Hollisterites hold many local institutions dear to their hearts,
from ‘Baler football to the annual rodeo. But perhaps none has
touched so many so deeply as the local Catholic churches.
Hollisterites hold many local institutions dear to their hearts, from ‘Baler football to the annual rodeo. But perhaps none has touched so many so deeply as the local Catholic churches.
San Benito County is home to many different congregations, from Jehovah’s Witnesses to Methodists to small Protestant churches serving maybe 20 people. But the community is so deeply rooted in Catholicism, dating back to the founding of Mission San Juan Bautista in 1797, that it’s easy to see why the church has remained a powerful local presence.
“If you look through the cemeteries and see the families buried there, you really get a feel for who has settled the county, and they were traditionally Catholic,” said Kevin Drabinsky, spokesman for the Monterey Diocese, which include San Benito County. “Those cultures are not of the same percentages that they were a generation or two ago, and there’s a lot more diversity. But the church has still grown.”
More than 5,000 families are registered with the Sacred Heart/
St. Benedict Parish in Hollister alone, making it the largest in the Monterey Diocese. Roughly 845 families belong to the Mission San Juan Bau-tista’s parish and 530 families belong to the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Tres Pinos, for a total of nearly 6,400 Catholic families in San Benito County. This might not sound too impressive in a community of approximately 36,000, but as counted by the diocese, a family could be one person living alone or a couple with several children.
“On average, about 20 percent of the population in our four counties (Santa Cruz, San Benito, Monterey and San Luis Obispo) is Catholic,” Drabinsky said. “But we expect that figure to be a little higher in San Benito.”
Catholicism got a head start in San Benito County when the Mission San Juan Bautista was founded in the late 1700s by Rev. FermÃn Lasuen, who converted hundreds of Ohlone and Yokut American Indians to Christianity.
Even after the missions were officially “secularized” by the Spanish government, the settlers who continued to populate the area often came from Catholic families.
“If you look at us today, there is a strong cultural tie to Catholicism in our parish,” said Rev. Rudy Ruiz of St. Benedict Church. “Many families are of Italian, Portuguese, Hispanic or Filipino descent, and we try to integrate our different ethnic backgrounds, cultures and traditions while focusing on what we have in common – it’s still one baptism, one faith.”
The Hollister Parish outgrew Sacred Heart Church in the late 1990s after a surge of growth and built St. Benedict to accommodate the larger population. The new church seats 1,000 people and is still often packed to capacity, particularly during holidays. Sacred Heart is still used for daily Mass and other functions frequently.
“Our diocese has built very few new churches in recent years, and St. Benedict’s is one of the largest three churches we have,” Drabinsky said. “That’s one strong indicator of the size of the Catholic population in San Benito County.”
The large Catholic population in San Benito County means that the church stays busy all year round. According to Ruiz, more than 200 local teens are scheduled to be confirmed between now and November. Three or four weddings are held each weekend, two to three funerals take place a week and an average of 500 infants are baptized in a given year – and that’s just for the Hollister Parish.
In addition to these special events, Mass is held every morning at Sacred Heart Church and seven services are held at St. Benedict’s every weekend.
“It can really get very busy,” said Rev. Larry Kambitsch of Immaculate Conception. “So we help each other out and pitch in with a funeral or daily Mass if one of us gets overbooked.”
An unusual aspect of the church in San Benito County, local Catholic leaders say, is the relative fluidity between the three parishes.
Though most families primarily attend one church, it is not at all unusual for a family to attend Mass in another parish if they miss their regular service, for example.
“People really feel free to move between parishes and all three work very well together. I think that’s a unique and special thing,” said Ed DeGroot, business manager for St. Francis Retreat in San Juan Bautista, who also coordinates music for church events and services.
St. Francis is a Franciscan retreat center which houses six friars. The retreat hosts several Catholic and other religious events every year as well as many secular events for both local and out of town organizations.
“We have events for school boards, COG, the city council – the county and city winds up using it more than the church, usually,” DeGroot said. “We reach into both aspects (secular and spiritual) of the community. When people come up here they realize the atmosphere just makes you think differently.”
The other important component of the local community is Sacred Heart Parish School, a kindergarten-eighth grade private school that has been educating generations of local children for more than 100 years.
“We work very closely with Sacred Heart School, but we welcome non-Catholic students as well,” Ruiz said. “We have other Christian students, and Jewish and Muslim students, too.”
Parents choose to send their children to Sacred Heart for a variety of reasons, ranging from a desire to reinforce Catholic teachings at school to smaller class sizes and extracurricular opportunities.
“For us, it was a lot about tradition – my dad went there and I went there for sixth, seventh and eighth grades and I thought it was a good experience,” said Adam Breen, whose two children attend. “I was raised Catholic but my wife wasn’t, so she was concerned about the religious aspect, but we’re both pleased with the way the kids are exposed to religion without being overwhelmed.”
The church doesn’t only see to the spiritual and academic needs of its families, but encourages them to socialize, as well. Throughout the year followers participate in barbecues, antique fairs and pancake breakfasts as well as service projects working with the homeless shelter, community pantry and Emmaus House, to name a few.
“One of the concepts of any church is to have members know each other, rely on each other and pray for and with each other, so the social activities are a big part of that,” said Kambitsch. “That’s how we foster a community.”
And that sense of community, believers say, is what makes worshipping in San Benito County unique.
“The community here is very large, but it still feels small – you look out and see lots of familiar faces at Mass, you get that neighborhood church feeling,” said Mary Jane Archer, whose three daughters have attended or are attending Sacred Heart. “I’m grateful to be a part of it and grateful that my children can be, too.”
