Saint Joseph Camotes

Saint Joseph Parish sits in San Francisco, one of four towns on the Camotes Islands, reached by ferry from Danao City on the Cebu mainland or from Cebu City itself. The islands sit in open water in the Camotes Sea, geologically and economically apart from the rest of Cebu province — coconut farming and fishing carry the local economy, with beach tourism around Santiago Bay and Lake Danao a newer addition. The parish functions as San Francisco’s town center in the way most island parishes do: Mass schedule, fiesta calendar, and the market day rhythm all orbit the same church grounds, which sit close enough to the port that arriving by boat and arriving at the church are practically the same walk.