Holy Rosary Parish, Portland

Our Parish for the Week of November 24:

Holy Rosary Parish, Portland

Rorate Caeli Mass. Photo credit: Mack Bourgo.

 History Highlights

  • The Beginning of Mater Dei Radio
    • We are approaching 35th birthday of Mater Dei Radio, but our ministry began many years before!
    • In 1951 the Rosary was broadcast daily from Holy Rosary parish.
    • In 1989, Holy Rosary was pivotal in creating the first lay-sponsored Catholic radio station in the United States – Mater Dei Radio
    • Our ministry began at Holy Rosary with Fr. Paul Duffner, OP – and a Dominican friar – Fr. Dismas Sayre – is still on the Mater Dei Radio board!
  • The Beginning of Holy Rosary Parish
    • In 1893, the friars of the Province of the Most Holy Name of Jesus of the Order of Preachers accepted the invitation of Archbishop William H. Gross to come to Portland.
    • The construction of the church and convent were nearly completed when local residents protested a legal stipulation that prohibited any religious building or use of the property.
    • As a result, an exchange of that block for two other blocks was made, and the church and convent were literally moved 9 blocks west to Holy Rosary’s present location by men and horses.
    • On January 28, 1894, Archbishop Gross blessed the Dominican’s Palladian Italian Renaissance-style church.
    • Dedicated to Queen of the Most Holy Rosary, the church’s title aptly symbolized the Dominican/Rosarian church’s iconography.

Liturgy and Devotional Schedule

  • Mass Times
    • Weekdays: 6am (Latin Dominican Rite), 7am, Noon
    • First Fridays: 7:30pm (Latin Dominican Rite),
    • Saturdays: 6am (Latin Dominican Rite), 8am, (9am at Calaroga Terrace), 5:30pm (Sunday Anticipatory Mass)
    • Sundays: 7am, 9am, 11am (Latin Dominican Rite), 1pm, 5:30pm
  • Confessions
    • Weekdays: 11am to Noon
    • First Fridays: 7pm to 7:30pm
    • First Saturdays: 7:30am to 8am
    • Saturdays: 4pm to 5:30pm
    • Sundays: half hour before all Masses
  • Adoration
    • Weekdays: 12:30pm to 4pm
    • First Saturdays: 8:30am to 9am
    • Third Saturdays: 7pm to 8:30pm
    • Before the shut-downs, the parish had Adoration Monday through Friday from 12:30pm until 7:30 PM. You can help them get back to the full schedule by contacting the parish through their website.
  • Divine Office & Devotions
    • Recitation of the Rosary: Weekdays at 11:30am, Saturdays at 7:30am, Sundays at 10:30am
    • Lauds + Office of Readings: Weekdays at 7:35am, Saturdays at 7am
    • Solemn Vespers: First Saturdays at 4:30 PM

Rorate Caeli Mass. Photo credit: Mack Bourgo.

Upcoming Events:

  • Rorate Caeli Masses
    • December 7, 14, and 21 at 6:00 AM
    • THE RORATE CAELI MASS is a traditional Advent devotion wherein the Mass of the Blessed Virgin Mary for Advent is offered just before dawn. On December 7, 14, and 21 this Mass will be celebrated according to the Dominican Rite at 6:00 AM. The Mass takes its title, Rorate Caeli, from the first words of the Introit, which are from Isaiah 45:8: “Rorate, caeli, desuper, et nubes…” (Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain the just: let the earth be opened and bud forth a Savior.)
    • The Rorate Mass is lit only by candlelight. Because it is a votive Mass in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary, white vestments are worn instead of Advent violet. In the dimly lit setting, priests and faithful prepare to honor the Light of the world, Who is soon to be born, and offer praise to God for the gift of Our Lady. As the Mass proceeds and sunrise approaches, the church becomes progressively brighter, illumined by the sun as our Faith is illumined by Christ. A reception will follow the Mass on December 21 only.
  • Monthly Potluck Brunch
    • December 8 (and every second Sunday of the month)
    • Everyone is invited to a monthly community potluck brunch after the 9 AM and 11 AM Mass on Sunday, December 8 in Siena Hall, during normal coffee and donuts time. Families are asked to bring a main dish, fruit, side dish, or dessert. The hope is to grow in community through food and fellowship.
  • A Rosary Sunday procession was held on October 6, where they celebrated their patronal feast of Our Lady of the Rosary as an external solemnity.

Rosary Procession. Photo credit: Francis Martinez.

