St Clement’s Eucharistic Shrine

I’m from NY and look forward to visiting Boston just to attend a mass at St. Clement. Fr. Peter Grover is one of most inspiring, spiritual priests and his sermons are so down to earth, relatable and moving. There is something extremely special about this priest and the church is infused with warmth and spirituality. Highly recommend attending a mass as you will be positively impacted.

Love this Church. I often come for the Sunday night mass at 8pm led by Father Peter. He is spot on with his homily’s and speaks from the heart. Almost each time I come I am moved to tears.
The Church itself is gothic style with large stone pillars (which obscure the view from some pew seats), and has an openness that doesn’t take away from the warmth of the environment. Parishioners range in age from young to old, and there seems to be a large college-​aged community.
The location is also great, although parking can get tricky and the meter-​maids will not hesitate to tow you from a residential spot, even though you are at Church ;)

Incredible place. Perpetual adoration with two Masses per day, every day. Simple yet stunning architecture and great priests. Confession Monday nights and before weekend Masses.

7:00 am and 11:00 am daily mass, conveniently located near Fenway Park in the Back Bay part of Boston.
This is the national headquarters of my favorite holy order in the Catholic Church, The Oblates of the Virgin Mary (OMV). They have a strong devotion to the exposition of the Holy Eucharist. For those of you that don’t know what that means it’s when literally a communion wafer is enshrined in something called a monstrance and it is set on the alter and the faithful adore it with song, prayer, or mostly just silence and reverence.
Perpetual adoration takes place here, I believe, meaning the Host is always exposed (except during the sacrifice of the mass). For people into Ignatian Catholic meditation it’s a great place to do your daily holy hour.
Since I’m from California this place looks like Sleeping Beauty’s Castle but I’m sure even to someone used to beautiful old buildings this structure is exceptional. The seminary where the Oblates get their remarkable devout formation is next door so this place should be on your list of «must sees» for Boston if you are a Catholic, or interested in what makes Catholics tick.

This place is THE SPOT. Tucked neatly around the corner from Fenway, (Hynes Conv Ctr. T Stop) St. Clement’s Eucharistic Shrine has become a hub of young Catholic activity in the Hub. Run by the Oblates of the Virgin Mary, a religious order that sees as its mission «a rebirth of spirituality in our world» you will find a vibrant community of mostly 20 and 30 somethings with masses at 11 am and, appropriately for the age group it tends to cater to, an 8 pm Sunday night mass. Both masses are almost entirely full on any given Sunday.
The music is solid, incorporating strong arrangements, employing some of the best talent from the sorrounding music schools in the neighborhood such as Berkeley and New England Conservatory. The church itself is beautiful Gothic style with gorgeous stain glass, wide pews and ornate statues of the Virgin Mary and St. Joseph in the back and front of the church with available prayer candles. After mass, by unspoken tradition, many people remain in their seats to pray and one gets the impression that it’s borne of genuine want to do so, not out of any kind of obligation or superior piety. A noisey dash from the church you won’t find here. Once outside after mass, you find many smiling, friendly and spiritually nourished people — and some very cool cats.
Confession lines before mass line the back of the church. Fr. Peter Grover is a funny, passionate, unpretentious and outstanding homilist, which you can hear via podcast at
The activities offered are broad and varied: Saturday mornings at a soup kitchen, rosary on Monday nights, Theology of the Body seminars, Young Adult group that meets weekly to read and discuss the upcoming Sundays readings, a 30s and 40s group, softball teams, women’s prayer group, a film society, St. Therese [of Liseux] prayer for Vocations group, Governed by Faith a reading group that examines public policy according to the Social Doctrine of the Church, group retreats, personal recollection (individual retreats) and Ignatian spirituality by well known spiritual author and resident priest, Fr. Tim Gallagher.
On August 15, 2009, the Feast of the Assumption of Mary, St. Clement’s celebrated mass with Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley, re-​opening it as a place of perpetual adoration as it had been by Franciscan Missionary nuns decades earlier. For the City of Boston, it marked the first perpetual adoration in the city since 1969. 24/​7, 365 a year, people of all ages, backgrounds, nationalities and even other faiths, come to spend time in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament, bringing hopes and prayers for the poor, peace in the world, the unborn, social justice, vocations to marriage and religious life and all the spirtual breath that animates the Catholic contemplative imagination. It’s all here.

Absolutely beautiful on the inside. There is perpetual adoration whenever Mass isn’t being offered. A great place to come for some quiet contemplation and reflection. The community is young and pretty lively, too (they hold taize prayer services, bible study, etc. throughout the week).

Priests get so much flack these days for the bad ones that are trolling around, you rarely hear news stories about the good ones. Fr. Peter, the priest I saw when I went to St. Clement’s, was absolutely fantastic. He mentioned in his homily (that little talk after they read the gospel) that he was a professor at St. John’s seminary nearby. Wow, so animated! I don’t think there was one person not paying attention when he read the gospel. Then during the homily he walked towards the pews and really engaged people. Who wouldn’t love a priest that would get rid of mosquitoes and large hairy spiders on the 7^th day of creation?
The church itself is pretty old looking. Like, knights and ladies, stone walls, high ceilings kind of stuff. The altar is very simple and most everything is made of wood. Nothing too gaudy or bling bling like some of the other area churches. The stations of the cross are 3-​D and painted so they freak me out a little bit, not gonna lie. A couple notes about the pews. The kneelers are a LEETLE uncomfortable, but the pews are pretty great. They’re wide, so if you’re the late S. O/​husband/​friend/​wife whatever, you don’t have to climb over people and knock them out with your bag or coat. You do have to remember this when you go to sit after praying, because I almost fell and knocked my head when I underestimated the distance between my tuckus and the pew. Also, if you happen to come late, you might have to sit in front of one of their large side columns that don’t have kneelers. That’s what ya get friend!
It looks like they have some programs going on at the shrine as well. A lot of stuff for young adults and scripture study, which I think is great. As a lector (reader), I go over readings a lot, but when you’re supposed to absorb readings right off the bat (and you’re making your grocery list in your head) I think it’s a little harder to take in. The music was good, very simple. The cantor does the responsorial psalm, but then heads back to the choir loft to sing with the organ and a few other people for the rest of the mass. They do a few songs in Latin, so they’ve completely lost me there.
They have masses at 11am on Saturday and 11am/​8pm on Sunday. I went to the 8pm which was a good mixture of people. Mostly 20s, 30s. Note: They have benediction directly after the 8pm mass.
When I’m not reading at my home church, I’ll most definitely come back. Seems like a really great community.