Elk for 8:30am Mass, then returned to Point Arena for 10:1 5am Mass and then completed his morning with the 12:15pm Mass in Gualala/Sea Ranch. Outside of Point Arena was a radar station. For many years the priest was a chaplain at the radar station, and therefore would go up there on Saturday evenings for a 5:30 pm Mass. This was discontinued in 1979 due to low attendance. It was at this time the priest began having Saturday night masses in Point Arena at 7:30pm. The long distances in our parish made for much travel for the priest. On holy days liturgies were held in Elk and Point Arena only. We (Jim and Cindy Wesley) came to Gualala in February 1 976. The Gualala Catholic Community was worshipping in the trophy room at the white barn on the Sea Ranch. It was a cozy little room with a pot belly stove that kept us warm on cold rainy Sundays. The room was adequate for most Sundays but on holidays we all squished together, with people overflowing out into the barn itself. I remember going into the barn with the smells of animals and hay, and recalling that in similar surroundings our Lord Jesus Christ was born. How delightful it was to come to worship Him here. I’m sure he felt at home. Our community was a mixture of people who lived on the Sea Ranch and in Gualala year round; those who had second homes on the Sea Ranch and visited several times a year; and tourists travelling the coast highway to enjoy the beauty of the Mendocino Coast. Although the “regulars” were few in number compared to the visitors, we really didn’t get to know each other well and mold ourselves into a “community” until several years later. Joanna McLaughlin, then editor of the lCO, would get up and lead the singing accapella. On our third or fourth Sunday I asked Jim if maybe we should ask Joanna if she’d like us to back her up with our guitars. He agreed. So when we approached her she was delighted...so delighted she turned the music entirely over to us! And we’ve been at it ever since. The community members had taken upon themselves the ministry of lectors. It was already rotating among a few men when we arrived. One Sunday morning, Bill Lane, who was “unofficially” in charge, approached Jim and asked him if he’d read. After consenting, Jim had second thoughts, being uncomfortable reading in front of people, so he handed the misselette to me and asked me to do it. I didn’t mind reading. So I did. After Mass, several women came up to me and congratulated me on being the first woman to read in our community. I was quite surprised since in Santa Rosa, where we had just lived for 3 years, a woman lector was not unusual. But this was a first for the Gualala/Sea Ranch Catholic community. Bob Boguski: In 1977 we bought here. I remember Masses were in the Knipp Stengel barn in the tack room at the North End. Generally there were about 20 people. It was a great room because it had large windows with a view that allowed your mind to wander. At first there was a young priest relatively new to the area. Apparently he had just taken over from the old pastor. He had Mass there until Easter when we went outside at the South end of the barn on a beautiful day with the priest strumming the guitar and then announcing that he was leaving. Somehow it was mentioned that we could no longer use the barn (fire safety I think) and we volunteered our house. We had Mass here for 7 weeks in a row. Generally there were about 20 people. The priest came in mumbling that he had never said mass in a house before. Cindy Wesley: During the summer months, when the weather was nice, Mass was held outside in the forest above Gualala on Church Street. This property had been given to the church by Ida and John Bower. From the first days that we arrived we always heard about the dream to “someday” build a church on this property. John and Ida had first donated a piece of land on the Sea Ranch. But when this parcel proved too small for a church and parking lot it was purchased from the church for $25,000 by Joanna McLaughlin. The money would be the seed money for the new church. This all happened before 1976. A Plethora of Priests Part of the story of our community, in fact a major influence on its eventual development, to where we are now and where we are headed, is the large number of priests that have come and gone. In February 1976 we arrived in time to meet Fr. Tony Bolger, who had come here for a temporary stay after the retirement of Fr. Michael Kefly, a Trappist, who had been with the parish for nine years. Fr. Tony, as he was called, ended up staying 6 months, much to the delight of the parish who loved him dearly. He was a young, outgoing, loving person, just what the parish needed. Three weeks after our arrival Fr. Tony left and was replaced by a permanent pastor, Fr. Kevin McCann. Fr. McCann was a gentle person with a nice personality. He stayed with us for the rest of 1976 but in early 1 977 he had an accident while returning from Elk on Sunday morning. It turned out that he was blacking out for some reason. Therefore he was removed from our parish because our roads are hardly safe to drive if one blacks out unexpectedly! So in early 1977 a young Fr. Mike Kelly from Napa came to temporarily stay in Point Arena. Now, Fr. Mike was not happy here and didn’t hide that fact. We were just too far out in the “boonies” for