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  Orange County Diocese Launches Long-Awaited Expansion

The Associated Press, carried in Herald Tribune [Orange CA]
January 20, 2005

ORANGE, Calif. With a multimillion-dollar clergy abuse settlement behind it, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange is launching an expansion that includes the establishment of two new parishes, the relocation of a third and the construction of a new cathedral, officials said Thursday.

The announcement comes six weeks after the diocese agreed to a $100 million settlement with 90 alleged victims of clergy abuse. The diocese will pay about half that amount, with insurers covering the rest.

The diocese had put on hold plans for the new parishes and the cathedral for several years while it tried to resolve the lawsuits against it, officials said.

"We wanted to name (the parishes) earlier, but it just wasn't appropriate with the other things there," said Philip J. Ries, diocesan finance director. "There's been this pent-up demand."

The number of Catholic parishioners has grown from 615,041 to 1.2 million - about one-third of the county's total population - in six years, said Rev. Joe Fenton, diocese spokesman. The diocese overseen by Bishop Tod D. Brown currently has 56 parishes.

Ries said the expansion will not affect the diocese's ability to pay the settlement because parish finances are kept separate from the diocese's general fund. The diocese will donate land it already owns to the new parishes, but parishioners will pay for church construction with fund-raisers, he said.

Parishioners could worship in public spaces for up to seven years before they can raise money for a church, Ries said. The new parishes will be filled with worshippers who previously commuted to other parishes, he said; each new parish will draw its congregation from two or three existing - and overflowing - parishes.

"The important thing is building the parish community first," Ries said. "They'll meet in public school facilities and as soon they're able to save their money they can make a down payment on a first mortgage."

One of the new parishes, Christ Our Savior Parish in Santa Ana, will become the bishop's diocesan seat and will host the diocesan cathedral, a designation now held by the church at the Holy Family Parish in Orange.

The new cathedral will seat 2,650 - more than twice the capacity of the Holy Family Cathedral. It is expected to alleviate crowding in Immaculate Heart of Mary and St. John the Baptist parishes, which will contribute territory to the new parish, Fenton said.

The second new parish, in Ladera Ranch, will be called the Holy Trinity Parish.

Brown named his secretary, the Rev. J. Michael McKiernan, as leader of the Christ Our Savior Parish; the Rev. Reynold Furrell, parochial vicar of Queen of Angels Church in Newport Beach, will lead Holy Trinity.

The diocese will also donate land to St. Thomas More Parish in Irvine so it can move to a larger site and consolidate Our Lady of the Pillar and Immaculate Heart of Mary schools in Santa Ana due to declining enrollment.

The two schools will become the School of Our Lady on the former Immaculate Heart campus.