Moving to Irvine, Ca - info please?

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As of this week, I learned that DH and I have been reassigned to Irvine, Ca.
Is anyone here familar with the area and can anyone tell me where to find an orthodox parish?
I found 3 Catholic churches on the Orange County Diocese website for Irvine but can’t discern anything about the churches.
I prefer not to church hop when I get there looking for one that sticks to the G.I.R.M.
Can anyone help me out?
I’m really going to miss my St. Rose parish here and everyone in it.
 
I’m bumping this to see if anyone, anyone at all, can give me some info.
I spoke to a family at Mass today that is visiting from Orange County and they told me to check out St. Michael’s Abby in Orange City.
Anyone heard of it?
 
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catsrus:
I’m bumping this to see if anyone, anyone at all, can give me some info.
I spoke to a family at Mass today that is visiting from Orange County and they told me to check out St. Michael’s Abby in Orange City.
Anyone heard of it?
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I have family in the general area and, on my visits there, I’ve observed that orthodox parishes are few and far between. The best one that I observed personally was St. Killian’s in Mission Viejo. If someone knows a better one, I’d be interested to hear about it.
 
St Michael’s Abbey is run by the Norbertines. They are known to be orthodox…not too far from Irvine either. I have not been there for Mass. But their priests help out in some of the short-handed parishes around Orange County. Anytime I’ve been to one of their Masses, I’ve been impressed. St. Mary’s-by-the-Sea in Huntington Beach is also orthodox. I have been there for Mass, but not lately. If you’re looking for strictly by the GIRM, these are about as close as you’ll get. There are probably more. Orange County is fairly conservative (at least compared to LA).
 
Dear Lucky,
I envy anyone who gets to move close to St. Micheal’s Abbey. The mass is beautiful and reverently said. One of the charismas of the Norbertine’s is to preserve the liturgy which includes the music. The Sacrament of Confession is also taken seriously at St. Micheal’s.
I do warn you…you will not want to go back to the “other” masses. No more church hopping!!!

God Bless, RG
 
roxane gallaher:
Dear Lucky,
I envy anyone who gets to move close to St. Micheal’s Abbey. The mass is beautiful and reverently said. One of the charismas of the Norbertine’s is to preserve the liturgy which includes the music. The Sacrament of Confession is also taken seriously at St. Micheal’s.
I do warn you…you will not want to go back to the “other” masses. No more church hopping!!!

God Bless, RG
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Is this a Tridentine Latin Mass at St. Micheal’s Abbey?
  • Kathie :bowdown:
 
Other threads have addressed the topic of orthodox parishes in Orange County. My two cents:

St. Michael’s Abbey is marvelous, but somewhat remotely located. And it’s not a parish. See abbeynews.com/. Half of their Masses are in Latin, new rite.

The only Tridentine Mass in Orange County is at the Mission San Juan Capistrano’s Serra Chapel, and it is usually celebrated by a priest from St. Michael’s Abbey.

St. Mary’s By The Sea in Huntington Beach is still the most orthodox parish in the diocese, despite recent efforts to modernize.

For a purely English Mass parish, you can’t beat St. John Vianney on Balboa Island. It’s conveniently located to Irvine, too, right at the end of Jamboree Road.

The parishes in Irvine per se are pretty awful.
 
Thank you all so very much for your (name removed by moderator)ut!
It’s difficult moving to a place with which one is totally unfamiliar. The most important thing on my list was to find a good parish. I can hardly wait to check these places out.
Now I suppose, I’ll work on the doctor, dentist and vet and grocery store. 🙂
 
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AlexB:
Other threads have addressed the topic of orthodox parishes in Orange County. My two cents:

St. Michael’s Abbey is marvelous, but somewhat remotely located. And it’s not a parish. See abbeynews.com/. Half of their Masses are in Latin, new rite.

The only Tridentine Mass in Orange County is at the Mission San Juan Capistrano’s Serra Chapel, and it is usually celebrated by a priest from St. Michael’s Abbey.

St. Mary’s By The Sea in Huntington Beach is still the most orthodox parish in the diocese, despite recent efforts to modernize.

For a purely English Mass parish, you can’t beat St. John Vianney on Balboa Island. It’s conveniently located to Irvine, too, right at the end of Jamboree Road.

