St Francis Xavier Chapel "Maryknoll" Japanese Catholic Center, 222 S. Hewitt Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012
Formerly known as "Maryknoll"
Mission Statement
We of Saint Francis Xavier Chapel, as members of the Body of Christ, are called to announce in word and in deed the Good News of the Lord Jesus, through the presence and power of the Holy Spirit.
We recognize our community's call to holiness based on mutuality, reciprocity, and interdependence and its ministry focusing on Japanese Catholics while also welcoming all in our greater community.
Fr. Doan Hoang's Message for December 28, 2025
Dear brothers and sisters,
The Holy Family settled in a town called Nazareth, and there Jesus spent most of his time, more than 90 percent of his life, with his family.
They are no authenticated and canonized miracle stories about that long period of his stay with us. He hardly knew anything about it. We know that the years passed and that he grew from adolescence to adulthood. The difference made no difference.
In a sense, he was more God-with-us in Nazareth than later on. He lived the type of the life –family life- we all know about. Yet even then he did not live exactly as we do, because we live in a society where being different always seems to make a difference.
We have to do better than others. We have to be first in our tests, we fight for grades, certificates, prizes, incomes, and degrees. In our self-esteem we depend too much on those outstanding qualities that make us different from the others.
People who do not have those outstanding qualities look at themselves n mirrors all over the world and, seeing nothing special, they consider themselves to be nobodies.
“I am the first one in my class!” We cling like schoolchildren to those aspects of us that set us apart from others: my skills, my insights, my sermons, my techniques, even my religious experience.
We become jealous, mean, anxious, insecure, envious, hateful and we cannot form a community with others because we refuse to live in the world we have in common with other. We refuse to live, within the margins of our common existence.
In Nazareth, Jesus taught us that we are human being do not find our real identity on the edges of our human lives, where we can brag about our specialties and charismas.
親愛なる兄弟姉妹の皆様、
聖家族はナザレという町に定住し、そこでイエスは生涯の90％以上を家族と共に過ごした。
この長い期間に起きた奇跡の物語は、真正性が確認され正典化されたものは存在しない。彼自身もほとんど覚えていない。年月が流れ、少年期から成人期へと成長したことは確かだ。その変化は彼にとって何の違いも生じなかった。
ある意味で、彼は後の時代よりもナザレにおいて「私たちと共にいる神」であった。彼は私たち皆が知るような生活――家族生活――を送っていた。しかしそれでもなお、彼は私たちと同じように生きてはいなかった。なぜなら私たちは、異なることが常に違いを生むように見える社会に生きているからだ。
私たちは他者より優れていなければならない。試験ではトップを目指し、成績や資格、賞金、収入、学位を争う。自己評価において、私たちは他者と差別化する優れた資質に過度に依存している。
そうした卓越した資質を持たない人々は、世界中の鏡に映る自分を見つめ、特別なものを見出せず、自らを無価値な存在と見なす。
「私はクラスで一番だ！」私たちは小学生のように、他者と自分を隔てる要素にしがみつく。自分の技能、洞察力、説教、技術、さらには宗教的体験さえも。
私たちは嫉妬深く、意地悪で、不安に駆られ、自信を失い、妬み、憎しみに満ち、他者との共同体を築くことができない。なぜなら、私たちは他者と共有する世界の中で生きることを拒むからだ。私たちは、共通の存在の境界線の中で生きることを拒むのだ。
ナザレで、イエスは私たちにこう教えた。人間としての真のアイデンティティは、人間の生活の端っこ、つまり自分の特技やカリスマを自慢できる場所で発見されるのではないと。
in-church masses Schedule
Sunday: 8:30 a.m. Japanese Mass
10:00 a.m. English Mass
Saturday: 5:00 p.m. English Vigil Mass/
HOLY DAY OF OBLIGATION:
THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY.
Monday, December 8, 2025, Mass: 12:05 p.m.
PLEASE NOTE THE NEW DAYS FOR WEEKDAY MASSES
Weekday Masses are on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays at 12:05 p.m.
Weekday Masses are subject to change due to funerals or illness.
First Saturday Devotion: 9:00 a.m., Mass followed by Rosary and Divine Mercy. Confessions are available after the Mass.
Donations
Thank you for your continued support! We are grateful to all who donate to SFXCJCC. We are open for weekend and weekday Masses. And are slowly opening our facility to our ministries and groups.
We are still in need of your financial help! Would you please continue making your Sunday Collection contributions or donating to St Francis Xavier Chapel?
You can mail checks to the office:
SFXCJCC
222 S Hewitt Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012
To donate by credit card, click the button below.
Get Involved
Are you passionate about what we're doing? Let us know! We are always looking for volunteers to help us make our vision a reality. We'll help you find a way to volunteer that best suits you. We're excited to have you join the team!
Thank you!
Whether you help through monetary donations, volunteering your time, or spreading our mission through word-of-mouth, thank you. We couldn't accomplish our goals without the help of supporters like you. .