his liking. But while he was here, which was through the Lenten season and into Easter he gave us some beautiful liturgies, especially during Holy Week. Fr. Mike had tremendous musical talent and often during Mass he would don his guitar in front of the altar and lead the singing himself. (much to the consternation of the older members of the parish!) Fr. Mike left us with one very valuable piece of advice on singing: “If God gave you a good voice, sing out in praise and thanksgiving. If He didn’t give you a good voice, sing out anyway and get even!” It turned out that Fr. Mike had a friend visit him in Point Arena. This friend, whose name was Fr. David Gipp, was a priest in the St. CamiHus order. He fell in love with our rural parish and put in a request to be assigned here. The bishop accepted him and around April 1977 Fr. David Gipp joined the long line of priests to come among us. Fr. David was a nice person and became a friend of ours. He had many good ideas and lots of energy but unfortunately he angered many parishioners by moving too fast with too little explanation of what he was doing. The one incident that comes to mind is his renovation of the church in Point Arena, (complete with lots of abalone decorations!). But he offered far more, including beautiful liturgies, inspiring sermons, Bible studies in Gualala, Point Arena and Elk, and special events such as a whole parish day of renewal. Fr. David left us in January of 1978 and in his place, to temporarily fill in, came Fr. John Griffith, a young Irishman who was full of life. What a delightful person Fr. Griffith was. My most vivid memory of him is an evening we had a potluck for a few families and him. After dinner Fr. Griffith sat down in the living room and played Irish musical instruments for us to enjoy. It is said that in the short time he was here, around 3 months, he visited the home of every parishioner. And I’d believe it too! After this came Fr. Curran. He stayed with us for over 2 years. Fr. Curran was a former Jesuit and a former prisoner of war in Japan. We had many sermons on the evils of communism. Because of disagreements between himself and the parish council, he abolished the council, It was during and following this period that our Sea Ranch/Gualala community began to look at itself to discover who we were and where we were going and how we were going to get there. Again, because of the disagreements with Fr. Curran, the Bible studies went “underground” and were held in people’s home. The kids’ catechism classes also went “underground” and were held in homes. It is the one period that we, Jim and Cindy, stopped playing music and simply attended weekly Mass. Other Influences But every cloud has a silver lining. This period forced growth that might not otherwise have happened. And the Lord sent us those who would lead us. A very influential person in the liturgical life of our community was Christiane Brusselmans. Christiane was a Belgian theologian, who wrote and lectured about initiation rites in the church. She was on a trip down the coast and came upon the Sea Ranch. She fell in love with the area and bought a second home here. Like she did the world over, she held workshops on liturgy for us right here. She taught us the importance of the ministry of hospitality which continues to this day here. She took me to a workshop she gave in Oakland on children’s rites of initiation, as I was the head of CCD at that time. She also taught us about the new services without a priest that were being developed in the parts of the world where the shortage of priests was extreme and the people had to meet without a priest most Sundays. At that time we all feared that one day our diocese too would face such shortages. We received the sad news many years later that Christiane had died after being struck by a car somewhere in Europe. Those of us who knew her will never forget her spirit and all she gave to us here in Sea Ranch/Gualala. More Priests Fr. Curran left abruptly in June 1 980 and the diocese did not have anyone to replace him, so our summer was filled with an endless list of weekend priests. Some we saw on several Sundays and some we saw only once. Some names we remember: Fr. Cruz, a young teacher from Cardinal Newman who gave excellent sermons; Fr. Mike Kelly (again) who had been with us before; Fr. Joe (?) an elderly priest in long flowing back robes and a large wooden crucifix, providing quite a striking figure; and then there was the one (I forget his name) who fell asleep after the Point Arena mass and woke up too late to come to Gualala. He was most embarassed and apologized deeply to us the following week. The time Fr. Mike Kelly came, he had no hosts in the suitcase in which the priest brought all the items for Mass. So someone ran down to the store for a loaf of bread. Other priests whom we can remember coming to our parish to fill in included Fr. Griffin (who we mentioned earlier), Fr. Cleary, Fr. Keyes, and Mon. Donahue. Our experiences during this summer helped us to realize that we, the people, were the church. We had to take charge. There was no leader now. So eventually we took over keeping the items for mass. We took over providing the hosts and the wine. We took over planning the liturgies. It is here that our story meshes with Christiane mentioned above, and we