What is harder to build? Church, the community of believers? Or church, the building in which believers may worship?

There are challenges in each. Yet very often, in the process of building the second, building the first becomes much easier --- especially, perhaps, in financially-challenged parishes, where community-building can be a natural outgrowth of working hard together.

Just ask anyone in St. Patrick (Los Angeles), Sagrado Corazon (Cudahy), and Guardian Angel (Pacoima) parishes, all of whom face significant challenges and obstacles in raising money to build desperately needed (and larger) worship spaces. All, however, have experienced tremendous growth, generosity, self-giving and cohesive community in the process.

Indeed, while bricks, rebar, mortar and stained glass windows are essential elements, and arches, columns and decorative elements all give it special style, it is the people who give a building --- and a parish --- its soul and spirit.

Soul and spirit abound at St. Patrick, Sagrado Corazon and Guardian Angel, where the people continue to give --- in time and money --- toward building a church. Giving, in each case, from their need.

St. Patrick, Los Angeles
Most of St. Patrick's present parishioners have never seen the church that was destroyed by earthquake in 1971, let alone the original church that was destroyed in 1933. In the past 35 years liturgies have been celebrated in the parish hall that seats only 350-400, which means anywhere from 100 to 200 having to stand outside the doors of the hall.

But these parishioners --- for the most part, hardworking people in blue-collar and hard-helmet jobs --- continue to sell carne asada, menudo and tamales, continue to hold fiestas, continue to make progress --- with their pastor, Father Francisco Ramirez --- toward realizing their dream of a new church.

And they are more than halfway there, having raised (in cash and pledges) just under $4 million of the $7,260,000 needed for a new St. Patrick Church, parish hall, parking lot and offices. Credit the generosity of parishioners, personal donors, fellow parishes in the Our Lady of the Angels Region, and proceeds from the Cardinal's Award Dinner and other sources.

As they near their goal, their excitement grows for another reason: the new church is rising before their eyes, and is scheduled for completion in January 2007 after having broken ground on April 17, 2005.

Dedication day will be a great occasion for all, says Father Ramirez who, as the only priest assigned to St. Patrick's, usually presides at all six Sunday Masses. He studies the young children wanting to play in the dirt of the parking lot near the construction area, and smiles. "We are building this church for them."

Guardian Angel, Pacoima
Sunday Masses: 7 (5 Spanish, including Sat. vigil), attended by 2,500-plus.

Church capacity: 250 including choir loft. About 400-500 attend each of the Spanish language Masses; many stand or sit outside church.

Building Goal: $10 million for a new church and, eventually, offices, hall and school. Funds raised: $2 million, including proceeds from the 2005 Cardinal's Award Dinner, private donations and assistance from other San Fernando Region parishes.

The parish already owns a piece of property away from the present site and Father Steven Guitron, pastor, hopes to trade with the city in exchange for another parcel closer to the present church.

"Being here already three years with the people, I am very happy, and I love this church," says Father Guitron, "but I have a great dream. I know that it's possible for them to have a bigger church where they will all be able to sit."

His parishioners, admittedly, "have a great attachment" to the small old church where many families have celebrated baptisms, weddings and funerals. But, he adds, they are very hopeful that a new church will be built.

"The people are giving of themselves," Father Guitron says. "And seeing how much they have given to make that reality happen, it makes me very appreciative that they want this for themselves. It will be their church."

The youngest of 12 children, Father Guitron grew up in Nativity, El Monte. His father was a custodian at the county courthouse and his mother was an eligibility worker. So he knows the struggles that families must make.

As a priest who has worked in more affluent parishes, ministering at Guardian Angel has had a profound effect on him. "It's strengthened my prayer life having to depend very much on divine providence to get things done," he says. "People have opened up their lives to me and I've taken them to my prayer. I've been greatly humbled."

Sagrado Corazon y Santa Maria de Guadalupe, Cudahy
Sunday Masses: 6 (including Sat. vigil), 5 in Spanish, serving 5,500 families.

Church capacity: a small chapel (a former Methodist church) that seats 100 for daily Mass; a lean-to roof for Sunday Mass, supported by brick pillars with blue tarps for sides which are lowered during rainy weather.

Building Goal: close to $6 million for church, offices, religious education classrooms. Funds raised: close to $1.5 million through parish sales and events, donations from other parishes in the San Pedro Region, and the 2006 Cardinal's Award Dinner.

Ask Sacred Heart Missionary Father Antonio Garnica, pastor, what his parish needs most. "We need everything!" he replies, from boards for classroom walls, to church furnishings, to --- well, "everything."

Nearly 30 percent of the parishioners at Sagrado Corazon, serving the most densely populated area in the county, are elderly parishioners with low incomes. But there are young families, with 500 children baptized each year, and nearly 500 more enrolled in sacramental programs.

As the parish grows by the day, the current lean-to church is comprised of 20 different types of pews and benches that have been donated by other churches which have re-modeled. There are no stained glass windows since there are no walls. Votive candles are brought by parishioners from nearby markets.

But befitting its name, Sagrado Corazon --- established in 1992 after having been a parochial mission --- is a parish with heart. Every weekend parishioners prepare tamales, pozole, menudo and hot chocolate for sale, where non-parishioner neighbors come to purchase their evening meals or breakfast --- and the proceeds will help build a real church.

The effort is entitled "Proyecto Casa de Dios" (Project House of God). Sunday bulletins encourage parishioners to contribute now toward furnishings that will be needed for the new church. The parish building committee has met with an architect and plans are in the development stage.

His community, says Father Garnica, has pulled together in support of building their desperately needed church. That, he and any other pastor involved in such a process will tell you, is the biggest accomplishment --- and maybe, when all is said and done, the greatest reward.