During the 100 years St. Mary Parish in Sacramento has been a church community, a few things have become clear.

Its people find joy in one another’s company, whether praying together at Mass, breaking bread together at a church social, or simply being friends.

Founded in 1906, St. Mary Parish was designated by the late Bishop Thomas Grace as a national parish for immigrants who had come to the America from Italy and Portugal who had settled in the Sacramento area.

For over half of the parish’s history, the Oblates of St. Joseph, named for their founder, Italian-born St. Joseph Marello, provided spiritual leadership for this predominantly Italian-speaking community.

Then in 1948 when a new church was built on 58th and M Streets, the change of location brought a change in the status for the parish. St. Mary became a geographically-based parish, retaining its Italian heritage while serving a wider ethnic base.

To celebrate a century-long legacy of faith, more than 300 current parishioners of St. Mary Parish came together on Oct. 21 for a jubilee Mass celebrated by Bishop William K. Weigand.

One of them was Suzie Rozewski, a third generation parishioner who co-chaired the jubilee celebrations.

Rozewski, whose father, Alfred Franzoia, was baptized at St. Mary in 1921, grew up less than two blocks from the church.

As a young girl she remembers the joy of walking across the street to her grandparents’ home to have lunch with the parish priests, who were always welcome there. Rozewski cherishes as well the inspiration which came from seeing her grandmother sitting in the same seat in church every Sunday, wearing a scarf and black coat, devoutly bowed in prayer.

St. Mary parishioners included the coach of her brother’s Little League team, and the parents of her best friends.

“That was my world. It is where I came from,” Rozewski said. “St. Mary is an extension of my family.”

Since its official centennial kickoff with a Mass on Jan. 1, a feast day of Mary, St. Mary parishioners have been engaged in a flurry of activities, including second Sunday socials held after morning Masses.

Other milestones being celebrated at the church this year include the 50th anniversary of St. Mary School and the 75th anniversary of the parish festival.

The parish’s history has been published in a 90-page legacy book entitled, “Celebrating 100 years — St. Mary, Our Mother — Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow.”

“It is for the people who came before, because of all those names I grew up with that need to be honored,” said Rozewski, who coordinated the book project. “It’s about family, about where you come from that carries you on to places that you go.”

It’s about people such as Louis Viani.

Viani, 88, lives two blocks down the street from St. Mary with his wife Tina.

He remembers serving as an altar boy at the original St. Mary Church on N Street, a building heated by a small wood stove.

St. Mary was where his parents were married, where feast days were cause for celebration, where the priests claimed a special place in the hearts of the people they served.

“There was always something cooking at that little church,” Viani said.

Over the years he would take a job as an announcer for the KROY Hour, the first Catholic radio program in Sacramento.

After serving in the U.S. military in World War II, Viani returned home to marry Tina in St. Mary Church.

The Vianis were familiar faces at church cioppino dinners, bingo parties, fund-raisers and church festivals.

They sent their three children off to St. Mary School, and when Christmas arrived, it was a Viani-crafted Christmas crèche that would inspire families during the Advent season.

“We have a most beautiful Catholic church,” Louis Viani said. “Always very friendly, that Italian paisano deal you just loved to be around.”

John Waldron is a relative “newcomer” to St. Mary Parish, but it is the only parish he has ever known.

After being baptized in the church in 1944, Waldron received the sacraments of his faith and became immersed in just about every aspect of parish life.

He has been actively involved in the Knights of Columbus and the Dante Club, a member of the pastoral council, liturgy committee and school board, chaired the parish festival and hosted the parish’s first annual car show.

Currently, Waldron serves as the parish’s head usher.

“St. Mary is a warm place. When you turn out on Sunday, everybody is there,” he said. “It’s a church where families come and they bring their kids.”

Like any family, St. Mary has faced some challenging times. Perhaps the most difficult moment came in 2003 when after 67 years of service, the Oblates of St. Joseph could no longer staff the parish.

Some parishioners left. The great majority, people such as Waldron, Viani and Rozewski, simply found more reasons to remain.

“We are busy welcoming people to be Catholics at St. Mary,” said Rozewski, who believes the parish is blessed to have Father Isaac Arickappali as their parochial administrator.

She described the priest as “a kind, wise man and brilliant theologian,” well equipped to lead the parish into a new century.

As for Father Arickappalil, a member of the Carmelites of Mary Immaculate religious order, he is devoted to keeping alive the rich legacy of St. Mary’s past, and building on its “strong Catholic traditions” in the future.

Father Arickappalil has been the driving force behind Sacramento’s Chavara International Center for Indian and Interreligious Studies, inaugurated in 2005.

“There is a very strong spirituality in this parish and a strong Catholic tradition,” Father Arickappalil said. “There are also opportunities for people to open themselves to even wider perspectives as Catholics.”

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