Recognizing La Purisima Catholic Church's 100-Year Anniversary

Floor Speech

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Mr. CORREA. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize La Purisima Catholic Church, a pillar of our community that has served parishioners in the City of Orange for the last century.

Established in 1924 on Center Street as La Purisima Mission, the church opened through the generous donation of Mr. Remedios Mares and originally served local residents and seasonal workers from Mexico. In October of 1957, La Purisima Mission came under the spiritual caretaking of the Missionary Servants of the Most Holy Trinity, who oversaw the mission's growth partly due to the influx of new residents to the area from Orange's burgeoning aerospace industry. This period also saw an expansion of services provided to local residents, including the first ``Fiestas'' beginning in 1958 and the parochial school opened by Sisters of the Company of Mary in 1964.

In 1962, La Purisima's ``old church'' building was constructed. It was in this building where La Purisima was granted Parish status on May 8, 1964, by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. La Purisima would join the newly formed Diocese of Orange on June 18, 1976.

The growth of Vietnamese and Hispanic American communities in and around the parish of La Purisima led to some of the first trilingual liturgies in the Diocese of Orange. Due to the popularity of the trilingual liturgies and the growth of the community at La Purisima, parishioners received permission in 1999 to begin efforts to build a larger church building that remains in use today, dedicated on June 4, 2005, by Bishop Tod Brown.

This year the La Purisima Catholic Church celebrates its 100th anniversary, a testament to its commitment to service in the community.

I ask my colleagues to join me in recognizing La Purisima Catholic Church's 100 years of service to the residents of the City of Orange, and in wishing them a bright future of faith and service.

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