About Us

Our Lady of the Lake Catholic Church is committed to Loving God, Loving Others, and Making Disciples of Jesus Christ. As Roman Catholics, we seek to honor our faith tradition by authentically and creatively presenting it in our community of Lake Oswego, especially to Catholics who have become disconnected to the Church.

I invite you to get involved in an authentically Catholic community that is a warm and open environment where you and your family will feel welcomed and at home. You'll experience community and a relevant message that "isn't about rules, but about your relationship" with God.

Our parish community offers many ways to grow in our faith, enrich our spiritual lives, and serve the needs of one another. We also actively reach out beyond the walls of our parish community serviing those in need and fostering relationships with the most vulnerable in our city, region, and world.

Start by registering at our parish by the link below. Then check out our ministries and get involved. We look forward to walking with you.

Fr. John Kerns, Pastor

My 30-Day Retreat by Fr. John Kerns

As I have mentioned on a few occasions, I will be away from the parish from January 13 until February 16 to make a 30-day silent retreat on the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius.

It will officially take place from January 15 to February 15 at a Venice, Florida retreat center operated by the Oblates of the Virgin Mary (OMV). This religious order was founded to promote retreats and Ignatian Spirituality as a means of conversion and spiritual growth. Conversion is a life-long spiritual journey. That is, conversion might initially be seen as giving one’s life to Christ at a key moment in time, but we are also called to be engaged in the growth of that relationship for our entire life in this world, and the world to come.

The Spiritual Exercises are only one aspect of Ignatian Spirituality which is most often associated with the Jesuit order of priests and brothers founded in 1534 by St. Ignatius of Loyola. But its approach to being a disciple of Jesus Christ can be embraced by anyone. In fact, St. Ignatius desired for anyone and everyone – ordained, married, single, religious – to make the 30-day retreat. He experienced it naturally in his initial conversion process, but then he designed it and improved upon it all his life for the sake of anyone who desires to know and serve Christ, especially the members of his order. Some use if for discernment of what God wants them to do in life, career, or vocation. Others, like me, seek it for a deepening of that call to discipleship. The key question I am taking into this retreat is to ask God, in light of my role as a baptized disciple, a priest of the Archdiocese of Portland, and in this assignment as the pastor of Our Lady of the Lake: “How do you want to use me to accomplish your will?”

The primary way of experiencing the Spiritual Exercises is on a 30-Day retreat. But there are also methods for those who can’t block out that kind of time. These meet weekly or monthly over 10 weeks or 9 months. These are often called the Spiritual Exercises in Everyday Life (SEEL).

For myself I am grateful that we priests, like other professional roles, are allotted time and funding for retreats and continuing education. I’m doing a combination of that for my 30 days away. Please keep me in your prayers for my retreat to be fruitful in my spiritual growth. I will be sure to pray for you, as I already do.