One of the most unique parishes today, is that of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, celebrating its Golden Jubilee now in 1985. The innovations and alterations in church life in the last fifty years, and more especially since the beginning of this parish have, by any calculation, been great. The most visible has been the litany of accomplishments, beginning with the ‘Pilgrim Founders’ of this area. The idea of having a small church, where they could gather to praise God in the native tongue of their elders, was due, on this occasion, not to a zealous priest but to a group of brave and decisive lay people, who far from their homeland, and wishing to be true to their faith and to their traditions requested, and demanded, help from their pastor to fulfill their dream of having a temple where the Spanish-speaking community could worship our Lord. To all of them goes our love and affection in our fervent prayers of gratitude to the Almighty. This was the beginning of the community whose base and foundations began in the year 1935, and whose reality we see today in 1985, as we celebrate the Golden Jubilee. It was through the generosity of the Spanish-speaking people of the area and the large immigrant colony of the Mexican people that the building of Sacred Heart Church was made possible. The members of the parish donated their labor as well as funds, and together with Father O’Donnell, then pastor of St. Joseph Parish in Pomona, and Father Cornides, a dedicated priest who worked with the people, built the largest mission church in Southern California at that time. The Church was built on the corner of Hamilton and Grand Avenues, where it still stands today under the title of ‘Beta Center’ a multipurpose community service center used to help the Mexican people of the community as well as the parishioners who use it for the parish functions, being social as well as spiritual. In 1937, Father Angel Beta, a native of Valencia, Spain, was appointed the first administrator of Sacred Heart Church, which consisted of 150 families. Father, a hard working dedicated priest, who’s untiring zeal and patience gave the example to his parishioners, to work hard for the love of God and His Blessed Mother. With a good leader, and the devotion, patient persistence, and a willingness to bend their backs and work hard in labor and money making events called ‘Jamaicas’, Father Beta and his parishioners saw the first fruits of their labors and prayers. In 1943 the parish hall was built across the street from the church. The hall resembles the church in style and material. That same year, the first parish rectory was also built on the same side of the street. On September 12, 1949, the parish school opened with one hundred and thirty-three children in four grades. Again, this was another great accomplishment for the people, who with their own hands and Father Beta as contractor worked evenings and weekends to see another worthy project come to be. Two sisters from the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Felix (Felician Sisters) were asked to come and administrate the school. As the people continued to have money making projects, such as the making and selling of tamales every other week, the monthly jamaicas and yearly fiestas, enough money was again saved to begin the next project. A convent for the Felician Sisters was dedicated in 1953. It took the parishioners and their dedicated pastor eighteen years to accomplish with native labor the full parish plant, a dream with sacrifice and love to finally come to fruition. The parishioners of this unique parish, the ‘Sacred Heart of Jesus’ have never stopped improving their parish plant. In 1960, the parish and their pastor, Father Angel, celebrated their Silver Jubilees. At this time, Sacred Heart Parish had changed over the years. Although the Spanish-speaking residents of Pomona still considered their very own, the majority of the parish’s 1100 families at the time did not speak Spanish. Most of the sermons preached in the twenty-five year old church were in English, and the four hundred students of the parish school included almost as many with Irish and German names as with Spanish. On June 30,1967, Sacred Heart of Jesus Mission Church was given full parochial status, with official boundaries as a parish. Five years later, because of ill health, the pastorship of Father Beta was coming to an end. In 1971, one year before his retirement, Father Beta and his parishioners built a new Sacred Heart Church for the parish that grew so rapidly throughout the years. The arrival of the dedicated enterprising priest who labored among his parishioners for thirty-seven, came to an end with his retirement on December 1, 1972. The comfortable working relationship between the parishioners and their pastor was reflected in the projects that were accomplished. Father Joseph V. Kearney, administrator of Sacred Heart Parish since September, 1972 was named to succeed Father Angel Beta as pastor. The new Sacred Heart rectory was built under the guidance and direction of the Father Kearney. In 1975, Father John Rhode became pastor with Father Michael Buckley (75-76) following in his footsteps. Father Manuel Sanchez became administrator in 1977. The assistants and former associates under these pastors and administrators were, Father Jenaro Artazcoz, Jose Lecumberri, Pat Travers, G. Gunst, John Cervantes, David Hoover, Julio Roman, Luigi Lazzari, John Niessen, J. Bidegain, L. Tomich, Carlos Ralston and Ignacio Sanchez. After working as administrator for three and a half years, Father Manuel Sanchez was made pastor of Sacred Heart Church in 1980. In the seven and a half years that Father Sanchez has worked among the people at sacred Heart, and the four or five years preceeding him, the area of Pomona and parish has changed considerably. Father Sanchez and his associates celebrate seven Masses on weekends (four in the Spanish and three in English) and serve the needs of the parish to an ever growing parish of the Mexicans people. We are now in the eighties, and the times have changed, it is an inner and spiritual feeling that makes a church membership such a meaningful experience. It was no small astonishment to our parishioners of the past and present to find that incalculable fortunes lie in the very substance with which they have been scraped and worked for fifty years to build. The parish is still unique, with dedicated priests to take over the work of their predecessors. By the total commitment of ourselves, we who are now the parishioners, will involve love, as well as responsibility. As members of Sacred Heart Parish, we wish to go beyond and dedicate ourselves in the next fifty years, to our church in spirit, heart and in soul, tithing our time and our substance and becoming one with the warmth and love that emanates from our church family as did our ancestorts. With great joy and thanksgiving we give thanks to God for the first fifty years of the this parish, for the wonderful dedicated priests, religious and parishioners who have worked and labored throughout the history of this church, and for those who are and will still continue to give of their labors both materially and spiritually . Let us continue to give as the sun gives light, a glad outpour of the best that is in us, so that we may fulfill ourselves spiritually, personally, and professionally in growth and in love.