Name of Church Church of the Nativity
Address 210 Oak Grove Avenue, Menlo Park, CA 94025
Phone number (650) 323-7914
Website www.nativitymenlo.org
Mass Schedule Saturday 8 am and vigil at 5 pm. Sundays, 8 am, 9:30 am, 11:30 am. Weekdays, 7:30 am and 5:30 pm. Holy Days, 7:30 am, 5:30 & 7:30 pm.
Confessions Saturdays, 9 – 10 am, 10 am – noon (with Opus Dei priest); 3:30 – 4:30 pm.
Names of priests Father Mark Doherty, pastor. Father Kyle Faller, parochial vicar. Father Doherty was a member of the Jesuit community for 10 years before leaving and entering St. Patrick Seminary in Menlo Park for the Archdiocese of San Francisco. He was ordained a priest in 2014, and named president-rector of St. Patrick’s in 2021. He became Nativity’s pastor in 2024. Fatherr Faller was ordained in 2019; one of his brothers is a priest in the San Francisco archdiocese as well.
Special activities and groups Around-the-clock Eucharistic adoration, prayer groups and devotions, Legion of Mary, religious education classes, holy hour for priests, Respect Life, Men’s Prayer Group, Altar Society, St. Vincent de Paul Society, Nativity Men’s Club.
Music Depends on the Mass. Most Sunday Masses have traditional music with a cantor and organist.
Fellow parishioners English-speaking. Much of Menlo Park is a wealthy community near Stanford University.
School Yes, K-8.
Parking There is ample parking around the church.
Cry room No.
Additional observations Nativity is a pretty, historic little church built in the New England style. It is part of the Archdiocese of San Francisco. It began as a mission church in 1872, and became a parish in 1877. The initial church was enlarged and modified and officially dedicated in 1888. Other elements were added through the years, including an impressive rose stained glass window in 1900. Fortunately, the 1906 San Francisco did little damage to the church (while wrecking the rectory!). The church is built in the cruciform style and made of redwood painted white. Its many impressive features include beautiful stained glass windows and hand-carved side altars; it is surrounded by attractive landscaping, including palm and oak trees. It was placed on the National Register of Historical Places in 1981. It is an outstanding place for prayer, and offers Eucharistic adoration 24-7.
Church of the Nativity, mid-day. Menlo Park, SF Bay area, California, USA
I have to disagree with this recommendation, especially if you are a young adult. You will not find people your own age here. Better chances at St. Raymond in Menlo Park less than two miles away, but that parish is anemic too. It’s really hard for young people to find an excellent, large, active parish that celebrates liturgy well. Slim pickins in the Catholic Church these days. Whatever you do, avoid the heretic school run by the madams of the Sacred Heart: Sacred Heart Schools in Atherton. I used to teach there. Oh, man is that place a bastion of heresy and left-wing looniness. They all have money coming out of their ears, and they think that entitles them to do and have and get whatever they want.
I’ve been there a few times and have never observed money coming out of people’s ears. If that happens there, that’d increase attendance even more! And, more referrals to local otolaryngologists.
The little Church of the Nativity in Menlo Park, has a mixture of mostly middle-class, nice Catholic families. Nearby Atherton, is a completely different city. Atherton is an unusually wealthy city, with many very rich and famous people, and lots of secluded country estates and mansions. It is the wealthiest city in the nation, with a median home price of $7,950,000. The schools of the Sacred Heart are located in Atherton, and serve children of the very wealthy. The schools of the Sacred Heart, in the post-Conciliar era, are highly secularized, no longer authentically Catholic, and lay teachers have replaced the nuns. The cost of half-day preschool enrollment is $32,753, and full-day preschool enrollment is $36,648. Enrollment cost for Grades K-5 is $40,417; for Grades 7-12, it is $55,104. Atherton is completely different from Menlo Park, and completely different from any other American city. Well, one of my favorite child film stars—Shirley Temple Black– lived in Atherton, and also in Woodside, about 5-6 miles from Atherton! She passed away in 2014, at age 85. Very beautiful, rural area, with wealthy, secluded homes. The post-Conciliar era is very secular and worldly, very little religion or holiness, sadly. “Humanness,” worldly comforts, and dealing with life in the earthly world, is highly emphasized, while the life of holiness, prayer, penance, and the eternal, heavenly realm of God, is all-but-forgotten.
