About San Antonio Mission · Cedar Crest, New Mexico
San Antonio Mission is a Roman Catholic mission church in the small East Mountain community of Cedar Crest, New Mexico. It is one of seven mission chapels served by Holy Child Catholic Parish, whose main church and parish offices are located about two miles south in Tijeras. The mission sits at 7 San Antonio Drive in the historic Hispanic village of San Antonio, a community that grew up around the old Cañon de Carnue Land Grant in the foothills of the Sandia Mountains. Like the other East Mountain missions, San Antonio Mission shares the pastor and sacramental life of Holy Child Parish, with weekday Mass rotating to it on the third Friday of each month.
- Patron
- Saint Anthony (San Antonio)
- Rector
- Rev. Fr. Mark Granito
- Diocese
- Archdiocese of Santa Fe
Why belong here
San Antonio Mission is the perfect fit for Catholics in the East Mountains who want a small, tight-knit mission community rooted in one of the oldest Hispanic villages in the Sandia foothills. As part of Holy Child Parish, it gives parishioners a say in seven mission churches' shared Catholic life — daily Mass in Tijeras, Friday-evening Mass rotating through each mission, daily Eucharistic Adoration, RCIA, a robust youth program, FIAT ministry, St. Vincent de Paul, and a thriving Holy Child Catholic School — all under one pastor, Fr. Mark Granito. It's a place where the historic San Antonio community and newer Cedar Crest residents worship side by side in a tradition that goes back to the 1830s.
Mass times at San Antonio Mission
Weekly Mass schedule
San Antonio Mission — Cedar Crest's Historic East Mountain Chapel
San Antonio Mission is one of seven mission churches of Holy Child Catholic Parish in Tijeras, New Mexico. The little mission sits at 7 San Antonio Drive in the village of San Antonio — one of the oldest Hispanic settlements in the East Mountain corridor east of Albuquerque. The parish website, www.holychildparishnm.org, lists it as the third-Friday-of-the-month chapel in the rotating Friday-evening Mass circuit, alongside Tijeras (1st & 5th), Carnuel (2nd), and San Antonito (4th). All sacramental registration, anointings, RCIA inquiries, and parish business are handled through the Holy Child rectory in Tijeras.
- Mission of: Holy Child Catholic Parish, 19 Camino del Santo Niño, Tijeras, NM 87059
- Diocese: Archdiocese of Santa Fe
- Phone: (505) 281-2297
- Patron: Saint Anthony of Padua (June 13)
- Mission share: 3rd Friday of each month, 6:00 PM Mass
History of the San Antonio Mission Site
San Antonio has been the religious center of the Cañon de Carnue area since the early 19th century. According to the Albuquerque Historical Society, the only church serving the Cañon de Carnue from the mid-1830s until 1880 stood here — built on a third San Antonio plaza and over the remains of an earlier Indian pueblo. That original church burned in the 1950s and was replaced by the current building, which today operates as a mission chapel of Holy Child Parish. The surrounding community of San Antonio, along with Canoncito, is now part of the larger unincorporated area of Cedar Crest (population just under 1,000 in the 2020 census), whose name dates to 1925 when tuberculosis patient Carl Webb moved the Tijeras post office to his mountaintop health resort.
- Mid-1830s–1880: site of the only church serving the Cañon de Carnue area
- Built over ruins of an Indian pueblo on the third San Antonio plaza
- Original church destroyed by fire in the 1950s
- Rebuilt as the present mission chapel (the current San Antonio Mission)
Mass and Liturgical Schedule at San Antonio Mission
San Antonio Mission's published Mass is the rotating Friday-evening Mass, celebrated at 6:00 PM on the third Friday of every month in English. For daily Mass, Saturday Vigil, and Sunday Masses (8:00 AM, 10:00 AM, and 12:00 PM), parishioners typically go to the main church at Holy Child in Tijeras. The noon Sunday Mass and the 1:15 PM community Rosary in Tijeras are livestreamed each week.
- 3rd Friday of the month — 6:00 PM, English (San Antonio Mission)
- 1st & 5th Fridays — 6:00 PM, English (Tijeras)
- 2nd Fridays — 6:00 PM, English (Carnuel mission)
- 4th Fridays — 6:00 PM, English (San Antonito mission)
- Monday–Thursday — 8:00 AM, English (Tijeras)
- 1st Saturday — 9:00 AM, English (Tijeras)
- Saturday Vigil — 5:00 PM, English (Tijeras)
- Sunday — 8:00 AM at Chilili (1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th Sundays) or Escobosa (2nd Sunday); 10:00 AM and 12:00 PM at Tijeras
Clergy and Parish Staff
San Antonio Mission shares its pastor with Holy Child Parish and the entire East Mountain mission family. The current pastor, Rev. Fr. Mark Granito, has served the parish for many years; he was present at the founding of Holy Child Catholic School in 2008 and is also head of the school. He is assisted by three deacons and a lay parish staff that handles the parish office, business, faith formation, music, and the sacraments.
