St. Peter’s Catholic Church

Lovely and simple church tucked into a residential corner of Capitol South. It’s got a fair amount of space, a variety of ages for people in attendance, and seems to have an active community (on the evening I went they were selling coffee and other items after mass to support their sister church in Haiti).
I attended LMU in Los Angeles and for some reason, this church reminded me of that. Moderate in design but a wonderful community.

I attended the Ash Wednesday Mass in the evening.
The parish is simple and beautiful. The Mass was inspiring, and the people were friendly.
As for the reviewer upset with the bells: I stayed at my sister’s house which is also just 1 ½−2 blocks away. I didn’t even notice the bells; they weren’t disturbing at all. I’m used to being in a quiet neighborhood in my suburban area, and these bells didn’t even register, especially compared to all the other ‘city noises’. The bells are not advertising they are open. They are for various purposes, including Mass, special occasions, and reminders of prayers.
(Also: on holy days, please watch where you park. I saw an officer ticketing cars barely parked past a line.)

The bells, please stop ringing them all the time! I live close by and regularly woken up by bells being rung at 7am during the week. How is this legal and why does the church need to ring it’s bells so loud and so often? Sometimes they ring at random times, like 8:50. I’m 2 blocks away and even with all my windows closed can here it ring all through out my apartment. It’s 2014, you don’t need to advertise by bell anymore, there are more effective ways of letting people know you are open.

I can’t believe that I am actually reviewing a church, but it’s my neighborhood church, so why not right? First off all, the pastor here is Fr. Bill Byrne and if any of you went to University of Maryland in the early 2000’s you would know that he was the pastor at the Catholic Student Center at UMD. He always kept the congregation engaged and the homily relevant and succinct which I appreciated as a college student and still do today. I’m glad he hasn’t changed. I love the traditional architecture of the church and I like that it is not so big and modern looking like the churches located out in the suburbs. It kind of reminds me of the church I got married in :)
As others have mentioned the Saturday Vigil has no singing (which some people like myself prefer) and it usually takes 45 minutes tops. I just went to St. Peter for Ash Wednesday services and despite it being a special mass, it didn’t take more than one hour to distribute the ashes, do communion, etc. At other churches you would be looking at at least 1.5 hours. I like this church and as long as we are living on the Hill this will be the church we go to!

Very active parish community on Capitol Hill. Vibrant community of all ages and types; the parish community continues to grow in terms of membership.
There are Young Adult (about 21 – 35 year olds) activities such as Holy Happy Hour, Bible Study, etc. and there is religious education and groups for student-​aged children as well as volunteer opportunities for a wide variety of outreaches including a Haitian «twinned» parish. There is nightly adoration and daily confession opportunities. The church also has an active RCIA program and popular Pre-​Cana/​marriage preparation program.
The Saturday vigil (5pm) mass does not usually have music/​cantor except for special occasions; the masses on Sunday do have a choir, folk group or cantor (see their website for most current information for times and music style). There are two daily mass options and the church is open during the day for prayer and contemplation. Evening mass on Sunday is typically seen as geared for Young Adults but doesn’t have an exclusive feel that you /​need/​to be in that age range.
For those, like myself, who need air conditioned churches in the summer, St. Peter’s has A/​C. The church is accessible for disabled people via an elevator, take note of the black placard on the fence outside for directions.
Church is located a block from the Capitol South Metro (blue/​orange); street parking only. Pennsylvania Ave is a block away, you can pick up the 30-​line buses there; Circulator buses are nearby too (they have frequently/​recently changed their path, so please inquire).
Nearest ATM for that «oh man, I forgot my donation/​tithing/​collection money» is either at the Metro station (near the fare card machines) or at the corner of Pennsylvania and 2^nd Streets, SE.

I have attended St. Peter’s on Capitol Hill once for a wedding and once for Christmas mass. (Mom was in town.)
St. Peter’s really is a beautiful old church, though the interior looks far more modern that the exterior. I would assume the building underwent a major overhaul in the past decade or so.
The real treat for me though is that the acoustics at St. Peter’s are absolutely ridiculous. No show at 930 Club will ever sound half as good as a mass at St. Peter’s. I noticed the padre wore a lav mic, although it was completely unnecessary. His voice boomed from the altar. The organ music also absolutely thunders from the back of the church. I found myself thinking it would be great to see someone like Tom Waits perform at a venue like this; maybe some of his more bizarre material like from the Bone Machine album. That would kick ass.