Name of Church Sacred Heart Church
Address 13716 Saratoga Ave., Saratoga, CA 95070
Phone number 408-867-3634
Website www.sacredheartsaratoga.org
Mass times Saturday, 5 p.m., vigil; Sunday, 7:30 a.m., 9 a.m., 11 a.m. Monday-Saturday, 7:30 a.m. (except Thursday, when it is 8 a.m.)
Confessions Saturdays, 3:30 – 4:30 p.m.
Names of priests Father Gary Thomas, pastor. Father Robert McKay, parochial vicar. Father Thomas serves as exorcist for the diocese of San Jose. He assumed the role in 2005, at the request of his bishop. He served as a consultant for the 2011 Anthony Hopkins film The Rite, and has frequently spoken about his experiences with exorcisms. Like the lead character in the movie, he began his career in the mortuary business. He studied in Rome to be an exorcist, and has since taught other priests to be exorcists.
School Yes, K-8.
Special activities and groups St. Julie Billiart Adoration Chapel, Monday – Friday, 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.; men’s and women’s clubs; Vacation Bible Camp; FIRE speaker series; Martha’s Kitchen; Respect for Life;
Music Choirs and cantors.
Additional observations Saratoga is a community south west of San Jose. Sacred Heart began as a parish mission in the 1880s; the current church was dedicated in 1970.
Really nice to see the First Communion girls slurping down consecrated wine. What is special here?
No one “slurps” the blood of Christ.
Well, the parish website doesn’t have any “LGBT Ministry” page nor a “director” of “LGBT Outreach”, and a search of the website for the terms “gay” or “lesbian” turns up nothing. In the Bay Area, that’s an initial positive indicator about the parish: that it doesn’t promote misconceptions about homosexuality nor false teaching nor sinful behavior under the guise of a “welcoming” ministry that merely serves as a front for a parish LGBT dating and activist club. If you are familiar with the Bay Area’s lower-case “c”atholic parish scene and some dioceses (such as San Jose), you know what I’m talking about.
Sawyer, everyone is welcome at a Catholic Church, since we are all made in the image and likeness of God. What we do after that is another set of issues. Somehow the moderators of this site have go to do something about all the HATE that spews forth. Some editing is in order, please.
What hate?
As you state, all are welcome. There is no need to advertise a “Fill in the Blank” welcoming ministry for a certain segment of the population. Why are they more special than the average sinner (such as myself)?
We are all made in the image and likeness of God and we are all called to holiness.
St. C, sometimes the comments on this site just astound me! What could you possibly mean about first communion kids “slurping” wine? I can’t remember more that three or four times in the last 40 years where communion was not with both elements. I guess I just don’t get the point you are trying to make.
I went to the web site and saw the picture you mentioned. The young girl is receiving the blood of Christ. How can that possibly be bad at a First Communion?
where is the photo of the communion girl? The photo in the posting is an adult baptism.
Are there different postings for different viewers?
Go to the parish website, hover the mouse pointer over “Worship”, then click on “The Sacraments, Weddings & Funerals”.
Your typical Novus Ordo worship center, got the TLM????????????????
Look, the pastor, Fr. Gary, is sincerely devoted, a lot of the vanishing old-timers and a few others are really good dedicated Catholics, but whenever I have gone there (I work near there), many of the people age 30-60 are—well, typical San Jose-diocese products—not very knowledgeable about their Faith (ask them if they ever regularly read the Catechism and get the resultant blank stare), don’t seem to have a dedicated daily devotional life, and “Yay, Pope Francis is great!” And I find the modernized horizontal-focused interior annoying—but, hey, shallow is us.
Sawyer is saying what I am saying: or another way to put it is “Catholic Lite on tap.”
Slurping is eating or drinking with excessive noise. How can one tell the noise level from a silent still photo.? Looks to me she is trying her best to be reverent and avoid spilling anything on her dress.