St Joseph Basilica at 1109 Chestnut Street, Alameda, California.

The designation of a "Basilica" means that this church has a special bond of communion with the pope. I believe there are only about 69 basilicas in the United States. This fact among others makes this particular church popular for weddings. Heck, I got married there. Also, on another note, when you get married in a church and they ask you to pay to get married there, well that's a suggested donation. I'm not saying don't pay it because there are some costs involved in setting up the church for your wedding but $1500 for three hours? I got a discount because I went to school there but I didn't know you could get a discounted donation rate. I sthat a thing? Can that be a Groupon? But make sure it's a donation and not a fee. This is our church and we don't pay for sacraments.

It's a very large church, the largest in Alameda, and they don't have any problems filling those seats. It's also where the head to the deanery lives and celebrates mass. In Alameda it's your last chance Sunday mass because they have one at 7pm.

It's really hard to review a church because if you review a church I think you should also review the parish priest because the church isn't just a building. At a restaurant you also review the food and not just the atmosphere. A priest is human after all. I teach my kids to respect their priest as they are leaders in our community but their not perfect. I don't think he's there anymore but Fr. Fred really turned that church around.

My only negative is that the choir at the teen mass is huge! That's ok but the music is distracting. A rain stick? Come on! They have a drum set, a percussionist (apart from the drum set) a keyboardist, a pianist, some other wind instruments and about a dozen or more choir singers. So I feel like we're there for a performance.