Ministries

  • Adoration
    • Following the weekday noon Mass until 4 PM Holy Rosary is open for Eucharistic Adoration. Can sign up for regular hour.
  • Altar Servers
  • Altar Society
  • Boy Scouts & Cub Scouts
  • CCD Teachers & Helpers
  • Chesterton Academy of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati located here
  • Dominican Laity – Holy Family Chapter
    • To both affiliate more closely with the Dominican Order and live under the principles of Dominican life and spirituality while building and supporting strong family lives. Although profession is made individually, members consider the chapter a “family of families.”
  • Dominican Laity – Holy Rosary Chapter
    • The Dominican Laity are Catholics, married and single, who participate in the charism of St. Dominic and the Dominican order according to their state in life. The pillars of Dominican life are prayer, study, preaching, and community.
    • Meet monthly as a chapter on the fourth Sunday of the month for Mass, the Divine Office, Rosary, fellowship, study, and any business we need to discuss. We also have several apostolates during the year and hold an annual retreat.
  • Finance Council
  • Knights of Columbus – Holy Rosary Council 15605
  • Little Flowers & Squires of St. Dominic
    • Groups for girls and boys to grow in virtue and friendship. Both clubs are for children aged 4.5-12 years old. We meet one Saturday morning a month at Holy Rosary to grow in virtue through scripture, the lives of the saints, prayer, music, games, crafts and Catholic traditions.
  • Members & Friends of the Ordinariate in Portland
    • Building an Ordinariate community in the greater Portland area. Pope Benedict XVI created the Ordinariate in response to Anglicans around the world “repeatedly and insistently” petitioning to enter into full communion with the Roman Catholic Church.
  • Nocturnal Adoration
    • Third Saturdays, 7-8:30 PM, beginning with the Rosary at 7:00 PM, then antiphonal prayer and readings until about 8:30 PM.
  • Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary Homeschool Ministry
    • Community of homeschooling families; many veteran homeschoolers, many just beginning to consider homeschooling, and everything in between. We build community, enjoy fellowship, and share support and prayers.
    • Host monthly events for the kids (Builder’s Expo, All Saints Day Party, Art/History/Science Fair, etc), monthly support meetings for parents to discuss homeschooling topics, and a variety of other social and enrichment opportunities for homeschool families to enjoy.
  • Pastoral Council
  • Property Steering Committee
    • A collaboration between the Church, the Priory, the Rosary Center and the Western Dominican Province
  • OCIA
  • Rosary Center
    • Part of the Confraternity of the Most Holy Rosary, a worldwide prayer movement entrusted to the Dominican Order by the Holy See over 500 years ago. Intentions of Confraternity members are united with hundreds of thousands around the world.
  • Martin de Porres Food Pantry (works with SVDP)
  • Vincent de Paul Society

Additional History History

Initially, Holy Rosary was established as a conventional church to assist surrounding people and parishes with Masses, preaching and missions, hearing confessions, and promoting devotions, particularly the Rosary.  However, on February 15, 1908, the church became a traditional territorial parish, and the following year the Dominican house was raised to the dignity of a priory, making Holy Rosary not only the first Dominican parish but the first priory in the Pacific Northwest.

The Divine Liturgy, with five Sunday and two weekday Masses, the administration of the sacraments, rich devotional practices, like that to the Sacred Heart, as well as two annual novenas honoring the Blessed Virgin Mary, under the titles of Lourdes and Queen of the Most Holy Rosary, nourished personal and communal life.  Educational growth for the young took a significant step forward when Holy Rosary School, staffed by four Dominican Sisters of Mission San Jose, opened on September 3, 1912, to 43 students.  Growth brought the construction of a new school and parish hall in 1923.  Adult formation was promoted and strengthened through homilies, missions, study clubs, and lectures.

Parish organizations, like the Third Order of Saint Dominic, the Holy Name Society, the Altar Society, the Confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament, the Rosary Confraternity, the Legion of Mary, the Angelic Warfare Confraternity, and the Blessed Imelda Confraternity strengthened Christian formation, met material church needs, and built community bonds.  Building a strong parish community, church functions such as social groups-sponsored dances, outings, and card and bingo parties, brought together Catholics from all walks of life.  The Catholic Order of Foresters provided for parishioners insurance needs.  Nurtured by this integrated Catholic culture, Holy Rosary (particularly through the Saint Vincent de Paul Society) reached out to feed, clothe, and house those in the parish, the surrounding neighborhoods, and the city of Portland.

Holy Rosary was not, however, immune from external influences.  The 1929 stock market crash and the onset of the Great Depression saw an exiting of parishioners.  By 1932, economic and population losses brought retrenchment and restructuring to the school.  Shortly thereafter, in 1935, priest reductions saw Holy Rosary’s Dominican community status reduced from that of a priory to a house.

