Name of Church Church of St. Leo the Great
Address 176 Ridgeway Avenue, Oakland, CA 94611
Phone number (510) 654-6177
Website www.churchofstleothegreat.org
Mass times Saturday vigil, 5 p.m. Sunday 11 a.m. Monday through Friday, 12:10 p.m.
Confessions Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. to noon and by appointment.
Names of priests Fr. Joseph Nguyen, parochial administrator. Fr. John Direen, in residence.
School Yes.
Special parish groups and activities WINGS spirituality group, Monday – Friday holy hour with exposition, confession, rosary and chaplet at 11 a.m., St. Vincent de Paul Society, Homebound Ministry.
Music Depends on the Mass: organ, cantors and choirs
Parking There is parking at the school, along the street and a small lot beside the church.
Acoustics Fine.
Additional observations This is a beautiful old church in an old neighborhood in Oakland. The Church of St. Leo the Great was established in 1911 to serve Italian, Irish and German Catholics who lived in the Piedmont Avenue neighborhood of Oakland. The current church was built in 1926. The parish school opened in 1948. The church was extensively renovated in 1951. It is a mission-style structure with Romanesque features. It has a prominent bell tower, soaring vaulted ceilings and an adjoining garden. Inside it has a traditional altar and stained glass, with traditional art.
Does “old neighborhood” equate with “dangerous neighborhood”?
It’s Piedmont. One of the most dangerous areas in Oakland. Look up crime statistics. It’s in the bottom 11% of safe communities nationwide. Don’t visit.
Not worth driving to, for fear of your property or your life.
When a recommendation is given to visit a church in a dangerous neighborhood, the webmaster should provide crime statistics or a proviso saying that crime is high, so have situational awareness or don’t visit if you don’t want to take a chance of being a victim of crime.
It’s racist nowadays to point out high crime areas
You sound like someone who’s never been to Piedmont Ave. This area is the lunch and dinner spot for Kaiser staff at the local medical center/hospital. It’s also just below the huge and beautiful cemetery complex of Mountain View-Chapel of the Chimes, and the smaller Catholic St. Mary’s Cemetery. And Piedmont Grocery is a go-to spot for expensive imported items. Oakland has many truly dangerous areas, but this is not one of them. OTOH, cars are regularly broken into in the St. Margaret Mary TLM parking lot during TLM Mass. The previous pastor said he would install cameras but did nothing.
Indeed Oakland is a very dangerous city statistical stats prove that, sadly the church looks to be ruined by Vatican II, most of high altar gone, communion rail ripped out and “dinner table” in front of the high altar, and lastly no TLM of course.
Ha! I walk Piedmont Ave. all the time. Caffé La Chiave, La Farine, Piedmont Grocery, Bella Ceramica, and Fenton’s Creamery are all lovely spots. This is a tony part of town, hardly dangerous during the day. Oakland is a big city in area, actually.