- Rev. Fr. Mark Granito — Pastor
- Deacon Larry Carmony
- Deacon Maurice Rodriguez
- Deacon Randall Rodriguez
- Parish Secretary (Amanda Housman, per 2020 bulletin)
- Business Manager — Rafaelita M. Gonzales (with the parish since 2008)
- Catechetical Leader — Alicia Rocco
- Choir Director — Cayetano Herrera
- Ministry Coordinator — Shirley Mallot
- RCIA Coordinator — call parish office
Holy Child Catholic School
Holy Child Catholic School (HCCS), founded in 2008 and closely interwoven with Holy Child Catholic Parish, is a major part of parish life. Students from the school serve as altar servers at weekday and Sunday Masses (including at San Antonio Mission when it hosts Mass), sing in the school choir at Thursday Mass, lector at weekday Masses, and participate in the St. Vincent de Paul Youth Club. Fr. Mark Granito serves as both school head and pastor.
- School founded 2008 by Archbishop John C. Wester (later Archbishop John P. Byrne reference in parish history)
- Principal: Mrs. Janice Martinez
- Students serve as altar servers, lectors, choir, and St. Vincent de Paul Youth Club members
- Pastor Fr. Mark Granito also serves as head of school
Parish Ministries and Faith Formation
Holy Child Parish runs a wide variety of ministries that San Antonio Mission parishioners are welcome to take part in — RCIA for adults, Confirmation preparation (with Theology of the Body), the FIAT young adult / family ministry, the Ignite Your Faith initiative, the St. Vincent de Paul Youth Club, a mothers-with-young-children group, a men's and women's group circuit, and Weekends for the Engaged marriage preparation. The parish also has an active Knights of Columbus council (Mr. Alejandro Padilla became a Knight in 2017).
- RCIA — call parish office
- Confirmation catechesis (Jim Lyle leads Confirmation, including Theology of the Body)
- FIAT ministry
- Ignite Your Faith initiative
- St. Vincent de Paul Youth Club (grades 4–8)
- Mothers with young children group
- Knights of Columbus
- Weekends for the Engaged (marriage prep)
- Altar servers, lectors, choir
Sacraments at Holy Child Parish (which serves San Antonio Mission)
All sacraments for San Antonio Mission parishioners are prepared and celebrated through Holy Child Parish. Baptisms require a mandatory pre-baptismal class held on the second Monday of the month at 7:00 PM in Tijeras, and baptisms are normally celebrated after the 10:00 AM Sunday Mass. Weddings require notification six months to a year in advance. Anointing of the Sick is offered on request — the parish asks parishioners to call before any scheduled surgery.
- Baptism class: 2nd Monday of the month, 7:00 PM, Tijeras
- Baptisms: Sundays after 10:00 AM Mass
- First Communion: through Holy Child School or parish catechetical programs
- Confirmation: parish prep (Theology of the Body)
- Matrimony: 6–12 months advance notice
- Anointing of the Sick: call parish office before surgery
- Communion to Sick and Aged: coordinated through parish office
The Seven Mission Churches of Holy Child Parish
San Antonio Mission is one of seven mission chapels cared for by Holy Child Catholic Parish. Together they form a single parish family spread across the East Mountains between Albuquerque and the Manzano high country. GCatholic lists San Antonio Mission 2.1 km from the main church in Tijeras.
- Church of the Holy Child — 19 Camino del Santo Niño, Tijeras (parish church)
- Church of the Holy Child — Carnuel
- Church of Nuestro Señor de Mapimí — San Antonito
- Church of San Lorenzo — Cañoncito
- Church of San Antonio — Cedar Crest (this mission)
- Church of San Juan Nepomuceno — Chilili
- Church of San Isidro — Escabosa
- Church of San Isidro — Sedillo
Visiting San Antonio Mission
San Antonio Mission is open for its third-Friday-of-the-month 6:00 PM Mass and at other times by arrangement through the parish office. For other Masses, devotions, the school, the Adoration chapel, and parish events, visitors are warmly welcomed at Holy Child in Tijeras — about a 5-minute drive south down NM-14.
- From Albuquerque: I-40 E to Exit 175, NM-14 N about 1.1 miles, left on San Antonio Dr., church on the right
- Parish office (Tijeras): Mon–Thu 8:30 AM–12:00 PM and 1:00–4:00 PM; Fri 8:30 AM–12:00 PM
- Rectory phone: (505) 281-2297
- Pastor emergency line: 505-281-1502 (danger of death)
- Online giving: holychildparish.flocknote.com/fundit/give