Name of Church St. Charles Borromeo Church
Address 5049 W. Caldwell Avenue, Visalia CA 93277
Phone number (559) 734-9522
Website https://www.gscparish.com/churches-1/st.-charles-borromeo
Mass times Sunday, 8 am (Spanish), 10 am, 1 pm (Spanish). There are no weekday Masses, confessions, weddings or funerals at St. Charles; these functions are available at Visalia’s other Catholic parishes.
Confessions None at St. Charles, as confessionals have yet to be installed; available at Holy Family Church Monday through Friday, 11:30 am to noon, and St. Mary’s Church Saturdays, 2:30 to 4 pm.
Music Choirs, instruments.
Names of priests Father Alex Chavez, pastor. Father Dalton Rogers, Father Jose Maria Carrillo and Father Michael Ibeawuchi Egelamba, SMMM, parochial vicars. Father Chavez is from Mexico and immigrated to California in 1980. He worked as a civil engineer before entering seminary, and was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Fresno in 2012. He served as rector of St. John’s Cathedral before coming to his current position. Father Rogers is a convert from the Lutheran faith and was ordained a priest in 2015. Father Egelamba is from Nigeria and came to the Fresno diocese in 2024.
School No.
Fellow parishioners Many work in agriculture or work at a large hospital nearby that serves the region.
Parking There are large lots around the church.
Additional observations St. Charles is a parish of the Diocese of Fresno and is the largest parish church in Northern California, seating 3,200. It operates under the umbrella of Good Shepherd Parish, which includes three other Visalia churches, Holy Family, St. Mary’s, and St. Thomas the Apostle. The parish was set up this way because of the diocese’s shortage of priests. St. Charles opened in 2024, and is being built in three phases. Phase one is complete; subsequent phases will commence as funds are raised. Subsequent phases will include the installation of stained glass windows, two saint alcoves and confessionals. The church is built in the mission style; its retablo includes images of saints and angels facing a central crucifix, as well as images of San Joaquin Valley farmland and cattle.
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Stained glass windows and confessionals are coming.
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Who ever gets to Visalia?
I’ll never get there.
Though I did spend a week in Fresno one afternoon.
“Mission style” must refer to exterior architecture. The photograph doesn’t look even remotely like any historic California (or Arizona or Texas or New Mexico or . . . ) Mission.
Star Trek style
Thank you for the descriptive information about the music.
Oh no a Protestant church in the round, sorry pass and no TLM.
I wonder if the folks who don’t like “churches in the round” are the same ones who sit in the back pews of the cruciform churches. You know – get me as far away from the sermon as possible and out the door quickly after communion. No sticking around for that last hymn.
Stunning! Beautiful!
Churches “in the round” are weird. Non-traditional. Many people feel strange about those kinds of churches. It was probably built this way, to seat a great many parishioners at each Mass, since they have only a couple of priests, who could serve the needs of huge numbers of Catholics, at each Mass. That might be helpful, with the situation of a priest shortage. No doubt, this odd-looking church will look much better, after it is fully completed.
I feel uncomfortable in churches in the round because we are all looking at each other, and it distracts from what is going on at the altar. More traditional churches and chapels give me a warm enclosed feeling, which makes it easier to concentrate on the liturgy and prayer. If I were to go to this church, I would want to sit in the section in front of the altar, but still, I would get a much colder feeling. Many people sit in the back of traditional churches not necessarily to get out faster but to make use of the confessionals, which quite often are at the back, or to avoid sitting too close to each other because of viruses.