Sunday, July 24, 2011

St. Peter

St. Peter Catholic Church
5905 SE 87th Avenue
http://portlandcatholics.com/indiv/stpetrp/stpetrp.htm 
(unofficial website)

St. Peter is located just off Highway 205 and about two blocks south of Foster Road.  It does not appear to have a website, but if the information on the City of Portland's PortlandMaps website is correct, it was built in 1962.  (But this website describes the church as "pre-Vatican 2.)  The inside of the church is very large and today's 9 a.m. Mass was sparsely attended.  The interior could use some remodeling.  Those who are fans of Mid-Century Modern architecture will love the long cylindrical light fixtures hung from the ceiling.  (For more on that style of architecture in Portland, see this site:  http://mcmleague.org/.) 

The parishioners were predominately White and those in attendance were mostly grey-haired.  There were a fair number of Asians and Hispanics rounding out the attendance, who appeared to be relative newcomers to the neighborhood.  The church bulletin is in English and Spanish and there is a Spanish Mass at noon on Sundays.

Fr. Dave Zegar is mustachioed and about 50.  The most remarkable thing about Fr. Zegar was his startling deep voice.  Rather impressive.

2 comments:

  1. I am really enjoying your blog. I had thought to do something similar at one time in another city I lived in, but didn't follow through.
    There are probably a few changes, I would guess. For example, Fr. Dave Zegar who was at St. Peter when you wrote, is now at St. Andrew. (My husband and I have just started attending St. Andrew.)
    Your blog gives a good feel for the community. Thank you.

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  2. Thank you Dottie. I don't think I'll attempt to update the blog to keep track of changes in pastors. That happens too often and my goal was to create more in the way of a snapshot of my experiences. I will note that the best sermon that I heard was given Fr. Peter Smith at St. Rose of Lima, (http://portlandchurches.blogspot.com/2009/11/st-rose-of-lima.html) who is now auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese. So yes, things change. I hope you enjoy St. Andrew. I really like its architecture and its website has some great old pictures (http://www.standrewchurch.com/English/PhotoAlbum/3 ).

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