In the Cuyama Valley of northern Santa Barbara County lies the small farming community of New Cuyama --- 55 miles east of Santa Maria, 72 miles northwest of Ventura, and 115 miles north of Los Angeles. Amid its rolling hills and fertile fields of corporate farms are the homes of farmworkers who spend much of their week laboring in fields of carrots and alfalfa, or in orchards of peaches and pistachio nuts.

And on weekends, many of them travel great lengths to attend Sunday Mass or participate in a Communion service when no priest is available. Their parish is Immaculate Conception, unique in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles not only for its isolated locale but for how it serves its people.

Because with no resident priest for the past six years and an overwhelmingly Latino population, it is really up to the people to minister to their own needs, led by two able women religious. "There is an amazing spirit of cooperation in this small town and in this parish," says Kathleen Ricci, who for the past 15 years has taught ESL religious education and served as a Eucharistic minister; her husband Malcolm has been a member of the parish finance committee and a lector.

Kathleen says that 85 percent of the children who enter the small elementary school of 240 children know no English, nor do their parents. During the school day she teaches ESL and after school she runs a homework center in a room at a small Christian church next door to the Immaculate Conception Parish Center.

The parish staff is led by two Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet. Sister Mary Dorothea Quinn, Parish Life Director since 2000, conducts Communion services when no priest is available, performs baptisms, teaches confirmation and visits families. Having previously served many years in education, this 72-year-old religious loves working at Immaculate Conception, and is amazed at the positive things that can be done in such a small parish.

"Because it is so small here, there is a lot more cooperation," she says. "There is just a sense of community here."

On a recent weekend Sister Dorothea had 25 parishioners help her paint the parish hall, work in the garden, count Lenten Rice Bowl money, and care for the small and well-maintained church. With the assistance of funds from Together in Mission, a new heater was installed in mid-winter in the parish offices and the floor and roof were replaced in the parish hall.

With 150 families registered, she counts close to 100 at the Saturday evening communion service she leads in Spanish and a slightly smaller number at the Sunday morning service in English. When he is available, retired Conventual Franciscan Father Bernard Michalik from Pismo Beach --- at age 84 --- drives the 75 miles to New Cuyama where on Saturday evenings he celebrates the Spanish Mass with an English homily. He then sleeps in the sacristy, and on Sunday mornings celebrates the English Mass.

Sister Dorothea is also assisted by Sister of St. Joseph Mary Lucinda Lopez, who works with older children in the first Communion class and conducts Bible study in parishioner homes. Fluent in Spanish, she relates well with parishioners and finds them "so open, friendly, and, at ease, comfortable."

Before coming to New Cuyama Sister Lucinda ran a parish in Gila Bend, Arizona, for 15 years. "This is what I do best," says the 78-year-old religious. "But I am toward the end of my ministry." Yet watching her in action, it would appear she --- like Immaculate Conception's parishioners --- has much to offer.