About St. Helen · Pilot Rock, Oregon
St. Helen Catholic Church is a small mission parish serving the rural high-desert community of Pilot Rock in northeastern Oregon's Umatilla County. It belongs to the Diocese of Baker (formerly the Diocese of Baker City, established 1903) and is staffed by a priest who also serves nearby parishes in the region. The congregation gathers for a Saturday evening vigil, Sunday morning Mass, and a weekday Mass, with the pastor's phone line as the main point of pastoral contact for a dispersed farming and ranching population.
- Patron
- Saint Helena (Helen) of Constantinople
- Rector
- Reverend Stanislaw (Stanislaus) Strzyz
- Diocese
- Diocese of Baker
Why belong here
St. Helen is a tight-knit rural mission parish where Catholics from across eastern Umatilla County — farmers, ranchers, and their families — gather around the Eucharist. Because the priest serves multiple small communities in the Diocese of Baker, parishioners here genuinely know one another, and the parish keeps the sacraments close at hand with a Saturday vigil, Sunday morning Mass, weekday Mass, and regular Sunday confessions.
Mass times at St. Helen
Weekly Mass schedule
Confession times
- Sunday 7:30 AM – 7:55 AM, or by appointment
Parish Identity
St. Helen Catholic Church is a Roman-Latin rite Catholic mission parish located at 740 SW Birch Street in Pilot Rock, Oregon. It sits within the Diocese of Baker (formerly the Diocese of Baker City, established in 1903 and renamed in 1952), which pastors Catholics across the high desert of central and eastern Oregon.
- Name: St. Helen Catholic Church (also written Saint Helen)
- Status: Mission parish
- Diocese: Diocese of Baker
- Rite: Roman-Latin
- Patroness: Saint Helena of Constantinople (feast day August 18)
Clergy & Pastoral Leadership
The current pastor of St. Helen, Pilot Rock, is Reverend Stanislaw Strzyz, who is listed by the Diocese of Baker as pastor of St. Helen Church and is also listed as President of the parish's Oregon nonprofit corporation. Because St. Helen is a small rural mission, Father Strzyz typically covers multiple parishes within the diocese, with the parish phone line (541) 443-3151 serving as the main point of pastoral contact.
- Reverend Stanislaw (Stanislaus) Strzyz — Pastor
Parish Community & Diocese
Pilot Rock is a small town in Umatilla County in northeastern Oregon, and St. Helen's congregation reflects the surrounding farming and ranching families. As a mission in the Diocese of Baker, St. Helen is part of a regional Catholic family that includes other small eastern Oregon churches serving the towns and reservations of the high desert. The Diocese of Baker itself was established on June 19, 1903 by Pope Leo XIII.
- Town: Pilot Rock, Umatilla County, Oregon
- Diocese established: June 19, 1903
- Diocese renamed 'Diocese of Baker': February 1952