Bishop Buddy Scrapbook 1938-1940

, FRIDAY, JULY 29, 1938 SACRAMEN ADMINISTERED AT OLD Ml SI

C '-/-1 ity ounci . Table Church ZoningAction Hold Over Planning Commission's Rezoning Plan for Two Weeks in Hope of Amicable Settlement; Bishop Buddy Protests Objection to Building Church as "Decidedly Un-American." Action last week of the city planning commission of proposing a rezoning of El Cerrito Heights by a 6-2 vot~ to bar the building of the proposed Blessed Sacrament Church there on property purchased by the diocese was this week carried to the City Council and after a review of the case held over for two weeks for decision in the matter.

Picturesque o)d Mission Sau Antonio de Pala, built by Padre Anonio Peyri in 1816 and restored in 1902 after fifty years of disuse, was the scene la st Sunday of Confirmation ceremonies for 65 Indian children when His Excellency, Bishop Buddy, administered the sacrament to the large class prepared during a several weeks' vacation school. The children were drawn from the seven Mission Indian reservations in the Pala. mountains. I lltlade §oldier8 of Chri8t 'Sixty-five Indian Boys/1 Girls Given Confirmation

improvement club should be inter- ested in enhancing the value of your property, making it more de- sirable from a cultural standpoint by the erection of homes on so many of the un~lghtly vacant lots and junk piles now in that dis- trict. Situation Reviewed "Moreover your suggestion of a church on El Cajon ave. is not practical. Evidently you are not concerned with the hazard to men, women and children in 'trom 11a)i(e' , , crossing this busy thoroughfare; nor have you considered the con- stant noise making services within impossible; the traffic congestion and resultant risk to human life. Your club appears alarmed at the traffic hazard on an inside street, but adjacent to the proposed church site on El Cerrito dr. we have purchased an extra lot for parking. "Has your improvement club given any consideration to the hundreds of Catholics who do not own cars and who are now forced to walk miles (a great many of them fasting) to and from the nearest Catholic church which is now overcrowded with people often trying to worship from the sidewalks? "Would it not ·be well for your improvement club to reflect that i if every neighborhood assumed the same selfish attitude there could be no churches in the city, especially since the zone laws ap- pear to have no force nor meaning? Petition Scored "Your petition betrays a pagan trend that thinks only of the smug comfort of single residences that admits neither the necessity nor obligation of a dignified tem- ple where people may fulfill their duties to worship the one Sov~ ereign God and fittingly recognize the Divine Benefactor of us all. "The stand of your club is de- cidedly un-American, irreligious and unlawful inasmuch as it at- tempts to violate rights granted by the constitution of the United states to worship God according to the dictates of conscience. Again your improvement club for- gets that this. western frontier owes its very civilization to the in- fluence and teaching made pos- sible by such a church as we pro- I pose to build." cc.;onnnuf'l"1

Opposition to construction of the new church developed after the property was purchased and plans completed for its erection, when a group of residents in the district known as the El Cerrito Improvement Club maintained that they did not know they lived in a R-4 zone (allowing other than single resident buildings) and asked that the section be changed to an R-1 zone for single resident dwellings only. Mean- while, the building permit for the · church is being withh~ld. Bishop Protests Protesting the action of the Im- provement Club in seeking to bar the building of the church, His Excellency, Bishop Buddy, wrote his objections to 0. D. Ginther, the letter being read into the rec- ords of the planning commission before their decision last week. Bishop Buddy's letter in which he reviewed the situation and scored the action of the Improve- ment Club as "irreligious and un- lawful" follows in full: "My dear Mr. Ginther: This will acknowledge receipt of your courtesy of June 22 in which you set forth the objections -of the El Cerrito Improvement club to the - building of a church in El Cer- rito-Redland Gardens district. "It is not our purpose to an- tagonize your organization, but there are certain important facts you have overlooked. "You are aware that before ac- quiring the property intended for church purposes in your district careful investigation revealed the R-4 setup. Against this fact and the constitutional rights it guar- antees it is futile to argue. I "Apparently your committee does not know that a Catholic church always draws near it the 1 best type of citizens--real home builders. It would seem that your

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PALA-St. Anthony's Mission here was unable to hold the huge I congregation that ga,thered last Sunday at 2:30 P.M. for the Con- firmation of 30 boys and 35 girls, presented by the Sisters of the Precious Blood from San Luis Rey School. The Most Rev. Bishop Buddy commended the teachers for their successful efforts in behalf of the

children's religious education. Priests present were Rev. Jo- seph Hill, Rev. Francis Dillon, Rev. C. Norman Raley, and the Rev. Fathers Dominic, O.F.M.; Finbar, O.F.M.; Guadalupe, O.F. M., and Julian, O.F.M. Father Julian is in charge of the Pala Mission. Following the religious services, a program was given by the chil- dren under the direction of the Sisters in the school house, where His Excellency, Bishop Buddy,

summer vacation school. Lower grades and upper grades vied with each other in presented numbers on the program, chief features o_f which were songs and a playlet, "Pearls of Great Price."

DAilYCOMMUNION URGED BY BISHOP "The attendance at this Novena ever since its inauguration here has edified both the Bishop and the priests," said His Excellency, the Most Rev. Charles F. Buddy, in his sermon at St. Joseph's Ca- thedral last Friday night to the large congregation present for the devotions in honor of Our Sor- rowful Mother. "But," admonished Bishop Buddy, "the test of the Novena's worlh is the number of d:illy cotn-1 municants it will produce and the number of careless Catholics it will improve. It is also our hope that through these devotions many who have not attended church for years will return to the sacrnments." After last Friday's services, Bishop Buddy and four priests heard confessions until a late hour in the Cathedral.

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