Since this story will be told with photos from newspapers, let's begin with this beautiful picture captured by a San Jose Mercury News photographer on Christmas Day of 1993 (yes, exactly 4 years, 2 months and 7 days after the earthquake.)
But before we learn how the church got there, a recap might be in order: first, there was the earthquake of '89 on Thursday, October 17th that destroyed a good part of downtown Santa Cruz and severely damaged Holy Cross Church. Two days later parishioners gathered in the hall for Mass where they continued to meet for eight months until the hall burned down in the early morning hours of June 30th. People quickly gathered, erecting a canopy in the schoolyard of the elementary school, setting up chairs, an electric piano and a sound system. That same afternoon the pastor, Fr. Jim Henry, celebrated Mass.
This photo and an article were on the front page of the Santa Cruz Sentinel the next day. Fr. Henry was quoted as saying, "We have a church on the move. Our first option's gone, now our second option's gone." Instead of seeing the fire as a tragedy, he saw it "as another opportunity to further unify the members of the parish." Like Abraham, we moved again. In August we migrated to the parking lot where one of the last of the pavilions used downtown was set up. The church stayed there for three plus years.
On August 27, 1992 these photos appeared in the Sentinel. (Editorial note: Shmuel Thaler's exemplary photography has always been greatly admired, but we're wondering how he managed the lower photo before drones were invented!)
The accompanying article by staff writer Greg Beebe began with the old jingle, "Here is the church and here are the people. Now Holy Cross needs a new steeple." He went on to quote local historian Sandy Lydon as saying, "This is not a religious issue here....When the steeple came off it was like part of Santa Cruz was missing."
Finally, as described in Part Three of this story, the great day came exactly three years after the earthquake. Our steeple once again became the "beacon on the hill," and the sign that Santa Cruz would be whole again.
Earlier that year, in the February 9, 1992 issue of the Holy Cross Bulletin, Fr. Mike Marini, the new pastor, informed parishioners that a contract had been signed with VSL Corporation for the retrofitting of the church. "Our contract is signed, (thank God!), and each day that work progresses is a pure gift of God's graciousness." He noted that other contracts were waiting to be signed: the restoration of the sprinkler system, exterior painting, plus incidental repairs including landscaping.
Later that year, in October, the San Jose Mercury News published a full page story about "A new kind of retrofitting" for Holy Cross. It was an innovative technique making its "U.S. debut in the brick walls of Santa Cruz's 103-year-old Holy Cross Church." The article included a detailed diagram of the retrofit which fascinated the technically-inclined amongst us.
It was obvious that the targeted date of Easter for the reopening would not happen. The only thing filling the church then would be scaffolding. By this time, however, parishioners had learned the art of patience, honed by months of sitting on cold, metal chairs with rain sometimes pounding so hard on the canvas, homilists would have to shout to be heard. "And," Sr. Barbara added in an interview at the time, "... there were spiders crawling in and out of my music as I played the organ." The good news arrived in a letter from Fr. Mike to all parishioners in October. He began his message by admitting that he'd been "waiting for two-and-a-half years" to write it. He continued, "...by the graciousness of God, Holy Cross Church will open for the celebration of Midnight Mass on Christmas." Our new Bishop, Sylvester Ryan, would be the celebrant. The letter concluded: "May God bless our parish during this time of waiting and expectation and fill our hearts with thanks to the God who is ending our time of exile and leading us back to our home."
And so, finally, at last....we were back in our beautiful church. At the midnight Mass, the new bells of the church tolled throughout the city. It was a welcome sound, beautiful beyond words.