St Francis Chapel

I was staying at the Sheraton Boston, connected to the Prudential Center shops. At a conference all day long at the BCEC on Sunday, I was worried I wouldn’t be able to attend Sunday mass. Luckily, my talks ended around 4pm and the hotel shuttle got me back in time for the 5:30pm service. I had noticed St. Francis while exploring the shops and was able to find a seat as mass started. A humble little spot, it was great that even away from home I could celebrate, praise and worship. The cantor was great, and other parishoners were friendly enough when giving peace or saying the Lord’s Prayer. In the bulletin I found out this Roman Catholic chapel is run by the Oblates of the Virgin Mary, and I liked how it provided a quiet space in the middle of the city, accessible and welcoming. Services were quick. Ironically, I sometimes attend St. Francis of Assisi back in Sacramento so this was a great find, with the same name.

This is a great little chapel inside the Prudential Center mall. We went to 7pm Saturday vigil mass (even though in Spanish) because we were from out of town at an all weekend competition at Harvard. To get there, from the Boylston Street entrance, go in the revolving door for the Prudential Center, up the escalators. St. Francis Chapel is in the GREEN Section (D) between the Dunkin Donuts and Au Bön Pain, and not too far from the P F Chang’s in the Mall. Here’s the mall map:
is out of date, so go to the St. Francis Chapel web site for the latest times.
This church has a lively community, and the priest we had was excellent. We visited with him for about 5 minutes after mass. Young and very energetic. This was a great mass.

Nice place for prayer and is in a convenient location. I love coming here after work for mass. The services are quick so don’t expect a long one. :)

Fantastic chapel in the middle of mass consumerism. Three daily Masses, tons of weekend Masses, awesome priests on staff. Adoration and Confession during the day. Excellent place.

What a lovely little chapel in a rather strange place. But meh. I guess when you think about it and its accessibility to the local hotels and the Hynes Convention Center (I saw a couple marathon runnners here Patriots Day weekend), it makes sense.
5 masses on Saturday (one in Spanish), 7 on Sunday (one in Spanish), adds to St. Francis’ convenience. As for the actual mass. well. they have a keyboard instead of a piano (it’s a smaller space). Errr. okay. The woman that sings has a very pleasant voice, but for me, music is what drives the mass. That whole St. Augustine singing-​is-​praying-​twice thing. It really hit me during the «Gloria» which is, ya know, supposed to be extra joyful in the Easter season. It just fell somewhat flat. Not to say they didn’t do a good job (the keyboard player, the cantor, and a woman standing behind them that had no mic but seemed to be doing harmonies), I’m just used to all enveloping music/​sounds. The mass itself was traditional and the priest gave a good homily, although his mic kept cutting in and out which was distracting. The crowd doesn’t really seem to have a mean age in case you were wondering, but there are some rather posh attendees. Not a huge fan of their crucifix, but then again, that’s another personal preference. ;) I do think it’s cool that they have the two Spanish masses along with the mass books being in Spanish. One side of the page is English and the other is Spanish. so you could conceivably teach yourself a thing or two. heh Oh and they have those wide pews so you don’t have to stand or be super awkward when latecomers want to slide past you.
From the bulletin and general announcements it seems like St. Francis works a lot with St. Clement up the street. Understandably so because of its placement, St. Francis doesn’t seem to have a lot of programs/​groups. There is however a Bible Study, which happens every Wednesday at St. Francis at 6PM to talk about the following Sunday’s readings. I’ve never really done Bible study. I feel like reading the readings aloud to yourself is more helpful, but that’s just my learning style. :)
Check the websites for holy day changes, confession times, etc: