THE MOST IMPORTANT DAY of the liturgical year calls for some very thoughtful preparation.
As Catholics across Orange County prepare to celebrate Jesus Christ’s resurrection on Easter Sunday, many have been working behind the scenes to ensure Masses are extra special for parishioners.
“Easter is a little taste of heaven,” San Francisco Solano Catholic Church parochial vicar Fr. Cole Buzon shared. “That’s how I look at it, and the joy that we taste there, the joy that we experience with each other, it’s just a foreshadowing of what’s to come.”
In honor of Easter weekend, we spoke to different leaders at San Francisco Solano in Rancho Santa Margarita to share what the season means to them. Keep reading to see how they prepared to celebrate the triumph of good over sin and death.
MUSIC AND PRODUCTION DIRECTOR JACKIE KEARNS
Preparing for Holy Week and Easter Sunday takes a lot of preparation for music directors at churches throughout Orange County.
“It’s such a busy time for people, and they want to be with their family, so it is a sacrifice to ask, ‘Hey, we need people to lead these Masses and to give up your talents and your time,’” Kearns explained. “But it’s such a beautiful week. It really does start a little somber on Good Friday. You’re kind of telling the story of Jesus and how it all comes to be on the cross. And so, for Easter, we just want to make it as joyous as we can.”
Kearns tries to incorporate as many musicians and voices as possible to “fill the sound” of the church.
“For me, truly, what I hope is that people just feel Jesus,” she explained before getting emotional. “My hope is that you loved the music because you felt Jesus. If you haven’t come in a long time, I hope you felt Jesus or He spoke to you. That’s what we want.”
JACKIE KEARNS PREPARES TO SING DURING MASS AT SAN FRANCISCO SOLANO CATHOLIC CHURCH. PHOTOS BY MIKE VULPO
PAROCHIAL VICAR FR. COLE BUZON
For 40 days, Fr. Cole has preached to his community the importance of Lent and how it’s an opportunity to be with Jesus in the desert.
“The reason why He went to the desert and the Holy Spirit brought Him was simply because He wanted to remind us that in the deserts of our lives, we are not alone,” Fr. Cole explained. “He has sanctified loneliness, that He has sanctified suffering, that He has sanctified just simply struggling, being alone. It’s an honor to journey with people through that.”
With Easter Sunday arriving, Fr. Cole hopes to remind new and old parishioners that Jesus is with each of us every step of our journey.
“Christ desires to share not just a Sunday with us, but an eternity with us,” he shared. “Easter is our opportunity to experience that joy and to continue on that journey.”
FR. COLE BUZON PREPARES FOR MASS AT SAN FRANCISCO SOLANO CATHOLIC CHURCH IN RANCHO SANTA MARGARITA.
ADMINISTRATION DIRECTOR AND FISH FRY VOLUNTEER GLORIA BRIONES
For nearly seven years, Briones has spent her Friday nights during Lent volunteering at San Francisco Solano’s Fish Fry. Close to 300 people gather as a community every week to prepare for Easter weekend.
“Fish Fries are just a time of reflecting back on a journey that you want to have with the Lord,” she explained. “And if you’re not Catholic or Christian, you can always come. We bond together and break bread together. We just love everyone to be here to be a family.”
Briones also sees examples of almsgiving as she witnesses volunteers give back each and every week.
“It just brings me so much joy to see all the families here,” she said. “The teenagers love to come and help clean up. I have a group of women who love to help behind the scenes and decorate. Everybody’s included in this. It takes many hands to do light work, and we’re just so grateful for everybody.”
ERICA CHRISTENSEN AND GLORIA BRIONES VOLUNTEER AT SAN FRANCISCO SOLANO’S FISH FRY DURING LENT.
DEACON DAVID STROMSWOLD AND LITURGY DIRECTOR KIMBERLY STROMSWOLD
As volunteers of San Francisco Solano’s RCIA program, both Deacon David and his wife Kimberly know how powerful the Easter vigil can be every year.
“Having experienced it on both sides as someone coming into their faith and someone being on a team helping people journey to that, it’s indescribable because it’s the Holy Spirit,” said Kimberly — who converted from Episcopalian to Catholicism, in 2018. “It’s overwhelming because you are coming into the true faith. You are coming into the Church of God that He created. You’re coming into the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, and you are receiving the Eucharist.”
Deacon David believes RCIA is one of the most important ministries in the church as you work with individuals “thirsty for the Lord.”
“Watching the transformation of someone who raises their hand one day and says, ‘I think I’m being called’ and to walk with them and see their growth,” he shared, “it is pretty incredible.”