About Us
Holy Cross Parish
More than a building, Holy Cross means family, community, inclusion, and service to others.
Location:
126 High St., Santa Cruz, CA 95060
Phone: (831) 423-4182
Fax: (831) 423-1043
email: office@holycrosssantacruz.com
Website: http://www.holycrosssantacruz.com
Mailing Address:
Holy Cross Parish
126 High St.
Santa Cruz, CA 95060
Administrative Staff:
Pastor: Rev. Mark Stetz |
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Secretary: Gladys M. Cox |
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Facilities Manager / Hall Rental: Toni Giovannoni |
469-3560 | |
Liturgy and Music: Sr. Barbara Long, O. P. |
423-4973 | |
Faith Formation / Sacramental Preparation |
458-3041 | |
High School Youth Ministry: Mary Sue Babb |
459-7540 | |
Junior High Youth Ministry |
459-7540 | |
Christian Initiation (RCIA) |
423-4182 | |
Outreach |
423-4182 | |
Mission Galeria: Sr. Betty Pedrazzi, I.H.M. |
426-5686 | |
Martha's Helpers |
423-8887 | |
Holy Cross School |
423-4447 | |
Holy Cross Preschool |
425-1782 | |
Newman Center (UCSC & Cabrillo College Ministry) |
423-9400 | |
Promise to Protect, Pledge to Heal (victim abuse) |
800-321-5220 |
NEW HAPPENINGS!
Thur., Aug. 21, 6:00 p.m. ~ A Taste of Vietnam: We will have our third themed dinner of 2008, "A Taste of Vietnam", on Thursday, August 21, at 6 p.m. in the parish hall. Tickets are $20 adult and $10 children under 12. Tickets will be sold between the masses August 16 and 17 and are also available in the parish office. Our featured entrée will be chicken in caramel sauce with hot and sour vegetables. See the kiosk for additional information.
Sat., Aug. 30, 9:00 am - Training for Eucharistic Ministers: We are in great need of individuals who would be willing to serve the parish as Eucharistic Ministers. The next formation session will be Saturday, August 30, from 9 a.m. until noon in room 108 in the 210 High St. building. Please call Sister Barbara at 423-4973 if you are interested.
Do You Like to Sing? Our choirs are rehearsing for the many beautiful liturgies that we will be celebrating in the coming months. We welcome and need more members. If you like to sing, can carry a tune, are free to attend one rehearsal a week and willing to commit to regularly participating in Mass we would love to welcome you. See our Liturgy web page for more information on the various choirs and schedules or call Sister Barbara at 423-4973.
Thur., Sept. 4, 6:30 pm ~ Are you Ready for some BINGO? Bingo is a new social ministry for adults designed to promote fun and fellowship. Please join us at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, September 4 in the hall. All adults are welcome to participate as players or as helpers. Bring a friend! Your parish needs your support and participation as callers, floor workers and kitchen help. There will be good food and plenty of games. Come and join us for a wonderful evening of fellowship! Sign up sheets are available at the back of the church.
Alter Servers Class Begin Tues., Sept. 9: Young people are invited to serve the parish as Altar Servers. This ministry is open to any young person who has received the Eucharist for the first time, and whose family regularly attends Holy Cross Church. To complete the program you will be required to attend three sessions. The sessions will be held in room 108 in the 210 High Street building from 3:30 to 4:30 on September 9, 16 and 23. If you are interested please call Sister Barbara at 423-4973.
September 12 ~ 14 Art & Transformation Symposium: Mark yourcalendars
now for a special treat that has been years in the making: Aweekend ofevents celebrating the connection between art and the Spirit of God. It will be held at Holy Cross on the weekend of Sept. 12 through 14, which is the feast of our parish. The weekend includes a concert on Friday night, a paneldiscussion on art and spirituality, an art exhibit by Brother Emmaus of New Camaldoli Hermitage, and Masses with Bishop Richard Garcia. It promises to be an enriching weekend, so we hope you can plan to participate in any or all of the events. For more information and an updated list of activities click here!
Marian Congress Coming September 19 - 20: Bishop Garcia extends an invitation to you to attend and participate in a Marian Congress to be celebrated in our Diocese in Salinas. The dates for this celebration are Friday evening, September 19, and all day Saturday, September 20. The Congress will be held at Madonna Del Sasso Church at 320 E. Laurel Drive in Salinas. For more information call 422-5323.
