Monsignor Harvey Fonseca spent his final week as a parish priest blessing hundreds of people, embracing longtime churchgoers, and receiving a few standing ovations after Mass.
Fonseca — a Dos Palos native who has lived an incredibly full life in a variety of roles in the local community — has stepped into retirement after 30 years of leadership at St. Jude Thaddeus Catholic Church in Livingston.
Msgr. Harvey Fonseca of St. Jude Thaddeus Catholic Church.
The beloved pastor is credited for reinvigorating a poor parish, upgrading facilities, saving adored statues and helping to inspire thousands of pilgrims to come to the church — a Diocesan Shrine — and embrace salvation.
Fonseca is also known for his warm smile, friendly approach, and a somewhat dry sense of humor — often when a captive audience needs it the most.
“I remember Bishop John (God rest his soul) asking me what kind of parish I would like,” Fonseca reminisced in his farewell comments. “I said a rural parish, as far away and isolated as possible — where the cattle outnumber the parishioners. [The bishop] replied: ‘How about if I put you in a parish where the chickens outnumber the parishioners.’”
Livingston, of course, is home to the largest chicken processing plant of Foster Farms, a nationwide poultry company.
Fonseca continued, “Back then, Saint Jude was on the verge of bankruptcy. Bishop John said: ‘Run it the way you would run a Portuguese dairy.’”
Fonseca, of course, is Portuguese, and he was raised on a dairy owned by his parents Ned and Mamie.
Proudly, the priest concluded: “After working tirelessly for 30 years, I am happy to report to you that as I leave, all the bills are paid to date, and with all the accounts added together, I leave you with over $2 million in the bank.”
A higher calling
Father Fonseca is a graduate of Dos Palos High School, but he didn’t enter the seminary right away.
He worked as a land surveyor, a school teacher, and at one point — as many long time residents might remember — he was elected to the Merced County Board of Supervisors.
Supervisor Fonseca served the people as a West Side representative from 1983 to 1986, alongside the likes of Supervisors Ann Klinger, Fred Wack, Al Bardini and Al Goman.
E.J. Lorenzi, a longtime Merced developer and devout Catholic, remembers Supervisor Fonseca as a “polite, respectful, and very sharp business person who was well-respected in the community, and did a great job for the county.”
After his political tenure, however, Fonseca followed a higher calling. He entered the seminary at the age of 35. He received a Bachelor’s degree in Theology and a Master of Divinity from Mount Angel Seminary in Oregon and a Benedictine Oblate of Mount Angel Abbey.
Fonseca was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Fresno in 1992. He went on to serve the diocese at St. Aloysius in Tulare, Our Lady of Mercy in Merced, Sacred Heart in Fresno and St. Brigid in Hanford. He has also founded the Blessed Teresa of Calcutta Catholic Mission Project in Delhi.
It was in 1995 when Fonseca was assigned to the St. Jude in Livingston, a longstanding church that has served the rural community since the late 1930s.
According to the Portuguese Historical Museum based in San Jose, “One of Fonseca’s projects was to improve and upgrade the grounds between the old and new churches. Father Harvey’s inspiration was to construct a canopy in the shape of one of the open hay barns he had grown up with as a boy in Dos Palos. The completion of this project, which greatly enhances the total church complex, gave the parishioners a beautiful place to gather and escape from the sun on a warm summer day.
“Father Harvey was also instrumental in saving an iconic statue of Santo Cristo. Father Joe Ferreira, knowing Father Harvey’s love of statues, informed him that a group in San Leandro was disbanding and wanted to find a place for this statue. Father Harvey quickly accepted the challenge, and the beautiful piece now sits in one of the side altars at St. Jude’s.
“On the feast of the Holy Cross, September 14, 2009, Monsignor Harvey Fonseca, pastor of St. Jude’s, blessed the Portuguese cross that was inlaid in the new parish plaza. The Portuguese community at St. Jude’s is made up of parishioners from the nine islands of the Azores, Continental Portugal, Brazil, Madeira, and Angola.”
In 2022, Rev. Joseph Brennan, the bishop of the Diocese of Fresno, elevated the St. Jude church as a Diocesan Shrine — a holy and sacred place where there is “extraordinary devotion.” Over the years, the church has experienced an increase of pilgrims from near and far, who come to the church to seek the intercession of St. Jude Thaddeus, the patron saint of difficult causes.
This year, 2025, is especially important for the Shrine at Livingston after Pope Francis has proclaimed 2025 as a Holy Jubilee Year with a focus on hope and renewal. As one of only six designated Shrines in the Fresno Diocese, St. Jude is a location for the faithful, who fulfill the necessary conditions, to receive a Plenary Indulgence.
It’s only fitting that Msgr. Fonseca bid farewell to his parish around the main feast day for St. Jude Thaddeus, which is observed on Oct. 28.
Fonseca is known for saying Mass in Portuguese, Spanish and English. Today St. Jude is made up mostly of Latino parishioners, many with roots connecting to the state of Michoacán in Mexico.
“It’s been a joy and a pleasure to serve this faith community,” Fonseca told them during one of his last appearances on the altar.
Still, Fonseca had one last punch line to deliver: “And while I have baptized thousands of babies, and some of them have stopped practicing their faith, and while I have married hundreds of couples, and some of them have divorced, I can tell you with certainty, that all those that I have celebrated a funeral Mass for — are still buried.”
He added, “I’d like to thank everyone who has helped me through the years in so many ways, and most of all, for your friendship. And I thank God for the privilege of serving you for the last 30 years.”
Father Fonseca told the Times he is heading back to the family farm in Dos Palos, where he plans to enjoy his retirement.