Start-up meeting

Tonight at St. Phillip's church we attended the first of several meetings regarding the new catholic parish in Bakersfield. If anyone was unable to attend or hadn't heard about the new church, I will be posting the progress of this major endeavour here. The church will be built (eventually) on a 20 acre parcel near the corners of Old Farm Rd. and Reina Rd. in NW Bakersfield.

The new pastor is Fr. Perry Kavookjian. Fr. Perry is a native of the San Joaquin Valley (Fresno)and has spent the past 14 years at the St. Paul, Newman Center in Fresno. Prior to his stay there, Fr. Perry served as Chancellor of the dioceses under Bishop Stienbock. Many of you may remember his 3 year stay at St. Phillip's in the early 90's. His first assignment upon being ordained (1987) was to Our Lady of Victory in Fresno.

Tonight's meeting began with a reading from the gospel of St. Matthew (Mt. 7: 24-27) and a prayer. Fr. Perry then gave his biography and some of his own reflections on starting a new parish. Some of his thoughts were on first building a congregation, establishing a database of potential/interested families, not limiting the congregation to individuals and families who reside within the boundaries of the parish (Rosedale Hwy-S, Hwy 99-E, 7th Standard & up to Shafter- N and Enos Ln-W) see map. Additionally, Fr. Perry indicated that while fund-raising would ultimately be vital, the time for that will come. At this point, we need to focus on building a community of believers who are working toward something great. We need to be willing to put aside our personal agenda's and reach out to all people who reside within our parish... Christian and non-Christian alike.

Some of the general comments from the gathered ranged from availability of diocesan moneys from their recent capital campaign, (answer: likely none) to will there be land to accommodate a future parish school, (answer: there is space but, it would be a phase 3 project...translation, maybe. Way, way, way down the line).

You may have heard the name All Saints Catholic Church floated around your parish bulletin or by local media. However, All Saints is the name of the Episcopal church on Gosford Rd in the SW. Because of several factors, the new church will have a different name. Fr. Perry provided a short list of names he compiled while still at the Newman Center in Fresno. The list included:

Corpus Christi Catholic Church

Transfiguration Catholic Church

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church

St. Stephen's Catholic Church

St. Gianna Mola Catholic Church

In a non-scientific show of hands, it appeared to me that Corpus Christi was the unofficial winner. However, all attendees were given the opportunity to privately vote on the names provided. In addition, those gathered were given a chance to brainstorm some names for the group to consider. Some of these names were:

St. Benedict's

Holy Names

St. Martin de Porres

as well as a few other names of existing churches in the valley. To make it clear, the Bishop's instructions were that the church must use the name of a saint (or one who has been beatified), and NOT use the name of an existing church in the valley.

After about 70 minutes, the meeting was closed with a final prayer and adjourned.

A few additional postscripts....Fr. Perry hopes to have additional meetings at St. Francis (tentatively June 2) and at Christ the King (TBD). All are welcome to attend... The parish offices will be located at St. Phillip's for the next few weeks until Fr. can get moved into his new residence.... After that, the office will be at the residence until such time that a parish hall can be built on site.

Please check back over the course of the summer. I will try and keep information fresh and up-to-date as best I can. In the mean time, please keep this project in your prayers and try and make some time to attend one of the upcoming meetings. Even if you don't plan on attending a new church, it is nice to offer relevant suggestions and be a participant in what will become your new catholic neighbor.