Shrine of St. Joseph

September 6, 2020

Dear friends,

We're happy to release this weekend a new app for our Shrine. This simple app for our Shrine community and for pilgrims and visitors is intended to help you in your participation in the sacraments and in devotions at the Shrine. Stay tuned for more content and resources coming to the app soon. Enjoy!

Dear friends,

We are very excited that after 83 days of mandatory closure of our Shrine doors, we are able to welcome you back again beginning June 8, 2020, when we will resume our daily 11:00 AM Mass.

Based on occupancy guidelines from the health department and the Diocese of Monterey, we are able to safely seat a maximum of 60 people at each Mass. We hope there is room for everybody who wants to attend each day, but we must plan to ensure that we do not exceed our occupancy.

In order to accomplish this, we have established a process to register for Sunday Mass prior to attending (daily Mass admittance takes place on a first come, first served basis). If there are more registrations than seats available, we will use a random lottery system to admit those wishing to attend. You may register online at https://www.shrinestjoseph.com/register, you may call the Shrine office at (831) 471-0442, or you may email Susie Vega at svega@osjusa.org with your name, email, and the date(s) you wish to attend Sunday Mass.

Based on feedback we have received from the Shrine community, we will be closing registration for each Mass at 8:00 PM of the preceding day instead of at 9:00 AM on the same day. For example, registration for tomorrow's 11am Mass will close at 8pm tonight. This was a recommendation made so that you can plan your day the night before, and even attend Mass somewhere else on that day earlier in the morning if necessary.

We will post the automated list of participants on our website at https://www.shrinestjoseph.com/attendance.

Incidentally, Bishop Garcia has lifted the obligation to attend Mass indefinitely, so for the time being it is not obligatory to come to Mass, even on Sundays. We will continue to livestream our Masses for those who wish to join in our worship spiritually.

Thank you for your patience in this process. We know these extra steps to come to Mass are not ideal, but our hope is that we can make the return to public worship as simple and as fair as possible, and make it possible to easily plan for Mass attendance.

We are blessed and grateful that you have expressed interest in knowing more about the Shrine of St. Joseph, Guardian of the Redeemer, located on the scenic Monterey Bay in Santa Cruz, California. This is a sacred place in the midst of God's loving creation that allows one to be refreshed in spirit and renewed in mind and heart.