Welcome to
Old St. Mary’s Cathedral
& Chinese Mission
Welcome to our vibrant Catholic community,
where we together celebrate
faith, hope, and love of God.
Join us in sacred worship, building community,
and sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ.
Weekend Mass Times
Saturday 5:00 pm
Sunday 9:00 am & 11:00 am
Weekday Mass
Tue-Fri 12:05 pm
Adoration
1st Friday of the month after the 12:05pm Mass
Confessions
by appointment (Contact Fr. Ivan
415-288-3830 or e-mail;
or contact any of the other Paulist priests)
2026 Paulist Annual Appeal:
Building Bridges Through Charity
On the weekend of January 25th, Old St. Mary’s Cathedral & Chinese Mission joined Paulist communities nationwide to support care for senior Paulist priests, vocations & seminarian formation, and mission priorities that welcome those on the margins, all through the Annual Paulist Appeal. Please consider participating at any level using the reply envelope at the parish or give online at paulist.org/apa. No gift is too small - together we build bridges of hope and unity. Thank you!
One recent feature of the Annual Paulist Appeal is Mission Impact Grants program. These grants, given to various Paulist parishes, help empower women leaders, encourage new vocations, connect with young adults, provide care for senior Paulists, elevate the voices of people of color, and serve neighbors who may never enter a church building.
This past year, our community received grant funding for a Bay Area Young Adult Lenten Retreat (3/29/25) to strengthen the faith and build community among young adults, and a Black Catholic Awareness Event (11/8/25) to increase awareness and celebrate the beauty and wisdom of Black Catholics to the Catholic Church.
Former Old St. Mary’s Pastor and current Vice President of the Paulist Father, Fr. John Ardis, CSP was here to preside and preach at all our weekend Mass, promoting the Annual Paulist Appeal. He also blessed our newly refurbished Conversion of St. Paul Stained-Glass Window. During his time at Old St. Mary’s, he started the project of refurbishing the window through a most generous benefactor. It is fitting he should see the completion of this grand project that will hopefully be the catalyst to turn Old St. Mary’s into an Ever New St. Mary’s. Plus, I’m not sure Mary likes to be called old.
Original window before refurbishing
Installing the new window
Unveiling our Restored
Conversion of St. Paul
Stained-Glass Window
the weekend of 2026 Jan 24 & 25
After over a year of working on our time stained window, on January 25rh weekend, we unveiled the restored version. Time had blurred the image and knock out pieces of the stained glass. Through careful matching colors and enhancing colorings, our Conversion of St. Paul window has been restored to her glory days.
On Friday, Jan 23, the refurbished window was installed and the following weekend, at all the Sunday Masses, we blessed this image that had inspired pilgrims to Old St. Mary’s Cathedral over the decades.
As Catholics, we use images to help remind us of our heroes of the faith and how God is ever faithful in blessing them and using them to inspire deeper hope, deeper faith, deeper love across space and time.
The conversion of St. Paul reminds us God can use us, no matter how dark a history we have written. God’s grace can shine light across any darkness and bring forth new and exciting things. We just need to be open to God’s loving and transforming grace.
Thanks to Fr. John Ardis, CSP who spearheaded this project when he was pastor here. Thanks to Vincent Ho, who gave a grand gift in honor of his late wife MJ (Mary Jean) to restore this particular window. Thanks to Margaret Peterson, whose expert training in stained glass windows, enabled her to restore our window to last another 100 years. Thanks to Rick Riley who carefully removed the window and has now carefully reinstalled the restored window.
As part of your pilgrimage to Old St. Mary’s Cathedral,
consider spending some prayerful time
before the image of the Conversion of St. Paul.
First Friday Adoration
after the 12:05pm Mass
After the 12:05pm Mass, on the first Friday of the month, we will have adoration and benediction. Come spend some quiet time and meditative Taize chants with our Lord in the Most Blessed Sacrament. In our busy and chaotic world, we are in need of the peace and presence and wisdom of our Lord. We will conclude around 1pm with Benediction and the Divine Praises.
2026 West Coast Walk for Life
Saturday, 24th of January
On Saturday, January 24th, thousands of folks participated in the annual Walk for Life, to witness the sanctity and beauty of life, in all its stages from conception to natural death. Given the confusion and misunderstanding of life in the world today, we all need to help each other be witnesses and gentle reminders of the beauty, joy, and preciousness of life. Old St. Mary’s Cathedral was represented with some of our parishioners participating in the Cathedral Mass and walk..
Come join us next year. We’ll organize sign ups and a joint meeting place.
World Day of the Poor
Sunday, November 15
In 2017, Pope Francis established the 33rd Sunday as the World Day of the Poor. This is to be a time to “reflect on how poverty is at the very heart of the gospel.” Pope Francis desired for Christians across the world to unite and be a greater and more tangible sign of Christ’s charity for those in need. At the first World Day of the Poor, he said, “to draw near to the poor, to encounter them, to meet their gaze, to embrace them, and to let them feel the warmth of love that breaks through their solitude. Their outstretched hand is also an invitation to step out of our certainties and comforts, and to acknowledge the value of poverty in itself." Just as Jesus, who is God almighty, embraced a state poverty as a babe in a manger, a carpenter, a prophet falsely accused and persecuted, so are we, His disciples, called to follow His footsteps in complete surrender, so nothing keeps us from God and doing God’s will.
