Parish Is Planning Church Dedication

Mary Immaculate Catholic parish is seeking alumni, former religion students and past parishioners to participate in a series of events related to the January dedication of its new church and school buildings, church officials said.

“We want to get as many people as we can who have a connection here,” said Julia Cardoso, administrator at Mary Immaculate.

“We’re planning an enormous dedication and we want to include our past parishioners and students.”

Cardinal Roger Mahony, archbishop of Los Angeles, is expected to attend the main dedication ceremony on Jan. 11, church officials said.

The rebuilding of the school, badly damaged in the 1994 Northridge earthquake, was originally slated for completion this month.

The church, which was built in 1957, three years after the founding of the parish, was also damaged and is being enlarged to accommodate a growing membership, Jess Castillo, parish administrator, said.

“During some Masses we have people standing in the doorways and on the sidewalk,” Castillo said. “This will give us an extra 400 seats for a total of about 1,100.”

With a capacity for 320 students, the new school building will include science and computer labs, a first at the school that serves kindergarten through eighth grades.

School alumni and former parishioners interested in contacting Mary Immaculate on the dedication should call Cardoso at (818) 899-0278.