Tremonton community gathers to celebrate growth, church expansion

Intermountain Catholic

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Members of the Mission Santa Ana community present the liturgical gifts of bread and wine to Diocesan Administrator J. Terrence Fitzgerald at the dedicatory Mass for the expansion of the North Utah church. IC photo by Christopher Gray

TREMONTON — On any other day, the insistent drizzling rain would be a sign of a chilly, muddy winter in Tremonton, a small farming community in Box Elder county at the intersection of Interstates 15 and 84. The people of Santa Ana Mission, however, could hardly notice the rain through the excitement of the dedication of the expansion of their small church Feb. 11.

The small sanctuary with its shockingly pink pews was filled almost immediately. The Santa Ana community then overflowed into the church hall and when space and chairs ran out against the back wall, people still gathered in the hallway leading to the new expansion of their church.

The expansion of  Mission Santa Ana adds several classrooms to the 1989 church, almost doubling the size of the complex. The mission today is bordered by a new housing development and farmland.

Eddy and Delfinia Barela, arriving more than an hour before the dedicatory Mass, reminisced about what the church previously looked and felt like. Pointing to a tiny room no larger than the size of a compact car, Eddy said the room was one of the three classrooms Santa Ana Mission had before the expansion. This last remaining room of the original three has been refitted with a window and a sign reading "Baby Cry Room."

According to Delfinia, who teaches religious education at Santa Ana, even the smallest class sizes regularly overwhelmed the small space. "Fitting 50 kids into one of these tiny rooms was impossible. Sometimes I had to teach my class in the kitchen! I’ve seen the new classrooms and I’m already excited. I know just where I’m going to put my supplies, and it’s going to be a great experience for the kids," Delfinia said.

The classrooms, recently painted and still without doors or finished floors, were a source of visible pride for all the members of the Santa Ana community as they walked through them the day of the dedication.

In his homily, Diocesan Administrator Msgr. J. Terrence Fitzgerald brought to everyone’s attention that the resources used to create the new structure came from all over the diocese and beyond. "I’m sure you all know how difficult it is to find money these days for wonderful projects such as Santa Ana," he said.

"I know that you’ve had your share of bake sales and other fund raisers to gather the resources that you need. And I want to mention also the $300,000 for this addition which came from donations from people to our Diocesan Development Drive, to our Catholic Foundation of Utah, and from our great benefactors the Catholic Church Extension Society and the Bishops’ committee on home missions," Msgr. Fitzgerald said.

He continued, "It’s been 60 years, if I’m accurate, since the first Mass was celebrated here in a Catholic home. And it was 1989 that this present church was built. This is a tribute to the growth of the faith in this county to have all of you and already it’s clear there aren’t enough chairs for everyone here now. I think the readings that we had this afternoon speak to us so beautifully about the faith that we share about the reason that so many people sacrifice to build this original mission, to help support it, and to build the addition.

"From the Prophet Jeremiah in the Old Testament, we heard, ‘Blest is the one who trusts in the lord, whose hope is only in the lord. He is like a tree planted near the waters that stretch out the roots to the stream.’ Certainly it is our trust in the Lord, our faith, that gives us the strength as a community to keep gathering, to keep celebrating, to keep being witnesses to the great gift that God has entrusted to us," he said.

"There are many challenges left for this community. Hopefully in the next 20 years you will double in size, and then the new bishop will have to say ‘My heavens! What they built in Tremonton was too small. We’ll need a church!’ That’s our goal: to be strengthened in faith, holding on to our brothers and sisters who might be tempted or swayed.

"Reaching out with kindness, especially toward the growing Hispanic community in this area, we continue to support and encourage one another to be more faithful to the great heritage that God has entrusted to us. This means in a very special way that we need to teach our children our Catholic faith. If we do not know our faith, if we do not understand our faith, we won’t live our faith. If we do not know the meaning of our celebrations and gather to celebrate the great feasts without understanding we will quickly loose sight of who we are called to be.

"You are a community of faith, you are a great witness here in this county to our Catholic presence. I encourage you to work together and live in harmony and peace. You are witnesses of God’s grace. How truly blessed we are, my friends, to have a faith. Let us live that faith and take and strengthen that faith," Msgr. Fitzgerald said.