Name of Church St. Mary Magdalene Church
Address 2654 E. Williams Field road, Gilbert, Arizona 85295
Phone number 480-279-6737
Website www.smarymag.org
Mass times Saturday vigil, 4:30 p.m. Sundays, 7:30 a.m., 9:30 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 4:30 p.m. Monday-Saturday, 8 a.m. with rosary following Mass and exposition of the Blessed Sacrament Monday-Friday in the adoration chapel until 9 p.m. Night prayer and benediction Monday-Friday 8:45 p.m. in the adoration chapel.
Confessions Monday – Friday, 8:45 – 9:15 a.m. Saturday, 8:45 – 11:15 a.m. or by appointment.
Names of priests/homilies Fr. William Schmid, pastor. Fr. Ishaya Samaila, parochial vicar. Fr. Schmid, 33, is an orthodox and pious young priest. Read his thoughts on the “Father’s Corner” section of the parish website, hear his podcasts on the parish website or follow him on Twitter, twitter.com/frwillschmid. Fr. Samaila is from Nigeria.
Parish groups/devotions EDGE (middle school youth group) & high school youth group, Saturday morning speaker series (listen to past presentations on the parish website), Respect Life Ministry, St. Vincent de Paul Society, Benedictine Oblates, Bible study group, Porta Fidei (adult evangelization program), Men’s Fellowship, Women’s Christian Fellowship, Knights of Columbus, Family Meals.
School No, but one could open in the future as the parish grows.
Liturgy/Music More traditional music, with choirs and piano.
Fellow parishioners St. Mary Magdalene is a growing parish of 4,500 families, many with young children.
Parking No problem, as the church has a huge lot.
Acoustics Sound is best in the front.
Cry room Yes, in the rear of the church, with large windows so you can observe what’s happening in the main body of the church.
Additional observations Gilbert is a suburb of Phoenix; St. Mary Magdalene is a parish of the Diocese of Phoenix. It’s a new parish, seven years old, and Mass is currently being held in what will become the church hall. A capital campaign is underway, and construction of the church should begin in the next few years.
I hope that when they get around to building the permanent sanctuary that design that is traditional and better than that shown in the story’s image will be used.
It sounds like this may be an orthodox parish, but why isn’t there a Latin Mass? Instead of wooden pews, there appear to be upholstered arm chairs, which are more expensive to purchase and need to be replaced occasionally. Are wooden pews too uncomfortable sit on for a Mass?
1) Maybe there aren’t a stable group of parishoners who have requested the Latin mass. 2) If you read the article, Sarah, you would see that this is a new parish and that the room being used as a sanctuary is a temporary home for the parish while the church is being built. Sometimes if people would just calm down and read they might lower their blood pressure.
Sarah, could you not find something to be positive about this church? It appears to be orthodox? How about Benediction most every evening, exposition most days, great architecture, etc. Do you really think that chairs are a negative. Google images of this church and the staff. This is a beautiful church. Although one photo of the exterior did have a cloud in the sky. Now, that is something to complain about. We, myself included, need to start finding the good in the world rather than always looking for the negative, don’t you think?
Perhaps a church best avoided. The pictures are unclear, but are there even kneelers provided, as it does not appear so. Also, the “crucifix” seems to show the “Christ Risen” model, so beloved of Catholic Moderns: you see, there is no sin, so the idea of Christ having to, well, you know, actually SUFFER and be MURDERED in public is, ah, icky and not nice.
Looks like a place for happy talk, with not much attention given to the Saints, to Mary, and to all “Catholic” things. Do NOT put money into these things until you get answers, Catholic People.
Jesus goes there.
St. C, look before you leap. The chairs, in plain view, have kneelers on them. This is a pretty normal thing for churches without fixed pews. The pictures on google images clearly show alcoves for saints and the Blessed Virgin. Even, by the way, in churches of built in ancient times can have sermons that are uplifting and that provide sound help for the parishioners as they go about their daily lives. Go to the church’s web site, google it, but don’t damn it until you have done your homework.
