St Josephs Monastery Parish

This church is a second home for me. I grew up going to church here and still visit from time to time. Its always nice to see faces of friends when I return. The church is beautiful without a doubt and well maintained /​taken care of. I enjoy the services and the music greatly!

A 3 to a 3.5 overall.
The Church itself is impressively beautiful and gorgeous. Truly a splendor and appears to be well-​kept. People are friendly. The music and choir were very enjoyable.
Prior to Mass I could hear people talk loudly within the Church about crab cakes, Olive Garden, and other rather annoyingly unimportant things while trying to pray. They were not attempting to whisper, but were talking among themselves and between pews; nor was this an isolated matter but appeared to be throughout the church. Attempts to find quieter areas to pray was futile. The talking continued into the beginning of the service itself.
I was shocked when two lectors, who sat directly behind the ambo, were chatting-​it-​up during the priest’s homily and laughing; even slapping each other’s arms in-​laughter. I could see them from where I was sitting and it was rather distracting. I normally wouldn’t take this into account for a review, however, one of the people was the president of the Parish Council (she was introduced as such to make an announcement at the end of Mass).
The homily was adequate and spoke to the event of the day: a baptism. The baptism itself was very nice and it had the godfather (or father, not quite sure who) balling his eyes out like a baby due to being touched deeply. I was touched as well. A very meaningful event and I am glad to have been a part of it.