grew as a community. A final memory of this time was the Sunday when the priest once again didn’t come. Having a copy of the Sunday Service without a priest that Christiane had given us, we began ourselves. After we completed the readings, Morton Kelsey, a retired Episcopal priest who worshipped with us, graciously agreed to give the sermon. Just at the close of the intercessions, the priest arrived. He, too, had fallen asleep! Surprised to find us in the middle of Mass, he picked up at the beginning of the Liturgy of the Eucharist and we completed the Mass. Summer turned into fall and still only rumors of a permanent priest. Then finally in October, Fr. Howe arrived, direct from Tasmania (which, by the way, is south of Australia). Fr. Howe’s stay was to be 3 months, but turned out to be only 3 weeks. But he left us with delightful memories of his friendliness. And so just before Advent Fr. Howe left for Scotia and Fr. Denis Doyle arrived. Fr. Doyle stayed for several years. He was a friendly man who told a good story. He was a very easy-going person and delightful to be around. Our community continued to grow in numbers and spirituality during his stay. This was also the time Christiane was still among us. One very vivid memory that I’m sure many who are in the parish today remember is the famous Easter vigil service at the Gualala River. Christiane, as I have mentioned, had a flair for liturgy. She came up with the idea to have a sunrise Easter vigil service. She invited a priest from Sacramento who was into liturgy also. This was not something Fr. Doyle would have anything to do with. We began in a redwood grove on the north side of the bridge. There we had the liturgy of the word. I remember the children dancing around the campfire at one point during the readings. Then we processed across the bridge and over to the river (where we usually go swimming). There on the riverbank we celebrated the Liturgy of the Eucharist. I do remember we played “One Bread, One Body” during communion. I still cannot sing that song without remembering that morning. Of course, we returned to the community center later to play for the regular Easter morning service. I do remember Fr. Doyle being very upset about the river service. Joanne Hafner took slides of this service. (These are now with Cindy Wesley) After Fr. Doyle was reassigned Fr. Thomas Keffer arrived. He was a large imposing man who stayed for five years. Following him came Father Peter Talcott, a conservative priest, who was with us for four years when we began the process for the building of the church. During the building of the church Fr. John Martin came to be part of our parish. He was an outgoing fellow. He only stayed a little over one year. Just after Mary, Star of the Sea was opened Fr. Theo O’Sullivan arrived. Fr. Theo is still with us today to celebrate these first ten years of Mary Star of the Sea Church. The Community Center and Outdoor Church in the Pines After the winter of 1 978, Mass was held in the Gualala Community Center when we were unable to be outside. Again, not having a place to call our own, we all had to come a little early to help prepare the hall for Mass. We’d set up the chairs, move a table to be the altar, and move a table by the door for the misselettes. Again we all pulled together to make this “church” for us. Another tradition that started in the 1 980s were the Advent potlucks. We all looked forward to these. We’d set up the tables and decorate with pine boughs. Later, after eating, we’d sing Christmas songs (practicing for Christmas of course!) I remember one Advent we had a soup potluck at the Wesley home on the first Sunday of Advent to teach the Advent songs to those who wanted to learn. Advent songs, being sung only once a year, are strangers to us each time we come back to them. Ed Serres: During the summer months we met at the Church Street lot, now occupied by Mary Star of the Sea, where Mass was celebrated outside. At first we would sit on the grass around a make-shift altar. Later some parishioners donated funds for the construction of an altar and benches. I think that all who attended these outdoor Masses really relished the experience. This was before the construction of the firehouse across the street. We were in the woods and the only distractions were the breezes whistling through the trees and the cawing of passing crows. During the rainy season we met for Mass in the Community Center. For the last ten years we have been enjoying Mass at Mary Star of the Sea sitting in comfortable chairs in a warm and attractive church. I sometimes miss the old days when we roughed it outside. I remember rocks positioned on the altar cloth to keep it in place, and the candles sheltered so as not to be extinguished. Maureen Healy: When we (Niall and Maureen) first came here Mass was celebrated on the land where the church is now. We sat on wooden benches and there was a wooden altar. In the winter it was celebrated in the Community Center. There were no Eucharist ministers or altar servers. I think there were readers. ZeH and Cliff Box took care of the altar. They brought home all that was required for the altar and brought it back every Sunday. They had no help so when I arrived I started helping them, which is how I ended up with that job when they retired. Eventually we got a