About San Jose Mission · Contreras, New Mexico
San Jose Chapel (also called San Jose Mission) is a small Catholic mission chapel in the tiny rural hamlet of Contreras, New Mexico, located in Socorro County along the Rio Grande between Belen and Socorro. It is one of five mission chapels served by Our Lady of Sorrows Parish in nearby La Joya, the others being San Antonio in Abeytas, San Antonio in Sabinal, San Juan in Veguita, and San Isidro in Las Nutrias. The chapel sits in the Archdiocese of Santa Fe and, like other Hispano mission churches of the Middle Rio Grande, remains a beloved spiritual and cultural anchor for the surrounding ranching community, traditionally hosting a fiesta each March.
- Patron
- St. Joseph
- Rector
- Rev. Tobe Oluoha
- Diocese
- Archdiocese of Santa Fe (Metropolitan)
Why belong here
San Jose Chapel gives the people of Contreras and surrounding ranches a centuries-old Hispano Catholic place to pray, gather for a March fiesta in honor of St. Joseph, and stay connected to the wider five-mission family of Our Lady of Sorrows Parish. As one visitor observed, this is a well-tended chapel in a community where 'everything is as it should be,' sustained by volunteer mayordomos and visited regularly by the parish priest. For Catholics in the Middle Rio Grande who want both the intimacy of a village capiya and the rhythm of weekly Spanish and English Masses, San Jose offers exactly that rural New Mexican devotion.
Mass times at San Jose Mission
Weekly Mass schedule
Confession times
- Saturday 8:15–10:15 AM (at the parish/rectory) or by appointment
Adoration times
- Once a week, following the 5:00 PM Wednesday Mass at San Juan, Veguita
San Jose Chapel (Contreras) — A Mission of Our Lady of Sorrows Parish
San Jose Chapel is one of five mission chapels under the care of Our Lady of Sorrows Parish, whose mother church and rectory sit in La Joya, New Mexico, in the Middle Rio Grande valley between Belen and Socorro. The parish stretches across a rural landscape of farms and ranches, with the parish office located about ten miles north of La Joya in Las Nutrias (1056 Hwy 304, PO Box 534, Veguita, NM 87062). San Jose Chapel serves the families of Contreras, a small ranching hamlet that takes its name from the 19th-century settler Matías Contreras. The chapel lies in the Archdiocese of Santa Fe and, together with its sister mission chapels, sustains the sacramental and devotional life of this stretch of Socorro County.
Devotions, Fiestas, and Traditions
San Jose Chapel and its sister missions keep up a rich cycle of popular devotions characteristic of New Mexican Catholic life. The chapel's central celebration is its annual fiesta in March in honor of St. Joseph, a longstanding community gathering that draws residents back to Contreras. Across the parish, the people gather for Holy Week liturgies, a yearly blessing of the irrigation water that recalls the agricultural life of the valley, and an annual novena to San Isidro asking for the success of the farming year. Parishes in the Rio Grande valley have kept this rhythm of feast-day devotion for centuries.
- Fiesta de San José at the Contreras chapel each March
- Annual Novena to San Isidro at San Isidro Mission, Las Nutrias
- Yearly blessing of irrigation water
- Good Friday liturgy with Deacon Robert
- Holy Thursday Mass and Easter Vigil with Fr. Tobe
- Divine Mercy Sunday observance
- Processions and Spanish hymns rooted in Hispanic devotional tradition
Parish Life, Ministries, and the Mayordomo Tradition
Like every historic New Mexico mission chapel, San Jose relies on the volunteer mayordomos — lay caretakers who open the church, keep it clean, care for the patron image of St. Joseph, and help stage the year's fiestas. The wider parish of Our Lady of Sorrows brings together the faithful of five mission communities under one pastor and one deacon, offering a single family of worship across La Joya, Contreras, Las Nutrias, Veguita, Abeytas, and Sabinal.
- Mayordomo (lay caretaker) ministry at each mission chapel
- Altar servers and youth ministry
- Spanish and English liturgical ministries
- Lectors, Eucharistic ministers, and choir/singers for fiesta Masses
- Parish communications via Facebook
Our Lady of Sorrows Parish — The Wider Family
Our Lady of Sorrows Parish serves five mission communities in the Socorro County stretch of the Rio Grande. The mother church and rectory are located in La Joya at 19 Calle de la Iglesia; the parish office and parish hall are located at 1056 Hwy 304 in Las Nutrias (mailing address: PO Box 534, Veguita, NM 87062). The pastor is Rev. Tobe Oluoha, assisted by Deacon Robert. The parish is a community of small farms and ranches, rooted in the Hispano Catholic tradition and bound together by rotating Masses, shared fiestas, and generations of mayordomo service.
- Pastor: Rev. Tobe Oluoha
- Deacon: Deacon Robert
- Mother church: Our Lady of Sorrows, 19 Calle de la Iglesia, La Joya, NM 87028
- Parish Office: 1056 Hwy 304, PO Box 534, Veguita, NM 87062
- Phone: (505) 864-4461
- Website: olslajoyanm.org
- Sister missions: San Antonio (Abeytas), San Antonio (Sabinal), San Juan (Veguita), San Isidro (Las Nutrias), San Jose (Contreras)