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St. Michael's, Carlsbad
The Church by the Sea
Prepared by Jarvis Nolan, Historiographer
The town of Carlsbad broke from the Southern California tradition of a Spanish name. It chose the name of a European spa, Karlsbad, in Bohemia. Like its namesake, Carlsbad was founded as a health resort for its healing waters from an artesian well. St. Michael’s by-the-Sea, the oldest church in town, was built in 1894, on the corner of Lincoln and Oak. The church is gone, a 7-eleven stands on the property. Those buried at the old site were transferred to All Saints Cemetery, San Luis Rey. If you were in the neighborhood on Monday, January 19, 1959 you would have seen the little church and the 20’ X 40’ parish hall being rolled up Carlsbad Avenue three blocks to its new location, at Carlsbad Boulevard and Christiansen Way. The old church is still used for weekday and Saturday night worship and other special services. St. Michaels is the only church in the diocese to have the old and the new church on the same property both in use for services.
On September 27,1959, the new sanctuary of rose beige concrete block was dedicated by The Rt. Rev. Francis Bloy, Bishop of Los Angeles. The church was designed by the architectural firm Frey and Chambers of Palm Springs. The design was modern for its day deviating from the traditional shape of a cross for a church. It was constructed with no square corners for acoustical reasons. The exposed ceiling beams are of Douglas Fir. In 1965, the church added the Sunday School/church office building to the campus.
St. Michael’s is known for its Anglo Catholic worship. To aid this worship are the beautiful artifacts in the church. The stained glass is of St. Michael the Archangel fighting the dragon with his sword raised high in triumph behind the high altar. The three stained glass windows on the gospel side of the church are of St. Andrew, St. Augustine of Canterbury and St. Joseph of Arimathea all names beginning with “A”, all selected because of their association with England, the root of our Anglican Heritage. The glass was designed by Wallis-Wiley Studios of Pasadena. The altar is of Italian white marble with a mosaic on the front that is imbedded with Brazilian diamonds, opals, amethysts that had belonged to parishioners and were donated for the mosaic. The hand sculpted Christus Rex which hangs above the altar is also from Italy purchased through Episcopal Church Supply in Los Angeles. The Lady altar is adorned with votive candles and a statue of Our lady of Walsingham dedicated December 2005. On the walls of the nave are hand carved heads of Christ mounted on olive from Italy representing the 14 Stations of the Cross. The bishop’s chair is adorned with the seal of the diocese of Los Angeles and the seal of our diocese.
Most parishes have one organ, St. Michael’s has three. The 21 rank Casavant organ was installed in 1972. To accommodate the growth of the music program, the organ was expanded to include a Phoenix Digital Organ, the consol of which controls both the pipes and the digital. In the old chapel there are two organs, the Wicks Pipe Organ and the Miller Reed Organ. On any of the organs you might hear a Mendelssohn Sonata or Bach Cantata played by A. Roy Daniels who has been director of music since 1990. On a Sunday morning the eighteen member choir might sing Caesar Franc Psalm 150 as the anthem. The choir performed in Carnegie Hall in 1998 at the 200th concert of Mid-America Productions. They sang under John Rutter and performed a world premier of Rutter’s Prayer and Praises written for the event.
Of special interest is the triangular bell tower consisting of two bells the old and the new. From the old church came the bell from Mission Inn, Riverside, which was used from 1931-1956, now silenced by the removal of the clapper. It is inscribed with “Junipero Serra 1713-1784. The new bell was cast in 1887 by Meneely and Company, West Troy, NY, and was used as a fire bell in a film made in Philadelphia. It was brought to Carlsbad and used on a ranch to call in ranch hands before moving to St. Michael’s. With the pulling of the tolling arm, the clapper is stationary, the parishioners are called to worship each service. The bell is often rung by Craig Groshup, a member since 1968, whose grandfather, the Rev. Edward Mc Connell, assisted at St. Michael’s after retiring from St. Andrew’s, Lake Elsinore in 1974. Craig says of the parish “it is special, it is the people”.
On April 6, 1980, a young seminarian from Nashotah House, Neil Moquin, preached on Easter Sunday morning at the invitation of The Rev. Douglas E. Woodridge, then rector. By July he was ordained deacon and was hired as St. Michael’s first curate. In 1981 the church purchased the final three lots completing the acquisition of an entire city block surrounded by Carlsbad Blvd, Christensen Way, Beach St. and Garfield. What started as a dream in 1984 became a reality in January 1986 when the Standing Committee of the diocese approved the formation of Holy Cross Mission, La Costa, made possible by the generosity of St. Michael’s. Moquin was the vicar until he was called as rector of St. Michael’s in 1996.
Rip Harper, a member since Feb 1951, his wife Jane was the second woman to be elected to vestry in early ‘70s says of St. Michael’s, “it is home”. Harper has been delivering food to Interfaith Community Services and clothes to Brother Beno Center once a month for twenty-five years. Another outreach event of the parish was a pilgrimage to visit their sister parish St. Peter’s, Lusaka, Zambia in the summer of 2006.
In 2003 there was discussion to relocate the church to property at a location east of I-5. This did not happen and the parish remains on the corner of Carlsbad and Christiansen Way to do what it does best as stated in their vision statement part of which reads “to continue to be a warm, welcoming magnet Episcopal Parish”