cabinet in the Community Center so in the winter we had a place to store the altar things. Don Blumental: One day a small clearing was turned into an outdoor place of worship by the sImple erecting of an altar with a shade screen roof and wooden benches for the people. Mass was celebrated there during the summer months and old timers brought their own folding chairs. Even a wedding was performed at this beautiful cathedral in the pines. I know because it was my daughter, Barbara Blumenthal, being married and Jim and Cindy brought forth wonderful music. As you walked to this place of worship from Church Street you passed a 4 X 6 foot sign that announced this would one day be the site of Mary Star of the Sea Church. Mary Suhr: My first memory of Mary, Star of the Sea parish is Mass in the Gualala Community Center, which gave me a sense of being part of the town. Also included was summertime Mass outdoors at the present church site. Cindy Wesley: Many people wonder about the small cemetery located at the back of the church. The cemetery actually still belongs to the descendants of the Robinson family, one of the founding families of Gualala. “This graveyard is on Elizabeth and Cyrus Dwight Robinson’s original homestead, on the hill behind their hotel, the “Gualala House.” Its tombstones are thusly engraved: Elizabeth (wife) 1823-1902 Cyrus D (husband) 1822-1906 Ike (Sept. 17, 1865 Lissie (Sept. 28, 1 985) Instead of facing west toward the ocean, as most things at this place are so wont to do, the stones scan the east, towards Pennsylvania.” (Taken from A Histori of Gualala. Mendocino County. California by Annete White Parks) The Dream of Building a Church From the first days that we (Jim and Cindy) arrived, we always heard about the dream to “someday” build a church on this property. During all these years the dream of a church built on the property continued to be nurtured and talked about. But it never got any farther than that. Even the $25,000 just sat there, waiting for someone to come, someone who could lead us to our dream. Maureen Healy: One Sunday a group of us started talking after Mass and Charles Wade, Will’s father, told us that at one point a request to build a church here had been made to the Bishop. There was in fact some money that had been raised at that time still being held by the Diocese. The decision was made then to meet and discuss how we would be about getting a church. The first meeting was held at John Buckley’s house. We were away so I don’t know all that went on, but things started rolling and did not stop until we had a church. Jim Burlage, FAIA, RIBA: The first meeting on the building of a new church in the woods was held at John and Shirley Buckley’s house on The Sea Ranch. There were a large number of people attending and I remember sitting on their entry deck discussing the idea. Fr. Peter was at the meeting. A committee was formed and I volunteered my services for the design of the church as I always had an a vocational interest in church design. After graduate school both Ginny and I went to Europe to study the new churches particularly in Germany. Since we were living in the Sausalito area and only here on weekends most of the meetings were held on Saturday morning. One particular meeting where the final design was selected was at Jim and Cindy Wesley’s home. Several ideas for the church were presented and the committee selected the current design. We were very fortunate to have an extraordinary site that dictated the solution. The idea of creating the same feeling with the building as we had when Mass was held in the open was a critical feature and led to the two sides of the church opening all the way. Upon completion of the design and model the plan was taken to Santa Rosa where a presentation was made to the Bishop by Don Blumenthal, John Buckley and me. I was amazed that during the forty-five minute presentation the Bishop did not interrupt once and, in fact, at the end the Bishop said he liked it and just keep going despite the Pastor’s concerns. The best memory though is the incredible contribution made by the entire community in helping build the church. This included working on the concrete, carpentry and painting. People who were not members of the parish helped with the painting . The overall community response was outstanding. Will Wade: While the construction of any building requires the talents of a handful of professional trades persons to navigate the waters it is the willingness dedication and heart of the crew that makes the voyage both successful and enjoyable. Such was the experience in the building of Mary Star of the Sea church. Volunteers stepped up to the plate from the ground breaking all the way through the finishing details to create a testimonial to the heart and soul of those individuals who give for no other reason than because they can. What a wonderful experience it was for me to work with so many gracious and friendly people. Don Blumental: Second collections in this outdoor church began to grow. Someone offered to match donations made for a several month period. And the trees grew and the building fund grew. Finally we were able to convince the Diocese that we had half of the funds needed and requested a loan for the rest. A total of about $250,000 was the budget, if I recall correctly. Jim