The four church communities that make up Immaculate Conception Parish in Downieville include families who pray together and learn to live their faith in the same historic churches as their parents and grandparents before them.

Established as a parish in 1853, Immaculate Conception and its three missions of St. Anthony in Challenge, St. John in North San Juan and St. Thomas in Sierra City share a common past as former gold mining communities.

Much that has been the custom for many years will change on May 29.

Immaculate Conception and St. John will become missions of St. Canice Parish in Nevada City, St. Anthony will become a mission of St. Thomas the Apostle Parish in Oroville, and St. Thomas will become a mission of Holy Family Parish in Portola.

Mass scheduling is still being worked out but may involve rotating Masses between Downieville and North San Juan every other Sunday.

Masses will continue to be held every Sunday at St. Anthony Mission at a new time, and Masses at Sierra City, which are celebrated during summer months only, may rotate from Portola to Downieville.

Father Godwin Xavier, parochial administrator at Immaculate Conception, said that he was notified of the changes by Bishop William K. Weigand more than six weeks ago.

“Was I surprised? Yes and no. I kind of guessed this might happen because of the shortage of priests,” he said. “As for the people, it was kind of a shock. Many are longtime families, but they are happy to have their historic churches remain open.”

Father Thomas Bland, priests’ personnel director for the diocese, made presentations regarding breaking up the parish and its three missions at all Masses on April 5-6. He said with about 177 active priests in the diocese serving 98 parishes and some 40 missions spread over 20 counties and a large number of priests of retirement age, difficult decisions had to be made.

“I’m saddened and the bishop is saddened, but if you look at the figures, you see we just can’t serve this area like we used to,” Father Bland said.

He added that changes in the demographics of the diocese with increasing parish numbers in growing areas such as Elk Grove and Vallejo, while many rural parish populations decrease, is another factor forcing change.

Being a pastor in some of the more remote areas of the diocese has never been easy in terms of travel to outlying missions. Historically the one priest assigned to Immaculate Conception Parish has traveled hundreds of miles each week to complete his pastoral duties at four churches.

“Driving takes your whole time,” said Father Xavier, who estimates the trip from North San Juan where he lives to Sierra City to be a 52-mile drive. “A house blessing alone could take all day.”

Reaction to the news of the breakup of the Downieville parish and its missions hit the communities hard.

Frank and Betty Lang have been members of Immaculate Conception for 27 years. Frank Lang works as a nurse practitioner at a community medical clinic in Downieville and is dedicated to providing rural health care services. He said that he sympathizes with the difficulty of one priest meeting the needs of a large geographic area and is aware of the shortage of priests, but is concerned for the spiritual well-being of the church communities.

“There are a lot of elderly people in this community not able to drive 40 miles for services,” Lang said. “Those people should not be abandoned.”

His view is that the diocese should consider having deacons or lay ministers present for some liturgies at Immaculate Conception when a priest is not available “to meet the spiritual needs of the community.”

Diocesan policy requires that eucharistic services not be scheduled when a priest is not available to celebrate weekend Mass. At these times, people are asked to travel to the nearest church at which Mass is offered.

Joan and Joe Sharp have been attending Mass and active in activities at St. John in North San Juan for nearly 30 years. Joan Sharp said the news about changes planned for Immaculate Conception Parish came as “a huge shock” even though she was aware of the shortage of priests in the diocese.

“It’s like being struck by lighting,” she said. “Half the tree survives, but it hurts.”

Sharp said she and her husband will make sure they continue to attend Masses wherever they are celebrated, and believes the strong sense of community present at St. John will be preserved.

“Our church is a small, extended family. We all know each other and won’t see each other as often, but we believe in staying in the boat,” she said.

Father Xavier said that a steering committee made up of members of the parish’s four churches will ensure that they are liturgically linked and assisted in maintaining their identities as faith communities.

The diocese is considering the appointment of a parish steward for Downieville and North San Juan in the months ahead, Father Bland said.

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