Interior of church[/caption]
Name of Church St. Mary Church
Address 1160 South Broadway, Escondido CA 92025
Phone number 760-745-1611
Website www.stmaryp.org
Facebook www.facebook.com/stmarycatholicchurchesescondido
Mass times Saturday vigil, 5 pm and 6:30 pm (Spanish); Sundays: 7:30, 9, 10:30 am, noon (Spanish), 1:30 pm (Spanish), 5 pm and 6:30 pm. (Spanish). Daily Mass, Monday-Friday, 8 am., noon and 6 pm (Spanish); Saturday: 8 am.
Confessions Tuesday & Thursday, before mass at 7:15 am & 5 pm. Saturdays, 3:30 – 4:45 pm.
Names of priests Father Scott Herrera, pastor. Father Manuel Gutierrez del Toro, associate pastor. Father Juan Pablo Barragan Mendoza, parish vicar. Orthodox priests, good homilies; Father Herrera is a graduate of Franciscan University.
School St. Mary School serves preschoolers and grades K-8. Visit www.stmesc.org.
Parish groups/activities Divine Mercy, Devotion to the Holy Face, Filipino American Community, Legion of Mary, Pro-Life Ministry, Young Adult Ministry, Perpetual Adoration
Music Depends on the Mass, cantors, m and choirs.
Fellow parishioners Like many Southern California parishes, the community is an ethnic mix of Anglo and Hispanic worshippers, with a significant Filipino community.
Parking There is a large lot by the church and street parking.
Cry room Yes, towards the front. It has its own entrance.
Additional observations St. Mary is a parish of the Diocese of San Diego. The parish was established in 1888; the current church building was constructed in 1965. The interior is traditional, including altar rails.
The adoration chapel has cases of reliquaries so you are truly surrounded by the communion of saints while in adoration! Incredible parish…led by incredible clergy!
And, they used to celebrate the TLM, before PF nixed it.
Vatican II happened, dear. It’s been sixty years.
The Catholic Faith is more than 2000 years old. And the recent 60 years of Vatican II have not been much of a success.
From the looks of it the High Altar is very traditional, crucifix, tabernacle in the center and the required six candlesticks, not sure if the Communion rail is intact however I do see two “prie-dieu” in place for kneeling, having said all that the main thing missing????? Yes for the posters on here who cannot stand the TLM it is not offered there yet is a perfect setting for it. Plenty of Spanish Masses but not in the official language of the Church Latin. Only wating for the vipers to start attacking my post Latin triggers them all the time just like the devil hates it.
God bless you, Romulus. As you said, yes, “the Devil hates Latin.” I think a priest who is an official Church Exorcist said that, too. Modern, secular, worldly people do not know God nor understand the holiness of the beautiful, holy, ancient Vetus Ordo Missae, the ancient, 1500+ years old Latin Tridentine Mass. The Mass of many great Saints, in history. Hope you will be blessed to attend this holy Mass, today, Sunday. Archbishop Cordileone loves this Mass, too, as well as many other fine Catholic shepherds– including Bishop Barber, of Oakland. Who knows– maybe the next pope will be a cardinal who loves it. When Abp. Cordileone said the Latin Tridentine Mass in Indianapolis, at the recent National Eucharistic Congress, the church was overflowing with devout worshippers. They loved it. There was also a Tridentine Latin Mass offered by a priest at another church too, in Indianapolis. Overflow crowds of devout worshippers knelt outside the church where our Archbishop offered the Latin Tridentine Mass, with many ladies in pretty dresses and mantillas. And all of the worshippers outdoors, knelt on the pavement, to receive Holy Communion, when a priest came out of the church to give them Communion, at the Mass. Beautiful.
It looks like there is a full altar rail, on either side, but it is open in the middle. Worshippers can kneel on either side, for Communion. That is how it looked, on the church’s website.
Went to a Latin Mass there, once, before it was exiled.
Thank you Peggy for the info did not know “he” crushed the TLM there so sad, looked like a nice to church to have the TLM there.
There is also a 9 AM Sunday Mass that was probably accidentally omitted from the list of Mass times above.
With approximately 6,000 parishioners, St. Mary has either the largest or second largest number of parishioners in the Diocese.
About five or six years ago when he was still saying one Latin Mass on Sunday, Fr. Herrera the pastor had the permanent altar rails installed — to the surprise, I understand, of Bishop, now Cardinal, McElroy. Not having taken any count, but just trying to picture it in my head as I type this, I would say that a majority of communicants receive kneeling and on the tongue.
And, yes, the priests are incredible! In my 80 years of living on the East Coast, the West Coast, and overseas I have only encountered a handful of priests with the ability, dedication, and concern for the spiritual welfare of those entrusted to their care that Fr. Herrera demonstrates. He is truly an exceptional priest.
I went to high school with Scott Herrera. Nice guy-was in the Bowling Club with him.