Burlage took a scale model of the church to the meeting at the Diocese and it won the day. Then the fun began. Filing for permits, GMAC presentations and clearing the site of many, many trees. We started by hiring a man to take down a huge bishop pine tree that looked very difficult to fell. The bill was over $600 to fell it and chip the branches. That was the first and last time we paid to fell a tree. Volunteers that included a large part of the regulars at Mass pitched in and the trees started coming down. At first, we had the idea we could sell the wood as firewood. So we cut and bucked and split and hauled and stacked, but sold very little firewood. By now time was running out and we wanted to start the church construction in June. It was still the rainy season so we started to burn and haul branches to a big fire. Then we started felling the trees right into the big fire which then grew bigger. John Bower brought a CAT and pulled and pushed large logs into the fire. But it was Sisters Maura and Celeste that dragged branches through the mud in the rain to keep the fire going. They were the “MUDDERS”, as the late John Bower said. Maureen Healy: Mall and Stewart Lyons were among the first group to start clearing the grounds and when the trees were cut the wood was sold. Mary Suhr: When the church was under construction, I recall helping paint windows at a place near the town airport with the help of the Episcopalians who were also to use the new building. The Church is a very special place for me, beautifully designed with that magnificent view of trees and ocean, a constant reminder of God’s presence in our lives. Ben Klagenberg: Our (Ben and Wilma) involvement in Mary, Star of the Sea, started in the fall of ‘94, October or early November. We had just finished building our house and Wilma told me I should go up to the church site and see if I could help them out. I went up to the site and saw a concrete floor poured and some structures being assembled on what is now the parking lot. I met Don Blumenthal and Will Wade and offered to help. They put me to work and soon I was comfortable helping out. We were assembling the trusses on saw-horses, bolting them together. Everything had been cut to size and fixtures made to assist in the assemble. Some posts were set in place on the floor and we were soon placing the trusses in place. The frame of the church went fast and before long we were putting in the doors and windows. I worked on the fitting of the doors and window hardware. Before long we were nearly finished and started on the outbuilding. Will had two hired carpenters and that went fast. I started fitting out the rooms with cabinets, closets and installing hardware on the doors. I looked around one day in July and we were ready to move in. The chairs had been bought in a disassembled state and a work party was called and the chairs were put together. Diane and Jim Cunningham: We came to Gualala 14 years ago and sat in the forest to attend Mass. In the winter, we were in the Community Center. There was talk of us building our own church. Ida Bower gave us the land and the forest around the Robinson Cemetery, where the corn used to grow when her family owned the Hotel. As time went on the decision was made, the design accepted and the work began. Don Blumenthal and Ernie Huenemeyer were seasoned loggers, so they began the process of cutting the trees and cutting them into manageable pieces. The burn pile and hauling off the logs to Dolly Mitler’s was done by Sisters Maura and Celeste, Pat Huenemeyer, Jim and Diane Cunningham and Matt Adams. Sister Maura and Diane drove the trucks. John Bower, Senior, with his heavy equipment, was the real teacher on how to clear the lot and build a fire. He was great. One beautiful fall day, Bishop Ziemann came to bless the site and the long job began. Will Wade was “The Man” with two professional carpenters, he would work with volunteers, headed by Don Blumenthal, to build “The Chapel”. There was much work to be done: measure, make a hole in the ground, measure, fill it with sand and gravel, measure, make forms on the side, measure, put in adobes to hold the rebar and wire together. Maura and Celeste did so many of these projects. Fr. John Martin was Pastor then and he worked right along with us. The day the slab was poured we had many helpers. During the rainy season of that winter, the ceiling wood was delivered to the Cunningham’s driveway where Don, Ernie and Jim pre- finished the wood in Jim’s shop. When the next load came, they would take the finished wood to the church site and wrap it till it was needed. Jim’s shop would be used many times for the compound cuts they couldn’t cut on the site. Will was so good coordinating everything in the many weeks and months of the construction, bringing it all together and getting into those high places no one else could go. Many people worked behind the scenes. The Batches and crew were painting all the window frames up by the airport in a cold hanger. Some people were growing the redwood trees to be replanted on the site. Everybody helped in some way. Many in the community came by just to see the progress and cheer us on. Toward the end, Jim and Don designed and built the altar in honor of each of their mothers. Later, Jim built the tabernacles and the book stand. Don built