The parishes in Irvine per se are pretty awful.
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Actually St. Mary’s-by-the-sea is in Newport Beach, not Huntington Beach
 
Just a little more (name removed by moderator)ut…

St. Elizabeth Ann Seaton parish has one of the best preachers in the county in Fr. Tom Pado. Beyond that, I can’t tell you much about the parish – I’ve only been there once but know Fr. Tom from when he was assigned to my parish.

I know nothing of St. John Neumann parish – although it used to have some very orthodox priests, it’s been a number of years since they were there.

I’ve served as an MC for two different confirmation Masses at St. Thomas More and found them to be very orthodox. Can’t tell you what the normal Masses are like, however.

Deacon Ed
 
I work in Irvine and I had a good experience at St. John Neumann as well. My company moved, so it’s been about 2 years since I was there, but the homilies were always good and actually included some catechesis related to the readings! Yes, I know it’s a low bar, but it’s actually a rare thing around here.

I now work close to St. Michael’s Abbey so I am definitely going to check it out. Thanks for the tip!!

Gem

St John Neuman Catholic Church
5101 Alton Pkwy
Irvine, CA 92604
(949) 679-2526
 
Welcome to So. Cal - but, you’re in for a drive to a good church, unless you’re on the south end of Irvine)

On a scale of 1-10 (10 being perfect in every way - 1 being no regard for the GIRM)

#1 St. Michael’s Abbey, Silverado Canyon,(El Toro) CA pretty close to a 10, great homilies, great music (but if you’ve got a problem with smoke (incense), you’d better sit in the back by an open door or window) Only one Sunday Mass at 11 am. VERY CROWDED!

#2 St. Mary’s by the Sea, 321 10th st, Huntington Beach, (just north of the pier, 2 blocks in) WAS fabulous, closest to a 10, but now - Bishop Brown removed the Tridentine 1/1/2 years ago and 1/2 the people left. Then the new administrator added standing to receive, communion under both species, and cancelled daily confessions.
Then in July he was replaced by another administrator (from Menlo Park, if you know what I mean.) He has openly stated to many that he believes “women are called to be priests”, so he’s added women lectors and more standing, protestant music, no sanctus bells and God and he (and Bishop Brown) only knows what else.
It’s falling apart fast, to the bishop’s delight (the St. Mary’s people have been a thorn in his side for years)- but if you want to help save it, there is a group working on that. Email me.

RE: Elizabeth Anne Seton, Irvine, CA, on the scale, a 2. They do the consecration properly.
Their pastor, Fr. Tom Pado, (a great preacher, says Deacon Ed), recently hired an ex priest EDIT to consult to design the sanctuary (who was ‘ex’d’ because he’s been living with his boyfriend for years while acting as director of Liturgy, RCIA, Catechumens, etc, etc, from the chancery office for years. His family fought diligently with the Bishop for YEARS to remove him because he is an active homosexual) take a look at this article
sdnewsnotes.com//ed/articles/2002/0402as.htm and check out www.thelaity.com

The whole county has known about this for years - many documents will be on www.saveourchurch.net within the next few days. Go to
ocregister.com/commentary/columns/greenhut/2002/greenhut20020609.shtml
dated June of 02.

RE: St. John Neumann, Irvine, CA another 2 on the scale (they also do the consecration properly) But their pastor had invited a wonderful Norbertine priest to help out for 3 or 4 weeks while the pastor was away, about a year ago. The Norbertine father’s first Sunday on the job, the readings were on “Man lying with a man”. A perfectly beautiful homily. After the mass dozens of parishioners waited in line to thank him. Two days later the Norbertine priest received a call from another priest at the parish, EDIT and was told he was no longer needed to assist during the pastor’s absence.
Ex priest hired by EDIT pastor at St. John Neumann)) not only preaches homilies at the parish (defiance of GIRM) but also teaches RCIA.

RE: St. Thomas Moore, another 2, still invites teens for the “Teen Mass” up into the sanctuary for the consecration.

Really - you should have moved to Sacramento (Bishop Weigand) or Nebraska (Bishop Bruskewitz) Unless you’re up for a fight (and we could certainly use the help!), best go to the Abbey.

