By Mike Brewer

Special to the Alpine Mountaineer

Following the retirement of Father Neil Fuller, the Catholic Diocese of San Bernardino has named Father Tyler Tripp as the new priest at St. Frances Cabrini Catholic Church in Crestline.

Father Tripp, who is 38 years old and comes to the mountain from Sacred Heart parish in Palm Desert, is 6-8 tall. He likes to quip, “I had a choice of the L.A Lakers or the priesthood. I chose being a priest.”

The good padre is also employed by the Diocese as a canon lawyer.

“Canon law,” he explained, “is most likely the oldest legal system in the world.” In the early days of the Catholic Church, he said, it became apparent that rules and norms would be needed to provide a sense of belonging to the group that sought to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ.

“Bishop Rojas wanted me to have a broader pastoral experience in a growing Spanish community at Cabrini; that is how I was selected for this parish.”

St. Frances Cabrini was the first naturalized U.S citizen to be canonized in the Catholic Church and St. Frances Cabrini Church in Crestline is the first church in the world dedicated to Mother Cabrini, who is now the patron saint of immigrants.

St. Frances Cabrini was established in 1946 and opened on Thanksgiving Day 1947 with donations from the Sinatra family. George Goodwin was the first to be married in the church.

In 1947, lifelong Baptists donated the statue of Mother Cabrini. And in 1972 the church installed a 600-pound bell cased in Picard, France.

St. Frances Cabrini has been a vital part of the mountain community for 77 years with a wide variety of outreach programs for all.