Love being able to include time for prayer while traveling. It's quite important for me - to check out & stop by the local parish within the vicinity of where my travels lead me, and find time to attend mass with the locals & be in communion with the community. One particular aspect of this community is that they offer their Tuesday mass time in the late afternoon (5:30 p.m.) - perfect for those who work during the day, and find some alone time to get some spiritual nourishment to help them during their week! The rest of the week is at 7:00 a.m., for the early-birds! They are a family-oriented parish that's all-inclusive & diverse, and upon stepping foot, I felt their warm hospitality - especially being a visitor to the area. They follow CDC guidelines, such as social distancing from pews (every other pew is blocked off), contract tracing at the entrance, and temperature checks - ya'll are safe! Too bad I hadn't been able to come here pre-pandemic, since they had a full schedule during the week & had a late-night Sunday evening mass that I would so look forward to going if I was in the area! A hidden gem for those who needs a place of prayer - whether you are religious/spiritual - it helps to have that place of comfort, of quiet & stillness, yet being in a community that aspires to be a better individual in life. Looking forward to attending mass here on Tuesday evenings whenever I get a chance, and I'm along the Central Coast! I still have to attend a weekend service here; it's just that the Old Mission in Downtown SLO has been my preferred place of worship even before COVID! Guess that gives it away being my favorite go-to California Mission! Haha. :) read more

St Patrick's, Catholic Church - Roof Exterior - Churches Near Me - Arroyo Grande, California

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During COVID this church was not hospitable to travelers. Father basically told people to follow the rules and guidelines or else you can leave and are not welcomed! Everyone had to sit six feet apart! My daughter who had a 3 year old was told to distance from him! He kept running up to his mom and then to me his grandmother! We were scolded by the ladies running this place! Do not bother with this place God is Love, but this church is the absence of true love for it's people. This whole parish needs to undergo conversion to understand that they are supposed to be God's people not the people of the government! read more

Quite close to Arroyo Grande and Pismo. My cousin told us about this church and we would go if we were vacationing during the weekend.

Our son was baptized here last year & it was such a great experience! From booking & scheduling to the day of his baptism, everything was so smooth & truly an amazing day. We are from out of town & the whole process was so seamless. We had never attended here before, but we felt like family. We have returned again for mass when in the area. My sister is now planning my nieces baptism here and she is also not from the area- that's how great Deacon Greg is! Can't say enough great things about him- he was kissing my son's cheeks by the end of the ceremony. It was beautiful. read more

I started attending this church in 1992, when my family and I moved to the Central Coast. I wasn't really attending Mass regularly until then, I just didn't find the other parishes I visited very appealing. When we tried St. Patrick's out, we found the friendliest, warmest people greeting us at the door and in the office. I love their 9 am Mass choir and their 6 pm Youth Mass. My grand-daughters (9 and 5) BEG to come to Mass on Sunday, especially at the 6 pm Mass with "the band". I like that St. Patrick's has different styles services: some are very quiet, some more lively. The pastors since 1992 have been very attentive and prepared. I think their homilies are well thought out and inspiring most of the time. I have a friend who drives in from Santa Maria to attend this church. This parish is very active: they have a Youth Group and an extensive religious education program. I attended some of their bible classes. They have programs for Seniors Citizens and ongoing prayer groups.The most impressive of their activites, though, is their Outreach program. Dozens of volunteers collect and distribute food three days a week, volunteer at the local soup kitchen, and prepare hundreds of Christmas baskets with toys for the children. I feel really fortunate to have found this church at this time of my life. I made many friends there and I sincerely believe that they have brought me closer to God. read more

Although I am not Catholic, I am aware of the amazing good that this church does for the community. Many years ago, an untimely and tragic death came upon my family, and I had no way to pay the fees to do a minimal burial. While our church would do nothing to help with the matter, St. Patrick's did. It seems to me that this church actually does care to ease the suffering for people in need. All people I know that are affiliated with this church are kind and caring people. read more

