Our Lady of Peace Shrine

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Our Lady, Queen of Peace statue

Our Lady of Peace Shrine is a Roman Catholic parish of the Diocese of San Jose located in Santa Clara, California. The most notable feature of the parish is the 32 foot statue of Our Lady, Queen of Peace which is viewable from U.S. Highway 101.

The parish was founded on June 24, 1961 when The Rev. Joseph G. Sullivan was appointed pastor. In 1969 The Rev. John Joseph Sweeny took over and worked to pay down the parish's the $500,000 debt. After Monsignor Sweeny's forced retirement, Fr. Walter Mallo, IVE was appointed pastor. The parish has two Associate pastors, namely Fr. Rolando Santoianni and Fr. Paul Coleman, as well as many frequent visiting priests who often say Mass and hear confessions.

The parish celebrates the Mass in Latin using the 1970 Roman Missal once a week, and until January 2007 had been granted an indult to celebrate Mass according to the 1962 Roman Missal once a month. In January 2007, that indult was taken away, but Our Mother of Perpetual Help Chapel, also in Santa Clara, was given permission to have several Tridentine masses every week.

The parish is well known in the area for orthodoxy and traditional practice, and many of the people who attend Mass at Our Lady of Peace do not live in its territorial parish. The more traditional practices there include the use of altar rails for the receipt of Communion, Confession available daily before Mass, four Masses offered on weekdays, perpetual adoration of the Eucharist, and the prescence of many solidly orthodox priests. All the altar servers are boys, and usually the Eucharist is distributed only by priests. These practices are quite a contrast to most neighboring parishes, which are usually much less traditional, and thus serve to attract many additional people to the parish.

Our Lady of Peace shrine has a large gift shop which sells books, rosaries, tapes and compact disks, movies, statues and icons, and other assorted religious goods. The parish also has a library, a community center with assorted facilities for sports and recreation, a convent located in the former rectory, and large, well kept grounds, especially around the large statue. Parishioners and others can often be seen walking in the gardens or in fair weather enjoying the sun on the grass. The grounds are quite large, and form somewhat of an oasis in the midst of a busy industrial area.