Originally published at Orange County Catholic
Fr. Robert Vidal sat in a comfy armchair in his two-bedroom apartment next to St. Anne Catholic Church in Seal Beach, a cozy gray sweater covering his black clerical clothing and a warm smile on his face.
“Fr. Bob,” as he is fondly called, was reminiscing about his nearly six decades as a priest, including his role in the early years of the Diocese of Orange, established in 1976.
A decade before then, Fr. Bob, then a 30-year-old, newly ordained priest in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, was assigned to the just-opened St. Bonaventure Catholic parish in Huntington Beach.
Back then, in spring 1966, the church was operating out of a huge, drafty warehouse on Murdy Circle.
Lighting was poor, there was no sacristy, the pews were temporary, there was graffiti on the walls and rain leaked into pots and pans on the cold concrete floor. But Jesus was present, Fr. Bob recalled, and there was lots of enthusiasm and love for the new parish.
“We did baptisms, we did weddings, we did funerals,” he said of working with founding Pastor Fr. Michael Duffy at St. Bonaventure, which was dedicated in 1979 at its current location on Springdale Street.
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