St. Luke Catholic Church — Attraction in Phoenix

In response to Louis Craig, it's not true that I'm posting the same negative review of "all" Catholic Churches in the area -- only the ones that deserve it. The same criticisms were applicable to all those I reviewed (dippy, very liberal/politically correct, homilies bereft of substance, silly, irreverent Muzak, altar girls, liberal priests, etc.).

The churches I critiqued all suffer from the same symptoms: liberal, post-Vatican II, post-modernist bastardizations of the holy Mass, altar girls, substance-less, vapid “homilies” completely unrelated to the readings, and composed of feel-good inanities, incredibly stupid, inappropriate music (including the Our Father as a show tune? Really??), etc. No thanks! God deserves far better than such irreverent, dumbed-down, idiotic PC tripe. No more “Fr. __ Show” either, please. I don’t want a performance.

Go to a MUCH better, far more reverent, orthodox, and beautiful church like St. John of the Desert, Mater Miseracordiae Mission, St. Simon and Jude Cathedral, or St. Catherine of Siena. Probably the IVE churches, too. Their priests in CA were phenomenal. You'll derive MUCH more spiritual benefit, and actually learn something about our Catholic faith, too, instead of enduring superficial, feel-good silliness. Don't settle for PC dippiness! Homilies should be instructive and spiritually beneficial — not consist of empty, infantile, politically correct greeting card-type platitudes. Nothing personal against the pastor, but wow. Pretty inexcusable.

My original post: A very liberal parish. Silly, inane liturgical music, altar girls, homilies completely unrelated to the readings and bereft of any substance whatsoever, etc. Just horrible, post-modernist "spirit of Vatican II" watered-down Catholicism. Mass shouldn't be an endurance test. Only five minutes from me but not worth it. I go across town to participate in a more fitting, far more beautiful mass. God...

I will be moving to this neighborhood soon so I plan on trying several churches to find a good fit. Initially, the parishioners were ok, not rude but not overly friendly either. I watched the choir practice. I wondered why the choir director told the kids "you might want to practice this hymn before Fr. So and so comes out" I thought it was just an adult trying to get the kids to participate. I was completely thrown off guard when Fr so and so comes out and repeatedly has these kids AND adults practice this over and over. Moving kids around, almost scolding them for a sad performance. When the service finally started the normal routine is for you to greet those around you BUT Fr so and so only allows you to greet 4ppl..."no more than 4" He does this again when giving the sign of peace. Throughout the service he was condescending and rude. He NEVER smiled. He just seemed miserable while profusely sweating. Normally at the end of service the priest will greet the parishioners as they leave the church......but alas,not a priest in sight. He left like a bat outta hell. I have NEVER in my catholic life, ever seen anything like it. He is a control freak barking orders and insults throughout the service. Don't get me wrong, I'm not looking for someone to sugarcoat everything, but I dont need a drill Sargent picking apart every detail of a traditional mass. I truly dont understand how ppl continue to attend mass here. If I could give zero stars as a...

My family was completely humiliated by the priest St. Luke’s this morning. We took 3 young children (all under 5) to Mass and were called out during the priest’s homily. My children were not loud, no one was crying, they may have jabbered and moved in our section of the pew but they were not disruptive. They flipped through books and ate cheerios, like most children in the parishes I’ve attended all my life. If I felt they were behaving poorly we would have absolutely stepped out. Instead, we were humiliated and therefore chose to leave, my children are clearly not welcome in this church and we will not be returning. As we were leaving the usher attempted to direct us to the cry room with the statement the priest “doesn’t like children in the service”. The icing on the cake, though, was that the church was hosting a Santa breakfast after all morning Masses. We were told about it by a nice man decked out in holiday ware as we were walking in and “Mrs. Claus” was passing out candy before Mass to invite people to join. All this led us to believe this is welcoming place for littles, clearly the priest has other thoughts. Why have events for children if your priest doesn’t want them in Mass? I’ve never been so hurt and humiliated. Quite frankly, it’s hard enough for young families to get to church and they sure won’t go if they’re humiliated and made to feel unwelcome. The Catholic Church will seize to exist with...