History of our Parish
Saint Linus:
Our Parish is named after the second pope of the Roman Catholic Church. He became the succesor of Saint Peter after his martyrdom. Little is known about this saint. The Liber Pontificalis realates that his original home was in Tuscany in Western Italy noth of Rome. Irenaeus a Greek Bishop that lived from 130 to 202 AD states that Pope Linus is the same Linus mentioned by Saint Paul in his greetings to Timothy. "Eubulus greets you, and so do Pudens, Linus, Claudia and all the brothers." (2 Timothy4:21)
Pope Linus and his collegues at Rome were instrumental in guiding the Roman Christians to cope with the reality of presecution and the possibility of martyrdom. His feast day is on September 23rd.
Our Parish:
Southeast Stockton Catholics, including Sierra Vista Housing Prject Residents, built St.Linus Church with their own hands, moving in 1957 from the Sierra Vista gymnasium where they had worshipped since 1955.
Many of these same parishoners saw it burn on All Saints Day 1978. The Stockton Record printes, "They lost their church, but not their faith." By May 1980 a new church had been built with the help of parishioners, California Youth Authority Chicano Wards and the Bonetti and Butorac Families.