Holy Family

 Holy Family Catholic Church is located in the 7500 block of SE 39th (SE Cesar Chavez Blvd.) near  Eastmoreland and Reed College. 

The inside of the church has some modern, artistic touches such as a clear glass window in the shape of a cross behind the altar with the crucified Jesus etched or molded into the cross-shaped window.  Also, behind the tabernacle are two large copper colored plates perhaps intended to remind one of the shape of a host, serving as an interesting backdrop.  Suspended above the tabernacle by a tripod is what appears to be a censer. 

The choir director was a pistol of a woman, providing the firmness and energy necessary to produce quality singing.  She alone is worth the price of admission. 

There is a school next to the church and many young children were in attendance.  The parishioners at the 10:30 am Mass were overwhelmingly white with one Filipino family and a single African-American man being the only other races represented that day.  The church was full for Mass. 

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As usual I spoke to no one.  When I started this journey one of my goals was to meet new people.  That certainly hasn't occurred, mostly due to my own failure to reach out and introduce myself I suppose.  This church made a very favorable impression on me nonetheless.

St. Stephen Catholic Church

St. Stephen
1112 SE 41st Avenue
Portland 97214

St. Stephen, like Holy Cross, is located just off a major thoroughfare and yet few people likely know it is there.  In St. Stephen's case, it is located in the Richmond neighborhood two blocks east of SE 39th and about two blocks south of SE Belmont. 

The building reminds me of St. Andrew in NE Portland with its tan colored brick exterior and cream trim.  It is an attractive, medium size building.  I went to the 11 am Mass last Sunday.  Many parishioners were late and the Mass began about ten minutes late.  Reverend Petrus Hoang was the celebrant.  Fr. Hoang is a sweet-faced Vietnamese priest with a distinctive accent.  What I understood of his sermon was uplifting, but his accent and the church acoustics made following him a challenge.  The parishioners were mostly white with maybe two Vietnamese families present. 

It was a rainy morning and I was eager to get out of the weather going into and coming out of the church.  I did not come away with much of a feel for this parish, positive or negative, perhaps on account of the weather.

Our Lady of Sorrows

Our Lady of Sorrows 5239 SE Woodstock Boulevard

This small church, built in 1917, is on the corner of southeast 52nd and Woodstock.  The outside is  simple, wooden and painted white.  The inside is nicely painted, appointed and decorated.  The parish's website states, "May no one who comes to our community to join us in worship ever leave us a stranger."  It's a nice sentiment and although no one introduced themselves to me nor I to them, I do not feel that I left a stranger either.  From the Vietnamese woman who smiled and asked if she should get out of my way while I took a picture of a statue to Fr. Ron Millikan's looking me warmly in the eye after Mass and saying, "God bless you sir," I felt welcomed in this small parish.

Speaking of statues, there are many interesting statues and icons in this church.  There is even a "Pilgrim Virgin Statue" you can bring to your home that looks just like the statue here.  Catholics are accused of worshiping graven images with our use of statues.  The reader should understand that the Catholic Church teaches that it is wrong to worship statues and denies that that is what statues in its churches are for.  Catholic Answers has a good defense of the practice of using statues in religious contexts. 

The parishioners at the 11 am Mass were a nice mix.  There were Whites, Hispanics, Vietnamese and a family of Eastern Europeans who I guessed were Czech but could have been Ukrainian or Russian or ?  There was also a nice mix of ages.

Our Lady of Sorrows made a favorable impression on me.  The setting, the interior and the friendliness of its parishioners all recommend it.

St. Elizabeth of Hungary

St. Elizabeth of Hungary 4112 SW Sixth Ave Dr.

You might think, based on a quick look at the address, that this church is located in downtown  Portland.  But, it is actually located on Marquam Hill, just south of OHSU Hospital.   The next thing you might think is that the parish is well to-do, as it is located in the West Hills.  On this account you would be correct.  Finally, being a small parish in the West Hills, you might think the parishioners would be snooty or stand-offish.  On that, I am happy to report, you would be mistaken.


