St. Thomas Apostle Catholic Church

St. Thomas the Apostle is a special parish. This is where I attended my first traditional Latin Mass, and I continue to come here to keep learning. The priests here are awesome and the parishioners are warm and welcoming. I enjoy listening to the beautiful chanting during the Latin Mass. This parish also offers a lot for your personal spiritual growth. Occasionally there are spiritual talks, Bible studies, classes that teach how to sing the chants; I have even heard the heavenly Palestrina Choir sing here on a surprise DC stop. Although I live in Maryland and am not formally a parishioner here, I really enjoy coming here to pray and partake of everything exciting and great that happens here. If I lived in DC, I would want to join this parish.

Come here and expect: super active young professionals group that has a Mass 7:30pm Sundays, service opportunities on Saturdays, social events offered throughout the month
What I got from it: This review is for St. Thomas the Apostle Young adults community. They call themselves «STAY.»
I was introduced to them through a co-​worker who knew that I could use some friends being new to DC, and coming from LA. That first Sunday, I felt good about the Mass and the young professionals that showed up that night. The second Sunday, they hosted a bbq before the 7:30pm Mass and not only was I hooked, but I even joined the choir, which was the best possible move I could have done!!!
STAY offers so many ways to feel connected. There are service opportunities like going to S.O.M.E. (
) on one Saturday, other Saturdays they help IONA (
) serve meals on wheels. They also get involved in any of the Archdiocese events.
During the Mass, the coordination of the Mass is done by the young adults, so that makes it easier to feel like you are part of something. Currently there are small groups offered to meet with friends during the week, and even talks that are help at least 5 times in the year.
So much opportunity means loads of engagement. If you are looking for a spiritual home, and for some friendship, give the STAY community a try!
It all starts with showing up at a Sunday Mass, 7:30pm.

Very welcoming’

If you are a young christian professional, the «STAY» crew at this church is probably what you’ve been looking for. At least we were! We were so lucky to find this church and all the people in it. Conveniently located within 2 blocks from the Woodley Park/​Adams Morgan Metro station, St Thomas is easily accessible for downtowners. There is also a parking lot across the street (in front/​and right of Marriot) that is available for church parking as long as you get your ticket stamped at the service.
We go to the evening STAY mass. That is, the St. Thomas Young Adults mass. It starts at 730p on Sundays. The mass is great with good homilies, a choir, and a guitar/​violin/​flute… some variations in instrument combos.
They also have some masses in Spanish as well… earlier in the day, I think.
The reason that we love this church is that it allows you to get plugged in with people our own age (young professionals) and grow spiritually. They have small faith groups that meet monthly, Bible studies that meet weekly, Saturday community service activities, Pizza Sunday once a month (stay after to grub and chat), STAY for dinner (meet out to eat) once/​month, a STAY happy hour (how cool is this church!) once/​month. The STAY community is really active!
Basically, it is a pretty large size church body that has enough options for you to get plugged in and feel like you are part of a family. We love it! You probably will too :)