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.
