By any measure St. Vincent Ferrer Parish in Vallejo is huge, its parish families numbering in the thousands, its many faces present at no less than 10 Masses on any given weekend.

What the pioneer parish is finding may be the greatest legacy of its 150-year history is its ability to grow together as one family, united in faith.

To celebrate its founding in 1855, St. Vincent Ferrer Parish is planning a sesquicentennial celebration on Sept. 24, beginning with a multicultural Mass at 2 p.m. celebrated by Bishop William K. Weigand. Dominican Father Roberto Corral, provincial of the Western Province of the Dominicans, will be the homilist.

An anniversary dinner and dance will follow the Mass.

The parish has held a series of special events throughout this year to celebrate its 150th anniversary. The first event was on New Year’s Day, when parishioners hung a gigantic banner from their historic church’s great tower.

Upcoming anniversary events include a concert of sacred music on Sept. 23, an evangelization mission workshop with speaker Rosalind Moss on Oct. 15, and a closing liturgy on Dec. 31.

“People are really proud to be Catholic and to be parishioners at St. Vincent Ferrer,” said Father Stephen Borlang, pastor. “We’re not just looking back to the past. We have a vision for the future.”

Parishioner Marilyn McElhaney, a member of the 150th anniversary celebration committee, is a fourth generation parishioner.

She started her Catholic education as a first grader at St. Vincent Ferrer School and graduated from St. Vincent High School. She talked about the incredible impact the Dominican Sisters, who first arrived in Vallejo in 1870, made on her life.

“Sister Bernard is the reason I became a teacher,” said McElhaney, who is now a resource teacher at St. Vincent Ferrer School. “I wanted to give another generation the kind of joy in education she gave to us.”

McElhaney also remembers late Dominican Father William Feehan, who served at St. Vincent Ferrer Parish in the 1950s.

She recalled that after the beloved padre died while coaching the school’s baseball team, the “entire student body lined the streets as an honor guard for him at his funeral.”

It was Dominican priests and sisters who grew McElhaney’s faith and taught her the importance of Christian service.

“The foundation I received has served me well — giving meaning and purpose to life,” she said.

For Dominican Sister Adele Gerlach, it was the family of priests and sisters of St. Vincent Ferrer Parish she encountered as a child who shaped her personal decision to pursue a vocation in religious life.

When Sister Gerlach arrived with her family in Vallejo at the end of World War II, there were 65 children per classroom at St. Vincent Ferrer School.

Because the school’s enrollment had reached maximum capacity, Sister Gerlach, currently pastoral associate at St. Vincent Ferrer Parish, wasn’t able to enroll until she became a high school student.

One of the regulars at Mass, Sister Gerlach relished any opportunity to help the Dominican Sisters, many of whom became lifelong friends.

“I used to come to (the church and school) to hang out,” said Sister Gerlach, whose passion for basketball resulted in frequent encounters with the late Sister Peter Sullivan, who ran the school’s basketball program. “I always knew I was going to become a sister.”

As a high school student she also learned to appreciate “good art” from another Dominican, Sister Kathryn (Luke) Steger.

Father Borlang said that the legacy of faith left behind by the Dominican Fathers who served the parish for 112 years, and the Dominican Sisters, four of whom who still remain today, continues to enrich the parish community.

The parish’s original mix of Irish, German, French and Portuguese parishioners has swelled to include a significant Asian and Latino population.

“I see the pastoral challenge is in bringing together all the people into a loving, caring community,” he said.

To that end, Father Borlang is forming men’s and women’s spirituality groups modeled after a men’s group he formed while serving as a priest commissioned officer in 1997 at Randolph Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas.

He said that program, which aimed at developing men as good Catholic husbands and fathers, was “transforming for men to get involved in the life and mission of the church.”

The groundwork is also being completed to start a young parents’ support group to assist families in addressing issues of concern such as child care and financial matters.

Ricky Muyot, who is liturgy and music director at St. Vincent Ferrer, is also a member of the 150th anniversary celebration committee.

Muyot said that building community is the heart of the parish’s religious education and music ministries.

“People who come to have their children baptized may not come (to church) on a regular basis, but want their children to continue the faith tradition of the family,” he said. “Through catechesis we encourage them to consider community as an extension of their family.”

One of the blessings of St. Vincent Ferrer’s 150th celebration, Muyot said, was having an ecumenical prayer service with the First United Methodist Church, which is also celebrating its sesquicentennial year.

After one of Northern California’s oldest churches celebrates its past at Mass on Sept. 24, the church will break ground for a new plaza and gathering area with a shrine to the Virgin Mary in front of the church.

Longtime parishioner Xochilti Heins, who served as one of the church’s first women lectors, said that whenever parishioners come together, it is a celebration.

“We involve everyone and we have wonderful times,” she said.

For more information on St. Vincent Ferrer Parish’s 150th celebrations, call (707) 644-8396.

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