Corpus Christi Parish has a long and active history of ministry through organizations and societies that provide for the spiritual and physical well being of our parishioners, educating our youth, ministering to the needs of those less fortunate, and generally caring for people in the community and in the church.
Corpus Christi Church was established as a mission of the San Francisco Diocese. In the same year a wooden American Gothic-style church was built at a location to the west of the present rectory on property donated by the Southern Pacific Railroad. Father Terrence Caraher had the church built at a cost of $3,500 plus $1000 in furnishings. For 22 years, priests from Mission San Jose served here.
Archbishop Patrick Riordan decreed Corpus Christi a territorial parish on December 27, 1914. The first pastor of Corpus Christi was the Reverend John A. Leal. For nine months, Fr. Leal lived in the sacristy until the rectory was built. (After 5 years Father Leal went to Mission San Jose and remained there until his retirement in 1954. He is buried in Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Hayward.) Since then, 21 pastors have served Corpus Christi Parish.
The present church was dedicated on April 14, 1957. It was built under the pastorship of Fr. Richard O'Connell and dedicated by Bishop Guilfoyle. The church was built for about $150,000.
On January 13, 1962, Holy Father Pope St. John XXIII created the Diocese of Oakland that holds the territorial jurisdiction of Alameda and Contra Costa counties. The Right Reverend Floyd Lawrence Begin was named first bishop of the Oakland Diocese.
The parish center (consisting of the hall and CCD classrooms) was built and dedicated in 1969. Construction of the parish center necessitated the demolition of the original wooden church. The building was built at a cost of $205,000 and $45,000 in furnishings.
