Los Angeles Times , CA
Dec 13 2004

Worshipers End Wandering

After 30 years of fundraising, a small Armenian congregation in the
Coachella Valley is about to complete its own church.

By Barbara E. Hernandez, Special to The Times

PALM DESERT – The smell of incense permeated the church as Father
Stepanos Dingilian, wearing a silver-and-blue robe, presided over the
service. After the choir sang haunting hymns in Armenian, Dingilian,
speaking English, gave a sermon about faith.

The message seemed appropriate. After nearly 30 years of saving and
start-and-stop efforts, the small congregation of the Armenian
Apostolic Church of the Desert is finally going to have a home of its
own, Riverside County’s only Armenian church.

“This was a test for us,” said parish council member Alice Safoyan,
78. “We learned the hard way how to do it.”

For years the congregation met at St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church –
where Dingilian presided as visiting priest – but the church’s 50
registered families will soon leave St. Margaret’s behind.

After almost three decades of dinners, galas and open pleas for
money, the congregation’s meeting hall is finished and the church is
being built.

Final permits must be obtained before the meeting hall in Rancho
Mirage can be used for the congregation’s first service Dec. 19, said
George Kirkjan, chairman of the parish council. A dedication and
fundraiser weekend for the church building is scheduled Jan. 29 and
30.

Kirkjan, 69, a date grower originally from Los Angeles, spent the
last 27 years in the desert and has long looked forward to the
opening of an Armenian church.

“At the beginning, we had big ideas but not a lot of money raised,”
he said.

Over the years, the congregation raised $1.3 million, but there’s
still some work to do – to the tune of $1 million more to finish the
church, which is modeled on the larger St. Hripsime Church at
Echmiadzin in Armenia, built in the 7th century.

The Armenian Apostolic Church of the Desert is part of the Western
Diocese of the Armenian Church of North America, an Eastern Orthodox
church.

The congregation began using the Episcopal church in 1977 for a
monthly afternoon service during the Coachella Valley’s cooler
months. The practice continued for decades while the parish council
debated building a church. When not meeting at St. Margaret’s,
worshipers drove to Orange County or Los Angeles for services.

Although Southern California’s Armenian population is estimated to be
300,000 to 400,000, only about 120 Armenian families live in the
Coachella Valley, Dingilian said.

It was important to build the meeting hall before the church, members
said, because religious services can be held in a meeting hall, but
some events, such as dinners and receptions, can only rarely be held
in a church.

Hovak Najarian, 73, a member of the church choir and resident
historian, said that after a few years serving on the parish council,
he noticed that some of the initial enthusiasm for building a church
began to dwindle.

“Some of the old-timers had died and nothing was happening,” said
Najarian, who was appointed to the council in 1979. “There were a lot
of people not so sure we should be building a church because of its
upkeep.”

Some said they should continue to have their services at St.
Margaret’s. One member wearily suggested taking everyone on a cruise
with the money that had been raised, he said.

The congregation’s relationship with St. Margaret’s was partly forged
by Najarian, who is also a member of the Episcopal congregation. He
grew up in Florida and, because there were no Armenian churches
around, became an Episcopalian.

“I didn’t grow up with Armenians. The only ones I knew were my
parents,” explained Najarian, a slim man with silver hair and
twinkling blue-gray eyes. “[My parents] came here to have a place to
worship and not be persecuted, and I feel like I almost owe it to
them to keep this going.”

Building the new church, he said, allows him to honor and share his
Armenian heritage.

In 1982, council member Ara Herbekian found and negotiated the
purchase of about five acres in Palm Desert for an Armenian Apostolic
Church, but the recession of the 1980s limited donations and
virtually halted construction.

By 1999, the original land couldn’t be used because the city, citing
traffic concerns, would not allow the project to proceed. The land
was sold for close to $300,000, which helped the parish council
purchase 4.6 acres in Rancho Mirage. Today, that land would sell for
three times the amount, said Shirley Adams, realtor with Tarbell,
Realtors in Indio.

“The timing was perfect,” said council member Rita Walden, 70, of
Indian Wells.

Walden, who heads church fundraising, said raising money helped the
council avoid borrowing.

Mailings to Armenian families across the nation raised $20,000, and
Armenian Americans from the Los Angeles area also contributed to the
church fund.

“Our feeling was that by building the church, it would become the
heart of our Armenian community here,” Walden explained.

At the new meeting hall, landscaping pays homage to many Armenians’
agricultural roots in the Coachella Valley, with date palms and
citrus trees framing the drive.

Although city permits, a new security system and dust control caused
some financial hiccups for the congregation, many believe that the
church building – now little more than a foundation and underground
wiring – could be completed as early as 2006.

“I have no doubt in my mind it will be finished and it will be
beautiful,” Safoyan said.