Holy Rosary Church (Tacoma, Washington)
Our Lady of the Holy Rosary Church is a Roman Catholic church building in Tacoma, Washington, within the Archdiocese of Seattle. The church is a landmark of the city seen by travelers along Interstate 5.
The parish was established in 1891 by Bishop Egidius Junger when he invited Benedictine monks from St. John's Abbey in Minnesota to serve Tacoma's German-speaking population.[1] The parish remained under the pastorship of the Benedictine monks until 1998.[2]
The current church building was built in 1920 after the original wooden church was deemed unsafe.[3] In 2018, the church building sustained water damage and sheetrock from the ceiling fell onto the choir loft and back pews. The building was deemed unsafe and masses were moved into the parish school auditorium. As the parish could not afford the $18 million necessary to repair the building, Archbishop J. Peter Sartain decreed in 2019 that the century-old church building be razed.[4] The parish school moved to Fife, Washington, in 2020, as part of the parish's planned merge with St. Martin of Tours Parish.[5] As the future of the parish was deemed unviable, Archbishop Paul D. Etienne ordered all services and ministries of the parish to cease at the end of August 2020.[6]
On July 1, 2021, Holy Rosary Parish was amalgamated and merged into neighboring St. Ann Parish.[7] One year later, St. Ann Parish was merged with Visitation Parish and St. Rita of Cascia Parish to form a new merged parish named Pope St. John XXIII Parish.[8]
On May 1, 2024 the Vatican declared Archbishop's Sartain's orders to demolish the historic Church null and void, paving the way for the Church to be restored [9]
References
[edit]- ^ "The Founding of the Parish". Holy Rosary Parish. Retrieved December 6, 2020.
- ^ "Rev. Richard Cebula, O.S.B. (1981–1998)". Holy Rosary Parish. Retrieved December 6, 2020.
- ^ "Our Current Crisis". Holy Rosary Parish. Retrieved December 6, 2020.
- ^ +Sartain, J. Peter. "Decree" (PDF). Seattle, WA. Retrieved December 6, 2020.
- ^ Sailor, Craig (August 14, 2020). "Tacoma Catholic parish whose iconic church is slated for demolition declared unviable". The News Tribune.
- ^ "Archbishop announces decision on Tacoma's Holy Rosary". NW Catholic. August 13, 2020.
- ^ Etienne, Paul (July 1, 2021). "Decree of extinctive union regarding the merging of Holy Rosary Parish in Tacoma into St. Ann Parish in Tacoma" (PDF). Seattle, WA: Archdiocese of Seattle.
- ^ "Three Tacoma parishes will merge, becoming St. John XXIII Parish". NW Catholic. May 9, 2022. Retrieved January 12, 2024.
- ^ Banel, Feliks (2024-05-01). "Vatican decides in favor of Tacoma's Holy Rosary Church". MyNorthwest.com. Retrieved 2024-05-29.
External links
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47°14′00″N 122°26′22″W / 47.23345762710453°N 122.43949039168976°W
- Roman Catholic churches in Washington (state)
- Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Seattle
- Churches in Tacoma, Washington
- 1891 establishments in Washington (state)
- 2021 disestablishments in Washington (state)
- Roman Catholic churches completed in 1920
- 20th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United States