St. Augustine Roman Catholic Church — Attraction in Phoenix

When I visit my younger sister, my nieces, grandnieces, & grandnephews, I attend Mass at St. Augustine's. It's a beautiful Church, within a working class community, just off of one of the main streets, there in West Phoenix. Father is bilingual & super nice: he says the Mass in English at 9am. Spanish Mass is at 8am. Father is great: he bless' any articles you have purchased and is easy to talk to"†" Also, early Sunday morning, you can, usually, find bowls of hot menudo(tripe, hominy, & spices cooked together with water which forms a tasty broth that's made even tastier when you add fresh lettuce, or cabbage, lemon, red chili, & a pinch of oregano) this is recommended early morning or during Christmas...

Day 1 of attending a baptism class; I come in after working a 12 hour labor shift and wrestling toddler twins and the people singing, first thing they say, “none of you are more tired than us, we been here all day dedicating our time and talents” like ok Jennifer, I’m sure you must be so exhausted from singing a 2 minute song every hour while sitting on a stool.

That’s not the worst part, everyone who had a speech part had to brag about how they’re better than everyone attending cause they attend mass every Sunday and dedicate every waking moment to god. For people who are supposed to spread love, yall were...

I hadn’t entered a Catholic church in almost 15 years. I went to the baptism classes, and at the beginning, the woman leading the session said something I found very beautiful, something along the lines of: ‘Notice how God put these little angels in your path so that you would return to His home.’ Very lovely words that left me wondering, because if God had to do all of this for me to return to His home after so much time and so much wandering away from His path, then why do His “followers” make me feel so UNWELCOME in His house?

So much disrespect from all the people in charge and from the “guitarist/singer” (as a musician: he doesn’t understand tempos, doesn’t know his progressions, doesn’t know harmony, can’t press the strings properly, doesn’t connect) who is supposed to “deliver the word”—a very, VERY poor way to use the name of Our Most Holy Father. May God forgive them and have mercy, for they do not know what they are doing.

Tenía casi 15 años sin entrar a una iglesia católica, Fui alas pláticas de bautismo y al principio de las pláticas la señora dijo algo que se mi hizo muy bonito algo más o menos como: “Fíjense como Dios puso esos angelitos en su camino para que ustedes regresaran a su casa”. Muy bonitas palabras que me dejaron en duda, porque si Dios tuvo que hacer todo esto para que yo pudiera llegar de nuevo a su casa, después de tanto tiempo y tanto navegar fuera de su camino ¿Porque sus “seguidores” me hacen sentir tan NO bienvenido a su hogar. Tantas faltas de respeto por parte de todas las personas encargadas y del “guitarrista/cantante” (como Músico: no sabe de tempos, no sabe sus progresiones, no sabe harmonia, no puede presionar bien las cuerdas, no conecta) de “dar la palabra” muy MUY mala forma de usar el nombre de Nuestro padre Santísimo. Dios los perdone y tenga misericordia, no saben...