St. Thomas More

St. Thomas More 

3525 SW Patton Road

It's difficult for me to say much about St. Thomas More Parish because it is not making a first impression on me; it's where I went to church as a child.  St. Thomas More is located in the Portland Heights neighborhood of southwest Portland.  It is located where SW Patton Road reaches the ridge and starts heading down the opposite side.  It is close to Council Crest Park.

Pietro Belluschi, a Portland architect with a national reputation, built the church in 1940.  The inside is entirely of unpainted wood, even the crucifix.  The wooden interior is only lightly stained and retains a feel that is rustic and modern at the same time. 

The parishioners at the 10 am Palm Sunday Mass were 100% White.  Even in the 21st Century there do not appear to be many non-whites in Portland Heights. 

Although not the acme of racial diversity, St. Thomas More is a beautiful structure, the Mass was well-attended and the natives were friendly. 

St. Rita

St. Rita's Catholic Church
10029 NE Prescott St.

St. Rita's is the friendliest church I have visited to date.  I received several heartfelt smiles from  parishioners.  Here I was treated as part of the parish rather than a stranger to be feared.  Perhaps the church is large enough that I was not recognized as a stranger.  Perhaps others' friendliness was more of a reflection of my mood than theirs.  Perhaps, but I want to go on record as saying in my whistle stop tour of Portland parishes, this one was the friendliest to-date -- and with only a few more to go!  (If my word is not good enough, here is an article about St. Rita's saying the same thing.) 

St. Rita's is located just a few block southeast of where NE Sandy Boulevard crosses over I-205.  It is near the Maywood Park residential area .  At the Mass I attended the parishioners were mostly White but there were good numbers of Asian and Hispanic attendees as well.  There were plenty of families with young children but all ages were represented at the service.

Built in 1956, the exterior of the building is red brick and the appearance is modern.  There are alternating colored glass skylights in the interior and the ceiling lights have shades shaped like hourglasses made from thin metal sheets, painted green.  I initially thought they were from the 1970s but more likely they date from the building's mid-century (modern) construction period.  

The church bulletin says "St. Rita Catholic Community" at the top and inside is an announcement of a Parish Retreat in May "focusing on creating and engaging community at St. Rita Parish."  The retreat is to be centered "around the theme of belonging -- truly being part of our parish."  It would seem that the friendliness I experienced at St. Rita's was not just by happenstance.  Who wouldn't want to belong to such a Parish?

St. Anthony of Padua

St. Anthony of Padua Church
3720 SE 79th Avenue

St. Anthony is located in southeast Portland just a few blocks west of the intersection of 82nd and Powell.  It is a new church building, dedicated in June 1999.  Here is a unofficial website that has as much information as the Parish's.

The church is surrounded by 127 assisted living units known as St. Anthony Village.  This village was former Pastor Mike Maslowsky's brainchild, designed to create an atmosphere similar to piazzas in front of churches in Italy where the elderly mingle with the citizenry.  (Unfortunately, Oregon lacks Italy's climate.)

As one might expect, there were a good number of seniors at the 10 am Mass.  There were many people of other ages too.  Of note was a large number of Pacific Islanders.  They were too big to be Filipino and too small to be Samoan.  My curiosity finally got the best of me and I asked two teens where they were from.  "Micronesia," they said.  I asked what island and they told me "Chuuk."  Apparently, this is an island group in Micronesia that used to be called Truk.  

I had heard of Truk.  I asked them how they found themselves in southeast Portland.  They seemed to misunderstand the question because they told me, "by airplane," supposing that that I must have thought they came by boat.  Among themselves they spoke a language I am guessing was Truk.   There were about 20 of the Chuuk islanders at Mass.  The women mostly wore cotton or silk dresses as you might see in Hawaii.  One even had a plumeria flower in her hair.  How they ended up at that parish in this city is still an interesting question to me.   

This article says that there was a St. Anthony of Padua church in Chuuk.  So perhaps the Micronesians were attracted by the Parish name?  That seems far-fetched but I don't have a better answer at the moment.  

Definitely an interesting parish that you may not have heard of before.