As you can see from the photo (which just shows the entrance - the main part of the church is hidden to the left), the church is small and could pass for a residence if not for the cross atop it.  The inside is neat and attractive, with natural wood in the mode of St. Birgitta and St. Thomas More. 

I felt as if I were in a country church.  Perhaps it was the small size of the church or perhaps it was the acoustical guitarist with a somewhat country style of playing that caused this feeling.  The parishioners were nearly all white and were uniformly friendly.  I think the small size of the church contributes to this. 

A pianist and a bass guitarist accompanied the guitarist.  The guitarist said they were looking for a clarinet player.  There were 6 others in the choir today for a total of 9.  The guitarist was much better than average and I especially enjoyed his use of runs.

At the end of Mass Fr. Jim (Rev. James Kolb, O.S.P. -- a Paulist rather than a diocesan priest), asked if there were any visitors.  I raised my hand with at least one other.  Then he asked the other visitor to introduce herself.  Afterwards, he asked if there were another visitor.  This time I did not raise my hand, as I did not want to introduce myself or tell people I was doing a blog and thereby put them on the defensive.  I know it was intended to be friendly, however, and by by not exposing myself in that small way, I lost a chance to meet members of the church, which was one of my goals starting this project. 

St. Andrew

St. Andrew, 806 NE Alberta Street

St. Andrew (which everyone calls St. Andrew's) is located in NE Portland.  The first thing one notices is the beautiful old church building.  It was built in the Gothic style, with light brown bricks and concrete adornments.   Additionally, there is an attractive modern building that appears to serve as a community outreach center next to the church and what appears to be the rectory.  

The interior of the church is cavernous, devoid of columns one might expect in a Gothic style church.  The interior gives a visitor the first clue of the the parish's outlook.  The pews, rather than all facing the altar, circle around an oval area which has an altar at one end and a reading podium at the other.  Many of the pews  lack kneelers. And , during the portion of the Mass where one typically kneels, only a small portion of the congregation did so.

Although the church has many large traditional stained-glass windows depicting Saints, the view of these windows is partially obscured by long green banners hanging from the ceiling and many small speakers, also hung by wire from the ceiling.  On this cloudy day, the church also lacked sufficient interior lighting to show off the charms of its interior.  Lastly, the light pink and light green paint scheme looked ready for a change. 

Normally, there is a 9:30 English Mass and a 12 noon Spanish Mass.  However, because of a church picnic this afternoon, Mass today was at 10:30.  The Mass was 60% in Spanish and 40% in English.  Fr. Chuck (Monsignor Charles Lienert) gave two homilies, one in Spanish followed by one in English.  Fr. Lienert did a good job making an effort to pronounce the Spanish words properly.  

This parish strongly emphasizes social justice.  My experience with social justice churches -- and people in general who care deeply about social justice -- is they are far more concerned about systemic problems or systemic evil than they are about the evil in an individual.  Fr. Lienert's sermon today makes my point.  The Gospel reading was the parable of the wedding banquet where Jesus admonishes his listeners not to choose the best seat at a wedding lest the host ask the guest to give up his/her seat for a more important person.  It seems to be a lesson on humility; in fact the host in the parable says,

        "For every one who exalts himself will be humbled,
         but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” (Luke 14:1, 7-14 was today's reading.)

However, Fr. Lienert said that the parable is not principally about humility, but is instead about how systems should treat people.  He said that Jesus' admonition in the Gospel reading to, "invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind" when you hold a banquet, was directed toward what "systems" should do.  While I cannot say with any authority who the passage is primarily directed to (the individual or the system/government), I do think it is quite telling that Fr. Lienert downplayed the most obvious interpretation and said that the passage was primarily directed to "the system."

