People in Visalia—who have a spirit rare in any season—might suggest building a bigger inn.

This is a Christmas story about the groundbreaking of a 21st-century California church. It’s also an example of how we could think more productively about the twin challenges of shortage and abundance—and of how the biggest things may fit best in our smallest places.

By 2021, Visalia, a city of just 136,000, will be home to one of America’s largest Catholic churches. With more than 3,000 seats, St. Charles Borromeo Church will be able to accommodate more believers than Orange County’s Christ Cathedral (formerly known as the Crystal Cathedral), or even St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City.

If the notion of such a large church on the southwestern edge of a small city seems jarring, it’s only because the decision to build the place is so at odds with California’s usual logic. Indeed, the project embodies a faith that we need more of.

Too often our state responds to setbacks or shortages of resources by cutting back or lowering our horizons. But in Visalia, the Good Shepherd Catholic Parish is treating its own challenges as an opportunity to foster community, and to create something grand.

The biggest issue it’s dealing with is a longstanding shortage of priests, nationally and locally. In the Visalia area, three full-time priests now rotate, covering 11 weekend masses across four Visalia-area churches. But priests and church officials have said publicly that this is a strain. And, with fewer men entering the priesthood (and more exiting it because of retirements, and the sex abuse scandal), they won’t be able to maintain the structure for much longer.

In similar circumstances elsewhere, Catholic dioceses have engaged in a triage of downsizing and church closings that has left long-standing communities of parishioners bereft. But Visalia is a rare place.

Even as declining immigration and low birth rates stall population growth in California, Visalia is still growing because people are attracted to its relatively low cost of living.

The city also packs an outsized cultural punch. It has a flourishing arts community with its own symphony and opera, good restaurants reflecting California’s full diversity, and a minor league baseball team known for its innovative fan outreach. The town offers a feeling of community that’s noticeable even if you’re only a casual traveler stopping on your way to nearby Sequoia National Park.

As a result, Visalians are accustomed to getting out of the house, and one place the religious among them like to go is church. Nationally, Catholic church membership is in decline, but in Visalia it has grown—by as much as seven percent annually. Indeed, the San Joaquin Valley is one of California’s most Catholic places. The Fresno Diocese, of which Visalia is a part, is America’s 14th largest, with an estimated 1 million Catholics among its more than 2.5 million residents.

So for the past two decades, Visalia has been trying to figure out how to serve growing congregations with fewer priests. Today’s massive church project is a culmination of that search.

First, in the name of efficiency, the small church in Goshen was combined with the Holy Family parish in Visalia; then Visalia’s three parishes were combined into one area parish, Good Shepherd. But, with growth and consolidation, the churches were soon jammed on weekends.

By 2006, church leaders, city officials, and the business community were talking about the idea of creating one big church that could serve thousands of people in one place. A grand building could also serve as a signature landmark to attract worshippers from around the region, the thinking went.

By 2007, the city had approved a plan to build a complex—including a large church, a school, and a parish hall on church-owned land at Visalia’s “Amen Corner,” the intersection of Caldwell Avenue and Akers Road.

Big churches work there. Last year, First Visalia, an Assembly of God church of 7,000 people, which has been based at the corner for the two decades, opened a large and new sanctuary with a capacity of 3,000. Pastor Mike Robertson, who wants to open a Starbucks on the corner, says his church and the new St. Charles Borromeo might have to stagger service times to avoid traffic nightmares.

The Catholic complex has been slow to take shape because of the Great Recession and struggles with fundraising. Early in this decade, the parish hall was built, and worshippers quickly filled up the space. With the local economy slow to recover, the great church idea wasn’t revived until 2017, with a new plan that made the $16 million building 25 percent bigger.

Church officials have told parishioners that one grand church will allow them to offer more ministries and services. All Sunday masses will be moved to the church, while the other parish churches will still handle services and events during the week.

At the groundbreaking, Father Cesar Solorio said that a historically large church had Biblical precedent; Jesus, after all, managed to feed 5,000 people when he multiplied the bread and the fish. “The priest shortage doesn’t just mean we don’t celebrate as many masses or we close down churches,” Solorio said. “But we open up a big one so a lot of people can be served.”

The larger hope is that the church can serve as an inspiration—unifying the Visalia parish’s congregations in one shared place, thus creating a larger community. The church’s national prominence could attract people from across the valley and the country, too.

