About Frazier Park, California:
Frazier Park is a village and unincorporated community in Kern County, California. It is 5 miles (8 km) west of Lebec, at an elevation of 4,639 feet (1,414 m). It is one of the Mountain Communities of the Tejon Pass. The population was 2,592 in the 2020 census. Despite the elevation, and the name of the church, Frazier Park does not get a lot of snow…roughly 20–30 inches of snow per year, with some higher‑elevation spots getting 40–50 inches. Compare that to a city like Chicago, which gets around 35–40 inches per year.
There is one Catholic church in Frazier Park….Our Lady of the Snows.
About Our Lady of the Snows Catholic Church in Frazier Park, California:
In the early 1960’s, a small group of Catholics felt a need to establish a parish in the mountain community known as Frazier Park. They began to meet in store fronts or in peoples’ homes and they called upon the Order of Augustinian Recollects in Lamont to come and celebrate Mass with them. Father Placido Lanz was the first celebrant. Through the years, various locations were used for their Mass celebrations: a building owned by the Seventh Day Adventist Church, a real estate office in the lower corner of the building now housing TrueValue Hardware, a Girls Scout hall located past the snow gates on the way to Mt. Pinos, the home of Carl and Gerrie Exner. Sometimes there were only five attendees and sometimes there were as many as twenty five.
Despite these small numbers, they set about building a church. Because of the location in the mountains, the name Our Lady of the Snows was chosen, after that of the Basilica of Saint Mary Major in Rome.
Many furnishings for the new church were donated from various churches when they were remodeling or building anew. The first “pews” were folding chairs with kneelers attached. Pine trees and other landscaping were donated by various members of the church and by local residents. The first Mass was celebrated in the new church in 1967 but it was well into 1968 before the church was completed. The first wedding took place in 1971 and the First Holy Communion was celebrated in March 1971.
Through the years numerous changes and additions have been made. The rectory was built in 1981 and that same year wooden pews replaced the folding chairs. In 1991 the current sacristy was added as well as indoor restrooms and a portion of the current hall and kitchen. In 1993 they celebrated their 25th anniversary with Father (now Monsignor) Perry Kavookjian as the celebrant. The hall was enlarged in 1998 and the kitchen was enlarged and new carpeting and pew seat cushions were added in 2006.
Traveling to Our Lady of the Snows Catholic Church in Frazier Park, California:
Although it is closer to Los Angeles, California (73 miles), Our Lady of the Snows is actually in the Diocese of Reno, Nevada, which is 417 miles to the north. t is located on Interstate 5, which also near Tejon Pass, site of seismic significance. The region is situated at the intersection of two major fault lines: the San Andreas Fault and the Garlock Fault. This combination has made the area a hotspot for seismic activity and has resulted in a number of substantial earthquakes over the years. The most significant of these events occurred in 1857. Known as the Fort Tejon earthquake, it was an estimated magnitude 7.9 and ruptured more than 200 miles of the San Andreas Fault, shifting the land by up to 30 feet in seconds. Shaking may have lasted several minutes, but with few people living nearby, the damage and death toll were minor. Most seismologists believe this segment is locked, meaning it doesn’t release energy through small quakes but instead builds stress until it breaks in a single, massive event.
Today, that same stretch of fault has been largely quiet for more than 160 years. Studies of ancient quake layers suggest it ruptures on roughly a 140-year cycle, leading many scientists to believe stress is building toward another major event, AKA “The Big One”.
Address:
7115 Lakewood Drive
Frazier Park, CA 93225
Phone: +1 (661) 831-8905
email: sacheart@gmail.com
Visit the official website of Our Lady of the Snows Catholic Church in Frazier Park, California.