An infusion of federal money, World War II, and the postwar economic boom helped to financially stabilize Holy Rosary.  It allowed the church in the 1940s to install its first public address system, retire its mortgage debt, make renovations to the church and convent, and reach out to support the material needs of war-torn Europe, the Portland metropolitan area, and the neighborhoods surrounding Holy Rosary, including the spiritual and educational needs of the African American community.  A similar spirit of charity also led to the daily radio broadcast of the Rosary from the church, beginning in 1951.  Later, in 1989, Holy Rosary was pivotal in creating the first lay-sponsored Catholic radio station in the United States, KBVM (later renamed Mater Dei Radio).  Those charitable fruits flowed, of course, from the people’s vibrant faith that centered on the church, school, and convent within which worship, devotional, social, and recreational activities nourished Catholic belief and practices under the ministry of the Dominican friars.

Nonetheless, from the early 1950s through much of the 1960s, Holy Rosary experienced a steady decline in parish membership, and in 1955, Holy Rosary School closed its doors.  Many of the reasons behind this change were external to Holy Rosary.  The surrounding neighborhoods were decimated by the Banfield and I-5 Freeways, suburban flight, the building of the Lloyd Center and Memorial Coliseum, and the construction of attendant commercial and service sector structures.

Offered greener pastures, the Dominicans chose to stay and shepherd their flock.  In 1958, the energetic Father William Aquinas Norton, O.P., was appointed the pastor.  He quickly inaugurated the physical reconstruction of the church and its exterior grounds to maintain and attract people to Holy Rosary (such as a parking lot, and the movement of Our Lady of Lourdes shrine to a newly built grotto); interiorly, he oversaw the installation of a beautiful hand-carved statue of the Blessed Mother giving the Rosary to Saint Dominic.  He also began annual parish picnics’ to maintain and attract people to Holy Rosary.  To increase parish residents, he advocated building a retirement center across the street from the church, the present Calaroga Terrace.

Despite those efforts, the church continued to face severe challenges. The geographical area surrounding Holy Rosary saw family homes continue to give way to high-rise apartments and condominiums, while the construction of light rail, the Rose Quarter, and the Oregon Conventional Center attracted additional motel/hotel, restaurant, office, and retail building.  Registered families at Holy Rosary continued to stagnate.  The external cultural revolution of the 1960s and the internal turbulence surrounding the Second Vatican Council and the postconciliar era only furthered the church’s challenges.  Nonetheless, Holy Rosary showed how to navigate the changing times with innovative pastoral decisions, framed by a Conciliar hermeneutic of continuity that faithfully implemented the documents of Vatican II.

Although Holy Rosary still had few registered families, Pastor Bernard Arnheim, O.P., wrote to his Dominican Provincial in 1972: “We’re getting more visitors all the time.  Portland will rise again.”  Solid Catholic teaching, preaching, and sacramental practices, began to renew the parish.  Moreover, that revival had a physical component.  In 1980, a new parish hall was built.  The following year, significant church renovations were undertaken, and in 1983, the Kilgen organ was completely rebuilt as a concert quality pipe organ.  On February 10, 1987, a new convent was dedicated just in time to house the Dominican community that was once again elevated to the status of being a priory in 1988.  While most Portland Catholic church’s Sunday Mass attendance declined between 1988 and 1992, Holy Rosary’s grew so that by the mid-1990s it had the largest Sunday Mass attendance in the Portland metropolitan area.

Numerical growth necessitated another great building renovation under the leadership of Father Anthony Patalano, O.P., in anticipation of Holy Rosary’s centennial celebration.  With 95 percent of the massive renovation completed, however, a fire on November 9, 1993, threatened to destroy the church.  Although the church suffered considerable smoke and water damage, the only serious fire loss was the 1924 vintage organ.  With all the renovations and additions (a new baptistry mural, tabernacle, monstrance, stained glass windows, and a tracker pipe organ, etc.) complete, Archbishop of Louisville, Kentucky, Thomas Cajeton Kelly, O.P., formally re-dedicated the church on January 28, 1996.

Today, hours of confessions are heard weekly.  Solemnly offered Masses, include both vernacular Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite and a Dominican Rite Latin Mass with Gregorian chant and sacred polyphony.  Numerous devotions enrich people’s spiritual growth.  That enrichment along with vital confraternities not only nurtures religious vocations but also inspires ongoing charitable endeavors and a public Catholicism that involves parishioners in civic and political affairs.  A Catholic education and RCIA curriculum in conformity with sound Catholic teaching, the church’s support for home schooling, topical public presentations on Catholicism, and parish biblical, theological, literary, and church history study groups nurture parishioners’ faith and intellectual lives.  Social gatherings for coffee and donuts, dinners, movies, and dances further contribute to draw geographically distant members of a largely commuter parish into a vibrant ethnically, racially, and age diverse faith community of about 900 registered families.  Initially drawn nine blocks by horses, the church has traveled a long way.

Learn more about the parish on their website!