Father Steve Garza
Saint Peter Parish, The Dalles Oregon
I am the oldest of five children. I was born in Oxnard, California and baptized a Catholic when I was a month old. My father was from Corpus Christi, Texas. He took me and my mother with him to Texas when I was three months old so I grew up in Corpus Christi. I attended Catholic School through the 8th grade and had to switch to public school when my parents separated. By the time I was halfway through the tenth grade my mother and father divorced and my mother and all five children moved back to Oxnard, CA. I finished High School there and went to Humboldt State University and earned a degree in Forest Management. I worked for the United States Forest Service for 35 years. About 9 years into my career I transferred to a job on another district in California and my future wife, Maria, transferred there from Oregon about a month after I got there. We were married about a year after we met and were married for 21 years. We moved to Oregon about a year after we were married. She died of cancer. I had thought of being a priest when I was in 7th and 8th grade. I discerned a vocation to the priesthood and Bishop Cary accepted my vocation in the Diocese of Baker, Oregon. I attended Seminary for 5 years at Pope Saint John XXIII in Massachusetts. I was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Cary on June 27, 2019, and was assigned to Saint Francis of Assisi parish in Bend, OR. I became the Pastor on St Peter Parish in The Dalles on July 8, 2021.