St Erik's Church - San Pedro, CA

St Erik's Church is an outreach from the Church of Sweden to Swedes living in Southern California. It started as a Swedish Seamen's mission in the early 1950's.

The Church of Sweden and the Norwegian Seamen's Church began cooperating in San Pedro, where the church is located overlooking the San Pedro Harbor and Terminal Island.

Today our church is a parish for the estimated 10,000–12,000 first-generation Swedes who have a short-term or long-term residence in Southern California—tourists, students, au pairs, young families, and longtime residents. There are still some Swedish merchant ships and marines around.

The first Sunday of the month is the Swedish Sunday Service at the Seamen's Church on Harbor Boulevard in San Pedro, starting at 11 a.m. Sometimes church coffee and other activities follow it. Our minister also covers the San Francisco Bay Area and goes there on the weekend of the second Sunday. The third Sunday of the month we try to offer Swedish services at other places like Thousand Oaks, San Diego, etc. The church also offers weekly activities—Swedish Evening on Tuesdays and Family Mixers on Fridays. Concerts, bazaars, Lucia pageants and other events are also on the program. To this can be added baptisms, confirmation classes, weddings, memorials, personal counseling and consular/social assistance actions.

Even though we are affiliated with the Church of Sweden, St Erik's Church is a Californian entity working under the same conditions as every other church/non-profit organization—living by funding through donations from individuals and organizations.

Submitted by Staffan Simonsson

July 2009