About Sanctuary of Our Lady of Guadalupe · Mecca, California
The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Guadalupe is a Roman Catholic parish (also styled as a shrine) in Mecca, California, a small, predominantly farmworking community on the east side of the Coachella Valley in Riverside County. The parish belongs to the Diocese of San Bernardino and serves roughly 5,000 registered families, offering Spanish-language and bilingual Masses, weekly confession, Eucharistic adoration, and outreach to low-income neighbors. Its worship is deeply rooted in the Mexican Marian devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe, whose feast on December 12 is celebrated with a novena beginning December 1 and an all-night vigil of song leading into the traditional dawn mananitas.
- Established
- 1964
- Patron
- Our Lady of Guadalupe (Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe)
- Rector
- Rev. Rocendo Herrera, S.T.
- Diocese
- Diocese of San Bernardino (Low Desert Vicariate)
Why belong here
The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Guadalupe is the spiritual heart of Mecca's predominantly Spanish-speaking farmworking community, with nearly all weekend Masses celebrated in Spanish and a strong tradition of popular devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe. A family here can attend daily Mass three evenings a week, bring children to a vibrant December feast and the summer Reign of the Grape festival, and find a parish food pantry serving low-income neighbors on the last Friday of each month. For anyone in the eastern Coachella Valley looking for an authentically bilingual, devotion-rich Catholic home — or for visitors making a Marian pilgrimage to one of the desert's most storied shrines — this parish offers a warm and historic welcome.
Mass times at Sanctuary of Our Lady of Guadalupe
Weekly Mass schedule
Confession times
- Friday 4:00 p.m. – 5:45 p.m.
Adoration times
- Thursday 6:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. (Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament)
Parish Identity & Patron
The parish is formally styled the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Guadalupe and takes its name from the Marian apparition to Saint Juan Diego on Tepeyac Hill near Mexico City in 1531. Our Lady of Guadalupe is recognized as the patroness of the Americas, and her image and title give the parish its devotional center of gravity. The Spanish-language name — Santuario de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe — appears throughout the Diocese's Spanish-language pages and reflects the overwhelmingly Latino, Mexican-American identity of the community.
- Patron: Our Lady of Guadalupe
- Feast day: December 12
- Spanish-language title: Santuario de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe
History
What is now the Sanctuary began as a mission chapel of Our Lady of Soledad Church in Coachella, serving the eastern Coachella Valley's farmworker families. GCatholic dates the mission's origins to 1927, while the Diocese of San Bernardino's 2025 Jubilee site map lists 1964 as the parish's founding year and the parish's own history page dates canonical establishment to 1965. For its first two decades the community was served from Coachella and only later received its first resident pastor.
- Mission origins (per GCatholic): 1927
- Parish established (Diocese of San Bernardino Jubilee 2025 list): 1964
- Parish established (Diocese parish-history page): 1965
- First resident pastor: assigned ~20 years after canonical establishment
The Tent Years & the New Sanctuary
After a 2006 storm collapsed the sanctuary's roof, then-pastor Father Eliseo Lucas and the congregation worshipped for years under a large plastic tent in the parking lot. The Los Angeles Times reported on the hardship in December 2008: parishioners fainting from heat, sandstorms in winter, portable toilets, and 40 volunteers trained in CPR. The parish nonetheless raised roughly $300,000 from its own poor community, and with major help from Sacred Heart Church in Palm Desert and the Diocese of San Bernardino, more than $4 million was eventually gathered.
- 2006: storm collapses sanctuary roof
- Multi-year tent worship in the parking lot
- January 2014: construction begins on the new 19,000-square-foot sanctuary
- February 15, 2015: more than 1,000 people attend the dedication
Clergy & Ecclesial Staff
The parish is currently led by Rev. Rocendo Herrera, S.T., as pastor, with Rev. Carlos Zacarias-Lopez serving as Parochial Vicar. Three deacons assist with parish life: Deacon Luis Ayala, Deacon J. Trinidad Porras, and Deacon Francisco Sanchez. Father Eliseo Lucas is remembered for shepherding the community through the tent years and the fundraising campaign that produced today's sanctuary.
- Pastor: Rev. Rocendo Herrera, S.T.
- Parochial Vicar: Rev. Carlos Zacarias-Lopez
- Deacon Luis Ayala
- Deacon J. Trinidad Porras
- Deacon Francisco Sanchez
- Past pastor of note: Father Eliseo Lucas (tent years and new-church fundraising)
Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe (December 12)
The greatest celebration of the parish year is the December 12 feast of the patroness. Festivities begin on December 1 with a twelve-day novena. On the eve of the feast the community holds an all-night vigil of songs and praises in the Virgin's honor, continuing until 4:00 a.m., when the congregation begins the traditional Mexican dawn song — the mananitas — to greet Our Lady of Guadalupe.
- Novena: December 1–11
- All-night vigil of song and praise on the eve of the feast
- Traditional mananitas at 4:00 a.m. on December 12
Reign of the Grape Harvest Festival
A signature social event of the parish is the 'Reign of the Grape' harvest celebration, normally held in June. The festival ties the parish's identity to the agricultural lifeblood of the eastern Coachella Valley and includes a parade of queen candidates, music, and the sale of food — a true family feast in the Mexican Catholic harvest-festival tradition.
- Held annually in June
- Parade of queen candidates
- Music and food sales
- Family-oriented community celebration
Outreach & Food Assistance
The parish operates an Emergency Food Assistance program recognized by the Riverside County Network of Care. The pantry distributes emergency food to low-income individuals on the last Friday of each month from 10:30 a.m. to 12:00 noon, and reflects the parish's long-standing commitment to its farmworking and low-income neighbors in Mecca and the surrounding desert communities.
- Emergency Food Assistance: last Friday of each month, 10:30 a.m. – 12:00 noon
- Eligibility: low-income individuals
- Languages: Spanish (and English as needed)
Pastors & rectors through the years
- Father Eliseo Lucas
Led the parish through the 2006 tent years and the early fundraising for the new sanctuary; quoted in 2008 Los Angeles Times coverage about the hardships of the temporary structure and the generosity of parishioners.