Name of Church Our Lady of the Pillar

Address 400 Church Street, Half Moon Bay CA 94019

Phone number (650) 726-4674

Website www.ourladyofthepillar.org

Mass times Saturday vigil, 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. (Spanish).  Sunday, 8 a.m., 10 a.m., noon (Spanish) and 6 p.m.  Monday – Saturday, 8 a.m.

Confessions Saturdays, 4-4:45 p.m.

Names of priests Father Juan Manuel Lopez, who is originally from Mexico, has served as parish administrator for the past five months.  He says the parish’s Spanish Masses.  Father Charles Fermeglia (“Father Charlie”) serves as parochial vicar; he is a talented speaker and writer, and has persuaded many residents to come back from the town’s Methodist church.  Read his “Insights” blog on the parish website.  Father Charles Onubogu is in residence, and helps with the parish’s two mission churches.

School No.

Music  Depends on the Mass, cantors, choir, piano and organ.

Parish Groups Divine Mercy (Fridays at 12:15 p.m.), Knights of Columbus, St. Vincent de Paul Society

Fellow parishioners  A mix of English and Spanish-speaking.

Parking No problem.

Acoustics Fine.

Cry room None.

Additional observations  Our Lady of the Pillar is part of the Archdiocese of San Francisco, and is located on the often-foggy coast about 25 miles outside of San Francisco.  The first church was built in 1868, but burned down in 1875.  Its historic bell is mounted in front of the current church.  The original church site is now a cemetery; the new church, built in 1954, is located a few blocks away.  It serves two parish missions, in Pescadero and La Honda.  The church takes its name from the famous shrine of Our Lady of the Pillar in Zaragoza, Spain, which has special significance to Spanish Catholics.  (Half Moon Bay, in fact, was once known as “Spanish Town.”)