God bless,
and welcome,
Angel
 
Angels Watchin:
RE: St. John Neumann, Irvine, CA another 2 on the scale (they also do the consecration properly) But their pastor had invited a wonderful Norbertine priest to help out for 3 or 4 weeks while the pastor was away, about a year ago. The Norbertine father’s first Sunday on the job, the readings were on “Man lying with a man”. A perfectly beautiful homily. After the mass dozens of parishioners waited in line to thank him. Two days later the Norbertine priest received a call from another priest at the parish,EDIT and was told he was no longer needed to assist during the pastor’s absence.
Ex priest EDIT hired by EDIT pastor at St. John Neumann)) not only preaches homilies at the parish (defiance of GIRM) but also teaches RCIA.
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I’ve gone to SJN for the last few months and I’ve never seen EDIT give a homily. I’ve heard grumblings about him having way too much influence in the parish but I’ve never seen him do that. Are you sure?

I went to St. Elizabeth Ann Seton once. Just my luck that day they published in their bulletin the parish council’s recommendations to Bishop Brown in response to his survey (this was back in ‘03 I think). The parish council had voted to recommend womens’ ordination to Bishop Brown with only 2 dissenters. :eek:

Needless to say, I never went back
 
I just moved to FL from Orange County about six months ago.

I’d recommend St. John Neumann in Irvine if you want something close and fairly orthodox. Their priests are great, although each mass there varies greatly (music, etc) and I’d recommend either Sat. night mass or early morning sunday.

Oh, and I absolutely ADORE St. Michael’s Abbey, it isn’t a parish, but the Sunday mass is beautiful and so is holy hour every evening. I miss it SO much!!

The Church I was baptised & confirmed and recieved my first communion in was at Holy Family Cathedral, in Orange, CA (North of Irvine). It’s not as grandeur as most cathedral’s (the building was built for just any parish originally) but I LOVE the priests there and the bishop, too. Fr. Don Romito is incredibly inspirational and I miss him dearly! He sent me a lovely letter recently when I sent him an announcement of my marriage.
 
I would recommend the Abbey and then St. Mary’s (Huntington Beach). I would have to say the most orthodox parish in Irvine would be St. Thomas More although I think they are still doing that funny business with the teens standing around the altar :tsktsk: during the consecration. I’ve never been to St. Elizabeth Seton
I’ve been to St. John Neuman a few times for mass, I don’t particularly care for the applause after the homilies but other than that I can’t say that there are any real obvious abuses.

The abbey, Serra Chapel (Tridentine Mass) and St. Mary’s are your best bets and if you feel like driving about 25 to 30 miles every once in a while try St. Peter Chanel in Hawaiian Gardens, they hear confessions before and after almost every mass. The priests recite the Rosary and The Chaplet of the Divine Mercy with the congregation after every mass.
 
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Jadesfire20:
I’ve gone to SJN for the last few months and I’ve never seen EDIT give a homily. I’ve heard grumblings about him having way too much influence in the parish but I’ve never seen him do that. Are you sure?
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Yes, I have friends who were there one Sunday when he was introduced by the pastor and then came to the pulpit and delivered the homily. So, yes, the pastor knew and I guess his name has been edited out, but I think people need to know who this man is and what he’s doing when it is explicitly liturgical abuse. If you go to the St. John Neumann parish website, he’s listed as the contact for Adult Religious Ministry, OCIA (what happended to RCIA?) and Bible study
sjnirvine.org/ministry/indexm.html
and he is an ex priest (used to be in Palmdale at St. Mary’s).

Blessings,
Angel
 
Thank you all, and Angels Watchin, for the summary of parishes. Exactly what I need to know!
How I wish we were going to Sacremento instead of Irvine. Better housing prices and the same greenery and temps.
Gotta go where DH is though and no one has offered him a job in Sacramento. 😦
Before moving here to The Bay Area, I’d heard horror stories about the state of The Church here. If any of you go to the Crockett, Benica, Vallejo area in the future, come to Mass at St. Rose of Lima parish in Crockett. We have a beautiful church, and excellent priest. I am going to miss this place so very much!!
 
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Jadesfire20:
I’ve gone to SJN for the last few months and I’ve never seen EDIT give a homily. I’ve heard grumblings about him having way too much influence in the parish but I’ve never seen him do that. Are you sure?
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Yes, I have a couple of friends who were there one Sunday, he was introduced by the pastor at the homily and he spoke from the pulpit at that time.
sjnirvine.org/ministry/indexm.html Educational Ministries

Angel
 
The thread having served it’s initial purpose, to provide response to an inquiry regarding possible new parishes for someone moving to Orange County is now closed. Many thanks to those who offered constructive choices.
 
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