If it can inspire Californians to think bigger in their own enterprises, Visalia’s huge new church may prove to be a gift to us all.

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At college in San Diego, Rosalinda Verde fell in love with opera—but she learned to love art while growing up in Visalia. “Instrumental people taught me that arts are always available here in our town,” she said. For a few years after graduation, she lived in San Diego—spinning her wheels and trying to figure out how to do art in a huge town. She decided to return home—in part for her family, and in part because she knew there would be opportunities here.

Verde asked Visalia’s Arts Consortium if she could put on an opera, and they didn’t hesitate to offer their support and encouragement. “‘If you want to do it, do it,’” she recalled hearing—a sentiment that’s been echoed throughout her arts career in Visalia. She put on a “Taste of Opera” performance, and built a local opera company from there.

Caroline Koontz, director of the Arts Consortium, credited the city and its people for making it so easy to support projects like Verde’s. “Our creative community is so collaborative and so cooperative,” she said. They possess “a spirit of giving that is really rare.” The consortium prides itself on its flexibility, which allows them to support start-up groups. Artists come to them with ideas, and then they figure out, one step at a time, what it will take to make them happen.

Richard Peterson, a lithographer and professor of art at the College of the Sequoias, was a bit less sanguine. “Government always moves way too slow for me,” he said. He pointed to zoning laws as one obstacle getting in artists’ way. Downtown Visalia doesn’t offer live/work spaces for artists. Such spaces are helpful to artists and also a draw for community members who want to meet and talk with the people whose art they’re seeing and buying.

James Ward, senior lifestyles editor of the Visalia Times-Delta and the evening’s moderator, pointed out that downtown Visalia remains much more vibrant compared to other downtowns across the Central Valley. What’s the difference?

Verde said that a few “excellent movers and shakers” have made a difference. She singled out Sound N Vision, a local nonprofit that brings bands from all over to local venues, as one of the organizations that has turned Visalia into a hub for creative people who, like her, leave for university and come back home.

Peterson added that the cultural scene at the College of the Sequoias is a big part of the city’s cultural life. College music groups play at different venues around town, and people come to the campus to see concerts as well. But he still thought there was untapped potential, particularly in the visual arts .

Peterson suggested that one way to get young visual artists integrated into the cultural life of the city would be to host an “art attack.” If Visalia invited artists into different city-owned buildings for a weekend to display their art, the city might harness the energy of many of the young artists and professors at the college.

What comes first, asked Ward—vibrant for-profit businesses or art that brings people to the businesses?

Koontz said that entertainment and culture will help Visalia and Tulare County keep talent from leaving. The people gathered in the audience for this event “can’t do much to change our air quality,” she said. “We don’t have the money in this room to build a four-year university.” But by creating a community where someone who wants to open a music studio can open a music studio, you’re building an audience for culture and for commerce, she said.

Koontz added that cultural tourists spend more money than any other kind of tourist. Someone who attends an arts event will spend an additional $34 beyond the cost of a ticket, providing a clear economic boost.

The panelists agreed there is more to do to bolster the arts in the city.

In the next five years, the Arts Consortium’s vision is to build studio spaces, triple its grant program, build an arts and education program, and move out from Visalia to support artists all around Tulare County.

Continuing to support local arts education—such as the city’s strong drama and band programs—is also key, they all agreed. Verde credited teachers in her elementary and middle schools for shaping her as a person and artist.

What kind of audiences, asked Ward, come out for the arts in Visalia?

Koontz said she was happy to see events like the recent Taste the Arts festival draw people of all ages and ethnicities, and families as well as adults.

Verde said that opera audiences do tend to be older, but she is actively working to get young people out. They’ve done zombie opera, they’re going to do drag queen opera, and they’re singing in new spaces in order to find new audiences.

In the question-and-answer session, the panelists spoke about the challenges of creating and supporting art in Visalia.

Grants are “extremely limited,” said Koontz. Tulare County is the only county she knows of that doesn’t have a community foundation making grants to local organizations. The city also currently doesn’t have a public art policy in place, which means there is very little public art. And, local organizations are all run by very small staffs—many of whom volunteer their time and all of whom are stretched thin.

Verde echoed this sentiment. She has a full-time job and a lot of other commitments; time is her greatest challenge.

Peterson said that the challenge he sees is “teaching people that without art we’d all be naked.” Artists design our clothes, our cars, our houses—everything we do—but it remains hard to convince people that they’re important.

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