Santa Clara

From the Pastor

Dear Friends in Christ,

Throughout her almost 140-year history as the “Mother Church” of the Oxnard Plain, Santa Clara Parish has been the center for faith and community for tens of thousands of families. I often think of our founding families, most of whom settled in the area from Ohio, Germany, Mexico and Ireland. I think of our first pastors too, Fr. Juan Pujol (1885-1910) and Fr. John Laubacher (1910-1918). They began with almost nothing, and, through hard work and generosity, constructed a chapel, then a church, another couple of chapels, a convent, a school and, with the presence of the Sisters of Mercy, a hospital.  They did all of this during economic booms and busts, during droughts and floods, during the Spanish Flu pandemic, and during four major wars.  It is amazing to stop and think about what has been established for our benefit by generations past even in the most difficult and trying of times.

Over the last century, our population has grown and changed, but our mission – bringing our Catholic faith to Oxnard – has not.  It has been many decades since Santa Clara Church has embarked on any sort of major campaign to raise funds, and now we join with parishes and schools in the last wave – Wave Five – of the Called to Renew Campaign.  The campaign seeks to raise a total of $500 Million dollars for badly needed improvements for parish and school facilities, and provide funding for prison and hospital ministry, higher education Newman ministry, priestly vocations, and religious education and adult faith formation programs.  

Our parish goal for this campaign is $1.75 million, of which more than half will return to our parish for our own stated uses.  Please take a moment to prayerfully discern how you can most generously support this campaign. I encourage you to consider making a five-year pledge, which will allow us the best opportunity to reach and even surpass our goal.

As a founding member of the steering committee for the Called to Renew campaign, I join with Archbishop Gomez and my fellow pastor committee members to thank you for your prayers and efforts to make our Called to Renew campaign a success as we near our overall goal. Since the inception of the campaign, parishes throughout the Archdiocese of Los Angeles have already raised an astonishing $420 Million in cash and pledges, and now it is our turn to fly!

May our patroness St. Clare of Assisi intercede for our parish community during this time of growth and renewal.

Peace in Christ,

Rev. John Love