Every Sunday at 12:30 p.m., as many as 250 people attend Mass at St. Patrick's Catholic Church in Iowa City.

And while people going to church on Sunday in Iowa City is not unusual, the language spoken at the Mass is.

It's when the Rev. Rudolph Juarez says Mass in Spanish, the only such Catholic service in the Iowa City area.

"It's great," said Juarez, 52. "It's been a tremendous adventure."

That adventure started about 2½ years ago in response to the growing Hispanic population in the area. The Rev. Bob Brownfield said a Spanish-language Mass on Saturday nights to about 30 people.

Then, soon after Juarez became a pastor at St. Patrick's in July 2004, it was moved to Sunday afternoons and attendance exploded.

"We register new people every week, so we've seen a tremendous growth," said Juarez, who grew up in a bilingual home in Davenport.

The idea is to bring people closer to the church, and therefore God, by providing a church service in the language they are most comfortable with.

The response has been great, Juarez said, and the longtime English-speaking parishioners have been supportive. His goal is to have English speakers sometimes attend the Spanish service and vice-versa.

Because of the service, there have been more cross-cultural activities at the church, Juarez said. The Parish Council now includes Spanish-speaking members, something it did not have before the Spanish Mass started. Also, the church provides religious education in Spanish, and it has held Hispanic-themed fundraisers, such as a tamale sale and Mexican breakfast.

"I think that the fact that we opened the doors to more people has led them to be more involved in the community," Juarez said.

- Gregg Hennigan