Sorry, “Bob One” but the pictures look unclear and the church website does nothing to clarify this. Happy that your visit to “google images” cleared this up. (And, in any event, the blog essentially listed kneelers as a question.) So, what about the crucifix? And, it is very unlikely that any Catholic traditional statue will find its way into any “alcove”. One example: the wreckovation of a No. VA church run by the Franciscans took Mary away and placed her by a side door. Then, some person hung a dove (?to show the Holy Ghost?) in what had been Mary’s place. Why? Well, Prostestants focus on the Holy Ghost and have absolutely no tolerance for Mary in a church. (This church is heavily invested in ecumenical activities…
(Continued) “). But then, if you destroy the Mass of All Ages, eliminate the placement of the choir, expunge virtually all Catholic art (except to replace it with decidedly non-Catholic, cartoonish wall-hangings and stained glass), it matters little what kind of structure that you create.
More and more, the Catholic Church is being exterminated by its hand. No parishioner should have to struggle to find “something” in a new/wreckovated church that looks faintly Catholic. Compare what you see to what is going on with the renovation of St. Stanislaus in Milwaukee. Heaven.
Sounds like a lovely parish. Its so hot over there. Reaching hot weather to over 122 degrees in heat. Wish i knew about this parish when i was visiting the area a month ago. Well for the next time, God willing. ☺
This is the image of the cross in this church:
https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1280&bih=875&q=St.+Mary+Magdalene+Church+Address+2654+E.+Williams+Field+road%2C+Gilbert%2C+Arizona+85295&oq=St.+Mary+Magdalene+Church+Address+2654+E.+Williams+Field+road%2C+Gilbert%2C+Arizona+85295&gs_l=img.12…4649.4649.0.7466.1.1.0.0.0.0.81.81.1.1.0….0…1ac.2.64.img..1.0.0.ekKkVRq-9Nc#imgrc=lNHkotW2pvgCPM%3A
Isn’t it time for people like St. C to stop hating the church on this site?
Maybe it is just time to pray for him and to ignore his comments.
Everybody makes mistakes and he is in a place right now where he is angry or frightened or both.
Sorry, “Anonymous”, you are only speaking to yourself (and your pals like “Bob One”). Righteous anger is Catholic and proper. Institutional Catholic willful ignorance over the consistent misuse of liturgical rubrics, Church architecture, sacred music, catechetical adventurism — these are all evidence of the massive fraud being perpetrated over Church-going Catholics.
You are happy, of course, because the Zombie-Liberal leftists are largely in charge. You will ultimately lose, but you and yours make trying to be a holy Catholic very dispiriting, and difficult. Catholics, true Catholics, should shout out at every chance against the hijacking of the Faith.
Such a completely current Democratic-Fascist position: No Debate! No one but “us” can talk. Silence everyone that says we are wrong (someone might listen).
No, “Bob One” (or whatever Politburo you come from), Catholic bloggers who love the Church will no longer be silenced. Had the internet been available in 1960, we would all still be saying the TLM.
Oh, btw — no one “hates the Church” — the other lie told by Zombie-Liberal losers. Comment about pastors that wreckovate churches and bishops that demean the Church by their sissy, feminized statements and disobedience, are said out of love for the Church.
St. C, I would suggest that you read some of the homilies, speeches, discussions that the Pope had while on his trip to South America last week. I would also suggest watching and listening to the videos of the several Masses that he said for the millions of people who attended. The Masses were very holy, spiritual and traditional. The music was the music of the people with whom he visited. The homilies, etc. were careful explanations of what it means to be Catholic. Nothing new, just the social justice teachings of the last ten or twenty Popes. He is calling us to stop just talking and start doing
St. C, I suggest two things for your consideration: Watch the beautiful, holy, pious Masses the Pope said for millions of people last week on his trip to South America. You will be impressed with how traditional they were. Then read the homilies, speeches and discussions he had with those people. He outlined what it means to be Catholic, basing most of his comments on the teachings of past Popes. He is calling for a revolution in the way we practice our faith, calling for how we help those less fortunate and calling us to ensure that everyone has a home, food and a good job. How can we argue with that, since those are the words of Christ.