The Catholic Church in Trona whose name honors it patroness, St. Madeleine Sophie Barat, is a spiritually symbolic structure, embodying in its starkly simple, triangular contours the church's basic doctrine, belief in the Holy Trinity.

Since its completion in the fall of 1958, the many visitors who have toured the church have voiced one agreement-that the church, set against the infinite vastness of the surrounding desert, projects a sense of eternity. The church's designer, Fr. Rene Peter, was also its pastor. Those who enter St. Madeleine Sophie Barat's quiet, serene interior are immediately aware of an aura of divine mystery as they consciously respond to its designer's powerful artistry of expression.

Today the church's huge entrance doors, constructed of natural ash, open wide in a gesture of welcome and beatific blessing to its pastor, Fr. William J. Kiefer and the families of this desert community.