Pope Francis

As the world is now mourning the death of Pope Francis, his words of love and humility still resound in our hearts. He was one of the most loved and respected Popes we have ever had, someone who set the example of how a true Christian person should be in this world of ours. His words and decisions were powerful, and his love was spread all over the world and reached not only the Catholic people but people of all different faiths and religions and even people of all levels of society. He reached so far into the hearts of the people of this world that I know his acts of kindness and his words of love will be remembered forever.

Therefore, we want to proclaim a miracle he performed in our little, tiny city of Los Alamitos back in the year 2013. In 1926, there was a little church built which served as the parish covering various small cities in Orange County. In 1960, this church became an auxiliary church when a bigger church was built to accommodate a new residential area next to Los Alamitos and that church became the Parish Church. After years of maintaining the two churches, the Diocese of Orange decided to sell our little church to then be demolished. When the parishioners heard about their decision, they began to protest at no avail until. they decided that it was out of our hands and that our only hope was to send a letter to Pope Francis to speak on our behalf. Knowing that the Pope receives thousands of letters a day for different requests, we sent the letter hoping through our prayers that he would respond.......AND HE DID! This is our miracle. He sent word with an emissary from the Vatican to talk to the bishop of Orange County Diocese and told them to let us keep the church. The organization, St. Isidore Historical Plaza, was created. In 2014, this organization purchased the church from the Orange Diocese and converted it into a Community Service Center and a spiritual place for people to pray. In 2022, St. Isidore Historical Plaza applied for historic designation from both the State of California as well as at the Federal level and it was granted (the first in Los Alamitos).

Some years after this miracle happened, we received another blessing from a lay-person by the name of Floriza Martinez who took over the mortgage. She passed away last year and completely erased the rest of our debt, so her blessing was for our no-profit organization to completely own the church. We became a nonprofit organization back in 2001 which is now working extremely hard to restore the almost 100-year-old church including eight stained glass windows plus some structural improvements that are desperately needed to keep providing the community services we offer at Saint Isidore Historical Plaza. The Plaza serves as a venue for various community services festivals, educational activities, and as a rental venue for social events. It is at this point that we hope to continue to work towards the total restoration of this historical landmark to continue our work of servicing the needs of our community with donations coming from the generosity of our members and the community at large.

Community support is vital to our being able to save this treasured historical site. Please keep St Isidore Historical Plaza on your minds and in your hearts as we proceed into the future. Follow our progress at https://StIsidoreHistoricalPlaza.org, on Facebook and on Instagram. You can reach us at 562 596-9918 or at info@stisidorehistoricalplaza.org. Repairs to the Church are going to be a big undertaking – your continued financial support and prayers are critical in going forward. Your donations make all the difference – donations can be made at https://stisidorehistoricalplaza.square.site Thank you!