the Easter candle holder and the tables in the back. By July the church was finished and the chairs were put together, Peter Mohr, Rev. Peter Farmer and others came forward from the other local faiths to help us get ready for our big day. July 1 7, 199S was our first Mass. Ida Bower and Joanna McLaughlin were in the front row, filled with joy and pride, as we all were. They both died in early September and were buried from their church. It seems like a long time ago but we were happy to be a part of what is our church today. From Convent to Clothing Store via Gualala church construction to “Mission Accomplished” in Point Arena Sister Celeste Dempsey, O.S.U. Sister Maura Murphy, O. S. U. Picture two “retired Ursuline Nuns” driving up the coast from Santa Rosa wanting to locate an affordable place to live and eventually to be of some active service to the surrounding community. In 1991, our terms of office serving the Ursuline Convent in Santa Rosa were ending and “a choice of ministry” lay before us. For years we had taught in schools, for more years we had served in administration within our Religious Community. Whereas formerly, Sisters were assigned to a ministry, changes within our Community now allowed a “choice of ministry” that would be in keeping with our tradition. Thus we ventured into the unknown. A chance at a small and actually affordable house on Sea Ranch owned by a parishioner who was looking for someone to care for his house during his 1-2 year stay in Europe was our first success. There we searched our hearts and our surroundings for a choice of ministry. Our first chance (never to be forgotten) to be of help to anyone was the invitation from Don Blumenthal to all parishioners to help clear the ground for the construction of our church in Gualala. Nuns are actually used to manual labor so we arrived at the given time and began gathering branches to add to the burn pile. I can’t remember how many days it took but I do remember meeting John Bower Sr. coming with his equipment to move the logs that no man could otherwise move. When working one day after a heavy rain John saw us slipping a bit in the mud and from there dubbed us no longer “the Sisters” but now “the Mudders” Our next chore: to lift and load tree stumps onto Don’s truck and drive them up to Dolly Miller’s property to be split and stacked for firewood. It was a chore! But it strengthened us for what was to come. Cutting rebar was easy compared to laying it. Being on one’s knees to pray was quite different from kneeling on ground or board. Shoveling gravel was a bit of relief. And if you haven’t seen the little white circles on the interior beams, picture Sr. Ceteste and myself in Don’s workshop and garage dipping each one in special paint and hanging them one by one on nails that had been pounded into the wall of the garage. Who we met and what we learned from each one is, I believe, the cornerstone of what we ended up doing. It was at lunch one day, provided by several women, that Jim Cunningham unknowingly planted a small seed in our minds: Our church should definitely be not only a beautiful place of worship but also a visible symbol of the active practice of the faith that we profess. It was shortly thereafter that The Parish Outreach Program came into being, slowly. We gathered volunteers, formed a Board, developed a Mission Statement, received local professionally-made racks, thanks to Jim Cunningham, purchased other necessities, traveled far and wide seeking and receiving donations of good quality clothes, agreed on the best name for our project: “Good Buy Clothes”. The doors opened on Saturday April 30, 1994 and thanks to the now 34 volunteers and the hundreds of pleased patrons, our Parish Outreach has reached out with over $200,000 to people with various basic needs, food, clothing, medicine, victims of domestic violence, etc. as well as to local organizations such as RCMS, Project Santa, Cancer Resource Center, Mendocino Dialysis, RA Senior Center, Redwood Coast Education, Hospice and so on. When parishioners are committed to help serve the needs of others, the church in which they worship definitely becomes a symbol of their faith in action. Other Reflections Gail and Bud Spencer: My husband and I moved to Gualala from Mesa, Arizona, five years ago where we had belonged to a large congregation numbering in the thousands. Going to weekly Mass there was like going to a concert with a band of guitars, keyboards and drums, along with a handful of singers. Hundreds of people would attend each of the masses, and we rarely saw anyone we knew. When we first attended Mass at Mary, Star of the Sea, I was very self-conscious. Although the church is beautiful, and the parishioners friendly, it took several weeks for me to look forward to attending Mass here. We enjoyed Father Theo’s sermons and Jim and Cindy’s music. The problem was that there was nowhere to hide. Celebrating Mass had become, in Arizona, a very personal experience. Ironically, there I felt lonely amongst the throng of people sitting around me. At Mary, Star of the Sea, we got to know more people in a few months than we had in Arizona in five years. That is just one of the benefits of living in a small community. Here relationships are up close and personal. And that’s the way we like it. Return to the About Us page |