Fr. Lienert next told a story about a priest on a committee at the Second Vatican Council who proposed abolishing all titles in the Church.  In fact, under this priest's proposal people would be forbidden from referring to the Pope as "your holiness" or "your eminence."  Fr. Lienert said that that priest was now 80 and it was his wish that there be a Pope John 24 who would establish just such a rule.  Fr. Lienart, apparently a fan of the proposal, said it would, among other things, promote equality for women in the Church.  At this, half the congregation erupted in applause.  When the homily finished there was more applause.

It struck me as odd that in a time when many in the Church are saying that Vatican II went too far, here was a group that thought that Vatican II did not go far enough.  I wondered if St. John Vianney, St. Francis, St. Bernadette and the other Saints on the stained-glass windows would think that abolishing titles would be a good idea.  I also thought of the parallels of this idea with the ideas of Communism:  how a hierarchy formed in Communism despite the purported aim of equality of men--with party apparatchiks at the top.

While perhaps commendably idealistic, the "no titles" idea seemed naive to me.  It, and everything about St. Andrew  seemed to me to be informed by the 1960s.  Women's Liberation, stopping the oppression of minorities by white men, "black power," "viva la raza," etc.  Long hair for men has been replaced by facial hair.  If any of these things resonate with you, you will love this church.  On the conservative-liberal scale it is on the far end of the liberal side.  Compare it to Holy Rosary, which is old-fashioned to the point of not having a "handshake of peace" during the Mass.  At St. Andrew, the handshake of peace lasted five minutes!  (The highlight of which for me was shaking hands with Sally Cohen, who recently made it to the finals of American's Got Talent as a "hand-whistler.")

A final example of the left-leaning political bent of St. Andrew is that during the prayers, the woman leading the prayers prayed for "the people of Iran and Iraq."  Not a word about American soldiers in harm's way. 

To be fair, I think this church meets the needs of many.  Furthermore, my guess is that the church "walks the talk" when it comes to social justice.  The parish website mentions several such ministries.

Korean Martyrs Catholic Church

Korean Martyrs Catholic Church, 10840 SE Powell Boulevard

This small church is located just east of I 205 on Powell Blvd.  There is a 10 am Mass that  is partly in English and partly in Korean.  There is an 11 am Mass that is entirely in Korean.  I went to the 10 am Mass.

I was one of two non-Koreans at the Mass.  The congregation was rather small, but with a large contingent of teenagers.  The teens handled the music, providing singing accompanied with drums and keyboard.   There was a single Korean nun, the pastor and two alter servers.  The church is named after the some 8000 Christians martyred in Korea in the 1800s, of whom the church declared 103 to be Saints in 1984.  There is a statue in front of the church depicting Father Andrew Kim, the most famous of the martyrs. 

The Mass was said mostly in English.  The pastor, who the Archdiocese's website lists as Rev. Peter Ock-Jin Cho, gave the sermon in Korean.  Additionally, early in the Mass Father Cho interrupted the singing of the Gloria to say something in Korean.  Then the music and singing started again and again he interrupted.  He seemed to be addressing only the group of parishioners in the front right hand side of the church.  This happened maybe four times before he went on with the Mass.  I figured it was some sort of "teachable moment" but I could not figure out what he was saying.

One interesting thing about communion was that the alter servers each held a small basket full of lollipops, which they handed out to the children, presumably those children too young for their First Communion.  I guess they had too many small children upset about taking the trip to the alter and coming back empty-handed. 

Shortly after the sermon the entire congregation stood and began filing toward the front of the church.  I had no idea what was happening and I stayed put.  First I thought they might be forming a circle around the alter.  Then I saw they were approaching the front of the alter in two lines as if to accept communion.  I thought they might be kissing a cross.  Finally, I saw people bowing and pitching something into a small basket and figured that this is how they gather the offering.  At that point I was embarrassed for not contributing.

At the handshake of peace all who were near me took my hand warmly and wished me peace.  After Mass, no one caught my eye or asked why I was there.  I took a few pictures and left.

