In 1962, Fr. Anthony Gerace, then-pastor of St. Cecilia’s in Beaverton, helped arrange for the purchase of a 12-acre peach orchard on SW Walker Road which would become the site for Holy Trinity. Until its first pastor was appointed in 1965, Holy Trinity was considered a mission of St. Cecilia’s.
Construction of the upper floor of the original two-story school building was completed in December 1962. Holy Trinity School officially opened its doors for the 1963-1964 school year, under the direction of the Sisters of St. Mary of Oregon, with kindergarten through sixth grade. The first Mass was celebrated on Palm Sunday of 1963 in the school gymnasium, which doubled as the church on weekends. Because of the continued growth in the parish, the gym eventually became the full-time church.
The kitchen, cafeteria, and four more classrooms were finished in 1966, enabling the school to add the seventh and eighth grades, with the first graduating class in June 1967. The two-story west wing was completed in 1979.
In 1994, planning began to build a separate worship space, leading to the “Building a Legacy Campaign” in 1996 to fundraise for the new church. Groundbreaking took place in June 1999, and the new (current) church was completed in 2001, connecting to the school building through the west wing.
The Sanctuary was dedicated on November 18, 2001, with the Most Rev. John G. Vlazny, then-Archbishop of Portland in Oregon, as the presider. The old church was restored into the school gym in January 2002.
The Holy Trinity Food Closet began in 1988 and was named, in part, after the small space in the church basement where the service was housed. Though the Food Closet served just a small number of people each week in its early years, word quickly spread and caused significant annual growth in demand. In an effort to support this growth, a 2,600-square-foot dedicated modular space was built in 2005, from which we now serve over 23,000 people per year.
The pastors we've had here are:
Fr. Carl Mai | 1965 – 66 |
Fr. Daniel K. O'Connell | 1966 – 68 |
Fr. James Crowe | 1968 |
Fr. Cornelius J. Linehan | 1968 – 79 |
Fr. John Engel | 1980 – 91 |
Fr. John M. Waldron | 1991 – 2004 |
Fr. John McGrann | 2004 – 07 |
Fr. Dave Gutmann | 2007 – 22 |
Fr. Bill Holtzinger | 2022 – Present |