“I announce today the establishment of Blessed Oscar Romero Parish in Eastvale. “Pls pray 4 pastor, Fr Pat Kirsch & this new faith community,” Bishop Barnes stated on Twitter shortly after informing the priests of the Diocese about the new parish during the Annual Priests Convocation in Rancho Mirage.
The parish becomes official on the first Sunday of Advent, November 29.
Its boundaries are the northern half of what has been St. Mel Parish in Western Riverside County. The City of Eastvale, which is bordered by Norco, Chino and Ontario, was incorporated in 2010. Bishop Barnes’ decision to erect the parish was based on high growth in the Eastvale area, and direct requests from groups of Catholics in Eastvale for a parish of their own. Eastvale residents have previously attended St. Mel, St. Paul the Apostle in Chino Hills, St. Margaret Mary in Chino and St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in Ontario.
Father Patrick Kirsch has been named the first pastor of the parish.
“I’m excited,” he said. “It’s like having a blank canvass.”
Fr. Kirsch most recently served as pastor of St. Margaret Mary parish, and he has also pastored St. Peter and St. Paul, Alta Loma, and St. Junipero Serra, Phelan. His previous experience in shepherding construction projects at the Alta Loma and Phelan parishes will be important, he said.
“I’ve built before, I know that aspect of it,” he said. “I kind of thrive on it.”
The 10-acre Eastvale property, located at Chandler Street and Selby Avenue, contains only a house. The parish will need to find an interim location to celebrate Mass while money is raised to build a church there.
The last new parish established in the Diocese was Blessed Teresa of Calcutta in Winchester in 2006. That parish has worshipped in the back of a local Moose Lodge while planning its new church, which began construction just this summer.
Studies conducted by the Diocese for the formation of the new parish show Eastvale as a fast growing area that significantly exceeds state average household income rates and is well below the state average number of families living in poverty. It mirrors the ethnic diversity of the Diocese with roughly 40% Hispanic, 25% Asian, 23% white (non-Hispanic), and 9% African-American or African Descent.
The naming of the parish after Blessed Oscar Romero is likely to be welcomed with joy by area Hispanics, who celebrated locally when the Salvadoran martyr of the Church was Beatified on May 23.
“For years we called him St. Romero of America,” said Jose Luis Elias, Coordinator for the CMFP Program in the Ministry Formation Institute of the Diocese. “This is a memorial to a great figure.”
Fr. Kirsch said he anticipates that a good number of his new parishioners may be unfamiliar with the story of Blessed Oscar Romero, and he looks forward to sharing it with them.
“His vision is in keeping with that of Pope Francis in terms of reaching out to the poor and the immigrant,” Fr. Kirsch said of Blessed Oscar Romero. “We’re following in his footsteps.”