St. Francis De Sales Riverside CA

St. Francis De Sales is a Roman Catholic church in Riverside, California.

We are a fellowship of believers, made in God's image and called as disciples of Christ to share the Good News with everyone through learning, listening, praying and working together actively to reach out to our communities.

We are a place to believe, belong, and become!

 

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HISTORY OF ST. FRANCIS DE SALES

1769: Franciscan Fr. Junipero Serra establishes the first Catholic Church at Mission San Diego de Alcala.

1850: California becomes a state.

1870: The city of Riverside is formed.

1886: Fr. Peter Stockman, the third pastor of San Bernardino's church, establishes St. Francis de Sales as a mission of San Bernardino's church to serve the Catholics south of the Santa Ana River, many of whom are Hispanic descendants of the Agua Mansa community. St. Francis de Sales Mission is part of the diocese of Monterey-Los Angeles, the first Catholic diocese of California. At its founding, the mission serves about thirty to forty families. Fr. Stockman fosters the development of several lay organizations, including the St. Francis Society. Fr. Stockman comes by train one Sunday each month to say Mass.

1887: The first church building at St. Francis Mission is begun. The small brick building is in Gothic style to resemble a church in Fr. Stockman's native Belgium. It is built in the middle of the block on Twelfth St. The property is bounded by Lime, Mulberry, 12th and 13th Streets. It is donated by Mrs. Hattie Traver, a convert who had moved to Riverside from Santa Barbara. The church cost $5,000.00 much of which came from parishioners in San Bernardino. Mrs. Traver intended that a school, convent, rectory, church, and hospital should be built on the site. All except the last were eventually built.

1893: St Francis acquires full parish status as the tenth Catholic Church founded in Southern California. Its first resident pastor, Fr. John McCarthy studied in New York, Ireland, and at the College of "Propaganda Fide" in Rome. Ordained a priest, he first serves in Los Angeles. He is pastor of St. Francis until

1898. St. Francis de Sales supervised six Catholic mission churches in the county, which made it the Riverside "Mother Church". Mass is said once a month at the missions. There are about 1300 Catholics in the 7000 square miles of St. Francis. In time, other missions are founded with assistance from St. Francis

1898: St. Francis builds a rectory at the corner of 12th and Lime St. The rectory is later moved to the corner of 13th and Lime St.

1914: Fr. B. Florian Hanh, the seventh pastor, who worked with the California Indians, begins to build the church on the present site at 12th and Lime St. This second church is completed in 1918: only the front part of the building is used for services.

1918: Classrooms are built in the rear portion of the church. Sr. Dolorosa, a Dominican nun, comes from Houston, Texas, with two sisters and starts the first parochial school in Riverside County. A convent for the three nuns is built on Lemon St., near 12th St. The church basement beneath the classrooms becomes a kitchen used to prepare meals for the students and dinners for the building fund. By this time there are about 175 English and 450 Hispanic Catholic families in the immediate Riverside area alone. In the early 1920's, the first church is torn down and more classrooms are built. St. Francis is assigned to the new Diocese of Los Angeles-San Diego.

1934: Fr. Peter Lynch begins his forty-year tenure as pastor of St. Francis. 1936: St. Francis becomes part of the new Diocese of San Diego. In the early 1930's, military bases established near Riverside brought in many new Catholic residents.

1939: A new convent for the Dominican Sisters at St. Francis School is completed. It includes ten rooms and a chapel.

1945: St Catherine of Alexandria, a mission of St. Francis, becomes a parish. Fr. Peter Lynch is named an Honorary Papal Prelate and receives the title of Monsignor.

1948: St. Francis begins an extensive rebuilding program. The improvements include: a new main altar and new stained glass windows from Germany and Stations of the Cross from Italy are installed, along with a terrazzo floor. The building also acquires an arched ceiling, a corner bell tower and a tile roof. The school gains six new classrooms, a 400-person auditorium, kitchen, school office, and a library. For some time while the church building is being rebuilt, Mass is celebrated in the school auditorium. The Jurupa boundary is removed from the parish as other parishes are established.

