Name of Church St. Joseph

Address 1813 Oakdale Road, Modesto, CA 95355

Phone number 209-551-4973

Webpage www.stjmod.com

Mass times Saturday vigil, 5:30 p.m. Sundays, 7:30 a.m., 9 a.m. (Latin Tridentine), 10:30 a.m., noon, 1:30 p.m. (Spanish), 5:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Daily Mass: 8 a.m. & 5:45 p.m. Saturdays, 8 a.m. Friday, Latin Tridentine Mass at noon.

Confessions Monday – Thursday, 5 – 5:30 p.m.; Saturdays, 8:30 a.m. – 9:30 a.m. and 4 – 5 p.m. Fridays, 6:30 p.m.

Names of priests Father Mark Wagner, pastor. Fathers Chandrasekar Paulraj and Leonardo Del Carmen, associate pastors. Fr. Ernesto Madrigal (not in residence). Fr. Wagner is a faithful pastor. See his blog on the parish website; listen to him speak at a parish pro-life conference here. You can also hear him during a Blue Mass celebrated at the parish in 2015 here.

School None, but the parish offers religious education classes.

Special features The church has many different social and service groups. There is a strong Knights of Columbus group, Legion of Mary, Respect Life group, Vincent de Paul Society, groups that help the missions, and many, many more.

Liturgy Reverent. Music depends on the Mass; cantors and choirs.

Fellow parishioners Mostly Anglo, some Hispanic and Filipino

Parking It has a big lot, so parking shouldn’t be a problem.

Acoustics Good.

Cry room None, but you can bring your children into the vestibule if they get noisy. It has doors and is sealed from the main body of the church.

Additional observations The church building itself is the “theater in the round” style, but it has traditional elements such as stained glass windows, murals and other interior improvements. It’s a large, vibrant parish, serving thousands of families. It is also one of the more financially successful in the Diocese of Stockton, as stewardship is a big theme there. The parish also features a 24-hour perpetual Eucharistic adoration chapel.