I attended this church throughout most of my childhood and teenage years. I have done every Catholic milestone at this church except marriage. The only good thing I have to say about this church is that I met some wonderful people there. Most of the people in the English section were wonderful people, including the many priests I've seen come and go who delivered wonderful sermons and appeared to genuinely care for their community. Most of my beef isn't with the English section as I found them to be incredible. My biggest beef is with the Spanish section (reason for the 1 star) and I still cringe to this very day when I think about them! From the voluntary staff members to the majority of the priests that came and went (only like 1 of them), they were all a bunch of hateful, backstabbing hypocrites! The good majority of them act all high and mighty and anyone that thinks differently is not worthy to be in their presence. These are the people that make attending mass an uncomfortable experience for the honest ones that want a safe haven to worship and not have to worry about church politics corrupting their thoughts on this establishment. While the English sermons are all about love and acceptance, the sermons given in the Spanish church is mostly about hell and all the things that send you there. You eventually get to the point where you're not convinced that the priest fears hell anymore, but rather the man has quite the fascination with hell on account of how much they love talking about it! You start to notice the true colors of the staff members once you're around them in the after hours. I got a taste of it as a kid when I had the misfortunes of having a bully by the name of Andrea as my catechism "teacher." While I was being bullied by a couple of the students, she acknowledged them but would side with them and commanded me to behave. Having had low esteem at the time, I accepted the verbal abuse that was given to me and no matter what I did, she would tell my folks how badly I behaved, which made me wish I had high-esteem and badly misbehaved since no matter what I did, the outcome would have been the same. After dealing with my own issues on how bad one staff member treated me, I also had to hear about all the verbal abuse a relative of mine and a friend of the relative, who was also a volunteer, had to endure from these people; sometimes to the point where they would leave the church in tears. At one point, I thought they exaggerated just a slight and assumed it was creative differences until I had the misfortune to encounter yet another one of these folks in public as one of them walked up to us offered the most fake sympathy I've ever heard come out that person's mouth as the person was "sorry" to hear about a personal situation that occurred in our family that never happened. We were confused because we didn't know what the person was talking about. Then the person goes, "Oh, it's because the priest told us..." Oh, so now the priest is spreading rumors about our personal lives? Not sure exactly what happened, but either the priest is a jerk for spreading rumors about us since he never personally called us or visited us to check on our well being, or the staff members are just as big of jerks as NONE OF THEM ever bothered to check up to see if we were doing alright. I guess it's easier to assume and poke fun at a falling person rather than to show concern and help pick up the fallen person because as it says in the Bible: "Laugh and poke fun at others misfortunes." The final straw for me was when I went to the church retreats St. Patrick's hosted in the summers (July? August?). I remembered going to them (well, dragged to them by my folks) every year, but never actually paid attention since I was just a kid. One year (almost a decade ago), I decided to pay attention. All was okay until I heard one guest speaker. This guy just rambled on about the kinds of people that will send you to hell, and he was very vocal on non-believers and homosexuals as they were "untrustworthy" and the "most dangerous kinds of individuals who are just waiting for the right opportunity to corrupt the minds of young children." Having been around non believers and gay folks growing up, I took offense to the moron's rant. I don't know what was more disturbing, the things the idiot said or the room full of people clapping, cheering, and shouting "AMEN!" Either way, I found the man's fear mongering and ignorance INFURIATING! After about 45 minutes, I got up and left as I couldn't take anymore of it. I never stepped foot at St. Patrick's since. It's such a shame to give this place a one star rating, especially since the staff members of the English section were amazing. It's the Spanish mass that ruined the good experience of this church and I hope the church has found amazing staff members for the Spanish section since I left so that they don't have to go through what I went through. Best of luck, St. Patrick's! read more

What a nice church community! We were visiting here this past weekend and came to the Saturday evening mass. It was packed! The people are very friendly, the cantor, a young lady, was excellent, the priest was very articulate and gave a good sermon. This will be the church I attend when I travel through the Central Coast. read more

I have been a member of St. Patrick's Church for the past 20 years. St. Patrick's Church has been a blessing not only for myself, but also for my husband of 27 years, our four children and our community. St. Patrick's priests have done a great job teaching Jesus' word and not wavering to fit in today's secular world where the media is trying to break down our community's moral fibers. St. Patrick's Church has been a great support for the affiliated St. Patrick's Elementary and Jr. High School. All four of our children have attended the Elementary and Jr. High Schools and have not only given my children a advanced education, but also a taught our children great character and a how to be a volunteer and contribute to make our community a better place. Thank you Sisters, Priests, Teachers and Staff of St. Patrick Church and especially St. Patrick's Elementary and Jr. High School; we pray your lives will be blessed as you have blessed us. read more