Saint Marks University Parish is a Catholic church founded in 1965 in Isla Vista next to the University of California, Santa Barbara and is one of more than 200 Catholic parishes serving colleges and universities around the country. Professors and locals often attend Mass but about 80 percent of the parishioners are students. The decor is such that the Communion altar in the center of the room so that there is a focus as much on the rest of the congregation as on the altar or the pulpit, creating a sense of fellowship.