|
|
Parish History
By the Fall of 1960, families were moving onto the Platt Ranch daily. On August 4, 1962, His Eminence James Francis Cardinal McIntyre moved to activate the parish of St. Bernardine of Siena, whose boundaries included parts of both Woodland Hills and Canoga Park. Father Richard Murray rolled up his sleeves and set to work purchasing a house on Calvert Street just below Valley Circle Boulevard as a temporary rectory. Funds to build a church and permanent rectory and school were going to have to come from the parishioner, and his first task
was to find these people. Finding parishioners meant making house calls. Father Richard Murray made them promptly and judiciously, in the evenings
when everyone was most likely to be home.
Father Murray listened with good nature to the outpouring of suggestions, desires and recommendations that his future parishioners had been anxious to communicate since their arrival, regarding
how things should be done. When he himself had the chance to speak, he stated his clear and simple policy: his formula for a good start for
everyone. There would be a Men's Club and a Women's Club and neighborhood guilds, There would be the Sacraments. And when the time came that there was at last a school, there would be far more applicants for admission than space for students, Father
Murray set up a committee of volunteers to carry out a parish census whose members went house-to-house
within the boundaries to ask if there were any Catholics living there. The census revealed no less than 1700 Catholic families,
who would form the nucleus of St. Bernardine's Parish, and who would now cease attending Our Lady of the Valley or other churches in the area and become a part of a parish of their own, St. Bernardine of Siena.
With no church building yet available, St. Bernardine's worship activity wandered about. The site of the first parish Mass on August 26, 1962
was the Chaminade High School Library. As the parish continued to grow, the library became too small
to hold its community of worshippers, and Sunday Masses were moved to the Canoga Park High School auditorium. This necessarily nomadic period was greatly eased by the acquisition of a special
two wheel trailer loaded with portable altar, linens, and other sacred accessories pertaining to the Eucharist, which could be pulled up alongside whatever structure was currently providing the parish with worship space. Father Murray and other members of the priesthood who came to help with the multiple Sunday Masses vested in the
wings.
The third and last move for Mass was to Hale junior High School
Auditorium on Califa Street in Woodland Hills. Meantime, the Building Fund Campaign Committee had come into being. Its objective was a pledge drive in which parishioners would pledge a specific percentage of their
wages, a percent they felt they could afford, to the fund for construction of parish facilities. The goal of $604,458 was met. On March 1 ,1964 official ground breaking ceremonies for rectory, school, and parish hall were held
atop a grassy knoll overlooking the dirt road that would become Valley Circle Boulevard. In September, 1964, the school building
was completed and staffed by Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
Grades 1 through 4 were filled immediately. The nuns were by then lodged in a house on Bessemer Street, immediately across the street from the school, which had been purchased as a convent for them.
Steadily but surely the - parish physical structure continued to take shape, and as it did so too did the surrounding Catholic population, not only in
the earlier tracts, but on the hillsides west and , east of the parish plant. By the spring of 1966, the second parish school building, containing Sisters
offices for the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine (CCD) staff, as well as classrooms, was functioning. Some 650 students were enrolled in St. Bernardine's School and more than 1300 attended the CCD classes conducted on weekends and evenings for those children who could not be accommodated in the parochial school or whose parents preferred to send them to the local public school.
In October of 1964, the Parish Hall was ready for use. It was to serve as a temporary church until the permanent church could be constructed at the corner of Valley Circle Boulevard and Calvert Street. It was a joyous occasion for all when Father Murray assisted by Father Havel, celebrated the first Mass in the hall. On October 16, 1966, His Eminence James Francis Cardinal McIntyre came to
St. Bernardine's and formally dedicated the parish to the glory of God and the memory of St.
Bernardine of Siena (1380-1450), most noted in the hierarchy of saints for his lifelong devotion to preaching the Good News of the Gospels and extolling the Holy Name of Jesus.
 In April 1968, the parish rectory was finished at 24410 Calvert Street, and Father Murray moved up the hill to the new dwelling. Also in 1968, the Sisters of Notre Dame succeeded the Immaculate Heart Sisters in the administration of the
school. They remained there until 1990 when the principal, Patty Baldwin, assumed
that position. Within the landscape of their parish hall, their priests house, school, and
grounds, St. Bernardine's community worshiped and worked and played together as their
children grew and their members increased.
In 1983, recognizing his dedication to this parish and to the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, Father Murray was elevated to the rank of Prelate of Honor, with the title of Monsignor.
In February of 1989, Monsignor Paul Dotson was named the second pastor of St. Bernardine Catholic Church. Monsignor is a native son, even to the degree that he was raised in the San Fernando Valley.
In 1991, after two years of long range planning, the parish launched an ambitious Parish Development Program culminating in the opening of our present parish center, the church bell tower and vestibule additions. The parish center, with 22,050 sq. ft. of space, includes critically needed meeting and conference rooms, day chapel, full kitchen facilities and ministry offices. Parish administration offices were relocated from the rectory. The main social hall has withstood a major earthquake. It can accommodate up to 700 people and is very useful for additional Masses on crowded Holy Days,
parish celebrations, school functions, plays, choir practice, parent conferences and myriad uses by the parishioners. The people of the parish benefit daily from the sacrifices of those who made this
possible.
In 1999 plans were made to build a new church. The design goal was
to have all parishioners in attendance at the mass as close to the altar as
possible. The design became one that has six sections all facing the altar. It
was decided that the best way to construct the new church was to retain the bell
tower (1991) along with the old sacristy and to re-orient the church so that its
entrance was on the north, whereas the old church entrance was on the west. The
new church had approximately 5000 square feet additional space. The demolition
of the old central section of the church and the subsequent reconstruction
occurred in early 1999 to mid 2000.
Prior to
the demolition of the old church, a tent was purchased. This was not your family
camping tent, but was a significant 4000 square foot white tent that would be
used as a temporary church during the reconstruction of the church. This tent
could not interfere with the construction so it was located on the north-east
corner of the property near the corner of Valley Circle and Calvert. Air
conditioning, lights and a sound system, indeed most of the comforts of a brick
and mortar church were installed. The tent experienced some difficulties of
nature where it endured heavy rains, some slight flooding and strong winds. It
survived and served the parish well until the new church was available for mass.
The tent was considered by many parishioners to be a very comfortable place to
worship God.
The new church was completed in July 2000. The new church was
dedicated by Cardinal Roger Mahoney on
Sunday July 23, 2000.
In July 2001, Father McNamara was named the third pastor of this
parish.
Links
Our
Heritage - Archdiocese of Los Angeles
History of
Woodland Hills - Woodland Hills Chamber of Commerce
|
