20th Sunday in Ordinary Time--August 17, 2025
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
After the debt was paid off and a parish high school was established, Msgr. Thomas English purchased 18 acres in the 1100 and 1200 block of West Holt Ave. In 1955 the congregation of Saint Joseph Parish moved into a $500,000 church that was at the time the third largest church in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. In 1957 an $80,000 rectory was built. Over a period of 14 years the church, rectory, and auditorium were built at the cost of $3 million. This would become the home for Catholics of the Pomona Valley and the mother church from which 4 new parishes were born – Sacred Heart, Pomona; Holy Name of Mary, San Dimas; Our Lady of Assumption, Claremont; St. Denis, Diamond Bar; and later, St. Madeleine of Pomona. The dedication of St. Joseph Church was on March 27, 1956, by then Archbishop of Los Angeles, James Francis, Cardinal McIntrye. When I was preparing to move to St. Joseph and I came to visit the church to pray, when I first walked into the church, seeing its beauty, it right away told me a story of faith. 254 years ago the Archdiocese of Los Angeles was much larger geographically and smaller in population. There has been such a boom in population growth that Los Angeles had to be broken up to create other dioceses. The 3 dioceses closest to us are San Bernardino, Orange, and San Diego as well as others north of Santa Barbara County. The missionary work of the Catholic Church had a very formative part in the building up of this new land that would become the local church of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, which today includes Los Angeles County, Ventura County and Santa Barbara County. The evangelization of the Saint Junipero Serra and the Franciscan Friers brought the name of Jesus Christ to the people that would form the Catholic Church of the Pomona Valley. Since the pandemic hit a new evangelization started at St. Joseph Parish. At first, I did not know how we were going to continue to be church as I knew it. The only ones on the property for three months were the 4 parish priests and the 8 staff members. How would we ever come back after this. Then on the fourth month, that was June of 2020 we were able to reopen with outdoor Mass. We started with Saturday evening in English, and on Sunday one early morning English Mass and one late evening Spanish Mass; Weekdays with the 8am English and an added Spanish Mass at 6:30pm. The first week we started out small, put then there was a great number, and not only from the regular parishioners, but from all over, looking for the Holy Mass, to be nourished by Jesus once again. I could not understand how so many responded to the grace of God to form anew Saint Joseph Parish. Indeed, we became the mother church of the Pomona Valley once again, and of many other cities.
Blessings,
Fr. Steven Guitron