ARTICLES

To Get Out of Sin

MARIAN PARISH THRIVES IN SILICON VALLEY

By Art Brew

When a Utah airline executive was in northern California on business last year he happened to drive by a small Catholic church in the late afternoon on the way to his Santa Clara hotel.

"I was astounded to see a huge, stainless steel statue of Our Blessed Mother high on a grassy knoll clearly visible to everyone driving by in any direction. Adjacent to the shrine was a simple, rectangular-shaped church called Our Lady of Peace. I expected the door to be locked at this time of day, but instead I came upon a dozen or so people praying in the pews.

"As I looked to the altar I saw the object of their adoration, a monstrance containing the exposed Blessed Sacrament centered above the altar on a pedestal with a drawn gold curtain. Closer to the congregation, near a Communion rail was a large statue of Our Lady with her Immaculate Heart and one of Our Lord positioned slightly higher to her left. Flowers adorned their feet. In less than a minute, tears were welling up in my eyes, for I was no longer a proud adult but a little child clinging to my mother's robe, crying for her help. A tremendous sense of peace and joy filled me as I realized I had found a spiritual oasis -- a parish that has engaged in Perpetual Adoration day and night for the past 20 years.

"Later I was fortunate enough to attend a Sunday Mass at this church. The services were continuous all morning with a packed cross section of well dressed families of many nationalities who had driven miles from around the San Francisco Bay area, as this church has no nearby residential area of any size.

"There was no shortage of priests to celebrate Masses. The liturgy itself contained no clowns, no dancers, no altar girls, not even lay Eucharistic servers as their presence was not needed. From the reverent way the priests moved, to the visually inspiring art in the sanctuary, to the obvious devotion to Mary, this parish exuded a tremendous vibrancy and power."

This Utah pilgrim was not the first person to come under the spell of Our Lady of Peace Church and Shrine -- situated almost incongruously in the very heart of the fast-paced world of Silicon Valley where computer chips, CD-ROMs, and fax machines are the revered icons. Their closest neighbors are a huge amusement park, a modern high-rise hotel, and a busy junior college.

From rustic beginnings in a pear orchard and industrial area a little over 30 years ago, this modest, blue collar parish has grown to become a favorite of Catholics who focus their attention on the sacrifice of the Mass and not on the players on the altar. Hundreds of families have quietly changed parishes and drive long distances several times a week to attend Mass, missions, all night vigils, and perpetual adoration at Our Lady of Peace. They know confessions are heard before every Mass and at any time on request, that the altar boys will wear cassocks and surplices, and that the songs will be devotional and, very often, hymns to Our Lady who watches over this close-knit community of Filipinos, Vietnamese, Caucasians, Hispanics, and many other ethnic groups.

The active and loyal congregation is proud of the beautiful 32-foot high statue of the Immaculate Heart of Mary near the front of the church extending her arms towards one of the busiest highways in the state. Even while it was being sculpted in Delaware in l976 it drew thousands of admirers in Wilmington, and later in Philadelphia and Chicago while enroute to California.

Our Lady of Peace pastor, the Reverend John J. Sweeny, a native of San Francisco, had little cash when he commissioned the building of the statue. Whenever he was asked how much money he would need by potential contributors, he replied, "All I need is a rosary." Rosaries were said on many continents and soon after generous donations flowed in from every direction. Similiar statues are being erected in several states, including Florida, Ohio, and Iowa.

A self-effacing man, Father Sweeny has one wish for his flock: "I will do anything I can to help people get out of sin and get to Heaven."

His tool is a deep commitment to orthodoxy. He has received permission from his bishop to have a Traditional Latin Mass once a month at Our Lady of Peace on a trial basis and believes that the excellent attendance to date will help ensure its permanence in the parish. He says that there is a riveting of attention to the Blessed Sacrament when the celebrant faces the altar, "a sense of gratitude that takes us back to our roots and recalls for us the sublime dignity of the Mass as we knew it at one time."

Father Sweeny's hope is that Our Lady of Peace will become a special place for penance and contemplation, like Lough Derg in Ireland where thousands go every year to pray and fast for several days on a remote and rocky island in County Donegal. Towards that end, he has begun a fund drive for a new parish hall that could hold 600 to 800 people, classrooms for religious training, a Marian library, a retreat and study center, and a Catholic bookstore.

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