St. John Fisher

 
St. John Fisher is located in SW Portland near Gabriel Park, not too far from Wilson High School.  The church is a modern design and was built in 1968.  It is quite attractive on the outside but it appears dated on the inside.  The wooden wall behind the alter is made of long vertical boards painted white, and the spaces between the boards can easily be seen.   A little plaster or spackling paste plus new paint would be a huge and inexpensive improvement. 

Although there is a K through 8th grade school next to the church, the 11 am Mass had few children.  The parishioners were nearly all white.  The neighborhood, while strictly speaking is Portland, is essentially a suburb.  This Mass had top quality musicians leading the singing:  there was a pianist, a drummer, vocalists, trumpets and more.

There was only a small crucifix, behind and to the left of the alter.  Instead the centerpiece was a large green-blue circle with a cross in the middle on the ceiling, with long pieces of thin plastic or glass hanging down from the circle on clear monofilament.  In appearance it is like a wind-chime.  It is very abstract-arty and certainly is representative of the era of the church's construction.

St. John Fisher's longtime pastor recently died and Monsignor Timothy Murphy has been assigned to replace him.  I believe today however, a visiting priest was saying Mass.  People were friendly enough to the stranger among them snapping pictures, but as in most cases, no one inquired if I were a visitor or why I was taking pictures.

Holy Cross

Holy Cross Catholic Church, 527 N. Bowdoin St., Portland

Holy Cross is located one block south of N. Lombard Street near Portsmouth Street.  It is pretty well hidden from view and I am sure most Portlanders have never seen it.  It is just a few blocks from University of Portland.

Father John Wironen, CSC, of The Congregation of
Holy Cross is the pastor.  In Portland, Holy Cross priests staff the Downtown Chapel, Holy Redeemer Church, the University of Portland and Holy Cross Catholic Church.

I went to the 10 am Mass.  Fr. Wironen commented during his homily that each Mass is essentially a different congregation.  The 10 am Mass was well attended with many families with young children. 

It was a day to thank parish volunteers and Fr. Wironen asked each volunteer to stand as his or her volunteer activity was called.  By the end almost half the congregation was standing.  The congregation was about 80% White with the rest roughly an equal mix of Black, Asian and Latino parishioners.

There is a kindergarten through 8th grade school next to the church called Holy Cross School.  This explains the high number of parishioners with young children present during the Mass. 

More than any other I have visited so far, this church had a insular, neighborhood feel, as if it was very unlikely to attract parishioners from outside the immediate geographic area.  Nothing wrong with that per se and hopefully it means that the parish community is a tight-knit one. 

 

Southeast Asian Vicariate

Southeast Asian Vicariate Church of Our Lady of Lavang 5404 NE Alameda Dr., Portland, OR 97213

You can see this pink structure on the north side of NE Sandy Boulevard near NE 54th Street. It used to be a convent. I believe the present site dates to 1999, while the vicariate itself was founded in 1981. It supports the Portland Vietnamese who began to arrive here in large numbers after the fall of Saigon in 1975. You can read more about the vicariate in this article from the Catholic Sentinel.

The grounds are very large, taking up at least a square block and consisting of many buildings in addition to a large church.

The grounds are landscaped with palm trees, giving the impression that you might actually be in southeast Asia or some other tropical clime.

The service was packed with nicely dressed parishioners predominately wearing black, with a smattering of white and to a much lesser extent prints and colors. On the patio west of the church a fiesta of some sort was taking place. Five priests con-celebrated the Mass. Of the 200-300 people filling the church and another 100-200 outside participating in the fiesta, I was the only person not of Asian descent.

Mass was entirely in Vietnamese, the only words of which I know are chan muối, which is a salty lime drink. I thought I even heard the word muối during the sermon, but it may have been my imagination.

Although I clearly stood out, no one stared at me. I stood in the back the entire service so as to be as inconspicuous as possible. My fellow wall-standers to my right and left shook my hand during the handshake of peace. Other than that, I was left alone during the service. As I was leaving two little girls in the parking lot said hello and giggled.

