Father Timothy Lynch, Saint Margaret Mary Parish’s first Pastor, arrived in 1937. | A PARISH COMMUNITY IS BORNAs Harbor City and Lomita continued to grow in population, membership of the mission church community increased. Community members knew it was time for another meeting with the Bishop. In 1937, now numbering well over one hundred families, the church leaders returned to pay a visit to Bishop Cantwell. Impressed by the growth of this local Catholic community, he agreed to formally establish a new parish with its own resident pastor. He appointed Father Timothy Lynch as the founding pastor, and dedicated the parish to the patronage of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, a 16th century Visitation nun who promoted devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Father Lynch (like his successors) immediately found a community proud of its history, its spirit of collaboration and its sense of pride. The challenges and obstacles of their previous twelve years as a mission church formed a bond of families which exists seven decades later.
Father Lynch rented a home which became the first rectory at 25311 Cypress Street. In 1938, the parish community raised funds to purchase property on 253rd Place near Narbonne Avenue where the church was moved and remodeled. A rectory was then built at 25328 Narbonne Avenue. Father Lynch was succeeded rather quickly by Fathers William Mulvihill and Patrick Barry. The unprecedented growth of the entire Catholic Church in Los Angeles saw the need for these priests to serve elsewhere. The parish’s fourth pastor was Father John Hegarty, who arrived in 1945. His incredible twenty five year pastorate, the longest of any pastor in the parish’s history, marked a period of unprecedented growth and established a solid foundation for future generations of parishioners. |
Father John Hegarty came to the parish...
...after an assignment, coincidentally, as administrator of Saints Peter and Paul Church. His transfer to Lomita came as a bit of a surprise, but he accepted the challenge with enthusiasm and grace. He also found a community eager to collaborate - and families who quickly made him feel at home. Their names - Gannon, Hicks, Gardner, Conner, Brandelli, Sandoval - will be forever remembered as those who led the way for others to form a vibrant and active flock. The post-World War II era saw dramatic increases in population for the Lomita / Harbor City community, which now also included in its boundaries the Catholics of Rolling Hills and southern Torrance. Father Hegarty’s visionary capabilities led him to the realization that a new church must be built.
Father Hegarty’s firm policy about construction was that he would build no facility which incurred a debt on the community. Instead, he was a master of fundraising and would instead lead his parish community to raise the necessary money - in full - before any construction began. He knew that in order to accomplish this, a better organized system of organizations had to be established. He therefore founded the Holy Name Society and Altar Society - organizations for the men and women of the parish. The Holy Name men and the Altar Society women (whom Father Hegarty had ingeniously divided in small neighborhood groups known as guilds) would be the organized vehicle for financial and spiritual growth.
Simply put, what Father Hegarty did was to further solidify the very same principles on which the community was founded twenty years earlier - that this was the people’s church. If the people wanted to erect a new building, it was within their will and determination that it happen. Father Hegart empowered the community to build on the tradition of its young history, that, with a concentrated effort and a drive to overcome challenges, then all things would possible.
By 1948, he set his eyes on a celery field at the corner of 255th Street and Eshelman Avenue. As he viewed the property, he envisioned a church, school, convent, rectory and parish hall. Yet Father Hegarty needed the assistance of two lay men to broker the deal. These men, James Visceglia and Edwin Sandision, were not parishioners. Mr. Visceglia was Father Hegarty’s friend from his days in Wilmington. In fact, Mr. Sandison wasn’t even Catholic.
Father Hegarty sent a delegation led by Mr. Visceglia to Tucson, Arizona, where the landowner lived to persuade her to sell. Unfortunately, the landowner did not want to sell to the church. In a creative land acquisition, Mr. Visceglia solicited the assistance of his Protestant friend and real estate broker, Mr. Sandison, who purchased the property from the landowner, who in turn sold it to the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.
Michael Molina
May 14, 2007
Father Hegarty’s firm policy about construction was that he would build no facility which incurred a debt on the community. Instead, he was a master of fundraising and would instead lead his parish community to raise the necessary money - in full - before any construction began. He knew that in order to accomplish this, a better organized system of organizations had to be established. He therefore founded the Holy Name Society and Altar Society - organizations for the men and women of the parish. The Holy Name men and the Altar Society women (whom Father Hegarty had ingeniously divided in small neighborhood groups known as guilds) would be the organized vehicle for financial and spiritual growth.
Simply put, what Father Hegarty did was to further solidify the very same principles on which the community was founded twenty years earlier - that this was the people’s church. If the people wanted to erect a new building, it was within their will and determination that it happen. Father Hegart empowered the community to build on the tradition of its young history, that, with a concentrated effort and a drive to overcome challenges, then all things would possible.
By 1948, he set his eyes on a celery field at the corner of 255th Street and Eshelman Avenue. As he viewed the property, he envisioned a church, school, convent, rectory and parish hall. Yet Father Hegarty needed the assistance of two lay men to broker the deal. These men, James Visceglia and Edwin Sandision, were not parishioners. Mr. Visceglia was Father Hegarty’s friend from his days in Wilmington. In fact, Mr. Sandison wasn’t even Catholic.
Father Hegarty sent a delegation led by Mr. Visceglia to Tucson, Arizona, where the landowner lived to persuade her to sell. Unfortunately, the landowner did not want to sell to the church. In a creative land acquisition, Mr. Visceglia solicited the assistance of his Protestant friend and real estate broker, Mr. Sandison, who purchased the property from the landowner, who in turn sold it to the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.
Michael Molina
May 14, 2007
