History

St. Peter Lithuanian Parish was established in 1896 under the pastoral leadership of Reverend Joseph Gricius. In 1899 the Lithuanian community purchased the land that the church was to be built on, and in 1904 Reverend Peter Zilinskas officiated alone at the blessing of the new church. In the summer of 1934, Reverend Francis Virmauskis invited the Sisters of Jesus Crucified to teach Sunday School and in 1945 the Sisters officially opened the St. Peter School where they served continuously until their retirement in June of 2001. In the early 1990’s, St. Peter Church underwent its first major renovation. Over the years, St. Peter Parish has grown into a thriving community of faith. We continue to welcome new neighbors into our parish family. Under the leadership of our pastor, Reverend Stephen P. Zukas, almost 700 parish families live their faith as part of an active — and growing — parish. We support and encourage the faith of our younger parishioners. St. Peter School, which strives to promote respect, responsibility, accountability, and courtesy, attracts increasing numbers of students. St. Peter Church has served as a home to parishioners from every corner of Massachusetts for nearly 100 years. Our strong Lithuanian heritage has made our parish a beacon to many New Englanders and has transformed our parishioner base into one of the most diverse in the Archdiocese.

Under the leadership of Fr. Peter DeFazio, in 2021 St. Peter Parish has merged with St. Monica Parish to form one Catholic community: The South Boston-Seaport Catholic Collaborative. 

We re-instituted our Masses gradually over the course of this summer:

• the 9 am St. Peter's English Mass, bringing together the Lithuanian and St. Vincent's/St. Monica's communities
• the 10:30 am St. Monica's Mass, bringing together all the St. Monica's worshipers
• the 10:30 am Lithuanian Mass at St. Peter's, once per month but effective September 13th, weekly
• the 12:00 pm Spanish Mass, by popular demand, every week beginning August 9th