About St. Anthony · Pescadero, California
St. Anthony's is a small mission church serving the coastal farming and fishing community of Pescadero, California, on the San Mateo County coast south of Half Moon Bay. It is one of two mission churches of Our Lady of the Pillar Parish in Half Moon Bay (the other being Our Lady of Refuge in La Honda), under the Archdiocese of San Francisco. The mission continues a long Catholic presence on the coast that traces back to 1868, when James McCormick, Sr. funded the purchase of a lot for a Catholic church in the old Rancho Pescadero, and its bilingual (English/Spanish) Sunday liturgy reflects the makeup of today's South Coast community.
- Established
- 1868
- Patron
- St. Anthony
- Rector
- Rev. Mark Taheny
- Diocese
- Archdiocese of San Francisco
Why belong here
St. Anthony's is the Catholic home of the Pescadero Valley — a small, bilingual mission church where English- and Spanish-speaking Coastside families worship side by side. Parishioners who live between the Santa Cruz Mountains and the Pacific Ocean find here a tight-knit Sunday community (9:00 AM English Mass, 6:00 PM Spanish Mass) supported by the larger Our Lady of the Pillar Parish in Half Moon Bay, with a school, faith formation, and bilingual sacramental preparation available to the whole Coastside family.
Mass times at St. Anthony
Weekly Mass schedule
Confession times
- Saturdays 4:00 PM – 5:00 PM at Our Lady of the Pillar, Half Moon Bay (or by appointment; call 650-726-4674)
St. Anthony's Mission, Pescadero
St. Anthony's is a mission church of Our Lady of the Pillar Parish, Half Moon Bay, in the Archdiocese of San Francisco. The mission serves the rural Pescadero Valley on the San Mateo County coast, with a bilingual Sunday schedule that reflects the makeup of the local Coastside community.
- Patron: St. Anthony
- Address: 696 North Street, Pescadero, CA 94060
- Office: (650) 726-4674 · [email protected]
- Parish website: http://ourladyofthepillar.org/
History of St. Anthony's and the Pescadero Mission
The Catholic mission in Pescadero is rooted in the Mexican land grant of Rancho Pescadero (San Antonio), made in 1833 to Don Juan José González. The mission itself dates to June 10, 1868, when James McCormick, Sr. supplied funds to purchase a lot for a Catholic church, and the adjoining Catholic cemetery was procured in 1876 by William McCormick and Eli D. Moore. The present church building on North Street is recorded by the Historic American Buildings Survey with an initial construction date of 1906, indicating the structure that stands today was erected in the parish's early decades.
- 1833: Rancho Pescadero (San Antonio) granted to Don Juan José González
- 1868 (June 10): James McCormick, Sr. funds purchase of the Catholic lot
- 1876: William McCormick and Eli D. Moore procure the Catholic cemetery
- 1906: Present church building constructed (HABS CA-2133)
- Documented in the Library of Congress Historic American Buildings Survey
Clergy
St. Anthony's is served by the priests of Our Lady of the Pillar Parish, with the pastor and parochial vicar based at Half Moon Bay and providing ministry across the three Coastside churches.
- Rev. Mark Taheny — Pastor (Pastor phone: 650-713-5301)
- Rev. Jose Corral — Parochial Vicar
- Rev. Charles Onubogo — In Residence
St. Anthony's Cemetery
The Catholic cemetery adjacent to St. Anthony's in Pescadero was procured in 1876 by William McCormick and Eli D. Moore, just eight years after the mission lot itself was purchased. It is administered through the Archdiocese of San Francisco's Catholic Cemeteries office (Holy Cross Cemetery).
- Cemetery lot procured 1876 by William McCormick and Eli D. Moore
- Administered under the Archdiocese of San Francisco Catholic Cemeteries (Holy Cross)
Related: Our Lady of the Pillar Parish
St. Anthony's mission belongs to Our Lady of the Pillar Parish, founded July 21, 1868 by Archbishop Joseph Sadoc Alemany in what was then called 'Spanish Town' (now Half Moon Bay). The parish is the second oldest in San Mateo County and covers the largest territorial area — about 500 square miles, bounded by the San Pedro Mountains to the north, Santa Cruz County to the south, Skyline Boulevard to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. The parish operates a parish school and faith-formation programs serving the entire Coastside, including Pescadero and La Honda.
- Founded July 21, 1868 by Archbishop Joseph Sadoc Alemany
- Second parish founded in San Mateo County
- Covers ~500 square miles of Coastside territory
- Two mission churches: St. Anthony's (Pescadero) and Our Lady of Refuge (La Honda)