Name of Church St. Francis of Assisi Chapel
Address Highway 79 & Stage Road, Warner Springs, CA
Phone number 858-335-3313
Website https://www.symission.org/stfrancis.html
Mass times Tuesdays, 11 a.m. (with rosary at 10:30 a.m.). By permission of the bishop, Sunday’s liturgy is offered Tuesdays for the few residents who remain in Warner Springs.
Confessions Ask the priest.
Names of priests Fr. Timothy Deutsch. Fr. Deutsch is originally from the Diocese of Duluth, Minnesota, and came to the Diocese of San Diego for health reasons. He serves as pastor of St. Elizabeth of Hungary Church in Julian, and comes for weekly Mass and to preach. He is popular with his parishioners. He also serves the Santa Ysabel Indian Mission.
Special parish groups and activities At one time, there was a ministry to create blankets and other items for children in Mexico. However, as the congregation has aged, this ministry has become inactive. One nice feature about the church, however, is that it is always unlocked and available for prayer.
Music No instruments, the congregation sings.
Fellow parishioners This chapel originally served the local Indians in the area, but few remain. About a dozen come from Mass, mostly older, long-time residents. Some drive in from the Temecula area.
Parking Ample parking around the church.
Additional observations St. Francis of Assisi Chapel is a historic church located in the Diocese of San Diego. It was built by Cupeño Indians in 1830 under the direction of the Verona Fathers from the Santa Ysabel Mission. Its wood and adobe came from the surrounding areas. There is a cemetery 500 feet behind the chapel and it contains the remains of the Indians who once lived in the region. At one time, within walking distance of the chapel, the Warner Hot Springs was in operation and drew many tourists. They bathed in the hot springs, enjoyed golf and tennis, and ate at restaurants in the area. The chapel also drew large numbers of tourists at that time. However, Warner Hot Springs closed a decade or more ago, and much of the local economy has shut down, and few now attend the chapel. The chapel’s walls are four feet thick and keep it cool in the summer, however, during the winter it can get cold. Special features include beautiful artwork, including religious frescos on the walls by the altar created by a Disney artist who once lived in the area. There is a large crucifixion painting behind the altar, and the altar rails still remain. There is also a baptismal font which originally came from the Santa Ysabel mission. There have been no baptisms in recent memory, however, there are occasional weddings and funerals. Exterior features include a bell rock tower with a St. Francis statue, built by a local Indian in 1945. The property is not owned by the Diocese of San Diego, but by the Pala Indians.
What a beautiful chapel, worthy of St. Francis. He would love it!
Get rid of the dinner table. It already has the original high altar for the TLM.
Why is it that every story has to be made about the TLM?
I suggest that if some good Catholic firefighter is ever performing CPR on you, you not distract him with the first thing out of your mouth being, “Do you attend a Novus Ordo Mass?”
Or, if you happen to be given lottery winnings or an inheritance from a Catholic lotto official or attorney, “Do you attend the Traditional Latin Mass exclusively?”
There’s more to life than Liturgy strife.
And, obsession.
And, it’s irreverent to speak of an altar from which we’re blessed to receive the precious Body and Blood of our Lord as a “dinner table.”
Have some respect.
A table is a table. Get rid of it.
I always feel sad, to see the “Novus Ordo” altar placed in front of the original, beautiful, long-ago consecrated (with the relics, altar stone, etc.) Catholic High Altar, in a Catholic Church. Of course– the “Novus Ordo” altars are just as holy, with all the proper, sacred requirements. I know the rules have changed, since Vatican II. But anyway, it is kind of sad, the beautiful, original Catholic High Altars, with the priest also facing God to offer Holy Mass– is no longer wanted, by the Catholic Church. Move in the Protestant-style altar, covsecrate that, and on with the Novus Ordo Nass!
I would love to visit. My wife and I have been to most Cali missions. In fact we were married in the mission Sonoma chapel. No kneelers!
I just want to make clarification re Romulus take on the ‘dinner table’. I am a Trad Latin enthusiast because I like the reverence that the Divine Liturgy deserves but I am also a Vatican II enthusiast because I like the congregation’s active participation in the liturgy. That ‘dinner table’ is actually the ‘Body of Christ’ in the Novus Ordo theology but for some reason, the idea was hijacked by the modernists and thought otherwise. There is a possibility of meeting halfway: the reverence must be there and so is the active, conscious, devout, and intentional response at the Divine Liturgy. It won’t be too long. Hold on. But correct theology we must learn.
That is the reason why in some legit Churches, the Lord’s Table must be made of rock, not glass, or faux something. This chapel is a legit one. It is also the reason why the priest and deacon KISS that altar at the start of the liturgy, and from that point on, the focus is at the altar. Watch carefully when a priest also says the greeting, “The peace of the Lord be with you.” Some trad priests would touch the altar and open his hands in orans position to share the peace of Christ. take note, the peace that we share at the SIgn of Peace is not the person’s peace but Christ’s.
Try to attend the establishment of a new Church and see how the bishop would lavish the altar with Oil of Chrism, which is the same Oil used for ordination, baptism, and welcoming Catechumens. The table, once consecrated, cannot be used for any other purpose but for Mass. That’s the meaning of anointing. We Catholics are anointed for the Lord at our baptism. We are meant for Him alone. And fortunately, He is in our least of neighbors. The unborn, included.
In 1971, upset with the Novus Ordo Mass, and collapse of the Catholic liturgy, I went to sing for a couple of years, in an Anglican “High Church” semi-professional choir, as I had some friends there. But I still made sure to attend a quiet Catholic Mass, also, every Sunday. Immediately, the young Anglican priest tagged me as an “RC”– Roman Catholic. He and his wife were from England, and he had several fancy degrees from Oxford Univ. He lamented to me, the tragic loss to the world, of the old Catholic Latin Mass. And he also lamented to me, that pretty soon, his own church would be undergoing some traumatic changes… Well, I thought the language of their old liturgy was very beautiful, and loved to see all the traditional kneeling and reverence, as we used to do. And the Anglican priest turned to face God, at the beautiful High Altar– yet, an altar with no Blessed Sacrament! I wondered about his Eucharist, as we sang, in the choir stalls– and watched, as parishioners reverently knelt at the beautiful altar rail, to receive Holy Communion– as we used to do. Their beliefs about the Eucharist, though, were different than ours. Anyway, both churches lost much, after the fatal 1960s era.
I will never know the changes in the Anglican or Episcopal liturgies, I only learned their old and very beautiful liturgies, long ago– now discarded, as our beautiful old Latin Mass was discarded. Worse, they now allow ordination of women and actively gay clergy. I was even shocked to be introduced to several women Anglican or Episcopal “priests,” more than 25 years ago, at a few different social events, who each told me that they were living with boyfriends, accept abortion, and had plans to marry their boy friends. Shame on them! No Christian Morals at all! I was shocked and ashamed for them– they were so wrongfully “proud” of their unChristian, “modernist” ways of living, and horrific sins!
It was a terrible shock for me, to meet these Anglican or Episcopal lady priests, all of them young, pretty girls, with pretty hairdos, make-up, and matching lipstick and nail polish– also clad in a man’s black priestly attire, with a white clerical collar, including a man’s black shoes. The lady priests explained that there was no clerical attire designed for women priests-so, they adapted men’s priestly garb for their own use.
Wonder how Anglican or Episcopal lady priests do alterations on their men’s clerical attire– for pregnancy?