RISING FROM THE QUAKE; REDEDICATION OF PACOIMA CHURCH MARKS TRIBUTE OF FAITH.

Byline: Yvette Cabrera Daily News Staff Writer

The Northridge Earthquake may have ravaged Mary Immaculate Church and its school, but it didn't break the community's spirit, and for that Cardinal Roger Mahony praised parishioners Sunday at the church's rededication.

Parishioners held Sunday services in an open tent for 1-1/2 years, enduring sweltering summer heat and the chilliest of temperatures in the winter, but the congregation's faith was evident Sunday as more than 2,500 packed into the red-brick church and its adjoining tent for the special ceremony and Mass.

``Their real faith in adversity is what brought them through this,'' Mahony said after the ceremony. ``The people in this community know what suffering is. They've made sacrifices in their lives. . . . The spirit of the people gives me heart.''

Opening just days away from the four-year anniversary of the Northridge temblor, Mary Immaculate Church is the last of 12 parishes in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles to be rededicated after suffering extensive damage, said Mahony, who expressed his relief at completing the final rededication.

``We don't need any more earthquakes,'' he joked. ``Our faith has been tested, and we don't need any more tests.''

Other churches in the San Fernando Valley that were rededicated include St. John Eudes in Chatsworth, St. Mel in Woodland Hills, and Our Lady of the Valley in Canoga Park.

For 50-year-old Juan Gonzalez, a Pacoima resident who has attended Mary Immaculate for about 20 years, the reopening of his church was emotional.

``It's a blessing from God that we were able to unite at the moment that our church needed us most,'' said Gonzalez, who was married and baptized his son at Mary Immaculate. ``In times of rain and in the heat, the congregation came. It's a great feeling to be here today.''

Founded in 1954, Mary Immaculate Church has for decades gone beyond serving the religious needs of its community by hosting the social action programs of groups like Meet Each Need with Dignity, a nonprofit social service agency and Valley Organized in Community Efforts, a group which has spearheaded an extensive citizenship campaign in the Valley.

``This rededication is just another example of the community rejuvenating itself in many ways,'' said Assemblyman Tony Cardenas, D-Panorama City, who attended the church as a child and celebrated his communion there.

``The community is becoming involved politically. There are a lot of grass-roots organizations coming up and a lot of people who have come to this church for the past 30 years are finally becoming citizens,'' Cardenas said.

Los Angeles City Councilman Richard Alarcon also saw the rededication as a boost for the community's spirits.

A crucifix and a statue of Jesus with outstretched arms, which hang prominently inside the church, represent the transformation of tragedy and rejuvenation which the community has undergone, said Alarcon, whose 7th Council District encompasses Pacoima.

``Although the tragedy of the earthquake was very sad, there was instantly a spirit of rejuvenation that emerged,'' said Alarcon, who taught for a year at Mary Immaculate School after graduating from college. ``The rebuilding has been a rebuilding of the community, not just the parishioners.''

Mary Immaculate School, a prekindergarten through fifth grade school with 250 students which celebrated its 40th anniversary last year, was demolished and rebuilt with larger classrooms and state-of-the-art equipment.

The church was only partially demolished and renovated to accommodate the burgeoning congregation, which now numbers 8,000.

``When we were under the tent, the numbers went down, but now that we're back in the church, the numbers are as high as ever or higher,'' said the Rev. Tom Rush, the church's pastor, who received a standing ovation during the rededication.

Rush praised Mahony for his efforts to find funding for the church and school, which cost $3.2 million to build. Mary Immaculate still owes $1 million

in construction costs, which it hopes to repay over the next 10 years, Rush said.

``We could have tried to patch together what we had, but it would have been costly,'' Rush said. ``It is through (Mahony) that we were able to get the necessary funding to make this possible.''

Other officials who attended the two-hour ceremony included U.S. Rep. Howard Berman, D-Mission Hills, County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky and a representative for Mayor Richard Riordan.

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos

PHOTO (1) Cardinal Roger Mahony burns incense at the rededication ceremony at Mary Immaculate Catholic Church in Pacoima on Sunday.

(2) Cardinal Roger Mahony, blessing the rebuilt church Sunday, said ``real faith in adversity is what brought them through this.''

David Srague/Daily News