On Pentecost Sunday St. Joseph Parish in Redding commemorated its 100th anniversary, celebrating both its origin as a faith community in this Northern California city and the beginning of the Catholic Church more than 2,000 years ago.

Auxiliary Bishop Richard J. Garcia began Mass with a prayer for God’s continued blessing on the people and ministries of the parish.

Although the parish is a century old, the church at its current location was dedicated in 1967. Two churches in the downtown section of Redding were destroyed by fire, one in 1907 and the other in 1964.

In his homily, Msgr. Russell Terra, who has been pastor since 1981, alluded to the fires.

“We have always been building and rebuilding. But the church is not the buildings. It is not even the many programs and organizations,” he said.

“The church is really the people of God. The church is the community of believers who embrace Jesus, accept his Gospel and minister to one another in every way they can.”

The earliest Catholic settlers in Redding were joined to Red Bluff, by association if not by proximity, until a Northern parish that comprised nearly all of Shasta County was created in the spring of 1903. Father Thomas Nugent was St. Joseph’s first pastor.

When the original church was dedicated in 1905, its steeple towered 108 feet in the air, higher than any other edifice in Shasta County. Two years later the spectacular “West Side Fire” that started in a residential woodshed destroyed two churches and 15 homes, along with barns and one ice factory.

Undeterred, Father Nugent and his parishioners rebuilt on the same spot. The new church that was dedicated in 1910 stood for more than half a century.

“I remember when it burned down in the early 1960s. I was nine years old,” recalled Mike Mangas, a permanent deacon serving at St. Joseph.

Msgr. John O’Connor, pastor at the time, led the rebuilding effort. The church location was moved a few miles away from downtown Redding to land across the street from the parish school.

That new chapter in the history of the parish coincided with the numerous changes brought about by the Second Vatican Council.

“There was a great blossoming of lay involvement,” Deacon Mangas noted.

The growth of lay ministries continued under Msgr. Terra’s leadership. In addition to Mangas, Dr. David Gasman and Frank Lopez serve as permanent deacons to the parish and its mission church, St. Michael in Shasta Lake City.

Kathy Ranken, a parishioner active in lay ministry, previously served as director of religious education for eight years. She was excited to see generations of families come together for a day that celebrated the spiritual roots and richness of the parish.

“The faith of the people — not any building — is the richness and the legacy that we’re celebrating,” she said.

That faith has been nurtured by St. Joseph School. A newly-built school in 1950 saw the arrival of the Sisters of Mercy of Auburn as teachers and administrators, a ministry they continued for decades.

Many of the sisters returned June 8 as honored guests to help celebrate the event with former students whose own children now attend the school.

A preschool was added in 1984. The elementary school currently serves kindergarten through fifth grades. The 1994 acquisition of property in nearby Palo Cedro resulted in the opening of St. Francis Middle School for sixth through eighth grades and Bishop Quinn Catholic High School.

After the liturgical celebration concluded, the parish hosted a tri-tip barbecue prepared by the Knights of Columbus and served under large tents, while the Lou White band provided music throughout the afternoon.

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