Founded: June 1896
Location: 5444 Hollister Avenue, Goleta
Santa Barbara Region: Deanery 2

Exactly one year after the "Catholic Tidings" issued its initial edition from a small office on New High Street in Los Angeles, a priest from Belgium celebrated the first Mass for the few Catholic families in Goleta.

Father Polydore Stockman (or "Padre Agostin" as he was called) had been ministering in San Bernardino County before he came to Santa Barbara and took up residence as pastor at Our Lady of Sorrows in 1895. Prior to his arrival, a priest from Santa Barbara Mission came once a month to say Mass, sometimes at the home of Miguel Pico (near Fairview and Mandarin) or in the backyard grape arbor.

When Father Stockman arrived, he erected a tiny frame church on a lot covered by tidewater every winter that forced the building to be on stilts. The weather-beaten church, with a square bell tower, lasted for about 34 years.

In 1908 the Jesuit Fathers began administration of the parish starting with Father Octavius Villa who organized the first choir. An organ was purchased for $80 from the proceeds of a picnic in Tuckers Grove; when the organist died, the choir was brought from Our Lady of Sorrows Church to sing.

Few other records remain from this period as the 1925 earthquake destroyed many of the documents from Our Lady of Sorrows and the mission church in Goleta. In 1928 the Franciscans took charge and the church was moved closer to town. The parish territory extended from La Cumbre Road to Gaviota and included 100 Catholic families.

Father Alfred Boedekker was the first Franciscan pastor in 1930, followed by Father Arnold Oscar and five other Franciscans until 1937 when Archbishop John Cantwell appointed Father Henry J. McHenry to head St. Raphael's. During his three-year tenure, the parish house was completed and the number of children attending catechism classes tripled.

Father (later Monsignor) Thomas O'Sullivan, from County Tipperary, was appointed pastor shortly before World War II. During his two-year term, he provided additional room for the congregation by converting the hall to the church building.

In 1943 Father Thomas B. Noonan was appointed pastor and also chaplain at the nearby Marine base, and was followed in 1946 by Father William McConalogue who also served three years. For the next 12 years, an administrator and five pastors continued the growth of the Goleta parish.

When Msgr. William Ralph Harvey left in 1961, the building fund had generated enough resources to establish a new parish site on Hollister Avenue. The population increase in the area required a larger church and the new building seated 540 with a side chapel.

Father Edward Hempfling, from Oklahoma, served for eight years and in 1963 opened the parish school, staffed by Sisters of the Immaculate Heart. To accommodate the more than 600 Catholic students at the nearby University of California, a parish school library was included as a student center.

The next pastor was Msgr. Henry Van Son, a former chaplain and native of the Netherlands. During his term of nine years, the side chapel and choir area were built adding seating capacity, and the parish's "Fun-A-Rama" fundraiser was established.

From 1978 to 1987, former teacher and principal Father Thomas Meskill of County Limerick, Ireland, headed St. Raphael. Then Msgr. Stephen Downes from County Dublin led the parish for almost 15 years, and ushered in the centennial celebration in 1996.

"People here want to be involved," he explained. That entails serving "all the way up the coast and all the ranches in between." Msgr. Downes strongly encouraged lay empowerment by involving parishioners in the decision-making process and day-to-day parish functions. "I try to get people to minister to others to whom they can relate," said Msgr. Downes, currently pastor at St. Mary in Palmdale.

Lay participation is rooted in the parish's patron, St. Raphael the Archangel, whose name means "healing of God" and is a guide today as he was to Tobit and Anna in the Bible. His feast day is September 29.

St. Raphael's current pastor is Father Bruce Correio, of Rhode Island, appointed in 2002. A member of St. John's Seminary class of 1985, he was previously pastor of St. Michael (another archangel) in South L.A.