Only a month after transferring from a Texas parish last summer to become pastor at Mary Immaculate Church in Pacoima, Oblate Missionary Father John Lasseigne discovered many of his parishioners were on the verge of losing their homes due to the housing foreclosure crisis.

His parish in the northeast San Fernando Valley, where home values have dropped by hundreds of thousands of dollars from just a few years ago, is in a working-class, predominately Latino immigrant area. More than 8,000 homes in the region are in default or foreclosure proceedings.

Partnering with the community-organizing group One-LA, which includes Mary Immaculate's congregation among its membership, Father Lasseigne set out to organize families behind in their house payments into teams to negotiate with banks as a group.

"It dawned on all of us that this was going to hit crisis proportions, and fast. We had to act quickly," said the 44-year-old priest, a Louisiana native who received a law degree from Loyola of New Orleans in 1991 shortly before moving to Texas to enter the Oblate Missionaries.

Contrary to those who argue that those facing foreclosure deserve their fate because they took out risky loans or knowingly bought houses they couldn't afford, Father Lasseigne says the majority of distressed homeowners he has met these past few months are "very humble, hard-working, honest residents --- many of them citizens --- who were caught up in an economic whirlwind beyond their control [and] financially entrapped."

"Something we discovered early on, which we've tried to convey in every meeting we've had with banks and elected officials, is that these mostly Latino home owners in the San Fernando Valley were targeted by the banking industry," declared Father Lasseigne, who added many of the borrowers didn't understand the risk involved in the subprime loans pushed by aggressive lenders.

Last fall, the priest, with One-LA's help, networked hundreds of parishioners threatened with foreclosure from Mary Immaculate and three neighboring parishes --- Santa Rosa in San Fernando; St. Elizabeth in Van Nuys; and Our Lady of the Holy Rosary in Sun Valley.

Participants attending training sessions were educated on the basics of mortgages and foreclosures, and put in touch with housing counselors. A core group of 105 homeowners continued in subsequent weeks to meet in small groups as well as individually with banking representatives, including officials from Bank of America, Chase Bank and Wells Fargo.

"The banks paid more attention [to homeowners] when we pulled them together," said Father Lasseigne. However, he explained, the banks were only offering "very tiny adjustments" to the mortgages that would provide only short-term help. California homeowners carrying loans worth more than the current value of their homes, said One-LA housing lawyers, would likely head back into default when loan modifications, such as temporary principal deferment, would end after a few years and interest rates would start climbing again.

On Jan. 25, at a public meeting attended by more than 1,500 people including local elected officials at San Fernando High School, One-LA members presented a plan with a three-pronged approach: getting banks to lower the principal on mortgages of homes to reflect current market value; fixing interest rates close to current market rate; and providing homeowners with small government loans to lower the principal which would not have to be paid back until the home is sold or the mortgage has been paid.

Media coverage on local grassroots efforts to help homeowners, including a Los Angeles Times article late last year and a story on CNN last week, have helped generate interest. In February, the Los Angeles City Council unanimously agreed to provide $1.5 million to fund government loans this summer to 30 homeowners whose lending banks will agree to lower their mortgage loan principal and fix interest rates.

"What we want that pilot project to show is that this plan of reducing principal and fixing interest rates actually produces greater stability in the housing market [resulting in] lower rates of re-default," said Father Lasseigne. "It's really [about] showing people that this works. If every party gets involved, it can be done."

He will be flying to Boston this weekend along with One-LA community organizers to speak about the pilot project and the exact nature of the foreclosure crisis in the San Fernando Valley to Rep. Barney Frank, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee. Although the May 3, 1:30 p.m. meeting with Congressman Frank means the Mary Immaculate pastor will miss celebrating Sunday Masses that day at his parish, he says it will be time well spent.

"The church will always stand for justice," said Father Lasseigne. "When poor people have been taken advantage of, the church has to speak out. Even with the various scandals that have taken place in the last few years, the church still has a lot of moral authority."