Parishioners join in project that promises to bring
new life to historic landmark in Zamora

A small white church in the Yolo County town of Zamora is experiencing something verging on a structural epiphany these days.

In fact, St. Agnes Church, a mission of St. Paul Parish in Knights Landing, is on the final lap of a $50,000 restoration project that promises to bring new life to the historic landmark.

The mission church, built in 1906 and dedicated three years later, has had its interior completely stripped to the bones and rebuilt again with new electrical and lighting systems, reframed windows, refinished pews, restored statues and a new crucifix which hangs behind the altar.

Its freshly painted pristine white exterior is now enhanced by a front plaza area featuring a pathway lined with memorial bricks and shrine honoring St. Agnes.

Laura Sambucetti, a member of St. Agnes Mission Church, paints framing of the church’s stained glass windows as part of the restoration. Luis Gris Elizarrar·s/Herald photo

A 32-foot cross rises up behind the church, clearly visible to drivers speeding down Interstate 5.

Up until about seven years ago, the tiny church with its gabled roof, boxed tower, steeple and arch windows was in such bad shape there were rumors it might be closed down. But that, said Zamora resident Elaine Hermle, was something the mission church and its sister parish in Knights Landing simply would not allow.

Efforts to preserve the church began in 1998 when Hermle organized a group called the Society of St. Agnes, with an immediate goal to raise $15,000 to reroof the church.

“I had really warm feelings about this church,” said Hermle, who moved with her husband Alvin to their Zamora ranch in 1959. “This was the church my husband had grown up in. His grandmother had raised funds for some of the statues. I felt rooted here.”

Hermle, who is St. Agnes’ organist and church historian, said she has watched the children in the community grow up and move away, a reality that has contributed to a decline in church attendance.

That was the case until January 2000 when a whirlwind blew into town. His name is Father Joseph Huong Nguyen, pastor of St. Paul Parish. The gregarious priest, whose circle of friends is seemingly endless, celebrated his first Mass at St. Agnes with “about seven people.”

“I wanted the church to be more welcoming so I went to visit people in their homes,” said Father Nguyen, who has watched church attendance increase to about 40 people.

Seeing the church in Zamora needed attention, Father Nguyen enlisted the support of volunteers from St. Paul, the leadership skills of Deacon Antonio Gonzalez, the contracting expertise of John Reyes, a member of St. Agnes, and seasoned fund-raisers such as Hermle.

There was even a telephone call to friends in southern California, a family of Vietnamese artisans who crafted a crucifix for St. Agnes.

“We are one parish with two churches,” Father Nguyen said. “We are all one family.”

While the restoration project has been a bit of a challenge, Father Nguyen knows something about being given an assignment and getting it done.

Born in North Vietnam into a devout Catholic family, Father Nguyen’s normal childhood came to an abrupt halt when the communists took over North Vietnam in 1954. Making their escape by foot and boat, his family fled to South Vietnam.

Then in 1966 at age 18, Father Nguyen enlisted in the South Vietnamese Air Force. Over the next nine years, he flew missions in which he came perilously close to losing his life four times.

“It was a very difficult time for me,” said Father Nguyen, one of only four of his 47-member Air Force Academy graduating class to survive the Vietnam War.

In April 1975, prior to the communists taking over Saigon City, Father Nguyen flew to Thailand and Guam and was then taken by the U.S. military first to San Diego, then to a refugee camp at Weimar Medical Center near Colfax. It was at the refugee camp Father Nguyen found his calling to serve God.

“There was no Vietnamese priest, so I began giving catechism classes in the evening and a prayer service at the medical center chapel,” he said. “I knew no English, but I stood there preaching.”

And as providence would have it, a doctor from Sacramento, Joseph Murphy, who was a visitor at the camp, stopped by the chapel while Father Nguyen was leading a prayer service.

“He asked if I was a priest and when I said ‘No,’ he asked, ‘Do you want to be?’”

Hearing the young man’s immediate response in the affirmative, the doctor took the news to then-Bishop Alden Bell, who set in motion the recruitment of Father Nguyen.

After attending St. Patrick College and St. Patrick Seminary in Menlo Park, he was ordained in 1985 by then-Bishop Francis Quinn.

The renovation of St. Agnes seems to have accomplished more than saving a pioneer church. It has touched the lives of people such Deacon Gonzalez, who walked 11 miles side by side with Father Nguyen on a fund-raising march and coordinated a group of volunteers to complete brick work and construction projects.

“I’ve seen more people come to church after they helped because they’re interested in the church and in the faith,” Deacon Gonzalez said.

And Reyes, who jokingly refers to his family as “newcomers” to St. Agnes, having arrived just 40 years ago, views the work he has done “stripping the walls to the bare bones” and rebuilding again as taking care of family business.

“At St. Agnes there is a family, because you know everyone and even if you don’t know them, if they’re a new face, they’re welcomed,” he said.

Even Ray and Claudette Diffenderffer’s garage became a center of operations for the restoration of more than 20 pews.

“We laugh and say to one another (the work) is going to get us closer to heaven,” said Claudette Diffenderffer, who credits Father Nguyen with making projects like the pews’ restoration “a community thing.”

The public is invited a celebration of St. Agnes Mission’s 95th anniversary. A blessing of the church is planned for May 29 at 5:30 p.m. Following a Mass celebrated by Bishop William K. Weigand, there will be a procession to bless the statue of St. Agnes. A reception with international foods will follow at the Zamora Town Hall. For directions or more information, call (530) 735-6478.

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