1970: Msgr. Peter Lynch, accepting suggestions from Bishop John R. Quinn of San Francisco (whose sister is a parishioner of St. Francis), remodels the Sanctuary conforming it to the new norms issued by Vatican Council 2.

1974: Msgr. Lynch retires as pastor, but continues as "pastor emeritus" and voluntary associate. The new pastor is Fr. Raymond Kirk.

1975: Fr. Kirk updates the kitchen, convent, rectory, and auditorium. He introduces lay lectors. With the fall of South Vietnam to the North Vietnamese Army, many Vietnamese Catholics come to Southern California. Under the leadership of Fr. Vincent Dien, who arrived from Vietnam, a growing Vietnamese community is established at St. Francis.

1976: St. Francis has its first ordination: James Dale is ordained as the parish's first permanent deacon and Rand Reichert is ordained a priest.

1977: Fr. Phillip O'Carroll is the new pastor. He emphasizes lay involvement in parish activities, including lay baptismal teams. He adds bathrooms and a Reconciliation Room to the church and updates the auditorium and kitchen.

1978: With the formation of the San Bernardino Diocese under Bishop Philip Straling on November 6, St. Francis changes diocese for the fourth time.

1985: During a six-month period, the community of St. Francis experiences three different pastors. In July, Fr. Charles Divine replaces Fr. O'Carroll. In November, Fr. Divine is himself succeeded by Fr. Louis Marx. Fr. Marx serves the parish until 1997.

1987: St. Francis celebrates its 100th anniversary. It is now one of the twelve parishes in Riverside and one of the 103 parishes of the Diocese of San Bernardino. The parish has over 900 registered families, a great increase over the original forty.

1997: On July 1st, three Consolata Missionaries began serving the parish. The new priests are Fr. Reno Aiardi, IMC, Fr. Vincent Salemi and Fr. Luigi Inverardi.

1998: In November, the Sanctuary is reintegrated to its former beauty. Over 200 parishioners work in eight Liturgical Ministries.

1999: The church and the school receive a new coat of paint. A monthly newsletter is being published.

2000 - 2002: Fr. Robert Viscardi serves as Parish Administrator and Fr. Louis Abdoo serves as Parochial Vicar. Fr. Reno Aiardi is serving full time at the Diocese as Mission Director. Fr. John Saffirio fulfills the position of Consolata Animator.

2002: Fr. Robert Viscardi becomes the new Priest minister of St. Adelaide in Highland. At this time Fr. Reno Aiardi resumed the role of Parish Administrator at St. Francis and Fr. Louis Abdoo continued as Parochial Vicar. Also this year our parish invested in a new speaker and sound system and new interior lighting.

2003: On October 4, 2003, Fr. Robert Viscardi was called home to be with our Heavenly Father.

2005: In November Colleen Sanchez becomes the new Parish Bookkeeper.

2006: Fr. John Saffirio returned to Somerset, NJ and Fr. Leonard De Pasquale arrived to be the new Parish Administrator at St. Bernardine Parish in San Bernardino while residing at St. Francis de Sales.

2008: Elaine Roy retires as Principal of S.F.D.S. School. Kathy Kothlow becomes the new Principal in the Fall of this year. Audrey Rodarte becomes the new Parish Secretary in September.

2009: The parish made a capital investment in a new air conditioning system. However our most notable improvement has been the purchase of the vacant lot at 13th and Mulberry in 2003 and the completion of our parking lot in 2009. A heartfelt "Thank You" to Mr. Mike Thornton for his enormous efforts to complete this project.

2010: Our longtime caretaker, Steve Thomas passed away April 6. Miguel Caballero became our new caretaker on April 30. During the past decade many more members of our parish family have been called home to be with our Heavenly Father. Even though they are no longer with us, they are forever in our prayers.