About Our Lady of the Pines · Pioneer, California
Our Lady of the Pines is a Roman Catholic mission church located at 26750 Tiger Creek Road in Pioneer, California, a small Sierra Nevada foothill community in Amador County. It is one of four mission churches of St. Katharine Drexel Parish in Martell, within the Diocese of Sacramento's Gold Country Deanery, sharing pastoral leadership and ministry with Immaculate Conception in Sutter Creek, Sacred Heart of Jesus in Ione, and St. Patrick in Jackson. The mission is served by a single weekly Mass, celebrated Wednesday at 11:30 AM, and is supported by an active lay organization known as the OLOP Society, which cares for the church buildings and grounds and supports charitable causes throughout Amador County.
- Patron
- Our Lady of the Pines (Blessed Virgin Mary)
- Rector
- Rev. Ryan Mahar
- Diocese
- Diocese of Sacramento (Gold Country Deanery)
Why belong here
Our Lady of the Pines offers faithful Catholics in the Pioneer and Highway 88 corridor a dedicated worship site close to home, with a quiet midweek Mass and a regular Eucharistic Adoration hour on the third Wednesday of each month. As part of the larger St. Katharine Drexel Parish family, mission parishioners have access to the full sacramental and formation life of the parish — weekend Masses, weekday Masses, confession, faith formation, and community organizations — while remaining a small, tight-knit community served by the active OLOP Society that maintains the church and supports local charitable works.
Mass times at Our Lady of the Pines
Weekly Mass schedule
Confession times
- Confession is heard at St. Katharine Drexel (Martell), not at the mission: Tuesday 4:30–5:45 PM, Thursday 11:00–11:45 AM, Saturday 9:00–10:30 AM.
Adoration times
- Third Wednesday of the month, 10:30–11:30 AM (at Our Lady of the Pines)
About Our Lady of the Pines Mission
Our Lady of the Pines is a Roman Catholic mission church located at 26750 Tiger Creek Road in Pioneer, California, in the Sierra Nevada foothills of Amador County. It is one of four mission sites belonging to St. Katharine Drexel Parish in Martell, within the Diocese of Sacramento's Gold Country Deanery. The mission shares pastoral leadership with Immaculate Conception (Sutter Creek), Sacred Heart of Jesus (Ione), and St. Patrick (Jackson).
History
Our Lady of the Pines was already an established Catholic worship site in Pioneer by 1969, when the Canossian Sisters arrived in Sutter Creek at Bishop Alden J. Bell's invitation to teach catechism across Amador County. The mission was one of five centers — alongside Immaculate Conception in Sutter Creek, St. Patrick in Jackson, St. Mary of the Mountains in Plymouth, and Sacred Heart in Ione — where the sisters instructed children of the parish family until they ended their Amador County ministry in 1991. In 2011 the Diocese of Sacramento reorganized Amador County's parishes by creating St. Katharine Drexel Parish in Martell as the central parish, with Our Lady of the Pines, Immaculate Conception, Sacred Heart of Jesus, and St. Patrick designated as its mission churches — the structure that defines the parish family today.
Parish Family & Leadership
Our Lady of the Pines does not have its own resident priest. The mission is served by the pastor and staff of St. Katharine Drexel Parish, whose parish center is located at 11361 Prospect Drive, Jackson, CA 95642.
- Rev. Ryan Mahar — Pastor / Parochial Administrator
- Dcn. Ray Moreno — Deacon
- Parish Office: (209) 223-2970
- Fax: (209) 223-1147
Parish Organizations
The life of Our Lady of the Pines is supported by the OLOP Society, a lay organization dedicated to maintaining the church buildings and grounds and to charitable giving.
- Our Lady of the Pines (OLOP) Society — meets bi-monthly on the first Wednesday of the month in Haran Hall, following the 11:30 AM Mass (bring your own lunch). The Society exists primarily to care for and maintain the buildings and grounds of Our Lady of the Pines Church; fundraising proceeds are also donated to charitable causes chosen by the membership.
Sacraments
Baptism, First Communion, Confirmation, Marriage, Anointing of the Sick, and RCIA are all coordinated through St. Katharine Drexel Parish. Mission parishioners should contact the parish office in Jackson for preparation classes, scheduling, and sacramental records.
Contact & Visiting
Because Our Lady of the Pines is a mission site and the physical address does not receive U.S. mail, all mail and most inquiries go through the St. Katharine Drexel Parish Center in Jackson. The mission has a recorded-message phone line for the weekly schedule.
- Mailing address: St. Katharine Drexel Parish Center, 11361 Prospect Drive, Jackson, CA 95642
- Phone (Parish Office): (209) 223-2970
- Phone (OLOP recorded message): (209) 295-4909
- Fax: (209) 223-1147
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: https://www.amadorcatholic.com/
- Diocese listing: https://www.scd.org/parish/our-lady-pines-mission-pioneer