CATHOLIC CONGREGATION CELEBRATING IN NEW PLACE OF WORSHIP.

Byline: Mary Schubert Daily News Staff Writer

It has been 19 years since a Roman Catholic church opened in the Santa Clarita Valley, a period that saw the population more than double, prompting priests and parishioners to hold services at a school auditorium.

Those days of weekly Mass at Arroyo Seco Junior High School are over, now that the congregation - a satellite of St. Clare's Catholic Church in Canyon Country - finally has a place of its own.

Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha Church opened last month, and Cardinal Roger Mahony welcomed one of the newest additions to the Archdiocese of Los Angeles by celebrating Mass there July 20, said the Rev. Gregory Coiro, a spokesman for the archdiocese.

Actually, the church hasn't been completed yet; construction of the parish hall was finished first, and it will double as worship space until more funds become available, Coiro said.

And Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha - named for the first American Indian to be recommended for sainthood in the Roman Catholic Church - isn't a full-fledged parish yet. The archdiocese, Coiro said, classifies the congregation as a ``mission'' of St. Clare's, since both churches share the same pastor, Monsignor Ed Renehan, and the same priests celebrate Masses at both places.

St. Clare's opened in 1978.

Eventually, Blessed Kateri will become its own parish, probably once the church - and an elementary school that's also in the plans - have been built.

Still, the new building on Copper Hill Drive is a far cry from the junior high. Daily Mass is held at 7 p.m. during the week, with weekend Mass at 5:30 p.m. Saturday and 7, 8:30 and 10 a.m. Sunday.

Religious education classes will begin Sept. 8 for elementary school students and Sept. 29 for junior high students, church staff said. Preschool classes begin Oct. 26.

Built on a 9.6-acre site near Seco Canyon Road, the skylit hall has high ceilings and floors of rough-hewn stone, quarried in Bouquet Canyon. It is painted in earth tones and desert shades, predominantly peach and coral.

Displayed on a lobby wall is the silver shovel used in the December 1995 groundbreaking, along with a framed photo of a marble statue depicting Kateri Tekakwitha, her hair in a long, thick braid. She is holding rosary beads in one hand and a small wooden cross in the other.

The hall where Masses are held seats 787, and it was built with moveable partition walls that can divide the room in thirds. In the basement of the building are parish offices and several meeting rooms.

AC Martin Partners, a downtown planning, architecture and engineering firm best known for designing Los Angeles City Hall and now handling the seismic retrofitting of the 69-year-old landmark, also designed Blessed Kateri church.

``We've done a number of churches for the archdiocese,'' said Tom Emme, project manager of the Blessed Kateri project. He cited Padre Serra Catholic Church in Camarillo and St. Maximilian Kolbe Catholic Church, to be built in Thousand Oaks.

Meskell & Sons, a Pacoima contractor, handled the construction of Blessed Kateri, a job that took about 16 months, Emme said. ``I think it was about a $5 million project,'' he added.

The site is ringed by a 150-space parking lot and roped-off, graded parcels mark the land where the elementary school and the church will be built someday, Emme said. The city has approved the master plan for the entire project, he said.

A member of the Mohawk Indian tribe, Kateri Tekakwitha was born in 1656 in New York. In 1980, 300 years after Kateri's death, Pope John Paul II beatified her - a designation that is one level below canonization, Coiro said.

``Her nickname is Lily of the Mohawks,'' Coiro said. ``She lived a life devoted to prayer, penitential practices, and care of the sick and aged. People see heroic virtue in her,'' he added.

Kateri Tekakwitha's relics are enshrined in a Canadian village where she lived much of her life, Coiro said. ``We have so few American saints and blesseds,'' he said.

One person glad to see a third Catholic church in the Santa Clarita Valley is the Rev. Patrick Power, pastor of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, the region's original parish.

``I came here 20 years ago. At that time, I remember we had 1,800 registered families in the whole valley,'' Power said. ``Now, we have about 5,000 families registered and they have a little more at St. Clare's,'' he said.

``I'd like a fourth (church) here. We need one over toward the Castaic area,'' Power said.

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Photo

Photo: (1--color in SAC edition only) People make their way into Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha Church for Mass on Sunday.

Hans Gutknecht/Daily News