Development Threatens Landmark Church Building

At the end of the movie “The Rock,” Nicholas Cage speeds away from a white clapboard church with the secret to the Kennedy assassination, which he found in a pew.

The secret was never revealed on screen. Now, any other untold tales that the century-old Sacred Heart Mission Church holds may be lost forever.

The sale of nearby land for a housing development could destroy the charm that has attracted filmmakers. Another group of developers would like to build a shopping center where the church sits, which could force demolition of the Ventura County landmark.

Ventura developer Don Jensen recently bought land near the church for a 10-acre, 42-home development. The owners of the remaining acreage have offered him the one-room, 200-seat church, but he can’t figure out a use for it.

“It’s too small to do most people any good for a community building,” said Jensen. “Structurally and architecturally, it’s simple but not that unique.”

Besides its role in “The Rock,” the church has been used in such productions as a “Kodak moment” commercial featuring a newlywed couple smiling for cameras.

Sacred Heart began as an offshoot of St. Sebastian Catholic Church in Santa Paula. St. Sebastian’s pastor traveled by horse and buggy to the mission, which was built in the 1890s as a store before being moved to Saticoy in 1915.

When Sacred Heart outgrew the sanctuary and moved out in 1968, the building was left vacant. Its owners moved it to their land on Darling Road in 1987, set it on a temporary foundation and hoped to turn it into a wedding chapel and museum. The plans were never realized.