Today's parishioners at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church were not around when the church first opened its doors 149 years ago. But as the church begins to celebrate its 150-year anniversary with a yearlong jubilee, several long-time churchgoers are reflecting on the decades they've been a part of St. John's.

It was during the late 1960s that Bishop Fulton Sheen, the popular host of "Life is Worth Living," came to Napa to visit St. John's and Ernest Rota, owner of Claffey and Rota Funeral Home, was in the midst of something special, he said.

"I helped with his visit, I got to meet him," Rota said. "He was real nice."

Rota said that during Sheen's sermon, he told the parish about the moments before he made his way to the altar.

"When he was getting dressed in one of the vestibules, he asked a sexton 'When I'm out at the altar, which way should I face?'" Rota said. "He told him to face where he could see the clock."

After the ceremony, Rota drove Sheen to the Napa County Exposition Center for a reception. Rota said it was perhaps one of his most memorable moments as a St. John's parishioner of 83 years.

For retired Napa County Undersheriff Richard Lonergan, the years he spent as an altar boy, from the time he was 10 years old to when he reached 14, were among the most memorable at the church.

"You felt like you were part of the mass," said Lonergan, 67. "I thought it was kind of an honor."

Attending school at St. John's and being an altar boy gave Lonergan strong morals and values that he used in his career in law enforcement, he said. The Lonergan family has been a part of St. John's parish since 1865, dating back to Lonergan's great-great-grandfather Thomas Lonergan, he said.

Elizabeth Sweet's involvement in the church began 40 years ago, she said.

"It was a very welcoming parish," she said.

Sweet's memorable moment is bittersweet. It happened in 1971 when her daughter, Susan, passed away from a malignant brain tumor. Members of St. John's rallied to her side, visited her home and were there for her, she said.

"There's a camaraderie there," she said. "The people are just so good."

A significant change

Through the years the parish has grown by leaps and bounds, now totaling 3,200 or more families. Many Latino families have joined the church and have changed its landscape to include more Spanish-language masses as well as cultural events such as Las Mañanitas, a ceremony that commemorates the day the Virgin Mary miraculously appeared before a poor peasant.

But perhaps the biggest change to happen at St. John's came in 1962. The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican essentially phased out Latin from sermons in Napa, in favor of English as the spoken language.

"As altar boys, we had to learn Latin to answer the priest," said Rota, who like Lonergan served as an altar boy at St. John's.

"It completely changed the whole church," Lonergan said. "We were appalled at what happened to the church at the time."

Many church parishioners stopped attending mass at St. John's but eventually returned.

"A lot of them (parishioners) stayed away for a few years," Lonergan said.

"I think that rest of them came back," Rota said. "It got out that they liked the English so much better."

Today, the church remains in harmony with both English and Spanish languages according to Rota and Lonergan.

Jubilee it up

A year-long celebration kicked off at St. John's on Sunday with a jubilee potluck at the church, filled with food, music, entertainment and reflections on St. John's past. But if St. John's doesn't turn 150 years old until November 2008, why is the church celebrating a year early?

According to Lynn Baker, who is helping coordinate anniversary festivities at the church, a jubilee is a church tradition that usually lasts a year.

"It's a time of joy and celebration and it actually goes back to the Jewish tradition," Baker said. "We really want to commemorate it (the anniversary) over the long term and not as a single event. This weekend kind of marks the opening event."

Until November of next year, St. John's will have several events leading up to the 150-year anniversary of the church. Parishioners are also creating a coffee-table-style book about the church. Lillian Dickson is leading the effort to create the book and Sweet is helping out by interviewing long-time parishioners at St. John's to include in the publication.

Dickson writes in an essay: "Archbishop Sadoc Alemany, the first bishop of San Francisco, established the parish of St. John the Baptist in 1858. It included all of Napa County, Lake County and parts of Solano and Sonoma Counties. Father Peter Deyaert was chose as the first pastor. During the tenure Father Deyaert blessed the marriages of many famous people from the wine industry including Charles Krug and Caroline Bale in 1860, Count Bela Haraszthy of Buena Vista Winery and Edna Smith in 1867 and Jacob Beringer and Agnes Tscheing in 1879."

Sweet said she can't wait to reveal the stories she's heard from church parishioners, including the time that a flu epidemic during 1918 swept through Napa and forced everyone to wear masks during mass.

For more information about events at St. John's visit http://church.stjohnscatholic.org