Mike Scioscia, veteran manager of the Los Angeles Angels, visited the press conference room at Target Field on Sunday morning, but it wasn’t to announce a trade.

Instead, Scioscia was among perhaps 30 worshipers attending a Roman Catholic Mass the Twins will be offering for all Sunday home games this season. Catholic Athletes for Christ, an organization based in Alexandria, Va., approached the Twins about the idea this offseason. Related Articles Rich Hill turns in solid start, but Cubs shut out Twins at Wrigley

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Twins President Dave St. Peter, who joined the club in 1990, couldn’t remember Mass being held at Twins home games during his tenure.

“When this was brought to my attention in the offseason, I was amazed that I wasn’t aware of this organization,” St. Peter said. “I really didn’t see any reason why we couldn’t add it to Target Field. Not just for players and coaches and media, but for our game-day staff and front-office staff.”

Baseball Chapel will continue to hold an 11 a.m. service at Target Field before Sunday home games for interested players and staff from both teams.

“Baseball Chapel has long been a part of the ballpark,” St. Peter said. “We’re very familiar with that. But this organization, CAC, really had expressed an interest in forming a partnership in Minnesota, and we were supportive of that.”

Twins general manager Terry Ryan also attended the inaugural Mass, but Twins players and coaches weren’t aware it was being offered.

“This is really turnkey for the team,” St. Peter said. “It’s not like it’s a lot of heavy lifting for the team. I was a little surprised we haven’t done it before. I wasn’t aware of it.”

Eileen Bock, a Twin Cities volunteer for CAC who works for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, said the Twins were the 25th major league team to open their doors to the organization.

Father Nels Gjengdahl, the chaplain at St. Thomas Academy, presided over Sunday’s service, but that honor will be spread among area priests. Consideration also will be given to holding bilingual Mass to account for the sport’s strong Latin American population.

“This is fantastic,” Bock said. “This being the first time, I didn’t know if two people would show up, and all of a sudden 30 people showed up.”

CAC has arranged for Catholic Mass to be held at area hotels for visiting NFL teams in town to play the Minnesota Vikings. Most NFL teams have their own chaplain, she noted, but that’s not the case in baseball.

“At the different ballparks, it’s up to each team whether they allow it to be open to visiting team and staff,” Bock said. “Our hope is that it’s open to anyone who has to show up early.”

Logistics and convenience are at the forefront of the idea.

“Especially in the Twin Cities, it might be easy to get to some of the local churches,” Bock said, “but some ballparks you’re on the outskirts and you might not be able to quickly go over to an area church. It’s a lot easier than getting in a cab and going to church.”