In my original comment of Oct.18th at 3:17pm, I capitalized the “S” in “Schools of the Sacred Heart”— because they have always spelled their educational institutions with a capital “S”– “Schools of the Sacred Heart.” They also have a location in San Francisco. There are 150 Schools of the Sacred Heart, including colleges, in 41 countries, worldwide
Better their ears than their wazoos.
One of our daughters and her now-husband (both still under 30) married at Nativity four years ago. They found it a beautiful church with reverent Masses. They met some other young adults there, as did we.
Very nice church inside and out however no TLM and they have altar girlettes.
Imperator, why the remark about “girlettes?”
It’s beneath Your HIghness’s dignity.
They’re probably better than the altar boylettes.
This little church is set in a beautiful area, and offers Eucharistic Adoration 24/7. There is a beautiful Dominican monastery of nuns nearby, Corpus Christi Monastery, which also holds Eucharistic Adoration. People of all ages, young and old, love to go to Adoration at both sites. And some young Catholic women are interested to investigate a vocation to the Dominican monastery. A beautiful and very peaceful area. Vallombrosa Retreat Center is also nearby, which offers many retreats– but their chapel is very modern. The Church of the Nativity and Dominican Monastery are perfect places for prayer. All three Catholic sites– the church, monastery and retreat center– are located within walking distance, on Oak Grove Ave., in Menlo Park. A beautiful, peaceful area.
Peaceful except for the commuter train that roars through just a block away multiple times a day.
train, yes, those annoying rich people who have to take the train to work and back every day distract me too from my peace and quiet.
I don’t know why they don’t just have their driver bring the Tesla to the front door for them.
Middle-class people on the Peninsula? Really?
Back to my nap.
I have to agree about the “girlettes”. Having altar girls gives some the false impression that they can later become priests, and it “ain’t” never going to happen. On the other hand, money used rightly is not all that bad. It takes money to make beautiful churches, and I like going to more beautiful churches at times to pray and meditate even though I am not wealthy.
Sorry I triggerd you but the Church has ALWAYS statee MALES only serve at the altar of God!! Go to the sinking Episcopal Church if you want female priestesses, bishops, deacons, lectorettes and yes your altar girlettes.
Just teasing you, Rom. No offense meant.
The Church’s tradition is men and boys serving at the altar. On that, we agree. But, why do you use the term “girlette,” instead of girl?
Frankly, it seems like juvenile name-calling and detracts from a legitimate point that I think you’re trying to make.
Currently, in the Latin Church, liturgical law states that girls may serve at the altar, whether we like it or not.
The Church has permitted female altar servers since 1994. The Holy See allowed bishops to establish policies on whether to allow female servers in their respective dioceses. However, in July 2001, the Congregation for Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments ruled that diocesan bishops could not oblige priests to implement a diocesan policy allowing for female altar servers. Fr. Dwight Longenecker does not have female altar servers at the parish where he is pastor and explains why below, if anyone is interested:
https://dwightlongenecker.com/altar-girls-yea-or-nay/
Agree! I can understand why Taylor Marshall got upset when at a Mass with altar girls, one of his daughters said she wanted to be a priest just like the altar girls. I understand why he “blew a fuse”. On the other hand, I suggest Marshall and others who use tobacco make it rarely or not at all. My grandfather died painfully from stomach cancer from chewing tobacco. Men do not realize they are setting up their daughters for a love of tobacco. I quit using regular cigarettes, not the funny kind (marijuana), in my twenties, but now in my old age, I still love the smell of tobacco. Even now, in my 80’s, I sometimes have dreams of smoking, feeling guilty, and waking up thankful to find it is just a dream.
No offense taken On and on Anon, I have a good sense of humor and hey we are all here to have great discussions and agree and not to agree with each other, that is what it is all about. Most people here know Im a TLM dude and not a Novus Ordo fan.