Courtesy John Baxter WARM HELLO- Tom and Hope Morrissey, center, welcome Father Joseph Shea, right, to Saint Rose of Lima Parish in Simi Valley on July 6. Shea previously served as pastor at Holy Family Parish in Glendale. Saint Rose of Lima parishioners welcomed their new pastor, Father Joseph Shea to their parish Sunday, July 6.

He came from Holy Family Parish in Glendale where he served as pastor for 13 years. Shea replaces Father Carcenaro, the previous pastor of St. Rose, who has been named the pastor of the San Buenaventura Mission.

Shea almost came to St. Rose 13 years ago.

"I missed it by one week," he told his new congregation. "Monsignor Michael Bunny, one of the former pastors, announced that he would be leaving St. Rose of Lima one week after I had accepted the Los Angeles Archdiocese's request to take over Holy Family in Glendale. I came that close to being here. The rest is history. I may be 13 years late, but I am delighted to be part of St. Rose and the Simi Valley Community."

While at Holy Family Parish, Shea helped to resurrect the parish girls' high school. With a Board of Regents and the parish and school communities, he also helped to establish a scholarship festival that generated nearly $2 million dollars in its 11th year.

In his opening remarks to his new parish, Shea challenged his parishioners.

"Give God permission to work in their lives and that God would take care of the rest," Shea said. "God is pretty good at being God and knows best how to fulfill the dreams of happiness that God has placed in our hearts. God wants to work in our lives if we just allow him. All it takes is to give Him permission."

The new pastor also told parishioners that he is not one to linger on things that happened in the past.

"The past is only important in order to learn how we can move forward dynamically into the future," Shea said. "I also am not into complaining or blaming others for problems in the past. I'm really into fixing them."

Shea said his first order of business would be to hold town hall meetings with the congregation to get their input and hear their "hopes and dreams."

He said he is also looking forward to meeting the civic, business and religious leaders throughout Simi Valley: the principals of the public schools, the police chief, the chief of the fire department, the City Council members and the religious leaders of the other churches and synagogues in Simi Valley.