When often I mention my mission churches in my former parishes in Oregon, I am talking about small chapels that can fit anywhere between 30 to 60 people, although most of the time there would be anywhere between 5 to 20 people in attendance. These little churches were built over the past 80 years to accommodate the various communities that are so spread out that unless a priest travels to celebrate Mass for them, they will remain without any Masses or confessions, or First Communions or even weddings and funerals. So in my 13 years I spent in Oregon, I travelled extensively, rain or shine, snow and ice, and only missed once in those years. The reason for that one miss is because they had so much snow, that the parishioners called me frantically to warn me not to travel, because they had so much snow that they couldn’t even get out of their homes. So here are the mission churches that I served in, covering around 120 miles every weekend to reach them. The biggest blessing is that there was absolutely no traffic at all. However my only problem on the road was deer crossing, and during the mating season between September and January, you really have to be on the lookout for darting deer and elk, especially if a male deer is chasing a doe in heat. (Click on each photo to enlarge)
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