I only just returned from a week in Seattle with an old friend of mine. I have been there on a previous occasion with my family, but given a chance to walk on my own while my friend was at work, I could more closely observe this very interesting city. For one, it seems to be inexplicably in love with Mexican food and, less surprisingly, with coffee. The little Expresso huts one sees every mile or so quite bemused a Yankee like myself.

But the real kicker is the almost complete lack of churches, Catholic or otherwise. Wikipedia tells me that Seattle is, in addition to having a very high literacy rate, one of the least religious of American cities. And the story among Catholics in particular is no different. The infamous reign of Seattle Archbishop Raymond G. Hunthausen encompassed great devastation in the Seattle Church, the sad course of which we need not trot out again here. Originally the youngest American Bishop at the Second Vatican Council, Hunthausen was installed as Archbishop in 1975, reprimanded by Ratzinger himself after an investigation launched in 1983, and finally stepped down in 1991.

Things, it seems, haven’t gotten much better. I was walking through downtown Seattle, when I stumbled upon Plymouth Congregational Church, of the United Church of Christ, which claimed to be hosting a daily Catholic Mass. This little ecumenical gesture appears on their website as part of their “Feed your Soul at Lunchtime” progam here. Great!

There are some good things left in Seattle, though. For one, at the top of our sidebar, the ever faithful Seattle Catholic. Even better, they’ve managed to procure permission from the powers that be for a weekly Latin Mass, said by Fr. Reichmann, an old-school Jesuit and a Professor of Philosophy at Seattle University, who is seen in the picture above.

This lone traditional Mass is held in the most peculiar of places. In 1908 the New Washington Hotel opened just 2 blocks from the famed Pikes Place Market, and operated as one of the most prestigious Hotels in the city for a number of years. In 1964 it was purchased by the Archdiocese of Seattle, and re-opened as a residence for priests and religious as “The Josephinum”. A small chapel on the ground floor is the result of this use. Today it is run by the Archdiocesan Housing Authority, as low-income housing. It is certainly a noble use for the building, and the weekly Mass surely does much good for the residents, a number of whom seemed to be in attendance.

Unfortunately, the location is apparently prone to some unexpected visitors - an example of which I saw while there to hear Mass. Two youths sitting in the pew opposite me giggled while the Prayers After Low Mass were said by the priest and the congregation. By the cut of their dress, and the small notebooks that they carried, I’d guess they were aspiring artists. Perhaps they had heard that “most beautiful thing this side of heaven” was about, and were coming to sketch it. But I noticed the female of the pair had the good sense to kneel for the Hail Mary’s, unlike her immovable male companion. I prayed they responded to the graces that flowed from the Sacrifice of the Mass, celebrated in that fashion most loved by the Church, and something which few of the scarred Catholics of Seattle are graced to stumble upon.

In decoration, St. Joseph’s Chapel is uncommon sparse, with only several statues, a crucifix, a confessional, the altar, and of course, Jesus Christ himself distinguishing it from the common meeting room.

And I should add: a very courteous, pious, and well organized operation it seemed all around, with a wonderfully child-heavy congregation, a nicely done low mass by Father with two very seminarian looking servers, and a good choir singing in the back of the chapel.
go to main page