St Joseph the Worker Church

We used to drive 15 – 20 minutes to go to Mass. Now we walk 10 minutes to St. Joe’s. The liturgy here is fine and getting better. The attendance was in the dumps a few years back, but is now growing again, so there are plenty of friendly faces at every Mass. Confession is readily available, and the priests really seem to understand Pope Francis’ insistence on Mercy as the focus of priestly action. These are not your golf-​playing, suburban priests, the kind of clerics you might find in an Anthony Trollope novel; these guys are the real deal. Easily the best parish nearby for beauty and atmosphere.

Love this church. My favorite. The Catholic Church of your memories and from the movies. A beautiful church, the loveliest around, not updated and modernized like so many California churches. The priests are wonderful, kind men, and homilies are moving and illuminating. The parishioners are a diverse group, with all ages and ethnicities.
For the record, I can’t believe that people go on Unilocal and complain about a church’s website. I mean, does that really matter? Have folks become so shallow that this is what is most important to them — a fancy dancy website? This is a church, people. Going to church is about communing with God and worshipping Him.
And then there are those who want to attack the Catholic Church and they do this by attacking this particular church; that they don’t like the message. Hello: maybe it’s because the message is – Catholic. If you don’t want to go to a Catholic church and hear about Catholicism, I have a suggestion for you: go Episcopalian.

Went to the 1100 Spanish mass. Beautiful church and a large men’s choir/​band that was excellent. Wish I lived closer.

I cannot review this parish without the disclaimer that it is not doing well financially and it seems it hasn’t been for some time. That said, I give it three stars and call it A-​OK because it is really quite a stunning Church inside and certainly has a holy and thoroughly Catholic feeling to it. I feel at home in Catholic Churches when they have a certain smell and aura — this one has that. However, the preaching — while very sincere — was not what I would call inspirational. The same Catholic trope of original sin and we are living a sinful life in a sick society and we need God’s help to escape this hellscape nightmare. No. I love 2014. Sorry, I don’t buy the whole «the world is the enemy» stuff. God created the world, and I love His creation. The good, the bad, and the ugly. I digress! The Mass was fairly well attended on this particular Sunday at 930am. I seemed to be if not the youngest person there at 27, then very close. I would call this parish a good place to catch Mass if you are in a pinch. I would even call it a potential home if you live nearby — perhaps you can help fix it up! It’s quite an eye sore from the outside, but again — the inside is gorgeous. Check it out for yourself.

Just so folks know, they have finally updated their once horrid website and now have one that is actually usable. It’s still not fantastic or interactive, but there are videos, reading, and it’s actually clear about how to contact someone, what the mass times are, and who’s officiating when.
Much improved!

I was looking to join this parish in an effort to plan ahead… you know, I’ll need a parish someday and need to have been a member for a certain amount of time.
I chose this place because it’s about a block and a half away from me. I had the hardest time trying to figure out how to join the parish! Their bulletins were useless and what’s even worse is their «website»!
I visited the website in an effort to figure out mass times, and it’s bright colors and 2 letters here and there. I don’t know. I just don’t get it. I tried to join for 3 months before I gave up and finally filled out a web form for St. Ambrose.

Okay, I just had to.
My nephew was baptized there and it was: long, confusing and well, silly.
Too late kid, you have been initiated into the religion now! Muahaha.