EL CENTRO — The pastoral landscape will change significantly as of July 1, as several priests begin new assignments at parishes across the Imperial Valley.
Our Lady of the Valley
Our Lady of the Valley (OLOV) is the largest parish community in the Imperial Valley, serving over 4,000 families, according to church staff. It’s located in El Centro, the largest city in Imperial County, with slightly more than 44,000 people.
Msgr. Francisco Cinco III – currently serving at St. Michael Church in the Paradise Hills area of San Diego – will become the administrator of OLOV as of July 1. The parish combined the campuses of St. Mary and Our Lady of Guadalupe on May of 2022.
The current pastor of OLOV, Father Mark Edney, will be on sabbatical from church administration for one year. Father Allan White, who has served as principal and teacher at St. Mary’s School, will not serve in those capacities during the upcoming school year.
Current OLOV associate pastor Father Ed Horning will become pastor of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish in Lakeside.
Father Kizito Uzoma Ndugbu, associate pastor, will be leaving the country to renew his visa; the date of his return is uncertain. Father Pedro Lucia, of the Escolapios religious order, who was previously assigned in Calexico, has been appointed associate pastor.
St. Mary Church, which was founded in 1907, sits on the west side of El Centro. Its campus includes the Msgr. Thomas Vidra Parish Center, where many Catholic functions in the Valley are held. The center doubles as the gymnasium for St. Mary’s School.
St. Mary’s sister parish, Our Lady of Guadalupe, sits on the east side of the city. Its campus holds special church celebrations at its Cristo Rey Chapel.
Borrego Springs
Father Emilio Magaña, currently at St. Mark’s Parish in San Marcos, will become pastor of St. Richard Parish in Borrego Springs. Father Magaña will also serve Christ the King Mission in the Desert Shores area of the diocese.
The “shores” in Desert Shores refers to the Salton Sea, which cascades a mere few blocks from Christ the King Mission.
Borrego Springs lies 38 miles west of Desert Shores, on the east side of the mountains of the Eagles Nest/Julian areas.
Brawley and Westmorland
In the north end of the Imperial Valley, Father Antonio Morales — currently the pastor of St. Patrick Catholic Church in Calipatria — will become the pastor of the Catholic Communities of Brawley and Westmorland. He also serves as the dean of the El Centro deanery.
The CCBW, as it’s known, is a combined parish of Sacred Heart Church and St. Margaret Mary Church in Brawley, and St. Joseph Church in Westmorland. The parish serves 1,100 families combined, according to its current pastor, Father Bernardo Lara.
Father Lara will become pastor of Our Lady of the Angels, on the eastern edge of downtown San Diego.
For context, the CCBW is the third-largest Catholic parish community in the Imperial Valley. Its flagship church, Sacred Heart Church (not to be confused with Sacred Heart Mission in Heber), was founded in 1908. While Sacred Heart Church sits near the central city square of Brawley, its surviving sister church, St. Margaret Mary, sits about nine blocks to the east. St. Margaret Mary Church was founded in 1934.
The city of Brawley is the third largest city in Imperial County, with just over 29,000 residents.
Father Manuel Del Rio, currently at St. John of the Cross Parish in Lemon Grove, will serve as pastor at St. Patrick Catholic Church in Calipatria. This city lies about 10 miles north of Brawley and has less than 7,000 residents.
Calexico
In the Valley’s southern border, Father Hilario Flores became pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church in June 2023 and will continue in that capacity.
The church, founded in 1907, is the second largest Catholic parish in the Imperial Valley, serving 1,950 families.
The nearby Our Lady of Guadalupe Academy serves students in grades TK-8th grade, with students living in the U.S. and across the border in the neighboring metropolis of Mexicali, Baja California.
The city of Calexico is the second largest populated city in Imperial County, with about 38,000 residents, whereas Mexicali’s total municipal population is more than 1 million.