At all our Masses on Nov. 15th, we empowered each of our parishioners and visitors with an envelope with $10 to invest in helping the poor. We passed out 158 envelopes. 28 envelopes were returned in the collection basket totally $380. That still leaves 130 creative seeds germinating to make a difference in the world.
Some suggested ideas include:
- Take someone poor to lunch and learn their story
- Buy food to make sandwiches and feed the poor in a park
- Use the funds to travel to a soup kitchen like Tenemos Catholic Worker or St. Anthony’s Dining Room and serve others
- Buy stamps, stationary, and envelope and write a letter on behalf of the needy to our president and your representatives. If needed, use AI (e.g., ChatGPT, Gemini) to help compose your letter.
- Join a JustFaith group to learn more about poverty
- Use the funds to travel to your public library and read Oxfam’s recommended 19 books on poverty
- Use the funds as a starter to sponsor a needy person locally or through an organization like UNBOUND or Save the Children.
Some of the Planting Stories So Far
Our outreach is now international: one international parishioner knows someone in need in the home country and was able to transfer the funds to that home country. Another parishioner was traveling in the Philippines and used the funds to help a needy home for the aged.
Our outreach is now national: a couple visiting from Pennsylvania combined their envelopes with additional funds to support Sister Paula’s Soup Kitchen
While at a grocery store, someone in need asked for $10 which matched the envelope - God destined this envelope was going to meet that person’s needs.
Matched the fund and provided donuts and dog food to the needy
Multiplied the $10 to $100 and donated that to Alameda County Food Bank
Volunteered at the Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano and donating $30
Read Jonathan Kozol’s Amazing Grace: The Lives of Children and the Conscience of a Nation about children in South Bronx. Is this really in America?
Pledged to support Emmanuel, an 8-year old child from Kenya, through UNBOUND
A couple of people returned their envelopes with a total of $100 more for us to invest
One person is praying for our parish’s efforts in helping the poor
What’s Coming Up
OCIA - A Journey of Faith
Wanting to explore the Catholic Faith? Considering becoming Catholic or receiving sacraments
of Confirmation & Eucharist?
We have a process called the OCIA where the church accompanies folks in their spiritual journey to discern God’s call to become Catholic.
Contact Fr. Ivan for more information.
After-Mass Hospitality
(After the 9am and 11am Mass)
Everyone is invited to our after-Mass hospitality after the 9am and 11am Sunday Masses. Each Sunday, the parish provides tea and coffee and various parishioners bring treats or make something delicious to share. We are following the Master who did his best ministry around food,
In this we start to fulfill our Mass dismissal charge to “go in peace, glorifying the Lord by your life.” We glorify the Lord by making people feel loved. We glorify the Lord by allowing others to help us experience God’s love through their friendship and affection.
Our parishioners and visitors often spend an hour after Mass in our auditorium getting to know one another, sharing our week, or finding needed connections, laughter, or prayers. Come an entertain angels without knowing it through your presence and hospitality. (Hebrew 13:2).
Bible Studies
Come join our online Bible Studies to deepen your appreciation of the power and wisdom of God’s Word.
Fr. Tom leads an English Bible Study on Thursday at 6pm (ZOOM ID: 819 3641 0160; Passcode: 016304).
Deacon Simon leads a Cantonese Bible Study on Friday at 8pm (Zoom ID: 758 223 4347)
Archdiocesan Annual Appeal
Thanks everyone who participated in the Archdiocesan Annual Appeal (AAA). We reach and exceeded our archdiocesan goal this year. This is great news because we do not have to draw from our savings to cover any shortfalls. The other good news is any excess amount we raised can be passed onto next year’s goals.
Spirituality Resources
We are now in the season of Ordinary Time. For us baptized in the power of Christ and living in the age of the Spirit and of the Kingdom, we know its roots and foundations comes from the gift of the Son of God. Click here for some resources to help you celebrate well this season of growing in the Spirit.
Advent & Christmas
Noontime Concert
Come celebrate this Christmas Season with the richness and beauty of music. Members of our Music Ministry performed at the Dec. 9th Noontime Concert. Allow their Advent and Christmas music to help deepen your spiritual journey this Christmas Season. For unto us is born a Savior, Christ the King. That takes a lifetime to unpack and beauty to tap into its richness. Allow the beauty of music to assist you.
** Visiting Old St. Mary's
** Visiting Old St. Mary's
If you are planning to visit Old St. Mary's, we look forward to welcoming you. This 172 year old church has seen a lot of history and a lot of lived faith.
We have a self-guided tour pamphlet you can pick up at the church. At our church entrance, we have historic pictures of the church and tower that amazingly survived the 1906 SF earthquake. That earthquake destroyed over 80% of the city.
Our church is normally open
Mon: CLOSED
Tues-Fri: 10am-4:30pm
Sat: 11:30am-6pm
Sun: 8:30am-Noon
(until 3pm during the summer)
Who Are We?
Welcome to our community, where warmth and faith come together
to create a sense of belonging for everyone.
Join us as we share in life's journey,
celebrating and supporting one another every step of the way.