To me the most amazing thing was to see all these immigrants, speaking a foreign language and living thousands of miles from their homeland,
who clearly have been able to make a living in their new country and to form a vibrant community.

St. Sharbel

1804 SE 16th http://www.saintsharbel.com/           

                                                                           

I arrived a few minutes late, having had a little difficulty finding this church tucked in the leafy Ladd's Edition neighborhood. After a two-hour service I had to leave a few minutes early to make it to a Mother's Day brunch; consequently I only was able to snap two quick photographs. Next time -- and St. Sharbel deserves a next time -- I will make sure to experience the Mass from beginning to end.

St. Sharbel is a Maronite church. It is an Eastern Rite church, with rituals somewhat similar to to an Orthodox church (a friend calls them "bells and smells"), except unlike the Greek or Russian Orthodox churches, the Maronite church is in full communion with the Holy See. The service was conducted half in English and half in Arabic except for the consecration, which was in Aramaic, the language Jesus is said to have spoken.

The Maronite church began in Syria in the 5th century with St. Maron, but soon spread to Lebanon.  Many, but certainly not all, in the congregation today were Lebanese and could speak Arabic. The family behind my friend and me helped us when we got lost in the hymnal, one of which was entitled "The Cedars of Lebanon Hymnal."

The church is a handsome stone edifice but cannot be seen well because of a large tree in front of it. The inside is a cozy medium-sized space, roughly square. The altar is in a corner rather than against a wall, and the altar rail is a curved semi-circle. There are many statues and paintings in and near the altar area. The pews are made of oak and curved as well. The floor slopes down toward the corner where the altar is, giving the room a theater-like feel.

The service is quite a bit different than the Roman Rite, but not as different as St. Irene Byzantine Church's. Maronites cross themselves in the same manner as Romans -- touching their left shoulder and then their right at the end of the sign of the cross. During the handshake of peace a charming gesture was introduced to me. The alter boys went into the congregation and offered their hands with their fingers pressed together as if in prayer but pointed toward persons at the end of the pews such as me. The parishioner then put their hands around the alter boy's hands also with fingers pointed forward and then pulled their hands toward themselves, wiping their hands against the other's as they separated. Then the congregation did this with each other. I saw variations of this such as a person extending just one hand and the other clasping it with both hands while gently pulling away. It was unclear to me who should be the one offering their hands and who should be the one clasping and pulling away.

(This gesture reminding me of another gesture from a foreign culture that the reader is probably equally unfamiliar with: Filipino children will take an adult's hand and press the back of the hand to their forehead in greeting. Both are touching (no pun intended) gestures.)

The pastor, Abouna ("Father" in Arabic) Jonathan Decker, S.J.M.J., has a New York accent, wore a skull cap, had a long beard and wielded a silver cross with a long blue tassel in his right hand nearly the entire service. He spoke English and Arabic and blessed us with the the cross throughout the service. There was also a cantor and a violinist who were in an adjacent room, separated by a screen from the congregation. Fr. Decker greeted all the visitors, singling out each one, including me. The congregation was also quite friendly.

All Saints Parish

3847 NE Glisan

All Saints Parish is located in the Laurelhurst neighborhood. The church is a modern design that I can see being preserved someday as an example of modernism. The parishioners were mostly white -- okay, they were 100% white.  The parishioners for the most part fell into two camps: those of retirement age and those with young children. At this Mass at least, there was not too much in between.

The pastor, Father Richard Thompson, gave the homily. The Gospel reading was about Jesus' post-resurrection appearance to the disciples while they were fishing on the Sea of Tiberias. (You may ask yourself, "what is this Sea of Tiberias? I thought the disciples always fished in the Sea of Galilee? Well, it turns out the two are the same, and are also known as the Lake of Gennesaret.) Father Thompson raised the interesting question of why the disciples were back fishing after spending so much time with Jesus, knowing he had been resurrected and knowing he had already asked them to become fishers of men. To my disappointment, however, Fr. Thompson did not answer the question.

