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!
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.
St. Vincent De Paul Closure: The St. Vincent de Paul food pantry will be closed for the months of July and August and will reopen the Wednesday after Labor Day. Other services will be available by calling 469-0631 and leaving a message.
Pax Christi to Meet July 2: Pax Christi, our Catholic peace and social justice group, invites you to our next meeting on Wednesday, July 2, at 7 p.m. in room 108. Representatives from other parishes will join us as we work together to make peace real and cynicism vanish. If you need transportation in order to come to the meeting, call 427-1644. Let’s not leave anybody behind!
"Art & The Spirit" Symposium coming in September: Mark your calendars now for a special treat that has been years in the making: A weekend of events 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. It will include a concert on Friday night, a panel discussion 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.
Improve your Married Life as you Help Others: WANTED: Married couples willing to share their time and love to assist engaged couples in building the foundation for strong Christian marriages through the Engaged Encounter Ministry. Check our website mcee.org for more details. You may also contact Jose or Julie Santiago at 338-4253 or email jose.julie@comcast.net or Ron and Marianne DeDore at 438-6760 or email Mdedore@sbcglobal.net (subject: CEE).
Opportunities for Prayer on Monday: The Blessed Sacrament is exposed every Monday in the Mission Chapel from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. A bilingual Rosary is prayed at 7 p.m., and contemplative prayer begins at 8 p.m. This prayer includes singing of a psalm, readings from the Bible, Universal Wisdom, and 30 minutes of silent meditation. All are welcome.
Reverse Giving Update: There has been tremendous response to our venture in Reverse Giving. It has generated a great deal of participation and many discussions throughout the parish. Parishioners have responded to the opportunity to share their time and talent in many ways while using the amount distributed in the reverse collection last November. Well, we gave $10,000 out in the envelopes and we have received about half the envelopes back totaling about $14,000. So, if you are still working on projects, please continue. If you who have not been able to participate for whatever reason, please return the original gift you received. If you no longer have the original envelope just put the gift in an envelope marked Reverse Giving and place it in the collection basket or turn it in an to the rectory. Thank you for your participation and support. We are truly blessed here at Holy Cross!!!
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.