Annual School Supply Drive: Once again the Santa Cruz Y.L.I. #95 invites you to participate in their annual school supply drive. They will be collecting back packs, binders, folders, paper, pencils, markers, rulers, erasers, socks, underwear, and gift cards or money. These supplies will be divided between CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) which serves children in the court system, mainly foster children and Live Oak Family Resource Center, which serves mainly the poor of Santa Cruz. Any money will go to Grandma Sue’s Community Program for the purchase of P.E. uniforms. Any donations can be left in the box at the back of the church or in the
rectory. Thank you for your on-going support!Can you help make lunches? Habitat for Humanity has asked our parish if some parishioners would be able to help make sandwich lunches once or twice a month for volunteers working on Habitat projects over the next few months. You would be helping people create better living space for many different groups of people in need throughout Santa Cruz County. If you would be able to help with this and/or could help coordinate our parish volunteers for making lunches, please call the parish office at 423-4182.
Directions
Holy Cross Church is located at 126 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95060, at the corner of Mission and High Streets, one block east of Highway 1, which turns into Mission Street within the city of Santa Cruz.
• Directions if driving from San Jose and points north along California Route 880 southbound (also called "Highway 17" Southbound): Take Highway 17 over the Santa Cruz mountains into Santa Cruz, where 17 will turn into Highway 1. Take Highway 1 North, following the signs to Half Moon Bay, through one stoplight. At the second stoplight, which is Mission Street, turn left and drive two short blocks to the Mission Plaza Park on your left. At Emmet Street (Holy Cross Elementary School is at the corner), turn left; the Mission is on the right, and Holy Cross Church is straight ahead.
• Directions if driving from San Francisco and points north along Highway 1 southbound: Take Highway 1 South all the way into Santa Cruz. Highway 1 turns into Mission Street. Follow Mission Street (8 stoplights from Western Drive) to the Mission Plaza Park on your left. At Emmet Street (Holy Cross Elementary School is at the corner), turn left; the Mission is on your right, and Holy Cross Church is straight ahead.
• Directions if driving from Monterey and points south along Highway 1 northbound: Take Highway 1 north into Santa Cruz, following the signs to Half Moon Bay, through one stoplight. At the second stoplight, which is Mission Street, turn left and drive two short blocks to the Mission Plaza Park on your left. At Emmet Street (Holy Cross Elementary School is at the corner), turn left; the Mission is on your right, and Holy Cross Church is straight ahead.
A Brief History
The Mission Santa Cruz period
On October 17, 1769, the Portola expedition arrived at the San Lorenzo River and set up a cross, calling the area "Santa Cruz," meaning city of the "Holy Cross." Twenty years later, Fathers Alonzo, Salazar, and Lopez arrived and pitched their tents on the hill where the church of the same name now stands. The cornerstone of the mission church was laid on February 27, 1793, on the site of the current parish church, and was dedicated May 10, 1794.
The mission period begins to draw to a close in 1834 when its lands were secularized by the Mexican government. By 1840 the mission buildings were falling into disrepair. In 1845 an earthquake toppled the church's bell tower. With the collapse of the mission facade, caused by another earthquake on February 16, 1857, the mission period of Holy Cross ended.
Holy Cross Parish -- the beginnings
In 1857, the cornerstone was laid for a wooden church to replace the mission church. It served the parish until 1898, when it was torn down. In 1862, the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul opened Holy Cross School, a day school as well as a boarding school, the first educational institution in the parish.
In 1889, the construction of the present brick gothic church, under Rev. Hugh McNamee, marks the end of the transition from Mission Santa Cruz to Holy Cross Parish. On September 25, 1891, the citizens of Santa Cruz erected a granite archway in front of the church to commemorate the founding of Mission Santa Cruz. New buildings graced the parish from the 1920s through the 1960s, including the high school and rectory. From 1982 to 1984, the interior of the church was renovated in preparation for the 1989 centennial. In 1989 the church was formally consecrated. Then on October 17, 1989, the earth shook again. The church was declared unsafe, and services were moved to the parish hall. On June 30, 1990, the parish hall itself burned down! Services were moved to the school courtyard, and then into a tent pavilion.
Holy Cross Parish today
During the ten years after the earthquake, the church was repaired and retrofitted, along with the convent and the Mission Chapel. A new parish hall and gym were completed in 1999, and a Historic Garden was begun over the old Mission burial grounds in tribute to our Native American brothers and sisters.