After Mass I grabbed a bulletin. Interestingly, it contained a short hagiography of Saint Adalbert of Prague. I wonder if, being named All Saints, each week there is a biography of a different Saint in the bulletin? St. Adalbert's day in April 23, so maybe the pastor picks a saint from the upcoming week to write about. In any case, I like reading about Saints, as long as the story doesn't seem too much like a legend.

St. Clare Parish

St. Clare Church

St. Clare is located in the suburbs of southwest Portland just a block off Barbur Blvd. It appears to have been built in the 1960s. It has beautiful blond woodwork in the interior and an abstract metal crucifix sculpture behind the alter with the organ's pipes as part of the work of art. My camera's battery was dead so I could not get a picture of the interior. Maybe I will make it back for a quick photograph.

Father Tom Farley gave an interesting sermon about today's Gospel reading -- the story of the prodigal son. He compared the prodigal son story to the movie Ulee's Gold, where Peter Fonda plays the part of Ulee, a beekeeper father of two trying to keep his highly dysfunctional family together. Despite his grown children's transgressions and against all odds, Ulee patches his family back together again.

St. Michael the Archangel

http://www.stmichaelportland.org/

St. Michael the Archangel is located in downtown Portland on the southwest side, not too far from Portland State University. It is kitty-corner from St. Mary's Academy. It's location is important to its character. Before Urban Renewal changed the face of this part of Portland in the 1960's, southwest Portland was home to large Italian and Jewish populations. That St. Michael's was predominantly an Italian parish can be seen from the names of Italian families that sponsored the stain-glass windows of the church.

Although tucked into downtown Portland onto a crowded half-block, the church contains a special surprise for garden-lovers. Someone has planted and maintained fruit trees, bushes and plants of all sorts along the edges of the property. There are many types of fruits: espaliered pears and apples, kiwis, raspberries and more. On a early summer day, the garden is a delight and it alone is worth a visit.

Father James Mayo is the current pastor of St. Michael's. Fr. Mayo is a friendly and caring pastor and his sermons reflect his love of learning.

St. Michael's ministries include reaching out to the poor by providing sack lunches from 10 to 11 am each weekday. Confessions are heard six days a week.

St. Ignatius

St. Ignatius Catholic Church

St. Ignatius is run by the Society of Jesus (the "Jesuits") and is located on SE Powell Blvd., just east of SE 39th Avenue.

The St. Ignatius church building is fairly plain on the outside and even more humble on the inside. However, I found the service (10:30 am) to be warm and family-friendly. Perhaps because the priest conducted three baptisms today, there were many families with young children.

The parishioners are ethnically mixed, interestingly with a some African parishioners.

St. Birgitta

St. Birgitta Catholic Church
11820 NW Saint Helens Rd
Portland, OR 97231

 
St. Birgitta is probably best known for its Latin Mass. It is at 8 am on Sunday. There is also a Latin Mass at St. Birgitta's on first Fridays, first Saturdays and on holy days. There is a website dedicated to this Mass.

I attended the English Mass, which is at 10 am. The church is located on St. Helens Road just past the town of Linnton. It looks like a plain country church on the outside. The inside is quite beautiful though: unpainted wooden pews, walls and ceiling lend it warmth, charm and beauty as only wood can. The inside is very much like St. Thomas More's and I would not be surprised if the same architect and construction company built both churches. (St. Thomas More's website indicates it church as built in 1940 by Pietro Belluschi. I do not know who built St. Birgitta's, however.) The most remarkable thing about the service was the singing. Most Catholic churches do not do a good job of singing. In fact, a book on the subject has been written: Why Catholics Can't Sing. But this church sang pretty darn well. The key was a four-person choir accompanied by an electric piano. That choir sang loudly, clearly and beautifully and, most amazingly, most of the rest of the church joined in. If only more Catholics in Portland would actually sing instead of just listening to others sing.