About Our Lady of Guadalupe · Mendota, California
Our Lady of Guadalupe is a Roman Catholic parish located in Mendota, California, in the Diocese of Fresno. It was established in 1953 and serves a predominantly Spanish-speaking community, offering Mass and the sacraments in both Spanish and English. The parish historically ministers to farm-working families in this small San Joaquin Valley town and oversees the Mission Church of Our Lady of Lourdes in Three Rocks.
- Established
- 1953
- Patron
- Our Lady of Guadalupe (Blessed Virgin Mary under the title of her 1531 apparition to St. Juan Diego in Mexico)
- Diocese
- Diocese of Fresno
Why belong here
Our Lady of Guadalupe offers daily and weekly Masses in a welcoming Spanish-language Catholic community rooted in the San Joaquin Valley. Families can attend Mass six days a week, take part in weekly Eucharistic Adoration, and receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation regularly. The parish also extends its care to the surrounding rural area through its Three Rocks mission, making it a faithful spiritual home for the farmworking families of Mendota and beyond.
Mass times at Our Lady of Guadalupe
Weekly Mass schedule
Confession times
- Thursday 5:00 PM – 6:00 PM
- Friday 5:00 PM – 6:00 PM
Adoration times
- Thursday 5:00 PM – 6:00 PM (Eucharistic Adoration)
Parish History
Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish was founded in 1953 in Mendota, a small farming city in the western San Joaquin Valley of California. The parish takes its name from the Blessed Virgin Mary under the title of Our Lady of Guadalupe, in honor of her 1531 apparition to St. Juan Diego near Mexico City — an apparition especially cherished by Mexican and Mexican-American Catholics. Over the decades the parish has anchored the spiritual life of Mendota's predominantly Spanish-speaking Catholic population.
- Founded in 1953
- Serves a heavily Hispanic, farming-community population
- Named for the Blessed Virgin Mary under the title of Our Lady of Guadalupe
Diocese and Vicariate
The parish is part of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fresno, in California's San Joaquin Valley. Within the diocese, Our Lady of Guadalupe is grouped in the Mendota vicariate alongside other parishes serving small rural communities of Fresno County.
- Diocese of Fresno
- Listed under the Mendota vicariate
Pastoral Leadership
The parish's most prominently documented pastor in recent decades was Fr. Gaspar Bautista, ordained in 1975, who served as pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe and its Three Rocks mission from 2001 to 2016, when he was placed on leave. A fifteen-year tenure, his ministry marked a long and stable chapter in the parish's modern history.
- Fr. Gaspar Bautista — pastor 2001–2016 (ordained 1975)
Mass and Worship Schedule
Our Lady of Guadalupe offers an unusually full weekly schedule for a parish of its size: four Sunday Masses plus daily Mass Monday through Saturday and a Saturday evening vigil. Confession is offered twice a week before weekday Mass, and Eucharistic Adoration is held weekly.
- Sunday Masses at 8:00 AM, 9:30 AM, 11:00 AM, and 12:30 PM
- Saturday vigil Mass at 6:30 PM
- Weekday Masses Tuesday–Friday at 6:00 PM
- Confession Thursday and Friday, 5:00 PM – 6:00 PM
- Eucharistic Adoration Thursday, 5:00 PM – 6:00 PM
Languages and Community
The parish serves a predominantly Spanish-speaking Catholic community. Mass is celebrated primarily in Spanish, with English accommodated as well. The parish's patroness and namesake — Our Lady of Guadalupe — has deep meaning for the Mexican-American Catholic tradition of the region.
- Primary worship language: Spanish
- English also accommodated
- Patroness beloved as Our Lady of Guadalupe
Mission Church: Our Lady of Lourdes, Three Rocks
Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish oversees the Mission Church of Our Lady of Lourdes at Three Rocks, a small rural community west of Mendota. The mission extends the parish's pastoral care to farmworkers and families in that outlying area of Fresno County.
- Mission: Our Lady of Lourdes, Three Rocks
- Supervised from Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish
Location and Visiting
Our Lady of Guadalupe sits in the older grid of Mendota, at 484 Quince Street, two or three blocks off the main CA-33 / Derrick Avenue corridor. The church is at the corner of Quince and 5th Streets, easy to reach from the center of town.
- Address: 484 Quince St., Mendota, CA 93640
- Phone: (559) 655-4237
- At the corner of Quince and 5th Streets, three blocks west-northwest of CA-33
Pastors & rectors through the years
- Fr. Gaspar Bautista2001–2016
Ordained in 1975; served as pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe (Mendota) and Mission Our Lady of Lourdes (Three Rocks) from 2001 to 2016, when he was placed on leave.