Timeline

1918

Parish is founded under Ireland-born pastor Fr. Michael O’Dwyer, who the previous year oversaw construction of the first church, a 30-by-60-foot structure costing $1,200. Father O’Dwyer is remembered for his daily three-hour walks, during which he would distribute candy to children.

1923

Combined church and school building is constructed. The school was started the previous year in the rectory, with second pastor Father Aloysius McHugh teaching fourth grade and lay teacher Mary Milner in charge of first and second grades.

1942

Ireland-born Father (and later Msgr.) Michael Murtagh begins his 23-year pastorate. Remembered by parishioner John Kloeck as a frugal man who dressed in “comfortable shabbiness,” Msgr. Murtagh was responsible for an unexpected surplus in the annual parish budget one year when he neglected to pay himself, explaining, “I didn’t think it was necessary.”

1959

The last Mass is celebrated in the old church as construction of Interstate 5 looms. The freeway cuts through the heart of St. Patrick’s, erasing the homes of at least 200 parishioners and leading to the closure of the parish school, staffed over the years by the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary. At a heated city council meeting to discuss the controversial new site for the church, Msgr. Murtagh quietly tells the council, “I’m the shepherd of my flock and we have no place to put our heads.”

1961

The current church is dedicated on July 23 by Archbishop Thomas A. Connolly. Costing $234,000, its features include a 65,000-piece Venetian tile mosaic of St. Patrick located above the entrance.

1980’s

Building upon its role as a sanctuary parish for refugees from El Salvador and elsewhere, St. Patrick’s begins a sister parish relationship with the community of Nueva Trinidad in El Salvador that continues today.

1989

Victoria Ries begins her decade of service as pastoral life director, the first lay woman in the archdiocese named to the position.

Excerpts From:  The Catholic Northwest Progress; March 19, 2009 By Terry McQuire

Peace and justice are really the heart of the parish,” said Father Patrick Clark, former archdiocesan schools superintendent, who is in his sixth year as St. Patrick’s pastor.

That work is carried out daily by a range of parish groups and ministries, from a homelessness task force to an El Savador sister parish relationship to efforts to make people with physical or developmental disabilities feel an integral part of the parish.

Deaf and blind Catholics from all over the Seattle area attend the 10 a.m. Sunday Mass, where interpreters lead them in the liturgy.

The parish is also home to residents from the local L’Arche houses for people with developmental disabilities.

Active community of just 250 households
St. Patrick’s is a relatively tiny community of just 250 households. And probably less than 50 of them live within the parish boundaries, Father Clark said. The rest – who come from as far away as Everett, Federal Way and Issaquah — are drawn by the parish’s progressive reputation and its extensive outreach, he said.

Longtime parishioners trace some of St. Patrick’s magnetism to the parish leadership of the 1960s and 1970s, including the ecumenically and interfaith-minded Father William Treacy, social activist Father Joe Kramis, and the charismatic Father Marlin Connolle. Good Shepherd Sister Vera Gallagher, who became an expert and well-known author on survivors of childhood sexual abuse, was St. Patrick’s parish life coordinator in the 1970s and 1980s. Victoria Ries, the parish’s parochial minister/pastoral life director from 1989 to 1999, was the first lay woman in the archdiocese to hold that position.

St. Patrick’s was a parish where folk Masses, Marriage Encounter, Charismatic and Cursillo movements, and ecumenical and interfaith efforts were either born or flourished early on.

Freeway runs through neighborhood
Like any community with a long history, the parish has faced its share of challenges over the decades. Interstate 5 and Highway 520 cut swaths through the neighborhood. The I-5 construction starting in 1959 erased at least 200 parish homes. The church and school building also were razed, bringing an end to the school.

Decades later, the parish went years without a full-time pastor.

But JoAn Choi, St. Patrick’s pastoral associate and a parishioner since 1973, marvels at the community’s “ability to endure.

“In the 30 years I’ve been here there’s always been some kind of major change or where it feels like, ‘Are we going to be able to keep going?,’” she said, “and the community keeps moving along.”

St. Patrick’s is both a “resilient and cohesive” community, says 41-year parishioner Marilyn Kavanaugh. And she admires the way in which they’re always willing to try new things. And although Father Clark is the type who prefers to deflect praise (he didn’t want his photo to run with this article), Kavanaugh and others credit him in part with the parish’s continuing vibrancy. He inspires and challenges them to strive to be a Vatican II parish, O’Brien-Murphy said.

“To me, and to most of us – especially the parish council – he seems to be the kind of pastor who isn’t working from the hierarchy down but (instead) gives the people the responsibility of being church, which is what the Vatican II emphasis is … and he’s right there in a tremendously supportive way.

Ministries flourish
Father Clark, however, prefers to shine the spotlight on his small parish’s many ministries. In addition to its peace and justice efforts, the parish boasts strong and innovative liturgies. Choir director Laura Ash, and her husband, David – both members of the parish – are musicians and composers with a national reputation. O’Brien-Murphy says her husband likens the quality music at St. Patrick’s to “going to a concert you’d pay money for.”

In addition, Betsey Beckman integrates liturgical dance into special liturgies.

In other areas of parish life, the Ecumenical & Interfaith Ministry, led by parishioner John Hale, carries on the work started by Father Treacy, sponsoring gatherings of the various denominations and faiths, including the annual Praise and Thanksgiving Celebration held at St. Patrick’s in November.

“I think the real secret of St. Patrick’s,” says the pastor, “is that it’s got a good correlation between the spiritual and the active.”