Sept. 9, 2019
Father Juan Manuel Lopez, pastor of Church of the Assumption of Mary Parish in Tomales, guides a procession with a statue of St. Mary of the Assumption, on the occasion of her feast Aug. 18. The rural Marin County church is home to about 150 parishioners, about 80 percent of them Spanish speakers. Many are immigrants who have reconnected with their cultural and religious roots through the parish. The parish, established in 1860, also provides space for catechesis and encounter between cultures. During Mass, Father Lopez preached on the four Marian dogmas of the church: Virginity, motherhood, the Immaculate Conception, and the Assumption, declared by Pope Pius XII in 1950.
Posing in front of the church, are Arturo Martinez and Adriana Macias with their children Emanuel, Diana and Angela. (Photos by Zach Wittmer/San Francisco Catolico)